Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was scolded by Emperor Yi for eternity
Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng established the framework system of the centralized system, Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty unified his thoughts, opened up the territory, and attacked the Xiongnu in the north, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian ended the chaos of the Northern and Southern Dynasties of the Sixteen Kingdoms and created the system of three provinces and six ministries, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty established the imperial examination system and built the Grand Canal, and the Qing Shizong loved Xinjueluo. Yinzhen implemented the apportionment into the mu, implemented the reform of the land and returned to the stream, and set up the military aircraft department.
Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty enjoyed his achievements for the later Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, and made great contributions to the strength of the Sui Dynasty and the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. However, his eagerness for quick success and recklessness of military force increased the burden on the people, consumed the national strength of the Sui Dynasty, and hastened the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
Let's take a closer look at this legendary and complicated life of Emperor Yang of Sui!
Born in a famous family, Yang Guang originated from the prominent Yang family and Yang Xi during the period of Chu and Han rivalry. He liked to be named the Marquis of Chiquan with his left leg, and the family rose rapidly. The 21st grandson Yang Zhongquan leaned towards the government and the opposition, one of the twelve generals of the Western Wei Dynasty, and was canonized as the Duke of Suiguo.
Zhong died, and Zijian inherited the title and took control of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Emperor Xuan was incompetent, the imperial power was aside, and he gradually took power. In 581, he forced Gong Chan to make himself Emperor Wen of Sui.
Emperor Wen canonized Yang Guang as the king of Jin and concurrently served as the governor of the state, and Yang Guang began his official career at the age of 12.
Two. Emperor Wen of Sui, who conquered the Chen Dynasty and unified the world, learned the lesson of the Northern Zhou Dynasty's demise due to the lack of important ministers, so during his reign, he constantly provided training opportunities for his other sons to have the ability to assist the crown prince Yang Yong.
Among these many sons, Yang Guang was the most talented and the most loved by Emperor Wen of Sui. Emperor Wen of Sui made him the governor of Bingzhou from the age of 13, responsible for the defense of the capital Chang'an (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi), and sent his minister Wang Shao to assist him.
Yang Guang became a leading figure at the age of 13. During this period, the world has experienced nearly 300 years of the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the years of melee have made the people miserable.
Reunification and peace have become the aspirations of the people and have gradually become the trend of the times. At this time, only the Chen Dynasty in the south was left in the world. Emperor Wen of Sui in order to achieve unification.
1. End the war and decide to eliminate the Chen Dynasty and unify the world.
In 588, Emperor Wen of Sui appointed Yang Guang, the 19-year-old king of Jin, as his commander to lead an army of 500,000 to attack the Chen dynasty. Under the leadership of Yang Guang, the Sui army was invincible and quickly swept across the entire Chen dynasty.
In 589, the Sui army occupied Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), the capital of the Chen dynasty, and captured Chen Shubao, the queen of Chen. At this point, the Chen Dynasty perished, and the world was finally unified.
After the Sui army captured Jiankang, they killed the traitors around Empress Chen, pacified the people, and sealed the treasury. This move enabled Yang Guang to gradually win praise and praise from all over the Sui Dynasty, and also accumulated a lot of prestige and contacts for him to become emperor in the future.
Then, the Sui army took advantage of the victory and marched into the army, successively occupying Sanwu, Lingnan and other places, realizing the unification of the world. At this point, the troubled times of the 16 countries and the North and South Dynasties that lasted for 300 years basically came to an end.
After the fall of the Chen Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui canonized Yang Guang as a lieutenant in recognition of his merits. After that, Yang Guang fought everywhere and made great contributions to the stability of the Sui Dynasty.
In 590, Emperor Wen of Sui sent Yang Guang to Jiangnan and appointed him governor of Yangzhou to quell Gao Zhizhi's rebellion. In 600, Emperor Wen of Sui sent Yang Guang to lead his army north, successfully resisting the Turkic invasion.
As his prestige and fame grew, so did Yang Guang's ambitions, and he hoped to replace Yang Yong as the crown prince.
Emperor Wen of Sui Dugu Jialuo had five sons, the crown prince Yang Yong, the king of Jin Yang Guang, the king of Qin Yang Jun, the king of Shu Yang Xiu and the king of Han Yang Liang. In order to abide by the law of primogeniture, Emperor Wen of Sui appointed Yang Yong as the crown prince, but Yang Guang was dissatisfied.
In 589, Yang Guang led his army south to destroy the Chen Dynasty, established his own military exploits, and gradually developed the ambition to replace Yang Yong. In order to win the affection of Emperor Wen of Sui and his wife, Yang Guang adopted a strategy of disguise and frugality, but Yang Yong gradually fell out of favor due to extravagance and waste and pampering the woman that Dugu Jialuo hated.
In the end, Yang Guang, with the support of Dugu Jialuo and Emperor Wen of Sui, successfully usurped the throne and became the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty.
