Introduction: After experiencing the political storm that swept the world in the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Wuhu Rebellion in which the extinction of the dead race was close at hand, and the long-term confrontation between the north and the south... More than three hundred years of turmoil and more than three hundred years of catastrophe finally ushered in a turning point after the establishment of the Sui Dynasty.
The early death of Emperor Yuwen Yong of northern Zhou gave Yang Jian the opportunity to stand on his own behalf of Zhou. This was a renewal of the highest power within the Guanlong nobility, Yang Jian's father was one of the twelve generals, and the Duke of Northern Zhou was one of the top nobles of Northern Zhou. A major feature of the Northern Dynasty is that the blood of the Hu people flows in the body, so many years of Hu and Han blending, not only the living customs and living habits are changing, but the bloodline genes are also changing.
Emperor Yuwen of the Northern Zhou Dynasty
The more handsome men and women in the Southern and Northern Dynasties must also have genetic factors, the greater the genetic difference, the better the appearance of the children born, the IQ will be significantly improved. The Guanlong aristocratic clique on which the Northern Zhou Dynasty was founded was mainly a group of warriors, and Hu and Han intermarried with each other, and they grew up with each other. Such an influential political collective cannot be ignored by anyone.
Yang Jian's self-reliance on behalf of Zhou is essentially also the political demand of the Guanlong clique, when the Northern Zhou Jing Emperor succeeded to the throne, he was only a child, and it was difficult to lead the Guanlong clique towards a greater goal, and compared with the huge interests of the Guanlong clique, the Northern Zhou Jingdi could not balance the demands of all parties. In this regard, Yang Jian's self-reliance at least reduced the resistance from the Guan Long Group.
Moreover, judging from Yang Jian's later reliance on the Guanlong clique, perhaps it is precisely because Yang Jian's position of power is somewhat unjustified, so he has to consolidate his rule by co-opting the Guanlong clique. However, this also gave Yang Jian's latecomers a great challenge, and Yang Guang spent his whole life struggling with the huge Guan Long clique. But that's all a story.
Back to the Sui Dynasty and the destruction of Southern Chen, the Sui Dynasty completed the unification of the north and the south, and the country that took over was actually a very rich and stable country: although the north had been in war for many years, development was also the main theme of Northern Zhou and Northern Qi, and after the fall of Northern Zhou and Northern Qi, several years of recuperation were carried out, and the northern waste needed to be replenished. At this time, Yang Jian's army crossed the Yangtze River and destroyed the Chen Kingdom, and the rich land of Jiangnan can be said to be effortless. You know, before Chen Shubao, the emperors of Chen Guo were very frugal and accumulated a lot of wealth for Chen Guo, all of which also became the wealth of the Sui Dynasty.
Map of the Sui Dynasty
Emperor Wen of Sui has a characteristic in history that is also very famous, frugality. The so-called upward and downward effects, in fact, many times the emperor is shrouded in an idol aura in the eyes of the people, the monarch and the subject, the father and the son, the old father dangling in front of the eyes every day, but the emperor is not so easy to see, alienation makes the people have a sense of mystery. There is another little story about this mystery:
The two peasant women chatted idly on the ridge of the field, and began to imagine what kind of life the emperor and the empress were living: the two of them must have endless flapjacks, sauce and green onions, and maybe added fat to the pancakes. The clothes worn by the empress dowager must have been very good linen, and the embroidered bandages may still be covered with gold leaf. His Majesty the Emperor is even more remarkable, perhaps even the hoe is made of golden ivory. When both of them thought about the depths, they both felt that the emperor and the empress were too honorable.
Therefore, in the ancient society with poor information, there was a gap between the rule of the king and the rule of the people, so the people would unconsciously imitate the behavior of the king and become a trend. Emperor Wen of Sui advocated frugality, so frugality became the norm at the top of the imperial court and between the countryside.
Emperor Yang Jian of Sui
However, the formation of this atmosphere must be mixed with sand, sand comes from the officials in the imperial court, although Emperor Wen advocated frugality, there will certainly be some officials in the imperial court who are deliberately frugal in order to flatter Emperor Wen, but they are secretly corrupt and corrupt, fish and meat people. Therefore, it is very necessary to rectify the rule of officials, and the black sheep among the officials are the moths of the country, and after the country is stabilized, these people become the greatest scourge.
Emperor Wen of Sui once sent people to inspect the fifty-two prefectures of Hebei, dismissed more than 200 corrupt officials and officials, and cut down three-tenths of the local redundant personnel. Perhaps emperor Wen's policy is only a superficial formal project, but in fact, this measure is very necessary. Where did the official's feng lu come from? From the Treasury. Where does the treasury's money come from? From the folk. Everyone understands, in fact, this is the relationship between wool and sheep, wool is out of the sheep, the number of officials must be controlled in a reasonable number, the number of officials is more, the number of people who take money is more, the number of people who provide money is less, and the financial damage to the country is extremely great.
Emperor Wen of Sui rectified the rule of officials
Emperor Wen's reign was not much like that of a founding monarch, with benevolence as the main and leniency as the basis. The emperor who fights the world should be said to be the peak of a dynasty's martial arts, and the emperor who has led the army is used to use the methods of solving problems in the army to solve political problems, so he is very decisive and even appears to be a little fierce. However, Yang Jian's nickname is not a title that mainly shows off martial arts.
He simplified the criminal law, removed many of the tortures left over from the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and formulated the Sui Law, which became the most important source of reference for the Tang Dynasty to formulate the Tang Law. This is a manifestation of Benevolence. Emperor Wen of Sui was benevolent not only to the people of the country, but also to the peoples of the steppe.
The greatest enemy of the unified Sui Dynasty regime was the Turks in the north, and in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Turks used their powerful military strength and wind-like tactics to invade Northern Zhou and Northern Qi from time to time. After Emperor Wen of Sui unified the world, he sent troops to attack the Turks. But this was not a once-and-for-all solution, and he did not drive the Turks away from their homeland like Emperor Wu of han. After all, Emperor Wen of Sui also had the blood of the Hu people flowing through his body, and he did not hate the steppe people as much as Emperor Wu of Han.
Steppe peoples
Therefore, after attacking the Turks, Emperor Wen of Sui did not kill them all, and after showing off the powerful military strength of the Heavenly Dynasty, he carried out a strategy of divisive differentiation within the Turks, anyway, carrots and sticks, threats and inducements, so that the Turks split into east and west, and the Sui Dynasty continued to obstruct in them, resulting in continuous struggle between the two Turkic tribes and the inability to invade the Sui Dynasty border. Emperor Wen of Sui was also revered by other ethnic minorities for these means as "Saint Khans", which can be described as a great honor.
Conclusion: Therefore, the Sui Dynasty ushered in a relatively peaceful and rare period of development, during which the politics were clear, the private production was restored, the population was greatly increased, and the national treasury was full, which was quite the prosperous style of the rule of Wenjing in that year. This period, known as the "reign of the Kai Emperor", was the most prosperous period since the Eastern Han Dynasty, after which it took the Tang Dynasty decades to catch up with the achievements of the Sui Dynasty at this time.