The opening inventory of the top ten young emperors

Emperor Wen of Sui wanted to stab, but couldn't. He wanted to pull out the sword, but couldn't. He simply let go, kicked Yang Guang hard again, and then shouted loudly: "Come here, take down the Prince of Jin for me."

The emperor ordered that the imperial guards rush forward and immediately restrain Yang Guang. Yang Guang was now covered in blood, his eyes were full of bloodshot, and he looked at Yang Jian and said, "Father, I just don't accept it, I don't accept it! I'm not wrong, I want to die knowingly..."

Just as the hall was in chaos, the video in the heavenly scroll had already finished playing the scene of Yang Guang being hanged, and turned to the scene when Yang Guang first ascended the throne and announced his reign title as "Daye". Lei Xiaomeng's voice slowly sounded.

[Daye, Daye, the ambition of Yang Guang can be seen from the reign title. But unfortunately, his ability is not worthy of his ambition. 】
[Many people say that the three major events he did during his reign had a profound impact on later generations. Later generations' evaluation of him was not fair.]

[First, the construction of the Grand Canal during the Sui Dynasty allowed the later Tang Dynasty to separate the political and economic centers. The excavated waterway allowed the country's food and goods to be transported throughout the country at a low cost, connecting the north and the south. It can be said to be a great achievement that has benefited the country for a hundred years. ]
[However, I think everyone should understand that the so-called canals are all man-made. Emperor Yang of Sui was not the first person to build a canal, he just connected the canals built by different dynasties. ]

[Moreover, there were canal construction projects in every dynasty. Emperor Yang of Sui was not the only one who built canals, and he was not a pioneer who had no predecessors or successors.]

As the voiceover was narrated, a map of the canal was inserted into the video, but there were two canals, one red and one blue. The red one stretched out from Zhuo County, passed Luoyang and then turned to Hangzhou, while the blue canal was almost a straight line, running directly to Hangzhou.

[Do you see these two canals? The red one is the canal built by Emperor Yang of Sui, and the blue one is the canal built by Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty. Kublai Khan spent ten years to build this canal, which connected the waterway between Dadu, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty at that time, and Hangzhou.]
[Although the starting point of the road built by Emperor Yang of Sui was the same as that of Kublai Khan, at that time the area around Dadu was still called Zhuo County and had not become the capital of any dynasty.]

[In fact, these canals were later listed as a world cultural heritage and were named the Grand Canal of China. The section built by Emperor Yang of Sui was called the Sui Canal, while the section built by Kublai Khan was called the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.]

【The Grand Canal is the result of the wisdom of the working people of all dynasties in China. Its earliest construction can be traced back to more than 400 years BC.】
[It took generations of expansion and connection to reach its current size. It was a great project in which the ancient people conquered nature. How can the credit be attributed to Emperor Yang of Sui alone? ]

[Let’s take a step back and say that even if Emperor Yang of Sui did not build the Grand Canal, someone would have built it later if it was needed.]
[Among so many countries and dynasties that built canals, only Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty lost his country because of building the canal.]

【Second, build the eastern capital Luoyang.】
【Luoyang, the Eastern Capital, was a good place. In the later Tang Dynasty and several other dynasties, it was the capital and was extremely prosperous. Some people say that this was due to the kindness of Emperor Yang of Sui. If there had been no Emperor Yang of Sui, Luoyang, the Eastern Capital, would not have been established. 】

[Yes, the Eastern Capital Luoyang was indeed built during the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, but before that, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, had already begun planning it, but considering the huge cost, large-scale construction was delayed.]
[Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty did not dare to start construction on a large scale, but when Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty was building the canal, he had already started to build people. He was actually carrying out two huge projects at the same time.]

[If Luoyang is to be the Eastern Capital, it must be built to be very prosperous. However, the more prosperous it is, the more money it will cost and the more laborers it will employ. In other words, this is an extremely labor-intensive and costly project.]
【And this is indeed the case. 】【It is said that when the Eastern Capital Luoyang was built, two million civilians were needed per month. At that time, even when Emperor Yang of Sui had just ascended the throne and the treasury was still full, the population of the whole country was only seven million households. 】
[So these two million civilians, almost one-third of the families in the country, had to send their able-bodied men to work.]

[It took several years to build the Eastern Capital Luoyang, which was a huge burden for the whole country. Not to mention, they had to mobilize laborers to build the canal, which was simply adding insult to injury!]
【As a result, Emperor Yang of Sui abused the people's power and indulged in extravagance. During his ten years in office, he conscripted tens of millions of civilians. The people suffered terribly, and the Sui Dynasty was in dire straits.】

[However, do you think that this prodigal son has ruined the country to this extent and that's it? Of course not. Now let's talk about the third major event he did during his reign - the three expeditions to Goguryeo! ]

[Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty was defeated twice and a half in three campaigns against Goguryeo. But why do some people still say that he was a man of great talent and strategy? It was because the Tang Dynasty also attacked Goguryeo and destroyed it later. ]
【Therefore, many people believe that Emperor Yang of Sui was right in his judgment and that Goguryeo should be destroyed. It was just that he did not destroy it because the timing was wrong, and they felt that he was not appreciated for his talent.】

[However, what Li Tang did, he had done before, does that prove that his approach and judgment are correct? Is it just because Li Tang picked up on his ideas and had better luck than him? ]

[This statement seems to be just to prove that he is right.]
[Just like two people start the same business one after another, the one who starts first loses money, and the one who starts later makes money. Should we assume that the one who makes money imitates the one who loses money and becomes successful? ]

[In fact, before Emperor Yang of Sui, Emperor Wen of Sui had already conquered Goguryeo once. Because Goguryeo disrespected the suzerain state of the Sui Dynasty, the war was fought for face.]

[The leader of the expedition against Goguryeo was Emperor Wen of Sui's youngest son Yang Liang, the fifth child of the Yang family.]
[However, Yang Liang also returned in defeat that time. Emperor Wen of Sui saw this and wanted to lead the expedition himself, but the King of Goguryeo was afraid and surrendered to the Sui Dynasty again. Emperor Wen of Sui stopped when he saw the good results and did not continue to attack him.]

【This time, Yang Guang, the Goguryeo King Gao Yuan reverted to his old ways and once again disrespected the Sui Dynasty. How could the ambitious Emperor Yang of Sui tolerate this?】
【So this is how the first expedition took place. 】

[However, due to insufficient preparations for this expedition, many soldiers died on the way, leading to the Sui Dynasty's eventual defeat.]

[Being defeated by a small country was a great humiliation for Yang Guang, and he could not bear it. So he quickly mobilized the whole country and launched a second expedition.]

(End of this chapter)