The emperor Wenxuan of the Northern Qi Dynasty Gao Yang (529-559), named Zijin, was born in Jinyang and was named Jinyang Le. The founding emperor of the Northern Qi regime during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. He is the second son of Gao Huan, a powerful official in the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Shenwu Emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and the half-brother of Gao Cheng, the Wenxiang Emperor. His mother is Lou[1]. There were strange signs at birth and the appearance was strange. When he was young, he was unattractive and taciturn, but in fact he was as wise as a fool, extremely intelligent, profound and generous. Although he is often laughed at or teased by his brothers, his talents are highly appreciated by his father. In the early days of his reign, he worked hard to govern, but later he became tyrannical and extravagant.
Chinese name Gaoyang
Also known as Zijin
Nationality Northern Qi
Ethnicity Han
Birthplace Jinyang< /p>
Date of birth 529
Date of death 559
Main achievements Formally established the Northern Qi Dynasty and defeated Rouran, Khitan, and Goryeo
Reigned 550 Year - 559
Reign name Tianbao
Posthumous title Emperor Wenxuan
Temple name Xianzu
In the seventh year of Wuding (549), The 29-year-old Prime Minister Gao Cheng was stabbed to death by his kitchen slave. Things went wrong and the court was in chaos. At this time, 19-year-old Gao Yang stepped forward and comforted everyone: "A few lawless people rebelled, and the general's harm is not a big deal. There is no need to panic." Gao Yang acted vigorously and resolutely. On the one hand, he personally commanded the guards to hunt down the assassins; On the one hand, he personally manages the government affairs and all military affairs, large and small, in an orderly manner. The chaotic political situation was brought under control again.
In May of the eighth year of Wuding (550), as soon as Gao Yang arrived in Yecheng, he sent Sikong Panle, Shizhong Zhang Liang, Huangmen Shilang Zhao Yanshen and others to see Emperor Xiaojing and ask him to follow God's will. Following the example of Yao and Shun, the throne of Zen was given to the King of Qi. Then Yang handed over the Zen position book that he had already prepared. Emperor Xiaojing signed the book with tears in his eyes, said goodbye to his concubines, and was immediately driven out of the palace. Gao Yang then ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. His reign was named Tianbao and his country was named Qi. In November, as soon as the news that Gao Yang was on the throne reached the ears of Yuwentai of the Western Wei Dynasty, Yuwentai personally led his army eastward. He wanted to test whether the 20-year-old new emperor was as brave and good at fighting as his old rival Gao Huan. The army of the Western Wei Dynasty advanced to Jianzhou (now southeast of Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province). In order to show his strength and talent, Gao Yang took the opportunity to unite Xianbei in the six states and held a large-scale military exercise. The mountains and plains were covered with swords and guns, and the drums were beating loudly. Yu Wentai couldn't help but sigh: "Gao Huan is not dead!" After saying this, he hurriedly started the class. Yuwentai felt that his strength was not as good as that of Northern Qi, so he kept reducing his troops and did not dare to go east easily. During the Gaoyang period, there was basically peace between the East and the West, but wars between the North and the South were frequent.
From Gao Yang's accession to Tianbao for six years, with the stability of his neighbors and the control of power, Gao Yang's will began to relax, and he turned from diligence to debauchery and tyranny. Gao Yang often put on makeup and women's clothes and paraded through the streets. Or recruit a large number of women into the palace for themselves and their cronies to indulge day and night. Gao Yang once had a very beloved concubine Xue, who was beautiful and charming. Gao Yang and her were inseparable and stayed together all day long. One day, Gao Yang was very drunk. He suddenly remembered that Xue Bin had an affair with Gao Yue, King of Zhaowu. He was so jealous that he took out his dagger and killed Xue Bin. Then he put the body in his arms and went to look for her drunkenly. People drink. After drinking for three rounds, Gao Yang suddenly took out the corpse from his arms, then untied the corpse one by one as if nothing had happened, made Xue Bin's femoral bone into a harp, and started playing and singing. Everyone present was horrified and their whole bodies trembled. .
Gao Yang's mother, Queen Mother Lou, was very angry when she saw Gao Yang indulge in drinking and sex all day long. Once, she raised her cane and hit Gao Yang, yelling: "What kind of father gives birth to what kind of son!" Gao Yang was full of alcohol and showed no sign of weakness: "You old woman, you still dare to scold me, I will marry you tomorrow." Become the wife of a barbarian." Queen Mother Lou fainted from anger. Unwilling to give up, Gao Yang secretly sneaked under the Queen Mother's bed at night. After the Queen Mother went to bed, Gao Yang raised the bed board with both hands. Queen Mother Lou panicked and rolled off the bed.
