She forced the emperor to remain without concubines for life—ultimately destroyed the Sui Dynasty?

Hello everyone, welcome to History and Culture. Everyone can imagine this, in the mid 6th century in northern China. The echoes of clashing swords still lingered across the land. And dynasties changed as quickly as a revolving lantern. If you were a general with immense power in one region. Your entire family might vanish into the dust of history by tomorrow. It was an era that left people gasping for air. Everyone was betting their lives. In the midst of such chaos. Two young people met. One was 17-year-old Yang Jian. The other was 14-year-old Dugu Jialuo. Yang Jian was born into a prominent military aristocratic family of northern Zhou. He had a very distinctive appearance, a high forehead and piercing eyes. Historical records describe him as having, the countenance of a dragon and the neck of a phoenix. Giving him an air of innate extraordinariness. Yet also something dangerous. Many people's first reaction upon seeing him was not admiration. But a chill down their spine, this kind of person would either rise to the top of the world. Or end up as a corpse beneath the blade. There was no third option. Dugu Jialuo's father, Dugu Xin. Was one of the most prestigious pillar state generals, in northern Zhou at the time. Handsome, with illustrious military achievements. Unfortunately. He lost out in political struggles and was forced to take his own life. That year, Dugu Jialuo was only 14. Her family plummeted from the heights to the abyss in an instant. And she became the daughter of a convicted traitor. At constant risk of being implicated and executed. It was under the shadow of her father's death. That she married Yang Jian. The wedding carried little joy. Two young people. One burdened with his family's blood debt. The other with a sword of Damocles hanging perpetually over his head. In the darkness, they looked into each other's eyes. And saw the same loneliness and stubbornness reflected back. On their wedding night, Dugu Jialuo looked at her husband. And very seriously stated a demand that. In that era, sounded almost heretical and rebellious. For the rest of our lives, your children can only be born from me. She was not acting coquettish. Nor was it mere possessiveness. In an age when, three wives and four concubines, were regarded as perfectly natural. She was declaring war on the entire patriarchal society. What Dugu Jialuo wanted was not just a husband. But an absolute ally. The one person she could trust in a chaotic world where families could be destroyed at any moment. 17-year-old Yang Jian looked at this girl three years his junior. Was silent for a moment, then solemnly nodded and agreed. He probably never imagined that this one promise would accompany him for the rest of his life. Becoming his strongest support. And also his heaviest shackle. From that day forward, they became true partners. The Northern Zhou court was like a gigantic pressure cooker. Because Yang Jian's appearance was, too much like an emperor's. Physiognomists and powerful ministers repeatedly warned him. Some even said in the emperor's presence, Such words, in that era, were almost equivalent to a death sentence. Yang Jian's only strategy was one word, pretend. He pretended to be dull. Pretended to lack ambition, pretended to have no interest in power. Even displaying an almost world-weary passivity. In court, he kept such a low profile that he was nearly invisible. But every night. When darkness fell and Yang Jian returned to his residence, shedding all his disguises. Sitting wearily by candlelight. The only one who could truly let him breathe. Was the wife at his side. Dugu Jialuo never urged him to retire. She understood better than anyone. In that position. Holding military power while trying to stay safe and uninvolved would only lead to a faster death. She helped him analyze the situation, read people's hearts. And, when he was on the verge of collapse. Pulled him back with a calm, almost ruthless rationality. They were not an ordinary couple. More like two warriors standing back to back on the battlefield. Trust was repeatedly forged through life and death crises. Becoming something harder than steel. In 580 CE, Northern Zhou's emperor Xian, Yuwen Yong, died suddenly at just 21 years old. This emperor had, during his reign, nearly driven Yang Jian's entire family to extinction. Fortunately, the madman died. Leaving behind an 8-year-old child emperor and a massive power vacuum. As one of the regents and holding the authority to assist in government. All eyes in the realm turned to Yang Jian. Would he act as a duke of Zhou and support the throne, or seize it for himself? He hesitated. Truly hesitated. Usurping the dynasty was a gamble that could exterminate 9 generations of his clan. One misstep meant eternal damnation. Local warlords were stirring, the imperial clan watched like tigers. Yang Jian could not sleep at night, his palms were constantly sweating. At the critical moment. A short note from the inner quarters was delivered to him. Just a dozen or so characters. The great matter is already in motion. Once you ride the tiger, it is hard to dismount. You must not dismount, strive