Yang Guang used his mother's trust and the support of his ministers to plot a plot to get Emperor Wen of Sui to abolish Yang Yong. In 600, Emperor Wen of Sui abolished Yang Yong as crown prince and made Yang Guang the heir to the throne.
In 604, Emperor Wen of Sui fell seriously ill, and Yang Guang wrote a letter to Yang Su to arrange for the funeral, but the letter was discovered by Emperor Wen of Sui, causing Emperor Wen of Sui to become angry with Yang Guang. At the same time, Emperor Wen of Sui's favorite concubine Chen cried to Emperor Wen of Sui that Yang Guang was molesting her, so that Emperor Wen of Sui decided to abolish Yang Guang and re-establish Yang Yong as the crown prince.
However, Yang Guang preemptively arrested Liu Shu and Yuan Yan, and asked Zhang Heng to drive the palace maid and eunuch away. Emperor Wen of Sui died unexplained as a result. In order to consolidate the throne, Yang Guang purged his brother.
He killed Yang Yong, framed Yang Xiu for using witchcraft to curse him, and placed Yang Xiu and their son under house arrest. He also suppressed Yang Liang's rebellion and placed him under house arrest until his death.
At this point, Yang Guang successfully eliminated his brother and purged the Sui dynasty clan. In 607, he killed all of Yang Yong's sons. In 604, Yang Guang officially ascended the throne with the name of the year and became Emperor Yang of Sui.
After Emperor Yang of Sui ascended the throne, he actively implemented a series of policies, which had a profound impact on later generations and made the Sui Dynasty extremely prosperous. One of the most important measures was the creation and improvement of the imperial examination system.
Before the Sui Dynasty, China's ancient official election system was the nine-grade Zhongzheng system, which paid attention to the family and buried a large number of talents, forming a situation of "no poor family in the upper grades, and no scholars in the lower grades".
With the gradual decline of the gate lord clan and the rise of the Shu clan, the Jiupin Zhongzheng system is also declining. As a result, the abolition of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system has become the trend of the times. After Emperor Wen of Sui ascended the throne, he decisively abolished this system and began to establish a system of electing officials based on the imperial examination system.
Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty set up the Jinshi Department in 605, and gradually formed a complete set of national talent selection system. The imperial examination system is another system that has had a far-reaching impact on China's official election system after the inspection system and the nine-rank Zhongzheng system.
It takes examinations as the standard for selection, selects a large number of talents, and expands the base of the ruling class; It provided a platform for the common people to enter the upper class of society, eased class contradictions, and consolidated the rule of the feudal dynasty.
After Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty established the imperial examination system, successive dynasties continued to improve and innovate it, which became the standard for the selection of officials in the feudal dynasties after the Sui Dynasty. It was not until 1905 that the rulers of the Qing Dynasty ordered the abolition of the imperial examination system, and at this point, the imperial examination system officially withdrew from the stage of China's history.
After Emperor Yang of Sui ascended the throne, in order to rule and develop the needs, he decided to use his predecessors and natural rivers to continue to build the Grand Canal and improve it. In order to communicate the traffic between the Central Plains and Hebei, the Tongji Canal was built to communicate the Yellow River and the Huai River; In order to communicate the Jianghuai region and the Jiangnan region, a ditch was built to communicate the Huai River and the Yangtze River; In order to communicate the Haihe River and the Yellow River, the Yongji Canal was built; In order to communicate the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River, the Jiangnan River was built.
In the end, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was divided into four sections: Yongji Canal, Tongji Canal, Hangou and Jiangnan River from north to south, passing through five regions and eight provinces and cities, communicating five major water systems, becoming the longest and most important canal in ancient China, which had a profound impact on China's economic development and historical process.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal connects the political center of the Central Plains, the economic center of the Jiangnan region and the military center of the Hebei region, which has played a huge role in the stability and consolidation of China's ancient feudal dynasties, and has also promoted economic development.
The construction of the Grand Canal has made the economy along the canal achieve leapfrog development, and has gradually become the economic center and main artery of China in ancient times. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal gradually withdrew from the status of China's economic center and main economic artery due to the rise of shipping, Yangtze River transportation and the Beijing-Shanghai Railway.
The construction of the Grand Canal has also made rapid progress in the economic development of the Jiangnan region and the Jianghuai region. Yangzhou rose rapidly to become the largest metropolis and largest city in the world at that time.
Although the construction of the Grand Canal cost the Sui Dynasty a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, and became an important reason for the fall of the Sui Dynasty, and also became an important reason for the infamy of Emperor Yang of Sui in later generations, in fact, Emperor Yang of Sui built the Grand Canal for the needs of political stability and economic development.
In order to discredit Emperor Yang of Sui and demonstrate his dominance, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty took the cruise of the river capital as the reason for Emperor Yang of Sui to build the Grand Canal, but this is actually a wrong understanding.
In fact, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal for a purpose that went far beyond the narrow vision of cruising the Jiangdu.
After Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty ascended the throne, his four major measures were to develop and improve the bureaucratic system, the legal system, the cultural system and the military system. In order to strengthen the centralized system, he changed the state system to the county system, and at the same time ordered the construction of schools and the restoration of educational institutions.
He also changed the Taifu Temple, Guozixue, and Neifu Province into "Five Temples" and "Five Prisons", and built a complete bureaucratic and military system. He also enacted the Law of the Great Cause, reformed the legal system, and further strengthened his rule.
In order to run the Western Regions, he sent troops to defeat the Western Turkic Chuluo Khan, set up four counties, and removed obstacles. In addition, he also warmly entertained merchants from the Western Regions, arousing the yearning of the Central Plains Dynasty from all over the world.
These measures unveiled the new order of China's ancient feudal dynastic system, made significant contributions to the development of China's culture and education, and made the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty appear in the situation of "all countries come to court", which became an important symbol of China's ancient strength.
During the reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, one of the major initiatives he implemented was the construction of the eastern capital of Luoyang. In 605, he appointed Yang to take charge of the construction of the project. Since then, more than 2 million laborers have toiled at the construction site in Luoyang every month.
After a year, the eastern capital of Luoyang was finally completed. It is composed of three parts: the palace city, the imperial city and the outer Guo city, among them, the palace city is the emperor's residence and office area, the imperial city is the place where the hundred officials work, and the outer Guo city is the area where the people live.
The construction of Luoyang, the eastern capital, was an important embodiment of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty's martial arts, and also laid the foundation for Chang'an and Luoyang to be the capital in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and made great contributions to the development of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
At the same time, the construction of the eastern capital was also an important event in the history of Luoyang, which laid the foundation for Luoyang's re-emergence and prosperity. Since then, Luoyang has risen rapidly and become a metropolis on a par with Chang'an, Yangzhou and Chengdu.
Under the early reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty was strong, prosperous, and socially developed, and this period was known as the "Great Cause Prosperous Era". According to these achievements, Emperor Yang of Sui is indeed worthy of the title of "Emperor of the Ages".
Emperor Yang of Sui's three expeditions to Goguryeo ended in failure in the first two attempts, and it was not until the third time that he was victorious. These three wars brought great losses to the Sui Dynasty, moving it from stability to crisis and triggering large-scale peasant uprisings.
Under the rule of the Sui Dynasty, in addition to the three conquests against Goguryeo, there were attacks on Linyi, defeats of the Khitans, defeats of Tuyuhun, and fierce battles with the Turks.
At the same time, the construction of the Grand Canal, the construction of the eastern capital of Luoyang, and the military service in Yangzhou also greatly increased the national strength of the Sui Dynasty. However, the implementation of the imperial examination system seriously damaged the interests of the scholars, so that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty lost the support of the scholars.
Beginning in 611, peasant uprisings broke out in various places, and the Sui Dynasty began to fall into crisis. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty tried to suppress the uprising with brutal means, but he failed to succeed, and instead made the peasant uprising even more powerful.
In 613, Yang Su's son, Yang Xuangan, rebelled against Emperor Yang of Sui in Liyang, and although Emperor Yang of Sui quickly put down the rebellion, it also opened the prelude to the rebellion of the upper nobles of the Sui Dynasty.
In 616, Emperor Yang of Sui made his third tour of Jiangdu, which was also his last tour. Since then, he has never returned to Luoyang and the Central Plains region.
In 617, Li Yuan rebelled against the Sui Dynasty in Jinyang, and soon occupied Chang'an and Guanzhong, proclaiming Yang Yu, the grandson of Emperor Yang of Sui, as emperor and honoring Emperor Yang of Sui as Emperor Taishang.
Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty had completely abandoned himself and indulged in beauty and pleasure near Yangzhou, and was mediocre and corrupt. As he grew older, Emperor Yang of Sui often said to himself in the mirror: "Who can easily cut off this precious head?" ”
But he also wanted to keep his body intact before he died, so he always carried poison with him. In 618, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was disheartened and had no intention of returning to the Central Plains, so he ordered the construction of Danyang Palace in present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu, intending to settle here.
However, this decision triggered a mutiny in Jiangdu, which eventually led to the killing of Emperor Yang of Sui. His soldiers and subordinates were all from the Central Plains, homesick and dissatisfied with staying in Jiangnan.
In this context, Emperor Yang of Sui's cousin Yu Wenhua took advantage of the psychology of the soldiers to launch a mutiny and kill Emperor Yang of Sui. This event is recorded in history as the "Jiangdu Mutiny".
In 618, Yu Wenhua planned a mutiny and launched an attack on Emperor Yang of Sui. Emperor Yang of Sui was defeated in the war and fled to the Western Pavilion, but was eventually captured by Yu Wenhua's soldiers.
Subsequently, Emperor Yang of Sui was hanged by the rebel general Linghu Xingda at the age of 49. From there, the legendary and controversial emperor ended his life.