The Sui Dynasty was a very important feudal dynasty in ancient mainland China, and it was also a very powerful era in ancient mainland China.
If I ask which emperors in ancient China can be called "one emperor of the ages", I will definitely answer these five emperors: Qin Shi Huang, who annexed the Six Kingdoms, ended the chaotic fighting of the princes of the Spring and Autumn Warring States for more than 500 years, and established and perfected the authoritarian centralized system; Liu Che, the Han Wudi who opened up his territory and implemented great unification; Yang Jian, the Sui Emperor who destroyed the Chen Dynasty, ended the chaotic war between the north and south of the Sixteen Kingdoms for more than 300 years, and reformed the political system of the feudal dynasty; Yang Guang, the Sui Emperor who dug the Grand Canal, created the imperial examination system, and finally completed the reform of the political system of the feudal dynasty; The Yongzheng Emperor Yinhe, who carried out the transfer of money to acres, promoted the return of land to the river, set up a military aircraft department, and pushed the ancient authoritarian centralized system on the mainland to its peak.
Therefore, I believe that the Sui Dynasty gave birth to two "Emperors of the Ages", namely Yang Jian, the Sui Emperor, and Yang Guang, the Sui Emperor.
Today, I will lead you into the history of this short-lived but great dynasty, the Sui Dynasty!
One. origin
The ancestor of the imperial family of the Sui Dynasty was Yang Xi, Marquis of Chiquan in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty. To explore the history of the Sui Dynasty, we have to go back to the Battle of Yaxia in 202 BC.
In 202 BC, the Battle of Yaxia broke out, and Han Xin, the "Immortal of Soldiers", commanded the Han army to defeat Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu. Soon, Xiang Yu drew his sword in Wujiang and killed himself.
After Xiang Yu's death, Liu Bang's subordinates fought frantically over Xiang Yu's body in order to be able to become an official and a knight, and among them, a general named Yang Xi obtained Xiang Yu's left leg. Subsequently, Liu Bang made Yang Xi the Marquis of Chiquan. Since then, the Yang family has had a knighthood and status. At this point, the foundation for the rise of the Yang family was basically laid.
However, although Yang Xi had a knighthood, his status was not prominent at that time, so the Yang family's power at that time was not very strong.
Later, Yang Xi's seventh grandson Yang Zhen served as a imperial lieutenant during the reign of Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At this point, the Yang family gradually became stronger and became a big family.
By the time of Yang Zhen's thirteenth grandson, Yang Zhong, the power of the Yang family began to expand dramatically. At this point, the Yang family gradually became a very prominent clan at that time.
In 525, Yang Zhong was captured by the Southern Liang army and sent to Jiangnan while visiting Mount Tai, and from then on, Yang Zhong began his life as a horseman. In 529, Yang Zhong was appointed by Yuan Hao, King of Beihai, as a general of the Zhige. Soon, Yang Zhong defected to Erzhu Dulu and was appointed commander. Later, Yang Zhong defected to Duguxin (Empress Dugu's father) and attacked Southern Liang together, making great battle achievements. At this point, Yang Zhong's status gradually improved.
After Northern Wei split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei, Yang Zhong followed Duguxin and joined the Western Wei camp. After that, Yang Zhong followed Duguxin and Yuwen Tai, continuously defeated Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, and Southern Liang, and made great battle achievements. At this point, Yang Zhong's status soared rapidly, and he gradually became a very prominent general at that time.
In 557, Yuwen Tai's son Yuwen Jue became emperor and established the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which became Emperor Xiaomin of Zhou. At this point, the Western Wei dynasty came to an end.
Subsequently, Emperor Xiaomin of Zhou canonized Yang Zhong as a minor uncle. In 558, Emperor Ming of Zhou made Yang Zhong a general of the Pillar State. In 559, Yang Zhong was canonized as the Duke of Suiguo. At this point, Yang Zhong had become a very prominent general and minister at that time.
In 568, Yang Zhong died at the age of 62. Subsequently, his son Yang Jian succeeded him as Duke of Suiguo.
In fact, long before Yang Jian became the Duke of Suiguo, Yang Jian had already relied on the power of his father Yang Zhong to hold many official positions, becoming a figure who could stand alone, and was also a very famous general at that time. Therefore, Yang Jian's "first pot of gold" was actually earned by relying on the power of his father Yang Zhong.
In 573, Emperor Wu of Zhou canonized Yang Jian's eldest daughter Yang Lihua as crown prince and asked Yang Lihua to marry his eldest son Yuwen Yun. At this point, Yang Jian became a foreign relative of Northern Zhou, and his status became more prominent.
In 578, Emperor Wu of Zhou died and his son Yuwen Yun ascended the throne, which became Emperor Xuan of Zhou. After Emperor Xuan of Zhou ascended the throne, he canonized Yang Lihua as Empress Tianyuan, and Yang Jian, as Empress Yang's father, was canonized by Emperor Xuan of Zhou as Shangzhu State and Grand Sima, and began to assist in the imperial government of Northern Zhou.
