Yang Su (; 544 – 31 August 606Yang Su's epitaph by Yu Shiji (unearthed in 1959 in Shaanxi province) indicated that he was 63 (by East Asian reckoning) when he died on the 23rd day (yi'hai day) of the 7th month of the 2nd year of the Da'ye era of Emperor Yang's reign.), courtesy name Chudao (處道), posthumous name Duke Jingwu of Chu (楚景武公), was a Chinese military general and politician of the Sui dynasty whose authority eventually became nearly as supreme as the emperor's. Traditional sinologists generally believed that he was involved in the suspected murder of Emperor Wen in 604, at the behest of Emperor Wen's son Yang Guang (the later Emperor Yang). His son Yang Xuangan later rebelled against Emperor Yang in 613 but was defeated and killed, and Yang Su's other sons were also executed.
During Northern Zhou Yang Su was born in 544. His grandfather Yang Xuan (楊喧) was a mid-level official under the Northern Wei or its branch successor state Western Wei. Yang Su's father Yang Fu (楊敷) served as a general for Western Wei's successor state Northern Zhou, but in 571, while defending Dingyang (定陽, in modern Linfen, Shanxi), Yang Fu was defeated and captured by the Northern Qi general Duan Shao. Yang Fu refused to surrender and was kept in captivity for the rest of his life, but it is not known when he died.
After Yang Fu's death, Yang Su, who was considered highly talented in his youth, repeatedly sought posthumous recognition for his father from Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. Eventually, Emperor Wu was so pestered that he ordered that Yang Su be killed—perhaps stating the order publicly to scare Yang Su so that he would relent. Instead of begging for forgiveness, however, Yang Su yelled out, "I serve a ruthless emperor, and it is proper for me to die!"
Emperor Wu, impressed with Yang Su's fortitude, released him and gave Yang Fu posthumous honors, including the title of Duke of Linzhen. He made Yang Su an official in his administration, and once, when he had Yang Su draft an edict for him and was impressed by both the fast speed that Yang Su wrote the edict and the beauty of the language, he commented, "Just work hard. Honor and wealth will come to you."
Yang Su responded, "I am worried that I will be forced to accept honor and wealth, as I have no desire for them."
In 575, when Emperor Wu launched a major attack on Northern Qi, he granted Yang Su's request to lead the remains of Yang Fu's old army. While Emperor Wu was soon forced to abandon the campaign, Yang Su was, for his contributions, created the Viscount of Qinghe. When Emperor Wu relaunched the attack on Northern Qi in winter 576, Yang Su served under Emperor Wu's brother and major general Yuwen Xian the Prince of Qi, and during a battle, when Yuwen Xian was ambushed by forces under Northern Qi's emperor Gao Wei, it was Yang Su who fought hard to save Yuwen Xian. Thereafter, he continued to make contributions under Yuwen Xian during the campaign against Northern Qi.
After Emperor Wu conquered Northern Qi in 577, he promoted Yang Su's title to Duke of Chen'an. In 578, he served under the general Wang Gui (王軌) in defeating the Chen dynasty general Wu Mingche, and for this contribution, Emperor Wu created his brother Yang Shen (楊慎) the Marquess of Yi'an. After Emperor Wu's death later in 578 and succession by his son Emperor Xuan, Emperor Xuan conferred the title of Duke of Linzhen, which Emperor Wu had posthumously created Yang Fu, on Yang Su, transferring Yang Su's title of Duke of Cheng'an to his brother Yang Yuē (楊約). Yang Su subsequently served under the general Wei Xiaokuan in capturing the region between the Yangtze River and the Huai River from Chen.
In 580, Emperor Xuan, who had by that point become retired emperor, died, and Emperor Xuan's father-in-law Yang Jian seized power as regent over Emperor Xuan's son Emperor Jing. Yang Su became close to Yang Jian, and Yang Jian made him the governor of the important Bian Province (汴州 roughly modern Kaifeng, Henan). However, before Yang Su could report to Bian Province, the general Yuchi Jiong, suspicious of Yang Jian's intentions, rose against him.
One of Yuchi's supporters, Yuwen Zhou (宇文冑) the governor of Ying Province (滎州 roughly modern Zhengzhou, Henan) defended Hulao Pass against Yang Jian's forces, and Yang Jian sent Yang Su against Yuwen Zhou. Yang Su was able to defeat Yuwen Zhou, and after Yuchi had been defeated and had committed suicide, Yang Jian made Yang Su the commandant at Xu Province (徐州 roughly modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) and promoted his title to Duke of Qinghe, transferring his title of Duke of Linzhen to his brother Yang Yuè (楊岳 note different tone and character than the other brother).
During Emperor Wen's reign In 581, Yang Jian had Emperor Jing yield the throne to him, ending Northern Zhou and establishing Sui dynasty as its Emperor Wen. Yang Su continued to serve in Emperor Wen's administration including a spell helping prepare the Kaihuang Code on which Emperor Wen's legal reforms were based. In 584, during an argument with his wife Zheng Qiye (郑祁耶), he angrily stated, "If I become emperor, you will not be empress!" Zheng Qiye, in anger, reported the comment to Emperor Wen, who removed Yang Su from his post as a punishment. In 585, Emperor Wen restored him and made him the commandant at Xin Province (modern eastern Chongqing) to prepare an attack against Chen down the Yangtze River. While at Xin Province, he built large ships in anticipation of the attack.
