In 581, Yang Jian, a chancellor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, deposed Zhou and established himself as emperor, with the title of Sui and Kai Huang of the year, and the historical title of Emperor Wen of Sui. During his reign, he worked hard to govern and diligently handle state affairs, and in 589 AD he attacked the State of Chen, ending the division and division that had lasted for more than three hundred years since the Two Jin Dynasties, re-establishing a unified feudal dynasty, establishing the imperial examination system, developing social economy, and enabling China to reach a new height of agricultural civilization. During the reign of the Emperor, the Sui Dynasty had a vast territory and a population of more than 7 million households, making it one of the most powerful countries in the world at that time.
Emperor Yang Jian of Sui
However, for thousands of years, there has been a saying that the Sui Emperor Yang Jian built Daxing City (Tang changed its name to Chang'an) because of a dream. Is it true that the generation of male lords who are so energetic and diligent is really so unreliable?
Let's travel through time and space together, explore the truth of history, and see if Emperor Wen of Sui is reliable in the end.
First, let's see if this dream in the legend really exists. What kind of dream did Emperor Wen of Sui have?
According to the Sui and Tang Jia Dialect, "Emperor Wen of Sui dreamed of flooding and destroying the city, and his intention was evil, but he moved the capital to Daxing." This passage is the source of Yang Jianyin's dream of building Daxing City. Some people think that the authenticity of this dream is debatable, but in my opinion, the authenticity of this dream is very high. This is because Chang'an is located on the south bank of the Wei River, the flood caused by the flooding of the Wei River has a real threat to Chang'an City, the Sui and Tang Dynasties is also the transition period of the climate in Guanzhong from cold to warm, the Water Hydrology of the Wei River is extremely unstable, and the threat of flooding to Chang'an is much greater than before. As the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, who worked hard and diligently to govern the country, because he was concerned about the safety of Chang'an City, he dreamed that the city was flooded and was normal, and he may have had such a dream more than once.
Therefore, it is very likely that this dream of Emperor Wen of Sui is real.
Second, let's see if Emperor Wen of Sui decided to build Daxing City because of this dream?
As the saying goes, there is no wind and no waves, since there is such a record in the "Sui tang jia dialect", it shows that the construction of the new capital in the Sui Dynasty is indeed related to this dream, because the relocation of the capital is very important, even the emperor can not make a decision alone, must get the consent of most courtiers and the support of the people to proceed smoothly. Emperor Wen of Sui decided to build Daxing City in the second year of his abolition of Zhou and his independence, and the forces opposed to him in the DPRK had not yet been eliminated, and the resistance to the construction of Daxing City was certainly not small, so he wanted to take this dream to talk about things and block the reasons for these people's opposition. As we said earlier, because of climate change, the WeiHe River should have more floods at this stage, and this dream may also be the common nightmare of the people of Chang'an, and he must also use this dream to arouse the people's collective fear of flooding the city, in order to obtain the greatest support from the ministers and the people, and smoothly promote his plan to build a new capital.
Floods flooded the city
Therefore, Emperor Wen of Sui built Daxing City because of this dream, and it is said that it is not and is not.
Why did I come to such a plausible conclusion, and then we will look at the real reason why Emperor Wen of Sui built Daxing City?
After a comprehensive analysis of the historical records, we can roughly determine the main reasons for the construction of Daxing City by Emperor Wen of Sui as follows:
First, the original Chang'an City was small and dilapidated, and it was not suitable for continuing to be the capital. Guanzhong since the ancient imperial land, from the seven years of Han Gaozu to the Sui Wen Emperor period, there have been Western Han, Xinmang, Western Jin, Former Zhao, Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Wei, Northern Zhou and other large and small dynasties to build the capital here, lasted for nearly 800 years, the war of dynastic succession caused great damage to this old city, by this time has been very withered, and the narrow shape is no longer suitable as the capital of the new dynasty. This point was made clear by Emperor Wen of Sui in his edict deciding to build daxing city: "... This city from the Han Dynasty, withered for a long time, repeatedly as a battlefield, the old war was mourned. The present palace is close to expediency, and it is not enough to build the emperor's throne,......。 Longshou Mountains and Rivers Are Beautiful, Huiwu Zhifu, Bu Food Xiang Tu, Yi Jian Du Yi, Ding Ding Zhi Ji Yong Gu, Infinite Karma in Si (Sui Shu Gao Zu Ji Shang).
Schematic map of Han Chang'an City
Second, the environmental pollution is serious and it is not suitable for living. Like modern people, the ancients also attached great importance to the living environment, after nearly 800 years of capital history, the cumulative population living in Chang'an is probably as high as hundreds of millions, and the accumulated domestic garbage is also quite large. As we all know, ancient cities did not have such a perfect garbage disposal system today, and the way to deal with domestic garbage is to bury or dump, especially domestic sewage is directly dumped in the drainage ditch or discharged into the seepage well after simple filtration. Everyone has seen the drainage ditch, and now the drainage ditch in some cities still emits an unpleasant smell and stench all year round. The seepage well is a sewage treatment system that has been used by human beings for thousands of years, simply put, it is to dig a relatively deep pit on the ground, the bottom of the pit is covered with stone, sand and other material filter layers, the hollow cover plate of the wellhead filters out the large volume of solid garbage, the sewage is filtered by the sand and stone at the bottom of the well, and naturally infiltrates into the underground aquifer, and the long-term accumulation will pollute the groundwater, resulting in chang'an City "water is salty and brine" can not be drunk, and the living environment is no longer suitable as the capital of a great dynasty.
Schematic diagram of seepage wells
The third is the need to revolutionize the old and the new, and open up the new atmosphere of the Great Sui. Yang Jian's self-establishment as emperor was not only to be the emperor of a small country in a remote corner, but also to end the division of more than three hundred years since the two Jin Dynasties and re-establish a unified and powerful dynasty, which was his political ideal and lofty ambition. This old city since the Han Dynasty is no longer suitable as the capital of the new dynasty, and it is urgent to establish a new capital with grand regulations and prosperity to match his political ideals and lofty ambitions, and he said in the edict that "seeking new and going to the past, such as the peasant Wangqiu, although temporarily working, his home is safe." Four sentences fully illustrate this meaning. Therefore, his decision to build Daxing City was not a temporary occurrence, but the most adequate preparation, which is why it took him only nine months to build the largest dynastic capital in history. Sui Daxing City is 9721 meters long from east to west, 8652 meters wide from north to south, with a circumference of 36.7 kilometers, consisting of three parts: Miyagi, Imperial City and Waiguo City, 11 north and south avenues, 14 east and west streets, including 108 li (Tang called Fang) and two markets in the east and west, with a grand scale, a regular layout and perfect functions, and has been deservedly the world's first city for more than a thousand years after its completion.
Sui Daxing City
Through the above analysis, we can basically draw such a conclusion: Emperor Wen of Sui built Daxing City after careful consideration and full preparation, and could build such a great capital city that was ahead of a thousand years, and its far-reaching strategic vision and political courage were almost unsatisfactory by the emperors of later generations, but it was only because of the indisputable spirit of his successor, Emperor Sui, that this magnificent and magnificent city became a historical monument of the glory and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, Emperor Wen of Sui is not unreliable, but a generation of male lords with far-reaching strategic vision, excellent leadership, and super execution, and is one of the most reliable great monarchs in the past thousand years.
Thank you for reading, the original is not easy, if you like this article, please pay attention to the account, your encouragement is my greatest motivation!