#历史开讲 #
The Sui Dynasty was a short-lived dynasty that lasted only thirty-eight years from its establishment in 581 to its demise in 619. However, the Sui Dynasty played a very important role in the course of Chinese history, creating many splendors, like meteors, although flashing, but leaving a dazzling light.
The Sui Dynasty actually experienced only two emperors, father and son, one was the founding emperor Yang Jian of Suiwen, and the other was Yang Guang, the emperor of Sui, the king of the fallen state. The father and son are very different in terms of experience, personality, and governance strategy, and the results are very different.
The founding emperor Yang Jian is legendary. The history books say that Yang Jian was from the Yang clan of Hongnong, a wealthy family in Guanzhong and was the 14th grandson of Yang Zhen, a famous minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, according to the research of the master of Chinese culture, Chen Yinke, the Yang Jian family is actually a Shandong Han family, and their background is not prominent. Yang Jian's ancestor was forced by life to serve as a soldier in Wuchuan Town on the northern border. Yang Jian's father, Yang Zhong, was born in Wuchuan Town.
When Yang Zhong became an adult, he remained a soldier and defected to Yuwen Tai, a minister of Western Wei. Yang Zhong fought bravely, repeatedly made battle merits, and was both from Wuchuan Town with Yuwen Tai, so he continued to rise, and became a general of the Great Sikong and Zhu Guo, and was named the Duke of Suiguo, ranking among the core layer of the Guanlong aristocratic group, rich and glorious.
In 541 AD, Yang Jian was born in Chang'an Banruo Temple. Because Yang was faithful to Buddhism, Yang Jian was born in a nun, and the nun raised him until he was thirteen years old. After that, Yang Jian entered the Taixue School again. Yang Jian received both Buddhist and Confucian education, which made him develop a deep and quiet and thrifty and cautious character.
In 555, Yang Jian entered the world. He was conscientious in his work, outstanding in talent, and should have a bright future, but because he did not want to rely on the powerful minister Yuwen Hu, he was not promoted for seventeen years, and he was a petty official for a long time, and he was unknown.
In 572, Emperor Wu of Zhou killed Yuwen Hu and began to reuse Yang Jian. With his own ability, Yang Jian was gradually promoted to the governor of Zhuguo, Dingzhou, and Bozhou, and became a local official. Yang Jian's eldest daughter, Yang Lihua, was beautiful and virtuous, and was hired by Emperor Wu of Zhou as a crown prince. Yang Jian became in-laws with the emperor and began to raise his eyebrows.
In 578, Emperor Wudi of Zhou died of illness, and the crown prince Yuwen Yun succeeded to the throne, and Yang Lihua became empress. Yang Jian became a national abbot and his worth doubled. The new emperor Yuwen Yun liked to eat, drink and have fun, and was unwilling to manage government, and wanted to find a reliable person to help him deal with government affairs, so he chose Yang Jian, the old man. Yang Jian jumped from a local official to a high-ranking official of the imperial court, and soared to prominence.
In 580, Yuwen Yun died of a sudden illness. The emperor's close ministers Zheng Yi and Liu Fang were good friends of Yang Jian, and they forged Yuwen Yun's edict and, with Yang Lihua's support, made Yang Jian an auxiliary minister and assisted the seven-year-old young emperor Zhou Jingdi. In this way, the power of the imperial court fell into the hands of Yang Jian, who began a plan to usurp the power of Northern Zhou.
Yang Jian had no merit and shallow qualifications, and only relied on his status as a foreign relative, he became an auxiliary minister and controlled the imperial court, which caused dissatisfaction among the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the elder ministers, and some even raised troops to cause chaos. Yang Nuan killed the five princes, quickly quelled the rebellion of Wei Chi, Wang Qian, and Sima, consolidated his rule, and demonstrated outstanding talent and courage.
