Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, actually usurped his grandson's throne of the Northern Zhou. However, this process of usurping power and seizing the throne is not simple and feasible because of the existence of this kind of kinship, in fact, on the contrary, Yang Jian has worked hard to compete for the throne through his own wisdom and strategy in the chaos of the war with many political factions.
So, what was the process of Yang Jian's usurpation of power and seizure of power? What difficulties did he go through?
After the death of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, his son Emperor Xuan of Zhou Yu Wenyun succeeded to the throne, and the empress of Emperor Xuan of Zhou was Yang Jian's daughter Yang Lihua. As a result, Yang Jian's status has risen to another level. In addition, the new emperor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Xuan of Zhou, needed Yang Jian's support, which increased Yang Jian's confidence and confidence in the imperial court.
However, Emperor Zhou Xuan is very rebellious, although he reuses Yang Jian, he does not fully trust Yang Jian, and he has been fortifying in his heart. At the same time, Emperor Xuan of Zhou did not follow the ruling methods of his father, Emperor Wu of Zhou, abolished many harsh laws, and released all the criminals in the prison.
As a result, society suddenly became chaotic, and public order problems occurred frequently. In desperation, the naïve Emperor Xuan of Zhou had no choice but to quickly issue a new criminal law to crack down on criminals, but because the new criminal law was too harsh and harmed the interests of the public, it caused dissatisfaction among the common people.
And at this time, Yang Jian couldn't stand it anymore, so he advised Emperor Zhou Xuan not to use the criminal law indiscriminately like a family, which caused Emperor Zhou Xuan to have two thoughts about Yang Jian.
In addition, Empress Yang Lihua often admonished, and Emperor Zhou Xuan thought in his heart: The Yang father and daughter are challenging the imperial power, and I am afraid that they will collude inside and outside, so they must strike first.
After all, Yang Jian was a resourceful and obscure minister, and he saw Emperor Zhou Xuan's careful thinking, so he planned to leave the capital and hide in the local area for a while.
So, Yang Jian found his friend Zheng Yi, that is, Emperor Zhou Xuan's favorite minister, hoping to let Zheng Yi speak obediently in Emperor Zhou Xuandi's ear and transfer Yang Jian to a local post.
Zheng Yi is not an ordinary person, his brain is very flexible, he immediately understood the relationship between Yang Jian and Emperor Zhou Xuan, and he himself is also careful, after all, Emperor Zhou Xuan tosses around, has a very poor reputation, and complains, plus Emperor Zhou Xuan does not care about his body, it is estimated that he will not live long.
Therefore, Zheng Yi planned to help Yang Jian. It didn't take long for Emperor Xuan of Zhou to give an order to let Yang Jian go to Yangzhou as the governor and find a way to destroy Nan Chen.
Of course, this is also a small plan of Emperor Xuan of Zhou, wanting to use the hands of Yang Jian to eliminate the regime in the south. However, Yang Jian was not stupid, knowing Emperor Zhou Xuan's thoughts, he lied that the old foot injury had recurred, and he needed to recuperate for a few days and then take up his post in Yangzhou. And the matter has been put on hold for the time being.
Emperor Zhou Xuan continued to go to various places to have fun, and he didn't know how to restrain himself at all, and as a result, he played with fire and set himself on fire, his body turned on a red light, and he was critically ill. The ministers hurried to the sickbed to listen to Emperor Zhou Xuan's medical advice.
And Emperor Xuan of Zhou returned to the west after passing the throne to Emperor Jing of Zhou, who was only eight years old, and failed to say the name of the auxiliary minister.
Ministers, you look at me, I look at you, I don't know what to do for a while. It was at this time that Zheng Yi played a key role in proposing that Emperor Jing of Zhou's maternal grandfather, Yang Jian, the Duke of Suiguo, be appointed as an auxiliary minister. And Yang Jian happened to be still in the capital and did not go to Yangzhou to serve as the general manager.
Therefore, after Zheng Yi's maneuvering, the edict of Yang Jian's auxiliary government was finally written, but this edict needed to be signed by several high-ranking ministers before it could take effect.
After working for a long time, only Yan Zhiyi, the doctor of Yuzhengzhong, did not agree to sign, because he wanted the Yuwen clan to serve as an auxiliary minister, and at the time of the stalemate, Yang Jian's daughter Yang Lihua, that is, the queen mother at that time, played an important role.
In this way, Yang Jian, a foreign relative, is in a position below one person and above ten thousand. Next, Yang Jian only needs to get rid of the Yuwen royal family, the emperor's other relatives, and local separatist forces, and he can ascend to the emperor's throne. The process is tough, though.
Although Yang Jian was given supremacy, the ministers of the DPRK and China still took a wait-and-see attitude and did not fully trust Yang Jian. Therefore, in order to win the support of the ministers of the imperial court, Yang Jian planned the "Zhengyang Palace Incident".
With the help of Lu Ben, the commander of the old Praetorian Guard, he occupied Emperor Zhou Jing's Zhengyang Palace and rebuilt it into the Prime Minister's Mansion, while Emperor Zhou Jing was escorted to Emperor Zhou Xuan's rooftop by Yang Jian. As a result, after seeing Yang Jian's strength, the ministers of the DPRK and China all chose Mingzhe to protect themselves and attached themselves to Yang Jian.
Immediately afterwards, Yang Jian solved the clan relatives of the Yuwen royal family through a series of political strategies, such as the grandfather of the "five kings" of Emperor Zhou Jing: Zhao Wang Yu Wenzhao, Chen Wang Yu Wenchun, Yue Wang Yu Wensheng, Dai Wang Yu Wenda, and Teng Wang Yu Wendi. There are also the uncles of Emperor Zhou Jing's "two kings": Bi Wang Yu Wenxian, Han Wang Yu Wenzan.
At the same time, Yang Jian adopted military tactics to quell the "Three Governors Rebellion", that is, Xiangzhou Governor Wei Chi Hui, Yunzhou Governor Sima Zhen, and Yizhou Governor Wang Qian, and solved the local separatist forces and other imperial relatives.
During this period, Yang Jian won the civil war in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and created a stable environment for himself by making peace with the Turks in the north, intimidating the Western Liang in the west, and taking the initiative to attack Nanchen in the south.
In 581 AD, Emperor Jing of the Northern Zhou Dynasty ceded the throne to his cousin Yang Jian, and the name of the country was changed to the Great Sui, and a few years later, Yang Jian destroyed the Western Liang and Southern Chen, and unified China.
It can be seen that Yang Jian is a top-level relative with both strength and wisdom, rather than simply usurping power.