Why have so many people slandered Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty for thousands of years?

The ancient "Posthumous Law" said, "The person who is good at home and far away from others is called Yang, the person who goes out to pay tribute to the people is called Yang, the person who goes against the will of nature and abuses the people is called Yang, the person who is fond of great and dangerous politics is called Yang, the person who is unkind and unrighteous is called Yang, and the person who is away from others is called Yang. The state of Dehuang is called Yang. "Patricide, mother-in-law, brother-killing, brother-in-law, desolate government, and cruelty. This is the image that history has set for Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. When we study history, we basically have this understanding of him: he is a villain among emperors and a scum among human beings. He can be dragged out and shot.

However, as long as we recognize the diversity of human nature, we can have a good understanding of some figures in history. The distinction between right and wrong, good and evil is not so clear-cut, and gray areas occupy a large part.

How can there be absolute villains when there are only absolute idiots.

We look at general historical figures and it’s okay. We can read the official history directly, and at most add some official and unofficial history. There is basically no choice. Yang Guang is not good at it, it makes you feel obviously untrustworthy after reading it. For example, there is a story where Yang Guang's mother, Empress Dugu, died. On the surface, Yang Guang cried loudly and was in pain, eating fast and chanting Buddha's name. But secretly, he was talking and laughing as usual, and asked his servants to put fish and meat into bamboo tubes and send them to the palace secretly. When eating, to avoid the smell coming out, I used wax to seal the mouth of the tube.

Whether you believe it or not, I don’t believe it anyway. On the one hand, it is recorded in history that Queen Dugu has a very good relationship with Yang Guang’s mother and son; Would you take a huge political and ethical risk by eating a bite of meat on the day your mother dies?

Whether you believe it or not, Sima Guang believed it and wrote it in "Zizhi Tongjian".

Then the question is, why do later generations of historians always throw shit at Yang Guang?

One of the reasons is that China's feudal dynasties have a long historical tradition. In order to demonstrate the legitimacy of their own regime, they must prove that the previous dynasties were bad. Generally, when a dynasty changes from generation to generation, they tend to deny the entire political group of the previous dynasty, rather than just badmouthing one emperor.

For example, the Han Dynasty and Qin Dynasty only talked about the "tyranny" of the Qin Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang's banner to drive away the Yuan Dynasty was only "driving out the Tartars and restoring China." However, the Sui, Tang, and Yi dynasties were very different, because they were essentially a group. The group of Northern Zhou, Sui, and Tang Dynasties was historically called the "Guanlong Group."

Before the establishment of the national political power of the "Sui", everyone was young and Dangerous. Even the father of Tang Emperor Li Yuan and Sui Emperor Yang Jian had the same father-in-law: Dugu Xin. Then do you think the Li and Tang dynasties can say that the entire Sui dynasty was bad? It must not be possible, then you will scold yourself. He could only make a fuss about the subjugated emperor, and Yang Guang became the victim.

Whether he is lustful or parricide, it is very worthy of scrutiny. Take patricide as an example. Historical data says this: In the fourth year of Renshou, Yang Jian was about to die, so he called Yang Guang into the palace to see him for the last time. When Yang Guang entered the palace, he saw that the old man was about to die. Haha, the two concubines next to him were good-looking, but they were raped while they were pressed to the ground. After it was over, the concubine came to Yang Jian with her hair disheveled. Yang Jian asked what happened, and the concubine said: The prince is rude. When Yang Guang saw that the old man knew about it, he killed the old emperor.

Isn’t this nonsense? No one with any sense would do this! Not to mention Yang Guang. He was granted the title of King of Jin at the age of 13, destroyed Jiangnan at the age of 20, and then served as the general manager of Yangzhou for 9 years. He was a very experienced politician. These were written by historians of the Tang Dynasty.

The reason why he became the prince was based on his raw strength, not the conspiracy as described by later generations. In fact, the prince was originally his brother Yang Yong, but Yang Yong really had no brains and always pretended to be cool in front of the emperor, pretending to cause trouble. In addition, Yang Guang was famous all over the world in Yangzhou, so the old man decided to save money easily.

What did Yang Guang do after he became the prince? I stopped doing all the good things like recruiting talented people, carrying water for widows, and helping old ladies cross the road. I just did one thing, writing books. What book? Buddhist scriptures. Moreover, I told my father in the first year that I could not wear princely clothes during the crowning ceremony, because they looked too similar to yours, so as not to be misunderstood by others. He also suggested that the people in the prince's womb should not bow to him, because the old man is the only master. Yang Jian was greatly relieved, what a wonderful child.

Do you think that Yang Guang, who is so good at pretending and so tolerant, can't even wait for the old man to die? Do you have to rape the concubine while the old man is still alive and then let the old man die by his own hands? It makes no sense at all. There is no historical data to prove that Yang Guang was crazy and stupid at this time and his IQ suddenly became negative.

The best move in his interest at this time is to wait quietly for the old man to die and take over smoothly. After these few hours, the world will be his. Everyone does this.

And at that time, there were already insider reports that some of his younger brothers were going to rebel. Who would have the guts to do such nonsense? Therefore, even the civil servants of the Tang Dynasty who devoted their lives to smearing Yang Guang did not dare to write this in the "Book of Sui", but many subsequent history books actually wrote this.

It can be seen that sometimes history is the same thing as the old lady in the village delivering news. The already distorted image of Yang Guang became increasingly distorted later on. To this day, what we see in history textbooks is how he was distorted by history.