In 581, Yang Jian deposed Zhou Jiansui and became emperor, known as Emperor Wen of Sui. It was easier for Yang Jian to obtain the imperial throne, so he was criticized as "unrighteous in winning the country". However, Yang insisted that the empress had created a series of brilliant achievements that had a significant and far-reaching impact on future generations.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, it only ruled the north, and there was also the Southern Chen regime in the south, which ruled with the Sui Dynasty. Yang Jian did not rush to unify the whole country, but concentrated on governing the north. Politically, the system of three provinces and six ministries was created, forming a central official system that not only performed its own duties but also checked each other, strengthened the imperial power, and its basic framework was used by successive emperors; In terms of the rule of law, the revision of the "Kaihuang Law" has affected Chinese society for more than a thousand years; In the selection of talents, the creation of the imperial examination system has not only affected China but also the world, and the civil service examination system in many countries still exists; Economically, the adoption of the three major policies of the average field system, the export of nationality and the large-scale reading of the country has promoted economic and social development; Militarily, the system of integrating soldiers and agriculture has ensured sufficient sources of troops and enhanced the combat effectiveness of the troops.
Yang Jian was a far-sighted and brilliant politician and reformer who spent seven or eight years consolidating his rule through a series of reforms, achieving a strong and prosperous country, and possessing the conditions to pacify Jiangnan and unify the whole country.
At the end of 588, the Sui Dynasty dispatched an army of 510,000 people, with Yang Guang as the marshal, and the army was divided into eight routes to attack Jiangnan. The Sui army was strong and strong, broke through the Yangtze River in one fell swoop, and in only three months, destroyed Southern Chen, and then conquered Lingnan and other places, unifying the whole country.
The Sui Dynasty became another unified dynasty after the Qin, Han and Western Jin Dynasties. The great unification of the Sui Dynasty has obvious characteristics and great significance compared with the Qin and Han dynasties. The great unification of the Qin and Han dynasties, mainly the unification of the Chinese nation and the Central Plains; The great unification of the Sui Dynasty had a wider territory, especially including many ethnic minorities, and was a great unification of the unity and integration of all ethnic groups.
We now refer to the 56 ethnic groups in China collectively as the Chinese nation, and the author believes that it was the Sui Dynasty that laid the foundation for the formation of the Chinese nation, and this great achievement cannot be underestimated. In the eyes of Westerners, Yang Jian's contribution and status are higher than those of Qin Shi Huang, Liu Bang, Li Shimin, Kangxi and others, which makes sense. Just because the Sui Dynasty was short and Yang Guang was tyrannical, we should not ignore the great role and brilliant achievements of the Sui Dynasty in China's social development.
Yang Jian's personal qualities are also relatively good. He is diligent in government affairs, advocates thrift, does not engage in luxury, does not like music, and does not indulge in wine. He had a deep relationship with the empress, and his five sons were all born to the empress.
Yang Jian ruled for twenty-three years, and under his rule, the Sui Dynasty was politically clear, socially stable, the country was prosperous and strong, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and was praised by later generations as the reign of the emperor.
In 604, Yang Jian died at the age of sixty-four. The second son, Yang Guang, succeeded to the throne and was known as the Sui Emperor. In the wild history novel, Yang Jian was killed by Yang Guang, and there is no such record in the official history.
Yang Guang was born in Chang'an in 569 AD. He was handsome, intelligent and witty, and outstanding in literature, and led troops to destroy the Chen Kingdom in the south and the Turks in the north, and made great achievements. It is believed that among Yang Jian's five sons, Yang Guang is the most outstanding. Yang Guang is particularly good at disguise, favored by his parents, lives frugally, is not good at drinking and happy women, and is very filial, so he is favored by his parents. Yang Jian abolished Yang Yong, the crown prince who had been established for many years, and installed Yang Guang as the crown prince, so that he could smoothly succeed to the throne as emperor.
Yang Guang reigned as emperor for fourteen years, which was roughly divided into two phases. In the first eight years, he had great ambitions and spirits, and was dedicated to building a great cause for thousands of years, so he built the eastern capital, opened canals, built the Great Wall, built roads, and built civil engineering; At the same time, he marched east and west, inspected in all directions, and opened up territory. In the past eight years, Yang Guang has indeed done a lot of things, but he is eager to achieve quick results, so happy and happy, which consumes national strength and people's strength, and exceeds the people's ability to bear, resulting in chaos in the world and uprisings. In the following years, Yang Guang's ambitions were frustrated, so he became depressed, pursued pleasure, was poor and extravagant, and indulged in wine.