In winter 588, Emperor Wen launched the attack, commissioning his sons Yang Guang the Prince of Jin and Yang Jun, along with Yang Su, to command the three main prongs of the attack, with Yang Guang in overall command of the operations. Yang Su's responsibility was to take his forces down the Yangtze and attack cities on the river. He passed through the Three Gorges and defeated the Chen general Qi Xin (戚昕). He soon ran into heavy resistance by the Chen general Lü Zhongsu (呂忠肅) and initially was repelled, but eventually was able to defeat Lü. With Chen Shubao's cousin Chen Huiji (陳慧紀) abandoning the region to make one last-ditch attempt to reach the Chen capital Jiankang to help defend it against Yang Guang's attack, Yang Su encountered no further resistance, and soon news that Jiankang had fallen arrived, and the local provinces all surrendered to him or Yang Jun, whom he met at Hankou (漢口 in modern Wuhan, Hubei). Emperor Wen subsequently promoted Yang Su to the greater title of Duke of Yue and transferred his title of Duke of Qinghe to his son Yang Xuanjiang (楊玄獎), while making his heir apparent Yang Xuangan a mid-level official. He was briefly made the commandant at Jing Province (荊州 roughly modern Jingzhou, Hubei), but in summer 588 was recalled to the capital to be the head of the examination bureau (門下省 Menxia Sheng) -- one of the most important officials in the imperial government. In 590, he was made the head of the legislative bureau (內史省 Neishi Sheng).
Later in 590, with Chen's former territory up in rebellions against imposition of Sui laws, Yang Su was put in command of a large army to attack the various rebel leaders. He defeated Shen Xuanhui (沈玄懀) and Gao Zhihui (高智慧), eventually quelling much of the former Chen territory. Emperor Wen awarded him with many gifts. Based on Yang Su's conduct during the campaign, the historian Sima Guang, in his Zizhi Tongjian, commented:
When Yang Su commanded large armies, he showed flexibility and much tactical capability. His military discipline was harsh, and before each battle, he always sought out soldiers who had faults to execute in order to show his power -- sometimes more than a hundred, and sometimes no less than 20. As their blood flowed before him, he treated as if it were nothing, and continued to smile and talk. When it came time for battling, he would send out somewhere between 100 to 200 soldiers as a forward corps to attack first. If they were unsuccessful in penetrating the enemy lines and returned, regardless of how many survived, they would all be executed. He would then repeat the process, but with 200 to 300 soldiers. All officers and soldiers tremored with fear, and all fought with resolution to fight to the death. Therefore, he was always victorious and considered a great general. At that time, Yang Su was powerful and favored by the emperor. Whatever he suggested was not refused, and so Yang Su's followers, even if their contributions were small, would be rewarded for their contributions. The soldiers under the other generals often had their contributions denied by the civilian officials and not rewarded. Therefore, even though Yang Su was cruel, his soldiers were willing to follow him.
Around the new year 593, Yang Su was made a co-head of the executive bureau (尚書省 Shangshu Sheng) with Gao Jiong, effectively serving as co-prime ministers, replacing Su Wei in that role. It was said that by this point, Yang Su had become very arrogant, and among the officials, he only respected Gao, Niu Hong (牛弘), and Xue Daoheng (薛道衡), looking down at and bullying the rest. It was commented by traditional historians that he was more talented and had more foresight than Gao, but that he was not as fair-minded or well-behaved as Gao.
In spring 593, Emperor Wen commissioned Yang Su to oversee the building of his vacation palace, Renshou Palace (仁壽宮 in modern Baoji, Shaanxi). Yang Su spent much effort building it to be a luxurious palace, needing not much architectural work but landscaping of the nearby hills and valleys. Much human life was lost—numbering in the tens of thousands. The palace was completed in spring 595, and when Emperor Wen inspected it, he, by nature frugal, was initially displeased and stated, "Yang Su expended money and effort to build this palace, and he made the people hate me." Yang Su was fearful of punishment, but when Emperor Wen's wife Empress Dugu arrived, she pointed out to Emperor Wen that Yang Su knew that they had little other pleasures, and therefore built the palace in this manner. She gave Yang Su awards in both money and silk.
In 598, both Empress Dugu and Yang Su's wife Zheng Qiye were ill, and suspicions came on the official Dugu Tuo (獨孤陀)--who was Empress Dugu's half-brother and whose wife was Yang Su's half-sister. Dugu Tuo was accused of having his servant girl Xu Ani (徐阿尼) employ cat spirits to curse Empress Dugu and Zheng Qiye, and was nearly executed, but at Empress Dugu's urging was spared and only reduced to commoner rank.
In spring 599, Yang Su was one of the major generals commissioned to attack Tujue's Dulan Khan, Ashina Yongyulü, along with Gao Jiong and Yan Rong (燕榮). He encountered Ashina Yongyulü's subordinate khan, the Datou Khan Ashina Dianjue. Contrary to prior strategies to first protect his army before engaging, he quickly engaged Ashina Dianjue and defeated him, forcing Ashina Dianjue to flee.
Sometime around that time, Emperor Wen and Empress Dugu, who generally had a loving relationship, had a major conflict—over an affair by Emperor Wen (who otherwise did not have any concubines, in contrast with nearly every other emperor in Chinese history) with Yuchi Jiong's granddaughter, who had become a servant in the palace. Empress Dugu killed Lady Yuchi, and in anger, Emperor Wen rode away from the palace. Yang Su and Gao had to track him down and persuade him back to the palace. Yang Su and Gao subsequently held a banquet for them to allow them to reconcile.