In the tenth year of Tianbao (559), Gao Yang suddenly asked the ministers around him: "Why was Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty able to revive after Empress Lu's rebellion?" The minister replied: "That's because when Empress Lu came to power, there was no They killed all the Liu family, so the Liu family later revived." Gao Yang thought that although he had established the Northern Qi Dynasty on behalf of the Wei Dynasty, the Yuan family of the Northern Wei Dynasty still existed in large numbers. He felt that this was a hidden danger, so he went down. The imperial edict was issued to kill all those with the surname Yuan. They killed 721 people successively, including babies. The soldiers picked up the babies with spears and threw them into the air for fun. All Yuan's corpses were thrown into the Zhang River. As a result, when fishermen on both sides of the Zhang River cut open the fish, they often found human toenails left in the belly of the fish. This disgusted the residents on both sides of the Zhang River and did not dare to eat fish again for a long time.
In his later years, Gao Yang was too dissolute and violent, and his body was weak. As a result, he fell ill and died in October of the 10th year of Tianbao (559) at the age of 31. He was buried in Wuning Mausoleum, with the temple name of his ancestor and his posthumous name. Emperor Wenxuan.
Politics
Gao Yang reformed the official system. He saw that there were too many local officials, which were overstaffed and increased the burden on farmers. So he adopted the suggestions of some ministers and eliminated the state and county structures.
In this way, the number of officials across the country was reduced by tens of thousands, corruption was greatly reduced, and the burden on farmers was also reduced a lot. In order to prevent the attacks of northern nomads, Gao Yang also reinforced the Great Wall. Every slack season, he mobilized migrant workers to build the Great Wall, which played a great role in stabilizing the frontier. After a series of reforms and developments. The state of Qi gradually became stronger and stronger. [4]
Military
In terms of military, it still relies on the Xianbei tribe, selects strong and brave Xianbei people, and organizes the "Suwei Army", known as "Baobao Xianbei" , and then selected brave Han people to expand the border guard team, known as "Warriors". Military reorganization and refreshment made the newly founded Northern Qi Dynasty the country with the strongest military strength at the time. [5]
When Gao Yang first ascended the throne, Yuwentai of the Western Wei Dynasty took advantage of Gao Chengxin's death, Gao Yang was young, and Northern Qi was founded, so the country was not stable, so he invaded Qi with a large number of troops. As the new emperor, Gao Yang, dressed in military uniform, went to the military parade in person and responded to the battle with great enthusiasm. His military appearance was very neat. When Yu Wentai heard this, he retreated without a fight and sighed: "Gao Huan will never die." However, Gao Yang, who was ambitious, did not rest. Instead, he used the basic strategy of starting small before becoming big, first weak before becoming strong, and repeatedly They sent out large armies to conquer the south and the north, and opened up territories. In the first month of the third year of Tianbao (552), taking advantage of the fact that the northern country was frozen and not suitable for fighting, he personally led the Qi army to attack Kumoxi. In the battle of Daijun (today's Datong line in Shanxi Province), they won a complete victory, with more than 100,000 livestock alone. In October of the fourth year of Tianbao (553), he attacked Khitan again. As the king of a country, Gao Yang "crossed the mountains to be the first soldier" and "walked more than a thousand miles day and night without resting, eating only meat and drinking water." Encouraged by the monarch who took the lead, this time The battle with the Khitans continued all the way to the Bohai Sea. Fang Mingjin withdrew his troops and captured 100,000 soldiers and more than 100,000 livestock. Gao Yang, who was quite talented in military command, after his great victory over the Khitans, did not rest and reward the three armies. Instead, he took advantage of the high morale and excitement of the soldiers to fight continuously, using surprise attacks to attack the Turks northward, taking advantage of the unprepared opponent's opportunity. , defeated his army, pursued him to the north of Shuozhou, and forced him to submit a letter of surrender before giving up. In the first month of the fifth year of Tianbao (554), Gao Yang personally led his troops to the north to attack Shanhu. As a tribe, Shanhu was an opponent of the Northern Qi army. They were defeated in one battle and more than ten thousand people were beheaded. Therefore, the mountain beards from far and near were all impressed and looked at the wind and descended. In March, the Luochen tribe of Ruru'an rebelled against the