Among the emperors of ancient China, Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, has always been a very strange existence.
On the one hand, in many folk romances**, Emperor Yang of Sui has always appeared as a tyrant. It was precisely because of Yang Guang's reckless military force, labor and wealth and wanton expropriation that led to the death of the Sui Dynasty and his own strangulation by the forbidden army.
On the other hand, Yang Guang also left many outstanding contributions to future generations. For example, the imperial examinations, which have influenced China for thousands of years, were first founded by Yang Guang. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which he excavated, is still in use today. For future generations, Yang Guang does not seem to be so bad.
It seems difficult for us to describe such an emperor in such simple words as good or bad. To some extent, the word tyrant should be the most suitable for Yang Guang.
Yang Guang is brutal, but he is not mediocre.
So, what did the most famous tyrant in history do wrong that finally made the Sui Dynasty follow the old path of the Qin Dynasty and die?
For Yang Guang and the people of the Sui Dynasty at that time, the construction of the Grand Canal can be said to be a merit for a thousand years and a disaster for the present generation.
This Grand Canal, since the day it was built, has become an important road for north-south transportation. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is divided into four sections: Yongji Canal, Tongji Canal, Hangou and Jiangnan River, which communicate the five major water systems of Haihe River, Yellow River, Huai River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River. After the completion of this Grand Canal, all kinds of materials and grains in the south of the Yangtze River can be transported directly to the land of Youyan in the north through the river, and can also be transported to the Guanzhong area.
This was of great significance in the Sui Dynasty.
On the one hand, the Sui Dynasty was connected to the Northern and Southern Dynasties. During the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Central Plains region experienced hundreds of years of secession and war, and there was no sense of unification. The emergence of this canal can connect several major water areas, make transportation more convenient, and conducive to the unification of the country.
On the other hand, in ancient times, there were no railroads or airplanes that we use today. Water transportation is the fastest and most convenient mode of transportation. In the absence of water transportation, the grain consumed on the road from the south of the Yangtze River to Guanzhong and then to the northern front line will probably be ten times the amount of grain that finally arrived. As soon as this canal was completed, the traffic loss dropped several times in an instant! In the long run, the benefits to the economy are immeasurable.
It was precisely because of these reasons that Yang Guang at that time would strongly advocate the construction of the Grand Canal. And later history proved that Yang Guang's crazy move did bring great benefits to future generations.
But the problem is that Yang Guang only sees the benefits of building the Grand Canal, but ignores the burden that the project brings to the country.
You know, the entire Grand Canal is nearly 1,800 kilometers long! Even today, if you want to build a canal of this scale, you need to mobilize the forces of the whole country to barely complete it. In the Sui Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, there were no such things as excavators and forklifts, and people had to dig with a shovel and shovel. This amount of work is undoubtedly a fantasy!
At that time, Yang Guang spent too much manpower on the ground in order to build the Grand Canal. In addition, several conquests of Goryeo have added a heavy burden to the already unsustainable national strength. Under this burden, ordinary people simply cannot survive. The desperate people will naturally end up on the road of uprising.
And the uprising of the people at the bottom eventually became the direct cause of the fall of the Sui Dynasty.
The imperial examination system has different meanings for different periods.
In our history books today, the imperial examination system is often equated with the Baguwen. As a result, in the eyes of many people, the imperial examination system has become the source of all evil that hinders people's ideological progress and the dross of ancient culture.
This statement cannot be considered wrong. Because in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, this was indeed the case. But if you move back thousands of years, at that time of the Sui Dynasty, the situation would be completely different!
Do you know how important the imperial examination system was to China at that time?
Before Yang Guang proposed the imperial examination system, the country at that time selected talents to become officials mainly through the so-called Jiupin Zhongzheng system. In this system, talents need to be recommended by some big local families before they can become officials. In the beginning, these families were still dominated by meritocracy. But soon everyone found out that this was actually the best means to consolidate the family's power. Because those talents from the low-level and humble backgrounds, in order to enter the court as officials, they have to rely on these families to exist. As a result, from the Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, the Central Plains has always been full of families. These families are often inherited for thousands of years, much longer than the time of a country and a dynasty.