In 579, Emperor Xuan of Zhou abdicated as Emperor Taishang, and his son Yuwen Xuan ascended the throne, which became Emperor Jing of Zhou. In 580, Emperor Xuan of Zhou died. Subsequently, Yang Jian, who was in charge of foreign forces, quickly took control of the imperial power of Northern Zhou. At this point, Yang Jian has reached the point where power is tilted to the opposition and monopolizes power. Therefore, Yang Jian's "second pot of gold" is actually earned by his daughter Yang Lihua.
Subsequently, Yang Jian put down the rebellion of Xiangzhou governor Wei Chi Yi, Bi Wang Yuwen Xian, and others. By this time, Yang Jian had eliminated all dissidents, further consolidated his position and power, and laid a solid foundation for the later Sui Dynasty to replace Northern Zhou.
Beginning in 580, Emperor Jing of Zhou first canonized Yang Jian as prime minister, and then Yang Jian as Xiangguo. Later, Emperor Jing of Zhou gave Yang Jian the treatment of "plus nine xi". At this point, Yang Jian was moving towards the emperor's throne step by step.
In 581, Emperor Jing of Zhou officially ceded the throne to Yang Jian. Subsequently, Yang Jian officially declared himself emperor, established the Sui Dynasty, and opened the emperor in the year, which was Emperor Wen of Sui.
At this point, the Sui Dynasty, which had existed for 37 years, was officially established.
Two. Prosperity
After Emperor Wen of Sui became emperor, he began to accelerate the pace of unifying the whole country. Prior to this, Emperor Wudi of Zhou had destroyed Northern Qi and unified the north. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, in addition to the Sui Dynasty, there was one dynasty left in the world, that is, the Chen Dynasty in the south. Therefore, if Emperor Wen of Sui wanted to unify the whole country, he had to destroy the Chen Dynasty.
In 588, the Chen Dynasty gathered an army and attacked Shaanzhou in the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, Emperor Wen of Sui used this as a "fuse" and began the war to destroy the Chen Dynasty. Subsequently, Emperor Wen of Sui appointed his second son Yang Guang the Prince of Jin as commander and mobilized an army of 510,000 to attack the Chen Dynasty.
In 589, the Sui general He Ruobi defeated the Chen army at Jiangshan and captured the Chen general Xiao Maha. Soon, the Sui Dynasty general Han captured Jiankang, and the Chen Emperor Chen Shubao was captured. At this point, the Chen Dynasty perished.
Subsequently, the Sui army continued to move south, successively occupying Sanwu, Lingnan and other places, and eventually unified the whole country. At this point, the chaotic war between the northern and southern dynasties of the Sixteen Kingdoms that lasted for more than 300 years since the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" and the ancient mainland came to an end.
After Emperor Wen of Sui came to the throne, he began to govern the world, and promulgated a series of systems and measures to this end:
In terms of the central system, Emperor Wen of Sui abolished the six-official system of Northern Zhou and set up the system of five provinces and six cao systems. Subsequently, Emperor Wen of Sui evolved into the system of three provinces and six ministries on the basis of the five provinces and six Cao system. The "three provinces" refer to the Inner History Province, Shangshu Province, and Menxia Province, which are respectively responsible for decision-making, implementation, and deliberation, and their chiefs are Neishi Ling, Shangshu Ling, and Neyan, and their status is all prime ministers. The "six departments" refer to the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Soldiers, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Engineering, and their chief is Shangshu. Emperor Wen of Sui made them check each other by dividing powers, which not only reduced decision-making errors, but also strengthened imperial power, and effectively built an authoritarian system, more than 1200 years earlier than the European principle of "separation of powers".
In terms of local system, Emperor Wen of Sui changed the local administrative system, changing the three-level system of prefecture, county and county to the two-level system of prefecture and county, eliminating a large number of redundant officials, and achieving the purpose of streamlining institutions and saving expenses.
In terms of the official selection system, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered the abolition of the nine-product zhongzheng system that had been used as the standard for selecting officials since the Wei and Jin dynasties, established an official selection system with examinations as the standard, and established two subjects: Xiucai and Mingjing. Emperor Wen of Sui broke the concept of "mendi" as the criterion for selecting officials, selected a large number of talents, alleviated the class contradictions of the Sui Dynasty, and expanded the basis of his rule. At this point, the imperial examination system appeared in the bud and embryonic form, laying a solid foundation for the later Sui Emperor to establish the imperial examination system.
Legally, Emperor Wen of Sui considered the punishment of Northern Zhou to be cruel, so Emperor Wen of Sui reformed the law. In 581, Emperor Wen of Sui formulated the Law of Opening the Emperor. At this point, the legal system of the Sui Dynasty was gradually improved. The Founding Law had a profound impact on later generations, providing valuable lessons and principles for subsequent dynasties to formulate laws.
In agriculture, Emperor Wen of Sui followed the Northern Wei average-field system, and carried out a certain degree of reform on the basis of the average-field system, which greatly improved the agricultural development and social productivity of the Sui Dynasty.