onward. In modern terms, the situation has reached this point. You are already riding on the back of a fierce tiger. If you try to get off, it will devour you. The only way to survive is to hold on tight, tame it. Or ride it all the way to the highest place. The writer of that note was Du Gu Jialuo. That night, the light in Yang Jian's eyes changed completely. No way out? Then let's tear the heavens apart. After a series of heart-stopping purges and maneuvers. In the second month of 581 CE, Yang Jian accepted the abdication of Northern Zhou's Jing Emperor. Established the Sui dynasty, and proclaimed himself Emperor Wan, Gaozu. Du Gu Jialuo became the founding empress. Historically known as Empress Wenxian, literary and exemplary empress. After 300 years of division and chaos. At this moment, the first light of reunification appeared. After ascending the throne. Many thought the story would move toward a happy ending. But the real trials were only just beginning. Yang Jian kept the vow he made back then. The entire Sui inner palace was as cold and empty as an office. Aside from the empress. There were no other consorts or concubines. All five of Yang Jian's sons were born to Du Gu Jialuo alone. Even more astonishing was their mode of governance. Historical records note that when Emperor Wan went to court. Empress Du Gu often traveled in the same sedan chair with him. She could not sit on the dragon throne. But she would listen to court affairs from behind a curtain or in an adjacent room. If the empress felt there was a problem with the emperor's decisions. She would pass in a small note. Yang Jian would basically accept them all without question. After court adjourned. The two would return to the palace together in the same sedan. Reviewing the day's state affairs while eating. Inside and outside the palace. They were called the two sages. Under the rule of the two sages. The Kaihuang era. Reign of Kaihuang. Became one of the rare golden ages in Chinese history. The state granaries were overflowing. Storehouses full. People well fed. With grain reserve said to be enough to last 50 or 60 years. Society enjoyed simple laws and lenient punishments. Officialdom was clean and upright. The people lived in peace and stability. But beneath this prosperity. Hidden dangers were quietly growing. People can share hardship, but not necessarily share wealth and honor. As the realm became peaceful and Yang Jian entered old age. The life of being supervised in every way by his wife. Began to feel oppressive to him. Yang Jian started to think, I am the emperor, lord of all under heaven. Why must I be so cautious even about glancing at a palace maid? This thought was subtle at first, just occasional sighs. But later it turned into deep-seated dissatisfaction. Dugu Chialuo. However, regarded their original vow as more important than anything. In her eyes, this was not jealousy, it was loyalty. The bottom line of their shared political faith. And so the cracks appeared. In 595 CE, a palace maid named Yuqi Sher, of northern Zhou imperial descent, entered Yang Jian's life. She was young, gentle. And carried the tragic aura of a survivor from the previous dynasty. Yang Jian was moved, and kept it extremely secret. But there are no secrets in the imperial palace. When Empress Dugu learned of it, she did not make a loud scene. She simply had the woman dealt with directly. When Yang Jian returned from court, what he saw was a cold corpse. And the empress standing beside it. In that moment, decades of love, of sharing trials and tribulations. Turned utterly pale in an instant. Yang Jian collapsed. The next morning, the 64-year-old emperor. Like a child who had suffered an enormous grievance. Rode out of the palace gate alone. Galloped more than 20 li. And hid deep in the Zhongnan mountains, refusing to return no matter what. Many high ministers pursued him and pleaded bitterly. Yang Jian looked up to heaven and sighed long. Tears streaming as he cried out the famous words that have echoed through the ages. I am honored as the son of heaven, yet I have no freedom. In the end. It was Prime Minister Gao Jiang's single sentence that persuaded him back. How can your majesty disregard the realm for the sake of one woman? Those words were like cold water poured over his head. Yang Jian was silent for a long time. Then turned his horse and slowly returned to the palace. That very night, a banquet was held in the palace. As if nothing had happened at all. But the crack had already become permanent. From then on, Yang Jian's attitude toward Dugu Jialuo was one of respect mixed with an even deeper fear. And because she had forgiven her husband, Dugu Jialuo instead placed herself on a higher moral ground. She began to judge everything by even stricter standards, especially her own sons. The greatest obsession of this husband and wife was this, the imperial bloodline must remain pure. They would never allow the kind of tragedy from previous dynasties, where sons of concubines fought for the throne and turned brothers against each other in bloodshed. Their eldest son, Yang Yong, the crown prince. Happened to be a relatively normal person, generous, fond of music, fond of beautiful women. And father to many children. In any