Northern Qi Dynasty. Gao Yang led his army to suppress the rebellion and defeated his tribe. In April, Ruru's army marched west from Sizhou (today's Xinzhou City) to attack the Northern Qi Dynasty. Gao Yang led his army to counterattack from Jinyang. Ruru was defeated and retreated to Hengzhou (today's Datong City). In the battle of Cucumber Dui, the Northern Qi Dynasty killed Ruru for more than 20 miles. Corpses were scattered all over the field and 30,000 people were captured. An Luochen's wife and children were not spared either. In March of the sixth year of Tianbao (555), the Northern Qi Dynasty attacked Ruru again, who had suffered repeated defeats. He defeated his army at Qilianchi (now Ningwu, Shanxi), and pursued them as far as Huaishuo and Woye (both in today's Inner Mongolia), capturing 20,000 people. , more than 100,000 livestock were obtained. [5]
Gao Yang fought in the north for several years, attacking Rouran, Turk, Khitan, Shanhu, Ruru, etc., and often won victories. He also won most of the battles against the Liang Kingdom of the Southern Dynasty. The southern border of the Northern Qi Dynasty It extends to the south of the Huaihe River and ends near the Yangtze River. Years of conquests and the expansion of the northern and southern borders brought Northern Qi's national power to its peak during the period when Gaoyang was the emperor. The territory expanded to the vast plain areas of present-day Shanxi, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Inner Mongolia, northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui, with a population of 3 million households and 20 million people. With its vast land, large population, strong army, and large grain reserves, it became the most powerful of the three separatist countries in the north and south at that time. [5]
The construction of the Great Wall in the north was also a major feature of the Gaoyang period of the Northern Qi Dynasty. In order to prevent the northern and southern fronts from being under pressure, Gao Yang often guarded against the coveting forces of Nanliang when he was campaigning in the north; and when he was campaigning in the south, he was worried about sneak attacks by Beihu. Therefore, in the second year of Tianbao, construction of more than 200 kilometers of the Great Wall from Huangshuling to Shegan garrison began. In the sixth year of Tianbao, the Great Wall started from Xiakou, Youzhou (now Juyongguan) in the east and ended at Hengzhou (now Zuoyun, Shanxi) in the west, covering a distance of more than 450 kilometers. In the seventh year of Tianbao (556), several sections of the Great Wall were connected to complete the Great Wall from Xihe Zongqin garrison to the Bohai Sea. According to incomplete statistics, during the Gaoyang period, Japan built more than 1,500 kilometers of the Great Wall, setting up a garrison every 5 kilometers, and setting up prefectures and towns at critical passes. Finally, in the eighth year of Tianbao (557), a heavy wall was built within the Great Wall, starting from Kugeba in the west and ending at Wuhe garrison in the east, with a total length of more than 200 kilometers. [5]
Others
Northern Qi's agriculture, salt and iron industry, and porcelain manufacturing were all quite developed. It was the richest among the three countries that competed with the Chen Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty. There are few young and promising kings in Chinese history. But six years after he left Tianbao, he began to become dissolute. In the last year, he ignored the government affairs and let the prince supervise the country. He either meditated in seclusion or indulged in wine and sex. He built three palaces in the capital Ye (today's Linzhang, Hebei). The Tai Palace is very luxurious, and it employs 300,000 people. It is extremely luxurious.
Gao Yang's oppression of the people became more severe in the later period of his reign. To be precise, Gao Yang's oppression of the people reflected the incident of building Guangsantai and the issue of widows to be used as sergeants to build the Great Wall. The imperial edict ordered 1.8 million people to build a city and so on.
Gao Yang paid great attention to ecological development, for example: "The order limits the burning of wild fields in mid-winter to January. Fires are not allowed at other times to damage insects and vegetation." All kinds of people are ordered to stop, but only fishing is allowed. The imperial edict also bans both public and private eagles and harriers." In the later period of Gao Yang's reign, although he drank and had fun, he was not confused about important matters. He often granted amnesty to the whole country. In case of disaster, he would reduce taxes in the disaster-stricken areas.
[4]
In terms of government affairs, although Gao Yang was extravagant during his reign, he always opposed corruption and dealt harshly with corrupt ministers (such as Gao Dezheng). The ministers chosen by Gao Yang are generally upright and honest, and are very good at governing the country.