In terms of the system of weights and measures, the mainland experienced the chaotic situation of the three kingdoms, the two Jin dynasties and the northern and southern dynasties in ancient times, and there was a chaotic situation of weights and measures, so Emperor Wen of Sui ordered the unification of weights and measures, which facilitated the daily life of the people and effectively promoted the development of the economy and the circulation of goods.
In industry and commerce, Emperor Wen of Sui encouraged the development of industry and commerce. As early as the time of Emperor Jing of Zhou, when Yang Jian controlled the political power of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui had already ordered the abolition of taxes on industry and commerce, and agricultural taxes became the main tax. After Emperor Wen of Sui came to the throne, he continued to implement this policy. In 581, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered that the famous mountain Daze not be banned, breaking the monopoly of officials and powerful officials on the interests of Yamazawa since the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. At the same time, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered that gold and silver minerals should not belong to the official government, and that the people could mine them freely. At this point, the industry and commerce of the Sui Dynasty developed rapidly, laying a solid foundation for the prosperity of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
In terms of urban construction, in 582, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered Gao Zhao, Liu Long, He Louzigan, Gao Longcha and others to build a new capital on Longshou Mountain and named it "Daxing City". In 583, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered the capital to be moved to Daxingcheng.
In terms of the enlistment system, Emperor Wen of Sui reformed the enlistment system. In 581, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered that the length of service for peasants be shortened, stipulating that "those who do not serve will be rewarded", which means that money can be used instead of labor. In 590, Emperor Wen of Sui decreed that old people who had reached the age of 50 could be exempted from forced labor and replaced with military service. At this point, during the Sui Dynasty, the burden of the common people was greatly reduced, showing a state of living and working in peace and contentment, and also promoting the development of social productive forces.
In terms of population, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered the household registration to be checked throughout the country and created the Great Suo Maung Yue. Moreover, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered all cousins below to live separately and set up their own accounts, which is the dissolution of nationality. Through the Great Suo Maung Yue, Emperor Wen of Sui incorporated 1.64 million people into the household register. So far, the financial revenue of the Sui Dynasty was greatly increased, and it also promoted the development of social productive forces and social stability in the Sui Dynasty.
Militarily, Emperor Wen of Sui followed the system of government soldiers since the Western Wei Dynasty, and the government soldiers were independent military families, and their families had to follow the military camp to live in the military fang. In 590, Emperor Wen of Sui began to reform the prefectural military system, stipulating that the prefecture and county household registrations of soldiers and their families other than those with other military status would no longer be military households and would be transformed into civilian households, and soldiers and their families would need to obtain land according to the decree of the average field system. Soldiers cultivate in peacetime, and when war breaks out, they are integrated into the army. At this point, Emperor Wen of Sui established the principle of "unity of soldiers and people", which greatly improved the development of social productive forces, saved military expenditure, prevented generals from supporting troops and self-respecting, and effectively consolidated the ruling position of the Sui Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, the Sui Dynasty was politically stable, prosperous, economically developed, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, agriculture and industry and commerce developed rapidly, and productivity was unprecedentedly improved. During the Emperor's reign, the area of land reclaimed by the Sui Dynasty reached 19.4 million hectares, 2.6 times that of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At the same time, the population of the Sui Dynasty also exploded, from 4.5 million households in 581, to 7 million households by 589, and to 9 million in 606. History refers to this period as the "reign of the emperor". At this point, Emperor Wen of Sui also became the "Emperor of the Ages" admired by future generations.
In his later years, Emperor Wen of Sui was busy with the action of deposing his eldest son Yang Yong and installing Yang Guang the Prince of Jin as crown prince.
In the early years of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui learned the lesson that Northern Zhou perished without the assistance of heavy ministers. Therefore, after Emperor Wen of Sui became emperor, he gave his sons great power and status, and gave them enough opportunities to experience so that they could assist the crown prince Yang Yong in the future. However, he did not know that this practice directly caused a great chaos in the future, and even buried the hidden danger of the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
Emperor Wen of Sui had a total of 5 sons, namely the eldest son Yang Yong, the second son Yang Guang the King of Jin, the third son Yang Jun the King of Qin, the fourth son Yang Xiu the Prince of Shu, and the fifth son Yang Shu the King of Han. They were all born to Empress Dugu, so they were all eligible to become crown princes.
In the early years of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui canonized his eldest son Yang Yong as crown prince, and in addition to Yang Yong, Emperor Wen of Sui canonized the other four sons as kings, and made them hold important positions and control military power. Among them, Yang Guang, the second son of Emperor Wen of Sui, was the most outstanding and was entrusted with a heavy task by Emperor Wen of Sui.
In 589, Emperor Wen of Sui appointed Yang Guang the King of Jin as commander and led his army south, destroying the Chen Dynasty in one fell swoop. Since then, Yang Guang has had great battle merits, and he doesn't put his brother Yang Yong in his eyes. At this point, Yang Guang gradually had the ambition to replace Yang Yong.