The imperial examination system proposed by Yang Guang fundamentally changed this situation.
It doesn't matter if you have a recommendation or not, no matter what your background is, anyway, as long as you can pass the exam organized by the state.
The emergence of the imperial examination system also strengthened the supremacy of imperial power. After all, in the imperial examination, everyone tests respect for imperial power. Therefore, after the emergence of the imperial examination system, the later history of China began to be dominated by the Great Unification Dynasty. In a certain sense, the imperial examination system has made an outstanding contribution to the maintenance of the unity of our country!
But at the same time, the emergence of the imperial examination system also completely broke the control of those gate valve families on the way to the advancement of the world. Compared with wealth, land and even official positions, this power of recommendation is actually the most fundamental foundation of those great families.
After Yang Guang proposed the imperial examination system, it was tantamount to shaking the foundation of the existence of these great families, and it was naturally impossible to get the support of these families, but it would make them disgusted and hateful.
When Emperor Wen of Sui forced the Northern Zhou Emperor to take the throne and established the Sui Dynasty, he was actually the capital of Chang'an. But after Yang Guang ascended the throne, he first moved the capital to Luoyang, and later wanted to move to Jiangdu.
The reason why Yang Guang moved the capital can be written in 100,000 words. However, the most important of these is undoubtedly to get rid of the restrictions of the traditional Guanlong aristocracy on imperial power.
If you want to talk about this matter, you have to talk about the history before the founding of the Sui Dynasty.
Everyone knows that during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was a period of time when the north was ruled by the Northern Wei Dynasty. Later, the Northern Wei Dynasty became the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty. On the side of the Western Wei Dynasty, in order to thank several heroes who supported him, the emperor made them the Shangzhu State. Because a total of eight people were sealed at that time, it was also called the Eight Pillars Kingdom in later generations.
With these eight people being sealed, below them, there are a large number of people who have also been added to the rank of knight. This group of people has one thing in common, that is, their homes are basically in the Guanlong area. Therefore, the descendants of these people are called the Guanlong aristocratic group.
Later, the Western Wei Dynasty was usurped by the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the Northern Zhou Dynasty was usurped by the Sui Dynasty. Although on the bright side, three surnames have been changed. But in fact, it is always this group of Guan Long families who are at the highest level of power. By the time of the Sui Dynasty, although the emperor was replaced by the Yang family, the group of ministers below was actually not much different from the time of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Later, although the Sui Dynasty unified the world, the scope of its jurisdiction was not only limited to Guanzhong, but these people still occupied an absolute advantage in the upper echelons of the Sui Dynasty.
Therefore, although Yang Guang became the emperor, his decision was still constrained by these Guanlong families. After all, most of his ministers are these people. And Yang Guang wants to move the capital to Luoyang, and even Jiangdu. To a large extent, it is also because of this. Because the Guanlong family is basically all in Guanzhong, as long as Yang Guang moves the capital out of Guanzhong, the constraints of these families on him will naturally become smaller.
However, Yang Guang can see this, and those Guan Long families are not stupid, so they can naturally see this.
Since Yang Guang wants to move the capital, he will inevitably lose the support of these Guan Long families. So, in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, after Li Yuan raised troops from Taiyuan, these Guanlong families began to support Li Yuan one after another. This is also the reason why Li Yuan was able to quickly unify the Guanzhong region in just one year after he raised troops from Taiyuan.
The construction of the Grand Canal and the expedition to Goryeo completely exhausted the national strength of the Sui Dynasty and offended the people at the bottom; created the imperial examination system, which offended those thousand-year-old families; Moved the capital to Luoyang, offending the traditional Guanlong military aristocracy. After Yang Guang did these three things, it was equivalent to offending everyone, and no one would really support him. At this time, Yang Guang had become a loner in the real sense. Since the Sui Dynasty perished, it is naturally not surprising.
**10,000 Fans Incentive Plan