Background
Yang Yichen's father Yuchi Chong (尉遲崇) was ethnically Xianbei and a distant relative of the general Yuchi Jiong. Yuchi Chong was a general during Northern Zhou and had his defense post at Mount Heng. At that time, the general Yang Jian was the commandant at nearby Ding Province (定州, roughly near Baoding, Hebei), and Yuchi Chong, believing Yang Jian to have great ambitions, befriended Yang Jian. After Yang Jian seized power as regent in 580, Yuchi Jiong, suspicious of Yang Jian's intentions, rebelled at Xiang Province (相州, roughly modern Handan, Hebei). When Yuchi Chong heard this, as he was a relative of Yuchi Jiong's, he threw himself into jail and begged Yang Jian for forgiveness. Yang Jian pardoned him and ordered him to report to the capital Chang'an to serve as one of Yang Jian's assistants. After Yang Jian seized the throne from Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou in 581, ending Northern Zhou and establishing Sui Dynasty as its Emperor Wen, he created Yuchi Chong the Duke of Qinxing. In 582, Yuchi Chong served under Daxi Zhangru (達奚長儒) in a campaign against Tujue's Shabolüe Khan Ashina Shetu, and while Daxi achieved victory, Yuchi died in the battle.
At the time that Yuchi Chong died, his son Yuchi Yichen was said to be still young. Emperor Wen took Yuchi Yichen into the palace and raised him there, allowing him to inherit his father's titles. After he became a teenager, he served in the palace guard corps, and when Emperor Wen saw him, he was reminded of Yuchi Chong's contributions. He therefore issued an edict giving Yuchi Yichen a moderate amount of wealth, while bestowing the imperial clan surname of Yang on him and conferring him the status of the emperor's grandnephew. Soon afterwards, Emperor Wen made him the governor of Shan Province (陝州, roughly modern Sanmenxia, Henan).
Read more about this topic: Yang Yichen (Sui Dynasty)
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