Late on the night of May 9, 580, Emperor Xuan of Zhou, without any warning, decided to tour the Tianxing Palace.
From the institutional point of view, the emperor should go out to make careful preparations in advance, which is to go through a whole set of procedures, but after Emperor Xuan of Zhou took the throne, there were many things that he did casually, and there were many things that suddenly decided to travel in the past, so when he said the decision to tour the Tianxing Palace, it did not cause people to make a fuss, but it was only a late night temporary decision to travel, which was indeed somewhat inconvenient. Now that His Majesty the Emperor had given the order, the people around him began to prepare until three o'clock in the morning.
Unexpectedly, in the early morning after everyone had just set off, Emperor Xuan of Zhou suddenly felt unwell, and then his condition began to worsen and he decided to terminate the trip. Everyone escorted Emperor Xuan of Zhou back to the palace, and at the same time issued an edict to let Yang Jian enter the palace to serve the sick.
At that time, the imperial doctor tried his best, although there were many ways to treat him, but Emperor Zhou Xuan's condition became more and more serious, and he was gradually unable to speak, and it was difficult to breathe, and Emperor Zhou Xuan felt that his limit was approaching, so on the twenty-second day, he urgently summoned the five kings of Zhao, Chen, Yue, Dai, and Teng to enter the capital and prepare to entrust the aftermath.
On May 24, Emperor Xuan of Zhou was already on his deathbed, but it would take a long time for the five kings to reach the capital. Emperor Xuan of Zhou understood that he could not wait for the arrival of the five kings, so he ordered yan zhiyi and Xiao yuzheng Liu Fang to enter his bedroom to draft a will.
At that time, Liu Fang saw that Emperor Xuan of Zhou was about to die, but his son was still young and could not personally manage the government, and after the death of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, the power was bound to fall, so he made a small calculation in his heart. With the death of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, Liu Fei's favored subjects were bound to lose their power, and if they could take the opportunity to manipulate the will and let their people hold great power, the other party would certainly be grateful to themselves, so that they could keep their glory and wealth.
After Liu Fang understood Emperor Xuan of Zhou's meaning, he came out and began to conspire with his accomplices Zheng Yi, Yushi Dafu Liu Qiu, Neishi Dafu Wei Mo, and Yushi Zheng Corporal Huang Fuji, and after the sum of several people, decided to let Yang Jian enter the imperial government, because Yang Jian was unmatched at that time in terms of identity, prestige, or ability.
So Liu Fang and others immediately sent someone to invite Yang Jian over, at that time Yang Jian did not know what was happening around Emperor Zhou Xuan, and when invited by Liu Fang and others, Yang Jian's heart went up and down, but despite his doubts, he still went hard.
After listening to Liu Fang and Zheng Yi explain the situation, Yang Jian was overjoyed in his heart, but on the surface he pretended to be humble. Liu Fang saw that the time was tight, did not pretend to be like Yang Jian, and directly told Yang Jian: "If the public is for it, it should be done quickly; If not, Fang himself also. "
Liu Qiu was also next to him at that time, "The time must not be again, the opportunity must not be lost, this matter is already there, it is advisable to make a big plan as soon as possible." Heaven and not take, but to blame, such as more prolongation, fear of regret. "
Since it came to this point, Yang Jian no longer pretended to be pretentious, so he immediately agreed to come down and decided to be commanded to sit in the inner town. For Emperor Xuan of Zhou, he could no longer control what was happening outside his bedroom, and he had been betrayed by his own henchmen, and he had died in a series of conspiracies and returned to the west at the age of twenty-two.
After the death of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, Liu Fang and Zheng Yi decided not to send a funeral for the time being, and immediately ordered Yang Jian to assist the government and supervise both internal and external military affairs, but Yan Zhiyi, who was also under the edict of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, saw at a glance that the edict was false and refused to sign it.
Yan Zhiyi's indomitable attitude was unexpected by Liu Fang, and at the moment he could not argue with Yan Zhiyi, so he forcibly issued an edict in place of Yan Zhiyi, but Yan Zhiyi, who had always been loyal to Emperor Xuan of Zhou, believed that only the prince of the imperial family was the right way to enter the government, so after seeing Liu Fang forcibly sign the edict on his behalf, he hurried out to consult with the eunuchs and decided to summon the general Yuwen Zhong to assist in the internal affairs. After Zheng Yi received this news, he immediately told Yang Jian, and brought Yang Jian's nephews Yang Xiong, Liu Fang, Huang Fuji, and Liu Qiu with him to arrest Yuwen Zhong above the court and control the situation in the imperial court.
In the process of Yang Jian's realization of auxiliary government, although Liu Fang, Zheng Yi and others were direct planners, the identity of Empress Yang could be said to have played a crucial role in Yang Jian's ability to control both inside and outside the palace. Although Emperor Xuan of Zhou had five empresses, Empress Yang was always the main palace, and after Emperor Xuan of Zhou died, she naturally became the lord of the harem, and Yang Jian's foreign relatives assisted the government, which made sense from the point of view, which was equivalent to giving Yang Jian a very important name.
Judging from the records, Empress Yang was only a bystander of this power struggle, and her name played a vital role in Yang Jian's auxiliary government, but from the perspective of power struggle, Empress Yang would definitely help her father Yang Jian. Many years later, when Recalling this experience before his own auxiliary government, Yang Jian personally admitted that Empress Yang had made great contributions to his father, and there is also a record in the Book of Sui and Tianxia that when Liu Fang, Zheng Yi and Yan Zhiyi were arguing with each other, it was Empress Yang who finally made up her mind and decided that her father Yang Jian would enter the imperial auxiliary government.
