A few years ago, there was a hit drama called "Dugu World", in addition to the gorgeous costumes, the plot is even more enjoyable. However, if you do not understand this history, the relationship between the characters in the play will not be clear. In fact, this drama is mainly about the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
Everyone knows that the emperor of Western Wei is a decoration, and the actual ruler is Yuwen Tai. When Yuwen Tai died, he called his nephew Yuwen Gou over and asked him to inherit his position as Taishi and Otsuka Zai.
So why didn't Yuwen Tai pass the position directly to his son? Mainly, Yuwen Tai still feels that his sons are "rookie" in politics. Although the Yuwen family has been mixed up in Western Wei over the years, once he dies, it is not possible for the other pillar countries in the dynasty to think carefully. And Yuwen Gou has followed him to fight outside since he was a child, and he is very smart, and he wants his nephew to do his best to assist his son and protect the power of the Yuwen family for him. But what Yuwen Tai never expected was that his decision would harm his two sons.
In 557, after taking power, Yuwen Hu supported Yuwen Jue to kick Emperor Gong of Western Wei and established Northern Zhou. Yuwen Jue, Emperor Xiaomin of Northern Zhou, was Yuwen Tai's third son, although he was a little younger than Yuwen Hu, but when he became emperor, he only wanted to be the master of his own household. There was someone who stopped him in front of him, and this person was Yuwen Go. Yuwen Jue just wanted to make a move, but he didn't expect that Yuwen Gou would make a strong move first, and he would announce that he would abolish him in the court. What is even more disgusting is that all the civil and military officials actually raised their hands in favor. In this way, Yuwen Jue, who was only 16 years old, was driven off the dragon chair and was killed by Yuwen Escort a month later.
How can the emperor be done without the emperor in the court, and soon Yuwen Hu supported the 25-year-old Yuwen Yu to power, known as Emperor Ming of Zhou. Zhou Ming Emperor Yuwen Yu was a good emperor, and he forced Yuwen Hu to hand over power with super high political skills. Yuwen Hu was very unwilling to be ousted like this, and just when Emperor Zhou Ming was about to show his strength, Yuwen Hu's cup of poisoned wine made him return to the western sky.
Yuwen Hu, who destroyed 3 emperors at once, can be said to be calling the wind and rain in the court, but it is such a powerful hero, but he was brought down by our male protagonist Yuwen Yong today, which has to be said that Yuwen Yong is a really powerful character.
Yuwen Yong, who became emperor, was only 17 years old, and unlike the brothers of the previous two emperors, he neither roared to oust Yuwen Gou from power, nor used means to force his ruthless cousin to give up power, but used the word "forbearance" to make Yuwen Gou gradually let down his guard against him.
There was a minister in Northern Zhou named Hou Mo Chen Chong, who followed Yuwen Yong on his tour of Yuanzhou, and Yuwen Yong returned to the capital at night, and people felt very strange. Hou Mo Chen Chong thought he was smart, so he said to the people close to him: "Once upon a time, I heard diviners say that Yuwen Hu is unlucky this year. The emperor rushed back to the capital overnight, I am afraid that Yuwen will protect him. Someone passed on Hou Mo Chen Chong's words. When Yuwen Yong heard this, he immediately summoned the minister and cursed Hou Mo Chen Chong in front of everyone. It was on this night that Yuwen Hu's soldiers rushed into Hou Mo Chen Chong's house and directly forced Hou Mo Chen Chong to commit suicide. And through this move, Yuwen Yong invisibly made his position clear to Yuwen Go.
Yuwen Hu's mother was once captured by Northern Qi, and mother and son were separated for 35 years, and later Northern Qi released her back. Yuwen Yong respected her very much, and the things she rewarded were very luxurious. Every year, Yuwen Yong led the royal relatives to pay a family tribute to Yuwen Gou's mother. Yuwen Hu was very happy to see that the emperor could do this, and he was not bad for Yuwen Yong.
However, Yuwen Yong, who is weak and incompetent on the surface, is actually a master of playing pig and eating tiger, and he has been accumulating strength and waiting for a good time.
In 572, Yuwen Yong decided to start, and his way was very simple. One day, he and Yuwen Hu went to meet the Empress Dowager, and on the way there, Yuwen Yong said to Yuwen Gou: "The Empress Dowager is old, but she likes to drink." We persuaded for a long time, but the Queen Mother just wouldn't listen. Now that my brother is here, please help persuade the Empress Dowager. Saying that, he also took out a "Wine Curse". This "Wine Test" is to advise the Empress Dowager not to drink.