other dynasty, this would have been completely ordinary. But in the Yang family, it became an unforgivable sin. Empress Dugu Jialuo decided that the crown prince was doting on concubines while neglecting his wife. And she even suspected there was something suspicious about the sudden death of his former crown princess. The second son, Yang Guang, prince of Jin, keenly sensed his parents' psychology. He began a carefully crafted performance, he had all the young and beautiful concubines in his household. Allowing only elderly and unattractive servant women to appear in public. His residence was deliberately made plain and austere. He treated his legitimate wife, Xiao Xue. With perfect respect and decorum, even deliberately breaking several strings on musical instruments to appear ascetic. Whenever his parents sent someone to check or came in person. What they always saw was the perfect image of a man who was pure of heart, free of desires. And devoted entirely to serious duties. Yang Guang would also weep in front of his mother. Accusing the crown prince of wanting to harm him. This finally caused Empress Dugu Jialuo to waver completely. She began constantly whispering criticisms of the crown prince into Yang Jian's ear. And together with Yang Su and others, they manufactured public opinion at court. In 600 CE, Yang Yong was deposed as commoner and imprisoned. Yang Guang successfully became the new crown prince. In the autumn of 602 CE, Dugu Jialuo passed away at around 50 years of age. After she was gone, Yang Jian finally gained freedom for the first time. He soon began favoring Lady Xianhua, Chen Sher. A descendant of the Chen dynasty princesses. And Lady Ronghua, Cai Sher. But this belated indulgence acted like slow poison. Less than two years later, the 64-year-old founding emperor fell gravely ill in the Renshou Palace. On his deathbed, he sighed to those around him, if the empress were still here. I would never have come to this. Even more terrifying. He gradually realized that the crown prince Yang Guang, who was the most attentive and solicitous by his bedside, began to show something wrong in his eyes. In the summer of 604 CE, one early morning. Lady Xianhua rushed disheveled and weeping into the bedchamber. Trembling, she knelt before the sickbed and said, The crown prince, the crown prince intended to commit an outrage. Yang Jian was struck as if by lightning. All the doubts suddenly connected, the coincidences in deposing the eldest and establishing the younger. The deliberately constructed facade in Yang Guang's residence. He roared in fury. With his last strength, he ordered that the deposed crown prince Yang Yongbi recalled. Intending to restore him. But the edict never made it out of the palace gates. That night, all the guards in the bedchamber were replaced with men from the eastern palace, crown prince's staff. The palace gates were tightly sealed. Not long after. Historical records state, there was a sound behind the screen. And Yang Jian passed away in the Debao Hall. No one knows exactly what happened in that moment. But every clue points in the same direction. After Yang Jian's death. Yang Guang ascended the throne as Emperor Yang of Sui. The first thing he did was to bestow poisoned wine upon the former crown prince Yang Yong. Afterward, of Yang Jian and Dugu Jialuo's five sons. Everyone except Yang Guang met a bad end. The Vipure imperial lineage, they had spent their entire lives protecting turned into the most horrific battlefield of carnage. The Sui dynasty lasted only two reigns and 37 years before falling. Later generations say Emperor Yang was militaristic, overextended the state. Dug the Grand Canal, exhausted the people and wasted resources. All of that is true. But if we peel away these grand historical narratives. We can see a more fundamental tragedy, a family tragedy that was magnified into a dynastic tragedy. In chaotic times. Yang Jian and Dugu Jialuo supported each other. Creating the Kaihuang prosperity through extreme loyalty and discipline. Yet the very same extremism planted a bomb in the midst of that prosperity. They were too desperate to avoid the mistakes of previous dynasties. Too desperate to keep the bloodline pure. Too desperate to turn their family into a safe fortress. In the end, they personally handed the empire to the person most skilled at disguise. On his deathbed, Yang Jian cried out the four words, Dugu has ruined me. It was both resentment and despair. The vow they had guarded with their whole lives ultimately became the greatest irony. Not long after. The man who would end the Sui dynasty, Li Yuan, was none other than Dugu Jialuo's own nephew. Power, like a scalding hot potato, passed through the bloodline of this family. Burning everyone who tried to hold it tightly. And that man history calls, Emperor One, was perhaps. In the end, just an ordinary person desperately trying to preserve a little warmth of home in the ice-cold world of imperial power. But in the house of emperors, there has never been a real home. Only the empire, only interest, only kill or be killed. This is the History and Culture channel. Liking and subscribing are the greatest help and support to us. Thank you everyone and see you in the next time.