Yang Liang
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Yang Liang (楊諒) –
Background
It is not known exactly when Yang Liang was born, but it is known that he was the youngest of the five sons of
During Emperor Wen's reign
Yang Liang did not participate in the campaign that destroyed rival
In 599, when Sui forces attacked
Meanwhile, Emperor Wen much favored Yang Liang, but Yang Liang was becoming ambitious and troubled by the removal of his oldest brother, Yang Yong, as crown prince in 600. (Yang Guang replaced Yang Yong as crown prince.) He therefore persuaded Emperor Wen that his headquarters at Taiyuan was the key to the defense against Tujue, so Emperor Wen permitted him to produce weapons and build up Taiyuan's defenses. Two of his trusted generals, Wang Kui (王頍) and Xiao Mohe, both of whom believed that they should have been given greater responsibility by Emperor Wen, also encouraged him to eventually consider rebelling. Yang Liang was further troubled after another brother, Yang Xiu the Prince of Shu, was deposed over charges of wastefulness in 602. (Part of the charges against Yang Xiu, which appeared to have been manufactured by Yang Guang, was that Yang Xiu secretly cursed Emperor Wen and Yang Liang, but there was no evidence indicating that Yang Xiu actually did so or that Yang Liang believed Yang Xiu did or resented Yang Xiu over it.)
Rebellion against Emperor Yang
In 604, Yang Guang became emperor (as Emperor Yang) after Emperor Wen's death. (Most traditional historians believe that Emperor Wen was murdered at Yang Guang's order, although they admit a lack of direct evidence.) Emperor Yang, apprehensive of Yang Liang's intentions, did not initially announce Emperor Wen's death, and sent the general Qutu Tong (屈突通) to Taiyuan to, using an edict in Emperor Wen's name, summon Yang Liang to the capital Daxing. However, Yang Liang figured out the edict to be a forgery, and declared a rebellion, supported by governors of 19 provinces. However, even though Wang Kui pointed out to him that he needed to make a quick election between the strategies of attacking Daxing quickly (in which case he needed to advance as fast as he could) or to try to hold his territory north of the Yellow River (in which case he needed to make certain that the generals in charge of his operations were largely people from the old territory of Northern Qi), Yang Liang could not decide which set of strategies to use, and therefore used a mixed approach. As his rationale for rebelling, he declared that Yang Su had committed treason. (As the modern historian Bo Yang pointed out, falsely accusing Yang Su of treason was an unconvincing declaration. Bo suggested that even if Yang Liang had not known about Yang Guang's involvement in Emperor Wen's death by that point, he still nevertheless should have accused Yang Guang of patricide.)
Yang Liang made initial gains, and his forces, commanded by Pei Wen'an (裴文安), quickly captured the strategically important Pu Province (蒲州, roughly modern
Popular culture
- Portrayed by Jung Wook in 2006–2007 SBS TV series Yeon Gaesomun.
References
- ISBN 978-0-7914-8268-1.
- ^ Li Shi. Book of Zhou and Sui Dynasty: 二十四史 周书 隋书. DeepLogic. pp. 601–. GGKEY:1HUYTS968QJ.
See also
- Goguryeo–Sui Wars