Logically, such a dynasty that was bombed at the beginning should have lasted for hundreds of years. How could it be that it would have perished China after only 37 years of reign of the second generation?

In 581 AD, The Sui Dynasty was established, and Yang Jian became the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty. Eight years later, his second son, Yang Guang, led his army to destroy the Southern Dynasty, and unify the Central Plains. Emperor Wen of Sui became the unified emperor. During the founding period of the Sui Dynasty, in-depth reforms were carried out, which caused China's population to surge, warehousing, developed economy, strong national strength, and unprecedented prosperity in society. This is the famous " Kaihuang Governance ". According to later statistics, the heyday of the Kaihuang rule was far beyond the Zhenguan rule of the Tang Dynasty, and was equivalent to the prosperous period of Kaiyuan. Emperor Wen of Sui Yang Jian was also known as the wise ruler of the ages. Logically, such a dynasty that was bombed at the beginning should have lasted for hundreds of years. How could it be that it would have perished China after only 37 years of reign of the second generation?

If you want to figure out this, you have to start with the aristocratic class of the Southern and Northern Dynasties who control the world. In the Sui Dynasty, which looked powerful, could Yang Jian really have full control? The answer is no. At the beginning of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the trend of the aristocratic families in the Central Plains began to prevail and lasted for hundreds of years. They have great power, monopolizing the entire bureaucratic system and mastering most of the social resources. After the Sui Dynasty unified the world, the aristocratic forces still controlled the court, especially the former Guanlong Group of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, wantonly discriminated against and excluded the people in the southern region. They had large tracts of their own private land and large numbers of private armies, like small kingdoms, and the Sui Dynasty was like a bulk country that was only formally unified. Therefore, Yang Jian understood that to consolidate the throne, he must get rid of , and strengthen centralization.

However, the aristocratic families have been rooted in this land for hundreds of years. It is too difficult to force it to be removed, and if you are not careful, it will cause a backlash effect. So how should Yang Jian deal with them? Emperor Wen of Sui was an extremely smart politician and could only take a series of reform measures to slowly dismantle their power from within.

First of all, political system reformed . He abolished the long-standing ninth-rank Zhongzheng system and changed it to the five provinces and six ministries system. 9th rank Zhongzheng, a system that only looks at the identity and bloodline of the gentry and not the ability, dilutes and disperses the power of the centralized gentry of the aristocratic families once reformed. Secondly, in the reform of talent selection methods, Yang Jian created the imperial examination system for the first time, giving the majority of poor children the opportunity to pass the exam to achieve a counterattack and enter the center of power, further suppressing the power of the aristocratic clans in the ruling class. In addition, in the reform of the land system, Yang Jiandeng implemented the "equal land system" to encourage the people to farm and have their own land. The people fled from the clans and farmed for themselves, liberating their productivity. Finally, Yang Jian implemented the " government soldier system ", which means recruiting soldiers nationwide, and weakening the combat effectiveness of private soldiers of the aristocratic families.

These reforms undoubtedly violated the fundamental interests of the aristocratic families. In the late period of Emperor Wen of Sui, some aristocratic forces began to rise up and resist. However, the country was prosperous and the people were prosperous at that time, and the rebellion had no mass base, so there was no stir, but the seeds of the demise of the Sui Dynasty were planted. In 604 AD, Emperor Wen of Sui passed away, and his second son Yang Guang inherited the throne, which was the Emperor Yang of Sui . If Yang Guang took over an extremely wealthy and powerful country, how did he play a good deck of cards so that it eventually led to the destruction of the country?