Controlling the situation in the palace, Yang Jian only completed the first step in seizing power, and the next step was to control the entire imperial court.
The day after Emperor Xuandi of Zhou's death, the 7-year-old Zhou Jing Emperor entered the rooftop to meet with hundreds of officials, of course, for a child who was only 7 years old, the so-called meeting of hundred officials was just a form, and the real person who had to face the group of subjects was actually Yang Jian.
In the presence of the Hundred Officials of Literature and Military Affairs, Yang Jian announced that Yuwen Zan, the King of Han, would be the Right Grand Chancellor, and that he would be a false Huang Yu and a Left Grand Chancellor to restrain the Hundred Officials. This appointment, nominally from Emperor Jing of Zhou, was actually full of strange feelings, because Yuwen Zan's position as right chancellor was above Yang Jian's position as left chancellor, but Yang Jian had to assist the government in grasping the actual power, but also had to hide his eyes and ears, and could not do things too clearly, so he moved Out Emperor Zhou Xuan's younger brother Yuwen Zan of Han and let him position above himself, showing honor to the outside world, but there was no real power, and the title of having real power was Yang Jian's "temperance and hundred officials".
For this appointment, the history books record four words "the group is not one", the clear-eyed people know at a glance that Yang Jian has played a ghost trick, Yang Jian of course also expected that there may be disobedient people, so he has long secretly ordered the old subordinate Lu Ben, who served as a Su Guard, to wait outside. After meeting with the hundred officials, Yang Jian went to the East Palace, and the hundred officials were unknown, so at this time Lu Ji stood up and greeted the courtiers, saying that those who wanted to be rich and noble should come with them.
But not everyone was willing to follow Yang Jian, some people turned around and were going to go outside, but in front of them were full of many soldiers waiting in strict formation, which made people shudder, so the hundred officials, under the "escort" of the soldiers, went to the Eastern Palace with Lu Ben as the guide to swear allegiance to Yang Jian.
Yang Jian successfully achieved the auxiliary government, and the first thing he did after becoming a chancellor was to reward those who had made meritorious contributions to the decision. He first appointed Zheng Yi as the governor of the Xiangfu Prefecture, Liu Fang as Sima to jointly assist himself in handling government affairs, this appointment also shows that Yang Jian can grasp real power, mainly the credit of these two people, at that time some people figuratively called the two people "Liu Fang led the front, Zheng Yi pushed back", of course, Yang Jian's efforts are an important aspect, but in the end can easily achieve the goal, can not help but say some serendipitous color.
The sudden death of Emperor Xuan of Zhou brought opportunities to Yang Jian, and Emperor Xuan of Zhou was suspicious and sent all the princes of the clan to the feudal state, and the reason why the five kings could not rush to the capital in time was this reason. In this way, the central imperial court was in a vacuum, and Yang Jian, as the only imperial relative who was stranded in the capital and had the ability and prestige to support the situation, had the opportunity to show his skills, coupled with the operation of Liu Fang and Zheng Yi, so Yang Jian smoothly controlled the power.
It should be noted that the people who helped Yang Jian change his fate were all close attendants of Emperor Xuan of Zhou during his lifetime, and although these people did not hold high official positions, they were often at the emperor's side, so they had more opportunities to influence the situation than those imperial court ministers, especially Yuzheng and Neishi, equivalent to the chief of the Zhongshu, who was in charge of confidential matters, and played a role in communicating between inside and outside, inheriting from top to bottom.
After the establishment of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the offices around the emperor were constantly strengthened, and by the time of the reign of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, the official positions of Neishi and Yuzheng were awarded the title of Shangdafu, which further improved the status of these institutions and concentrated power to the court to the greatest extent. Emperor Xuan of Zhou also appointed literati from the old clan to take charge of the secrets, these people themselves had no foundation, were not valued by the imperial court magnates, could only be attached to the emperor, and it was impossible to steal power.
Crucially, this arrangement was limited to situations where the emperor was able to control the situation, and the sudden death of Emperor Xuan of Zhou provided these people with the opportunity to change the situation. Yang Jian's superiority lies in the fact that he keenly saw this, so instead of posing as an arrogant figure of the emperor's relatives and relatives, he condescended to befriending these despised emperor's close attendants, because Yang Jian had seen through that these people from humble origins had no concept of loyalty.
Although Yang Jian despised these people very much in his heart, he also understood the huge energy of these people, and it was precisely this that Yang Jian wanted to use, using villains to achieve things. This strategic guiding ideology made Yang Jian superior to other opponents in the political struggle in that period of time, and there was no opportunity to temporarily lie dormant, and when the opportunity flashed in an instant, Yang Jian quickly turned the opportunity into the fruit of victory like a fierce tiger.
From today's point of view, Yang Jian's control of the Power of Northern Zhou when Emperor Xuandi of Zhou died suddenly was actually a coup d'état launched from within the top by the second generation of the Northern Zhou Entrepreneurial Group taking advantage of the mistakes made in the process of centralization at that time, coupled with many factors within vested interest groups due to contradictions in the distribution of power and personal defects of political leaders, relying on the emperor's nepotism and reusing mercenary seekers.