Yang Guang became emperor in 604, and the following year, he recruited 2 million men to build the grand eastern capital Luoyang; Millions of men were enlisted, and it took six years to dig the world-famous Grand Canal, and women were forced to go into battle because there were not enough men. After that, various large-scale projects were launched one after another, and construction sites were everywhere, and the people were overwhelmed.
At the same time, Yang Guang attacked Linyi in the south, Khitan in the north, Yiwu in the west, and Liuqiu in the east, attacked Tuyuhun, subdued the Western Regions, and reopened the Silk Road. Through a series of wars, Yang Guang expanded his territory and subdued the four sides, so that the Sui Dynasty reached its peak on the surface, forming a situation in which all nations came to the DPRK, but it also contained a great crisis.
In the first eight years, Yang Guang was not very lewd, nor did he pursue pleasure too much, but was energetic, tireless, and constantly toured various places to promote national prestige. In the wild history novels, Yang Guang's luxury in the south of the Jiangnan is greatly exaggerated, but Yang Guang's hard experience in touring northern and western Cyprus is not mentioned. The northern and western regions of Cyprus are desolate places, and Yang Guang braved the wind and snow to go on patrol, and went west to Yumen Pass, which shows that he is not going to sightseeing and pursue enjoyment. However, Yang Guang likes pomp and circumstance, extravagant and wasteful, and has made many patrols, consuming a lot of financial resources and people's resources.
Yang Guang was not a mediocre emperor, on the contrary, he was bent on creating a great cause for thousands of years, and even harbored arrogant ambitions, trying to surpass Zhou Han, the Yellow Emperor and Tang Yao and become an unprecedented generation of emperors. However, it was this arrogant ambition that harmed him and ruined the Sui Dynasty.
From 612 to 614, despite the dangerous situation in the country, Yang Guang launched three large-scale wars against Goguryeo in succession, and almost all of his young and middle-aged people enlisted in the army and served as civil servants. Yang Guang's use of force and conquest finally aroused the people's resistance. Uprisings surged in various places, and soon the three major military groups of Li Miwagang Army, Hebei Dou Jiande, and Jianghuai Dufuwei were formed, and the north almost fell.
In 615, the Turks, who had long been vassals of the Sui Dynasty, turned against them and sent a large army to besiege Yang Guang at Yanmen. Yang Guang almost died, his prestige plummeted, and the surrounding countries no longer ignored him.
In 616, Yang Guang took refuge in Jiangdu to escape the war in the north. At this time, Yang Guang's arrogant dreams were shattered, he became discouraged, began to pursue pleasure, and drunk dreams of death.
In 617, Li Yuan, a high-ranking official of the imperial court and a relative of the imperial family, raised troops in Taiyuan and quickly captured Guanzhong and Chang'an. Li Yuan announced that he would abolish Yang Guang's throne and install Yang Guang's grandson Yang You as emperor, giving Yang Guang a heavy blow.
Yang Guang knew that the north could not go back, so he wanted to cross the river to the south, move the capital to Jiankang, favor the south of the Jiang, and rule the river. However, most of the officials of the imperial court and the generals of the Sui army were northerners and were unwilling to go south, which caused a sharp conflict with Yang Guang.
In 618, the Guanlong aristocratic clique mutinied and killed Yang Guang. At this time, the Sui Dynasty had essentially perished.
After Yang Guang's death, the Sui Dynasty still existed nominally, and three puppet emperors, Yang You, Yang Hao, and Yang Dong, appeared. Soon, Yang You and Yang Hao were killed, leaving only Yang Dong who was shrunk in Luoyang City. Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty in Chang'an and became emperor.
In 619, Wang Shichong killed Yang Dong, proclaimed himself emperor, and changed the name of the state to Zhengguo. At this point, the Sui Dynasty completely perished.
In 621, Li Yuan destroyed Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, recruited Du Fuwei, and then swept away large and small separatist forces, and unified the world in 623. Since then, Chinese society has entered the Tang Dynasty.
The lesson of the rapid demise of the Sui Dynasty warns people that if a ruler wants to make a contribution, there is no mistake in his starting point, but he must do what he can, and must not exceed the people's ability to bear, otherwise, it will inevitably backfire. At the same time, any merit of the ruler depends on the people to achieve, and if he puts himself in opposition to the people and bases his merit on the suffering of the people, it is not a merit, but a disaster, which will inevitably lead to destruction.