A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"Minister of War, how many troops does the Sui Dynasty currently have in total?"

Yang Guang stared coldly at Yuwen Shu, and anyone could hear the fury and murderous intent in his tone.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, in addition to the troops stationed in various places, we can also mobilize an army of 100 million to go to the Western Regions to quell the rebellion."

"That's not enough. I not only want to quell the rebellion, but I also want to destroy that Xia Kingdom."

"I will make all the surrounding countries see the consequences of offending the majesty of the Divine Empire!"

Yang Guang waved his sleeves, his face full of disdain.

"Your Majesty, if we transfer troops from the garrisons in various regions, we can mobilize two to five million soldiers."

Yuwen Shu did a simple calculation and gave Yang Guang a somewhat satisfactory answer.

"Then it'll be 500."

"Minister of Civil Affairs, I don't care about anything else. Just prepare enough provisions for 500 million troops to quell the rebellion."

"I will uproot that country!"

Yang Guang then turned his gaze to the Minister of Revenue.

Yang Wensi's face was very grim. "Your Majesty, in the past few years you have been engaged in large-scale construction projects. First, you built railways, then canals, and then rebuilt palaces. You also built villas and wonders in various places. The court's annual salary has been exhausted, and even what the late emperor left behind has been almost depleted. The national treasury simply cannot support an expedition of 500 million troops!"

"If you can do it, do it; if you can't, take off that official robe and get out!"

Yang Guang's dignity had been challenged, and he no longer wanted to hear any explanations.

He now has only one thought in his mind: to destroy the Great Xia.

"Your Majesty, the national treasury truly cannot provide the funds."

Yang Wensi knelt down, placed his official hat on the ground in front of him, and then kowtowed to Emperor Yang of Sui.

"Your Majesty, I am incompetent. With the current national treasury, I can only support an expedition of one million troops. I am truly unable to support an expedition of five million troops. I beg Your Majesty to punish me."

"What use are you?"

"Take him to the imperial prison."

Yang Guang said coldly, then looked at Yuwen Huaji.

"Can you raise enough provisions for a 500 million-strong expedition? If so, the position of Minister of Revenue is yours."

Yuwen Huaji gasped. This was the Minister of Civil Affairs, one of the six ministers, second only to the ministers of the three provinces, a true power figure in the court.

His father had spent his life in the military and had made contributions to the founding of the country, but he was only a minister. If he agreed, he would be on the same level as his father.

"Your Majesty, I will obey your decree and ensure that you provide sufficient military provisions."

Give it a try and turn your bicycle into a motorcycle.

Yuwen Huaji decided to take a gamble. The expedition of 500 million troops was indeed extremely costly, but the Sui Dynasty was not to be underestimated.

Although the national treasury is not full of money and grain at present, it does not mean that the Sui Dynasty does not have enough grain reserves.

During Yang Jian's reign, the equal-field system was implemented, and Gao Jiong also introduced a policy of registering and arranging grain, which resulted in the storage of a large amount of grain. Although the imperial treasury was empty, the dozens of large granaries of the imperial court were filled with grain.

If we take out these provisions, we can definitely raise enough funds to cover the military expenses of Yang Guangxi's expedition.

After Yuwen Huaji revealed his plan, the Minister of Rites beside him raised his official tablet and slapped it down on Yuwen Huaji's head.

"Yuwen Huaji, how dare you!"

"That's grain and fodder reserved for disaster relief in case of severe weather!"

"When the late emperor was alive, even during the severe drought in Guanzhong, he only opened two granaries."

"How dare you covet these granaries! Aren't you afraid of being condemned by the people?!"

To everyone's surprise, Yang Guang's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he had almost forgotten about the grain supplies.

Back then, just two granaries were opened, which met the needs of the entire Guanzhong region during the disaster. The Sui Dynasty also had dozens of granaries. Even though the westward expedition was a long journey, some railways had already been built, and with the addition of dozens of granaries, it was more than enough to meet the needs of the westward expedition.

"Very good. I hereby appoint Yuwen Huaji as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and order him to collect grain from various granaries and transport it to the front lines to support the western expedition. There must be no mistakes."

"Ministry of War, immediately draw troops from all over the country and assemble them in Liangzhou. Once a million men have been gathered, proceed to the Western Regions. The remaining troops will arrive shortly afterward."

"All departments of the imperial court must cooperate fully and without error!"

"Court adjourned!"

Yang Guang issued an overbearing order, demanding that everything make way for his western expedition.

He had to make the Xia Kingdom regret it, otherwise, as the first emperor whose country was invaded on a large scale, he would be nailed to the pillar of historical shame.

Even when it was invaded before, it was all land outside the Western Regions and was basically not included in the Central Plains.

But this time, the northern lands of China were invaded, the Western Regions which had belonged to the Han Dynasty since the Han Dynasty.

It was not a fiefdom, but rather the Western Regions that were conquered and became part of the Han Dynasty's prefectures and counties.

Yang Guang has now become the first emperor in history to have his fiefdom invaded and conquered a province in the north of China.

Yang Guang had always strived to become the greatest emperor of all time, but with the invasion of the Great Xia, his dream of becoming the greatest emperor of all time suddenly became extremely distant.

If he had focused his efforts on developing the country and completed the monumental feats of building railways and canals, he could have become a great emperor for all time.

Now, to make up for the humiliation of this invasion, he must destroy the entire Great Xia, completely annex it, expand the territory of the entire Divine Continent Empire by more than half, and at the same time complete the railway and canal, only then can he be regarded as a great emperor of all time in future generations.

The difficulty involved was on a completely different level, which made Yang Guang hate Xia Kang intensely.

Thanks to Yang Guang's extensive exploitation of the people to lay railways and dig canals, the transportation channels within the Sui Dynasty were initially established. In just one month, the first batch of one million troops had already arrived in Liangzhou.

Ignoring the advice of his court officials, Yang Guang personally led the western expedition, taking on the role of commander-in-chief.

He brought with him a large number of famous generals, including Yuwen Shu, Yuwen Chengdu, Lai Huer, Yang Yichen, Wang Rengong, Yuan Shihong, Yu Zhongwen, Yuan Hongsi, Mai Tiezhang, Yang Shilong, Qu Tutong, Wei Wensheng, and Yang Xuangan.

By the time they arrived in the Western Regions, half of the region had already fallen. The Sui army stationed there fought and retreated, trading space for time, which allowed them to retain half of the region until the imperial court provided support.

After Yang Guang arrived in the Western Regions with a million-strong army, the first thing he did was to dismiss the commander of the Western Regions army.

He was a piece of trash who had been driven into the homeland of the Great Xia and occupied several states. If it weren't for the dissuasion of his generals, he would have been ready to kill this bastard in front of the army.

Poor Lü Guang fought valiantly on the battlefield in the Western Regions, managing to hold onto half of the region with a smaller force. When reinforcements arrived, he received no reward, but instead was punished by being stripped of all his official positions.

Lü Guang smiled bitterly. Although he had been spared his life thanks to the pleas of his generals, his pride did not allow him to leave in such a dejected manner.

In despair, Lü Guang drew his sword and committed suicide.

With Lü Guang's death, the morale of the Western Regions army collapsed, even affecting the imperial army of a million men.

No one wants to end up like this after a bloody battle.

On the other hand, the Great Xia Dynasty, having won consecutive victories against the Divine Continent Empire, had high morale and their combat power had risen several levels compared to the beginning.

Ultimately, the two sides confronted each other in Wulei City, where the Wei family had once established the Protectorate of the Western Regions.

The decisive battle that will determine the fate of the Western Regions is about to begin!