In order to gain the favor of his father Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Guang decided to disguise himself. Emperor Wen of Sui advocated thrift, so Yang Guang often wore old clothes and put some dust on the piano to show thrift; Every time Emperor Wen of Sui and his wife came to Yang Guang's house, Yang Guang would let the other concubines hide, and he and his wife Xiao Shi went to the door to greet Emperor Wen of Sui and his wife; Moreover, Yang Guang often sent gifts to people close to Emperor Wen of Sui and his wife, asking them to say good things for themselves in front of Emperor Wen of Sui and his wife. At this point, Yang Guang gradually won the favor and love of Emperor Wen of Sui and his wife.
However, Yang Yong's approach made Emperor Wen of Sui very disgusted. Emperor Wen of Sui advocated thrift, but Yang Yong liked extravagance and waste; Empress Dugu did not like that men had many concubines, but Yang Yong constantly took concubines and spent all day with concubines; Yang Yong did not like the Yuanshi, the right wife that Empress Dugu asked him to marry, but pampered Yun Zhaoxun, who Dugu Garo hated very much. At this point, Yang Yong gradually fell out of favor in front of Emperor Wen of Sui and his wife.
Subsequently, Yang Guang obtained the support and help of Yang Su, Yuwen Shu and other ministers, and gained the trust and favor of his mother Empress Dugu, and gradually began the conspiracy and action to get Emperor Wen of Sui to depose Yang Yong as crown prince.
In 600, Emperor Wen of Sui formally issued an edict abolishing Yang Yong's position as crown prince and deposing him as a commoner. Subsequently, Emperor Wen of Sui made Yang Guang the Prince of Jin crown prince.
In 602, Empress Dugu, a generation of wise empresses, died in Yong'an Palace, and subsequently, Emperor Wen of Sui began to favor his concubines Xuanhua's wife Chen and Ronghua's wife Cai.
In 604, Emperor Wen of Sui became seriously ill. So, the crown prince Yang Guang wrote to Yang Su and asked him to arrange his accession to the throne. However, the letter fell into the hands of Emperor Wen of Sui. When Emperor Wen of Sui saw this letter, he was very angry. At this time, Lady Chen also came to cry to Emperor Wen of Sui, saying that Yang Guang teased her. When Emperor Wen of Sui heard the news, he was shocked. As a result, he had the idea of abolishing Yang Guang and re-canonizing Yang Yong as crown prince. Subsequently, Emperor Wen of Sui immediately issued an edict allowing Liu Shu and Yuan Yan to enter the palace and draft an edict to abolish Yang Guang and install Yang Yong as crown prince.
After Yang Guang learned the news, he decided to preemptively. Therefore, he immediately led his army to arrest Liu Shu and Yuanyan. Then, he asked Zhang Heng to send away all the palace eunuchs around Emperor Wen of Sui. In this way, Emperor Wen of Sui died without knowing it that day. Subsequently, his son Yang Guang ascended the throne, and the year name was Daye, which was the Sui Emperor.
Upon his accession to the throne, Emperor Sui immediately forced his eldest brother Yang Yong, the deposed crown prince, to commit suicide, and subsequently, he quelled the rebellion of his fifth brother, Yang Shu the Prince of Han. At this point, the position of the Sui Emperor gradually stabilized.
After the Sui Emperor came to the throne, he promulgated a series of reform measures, which made the national strength of the Sui Dynasty even stronger.
First, the Sui Emperor ordered the establishment of the imperial examination system.
Before the Sui Dynasty, the basic system for selecting officials in ancient times on the mainland was the nine-product zhongzheng system. In 220, Emperor Cao Pi of Wei set up the nine-pin zhongzheng system at the suggestion of the minister Chen Qun. Since then, the nine-pin zhongzheng system has always been the basic system for selecting officials during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Sixteen Kingdoms.
The Jiupin Zhongzheng system focuses on the door, aiming to safeguard the interests of the family clan, and indeed played a huge role in maintaining the ruling order and stability of the dynasty at the beginning of its establishment.
However, the nine-grade zhongzheng system also buried a large number of talents, forming a situation of "no cold door in the upper grade, no shiji in the lower grade". In this way, the nine-product zhongzheng system has formed a situation of confrontation between the Shi and the Yu ethnic group, which has seriously intensified social contradictions.
Therefore, after Emperor Wen of Sui came to the throne, he officially ordered the abolition of the nine-pin zhongzheng system. At this point, the nine-product zhongzheng system, which has existed for more than 360 years, officially withdrew from the stage of mainland history.
After the Sui Emperor came to the throne, in order to meet the demand for talents, as well as the trend of the decline of the Shi clan and the rise of the Yu clan, he began to establish an official selection system based on the imperial examination system. In 605, the Sui Emperor set up the Jin Shi Branch. After that, Emperor Sui set up the Ming Jing Department on the basis of the Jin Shi Branch, and formulated a relatively complete system for selecting talents by subject. At this point, the imperial examination system, which existed for 1,300 years and had a far-reaching impact on the course of mainland history, was formally established.
