In 581 AD, the Sui Dynasty was established. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian worked tirelessly for this emerging country. In the ninth year of Kaihuang's reign, the Sui Dynasty destroyed Nanchen and unified the country. In the same year, Ryukyu Islands surrendered, and the Turkic Khan respected Yang Jian as the Holy Khan of Heaven, expressing his willingness to become a vassal, submit to him forever, and be a pilgrim for thousands of generations. In order to consolidate unification, Yang Jian established a new system, including central and local political systems, taxation, land systems, laws, coins, foreign relations, etc., and carried out a series of reforms and innovations, and developed many significances. The far-reaching system has created a new situation for a generation. Therefore, under the leadership of Yang Jian, it gradually moved towards prosperity and created a veritable prosperous situation. The founding emperor's rule, just when the people thought that the years of war had completely ended and a new century of peace was about to usher in, the emergence of Emperor Yang of Sui Yang Guang completely broke everything.
In 604 AD, Yang Guang ascended the throne and changed the reign name to Daye. From the reign name, we can see that Yang Guang was by no means a conservative king who was content with his duties, but a promising leader who was determined to make achievements and expand territory. In fact, Yang Guang did many major things and achieved certain achievements after taking power. But before giving an exact evaluation, we still need to have a more objective and rational standard, that is, what impact did Emperor Sui Yang’s actions during his reign have on contemporary and even future generations, so as to examine Sui Yang What kind of monarch is the emperor? Rather than simply saying that his merits are greater than his faults or his faults are greater than his merits, it is even inappropriate to use words such as faint king and holy lord to sum it up.
Building the Eastern Capital of Luoyang, about the motivation for building the Eastern Capital. The most unreliable statement is naturally to go on a tour to admire the moon. As the king of a country, you must consider the overall situation and stand at a certain height in order to make reasonable decisions. The "Edict to Build the Eastern Capital" written by Yangdi has given very clear reasons. Luoyang has a dangerous terrain, controlled by three rivers and surrounded by fortresses. Its location is moderate, making it easy to maneuver troops to Shandong, Jiangzuo, and Huaihai. In the tenth year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty, rebellions broke out in many places in the hometown of Chen State, which had just been pacified. Prefectures and counties were captured and Sui officials were killed. Renshou In the fourth year of Renshou, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty had just died of illness, and Han King Yang Liang started a rebellion in Bingzhou . During the process of countering the rebellion, due to the remoteness of Nanfu and Yin Dynasty in the Eastern Xia Dynasty, Emperor Yang felt deeply that the Guanhe River was far away and his troops were not in urgent need. In addition, after Yang Liang was executed for his rebellion, he moved to Bingzhou and returned to Henan. He was in urgent need of Increase control. Therefore, Emperor Yang believed that it was necessary to follow the opportunity and build the eastern capital of Luoyang. In addition, the construction of Luoyang was considered in connection with the construction of canals from the beginning. In March of the first year of Daye, Emperor Yang ordered Yang Su and others to build Tokyo. In the same month, he set off for Henan, and men from all counties in Huaibei opened Jicanal, only four or five days apart.
It can be seen that the construction of the Eastern Capital was by no means a whim of Emperor Yang, but was planned in accordance with the actual political and economic needs of the time, together with the construction of the canal and other huge projects related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and to suit the situation. In other words, the construction of Dongdu was a purely political act, not a personal act. However, what did the construction of the Eastern Capital bring to the people at that time? In the first year of Daye, Emperor Yang first built the Eastern Capital, and served more than 2 million people every month. The service was urgent, and only fourteen or five people died due to stiffness. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the consequences of the massive construction projects during the Daye years. In addition, they also led the Luo River to the Huaihe River, and the Qinshui River to the Hebei Province, leading to Zhuo County. They built the Great Wall of China for more than a thousand miles from east to west, and recruited more than a million people. There were not enough men to fill them. Women worked part-time, and most of the dead died, and so on.
The excavation of the Grand Canal . As a water transportation artery, the Grand Canal is politically conducive to the connection between the east capital and the north and south, strengthening its control over the country. Economically, it connects the two major economic zones of Guanzhong in the north and the Yangtze River in the south, promoting the development of a unified economy. , militarily, it helps to mobilize troops and transport grain and grass. From the perspective of the emperor's enjoyment, it was also conducive to Emperor Sui Yang's tour.Therefore, even if Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal out of his own arrogance and extravagance, its impact would be to bring eternal benefits to future generations. He can be said to be an unkind but meritorious person. The Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty was the basis for the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal built in the Yuan Dynasty. It connected the five major water systems of the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Haihe River and Qiantang River, forming a north-south transportation system. The main artery of the country, according to historical records: business travels back and forth, there are endless boat rides, and ignorance lasts forever. The Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty is a typical example of a crime that is a crime for the present but a benefit for the future. But the cost of digging the Grand Canal was also huge. The Ji Canal was opened, and more than 1 million people from the counties in Huaibei were expropriated. The Qigou was opened, and more than 100,000 people from Huainan were expropriated. The Yongji Canal was opened, and more than 1 million residents of Hebei were expropriated. Countless people died.
