Yang Guang

Also known as Yi Mingying · Xiaozi Achuang · Emperor Yang of Sui

Yang Guang, also called Ying, was the second son of Emperor Wen of Sui and Empress Dugu; he was made Prince of Jin in 581 and in 588 led the expedition that conquered the Chen. In 600 he displaced his elder brother Yang Yong as crown prince, and he took the throne in 604, adopting the reign title Daye the next year. From 605 he built the eastern capital at Luoyang and opened the Tongji Canal, followed by the Yongji Canal and the Jiangnan Canal, forming a waterway network centred on Luoyang; in 609 he toured west to Zhangye and set up the Xihai and other commanderies. His three campaigns against Goguryeo between 612 and 614 all failed, while Yang Xuangan rebelled and uprisings spread. Lingering at Jiangdu in 618, he was strangled in a mutiny led by Yuwen Huaji, and the Tang gave him the condemnatory posthumous name Yang. His tomb, with its epitaph, was found at Caozhuang in Yangzhou in 2013.