Emperor Yang of Sui - Did Emperor Yang Kill Emperor Wen?

Did Emperor Yang Kill Emperor Wen?

While no allegations were made at the time that Emperor Wen's death was anything other than the result of illness, starting from the time of the succeeding Tang Dynasty, it was generally assumed that Emperor Wen was killed on Emperor Yang's orders—although more neutral historians generally assumed it to be true while stating that there was no direct evidence. An example is the Song Dynasty historian Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian, generally considered one of the most reliable, albeit secondary, source in Chinese history, which, after mentioning Emperor Wen's death and giving a commentary on Emperor Wen's reign, then gave this account:

After Empress Wenxian died, Emperor Wen greatly favored both Consort Chen (the Lady Xuanhua) and Consort Cai (the Lady Ronghua). Consort Chen was the daughter of Emperor Xuan of Chen. Consort Cai was from Danyang . The Emperor grew ill at Renshou Palace, and was bedridden. Yang Su, the left head of the Shangshu Sheng, Liu Shu, the minister of defense, and Yuan Yan the court administrator, were all attending to him. The Emperor ordered the Crown Prince to enter the palace to stay at Dabao Hall . The Crown Prince thought that precautions needed to be taken in case of the Emperor's death, and therefore he personally wrote a secret note to inquire of Yang Su what precautions to take. Yang Su wrote a return note detailing his security precautions, but by error the palace attendants delivered it to the Emperor. The Emperor was greatly displeased. Further, one morning, Consort Chen was going to the latrine. Yang Guang could not resist her beauty, and grabbed her, wanting to have sexual relations with her. She resisted and fled back to the Emperor. The Emperor was surprised by her anxiety and asked her; she shed tears and stated, "The Crown Prince was being indecent to me." The Emperor was shocked and angry, pounding the bed and stating, "Animal! How can I give him the important affairs? Dugu destroyed me!" He then summoned Liu and Yuan, telling them, "Summon my son!" They were about to summon the Crown Prince when he clarified, "Yang Yong!" Liu and Yuan left the palace to write the edict. When Yang Su heard this, he reported to the Crown Prince, and thereafter an edict of the Emperor was forged to arrest Liu and Yuan and detain them at the jail at the Supreme Court. The guards of the Eastern Palace were summoned to take over security from the Renshou Palace guards. Security measures were instituted to disallow entry into or exit out of the palace. Yuwen Shu and Guo Yan were put in command. Further, the deputy chief of staff for the Crown Prince's palace, Zhang Heng entered the Emperor's palace to attend to his medical needs. Zhang expelled all of the ladies in waiting and the eunuchs. Soon thereafter, the Emperor died. Thereafter, there were different views as to how he died. When Consort Chen and the other women of the palace heard of this, they stared at each other in fear and shook with fear. At dusk, the Crown Prince sent a eunuch with a small gold box, personally sealed by the Crown Prince, to be delivered to Consort Chen. When Consort Chen saw it, she, believing that there was poison inside, was very fearful, and did not dare to open it. Only after the eunuch urged her did she open it. Instead, the box contained several tongxin knots . Her ladies in waiting were relieved and became happy, stating to each other, "Finally, death is avoided." Consort Chen, in shame and anger, sat down and refused to accept the box. The ladies in waiting forced her to bow to the eunuch. That night, the Crown Prince ordered Consort Chen to have sexual relations with him.

More detailed versions of the story largely alleged that Zhang Heng personally killed Emperor Wen by pounding his chest and breaking his ribs. The advocates for the theory that Emperor Wen was killed on Emperor Yang's orders also pointed to other circumstantial evidence, including how immediately after Emperor Wen's death Emperor Yang took Consorts Chen and Cai as his concubines. Further, after Zhang lost Emperor Yang's favors and eventually was executed in 612, Zhang lamented at the execution field, "What did I do for him that I can expect to live long?" The warden, apparently believing in the murder theory himself, immediately covered his ears to avoid hearing any details and had Zhang immediately executed. They further pointed out how Liu Shu and Yuan Yan were exiled and Yang Yong executed immediately following Emperor Wen's death.

However, particularly in more recent times, some historians have questioned this theory. They pointed out that in the most official histories written not long after (the Book of Sui and the History of Northern Dynasties), no allegations of patricide was levied against Emperor Yang in either Emperor Wen's or Emperor Yang's biographies, or Zhang's, even though many other accusations were made of Emperor Yang's misrule. Indeed, they pointed out the origin of the murder theory appeared to come from the Daye Lüeji (大業略記) by the early Tang author Zhao Yi (趙毅), in whose version of the story, Consort Cai, not Consort Chen, was the concubine involved. They also pointed out that all of the circumstantial evidence had other plausible explanations—and that, indeed, why were Liu and Yuan not killed if they knew the truth? However, the idea that Emperor Wen was killed on Emperor Yang's orders has become ingrained in the traditional Chinese mindset, although the truth might never be known.