Let’s talk about Yang Guang first. Many people in later generations think that Yang Guang is debauchery and extravagant, addicted to alcohol and sex every day, and ignores the government. He is a foolish monarch, but the actual situation may be the opposite. Yang Guang is not only not a foolish monarch, but also a capable monarch with a strong career. To find out whether he is a foolish monarch can be reflected in several major things he has done. First, he built the Grand Canal , which not only connected Luoyang and Jiangdu (now near Yangzhou, Jiangsu), making communication more convenient for people from the north and the south.It also increased the population movement, further restricted the concentration of the clan power, and avoided the recurrence of the situation of the separation of the Southern and Northern Dynasties; second, the construction of the East Palace in Luoyang was built to create a large number of elites who could move eastward. Yang Guang intended to disperse the number of Guanlong gentry groups in Chang'an and performed an extremely high balance technique; third, , three strife of Goguryeo , Yang Guang was to show the strong national defense and military capabilities of the Sui Dynasty, hoping to regain the northern ethnic minority areas and achieve true national unification. Just looking at these things are great things that benefit the country and the people and will be rewarded for the future. Indirectly, Emperor Yang of Sui was an emperor who wanted to do great things, and did not abandon the government.

Sui Yang Guang

Building the Grand Canal

Then the question arises again. Since such magnificent things have been done, why did Emperor Yang of Sui not bring the Sui Dynasty to the revival, but instead fall into a dangerous situation of destruction. This brings up Yang Guang's character and temper. Emperor Yang of Sui was a super-natured and very fond of merit, and he was too eager to succeed. If any of the major things mentioned above is to be done, it will take at least dozens or even hundreds of years, and it may not be completed well. But Yang Guang didn't believe in this evil, and he forced these major events to be solved at the same time in the shortest time. Let’s imagine that no matter how fat man can eat, he will not be able to eat fifty meals a day. If he choked, he would only be able to be suffocated to death. At this time, the Sui Dynasty might be in the same situation as the fat man, and he was on the verge of suffocating to death.

In order to achieve the established goal, Yang Guang must turn the well-run government system into a forced collection and tax. According to statistics, at that time, nearly 30 million people in the country were forced to work and military service to build canals and carry out projects. In the sixth year of Daye, the Sui Dynasty's treasury gradually became empty, the people were complaining, and the farmland gradually became deserted. The people couldn't stand it anymore and didn't want to do it anymore. Some peasant uprisings began to occur frequently. If Emperor Yang of Sui could stop at this time, and he would not be anxious. After a few years of self-cultivation, the Sui Dynasty might be able to recover. But Yang Guang's anxious temper is definitely not good. Besides, he has traveled back and forth between Luoyang and Jiangdu several times over the years to supervise the worker, thinking that I, the emperor, do what, you people, can sacrifice your life to make progress?

In the tenth year of Daye (614 AD), the Sui Dynasty finally reached the critical point of collapse, its national strength was seriously overdrawn, and there were many internal contradictions. At this time, Yang Guang actually hurriedly started the third conquest for Goguryeo , and the last straw was crushed. Originally, Emperor Wen of Sui only annoyed the upper class of the aristocratic sect, and the people of the lower class lived a wealthy life, so they supported him. But Emperor Yang of Sui was eager to achieve success and severely hit both the upper and lower classes and offended them all. When the upper and lower classes of a country collectively oppose the ruling class, there is no truth about this dynasty.

12th year of Daye (616 AD), Limi Wagang Army peasant uprising, and the peasant uprising in Dou Jiande, Hebei made the rule of the Sui Dynasty shaky. In the second year of Yining (618 AD), the gentry class within the Sui Dynasty rebelled, and Yu Wenhua, the leader of the Imperial Guard, launched a coup in Jiangdu, killing Emperor Yang Guang of Sui. In the same year, Duke of Tang, Li Yuan, Jinyang raised an army, and later occupied Chang'an, first made Yang Guang's grandson, Yang You, as emperor, and later abolished the young emperor, called himself the emperor, and the country was named Tang, staged a script like Yang Jian, and the Sui Dynasty officially perished.

It has to be said that the Sui Dynasty still made great contributions to the direction of Chinese history. Its solid reform laid a solid foundation for the subsequent prosperous Tang Dynasty. It really burned itself and illuminated the future.