In 604, Emperor Wen of Sui died, and his second son Yang Guang, the Emperor of Sui, took the throne. However, at the beginning of the reign of the Sui Emperor, he faced a very serious rebellion, and even threatened to be overthrown! The person who almost killed Emperor Sui was his youngest brother and Emperor Wen of Sui's favorite son, and this person was Yang Yu, the King of Han! So, why did Yang Yu rebel? Why didn't he overthrow the Sui Emperor?
First, the darling of parents
Emperor Yang Jian of Sui had a good relationship with Empress Dowager Jialuo, and they made a vow at the beginning of their marriage, "Swearing that there is no son of alien birth". Later, the two gave birth to five sons, namely Yang Yong, Yang Guang, Yang Jun, Yang Xiu, and Yang Yu. Among these five sons, the most loved by their parents is the younger son, Yang Yu. Born in 575, Yang Yu was supposed to move out of the palace when he got married as a teenager and then take up his fiefdom.
However, Yang Yu did not leave his parents until 597, at the age of 23. In this year, Yang Yu was appointed as the governor of Hezhou, and Yang Jian personally sent his younger son to his post. In addition, Yang Yu's territory and power were very large, "from the east of the mountains, as for the Canghai Sea, the south rejected the Yellow River, and the fifty-two prefectures were all subordinate", that is to say, the territory of northern Qi was all under the administration of Yang Yu. At the same time, Emperor Wen of Sui also granted Yang Yu special powers, "concessions to be cheap and informal."
2. The terrified King of Han
A few years after Yang Yu took office, many major events occurred in the DPRK! Crown Prince Yang Yong was deposed and Yang Guang, the Prince of Jin, became the new crown prince; Yang Jun, the Prince of Qin, was poisoned by his own princess; and Yang Xiu, the King of Shu, was also deposed as a commoner because of his extravagance and lasciviousness. In the blink of an eye, emperor Wen of Sui's five sons, in addition to the new crown prince Yang Guang, only Yang Yu retained his title and power. Yang Yu was well aware of the second brother's methods, so he began to use his power to "send out a large number of laborers, repair equipment, store them in The Prefecture, and at the same time "recruit outlaws".
In 604, Yang Yu, the king of Han, received an edict from his father and asked him to enter the capital to meet him, but Yang Yu saw at a glance that the edict was forged. It turned out that Emperor Wen of Sui had agreed with Yang Yu, "If the Seal Book summons Ru, add a little to the edict, and those who conform to Yulin should be recruited." When Yang Yu saw that there was no mark on the edict, he knew that this must be the conspiracy of the second brother Yang Guang. Yang Yu did not stop for a second, and simply raised an army to rebel, and at the beginning there were nineteen states responding.
Third, spoil the child
At that time, the situation in the world was very favorable to Yang Yu, but after all, he was only a spoiled child by his parents, there was no strategic planning at all, and he lacked strategic vision, which directly led to his ultimate failure! It turned out that at the beginning of the rebellion, Wang Yong offered advice, "The generals of the Wang Suo and their families are all in Kansai, and if they use these, they should drive deep for a long time and go straight to Kyoto, and the so-called lightning cannot cover their ears; if they want to divide the land of the old Qi, they should be appointed as the easterners." ”
However, Yang Yu hesitated, not only wanted to overthrow the Sui Emperor, but also wanted to divide one side, so he "used two strategies" and raised the banner of killing the anti-thief Yang Su. Yang Yu initially adopted Pei Wen'an's strategy and led his army to capture Pujin, the crossing of the Yellow River, and was supposed to continue to use troops, but when he entered Guanzhong, Yang Yu chose to abandon the attack and recalled Pei Wen'an. At this time, Yang Yu probably felt that he could not overthrow the second brother, so he wanted to divide the side. After Yang Yu missed the opportunity, Yang Guang sent a large army to launch a counterattack, which finally quelled Yang Yu's rebellion, and Yang Yu was imprisoned and died.
References: 1. Book of Sui; 2. Zizhi Tongjian