In the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, Li Mi's Wagang army attacked Xingyang County for a long time, so he asked Wei to write a letter to persuade Yang Qing, the sect of Xingyang County to guard the Sui Dynasty, that is, "Wang Qingwen for Li Mi Xingyang Guard". Unlike Zu Junyan's "Essay on Luozhou for Li Mi", which was to improve his morale and call for more soldiers and civilians to join the anti-Sui ranks, Wei Zheng's article was mainly to persuade him to surrender. Although the wording is exaggerated, the full text is basically based on facts.
This text is recorded in the Book of Sui, but compared with the version included in the Yinghua of the Northern Song Dynasty Wenyuan, there are many deletions in the Book of Sui. The fact that this article can be included in the full text of Wenyuan Yinghua shows that the original text has not been lost. The author of this article is Wei Zheng, and he must have kept the original text. The compilation of the Book of Sui was presided over by Wei Zheng, so the deletion of the text in the Book of Sui was definitely not due to the fact that the Tang Dynasty historians memorized errors and omissions in the absence of the original text, but deliberately.
Since the comatose heir, he has been exploiting Qianli for many years, and poisoning the world. The beauty of Qiong Room Yaotai is not extremely arrogant. The desolation of the wine pond is not fornication. Contrary to the advice of the loyal ministers, from the words of the woman, killing the loyal and good, and the tax is endless, it is a hedgehog hair, the leopard changes its text, and raises the banner of righteousness together, and cuts the cruelty together. This paragraph in the text rebukes Emperor Yang of Sui for his ** and extravagance since he ascended the throne. However, in the Sui book, the words "disobey the advice of the loyal ministers, follow the words of the woman, kill the loyal and good, and the tax will be exhausted". Compared with the borrowing of allusions to exaggerate the extravagance of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, these sentences are the content that really points out the failure of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and it stands to reason that they should not be deleted.
A closer look at these deleted Yang Emperor mistakes, only "from the woman's words" is not reflected in the Sui book, and this article not only rebukes Emperor Yang of Sui, but also implies criticism of this "Ji Si Chen" woman, who does not adopt the advice of loyal ministers, but listens to the woman's opinion. Wei Zheng commented in the biography of Empress Sui Shu that Emperor Xiao's feelings were "Enlong and unswerving", compared with the detailed and rich historical materials of the Sui Dynasty mastered by historians in the early Tang Dynasty, the sense of existence of other concubines in the harem of Daye tended to be close to zero. So it's not hard to imagine who this woman was referring to. Wei Zheng explained that Empress Xiao's refusal to admonish Emperor Yang of Sui during the Great Cause period was due to her cautious self-preservation under the psychology of "saying that people are not faithful". But in the end, we can't really see a person's thoughts, we can only figure out the state of mind through behavior. Does Empress Xiao's non-persuasion dare not or does she agree with it at all? The deletion of "from the words of a woman" by the Tang Dynasty historians should give us some hints.
It is recorded in the Book of Sui that Empress Xiao said shortly before the fall of the Sui Dynasty, "Once the world has come to this, it is already happening, and there is no way to save it", although it is said that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty has planted the fuse of the fall of the Sui Dynasty, but it is the rebellion of Yang Xuangan during the second expedition of Emperor Yang of Sui in the ninth year of the Great Cause. At that time, Su Wei once said to Emperor Yang of Sui that Yang Xuangan did not distinguish between right and wrong, and he was not worried. But his rebellion is likely to be the bane and cause national unrest. Su Wei believed that after years of conscription, the people were already miserable, and people's minds were in turmoil. But Su Wei did not explain these words to Emperor Yang of Sui. Yang Xuangan raised troops in Liyang in June, Liu Yuanjin, a native of Yuhang, raised troops in July, and Zhu Xie, a native of Wu, and a native of Jinling supported more than 100,000 people in August, claiming to be a general, Kou Jiangzuo. The thief marshal Chen Yao and other 30,000 people captured Xin'an County. In September, Wu Hailiu, a native of Jiyin, and Peng Xiaocai, a native of the East China Sea, raised troops as thieves, and tens of thousands of them were raised. The thief Liang Huishang led 40,000 people to fall into Cangwu County. Dongyang people Li San'er and Xiang Danzi raised troops to make a rebellion, and there were more than 10,000 people. In the winter and October, the thief handsome Lu Xingxing led thousands of people to surround Dongjun. In October, the Qinghe thief Zhang Jin called tens of thousands, the Bohai thief Shuai Geqian called himself King Yan, Sun Xuanya called himself King of Qi, and the crowd was 100,000 each, and Shandong was bitter. Su Wei's judgment was verified by a series of rebellions following Yang Xuangan, who was exterminated in August, but the world has been in turmoil ever since.
In the end, what made the Sui Dynasty weak was Li Yuan's army in Jinyang. This record records that "in May Jiazi, the Tang Gong rebelled in Taiyuan. ......In August, Tang Gong broke Wu Yalang and beheaded Song Lao in Huoyi. In September, the female widow of the Emperor Kuojiang was a soldier with a daughter. In the same month, the treasure of Chengyuan of Wuyang County rebelled against Li Mi with the county, and captured Liyang Cang with the thief marshal Li Wenxiang. ......On November Bingchen, Tang Gong entered the Beijing Division. Xin You, Emperor Yaozun was the Emperor Taishang, and Wang Yu was appointed as the emperor, and Yuan Yining was changed. On the palace Danyang, it will be inferior to Jiang Zuo. In May, Li Yuan raised troops, and in August, Li Yuan captured Huoyi, opening the door to Guanzhong, and Emperor Yang of Sui listened to Pei Ju's advice and took measures to settle down for these people in Jiangdu in order to stabilize the uneasy Guanzhong Xiaoguo army. In November, Li Yuan captured Daxing and set up the puppet emperor Yang Yu, and Emperor Yang completely returned to the north with no hope, so he ordered the construction of a palace in Danyang, which was originally Jiankang City. The official propaganda of the Tang Dynasty that Emperor Yang went to Jiang in the later period to escape the chaos in the Central Plains, and deliberately exaggerated the threat of the Wagang army and local rebels to the Sui Dynasty, but it is clear that the behavior of the Sui Dynasty monarchs at that time reflected that the stabbing in the back was fatal.
These emergencies that led to the rapid decline of the situation in the Sui Dynasty were not accessible to ordinary people. Of course, if Empress Xiao is really like the Ming and Qing dynasties, she accompanied Emperor Yang of Sui to have fun all day long, helped Emperor Yang of Sui to search for beauties, and advised Emperor Yang of Sui to have more children and plant fewer trees (trees are planted next to the canal), with the wealth accumulated by the treasury during the period of Emperor Wen of Sui, according to the historical development law of the feudal dynasty, not only will not lose the country, but may also leave a glorious chapter of the rule of the great cause in the history books.