Yang Jian’s portrait
Sui Dynasty was established in 581. The emperor of Northern Zhou Dynasty abdicated in Yang Jian and changed the country’s name to Sui. Eight years later, in 589, Yang Jian destroyed the Chen Dynasty and unify the world.
Emperor Wen of Sui was wise and powerful, and he was also well received in China's history. He once created a prosperous era, known in history as " Kaihuang's Governance ". But such a wise emperor was wrong again and again in his later years. So what did he do?
The wise emperor's thoughts on the destruction of the country
Emperor Wen of Sui had a good way of governing the country. After the unification, he did not seek pleasure. He still worked hard to govern and worked diligently to maintain the country. He also announced the implementation of the three provinces and six ministries system. During the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the people had experienced wars and lived a miserable life.
Therefore, Yang Jian accepted the proposal of the Sui Dynasty prime minister Su Wei , and repeatedly reduced taxes and implemented the equal-field system across the country, which means establishing ownership of the land and giving it to the people for farming, and the land is owned by the state.
This move greatly promoted the agricultural development at that time, played a decisive role in economic recovery, and was also very helpful in restoring people's livelihood and improving national strength.
During this period, he also adopted the opinions of Shangshu Gaobing and unified the implementation of the household registration login system across the country, which not only stabilized the situation in the Sui Dynasty, but also improved the national strength level at that time, and also solved the hidden dangers of "black households" left by the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Emperor Wen of Sui was not harsh on the people. During his reign, he implemented new laws, which reduced a lot of severe torture, and also proved his tolerance to the people during the founding of the Sui Dynasty.
He built a large-scale construction, punished corrupt officials, reformed money, and as the emperor, his life was also very thrifty.
Under the leadership of Emperor Wen of Sui, the country was peaceful, the people praised him endlessly, and even the nations outside the border respected him very much.
But such a wise emperor changed his appearance in his later years. Once he ordered the construction of Shouren Palace and appointed Yang Su as the supervisor of the founder. Although Yang Su is an outstanding man in war and outstanding person, his character is not very good.
During the construction period, due to its large scale and tight time, tens of thousands of civilians were killed and injured. From the 13th to the 15th year of Kaihuang, a luxurious and magnificent palace was built in two years.
Yang Su originally thought he would receive a great reward, but when Yang Jian saw it, he was furious and scolded Yang Su. Emperor Wen of Sui meant: "You killed and injured countless civil servants in order to build this palace. Didn't this make me offend the whole world!"
After hearing this, Yang Su called him damn, afraid that he would be punished, so he ran to Queen Dugu to plead with mercy. Queen Dugu was favored by Yang Jian, so she expressed her satisfaction with the palace and made suggestions to Yang Jian and said a lot of good things about Yang Su.
After Emperor Wen of Sui learned about it, he immediately changed his attitude and rewarded Yang Su the next day. Since then, he has been favored by Yang Su for a while.
In his later years, Emperor Wen of Sui began to believe in slander and often suspected people. He once reached a very harsh level and killed many famous and meritorious officials.
and also abolished the loose law he established at that time. The revised law was even more harsh. Even if it was a thief, it would be executed.
In these incidents, of course, Yang Su's "credit" is indispensable. He once harmed many loyal and kind-hearted people. Yang Su also did something sorry for Yang Jian, who favored him very much.
In addition to Yang Su, Empress Dugu has also made a lot of "contributions" to it. Yang Jian's feelings for Empress Dugu are also rare in history, and he is a famous "fear of the inner emperor".
His feelings for his wife can be said to be very deep. No matter how stupid she was in her later years, she never hurt Queen Dugu. However, from an objective perspective, Yang Jian was almost ruined by Queen Dugu.
In fact, Yang Jian, who was wise and powerful in his early years, lost his appearance as a wise ruler in his later years, did not take any serious measures to harm the country.Until he had the idea of abolishing the crown prince, this also laid the root of disaster for the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
Emperor Wen of Sui looked for the accomplice
The crown prince was the future crown prince. Emperor Wen of Sui in his later years was very disliked the crown prince Yang Yong . However, he did not hate Yang Yong's behavior, but felt that Yang Yong liked a luxurious decorative life.
Because Yang Jian advocated frugality in his early years. Although Yang Yong never wasted extravagance, his gorgeous decorations really made Yang Jian unable to like them.
Prince Yang Yong is straightforward and generous to others. He is not a very bad royal darling, but this is not the main reason why Yang Jian wants to depose the crown prince.
