As a famous tyrant in China's history, the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang Guang spent a lot of national strength during his reign. Although objectively speaking, some of his actions and measures have had a certain positive impact on future generations, such as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was included in the World Cultural Heritage List, but on the whole, he was still a great joy and did not show compassion for the people's strength, and as a result, he caused resentment inside and outside the government and the public.
In the fourteenth year of Daye (618), Yu Wenhua and Yu Jiangdu launched a mutiny and killed Yang Guang, and the Sui Dynasty can also be said to have died in name only. In the history of our country, there have been many examples of kings whose families have been cursed after they have been killed. So, as the family of the tyrant Sui Dynasty Emperor, how were his relatives treated after his death, and what was the final fate?
Since the whereabouts of the Sui Emperor's concubines are basically completely unverifiable, we can only talk about Empress Xiao, who is clearly recorded in the history books. As the daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Western Liang, Empress Xiao was very knowledgeable and gentle from an early age, so she was deeply favored by Yang Guang. Regarding the deep feelings of the two, it can be roughly seen from the fact that she gave birth to three sons and a daughter for Yang Guang, and went all out to please Emperor Wen of Sui and Empress Dugu, and helped her husband to take the concubine.
After the outbreak of the Jiangdu Rebellion, Empress Xiao was initially placed in Liaocheng by the rebels along with the members of the royal family, and later Dou Jiande captured Liaocheng and transferred it to Wuqiang. Not long after, Empress Xiao's brother-in-law, the Turkic Khan of Chuluo, sent emissaries to negotiate with Dou Jiande and welcomed Empress Xiao to the Turks. In the fourth year of Zhenguan (630), Tang Taizong sent troops to destroy the Eastern Turks, and Xiao Hou was welcomed back to Chang'an, and received high courtesy from his nominal son-in-law Emperor Taizong. After living in Beijing for seventeen years, the eighty-one-year-old Xiao Hou drove back to Yaochi, ending his life of upheaval and displacement, but generally still relatively stable.
Next, let's look at the sons of the Sui Emperor. According to historical records, the Sui Emperor had four sons, but the third of them died tragically, and the eldest son, Yang Zhao, died of illness long before Yang Guang was killed. In addition to the two who died early, The Sui Emperor's second son Yang Huan and fourth son Yang Gao were both killed in the Jiangdu rebellion and went to Huangquan with their father.
According to historical records, Yang Huan, as the second son of his concubine, believed that after the death of his brother Yang Zhao, he should be crown prince in the order, but he was worried that his brother's three children would be favored by his father, so he secretly engaged in many victory-weary techniques, hoping to gain the throne by cursing his nephew. However, it didn't take long for Yang Huan's behavior to be exposed, and Yang Guang, despite his anger, spared him the death penalty.
When Yu Wenhua and launched the coup d'état, Yang Guang subconsciously thought that Yang Huan was causing trouble, which shows that he has always been wary of him in his mind. After Yang Guang's death, Yu Wenhua and soon sent people to arrest and kill Yang Huan, and Yang Huan thought that his father wanted to get rid of himself before his death, which was really emotional for the father and son. Yang Huan was only thirty-four years old when he was killed, and he was killed with his two children. Yang Guang's youngest son, Yang Gao, was only eleven years old at the time of his coup, and as a young man, he did not know what had happened, but hid by his father in fear and was subsequently killed by the rebels.
In summary, Yang Guang's two sons died early, and two were killed with him, but fortunately Yang Zhao left three sons, and Yang Huan also had a widow who escaped the disaster. Yang Zhao's three sons were Yang You, Yang Tong, and Yang You, who was first proclaimed emperor by Li Yuan in Chang'an, then abdicated the throne by Chan and died of illness at the age of fifteen; Yang Tong was proclaimed emperor by his ministers in Luoyang after the Sui Emperor was killed, and later killed by Wang Shichong; and the youngest Yang You, who died in a coup d'état because he traveled to Jiangdu with his grandfather.
Yang Huan's widowed son, named Yang Zhengdao, went to turkistan with Empress Xiao after the incident, and with the help of Chuluo Khan, became the Sui king of the Later Sui regime. After the fall of the Eastern Turks, Yang Zhengdao was made a member of the Outer Horse Rider by Emperor Taizong of Tang, and eventually died of illness in Chang'an.
Finally, let's talk about the daughters of the Sui Emperor, according to the records of the Northern History, the daughters of the Sui Emperor should not be in the minority, but there are only two clearly recorded in the history books, that is, Princess Nanyang and Princess Yang. Princess Nanyang was the eldest daughter of Emperor Sui and Empress Xiao, and the wife of Yuwen Wenhua and his younger brother Yuwen Shihe. After the outbreak of the Jiangdu Rebellion, Princess Nanyang broke with Yuwen Shihe and defected to Li Yuan's father and son, and eventually became a nun at Fuqing Temple.
Princess Yang's name and birth mother are unknown, but she became the favorite concubine of Emperor Taizong of Tang in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, and bore her two sons, Li Ke and Li Yan. Among them, Li Ke was heroic and decisive, and was considered by Emperor Taizong to be very similar to himself, and once became a favorable contender for the throne, but under the suppression of the eldest son, he not only failed to become the crown prince, but also lost his life. As for Li Yan, he had a stubborn personality and often did things out of the ordinary, so he was repeatedly demoted to an official, and finally he was deposed as a Shuren by his brother Li Ke, exiled to Bazhou, and finally died in exile.
In general, none of the four sons of the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang Guang received a good death, and even among his four grandsons, only Yang Zhengdao lived to adulthood and died. In addition, his two grandsons were also killed and exiled, and the end was not good. In this way, it is really a difficult thing to be the relatives of the king of the fallen country.