The imperial examination system is another official selection system that has had a far-reaching impact on the history of the mainland after the inspection system and the nine-product zhongzheng system, and is one of the three major official selection systems in ancient times. The imperial examination system used examinations as the criteria for selecting officials, selected a large number of talents, broke the monopoly of the aristocracy on official positions, expanded the foundation of the ruling class, eased the contradiction between the aristocratic class and the common class, and played a huge role in the stability of the ruling order of the feudal dynasty. It was not until 1905 that the Qing rulers ordered the abolition of the imperial examination system. At this point, the imperial examination system officially withdrew from the stage of mainland history.
Second, the Sui Emperor ordered the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
During the reign of the Sui Emperor, the Central Plains had experienced years of war and strife, with serious population loss, barren land, and economic collapse. However, the Jiangnan region has experienced more than 400 years of governance from the Eastern Wu, Eastern Jin, Liu Song, Southern Qi, Southern Liang, and Southern Chen dynasties, and has become a "golden pimple" with a developed economy, a prosperous society and a rich people. However, due to poor transportation, the money and grain in the Jiangnan region did not arrive in the Central Plains in time. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a passage from the Jiangnan region to the Central Plains region to connect them.
At the same time, in 589, the Sui Dynasty destroyed Southern Chen, unified the world, and ended the war between the Northern and Southern Dynasties of the Sixteen Kingdoms that lasted for more than 300 years. As a result, the internal wars of the Sui Dynasty gradually decreased. At this time, the Turks in the north and Goguryeo in the northeast continued to move south, invading the borders of the Sui Dynasty. As a result, Hebei gradually became the main battlefield and military center during the Sui Dynasty. However, due to poor transportation, the Central Plains could not transport the army and grain and grass to Hebei in time. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a passage from the Central Plains to Hebei to connect them.
At this point, the passage from the Jiangnan region to the Central Plains and from the Central Plains to Hebei has become the need of the Sui Dynasty's rule and the social development of the Sui Dynasty.
In 604, the Sui Emperor officially decided to gradually promote the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal on the basis of his predecessors and natural river courses. In 604, the Sui Emperor built the Tongji Canal (connecting the Yellow River and the Huai River) on the basis of the old road of Yangqu and Bianqu; In the same year, Emperor Jiao of Sui ordered the construction of Hangou (connecting the Huai River and the Yangtze River); In 608, Emperor Jiao of Sui built the Yongji Canal (connecting the Haihe and Yellow Rivers) on the basis of the Tunshi River, Dahe Gudu and Baigou; In 610, the Sui Emperor built the Jiangnan River (connecting the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River) on the basis of the Wu Canal, the Qin Dantu Waterway, and the Southern Dynasty Canal. By this point, by around 610, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal had been basically completed.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is centered on Luoyang, from Zhuo County (present-day Beijing) in the north to Yuhang (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang) in the south, with a total length of more than 2,700 kilometers, from north to south are Yongji Canal, Tongji Canal, Hangou and Jiangnan River, connecting the five major water systems of Haihe, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River and Qiantang River, forming three geographical centers of Zhuo County, Luoyang and Yuhang, successfully connecting the military center of the Sui Dynasty, Hebei Region, the political center of the Central Plains, and the economic center of Jiangnan, becoming a major artery running through the north and south.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the longest canal in the world, a very important project in ancient China, and also the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancient people of the mainland, which has had a far-reaching impact on the economic development and historical process of the mainland.
It is a major artery running through the north and south of the mainland in ancient times, strengthening the connection and communication between the political center of the Sui Dynasty, the Central Plains, the economic center of Jiangnan and the military center of Hebei, and has played a huge role in the social stability and consolidation of rule of the Sui Dynasty and all subsequent feudal dynasties.
The construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has greatly promoted the development and exchange of the ancient economy of the mainland. It has enabled the economy along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to achieve leapfrog development and become the ancient economic center and main economic artery of the mainland. Among them, the economic development of the Jiangnan region and the Jianghuai region has advanced by leaps and bounds, and to this day, the Jiangnan region is still the richest and most developed area in the mainland. After the completion of the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Yangzhou in the Jianghuai region became the largest city in the world, and left the reputation of "the prosperity of the world" and "one benefit two".
It was not until the late Qing Dynasty, with the rise of Yangtze River transportation, maritime transportation and Beijing-Shanghai railway, that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal gradually withdrew from the status of the mainland's economic center and main economic artery.
Third, the Sui Emperor vigorously built the ruling system of the Sui Dynasty and perfected the political, legal, military and cultural systems of the Sui Dynasty.
Politically, in order to rule the needs, the Sui Emperor set up the Inner Province, which together with the Shangshu Province, the Inner History Province, the Secretary Province, and the Menxia Province were called the "Five Provinces". Moreover, Emperor Sui ordered that the Taifu Temple be renamed Shaofu Jian, Guozixue should be renamed Guozijian, Neijian Province should be renamed Changqiujian, and Zuosi Temple would be renamed Jiangzuojian, plus Dushui Jian, and synthesized into "Five Superintendents". At the same time, the Sui Emperor ordered the prefecture system to be changed to a county system, further strengthening the improvement of the centralized system.
