Chapter 10: Does That Make You Happy?
[To judge the founding of the Sui Dynasty, you have to start with the Northern and Southern Dynasties.]
[Since the final years of the Eastern Han, the realm had been split apart.]
[The Western Jin unified it briefly, but war never truly stopped.]
[The Central Plains churned in chaos, Hu and Han clashing blade for blade.]
[First came a century of darkness and turmoil.]
[Then the great regimes of north and south took the stage one after another.]
[Only when Northern Wei adopted Han customs could the north be unified.]
[It grew stronger by degrees, poised to seize the Central Plains.]
[But after Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved the capital south to Luoyang,]
[the Six Garrisons Rebellion erupted.]
[Soldiers meddled in politics.]
[War blazed across the northern frontier.]
[Erzhu Rong, Gao Huan, and Yuwen Tai rose in succession.]
[Northern Wei split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei.]
[The Gao clan usurped Eastern Wei and founded Northern Qi.]
[The Yuwen clan usurped Western Wei and founded Northern Zhou.]
[The north suffered years of endless war.]
[In the south, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen succeeded one another.]
[The people were scattered, the land shattered for nearly three hundred years.]
[Amidst that chaos,]
[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, Yuwen Yong, rose like a sudden storm.]
[He took the throne at twelve, but real power fell into the hands of his cousin Yuwen Hu.]
[Yuwen Hu murdered Emperor Xiaomin and Emperor Ming one after the other, holding sole power with no one able to check him.]
[Yuwen Yong knew full well how mighty his cousin was—and held his tongue.]
[On the surface he was respectful and obedient, addressing Yuwen Hu as Duke of Jin.]
[In secret he gathered trusted warriors—Yuwen Xiaobo, Wang Gui, and others.]
[In the first year of Jiande, Yuwen Yong set an ambush in the palace.]
[Using the Empress Dowager's fondness for drink as a pretext, he summoned Yuwen Hu into the inner palace to remonstrate with her.]
[When Yuwen Hu knelt before the Empress Dowager, Yuwen Yong struck the back of his skull with a jade tablet.]
[The warriors rushed in and cut Yuwen Hu down.]
[Twelve years of endurance, reversed in a single morning.]
Bullet comments drifted across the screen.
[Now THAT's real patience—Brother Yong's fiercer than Goujian.]
[Twelve years of acting. Oscar-level.]
[Even Yang Jian's sweating guilt watching this.]
Great Sui.
Watching the Celestial Screen.
Yang Jian truly did feel guilty right now.
[He dreaded seeing Yuwen Yong tag him in the spacetime comment section.]
Dugu Jialuo caught the look on Yang Jian's face.
She couldn't help asking.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?"
Yang Jian let out a sigh.
"I have no face to meet Emperor Wu again."
Dugu Jialuo scoffed at that.
"Your Majesty, since when did you become so sentimental?"
"Usurpation is usurpation. In the end, we're the ones who won the realm. We're the ones who ended the chaos."
"Never mind meeting Yuwen Yong again—even if he were reborn this very moment, what then? Would you hand the throne back?"
"No—we govern this realm well. We make Great Sui last ten thousand generations. Only then do we have the face to stand before Northern Zhou."
"And before all those later generations on the Celestial Screen who mock us for winning the realm the easiest."
Yang Jian felt a bit embarrassed at Dugu Jialuo's admonishment.
But he knew deep down she was right.
And having come this far,
of course he wasn't about to actually reflect on anything.
"The Empress speaks sense."
The Celestial Screen.
[With Yuwen Hu eliminated, Yuwen Yong took personal rule.]
[He implemented the policy of destroying Buddhism to strengthen the state.]
[He ordered the destruction of over forty thousand temples, forcing monks and nuns back to lay life.]
[Temple lands were confiscated and registered as state property.]
[Three million laborers were released to bolster the standing army.]
[Northern Zhou's national strength surged as a result.]
[In the fifth year of Jiande, Yuwen Yong personally led the campaign against Northern Qi.]
[He took Jinzhou and Bingzhou in succession, driving straight for Yecheng.]
[In 577 AD, Northern Qi's last ruler Gao Wei was captured, and Northern Qi fell.]
[Thus Northern Zhou unified the north—two of the realm's three parts now in its hands.]
[In 578 AD,]
[Yuwen Yong launched the Northern Expedition against the Turks.]
[But heaven did not grant him years—he fell ill on the way and died at Yunyang Palace, aged only thirty-six.]
[Had Yuwen Yong not died, unifying Huaxia would have been within reach.]
Bullet comments surged.
[Yuwen Yong was the true overlord who could have unified the realm.]
[Buddhism flourished in the Northern and Southern Dynasties—he could destroy it to strengthen the state. Truly grand strategy.]