When Yuwen Hu heard this, he immediately felt that his heart was beautiful, the emperor could not persuade, and he had to rely on me at the critical moment, so he readily agreed to the emperor's request. In the Empress Dowager's Palace, Yuwen Hu was looking down and reading "Wine Curse", but before he finished reading, Yuwen Yong directly picked up the jade in his hand and smashed it towards Yuwen Gou's head. This jade is a kind of jade plate ritual vessel in ancient times, which is relatively hard, and the Empress Dowager and the eunuch were instantly stunned. In this way, a generation of Yuwen Gou was killed in this way.
For Yuwen Hu's family henchmen, Yuwen Yong did not have a soft heart, and directly caught the palace to cut the grass and remove the roots. At that time, Yuwen Gou had a son who happened to be on an envoy to the Turks, and Yuwen Yong was very simple, so that Yuwen De took the letter and urgently went to the Turks, and directly killed Yuwen Gou's son.
The young Yuwen Yong endured for 7 years, and finally hit the blow, completely destroyed Yuwen Hu and his henchmen, and began a series of reforms.
In order to increase national strength, he continued to vigorously promote the average field system, and improved and developed the prefectural military system. He placed the command of the government soldiers in the hands of the emperor and began to recruit Han peasants to serve as government soldiers and expand the source of troops.
In order to revive the country's economy, Yuwen Yong launched a large-scale campaign to exterminate Buddhism. At that time, a monk once asked Yuwen Yong: "There is no distinction between noble and inferior in hell, and if Your Majesty destroys Buddha, aren't you afraid of going to hell?" Yuwen Yong replied, "As long as the people are happy and the country is prosperous, I would rather go to hell." ”
And this campaign to exterminate Buddhism, destroying 40,000 temples and forcing 3 million monks and nuns to return to the laity, which is equivalent to one-tenth of the country's population re-becoming a state household, which is of vital significance to the Northern Zhou, which urgently needs troops and financial resources, and is known in history as "Emperor Wudi of Zhou exterminated Buddha".
While stabilizing the interior, Yuwen Yong also married the Turks. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Turks were a powerful people, and their territory included the present-day Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia, Xinjiang and other regions. At that time, the strength of the Turks was also increasing, and they always wanted to find an opportunity to go south.
In fact, Yuwen Yong himself also has Xiao Jiujiu. The southern part of the Turks was adjacent to Northern Zhou and Northern Qi, and if Northern Zhou attacked Northern Qi, and the Turkic tiger took the opportunity to attack the rear, Northern Zhou would be miserable. In order to eliminate this threat in advance, and also to reassure the Turks, marriage is the best way. In this way, Yuwen Yong married a Turkic princess and canonized her as an empress, which is Empress Ashina. In this way, Emperor Yuwen Yong of Zhou Wu stabilized the Turks.
After a period of time, the national strength of Northern Zhou had far surpassed that of Northern Qi. Yuwen Yong saw that the time was ripe, and in 577, Yuwen Yong personally led troops to expedition, destroyed Northern Qi, and unified the north. Later, the reason why Yang Jian, the emperor of Sui, was able to quickly unify the world, I am afraid that it was thanks to Yuwen Yong.
It's a pity that such a hardcore Yuwen Yong finally did not escape the disease. At the age of 36, he suddenly fell ill on the way to the Turks and died young, passing the throne to the crown prince Yuwen Yun.
In fact, Yuwen Yong is a tiger father, and he has very strict requirements for Prince Yuwen Yun. Whenever he went to court, he required that the prince must behave like the minister, and he could not be specialized, even in the cold winter and hot summer, Yuwen Yun's studies were not allowed to stop. However, Yuwen Yun has a problem, that is, he especially likes to drink, and Yuwen Yong, who hates iron and steel, forbids sending wine to the East Palace. When Yuwen Yun made a mistake, his father Yuwen Yong used a stick to teach him a hard lesson.
Yuwen Yong once warned the crown prince Yuwen Yun: "Throughout the ages, there have been so many princes who have been abolished. Besides you, I have other sons, can't they be princes? This was originally Yuwen Yong's reminder, but these words made Prince Yuwen Yun hold a grudge.
In fact, Yuwen Yong did this because he himself knew the difficulty of protecting the throne, and he wanted his son to be able to assume the imperial government of Northern Zhou. But he didn't expect that he would do this to play a counterproductive role. At Yuwen Yong's funeral, Yuwen Yun, as the prince, actually slapped the coffin and scolded viciously: "It's too late to die." "Let the ministers present not know what to say.
After becoming emperor, Yuwen Yun no longer had anyone to control him, so he sent his cronies to monitor the ministers' every word and deed, and if anyone said bad things about him, he directly arrested him and tortured him. Moreover, in the national beauty pageant to enrich the harem, five empresses were installed at the same time at once, breaking the record of successive emperors.
In this way, Yuwen Yun did all kinds of absurd things in just two years, making a mess of the Northern Zhou dynasty. No one expected that three years later, the rivers and mountains that Yuwen Yong had worked hard to fight down would finally be taken away by Yang Jian, opening the Sui and Tang dynasties.