Speaking of which, the root cause is actually still in Queen Dugu. At that time, King of Jin Yang Guang saw the hope of succeeding the crown prince. He flattered Queen Dugu in the harem and tried hard to please the queen of her mother.
When he learned that Empress Dugu admired the infatuated man, he pretended to be infatuated, and there was only one Concubine Xiao next to him. This really attracted the love of Queen Dugu and she favored Yang Guang very much.
It was also at this time that Yang Guang began to slander the side of Queen Dugu and say bad things about Prince Yang Yong.
, especially Yang Yong's princess, died unknown because he did not please the prince. Empress Dugu once suspected that Yang Yong loved his concubine and murdered the princess, so she became even more disgusted with Yang Yong.
It can be said that Yang Yong is the best sons of Emperor Wen of Sui. Perhaps because Yang Jian favors Queen Dugu alone, she attaches great importance to this issue.
There is also an interesting story between this "Fearing the Inner Emperor" and Queen Dugu. In his later years, Yang Jian wanted to find a few beauties, but he was afraid that Queen Dugu would be angry.
So, he thought of a way and deliberately favored a maid named Yuchi around him. This girl was also miserable enough. The emperor just used her.
After Queen Dugu learned about it, she was indeed very angry and directly caught Yuchi. In anger, she directly killed the woman that the emperor favored.
This practice of course aroused the anger of Emperor Wen of Sui. According to normal thinking, the emperor would definitely get angry with Empress Dugu. Unexpectedly, Yang Jian, who was angry, ran away from home on a fast horse.
When the court officials learned about this, they were shocked. All parties sent troops to search for the emperor and met Yang Jian halfway. The important ministers tried hard to persuade each other, and finally Gao Jin said: "Why is Your Majesty the world because of a woman?"
This Gao Jin was the person who proposed the household registration system at the time. He was a famous minister of the Sui Dynasty, but because of his words, he also led to his miserable future life.
The emperor was persuaded to go back. When Empress Dugu learned that Gao Yang had called her a woman, she often said bad things about Gao Yang in Yang Jian's ear.
Although Yang Jian did not kill Gao Yang, he still believed in slander and demoted Gao Yang to a civilian. Even so, he did not escape death. A generation of famous officials finally died at the hands of Yang Guang.
Although Queen Dugu killed a palace maid with a miserable fate, this did not affect Yang Jian's feelings for him.
Although there were conflicts with each other, before Yang Jian died, he was still missing his late Queen Dugu, which also proved the sincere relationship between the two.
From this we can also see how much Yang Jian listened to "wife". Therefore, when she heard Queen Dugu say a lot of bad things about Yang Yong, Yang Jian wanted to depose the crown prince Yang Yong.
But he was in a difficult situation. The move to abolish the elders and establish the young people will inevitably cause turmoil in the situation. At this time, Yang Guang had a sudden idea and wanted to find a minister and calculate the future of the princes.
Yang Jian is very convinced of this deduction of the secret, but he doesn't know that at this time, countless people inside and outside the palace had been bribed by Yang Guang. It can be said that the emperor's every move was under Yang Guang's surveillance.
This move made Yang Guang feel that it was an opportunity. He bribed all the olympics, and almost every olympics were saying good things about Yang Guang, and he would be the most promising child in the future.
However, there was a monk who did not talk about Yang Guang's benefits. His name was Zhang Qiu Taiyi. He learned a lot from childhood and was called a child prodigy.
Chapter 0 Qiu Taiyi actually admires Yang Yong more because he does have real talents and knowledge and knows who is more suitable to be the prince. However, at this time, he was forced by the current situation and did not say anything good to Yang Yong.
Based on this, this has almost laid the foundation for Yang Guang's determination to abolish the eldest son, but he also wanted to consider his sons.
Wrong choice
Not long after, Yang Jian suddenly visited Yang Guang's home and wanted to have a "raid inspection", but Yang Guang had already learned what the emperor was coming, so he made all arrangements in advance.
He arranged Yang Guang's arrival and pretended to be reading books at home. He was also very frugal inside and outside the mansion, and many dusty musical instruments were placed in the courtyard. Yang Jian highly praised Yang Guang's actions.
But he still wanted to see how Yang Yong is now, but he made another confused decision. He asked the highly favored Yang Su to investigate Yang Yong. Yang Su had become Yang Guang's person a few years ago, so how could he say good things to Yang Yong?
