Chapter 52 5. Massacre

Gao Yang's ruthlessness and unscrupulousness in killing ministers made his father and brother unable to match. Gao Yang had never been a son for a day, so when Gao Huan and Gao Cheng were in power, none of the nobles in the Eastern Wei Dynasty thought highly of him, especially the "four nobles".When Gao Yang came to the throne, Sun Teng was dead, and Sima Ziru died soon after. Gao Longzhi and Gao Yue lived a few years longer, and they suffered disasters one after another. The most unlucky one was Pingyuan Wang Gao Longzhi. He didn’t make any big mistakes. His only mistake was that he underestimated Gao Yang’s ability and took an opposing attitude on the issue of Gao Yang’s acceptance of Zen. , Gao Yang regards him as a thorn in his side.He drank with Yuan Chang, the clan of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and when he was in a good mood, he said: "I am in a relationship with the prince, and I will never let you down in this life!" Catch him and beat him up.The old man was in his early sixties, how could he stand such a beating, and he died on the road before returning home after the beating.A few years later, Gao Yang thought of Gao Longzhi, and still felt uncomfortable, so he executed all his descendants and dumped their corpses in Zhangshui; he also sent people to dig Gao Longzhi's grave, rasp the bones and spread the ashes, to relieve his hatred.

Qinghe Wang Gaoyue is Gao Huan's cousin, with outstanding military exploits, and the master who has always despised Gao Yang.Gao Yue is smarter than Gao Longzhi, and knows how to rely on Gao Yang who has gained power.He also has a way. Gao Guiyan, the king of Pingqin favored by Gao Yang, is the illegitimate son of Gao Hui's uncle Gao Hui.Gao Yue thought that with Gao Guiyan's relationship, he could sit back and relax.But he didn't treat Gao Guiyan well at the beginning. Gao Guiyan held a grudge and often said bad things about him in Gao Yang's ear. After a long time, Gao Yang also wanted to kill Gao Yue.

Gao Yang likes to accept folk women, even prostitutes.There was a prostitute surnamed Xue who was so talented that she was made a concubine by Gao Yang and brought into the harem.Coincidentally, Gao Yue happened to know Xue Shi's sister, and also had an affair with Xue Shi himself through the relationship of Xue Shi's sister.When Gao Yang found out, he was furious, hung up Sister Xue, sawed it into two pieces with a big saw, and then framed Gao Yue to rape and kill her.Gao Yue refused to accept, so Gao Yang sent Gao Guiyan to poison him to death.Gao Yue was reckless, and shared a woman with the emperor, so he deserved his own misery.

Concubine Concubine Xue’s fate was even worse. One time she was having fun with Gao Yang. Gao Yang didn’t know what was wrong with him. He suddenly remembered the past between her and Gao Yue, his smile disappeared, and he swung his knife and chopped off his concubine’s head. Come down, put it in your arms, and go out to entertain the officials to drink.During the feast, Gao Yang suddenly took out Concubine Xue's head from his bosom, threw it on the wine table for admiration, and then ordered someone to cut off her thigh, and put it in front of him to play and sing the pipa, scaring the crowd of civil and military officials. She was shocked and dumbfounded.As he sang, Gao Yang's face was full of tears again, and he sang the song of Li Yannian of the Han Dynasty to the head: "I would rather not know how to overwhelm the country and the city, and the beauty is hard to come by!"

Gao Yang treats the nobles of the same clan so viciously, and he treats other ministers even more so.Du Bi is one example. Du Bi was highly regarded by Gao Huan in the past, and he had a high prestige among the Han ministers, so he also had a great say.When Gao Yang was receiving Zen, he stopped him (see "Hou Jing's Rebellion").After Gao Yang proclaimed himself emperor, Du Bi did not restrain himself, and became famous for his direct advice.Once Gao Yang asked a minister about the strategy of governing the country and asked Du Bi: "What kind of people should be used to govern the country?" Du Bi replied without thinking: "Xianbei people are good at driving chariots and riding horses, but the Han people in the Central Plains must be used to govern the country."

Du Bi was really arrogant, such words were blatantly discriminating against the Xianbei people. Even if Gao Yang let him go, the Xianbei nobles below would not let him go.Gao Yang didn't have a seizure at the time, but after he got drunk, he made up a bunch of crimes and sent people to Jiaozhou, where Du Bi took office, to behead him. Du Bi's murder was also related to Gao Dezheng exposing his faults by Gao Yang's side.Gao Dezheng is Gao Yang's close minister and has always been favored and trusted, but he cannot escape the same fate as Du Bi.The main reason why Gao Dezheng was killed was the same as that of Du Bi, it was all because of admonishment.

Gao Dezheng had a good relationship with Gao Yang, so he tried to persuade him again and again, so Gao Yang felt disgusted with Gao Dezheng, and said to his left and right: "Gao Dezheng always looks condescending and self-righteous." After Gao Dezheng heard about it, he said that he could not get sick, and hid in a Buddhist temple to cultivate his body and mind.Yang Min, who had always been jealous of Gao Dezheng, took the opportunity to say: "Gao Dezheng is pretending to be sick. If your majesty doesn't believe it, give him the governor of Jizhou now, and his illness will be cured." Gao Yang then issued an edict to appoint Gao Dezheng. After receiving the imperial edict, he was ready to leave.

Gao Yang was so angry that he summoned Gao Dezheng and said, "I heard that you are sick, so I will give you acupuncture treatment." He drew his knife and stabbed him, and ordered the warrior to cut off his toes, and finally executed him.From then on, no minister in Gao Yang's court dared to speak out. In the tenth year of Tianbao (559 AD), a solar eclipse appeared in the sky.The ancients were superstitious and believed that astronomical phenomena and human affairs are closely related. When encountering changes in astronomical phenomena, the monarch usually needs to review himself, get rid of the old and make new ones.