It seems that in the eyes of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, the lives of the people were like grass and grass, which could be crushed and thrown away at will. In addition, he lived an extremely luxurious life, and the serious abuse of people's power had reached an unprecedented level. He travels east and west, often attracting hundreds of thousands of people from his palace. Everywhere he goes, he is treated to delicacies from all over the world, both land and water. Xia Fang's delicacies must be found in the kitchen. He built ceremonial guards in a grand manner, served more than 100,000 people, and spent billions of dollars in gold and silver. He envied the treasures in Huzhong and persuaded people to go to court with generous profits. The prefectures and counties they passed through were tired of seeing and welcoming them, and tens of millions were wasted. All these are caused by the efforts to plunder the people's fat and the people's anointing, which eventually leads to the boiling of public resentment and the misery of the people.
senseless military adventure: three expeditions to Goguryeo . Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty had actually planned the expedition to Goguryeo for a long time. As early as August of the third year of Daye, Emperor Yang told the Korean envoy in the tent of Qimin Khan in Turk that he had returned to your lord and came to see him early. Otherwise, Qimin and I would patrol the country. In the fourth year, Emperor Yang sent troops to all counties, with more than a million men and women, opened the Yongji Canal, diverted the Qinshui River to the south and reached Zhuojun in the north, and transported war supplies to Zhuojun.
html In February of the seventh year of the lunar calendar, Emperor Yangdi rode a dragon boat from Jiangdu and crossed the river into the Yongji Canal. In April, he arrived in Zhuojun, inspected local work, and inspected and arranged pre-war material preparations. In the fifth month, he ordered Henan, Huainan, and Jiangnan to build 50,000 military chariots and send them to Gaoyang to carry clothes, armor, and curtains. In July, people from the south of the Huai River and ships from the Liyang and Luokou warehouses transported rice to Hun County from the Yangtze River. In the first month of the eighth year, the army gathered in Zhuo County, and then an edict was issued to attack Goryeo. But even so, why do we still say that the three expeditions to Goguryeo were a meaningless military adventure? Judging from the motivation for launching the war, Emperor Sui Yang's reason for going to war was because the other party was harassing the border, colluding with the Turks, doing evil, etc. To put it simply, Emperor Sui Yang regarded Goguryeo as a hidden danger to national security. The more rational approach to this should be to caress mainly and hit as a supplement. Because Goguryeo is a mature and stable regime that has been established for a long time, which is fundamentally different from ordinary nomads, and even the later powerful Tang Dynasty took more than 20 years to completely eliminate Gaogouli, so I think The possibility of establishing an eternal legacy in one battle is actually very slim.
But what did Emperor Yang of Sui do? He carried out nationwide mobilization before the war, with missions from Lingnan to Zhuojun. He concentrated more than 1 million troops, manufactured countless military equipment, recruited millions of civilians, and ensured logistics. More than 5 million people participated directly and indirectly in the war. It can be said that Move out in full force. On the battlefield, in order to monopolize fame, all actions must be reported to him for instructions. The Goguryeo army used the city to hold on, constantly eroding the morale of the Sui army, luring the enemy deep and waiting for opportunities to counterattack. As a result, the Goguryeo army was defeated and returned. This was an unprecedented decisive battle failure. Not only did the troops at the front suffer huge losses, but millions of civilians in the rear who were responsible for logistics work also died countless times, and the loss of property was also staggering. According to historical records, in the eighth year of the Great Cause, the army marched to Gaoli, with a total of 1,133,800 troops and a number of 2 million. The number of troops sent was doubled, and most of them did not return. It can be said that the remote Gaojuli became a bottomless pit that quickly buried the Sui Dynasty. The losses in one expedition were already so great. What is terrible is that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty also conducted a second and third expedition in the future, frantically Consuming its own national power, it eventually pushed the Sui Dynasty to the brink of collapse.
Whether it is the three expeditions to Gaojuli, the construction of Dongjun , or the two repairs of the Great Wall, and shipbuilding and parades, they are all based on squeezing the people. Sadly, some academic circles believe that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty had extraordinary ambitions and tried to pursue Emperor Qin and Han Dynasty and achieve unparalleled achievements. There are not many emperors in Chinese history who were as ambitious as Emperor Yang of Sui and wanted to do great things. Others dared not do it, or even dare to think about it. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was so cruel that he put everything into historical facts at once. People who can hold such views are either in the powerful class and have not and will not understand the suffering of the people. Marx once said that only people with no historical knowledge do not know that monarchs have to obey economic conditions at all times and can never give orders to economic conditions.
Therefore, the reason why most of Yang Guang’s political measures during his administration brought serious consequences was that he misjudged the domestic economic situation and the people’s affordability, and only focused on realizing his own ambitions, which caused thousands of consequences. Thousand pear trees are ignored. Therefore, even if it is a correct decision, it requires comprehensive consideration, reasonable planning, and steady implementation in terms of time, scale, severity of disturbance to the people, and priority of the sequence. And his so-called complacency and grand plans can only lead to the tragic ending of boiling public dissatisfaction, repeated rebellions, and embarrassment on all sides.
