Chang'an, the first capital established after the founding of Great Sui, stood south of the Wei River.
Chang'an had been built upon the ruins of Xianyang, Great Qin's capital a thousand years earlier. Its prosperity went without saying.
Luoyang lay seven hundred li from Chang'an, a journey of roughly four days.
But with disaster looming, Yang Guang hurried on his way. In less than three days, he led his civil and military officials in retreat to Chang'an.
Meanwhile, military commands throughout Great Sui had also received Yang Guang's imperial decree and were leading their troops toward Chang'an.
Only upon receiving this news did Yang Guang breathe a sigh of relief.
Great Sui had maintained a standing army of about a million.
Although years of unrest across the country had greatly reduced its strength, roughly six hundred thousand troops remained under the Imperial Court's control.
Apart from the three hundred thousand troops that Yang Lin, the Mountain-Backing Prince, had taken to Jingmen Pass, at least another two hundred thousand could still be mustered from the other regions.
Once those two hundred thousand soldiers arrived, they might yet hold out for a while, defending Chang'an with the advantages of its walls and the natural barrier of the Wei River.
Although Yang Guang knew this would only delay Ming's Western Expedition, he refused to give up while even a thread of hope remained.
He had sacrificed so much for Great Sui. How could he willingly hand everything over to someone else?!
Yet however unwilling he was, he could not change Great Sui's eventual fate...
Before the two hundred thousand troops he had summoned could reach Chang'an, Yu Huatian arrived at the city first!
Outside Chang'an.
Yu Huatian descended from the clouds. As he gazed at this ancient cultural capital, built no more than