Chapter 51 4. "Two-faced man" Gao Yang

While there were frequent internal turmoil in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Gao Yang, the founding emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty who opposed him, had been the emperor for eight years. The situation of the Gao family is different from that of the Yuwen family. Ever since Gao Huan eliminated the Erzhu family and captured Luoyang, the Gao family has had absolute control over politics and the military, and there is no other force in the Kanto area that can compete with it.The reasons for this are, firstly, Gao Huan and his son's ability to eliminate dissidents, and secondly, the slightly larger forces against Gao's defected to the Western Wei and Northern Zhou almost without exception. "Wei", a country title that symbolizes orthodoxy, has long since lost its appeal.In the year when the Northern Zhou Dynasty replaced the Western Wei Dynasty, Feng Xian, the city lord of Nan'an (now Xinzhou, Hubei) in the Northern Qi Dynasty, surrendered to the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It can be seen that for the generals of the northern two countries, it is not important whether Wei, Qi or Zhou, the key depends on which regime they are Effectiveness can achieve more and better benefits.

In this way, compared with the Yuwen brothers in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, it should be easier for Gao Yang to do a good job in the country's internal affairs and diplomacy, and to seize the opportunity in the competition to unify the world. However, things are not that simple. When the historian Toynbee talked about democracy and autocracy with Daisaku Ikeda, he believed that democracy is far from a perfect system, and even inferior to autocracy in many cases, but compared with autocracy, democracy can avoid more mistakes to the greatest extent , relatively speaking, is the best system seen so far.

This point of view is somewhat similar to the situation in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the early days of the Northern Qi Dynasty.The factional struggles under the military system of the Northern Zhou Dynasty are of course not democratic, but they can be classified as checks and balances. Although the Yuwen family represented by Yuwenhu temporarily achieved dominance in power, other factions have not disappeared. He needs to always prevent his opponents from "Restore".In the process of power struggle, everyone's wisdom is actually similar. The other party also wants what you want. The key to victory or defeat is to see who can make fewer mistakes. previous policy.Due to the absolute leadership of the Gao family, the Northern Qi lost the power to check and balance. The achievements may be great, and the mistakes may also be great.

As the emperor, Gao Yang's achievements are indeed great.At the beginning of his ascension to the throne, he faced Yu Wentai's probing attack under the circumstances that many people were not optimistic about, and headed up head-on, making Yu Wentai, a generation of heroes, retreat without a fight, showing extraordinary courage.In view of the corruption of the official system and the prevalence of corruption during the Gao Huan and Gao Cheng periods, he put Yang Min, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, in charge of the criminal law.Yang Min is a Han Chinese, and the Han Chinese group thought this was a good opportunity to avenge the old nobles of Xianbei, so they naturally stepped up efforts to crack down on corruption.Taking advantage of the conflict between Xianbei and the Han people, Gao Yang not only rectified the administration of officials, but also attacked the old noble forces, and also won the support of the Han people, killing three birds with one stone.

Gao Yang's legislative thinking was also very advanced. He believed that the "Linzhige" of the Eastern Wei Dynasty was not perfect enough, so he organized Youpushe Xue Tong and others to compile a legal code on the basis of "Linzhige".This is the "Qi Law" (also called "Northern Qi Law" to distinguish it from the laws of the Southern Qi Dynasty) that had a great influence on the codes of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. "Qi Law" is a collection of legislative achievements of all dynasties, including twelve articles and 949 articles, which can undoubtedly be called scientific and rigorous under the historical background at that time.

