Ancient emperors liked to call themselves true dragons, true heavenly sons, so all the content and expressions related to dragons would make them very happy. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was such a person who was born with a strange appearance. Some history books once commented on this man, saying that he was: "A human dragon jaw, with five pillars on his forehead, his eyes shooting outward, and a text in his hand, the king, long and short, deep and serious." "In fact, according to our current aesthetics, this kind of appearance is really not a good look, but this appearance is put into ancient times, that is, the appearance of the emperor."
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The person with this appearance is called Yang Jian, and it is said that someone showed his portrait to Chen Shubao, and after Chen Shubao saw it, he was so scared that he threw the portrait away. It can be said that such a small story seems to tell us that the person named Yang Jian is really not a simple person! Yang Jian's fame in history is not great, and posterity will rarely mention him, but this cannot hide his basically unblemished life as an emperor.
In 581, Yang Jian officially accepted the Zen concession, gave the country the title of Sui, and announced a general amnesty for the world, after which Yang Jian became the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty. We all know that the first person who has carried out unification in history is Qin Shi Huang, the second is Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian, and the third is naturally Song Taizong Zhao Kuangyin and later Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. Compared with other emperors, Yang Jian has a lot less role play, but he also has a lot less of the stains that have been criticized.
In the experience of Emperor Wen of Sui, unifying the whole country was one of the important processes. After reunification, Yang Jian began to change the long-standing war situation left by the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Like many wise monarchs, he also chose to reduce the burden on the people, but also to continuously promote the production of agriculture in the country and stabilize the development of the economy. With Yang Jian's efforts, the Sui Dynasty's ability to store grain was very powerful. At the time of the death of Emperor Wen of Sui, the grain in the granary of the Sui Dynasty was enough for the people at that time to eat for fifty or sixty years. Do you think that the emperor who can achieve such a richness is not worthy of our admiration?
Moreover, during his reign, he swept away the chaotic household registration during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, conducted many investigations, and changed the shortcomings of the previous household registration system. After this, Emperor Wen of Sui formulated a relatively tolerant law, in which the death penalty was only two kinds of hanging and beheading, which truly enabled the people to have the law to obey, but there was tolerance for forgiveness for certain behaviors. Do you think that Emperor Wen of Sui, who formulated such a law, is worthy of our understanding?
In fact, in Yang Jian's body, it is difficult for you to find that kind of very harsh accusation. Because Yang Jian has made efforts in his marriage and his career, all of which are his practices that conform to the times, and it is the biggest gift he left to the Tang Dynasty.