Yang Sichang

Biodata

Background / History

Early Career and Imperial Favor

Yang Sichang earned his metropolitan degree during the Wanli reign. His strategy of “four cardinal fronts and six flanking sectors, casting a net on all ten sides” achieved substantial success against the roving rebels, earning Chongzhen’s appreciation and his appointment as Minister of War. Further progress in rebel suppression increased the emperor’s trust and brought Yang into the Grand Secretariat 2.

His appointment to the Grand Secretariat interrupted his mourning period. Huang Daozhou later attacked this as a violation of filial duty, while Minister of Rites Fang Fengnian defended it as necessary service during a national crisis 15.

History Recalled by the Reborn Emperor

In the original course of events remembered by Zhu Youjian, Yang persuaded Chongzhen to demote Lu Xiangsheng from Minister of War to vice minister and transfer military authority to Gao Qiqian. Gao subsequently removed Lu’s troops and withheld assistance at Julu, where Lu died in battle. These recollections prompted the reborn emperor to intervene before that outcome could recur 1.

The emperor also remembers Yang obstructing Sun Chuanting out of fear that Sun would replace him as Minister of War. Yang and Gao’s influence contributed to Sun’s dismissal and imprisonment in that earlier history; these events are distinct from Sun’s appointment in the altered storyline 28.

Appearance

Yang is described as medium-built and nearly fifty, with an alert, capable expression 2.

• Hair and beard: Still jet-black, including the hair at his temples 2.
• Eyes: Bright and keen, conveying shrewd competence 2.

Personality

Yang combines genuine concern for military affairs with political self-protection. His distress over continuing rebellion and the Jurchen invasion is presented as sincere, but he deliberately seeks his late-night audience before Lu Xiangsheng can meet the emperor, hoping to secure his own position first 2 3.

He is persistent under pressure. Despite an angry rejection, he continues arguing for negotiations because he fears that fighting the Jurchens will undo the campaign against the rebels. The emperor’s threat to hold his entire clan responsible nevertheless leaves him trembling and terrified 3.

At court, Yang can maintain an outwardly detached manner while privately calculating his response. During Huang Daozhou’s impeachment, he initially stands motionless, then defends negotiations as a way to rescue the emperor from an awkward confrontation. Later, discovering that the Jinan operation was concealed from him turns his confidence into resentment and anxiety over the emperor’s trust 15 42 45.

Abilities & Skills

Ten-Sided Net Strategy

Yang’s principal military contribution is a coordinated rebel-suppression strategy organized around four cardinal fronts and six flanking sectors 2.

• Documented results: Zhang Xianzhong accepted amnesty, Li Zicheng fled into the Shangluo Mountains with roughly a dozen followers, and other rebel groups became less threatening 3.
• Operational concern: Yang opposed recalling Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou because he believed withdrawing them would ruin the campaign just short of success 3.
• Unresolved threats: He later warned that Zhang still controlled troops in Gucheng and that Li could recruit displaced people for another uprising 42.

Strategic Prioritization and Negotiation

Yang advocates suppressing internal rebellion before concentrating on foreign enemies. He compares the capital to the body’s head, frontier garrisons to its arms and shoulders, and the Central Plains to its belly and heart; internal rebellion therefore threatens the state’s vital organs 2.

• Proposed sequence: Negotiate with the Jurchens to stabilize the northern situation, then concentrate forces against the rebels 2.
• Immediate purpose: Obtain a Jurchen withdrawal so that the Ten-Sided Net campaign can continue, even if a lasting settlement remains uncertain 3.
• Use of leverage: Propose exchanging the advantage gained by surrounding Dorgon’s army at Jinan for concessions in negotiations 42.
• Resource assessment: Warn that a prolonged siege or breakout could worsen devastation when the court lacks money and grain 43.

Court Argument and Administration

Yang is well versed in the classics and uses historical precedents to defend his policies 3 15.

• Court advocacy: Cites Han, Tang, and Song examples in support of negotiation and securing domestic stability before confronting external threats 15.
• Appointment management: Personally expedites Sun Chuanting’s appointment through the relevant ministries and Grand Secretariat 28.
• Logistics responsibility: Receives the task of supplying the Jinan siege without imposing an additional burden on the common people 43.

Relationships

• Zhu Youjian / Chongzhen Emperor — His sovereign and original patron. The emperor calls him a “trusted pillar,” but later excludes him from the secret Jinan operation, leaving Yang uncertain how to regain his confidence 3 42 45.
• Gao Qiqian — A fellow supporter of peace negotiations. Yang privately reports the emperor’s approval to him and discusses warning Lu Xiangsheng before Lu’s audience 4.
• Lu Xiangsheng — A political and strategic opponent. Yang interprets Lu’s fighting as disobedience and seeks his removal from command 7 27.
• Sun Chuanting — Yang recommends him as Lu’s replacement and processes his appointment; the emperor remembers a much more hostile relationship between them in the original history 27 28.
• Huang Daozhou — An outspoken critic who condemns both Yang’s interrupted mourning and his peace policy 15.
• Fang Fengnian — Defends Yang’s acceptance of office as loyalty to the state during an emergency 15.
• Yang Tinglin — A pro-war critic whom Yang assigned to Lu’s army after receiving an impeachment memorial against himself. The emperor regards the assignment as an attempt to send Tinglin into mortal danger 36.
• Luo Yangxing — Blocks Yang’s attempted prison visit under imperial orders; Yang responds by threatening impeachment 38.
• Fan Fucui — A court colleague opposed to Yang’s peace policy who questions whether the grain-procurement assignment offers advancement or threatens Yang’s standing 45.
• Liu Yuliang — The chief grand secretary, who suspects that Yang’s growing imperial favor may eventually cost him his position 45.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Late-Night Peace Proposal

• Yang remains in the palace duty room during the emperor’s illness and requests an audience shortly before Lu Xiangsheng’s arrival 2.
• After initially rejecting his proposal and threatening his clan with accountability, Zhu Youjian permits negotiations if the Jurchens demand only silver and assigns Yang the matter 3 4.
• Yang takes Lu’s report that the emperor forbade reckless fighting as confirmation that the court still favors peace, unaware of the secret evacuation plan 7.

Court Debate and Lu Xiangsheng’s Removal

• Yang defends negotiations against Huang Daozhou’s public attack. Zhu Youjian ends the debate by declaring that anyone demanding war must personally go fight 15.
• Following the bloody battle at Changping, Yang impeaches Lu and recommends Sun Chuanting as replacement 27.
• Lu’s imprisonment surprises Yang: he had intended removal, demotion, and continued service under Sun rather than such a severe punishment 28.
• Yang later brings servants carrying food and supplies to the Imperial Prison, requesting access to imprisoned colleagues and Lu. Luo Yangxing refuses him entry 38.

Jinan Revelation and Grain Procurement

• Yang learns that Lu has secretly left prison and surrounded Dorgon and Yoto at Jinan. He realizes that the emperor and Lu concealed their operation from the court 42.
• Pressed to offer a solution, he recommends using the trapped army as negotiating leverage. Further imperial prompting leaves him feeling that he has been made to play the villain before the pro-war ministers 42 43.
• The emperor orders him to provision the siege without increasing the people’s burden. At the Grand Secretariat, Yang rejects another military levy and soliciting officials’ donations as difficult options; no successful procurement solution is shown in the supplied chapters 43 45.