Think ahead and see through the general trend.
Looking back at Chinese history, the Qin Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty were both short and profound dynasties, although they were separated by eras. When it comes to the causes of the fall of Qin and Sui, the blame is usually placed on the First Emperor Yingzheng, Hu Hai and Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. However, does this overly simplistic decisive causal relationship hold water?
As early as the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Yang Jian, Fang Xuanling, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty who was only 20 years old, keenly saw the situation and believed that the fundamental culprit of the fall of the Sui Dynasty was Yang Jian himself. He pointed out that Yang Jian's usurpation of the throne and immorality, indiscriminate killing of meritorious heroes, chaos and extravagance and corruption, these hidden dangers to the stability of the country's great cause will eventually lead to destruction.
Therefore, Fang Xuanling's views are accurate and sharp, and completely hit the core of the fall of the Sui Dynasty.
So, is the fall of the Sui Dynasty really just because of the ** after Yang Guang ascended the throne?
This article will focus on this issue. First, let's look at Yang Jian's usurpation of the throne.
In 581 AD, Yang Jian killed the emperor and established the Great Sui Dynasty. As the founder of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian's family was illustrious, but his road to glory began with a rebellion. In 580, Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwenyun, was critically ill, leaving his eight-year-old son Yuwenyun to ascend the throne.
Due to the selfish interests of the powerful ministers Zheng Yi and Liu Fang, they ordered Yang Jian to assist the government, and Yang Jian took the opportunity to seize the power of the court, and finally deposed Yuwen Yan and established himself as emperor. Such a ** act has put an indelible stigma on himself and the Sui Dynasty.
Even Yang Jian's younger brother Yang Zan expressed opposition and dissatisfaction with this. This kind of ** behavior led to discord between the government and the opposition, and laid a hidden danger for the Sui Dynasty.
In the process of usurping the throne, Yang Jian indiscriminately killed heroes and carried out a large-scale purge of heroes and famous generals in the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
This made the powerful ministers who once supported him feel uneasy, and they lost their support for Yang Jian. This situation of discord between the monarch and the minister directly affected the political stability of the Sui Dynasty. The patriarchal law and royal order of the Sui Dynasty began to be chaotic, and later after Yang Guang ascended the throne, it intensified the internal strife of the clan, which led to internal and external troubles in the Sui Dynasty.
Yang Jian's absurd actions in his later years also played a role in the fall of the Sui Dynasty. He was superstitious and overly trusted his ministers, and frequently used the cane on his ministers, which led to increasing chaos in the government. He severely punished the law and imposed the death penalty on some trivial crimes, which increased the burden on the people and aroused social dissatisfaction.
Yang Jian was even full of suspicion when dealing with ministers, and often listened with his ears open, which made the handling of political affairs irrational and decisive. This plunged the Sui Dynasty into chaos in government affairs, laying the groundwork for the subsequent turmoil.
In the end, Yang Jianlichu's mistake directly led to the fall of the Sui Dynasty. According to the ancestral system, Yang Jian's eldest son Yang Yong should have been a suitable heir, but due to Yang Yong's poor personal morality, he was deposed and Yang Guang was established as the heir. This move was one of Yang Jian's biggest mistakes in his later years.
After Yang Guang ascended the throne, his extravagance, squandering the treasury, and conquering the Quartet exacerbated social contradictions and triggered popular uprisings. This turmoil eventually led to the collapse of the Sui Dynasty.
In general, the fundamental cause of the fall of the Sui Dynasty was Yang Jian himself. His mistakes in the process of usurping the throne, the indiscriminate killing of meritorious officials, the absurd actions in his later years, and the wrong decisions on the issue of establishing the prince all laid the foundation for the fall of the Sui Dynasty.
Yang Guang's rule was only the last pressure, the inevitable result of Yang Jian's complicated political missteps in his later years.