Legally, in order to change the harsh laws of Emperor Wen of Sui, in 607, Emperor Jiao of Sui promulgated the Law of Great Karma. At this point, the legal system of the Sui Dynasty was gradually improved.
Militarily, Emperor Sui ordered that the left and right guards be changed to left and right Yiwei, left and right reserves to left and right cavalry guards, left and right martial guards to left and right waiting guards, leading troops to left and right tunwei, and set up left and right imperial guards, plus left and right military guards, combined into "twelve guards".
Culturally, Emperor Sui ordered the restoration of educational institutions such as Guozijian, Taixue, Simenxue, and Prefecture Studies, which were abolished by Emperor Wen of Sui, and also ordered the construction of more schools. Moreover, Emperor Sui sent people to compile books such as "Changzhou Jade Mirror" and "District Yu Tuzhi". At the same time, the Sui Emperor also sent people to visit and protect folk books. During the Sui Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty had a collection of 370,000 volumes, with 77,000 books, making it the largest collection of ancient books in the mainland. So far, during the period of the Sui Emperor, the mainland's educational and cultural undertakings have developed by leaps and bounds.
The institutional reform of Emperor Sui and his father Emperor Wen of Sui was another radical major change in ancient China after Qin Shi Huang, unveiling a new order of the ancient feudal dynasty system on the mainland and influencing the ruling order and system of subsequent feudal dynasties for more than 1,000 years.
Fourth, Emperor Sui personally conquered Tuyuhun and vigorously developed the Western Regions.
In order to strengthen the Sui Dynasty's rule over the Western Regions, the Sui Emperor decided to defeat the powerful state of the Western Regions, Tuyuhun. In 608, Emperor Jiao of Sui officially sent troops to attack Tuyuhun. Soon, the Sui army defeated Tuyuhun. Subsequently, the Sui Emperor set up four counties, Xihai Commandery, Heyuan Commandery, and Shanshan, bringing large areas of Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang under the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty. At this point, the pro-conquest of Tuyuhun strengthened the Sui Dynasty's rule over the Western Regions, and also cleared the way for the Sui Dynasty to operate the Western Regions.
In 610, Emperor Sui entertained merchants from the Western Regions with great treatment, allowing them to eat and live for free. This move by the Sui Emperor greatly stimulated the yearning of the countries of the world for the Central Plains Dynasty at that time, and strengthened the good impression of the countries of the world for the Central Plains Dynasty. Starting from the Sui Emperor, the situation of "all nations coming to the dynasty" appeared in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which became an important symbol of the mainland's ancient strength.
Fifth, the Sui Emperor ordered the creation of the eastern capital Luoyang.
In 605, Emperor Jiao of Sui officially decided to build Luoyang. Subsequently, Emperor Sui sent Yang Su to be in charge of building the eastern capital. In the project of building Luoyang, 2 million people will be invested every month and will last 10 months. In 609, Emperor Jiao of Sui ordered that Luoyang be renamed the Eastern Capital.
Luoyang City consists of three parts: Miyagi City, Imperial City and Waiguo City. Among them, Miyagi is where the emperor lives and works, the imperial city is where hundreds of officials work, and Waiguo City is where the people live.
The construction of Luoyang was an important step in the martial arts of the Sui Emperor, which laid the foundation for the situation that Chang'an and Luoyang were the capital cities in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and made great contributions to the development and prosperity of the city in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Since then, Luoyang, a city that has been sunk for more than half a century, began to rise again and gradually became a metropolis on a par with Chang'an, Yangzhou and Chengdu.
In the early period of the Sui Emperor, the Sui Dynasty developed economically, prospered culture, eased class contradictions, further developed productive forces, and continued to improve national strength, reaching its peak. History refers to this period as the "Age of Great Business." Based on this, the Sui Emperor is worthy of the title of "Emperor of the Ages".
At this time, the Sui Dynasty had successively experienced the reign of the emperor and the prosperous era, and its national strength had reached its peak, which was also a new height for the ancient feudal dynasty on the mainland.
However, just when the Sui Dynasty seemed to be in full swing, the sun was already quietly tilting. The Sui Emperor's military dedication and quick successes eventually led to the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
At this point, the Sui Dynasty entered a crisis stage.
Three. crisis
When the Sui Emperor ascended the throne, Goguryeo, located in the northeast of the Sui Dynasty, gradually became stronger. At this time, Goguryeo not only refused to pay tribute to the Sui Dynasty, but also sent troops to harass the Sui Dynasty's borders. At this point, the contradictions between the Sui Dynasty and Goguryeo became increasingly acute.
In 607, Emperor Sui traveled to Eastern Turks and met emissaries from Goguryeo in Eastern Turks, where he believed that Goguryeo and Eastern Turks had a tendency to unite, and if they were allowed to unite, they would definitely pose a great threat to the border of the Sui Dynasty. Soon, Emperor Sui asked Gao Yuan, the king of Goguryeo, to go to Chang'an to meet Emperor Sui, but Gao Yuan refused. At this point, these two events became the fuse for the Sui Emperor's three expeditions to Goguryeo.