Not only did he make legislation, Gao Yang also paid attention to the promotion of legal education among the aristocratic class. He required the children of officials and eunuchs to study the legal provisions seriously, and the rate of knowing the law once increased a lot. In addition to the construction of the legal system, Gao Yang has also made considerable achievements in administration and military affairs.In the seventh year of Tianbao (556 A.D.), Gao Yang issued an edict to merge a large number of redundant administrative divisions caused by the separatist regime in the late Northern Wei Dynasty, simplifying administrative institutions and administrative procedures in one fell swoop.He also carefully selected warriors with extraordinary bravery from Xianbei and Han people, who could be used as a hundred warriors, and awarded the titles of "Hundred Bao Xianbei" and "Warrior" respectively, and guarded the border fortresses of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Gao Yang's foreign martial arts in the era were almost brilliant.During his ten years in power, although the Northern Qi and the Western Wei-Northern Zhou did not have a real war, they maintained a relative military advantage.Yuwentai attacked the city to the southwest, while Gao Yang fought to the northeast against the Kumoxi, Khitan, Shanhu and other tribes who invaded the border. Not only did they win a complete victory, but they also captured a large number of people and animals. If the main purpose of fighting against small tribes is to teach lessons, then the significance of Gao Yang's war against the emerging Turks is to show off and dominate Mobei.

The rise of the Turks was an important historical event paralleled with the Hou Jing Rebellion in the Chinese cultural circle in the middle of the sixth century AD.The Turks were originally nomadic peoples in the Northwest, but they did not live entirely on nomadism, but had a "unique skill" - the forging iron industry was very developed.With this unique skill, the Turkic people gradually became a subsidiary tribe that made weapons for the Rouran nobles.With the popularity of Turkic ironware in the Western Regions, the Turkic tribes became stronger and stronger. In the third year of Tianbao (552 AD), the Turkic chief Ashina Tumen refused to marry Rouran, so he suddenly turned against Rouran and sent troops to destroy Rouran. The once invincible Khan Anagui committed suicide, and the Rouran tribe split and fled to the Northern Qi and Western Wei respectively.Tumen claimed to be Yili Khan, and in the fourth year of Tianbao, Yu Wei, who had won the victory, went south and entered the territory of Northern Qi.

In the face of the aggressive Turkic offensive, Gao Yang did not show any weakness. He went to Jinyang to rectify the army horses in person, and then attacked the Turkic cavalry in the north.Yili Khan, who was extremely arrogant, was beaten so hard that he couldn't find the north, so he hurriedly asked to surrender, and promised to send envoys to the Northern Qi to pay tribute every year. Completed the great cause of "attacking the Xiongnu from the north" in the new era. Gao Yang built the Great Wall on the basis of the Great Wall of the Northern Wei Dynasty four times in order to avoid long-term consumption and use of troops in the north.It is worth mentioning that the Great Wall built for the fourth time in the eighth year of Tianbao (557 A.D.) was the first inner Great Wall ("heavy city") in Chinese history. Between the Great Wall) and Wuheshu (now Lingqiu, Shanxi) in the east, stretching for more than 400 miles. This ingenious section of the Great Wall was also the foundation of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty.

So far, Gao Yang has the qualifications to be rated as an outstanding emperor by later generations.He obviously wants to make persistent efforts and be shortlisted among the top ten emperors in China.Under the condition of ensuring that there was no fighting on the northern and western fronts, he sent troops south, trying to deliver a fatal blow to the falling apart Southern Dynasty. But this time Gao Yang made a wrong calculation. Under the leadership of Chen Baxian, the soldiers of the Southern Dynasties fought against the enemy, and unceremoniously taught the young master a lesson (see "Hou Jing's Rebellion").

