Time flew by, and several months passed. The world of the Great Sui grew ever more chaotic.
Meanwhile, all sorts of outrageous rumors and claims began spreading like wildfire: Emperor Yang Guang of Sui was immoral and depraved, indulged in wine and women, and had lost control of the government, both at home and abroad. As a result, war flared everywhere, and the whole realm had risen against him. The people of Great Sui, too, began cursing Yang Guang as the world fell into chaos and life grew harder.
To make matters worse, some troublemakers even drew up a list of Yang Guang's ten major crimes and secretly spread it throughout the Central Plains. They wrote, with an air of grave authority, that Yang Guang had "murdered his father and elder brother," "committed incest and acted without restraint," "indulged in wine and women," "built palaces with shameless extravagance," "crushed the people with exorbitant taxes," "made inspection tours and rebuilt the Great Wall," "waged war on Goguryeo and pursued military conquest to excess," "rejected honest remonstrance and killed outspoken officials," "let the court fall into disarray, leaving virtuous men outside the government and petty men in power," and "broken his promises," among other things.
And so, as the Sui government's authority plummeted and the people blindly lost faith in it, so-called righteous armies, mobs, and bandits across the land grew ever more brazen.
The people didn't bother asking whether these things were really Yang Guang's fault. They simply blamed his incompetence and immorality, then began supporting or joining the various righteous armies and emerging warlords, hoping only to find somewhere safe to live.
Among them, besides the four great aristocratic clans, a number of outstanding figures began to distinguish themselves amid the chaos engulfing Great Sui.
For example:
Li Mi, known