Her life was full of dramatic transformations. At the age of 17, she ascended to the throne of the queen, and in less than two years she became the queen mother, and at the age of 25, she turned into a princess. Her life is like an epic of ups and downs, making it impossible to take your eyes off.
So, who exactly is this legendary woman? She is Yang Lihua, the eldest daughter of Emperor Wen of Sui and Yang Jian.
In the seventh year of Tianhe of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (572), a coup d'état swept through the Northern Zhou court like a storm. Emperor Wu of Zhou, Yuwen Yong, after years of forbearance and planning, suddenly launched an action and successfully eradicated the powerful Yuwen Hu.
After the fall of Yuwenhu, it heralded the reshuffling of the power structure of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The Yang family won the high praise and trust of Emperor Wu of Zhou for their outstanding exploits and their steadfast confrontation with Yuwen Hu.
Because Yang Jian's father, Yang Zhong, was one of the fathers of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the father and son had always maintained an independent stance towards Yuwen Hu and were not attached to him, they won the special favor of Emperor Wu of Zhou after the fall of Yuwen Hu. In order to consolidate the alliance with the Yang family, Emperor Wu of Zhou decided to deepen the relationship between the two sides through marriage. He specially hired Yang Jian's eldest daughter Yang Lihua as the crown princess of the crown prince Yu Wenyun.
Emperor Wu of Zhou was extremely strict with Yuwenyun's discipline. Every time he participated in the court meeting, he had to abide by the same standard of etiquette as the minister, and he must not slack off in the slightest, regardless of the cold or the heat. Once Yu Wenyun made a mistake, Emperor Wu of Zhou would severely punish him with sticks and whips.
This kind of harsh discipline made Yu Wenyun afraid of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and he had to deliberately hide his true emotions in his daily life and strictly follow the rules. All his words and deeds are like a choreographed performance, and it is difficult for outsiders to get a glimpse of what he really thinks inside. As a result, many of his serious private misdeeds were covered up and not known to the outside world.
In June of the first year of Xuanzheng (578), Emperor Wu of Zhou died. According to the etiquette and customs of the time, the crown prince Yu Wenyun was supposed to observe filial piety for about a month to show his deep condolences and respect for the first emperor. However, things turned out to be more than anyone expected.
Just the day after the death of Emperor Wu of Zhou, nineteen-year-old Yu Wenyun hurriedly held an enthronement ceremony, officially took over the throne of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and canonized seventeen-year-old Yang Lihua as empress. Only ten days later, when the burial ceremony of Emperor Wu of Zhou had just come to an end, Yuwenyun couldn't wait to take off his filial piety clothes. Instead of continuing to bask in grief, he turned to celebrating his accession to the throne.
Yu Wenyun finally tore off his disguise and completely indulged his desires. He was obsessed with women and fine wine, and the harem was full of beauties, and in order to satisfy his selfish desires, he even canonized five queens at the same time, which shocked the government and the opposition. He often held banquets, indulged in sex with the beauties of the harem, and was extremely extravagant.
As Yu Wenyun's original wife, Yang Lihua has won the respect and love of everyone in the harem with her supple personality and tolerant heart. The four queens and the other concubines regarded her as a confidant. However, Yu Wenyun's personality is increasingly distorted and moody. Once, he was furious with Yang Lihua for no reason and tried to impose a crime. In the face of this scene, Yang Lihua did not give in, she behaved calmly, her attitude was firm, and she did not show a trace of weakness. This angered Yu Wenyun, and he ordered Yang Lihua to be given the death penalty.
When the news reached the ears of Yang Lihua's mother, Dugu Jialuo, she was so anxious that she immediately entered the palace to plead. In front of Yu Wenyun, Dugu Jialuo kowtowed and bled and begged, just to save his daughter's life. Her maternal love deeply touched the people present and touched Yu Wenyun. In the end, under Dugu Jialuo's bitter pleading, Yu Wenyun reluctantly agreed to spare Yang Lihua's life.
In February of the first year of Dacheng (579), Yu Wenyun felt that his life as emperor was not as he had hoped. So, he made an unexpected decision - he issued an edict to pass the throne to his eldest son Yuwen Xian, changed the era name to Elephant, and proclaimed himself Emperor Tianyuan. Since then, Yu Wenyun has lived in the harem and indulged in a life of eating, drinking and having fun.
Yu Wenyun's harem life is extremely luxurious and hedonistic, and he is accompanied by beautiful women all day long, indulging in lust. This extravagant lifestyle quickly deteriorated his health, and a year later, in the second year of the elephant (580), Yu Wenyun died of illness at the age of twenty-two.