When he came back to report, Yang Su added fuel to the fire and poured dirty water on Yang Yong's body. Sure enough, Yang Guang was very angry when he learned about it, and immediately issued an order to abolish Yang Yong and make Yang Guang the crown prince.
He was still a little nervous about this decision. When he issued this decree, the court almost always praised the voices of praise, and he was praising Emperor Wen of Sui for a while. Yang Jian was also very satisfied with the decision he made and was very happy for a moment.
After Yang Guang became the crown prince, his next step was naturally to take a fancy to the emperor's position. He deliberately continued to maintain the appearance of a good crown prince.
It was not until 604 AD that things had taken a turn for the better. At this time, Yang Guang was already the crown prince, and almost everyone treated him as the next emperor.
During this year, Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian wanted to live in Renshou Palace . After the famous prime minister Zhang Qiu Taiyi learned about it, he repeatedly dissuaded him, regardless of Yang Jian's anger, and stopped him from moving to Renshou Palace.
Yang Jian was furious and ordered Zhang Qiu Taiyi to be sent to prison, saying: "Look, when I came back, I killed you first!"
Zhang Qiu Taiyi's words were very sincere. Yang Jian naturally refused to listen to such unpleasant and honest words. Zhang Qiu Taiyi's meaning was roughly: "As a subject, I cannot tell the truth. I am afraid that the emperor will never come back again when he goes!"
As a result, Yang Jian was ill as soon as he arrived at Renshou Palace. He immediately understood the intention of Zhang Qiu Taiyi to stop him, so he ordered Yang Guang to tell him that he would release Zhang Qiu Taiyi from the future.
When Yang Guang learned that Yang Jian was seriously ill, he began to gradually become dissatisfied. After Empress Dugu passed away, one of the two people Yang Jian loved the most was Mrs. Xuanhua.
One day at dawn, Mrs. Xuanhua went out to change clothes, and was seen by Yang Guang, and Yang Guang immediately became evil.
As the future emperor, he wanted to force Mrs. Xuanhua . Mrs. Xuanhua tried his best to escape. At this time, Yang Guang almost no longer concealed his false behavior.
Xuanhua returned to Emperor Wen of Sui in a panic expression, and did not take the initiative to report what had happened just now. Yang Jian saw that he looked abnormal and asked: "But what happened?"
Mrs. Xuanhua no longer concealed it. She immediately lay on the ground and cried bitterly, saying: "The prince just wanted to be frivolous to me."
Yang Jian learned the cause and effect, and was stunned on the spot, as if he had figured out a lot of things. He was so angry that he smashed the head of the bed hard and shouted: "I saw the wrong person. How could I pass the emperor's position to this beast! Queen Dugu harmed me!"
So, Yang Jian called two confidants who had nothing to do with Yang Guang, Liu Shu and Yuan Yan, and told them: "Call my son right away."
Liu Shu agreed, "I'll call Yang Guang now.""
Yang Jian hurriedly spoke to stop him: "I want to call Yang Yong, I want to pass the emperor's position to him! "
The two were shocked and hurriedly acted according to Yang Jian's plan. Unexpectedly, the two of them were just about to complete the emperor's mission. The news was learned by Yang Su, and Yang Su was not grateful for Yang Jian's kindness to him.
Instead, he immediately told Yang Guang the news. Yang Guang was shocked when he heard this. He knew that it would be too late to do anything if he didn't take action at this time. So Yang Guang faked the imperial edict and immediately arrested Liu Shu and Yuan Yan and were imprisoned.
and led the troops to surround Renshou Palace and replaced everyone, saying that it was the prince's filial piety and defending his father. Yang Jian was completely supervised by Yang Guang.
Shortly afterwards, Yang Jian died in the Grand Palace. Yang Guang, a foolish monarch, succeeded to the throne of the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty also completely embarked on the road of decline.
There has never been much discussion about Yang Jian's bizarre death, and the real cause of his death is difficult to confirm.
However, one thing can be confirmed, that is, the incompetence of Emperor Wen of Sui in his later years led to the tragic ending of the Sui Dynasty and also the tragic ending of his life.
The end of a generation of wise monarchs is miserable. Looking at history, perhaps it was Empress Dugu who misled him, the treacherous minister Yang Su flattered him, and his son Yang Guang deceived him. In the final analysis, it was him who killed him. In fact, he was himself.