Vicious and cruel
Gao Yang has a pot and a saw in the Jinluan Palace. Whenever he is drunk, he must kill people to be happy. And he was drunk from morning to night, so he had to kill people from morning to night. Palace maids, eunuchs, and cronies died tragically every day under his wrath. In the end, the judicial department sent the prisoners sentenced to death to the palace for Gao Yang to use when killing people. Later, too many were killed and there were not enough death row prisoners, so the defendants who were under trial in the detention center were added to the number, which was called "for the imperial prisoner". ". Not only was he sent to the palace, but even when Gao Yang went on tour, the imperial prisoners followed Gao Yang's ass. As long as he survived for three months, he would be released as innocent. When Gao Yang was a child, Prime Minister Gao Longzhi was not polite to him. He remembered his past grudge and ordered Gao Longzhi to be killed. Suddenly he became even more angry and called more than 20 of Gao Longzhi's sons to the horse. The whip was lightly clicked on the saddle, and the guards' swords fell at the same time, and the heads fell to the ground at the same time. Gao Yang's niece Princess Le'an (the daughter of Gao Cheng) married the son of the above-mentioned right servant She Cui Siam. Once when the princess returned to the palace, Gao Yang asked about her life. The princess replied: "My whole family respects me very much, except my mother-in-law who doesn't like me very much." Cui Xian died of illness at that time. Gao Yang went directly to Cui Xian's home and asked Cui Xian Does Siam's wife Li miss her late husband? Li replied: "How can we not miss a married couple?" After hearing this, Gao Yang silently took out his sword and said, "Since I miss him, why don't we go to accompany him together?" After that, he cut off Li's head with one knife. Head, throw it over the wall. Gao Yang was very fond of Xue Guibin, a former singer, and had an affair with her sister. One day, when she went to her sister's house for a drink, her sister relied on Gao Yang's favor and begged Gao Yang to let her father become a Situ. Gao Yang was furious and said, "Situ is an important official position in the court. How can you just ask for it?" Can you ask for it?" After saying that, he cut her to death with a saw. Later, Gao Yang suspected that Xue and Gao Yue were not innocent before, so he poisoned Gao Yue with poisonous wine, then cut off Xue's head, hid the bloody head in his arms for the banquet, and took it out at the climax of the banquet. At the table, everyone at the table was shocked. Gao Yang dismembered her body and used the leg bones to make a pipa. He played and sang: "A beautiful woman is rare." When she was buried, Gao Yang followed behind, unkempt and wailing loudly. [8]
When Gao Yang had a violent attack, he treated his own mother in the same way. Once, he overturned the small stool (hut) on which his mother, Queen Mother Lou, was sitting, causing the old woman to fall and hurt herself. Another time he lost his temper and declared that he would marry his mother to a Xianbei slave. Gao Yang went to his mother-in-law's house, shot his mother-in-law in the cheek with an arrow, and shouted, "I'm so drunk that I don't even know my own mother. Who are you?" He then gave his mother-in-law, whose face was bleeding, a hundred lashes. Gao Yang imprisoned his two younger brothers, Gao Jun and Gao Huan, who often advised him on weekdays, into iron cages in the cellar. Gao Yang went to see them in person, sang loudly, and ordered the two of them to make peace. The two were frightened and sad, so they sang , the voice trembled. After hearing this, Gao Yang couldn't help but shed tears, then raised his iron spear and stabbed the two men. The guards all came down with their spears. The two brothers grabbed the iron spears with their hands and struggled, wailing loudly, and were soon stabbed into a ball of meat. Finally, the iron cage was burned together. The last thing Gao Yang did was to massacre all the royal family of the Northern Wei Empire with the surname Yuan, and throw the babies into the air, pick them up with iron spears, and pierce them one by one. [9]
Only one of Gao Yang's women was not bullied by him, and that was Queen Li. Li was a Han nationality with both talent and beauty. Gao Yang married her when he was Duke of Taiyuan and made her his queen after he became emperor. Although Gao Yang was moody towards his concubine and would kill her when she got bored, he treated Li with courtesy. ; As for Li's mother and sister, he looked at them differently. One time after drinking, Gao Yang broke into his mother-in-law's house. Seeing her pampered look, Gao Yang started an unknown rage. He took the bow and arrow from his entourage, shot his mother-in-law in the face with an arrow, and said to the bleeding mother-in-law: "I have beaten my mother, but I haven't beaten you yet. This is not fair. I have to beat you again." OK." Then he ordered his men to whip his mother-in-law a hundred times before giving up. [9]
Queen Li’s sister is the wife of Prince Yuan Ang of Wei. She is beautiful and charming. Gao Yang had already coveted her, so he repeated his old trick and went to Yuan Ang's house for a drink. After drinking, he pretended to be crazy and flirted with Sister Li. He deliberately spilled wine on himself, asked Sister Li to wipe it for him, and took the opportunity to touch and pinch Sister Li's body. He even spit wine on his crotch and asked Sister Li to clean it up. Just as Sister Li stretched out her hand, either wiping it or not wiping it, Gao Yang suddenly hugged Sister Li. Yuan Ang and Sister Li were not humiliated, and looked unhappy. Although Gao Yang was burning with desire, he was unable to make a move. [9]
In order to get Sister Li, Gao Yang wanted to bring her into the palace as San Zhaoyi, but he was afraid that she would miss her husband, so he hatched a plan and found an excuse to summon Yuan Ang into the palace. Killed with random arrows. Sister Li set up a mourning hall to pay homage to Yuan Ang, and Gao Yang pretended to go to pay homage. Gao Yang, overcome with desire, raped Sister Li in front of Yuan Angling. The imperial officials were so frightened that they no longer dared to display beauty, and when they had beauties, they would only send them to the palace. [9]
At the age of thirty, Gao Yang could no longer eat and lived on only a few bowls of wine every day, and finally died in a coma. In history, there are few emperors like Gao Yang. Someone once said that Gao Yang had sex because he was drunk. It should be said that he pretended to be crazy while drinking, and his debauched and cruel nature was exposed after drinking.