In 612, Emperor Jiao of Sui launched the Battle of Goguryeo, gathering 1.13 million troops and 2 million people to attack Goguryeo. As a result, due to command errors, the Sui army was defeated by the Goguryeo army, and only more than 2,700 of the Sui Dynasty's 300,000 advance troops remained. At this point, the Sui Emperor's conquest of Goguryeo ended in failure.
In 613, Emperor Jiao of Sui launched the Second Campaign of Goguryeo, gathering an army of 1.5 million to attack Goguryeo. However, at this time, Yang Su's son Yang Xuanjian rebelled against the Sui Dynasty and led his army to attack Luoyang. As a result, Emperor Sui had to stop attacking Goguryeo, lead his army back to the Sui Dynasty, rescue Luoyang, and discard all military supplies to attack Goguryeo in Goguryeo. At this point, the battle of Goguryeo ended in defeat in the second campaign of the Sui Emperor.
In 614, Emperor Jiao of Sui launched the Three Campaigns of Goguryeo, gathering an army of 1 million to attack Goguryeo. Soon, the Sui army defeated Goguryeo's army near Pyongyang, and the Sui dynasty general Hu'er defeated Goguryeo's army at Bifucheng. As a result, the king of Goguryeo had to send people to ask Emperor Sui for peace. At this point, the battle of Goguryeo in the three campaigns of the Sui Emperor ended in victory.
The three expeditions of Goguryeo by the Sui Emperor exhausted the financial, military, manpower, and material resources of the Sui Dynasty, and brought heavy disasters and burdens to the common people of the Sui Dynasty. From then on, the social contradictions of the Sui Dynasty began to intensify in an all-round way, and the rule of the Sui Dynasty began to have a huge crisis.
In addition, the Sui Emperor launched a war against Lin Yi in 605, a war against Tuyuhun in 608, a war against Liuqiu in 610, and a war against the Turks in 615. These military operations also consumed a lot of material, financial, military and manpower resources of the Sui Dynasty, and further intensified the social contradictions of the Sui Dynasty.
At the same time, the Sui Emperor's construction of the Grand Canal, the construction of the Eastern Capital, and the three Yangzhou also consumed a lot of manpower, financial and material resources of the Sui Dynasty. Moreover, the Sui Emperor established the imperial examination system, which harmed the interests of the Shi clan and caused the Sui Emperor to lose the support of the Shi clan. At this point, the rule of the Sui Dynasty was already in turmoil.
In 611, Wang Bo launched an uprising in Changbai Mountain, opening the prelude to the peasant uprising at the end of the Sui Dynasty. Immediately afterwards, Dou Jiande, Zhang Jinshen, Liu Baodao, Sun Zuan and others also rebelled against the rule of the Sui Dynasty. Subsequently, the peasant rebel army in the late Sui Dynasty became increasingly powerful, quickly spreading throughout the country and gradually swept most of the world.
Faced with the spread of peasant rebels in the late Sui Dynasty, the Sui Emperor used brutal means to suppress and eliminate them. Soon, the Sui Dynasty successively quelled the uprisings of Zhang Jinzhen, Liu Yuanjin, Lu Mingyue and others. However, Zhai Rang, Dou Jiande and others continued to lead the rebel army to defeat the Sui army. At this point, the peasant rebel army in the late Sui Dynasty became even stronger.
In 613, Yang Su's son Yang Xuanjian rebelled at Liyang against Emperor Sui's rule. Soon, Emperor Sui quickly suppressed Yang Xuangan's rebellion. However, Yang Xuangan's rebellion became a prelude to the rebellion of the upper aristocrats of the Sui Dynasty against Emperor Sui.
In 616, Emperor Sui traveled from Luoyang to Jiangdu, which was Emperor Sui's third tour of Jiangdu and his last tour of his life. Since then, the Sui Emperor has never returned to the Central Plains.
In 617, Emperor Sui's cousin and nephew Li Yuan of Dugu Garo rebelled against Emperor Sui's rule. Soon, Li Yuan occupied Chang'an and Guanzhong and installed Yang You, the grandson of Emperor Jiao of Sui, as emperor, with the year name Yining, and honored Emperor Jiao of Sui as Emperor Taishang. At this point, Yang You became the third emperor of the Sui Dynasty.
Subsequently, Yang Yu canonized Li Yuan as prime minister and oversaw the imperial government. At this point, Li Yuan was in power alone, and Yang You was only a puppet emperor supported by Li Yuan.
At this time, Emperor Sui had completely laid it out. He let people constantly select beautiful women near Jiangdu, expand the harem, and look for fun all day long.
Moreover, Emperor Sui actually looked in the mirror during this time, and he once said to Empress Xiao: "Good head, I don't know what sword can cut it off." At this time, Emperor Sui already knew that it was only a matter of time before he was killed, so he often carried poison on his body to keep the whole corpse.
