Emperor Wen of the Sui Dy- nasty destroyed the preceding country Northern Wei Dynasty. Then he aimed at uniting the whole country and implemented a series of policies of boosting the economic and military power. After years’ development, the state power of the Sui Dynasty drastically increased. At the same time, the Chen Dynasty, which was just lying against the Sui Dynasty across the Yangtze River, was disgraced by corruption. Its ruler Emperor Houzhu, whose name was Chen Shubao, indulged himself in the sensual and material pleasure, and ignored the political affairs. He knew that Emperor Sui had the plan to attack his country. But he thought the Yangtze River could not stop the army of Sui and thus did not think too much of it.
　　Emperor Wen of Sui was also worried about the difficulty in destroying the Chen Dynasty. One day, he summoned his minister Gao Yin to discuss about the tactics of destroying the Chen Dynasty. Gao Yin answered: “the crops in the southern bank of Yangtze River ripened earlier than in the northern bank. We could announce our plan of striking at their harvest time. They would certainly prepare for the battle instead of harvesting their crops. When they are prepared, we do not send out our troops. After repeating it several times, they will not believe that we can send out our soldiers. When they lower their alert, we strike suddenly and attack them off guard. In addition, people in the southern bank do not store their rice in cellars like us; instead, they store them in storages made of wood or bamboos. We can secretly send people to burn these storages one by one. If we do it for years, the financial power of the Chen Dynasty will be greatly impaired. By then, it would be much easier to destroy it.”
　　Emperor Wen took Gao Yin’s strategy. After seven years’ preparation, he ordered his army to attack the Chen Dynasty in 588. Before their leaving, he said to the his generals and soldiers, “I am the parent of the people in the world. How can I stop my attempt to save people in the southern bank just because of the Yangtze River that lies here like a belt?”
　　Emperor Wen has been determined to win this war. He appointed his son Yang Guang as the commanding general and sent out 500 thousand soldiers to cross the Yangtze River and attack the Chen Dynasty. The soldiers of the Sui Dynasty fought bravely and quickly. They launched furious attack at Jiankang, capital city of the Chen Dynasty. Soon they overtook this city and captured Emperor Houzhu, putting an end to the Chen Dynasty.