"Evil twists are abundant, the way of heaven is full of misfortune, and signs of death are already there. Chaos always destroys virtue, and it is not an invincible plan. It is not enough to hide one's evil intentions. It is not possible to accept the harshness of the accusation. No one is willing to personally perform the rituals of Hajj.
.Inducing rebels, but not knowing how to discipline them. Flooding the borders, waiting for the beacon. If you don't keep them quiet, you will waste your career..."
Does it sound like he is talking about Yang Guang? In fact, it is not. This is the historians talking about the whole story of Yang Guang's conquest of Goguryeo and enumerating Goguryeo's crimes.
More than 1,500 words are all paving the way for Yang Guang's conquest of Liaodong. Goguryeo's crimes are one after another. The literati's words are very difficult and very inspiring to listen to. If you finish reading this and understand literati
What they want to say, it must be that their blood is boiling, and they feel that it is unjust to not attack Goguryeo.
Yan Shigu read out word for word, and his voice echoed in the Tai Chi Hall, just like a message to attack Goguryeo. He himself gradually showed excitement.
Li Po was stunned when he heard this, but his face gradually turned dark.
After reading about the crimes of Goguryeo, there was also a long paragraph describing the grand occasion when the army gathered in Hebei, which made Li Po couldn't help but recall what he saw and heard in Zhuojun, Hebei in the seventh year of Daye.
The army gathered so large that one could not see the edge.
The road was filled with troops who had been called to Hebei and an endless stream of civilians. There were countless poles on both sides of the road, with bloody heads hanging on them.
The civilians who were rubbing shoulders with each other looked numb and exhausted. They fell to the ground as they walked. They were whipped repeatedly by the wolf-like soldiers and could never stand up again.
The fields in northern Hebei were all barren, and the villages had become barracks for the army. The adult men were all reduced to civilian laborers, transporting grain and grass for the army. The women who stayed at home had no food and clothing, and the elderly and children starved to death. The women did dirty work.
Buy and sell.
As soon as the heavy snow arrives, except for the army gathered here, all other life gradually disappears.
The soldiers were hiding in thin tents and shivering, while the nobles in mink fur were running and shooting in the Zhuojun hunting garden, socializing among the tents, and returning to their tents was filled with the aroma of wine and meat.
Yang Guang was very proud of himself in the palace, talking about Buddhism and Taoism with Buddhists and Taoists. From time to time he would come to perform sacrifices, pray for the emperor, and wish victory for the army.
What was he doing at that time? He was running around for his life.
He didn't care at all what the emperor was doing, but he knew very well what the nobles ate and how they lived, and what he and his soldiers ate and what kind of cold they endured.
He clearly realized the ugly face of the emperor and the nobles, and also vaguely heard the increasingly rapid footsteps of the war in the late Sui Dynasty.
It is such a ferocious hell-like scene, but now it looks like this in the writings of writers. It feels like they wish they could go and walk around Hebei back then...
One can imagine Li Po's anger at this time.
No longer listening to Yan Shigu's ramblings, he went down one line at a time. He could really see the style of historians.
They "faithfully" recorded the beginning and end of the three expeditions to Liaodong. What Yang Guang said the first time, he issued an impassioned edict the second time, and the same thing happened the third time.
Someone died during the conquest of Liaodong. The emperor mourned him, buried him generously, and rewarded his descendants. Which important person died at that time, and what happened to the emperor.
The handsome thieves rebelled against so and so, and were defeated by so and so.
There is also the case of Yang Xuangan and the Husizheng Rebellion. After catching them, the emperor denounced their crimes, told the world, and tortured them to death.
When it comes to the chaos in Jiangdu, the whole article is full of sadness and there is no word of hatred.
With all these factors in mind, after reading the first half of this chronicle of Emperor Yang, I still think he was a wise emperor who was promising, affectionate and righteous.
Li Po gritted his teeth. It wasn't until he read the end of the article that his anger subsided.
Here, Yang Guang’s achievements are briefly counted, and then his faults are mentioned. The last sentence is particularly serious, "The billions of grateful people, the teacher of King Jiu Mu Wuqin, the disciples will kill the barbarians together, and the bones will be abandoned." Don’t hide it, the country is destroyed, the branches are extinct, there is a written contract to beg here, the universe collapses, all living things are ruined, the country is destroyed, there is nothing like this..."
Then there is a book that says: Heaven can do evil, but you can't do evil by yourself. It is said that good or bad luck depends on people, so don't do it rashly. It also says that soldiers are like fire. If you don't fight, you will burn yourself. Looking at the survival of the Sui Dynasty, this statement is true. And there is a battle.
Well, Li Po's anger is gradually fading, and the format and style of the historian seems to be like this.
For the emperor's merits and demerits, they generally will not criticize you. Unless you are bigger than the world, they will often leave the emperor a face and cover up your faults...
The first important thing for historians who record history is to record it, not to judge. Especially when it comes to kings, they are even more cautious.
Because if they are not careful, once the emperor thinks that they are using the events of the previous dynasty to insinuate the present, their lives may be lost in words.
Li Po turned around and read it carefully again. His head hurt more and more, but the intention of Wen Yanhong and others was already clear.
They did not want to write a biography of Yang Guang, but during the first Eastern Expedition in the eighth year of Daye, the current emperor, Li Po, had already participated in it.
Then the Eastern Expedition to Goguryeo was justified. You can't describe it as a complete failure. So what was the emperor's position in it? Was it a helpless move to help the emperor? Or was it a helpless act of being forced by others?
If none of them are appropriate, then focus on the big picture and ignore the details.
All the impassioned parts here are taken from the records of living in the former Sui Dynasty. It can be said that most of them are real events.
Li Po felt that what Yan Shigu had read earlier seemed like a memorandum to attack Goguryeo, but they were indeed just a few memoranda and were not deliberately done by his ministers.
It was not until the last two paragraphs that the final words sealed the coffin for Yang Guang. Li Po read it carefully and found it to his liking, but it was a little short and far from what he had imagined.
According to what he wanted, he would first tell the story of Yang Guang's wandering around, and then refute it piece by piece, and then do the same for the big projects that Yang Guang built. That would be great, wouldn't it?
Of course, he had never been interested in reading history, so he didn't quite understand the tone of the historians. This time he was taught another lesson.
After the anger subsided, he could feel that the words used by Wen Yanhong and others were almost plain, and they could not easily express their personal preferences, which did not suit his wishes, but they could not find faults randomly.
Otherwise, it will be difficult for the ministers to do it, and if word spreads, the emperor will be extremely embarrassed and even be criticized by others.
And Li Yuan and his name have appeared in the Chronicles of Emperor Yang one after another, and there is no praise or criticism...