Otherwise, Gao Yang did not criticize himself. Instead, he used this topic to ask Yuanshao of Pengcheng, the clan of the Eastern Wei Dynasty: "Why was Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty able to rejuvenate the world?" Yuan Shao didn't know whether it was because his IQ was not enough, or because his head was dizzy for a while, and he gave a fatal answer.He said: "That's because Wang Mang didn't kill the entire Liu family." Gao Yang let out an "oh", turned his face immediately, and issued an edict to imprison all forty-four close relatives of the Eastern Wei clan, including Yuan Shao.Yuan Shao regretted it too much, and died of a hunger strike in prison.All members of the Yuan clan who belonged to the royal family, regardless of gender, age or age, were put to death, even infants were not spared.Next, Gao Yang planned to attack the distant relatives of the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

The clans surnamed Yuan in the Northern Qi Dynasty were all afraid, and everyone discussed how to save their lives.A small county magistrate named Yuan Jing'an said: "The only way right now is to ask the emperor to allow us to leave the Yuan family and change our surname to Gao." Yuan Jing'an's cousin, Yuan Jinghao, firmly opposed it. He said: "How can I abandon my ancestor's surname and use someone else's surname? A dignified man would rather break the jade than destroy it!" In order to save his life, Yuan Jing'an quietly put Yuan Jinghao's words were reported to Gao Yang.Gao Yang killed Yuan Jinghao, and Yuan Jingan was given the surname Gao by Gao Yang because of his meritorious service in reporting. Not only did he not die, but he was also promoted to an official. (The clan concept of the Chinese nation has been deeply rooted since ancient times, which has also formed our unique surname culture in the world. The idiom "It is better to be broken than to be whole" comes from the story of Yuan Jinghao, which is a symbol of the Chinese nation. Endless spiritual power.)

In the last years of Gao Yang's reign, the madness of murder had reached its peak.If we completely "attribute" this crazy behavior to Gao Yang's psychopathy (it is true that Gao Yang's special personality and psychology are a very important factor), it would be a big mistake. Northern Qi was a country established on the basis of Eastern Wei.Gao Huan established the Eastern Wei Dynasty with his personal ability and prestige, relying on the Xianbei soldiers from the six towns mainly in Huaishuo Town, and in the Kanto region where the Eastern Wei-Northern Qi Dynasty is located, Shandong Haoqiang (ie "Zhao Wei Haoqiang") is the real The "land snake".According to the "Guandong Customs Biography" in the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Guandong clan at that time was very arrogant. The so-called "different types have different intentions. If there is a gap, the order will be chaotic first."Although they temporarily succumbed to the powerful force of the Xianbei people, they were in the same bed, posing a great threat to the stability of the regime. There are different ethnic groups in China, as well as in the Western Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty. As far as the nobles of the six towns who hold military power and political power are concerned, the conditions of Zhou and Qi are similar. The road to the founding of the country by Wuchuan soldiers is not necessarily smoother than that of Huaishuo soldiers.However, the territory occupied by the Northern Zhou Dynasty is good, and the Guanzhong area has always been a mixture of Hu and Han (obviously in the Cui Hao era). In addition to the Xianbei and Han people, there are also many ethnic groups such as Di, Qiang, and Yuezhi. The integration of various ethnic groups has a long history.The local Han people do not emphasize their ethnic egoism very much, no matter whether they are scholars or ordinary people. As long as they share interests, they are willing to actively establish a new community with "outsiders". The conditions are different, and the results are very different: Western Wei-Northern Zhou rulers can easily take root in Guanzhong and establish a powerful Guanlong Group; Eastern Wei-Northern Qi went through three generations from Gao Huan to the end of Gaoyang. serious contradictions between. Among the three generations, Gao Huan's methods were relatively clever, and he tried to establish a bundled political structure.First, he tied up the rest of the six towns with the help of his geographical background; secondly, he tied up the Guandong clan by using his blood background from the Bohai people; finally, Gao Huan used his military advantages to tie up the royal family of the Eastern Wei Dynasty.The three political bases are bundled together, but they are very unstable. Just like a couple who are married to each other, even if they enter the bridal chamber, there is no emotional communication and recognition. It is completely bullying. But Gao Yang faced even greater difficulties. He was the least favored and least favored among Gao Huan's sons, and even his biological mother, Queen Mother Lou, didn't like him.For the Xianbei Group, his ascension to the throne was only a passive recognition when there was no suitable choice. Gao Yang couldn't win the political support of the Xianbei people, so he had to turn to the Han people for help, and Yang Min, Wei Shou and other Han officials were reused.Even so, the clan of the Han family still regards him as the leader of the Xianbei army, and they have no sense of identity with him. The reason why they attach themselves to Gao Yang is to gain a larger living space and fight against the forces of the Xianbei people. In this way, isn't Gao Yang's various actions easy to understand?He used the excuse of safeguarding the rights and interests of the Xianbei nobles in the Six Towns to attack the Han clan in the Kanto; he turned to suppress the forces of the soldiers in the Six Towns, and supported the Han people to lead small-scale reforms (such as the formulation of "Qi Law"), thereby appeasing the Han clan ; In addition, he eliminated the old Xianbei family represented by the Yuan family to prevent future hidden dangers. It's just that Gao Yang's methods are too bloody and cruel. On the surface, the non-stop killing suppresses the contradictions, but in fact it makes the contradictions bigger and bigger, and it's hard to reverse.The prosperity of the Northern Qi Empire during his reign was only a temporary illusion.