Yang Su

Yang Su (Chinese: 楊素; 544–August 31, 606[1]), 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.

Instead of begging for forgiveness, however, Yang Su yelled out, "I serve a ruthless emperor, and it is proper for me to die!"

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.

After Emperor Wu conquered Northern Qi in 577, he promoted Yang Su's title to Duke of Chen'an.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Empress Dugu killed Lady Yuchi, and in anger, Emperor Wen rode away from the palace.

In winter 601, Emperor Wen commissioned Yang Su to command an army, in association with Qimin Khan Ashina Rangan (who had surrendered to Sui and whom Emperor Wen had created khan), to attack Ashina Dianjue.

By 602, Yang Guang was concerned that his brother, Yang Xiu the Prince of Shu, who as the commandant at Yi Province (roughly modern Chengdu, Sichuan) was in control of the modern Sichuan and Chongqing region, would eventually make trouble for him.

The actual authority over the executive bureau was instead exercised by Su Wei and Emperor Wen's son-in-law Liu Shu (柳述).

In summer 604, while at Renshou Palace, Emperor Wen became ill. Yang Su, Liu, and Yuan Yan (元儼) attended to him.

Yang Su is portrayed by Hong Kong actor Lau Dan in TVB's 1987 series The Grand Canal (大運河)