Hou Jing, originally the governor of Dingzhou under Northern Wei, later switched allegiance to Gao Huan after Gao Huan usurped power, serving as chief secretary of the Grand Council while retaining his post as Dingzhou governor. For fourteen years, he ruled over thirteen provinces south of the Yellow River with an iron fist, backed by 100,000 elite troops.
After Gao Huan's death, his son Gao Cheng took power and moved to strip Hou Jing of his military command, so Hou Jing led his troops to defect to Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, Xiao Yan. Emperor Wu appointed him governor of Yuzhou, stationing him at Shouyang.
But soon Hou Jing launched another rebellion, capturing the Liang capital Jiankang and changing the dynasty's name to Han.
In Jiankang, the rebel general Hou Jing, arrogant and ruthless, devised cruel methods to kill in order to secure his rule. Whenever his troops set out for battle, he would instruct his commanders, "After breaching the city walls, slaughter every innocent person inside—let the world know my might." His men thus treated killing as a casual joke.
He also forbade any conversation between two or more people, decreeing that violators would have their entire families executed. He built a giant mortar and pestle, throwing anyone who displeased him into it to be pounded to death. Employing various other brutal methods of execution, he terrorized the common people into submission, using this cruelty to expand his power and influence.
However, the people of the Liang Dynasty were not intimidated. They rallied behind Xiao Yan's seventh son, King Xiao Yi of Xiangdong, who defeated Hou Jing. Hou Jing was killed while fleeing, putting an end to his arrogant and domineering life.
Later, the idiom "arrogant and domineering" came to describe a person's character and behavior as extremely autocratic, overbearing, and beyond normal bounds, making them insufferable.
Source: *Zizhi Tongjian*, "Liang Ji"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "飞扬跋扈" came to describe a person's character and behavior as extremely autocratic, overbearing, and beyond normal bounds, making them insufferable.