The Tang Dynasty was the most glorious period in the history of the mainland, with economic prosperity, political clarity, and unprecedented cultural development. Today's Chinatowns are spread all over the world, which is enough to show that the Tang Dynasty has a deep influence in modern times.
In contrast, the world's evaluation of the Sui Dynasty before the Tang Dynasty has always been very bad. The Sui Dynasty was a short-lived dynasty like the Qin Dynasty, and its second emperor, the Sui Dynasty Emperor, was as militaristic as Qin Shi Huang, and the great construction of civil engineering made the people miserable, which was also the direct cause of the rapid demise of the Sui Dynasty.
According to the objective views of historians on the Sui Dynasty, it is not conducive to the contemporary era to discuss the merits and demerits of the Sui Dynasty, and originally after the Sui Dynasty realized the reunification of the north and the south, it should adopt some policies of resting with the people and developing the economy and people's livelihood to alleviate the disasters brought by the war to the people, rather than building a large number of civil engineering and laboring and hurting the people's wealth.
For example, in the early days of the Han Dynasty, the rule of Wenjing, cultivation and recuperation created favorable conditions for the later Han Wudi to conquer the Xiongnu, of course, the Han Wudi emperor cattle are cattle, but the war does not know convergence, the Han Dynasty several generations of hard-earned family foundation to empty, for the decline of the Han Dynasty laid the bane, this is also the afterword.
The Sui Dynasty Emperor excavated the Grand Canal and the Three Expeditions to Goguryeo, which not only did not give the people a chance to breathe, but made the people's burdens become heavier. What if the people's lives do not go on? Naturally, they will rise up to overthrow the dynasty that makes it impossible for them to live.
In the long run, the merits of the Sui Dynasty are also beneficial to future generations. The excavation of the Grand Canal has made it easier to communicate between the north and the south, connecting the major water systems into a whole.
The history of the Sui Dynasty was short, but the wealth accumulated was abundant, and he did not enjoy it, all of which benefited the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the Sui Dynasty had a role of carrying on from top to bottom.
Ma Zhou, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, once said that the grain in the warehouse of the former dynasty is still in use and has not been used up so far. When Ma Zhou said this, it was already eleven years of Zhenguan, more than twenty years after the fall of the Sui Dynasty, and the wealth of the Sui Dynasty was simply staggering. This was all thanks to a number of initiatives by Emperor Yang Jian of Sui.
Later generations often selected the First Emperor of the Ages, the Qin Emperor Han Wu TangZong these three are candidates, Ming Taizu, Han Gaozu, Qing Shengzu and so on are also often on the list, but do not see the Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian.
In fact, Yang Jian is one of the most underrated emperors in China, his political achievements are not inferior, not much worse than the previous ones, conservatively speaking, the problem of entering the top ten is not big, and the crowding can still enter the top five.
In 2001, Western scholars included Emperor Wen of Sui in the list of the world's 100 greatest emperors, and Emperor Wen of Sui ranked first in China under the pressure of Emperor Han wu of Qin.
The Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian completed the unification of the north and the south, the world was initially decided, and the soldiers who had originally fought everywhere were in a state of no battle to fight, but to feed so many soldiers was a big expense for this nascent dynasty. Therefore, Yang Jian implemented a system of integrating soldiers and farmers.
The soldiers were peasants in peacetime, planting arable land and conducting daily exercises, and when there was a war, they gathered these soldiers to fight. The regulations are so, Yang Jian has also been avoiding the occurrence of war, for external unstable forces, mostly using divisive strategies to let them fight each other, the Sui Dynasty sat on the benefits of fishermen.
The human problem has been solved, and there is another extremely important problem in the agrarian society, which often becomes the focus of contradictions, that is, cultivated land. In order to prevent the local tyrants from tun tian juqi, Yang Jian, on the basis of the experience of the Northern Wei Dynasty, followed the equalized field system, stipulating that adult men could be divided into eighty mu of lutian, and twenty mu of Yongye tian, and women could be divided into forty mu of lutian.
Among them, Yongyetian did not have to be returned to the imperial court, and Lutian's ownership returned to the imperial court after the user's death. If you have the land to belong to yourself, the enthusiasm of the people will naturally rise. Not only that, Yang Jian also reduced servitude and taxes, and greatly achieved rest with the people. Before the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the situation was unstable for many years, and the population changed greatly, and in order to better implement the equalization system, Yang resolutely decided to re-register the household registration.
According to records, the population of the Sui Dynasty once reached 8.7 million households, even much more than the Kaiyuan dynasty when the Tang Dynasty reached its peak. Yang Jian also attaches great importance to cultural education, due to the previous long-term war and chaos led to the loss of many important documents, Yang Jian has asked the whole world for books, and book donors can be rewarded.
Yang Jian also set up a wide range of granaries, agricultural society relies on the sky to eat, and the granaries are set up to prevent famine years.
According to historical records, in the later period of Yang Jian's reign, the Sui Dynasty stored enough grain and materials for a country for half a century.
The history books record an interesting conversation in which the minister Reported Yang Jian that there was too much silver in the treasury to be put down. Yang Jian himself was an emperor who advocated frugality by example, and his courtiers suggested that he continue to build a warehouse with silver two, and Yang Jian said that if he had more silver, he would reduce taxes and return the silver two to the people.
Hanjiacang was the largest granary at the time, located in Luoyang, which was discovered in 1971 when the railway was being built. Once discovered, it directly shocked the world. Hanjiacang covers an area of more than 400,000 square meters, with more than 300 grain cellars, the largest caliber is 18 meters, and the depth is 12 meters.
According to calculations, Han Jiacang can directly save half of the country's grain. This is very rare in China, not to mention in China, even in the world. What is even more incredible is that even after more than 1400 years, some grains have sprouted the next day after being excavated.
In terms of national development, the Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian made a good start, but unfortunately, the Sui Emperor Yang Guanghao Daxigong made the Sui Dynasty overthrown only thirty-seven years after its establishment. The benefits of the kaihuang rule were inherited and carried forward by the Tang Dynasty, which made the World's premier Tang Empire at that time.
bibliography:
Book of Sui, Zizhi Tongjian