[Pity he died too early, only thirty-six, right in his prime. What a waste.]
[A waste, yet not a waste—who told him to eat nuclear material like rice?]
[Haha, if you hadn't mentioned it I'd have forgotten—Yuwen Yong ate immortal pills, and later generations found radiation levels exceeding standards in his corpse. A nuclear-powered emperor.]
[Too hellish. I don't even know what Yuwen Yong was eating—how could there be radioactive elements in it? Touch that stuff once and you lose half your lifespan.]
[Yuwen Yong ate it for years—what a ruthless man. Even Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han wouldn't dare eat like that.]
[Actually Yuwen Yong had no choice but to take the nuclear-element pills. According to later tests, his body was in terrible shape—his family probably had hereditary nerve headaches and the like.]
[Yuwen Yong also had to fight Yuwen Hu and pacify the realm—an enormous workload. He relied entirely on those radiation pills to keep his spirits up.]
[Every time he took one of those radiation immortal pills, it was like a spike of adrenaline. The price later was huge, but while taking them, he was incredibly energized.]
[Got it—drinking poison to quench thirst, right?]
Northern Zhou spacetime.
Yuwen Yong, whose head ached from learning of Yang Jian's usurpation,
was just opening his immortal pill box, about to take one to nourish his spirit.
He had taken these immortal pills for many years. Though he often felt unwell, when he took them he felt full of vigor.
But seeing the Celestial Screen's content,
Yuwen Yong's expression changed.
"How is this possible? My immortal pills—drinking poison to quench thirst, lifespan-shortening poison?"
The Celestial Screen.
[After Yuwen Yong's death, power in Northern Zhou shifted.]
[Emperor Xuan, Yuwen Yun, was absurd and unprincipled—he installed an empress within five days.]
[Within a single year, he installed five empresses in succession.]
[He suspected the imperial clan and killed ministers indiscriminately.]
[He then passed the throne to his young son and styled himself Emperor Tianyuan.]
[In 580 AD, Emperor Xuan of Zhou fell critically ill.]
[Liu Fang and Zheng Yi forged an edict, making Yang Jian regent.]
[Yang Jian was then Dingzhou Commander—upon hearing the edict, he raced to the capital overnight.]
[Afterward, Yang Jian gradually eliminated political rivals, seized power, and could depose and install at will.]
[In 581 AD,]
[Yang Jian deposed Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou, declared himself emperor, and named the state Great Sui.]
[In 589 AD, Sui forces marched south, destroyed Chen, and unified Huaxia.]
[But Northern Zhou had already fought the hard battles—Yang Jian practically reaped what others sowed, with no difficulty at all.]
The Celestial Screen continued.
[Looking across the founding of Huaxia's feudal dynasties—]
[Qin fought a hundred battles, all six states strong.]
[Han rose by slaying the white serpent, contending with Xiang Yu for the realm.]
[Tang raised troops at Jinyang, the Heavenly Strategy General sweeping away the warlords.]
[Song donned the yellow robe, also going through unification wars to pacify the warlords.]
[Yuan fought from the grasslands to the Central Plains, iron hooves trampling everywhere.]
[Ming drove out the Hu barbarians and restored China.]
[Even early Qing was three generations of relay.]
[Even Western Jin had Sima Yi outlasting three generations, and Sima Yan conquering the deeply-rooted Eastern Wu.]
[Only Sui—right before the realm was about to be unified, the great overlord passed away, the weak ruler was incompetent, power was handed over, the young ruler abdicated.]
[Sui's founding difficulty ranks as the lowest.]
[The easiest acquisition of a state—none surpass Sui.]
[This is the consensus of the historical community.]
Bullet comments:
[Put plainly, Emperor Wen of Sui won by lying flat.]
[Yang Jian: The realm's almost done being fought over, the peach is ripe, the overlord's gone, I haven't even usurped yet, the edict arrives, power's handed to me—this luck, unmatched.]
[Gotta say, Emperor Wen of Sui's luck was really good.]
[Luck is part of strength too, haha.]
Great Sui.
Yang Jian jumped in fury.
Though he had indeed relied on good fortune to seize power and found the dynasty,
these later generations—weren't their words a bit too harsh?
"What do you mean, lying flat to win?"
"I pacified three rebellions—where exactly was I lying flat?"
"My institutional reforms, my battle achievements—I never lay flat!"
Dugu Jialuo was helpless.
"Your Majesty, don't fuss over later generations' choice of words."
Yang Jian stared at the bullet comments, and in the end could only take a deep breath.
"Lying flat to win, reaping peaches—whatever they call it."
"Since I've won the realm, I'll accomplish something great."
"Yang Guang is a waste, and Yong'er probably can't be counted on either."
"I can only rely on myself!"
"Great Sui absolutely must not perish in its second generation!"