In 618, Emperor Jiao of Sui decided not to return to the Central Plains. Therefore, he sent people to build the Danyang Palace, intending to move there.
However, most of the soldiers of the Sui Emperor were from the Central Plains and wanted to return to their hometowns, and this move of the Sui Emperor undoubtedly lost the hearts of the soldiers. Therefore, this incident became the trigger for the Jiangdu Mutiny.
At this point, the Sui Dynasty entered the stage of extinction.
Four. perish
In 618, another cousin of Emperor Sui and another nephew of Dugu Garo and taking advantage of the soldiers' longing for their hometown to launch a mutiny and attack Emperor Sui. After the defeat of Emperor Sui, he fled to the Western Pavilion and was captured by the rebels. Soon, Yu Wenhe ordered the rebel general Ling Hu Xingda to kill Emperor Sui. Subsequently, Yu Wenhe ordered the killing of all members of the Sui Dynasty. History calls this mutiny the "Jiangdu Mutiny."
After the Sui Emperor was killed, the Sui Dynasty already existed in name only. At this point, the fate of the demise of the Sui Dynasty has been completely irretrievable.
After the death of Emperor Jiao of Sui, Yu Wenwen and Yang Hao the Prince of Qin, the nephew of Emperor Sui and son of Yang Jun the Prince of Qin, became emperor, with the year name Tianshou. At this point, Yang Hao became the fourth emperor of the Sui Dynasty.
Subsequently, Yang Hao canonized Yu Culture and became prime minister, and oversaw the imperial government. At this point, Yu Wenhe controlled the power of the dynasty, and Yang Hao was only a puppet emperor.
Soon, Yu Wenhe was defeated by Li Mi, the leader of Wagang in Gong County, and fled to Wei County with 20,000 remnants. Immediately afterwards, Yu Wenhe sent people to poison Yang Hao, officially calling him emperor, and the national name was Xu. At this point, the Sui Dynasty Tianshou Dynasty came to an end.
After the news of Emperor Sui's killing reached Chang'an, Li Yuan felt that the time was ripe to claim the throne. Therefore, in 618, Li Yuan forced Yang Yu to abdicate and officially declared himself emperor, with the state name Tang, which was Tang Gaozu. At this point, the Yining Dynasty of the Sui Dynasty came to an end.
In general, Yang Yu is recognized by history as an emperor, and Yang Dong and Yang Hao, who proclaimed emperor with him, are generally not recognized by history. Therefore, Yang You's abdication became a symbol of the demise of the Sui Dynasty. At this point, the 37-year-old Sui Dynasty declared its demise.
However, the Sui Dynasty has not yet completely perished. After the news of Emperor Sui's killing reached Luoyang, Yuan Wendu, Emperor Fu Wuyi, and others supported Yang Dong, the grandson of Emperor Sui and Yang You's brother, as emperor, with the year name Huangtai. At this point, Yang Dong became the fifth emperor of the Sui Dynasty.
Subsequently, Yang Dong sent Gai Jun and Ma Gongzheng to recruit Li Mi, the leader of Wagang, and Li Mi surrendered to Yang Dong. As a result, Yang Dong canonized Li Mi as the Duke of Wei and asked him to lead an army to attack Yuwen He.
Soon, in 618, Duan Da mutinied, killed Yuan Wendu, and supported Wang Shichong. Yang Dong had no choice but to canonize Wang Shichong as Shangshu's left servant and let him manage all the military affairs of the imperial court. At this point, Wang Shichong controlled the power of the dynasty, and Yang Dong became a puppet emperor.
In 619, Duan Da, Yun Dingxing, and others met with Yang Dong, saying that Wang Shichong had performed outstanding feats, and asked Yang Dong to cede the throne to Wang Shichong. Yang Dong was helpless and had to cede the throne to Yang Dong. Therefore, Wang Shichong was called emperor, and the national name was Zheng. At this point, the Sui Dynasty's Imperial Thai Dynasty came to an end.
In 620, the Eastern Turk khan Luo Khan installed Yang Zhengdao, grandson of Emperor Jiao of Sui and widow of Yang Xi the King of Qi, as King of Sui, re-established the Sui Dynasty, and became the sixth emperor of the Sui Dynasty. History refers to this Sui Dynasty as the "Later Sui".
Moreover, the Zhiluo Khan also handed over the officials and people of the Central Plains in the Eastern Turkic territory to Yang Zhengdao. Subsequently, Yang Zhengdao went to live in Dingxiang County, and according to the system of the Sui Dynasty, set up hundreds of officials, ruling more than 10,000 officials and people.
However, Yang Zhengdao's "Later Sui" was only a puppet dynasty supported by the Eastern Turks, and its existence and destiny were controlled and dominated by the Eastern Turks.
In 630, the Tang general Li Jing led an army to destroy the Eastern Turks, and the Eastern Turk Jieli Khan surrendered to the Tang Dynasty with Yang Zhengdao and the Sui Emperor's empress Xiao.
At this point, the Sui Dynasty completely perished.