Gao Yang's psychology was like a sine curve, from the most depressive point to the most exciting point, and then dropped from the most exciting point back to the most depressed point in an instant. This kind of fluctuation will produce some kind of psychological shadow for people with a little ability to bear, let alone someone with a personality like Gao Yang.Gao Yang was not pretty when he was a child, and he suffered all kinds of discrimination. He has a high IQ but is introverted and has a dark psychology. From the story of "Gao Huan Shizi", we can also vaguely see that he has a tendency to be irritable and violent in character. . After ten years of dormancy in the shabby room, once he took over the power, he could give full play to his talents freely, sweep away the haze of the past, and transform from a depressed child into a "sunshine boy".But when the dream of unifying the world was shattered by the cruel reality (the south could not cross the river, and the west was in a tug-of-war with the Northern Zhou), he lost his purpose in life and despaired. A person with a mental disorder suddenly falls into despair and often does extreme or even crazy things; if this person is an emperor who can act arbitrarily without taking any responsibility for it, then he is not the only one who is unfortunate. Gao Yang's initial insanity was considered "normal", usually nothing more than insanity.He is good at this, he did it under Gao Cheng in the early years, but now his role has changed to the emperor.He danced and sang (quite a bit of a modern karaoke enthusiast) day and night, and indulged in drinking and sex.Sometimes they imitate women and put on makeup and wear brocade and colorful clothes (probably the Northern Qi emperor's version of cross-dressing), and sometimes they have disheveled hair, dressed in Hu clothes, with knives and bows on their waists, and wander around in the streets. The more exaggerated one is the ultra-limit sports - streaking.In this regard, Gao Yang was able to "endure hardships and stand hard work". No matter in winter or summer, he often ran naked on the street with a calm look, and the guards around him were exhausted by him. Gao Yang also loves nature very much, especially getting close to all kinds of wild animals.He often rides deer, white elephants, camels, cows, donkeys and other animals to go out to enjoy the scenery. When he can't find any animals, he also asks his confidants Liu Taozhi, Cui Jishu and others to do it for him. .Gao Yang's performances are very similar to the alternative "performance art" practiced by some people in modern times, but his "consciousness" is 1,500 years earlier. Gao Yang's behavior quickly escalated.He would often show up at the home of a minister or dignitary without prior notice, and the majestic emperor would sway around like a ghostly shadow.Maybe when he finds a certain woman, Gao Yang will immediately promote his "alternative art" and make intimate contact with her, regardless of whether the woman is a lady or a slave, and it doesn't matter whether she is a virgin or a five-year-old girl. A ten-year-old woman, even the sisters of the Gao family will not let her go. Once he was walking down the street and saw a woman.Because the hormonal concentration was low at that time, he did not step forward to rape, but asked her for advice: "How is life today?" The woman had heard about Gao Yang's "strange stories and anecdotes" a long time ago, and replied bluntly: "Crazy and crazy!" What kind of emperor is he?" He said so arrogantly that he immediately chopped the woman up. Perhaps realizing that his "performance art" should be popularized on a larger scale, Gao Yang recruited many firework women from the people, undressed them, and handed them over to the attendant officials for adultery, while he sat aside to watch when he had nothing to do.When he was in a good mood, he would make a wooden horse out of thorny thorns, order naked women to ride on it, lead them back and forth, and make them bleed one by one for fun. Gao Yang also likes to diversify the death penalty models.Most of the people who were put to death were not killed with a knife, but dismembered; in addition, they often took the method of burning or throwing them into the river, no matter how cruel it was. Gao Yang is addicted to alcohol, and once drunk, he will never recognize his relatives.When her mother, Empress Dowager Lou, saw Gao Yang who was drunk, she raised her stick and said, "How can such a father give birth to such a son!" angry, ignore him.After Gao Yang begged for a while, but couldn't do it, he overturned the Queen Mother's couch.The Empress Dowager fell to the ground, her injuries were not serious.After Gao Yang sobered up, he regretted so much that he lit a bonfire and wanted to set himself on fire, but was held back by the Queen Mother.He ordered Gao Guiyan, king of Ping Qin, to beat himself with a bamboo stick, and behead Gao Guiyan if he didn't bleed.After the queen mother heard about it, she stepped forward to dissuade her.Gao Yang refused, and in the end Empress Dowager Lou had no choice but to beat Gao Yang fifty times with a staff, and then it was over. Gao Yang is determined to change his past - quit drinking.But within ten days, it returned to its original state, and the drinking capacity increased even more.He ran to Queen Li Zu'e's natal house while drunk to make trouble, shot his mother-in-law's cheek through, and while whipping a horse, scolded: "I don't even recognize my own mother when I'm drunk, let alone you, an old woman!" Everyone respects him at a respectful distance. There are many other heinous acts of Gao Yang. If I list them all, I am afraid this book will become a model of "very pornographic and violent".Having said that, Gao Yang's misdeeds recorded in official history may not be completely true, at least mixed with rumors and smears by hostile regimes.The danger of the above cases is still at the level of "the king loses his virtue", and the actual influence is not outstanding, but Gao Yang's other series of actions are much more destructive.