Yang Su, a powerful minister of the Sui Dynasty, was a figure of mixed reputation. He was of outstanding ability and made great contributions to the Sui Dynasty. At the same time, after Yang Guang became emperor, he was also the only one in the court, covering the sky with one hand. At that time, Yang Su was already fully equipped with the conditions for seizing the throne. However, in the end, another powerful minister, Yu Culture, killed Yang Guang to seize the throne. His eldest son Yang Xuangan also rebelled. However, Yang Su did not seize the throne in his lifetime. So, why didn't Yang Su seize the sui dynasty?
(Yang Su)
Is there no external environment for seizing the throne?
No. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, the entire Northern Dynasty was in the process of constantly seizing the throne by powerful ministers. From the Northern Wei to the Western Wei, to the Northern Zhou, to the Sui Dynasty, almost all the powerful ministers seized the then emperor's Jiangshan and established a new dynasty. The founding emperors were generally more wise, but in the second and third generations, the powerful ministers relied on their own power to take away the country. For example, the Yuwentai family seized the Jiangshan of Western Wei and established Northern Zhou; Yang Jian took the Jiangshan of Northern Zhou and established the Sui Dynasty. Yang Jian himself was more wise, but Yang Guang was extremely faint. Therefore, if Yang Su wanted to seize the Sui Dynasty's jiangshan, the general climate was available.
Is it Yang Su himself who does not want to seize the throne?
History records that Yang Su's wife was a humble woman who often bullied Yang Su. Yang Su once blurted out in anger, if I become emperor, I will never make you empress.
Who knew that Yang Su's wife was not only a humble woman, but also had no brains, and directly told This matter to Emperor Wen of Sui and denounced Yang Su. As a result, Emperor Wen of Sui was very angry and took Yang Su's official title. However, because Yang Su's ability was strong and he had a good set of battles, Yang Jian needed Yang Su to lead troops to attack the Chen Dynasty, so he resumed his official position.
Is Yang Su saying this funny? Apparently not. If he hadn't thought about it day and night, would he have been able to blurt it out like this?
(Emperor Wen of Sui)
Is it that Yang Su is not capable of seizing the throne?
Of course not. Yang Su's position of power was unique in the DYNASTY. This is first of all because of his outstanding ability, and in the process of the Sui Dynasty to fight the country, he made great achievements. In the entire Sui Dynasty court, no one could surpass Yang Su in his merits.
Secondly, Yang Guang's throne was obtained by Yang Su for him. During Yang Jian's serious illness, Yang Guang revealed his absurd horse's feet because of flirting with his mother Concubine Xuanhua and other issues. In this case, Yang Jian was very angry and decided to depose Yang Guang, re-establish Yang Yong as the crown prince, and pass Jiangshan to Yang Yong. At this moment of a thousand guns, Yang Su decisively cut off Yang Jian's contact with the outside world, so that Yang Yong could not get Yang Jian's summons, and sent Yang Guang to the palace in time. In the end, Yang Guang was able to "murder" (Yang Guang's suspicion of murdering his father was very large) Yang Jian, and finally won the throne.
After Yang Guang seized the throne, he was very jealous of Yang Su, but he had no choice. After Yang Su fell ill, Yang Guang actively sent an imperial doctor to treat Yang Su. But he actually did not treat Yang Su, but wanted to take the opportunity to poison Yang Su. In the end, because of Yang Su's vigilance, Yang Guangcai failed to poison success.
In addition to Yang Su's great merits in holding Emperor Yang Guang hostage, he also said one thing in the middle of the dynasty. Historical records record that Yang Su was the only one in the DPRK. If the ministers in the imperial court offended Yang Su, even if they were loyal and very talented people, such as He Ruobi, Shi Wanzai, Li Gang, Liu Shu and others, Yang Su would secretly slander them and depose them. And the minister who pleases Yang Su, or Yang Su's relatives, even if he has no ability, Yang Su will reuse the promotion. Such a situation was unique in Yang Guang's imperial court.
Another point is that Yang Su has always led soldiers to fight, and he has a high prestige in the army. He wanted to seize the throne, and he had that strength.
(Sui Dynasty Emperor)
So, in the end, why did Yang Su fail to seize the Sui Dynasty?
In my opinion, it is not that Yang Su did not want to seize the Sui Dynasty, but because there are many objective reasons. What are the objective reasons?
First, Yang Su was too old to survive.
Historically, many powerful people were able to finally seize the world because they were able to survive. For example, Sima Yi, because he is very able to survive, eventually the Jiangshan belongs to him.
If Yang Su stayed up for a few more years, waited until Yang Guang's poor soldiers conquered Goguryeo and built canals in a big way, causing the people's resentment to boil and the people to be miserable, or launching a palace coup, Jiangshan would be his.
Unfortunately, Yang Su did not survive, and he died in the second year of Yang Guang's succession, so he had no chance to succeed.
Second, Yang Su is too high-profile, and Yang Guang is very wary of him.
Yang Su does things with a very high profile. He can do whatever he wants, he can say whatever he wants, and he is extremely arrogant in all aspects. This made Yang Guang, who was already jealous of him, even more wary of him at any time. On the one hand, he was given a large number of rewards, on the other hand, through the method of rising and descending, he seized some of Yang Su's power and worked hard to make Yang Su independent. This made Yang Su lose a lot of opportunities.
Third, Yang Su's reputation is not good, and the people do not support him.
Yang Su was nepotistic and framed Zhongliang. At the same time, he also likes to enjoy, there are many child servants and beautiful concubines, and there are countless high-rise buildings. As a result, his reputation is extremely bad.
When evaluating courtiers, ordinary people always label them as "traitors" or "loyal subjects". Yang Su's actions made it easy for him to be called a "traitor". Without the support of the people, it is obviously difficult to seize the throne.
Because, although Yang Su flew all his life, he did not get jiangshan in the end.
(References: Book of Zhou, Book of Sui)