After the death of Yu Wenyun, Yu Wenyun, who was only 8 years old, was left behind, which plunged the Northern Zhou regime into great uncertainty. Yang Lihua, as the empress dowager of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, shouldered the heavy responsibility of maintaining the stability of the imperial family, and when she heard the news that her father Yang Jian was the auxiliary government, an indescribable joy swelled in her heart. She is well aware of her father's abilities and prestige, and believes that he will be able to stabilize the situation at this critical moment and ensure the continuation of the royal family.
However, as time passed, Yang Lihua began to gradually realize that her father's ambitions did not seem to stop at the auxiliary government. She found that her father was expanding his power in the court, and even intended to usurp the throne. This astonishing discovery left Yang Lihua angry and disappointed, and she could not tolerate her father's betrayal of the royal family. Her words and expressions unconsciously revealed her dissatisfaction and condemnation of her father.
In February of the first year of Dading of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (581), Yang Jian finally usurped the throne and established the Sui Dynasty. Yang Lihua's discontent reached its peak. She stood firmly on the side of the Northern Zhou royal family and expressed strong opposition to her father's usurpation. Yang Jian was deeply ashamed of his daughter's opposition and dissatisfaction. He knew that his actions had caused great harm to his daughter, but he also knew that he could not give up the throne he had already taken.
Yang Lihua, who was the queen mother of the previous dynasty, has a noble identity, and everyone knows it. However, with Yang Jian's usurpation, her identity became awkward and sensitive, and became a major problem that the new dynasty had to deal with carefully. In the days after Yang Jian became emperor, whenever he thought of his daughter, his heart would be full of guilt and helplessness.
Under this complex emotional entanglement, Yang Jian was hesitant about Yang Lihua's arrangement. Yang Jian had thought of many possibilities to settle Yang Lihua, but every time he gave up for various reasons. He fears that his decision will hurt his daughter again, and that it will cause political turmoil and turmoil. It was not until the sixth year of the emperor's reign (586) that Yang Jian finally made up his mind and named Yang Lihua the princess of Leping.
Yang Lihua and Yuwenyun have a daughter, named Yuwen Eying. When Yuwen Eying reached the marriageable age, Yang Jian made a decree to choose a son-in-law for her, hoping to find a good son-in-law for her. Yang Lihua was extremely concerned about her daughter's marriage, and she decided to personally choose a wishful husband for her daughter.
Among the many candidates, Yang Lihua chose Li Min, the son of Li Chong, the governor of Youzhou. Li Min is not only good-looking, but also talented, and is deeply loved by Yang Lihua. In order to ensure her daughter's happiness, Yang Lihua also specially sought the position of Zhuguo for Li Min.
In the fifth year of the Great Cause (609), Yang Lihua's life came to an end. In this year, she followed her younger brother Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang to visit Zhangye, but closed her eyes forever on the land of Hexi and died at the age of forty-nine. When she was dying, the most important thing she could not let go of in her heart was her beloved daughter.
At the last moment of her life, Yang Lihua told Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty her last entrustment: "I have no children, only one daughter by my side." I hope to pass on my existing food to Li Min so that they can live a better life. Hearing her sister's last words, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui tearfully agreed to her. After Yang Lihua passed away, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty buried her and Yuwenyun in Dingling.
The impermanence of fate always brings about shocks inadvertently. A few years later, in the eleventh year of the Great Cause (615), a monk named Anjia came into Yang Guang's life, and he brought with him a proverb: "Li should be the Son of Heaven." This sentence stirred up a huge wave in Yang Guang's heart, and he began to suspect all the people surnamed Li around him, fearing that they would threaten his throne.
In this suspicious atmosphere, Yang Guang gradually lost his mind. He thought of Li Min, the son-in-law of his sister Yang Lihua, and thought that this name just fulfilled the "Li family" in the proverb. So, he decided to put Li Min to death to prevent future troubles. Not only that, but he also ordered all relatives within the Li Min clan to be exiled to remote areas, in an attempt to completely eradicate the potential threat in this way.
However, this bloody purge did not end there. A few months later, Yang Guang extended his claws to his niece Yuwen Eying. He could not tolerate the presence of anyone who might threaten his throne, even his own loved ones. So, he gave Yu Wen'e poisonous wine and ruthlessly ended her life.
Yang Lihua has experienced the triple dignity of queen, queen mother, and princess in her life, but she struggles in the whirlpool of power and emotion. A life of helplessness and full of regrets, she is like a poignant flower in the long river of history, which makes people feel emotional.
On the way home is the New Year