…Emperor Yang reneges on his promises—he does…

Emperor Yang carries out a tour of the northern provinces later in 615.

While he is at Yanmen (in modern Xinzhou, Shanxi), Ashina Duojishi, who had become disaffected because Emperor Yang is trying to divide his power by promising to give a princess to Ashina Duojishi's brother Ashina Chij and had executed Ashina Duojishi's trusted advisor Shishu Huxi under false pretenses, launches a surprise attack on Yanmen and, although Princess Yicheng had secretly sent Emperor Yang warnings, Sui forcesare still surprised.

Ashina Duojishi puts Yanmen under siege.

It is said that Emperor Yang became so fearful that he was crying all day, holding onto his youngest son Yang Gao the Prince of Zhao.

Yuwen Shu suggests that Emperor Yang take the most elite guards and try to fight out of the siege, but Su Wei and Fan Zigai oppose.

Empress Xiao's brother Xiao Yu suggests seeking help from Princess Yicheng, and Emperor Yang does so.

Meanwhile, Emperor Yang also personally visits the soldiers defending the city, promising to end the campaigns against Goguryeo and to reward them with honors and treasure.

Princess Yicheng falsely informs Ashina Duojishi that Tujue is under attack from the north, and meanwhile, relief troops from Luoyang and the other prefectures are arriving, so Ashina Duojishi lifts the siege.

Upon the lifting of the siege, however, …

Emperor Yang, believing in accusations by Yuwen Shu in spring 615 that the official Li Hun is intending to carry out a coup to replace Emperor Yang with his nephew Li Min (son-in-law of Emperor Yang's sister Yang Lihua the Princess Leping) and worried about prophecies that someone named Li will become the next emperor, has Li Hun, Li Min, and their clansmen executed, and poisons Yang Lihua's daughter Yuwen Eying.

Sisebut, more than any Visigothic king before him, has become the scourge of the Empire in Spain.

In 614 and 615, he carries out two massive expeditions against the Empire, conquering Málaga before 619, when its bishop appears at the Second Council of Seville.

He conquers as far as the Mediterranean coast and razes many cities to the ground, enough even to catch the attention of the Frankish chronicler Fredegar.

Sisebut probably also razes Cartagena, which is so completely desolated that it never reappears in Visigothic Spain.

Because the Goths are unable to undertake decent sieges, they are forced to reduce the defenses of all fortified places they take in order to prevent later armies from using them against them.

Because Cartagena was destroyed but Málaga was spared, it has been inferred that the former fell first while the imperial presence was still large enough to constitute a threat.

Málaga falls some time after Cartagena, when the Empire is so reduced as to no longer form a danger to Visigothic hegemony over the whole peninsula.

Numerous official missions of envoys, priests, and students are sent to China in the seventh century.

Some remain twenty years or more; many of those who return became prominent reformers.

In a move greatly resented by the Chinese, Shotoku seeks equality with the Chinese emperor by addressing a memorial "From the Son of Heaven in the Land of the Rising Sun to the Son of Heaven of the Land of the Setting Sun."

Shotoku's bold step set s a precedent: Japan never again accepts a subordinate status in its relations with China.

Although the missions continue the transformation of Japan through Chinese influences, the Korean influence on Japan declines despite the close connections there had been during the early Kofun period.

The Chinese establish an imperial bureau for the manufacture of porcelain.

Their technology will advance further under the Tang Dynasty, which unites China in this era.

The Chinese also begin using large orchestras.

The calculation of the Chinese calendar begins to use true motions of the sun and moon modeled using two offset opposing parabolas.

The Gorguryeo-Sui War results in the defeat of Sui and contributes to the eventual downfall of the dynasty in 618.

The shih tzu, a small, active toy breed of dog similar to the Lhasa apso in its luxurious, long dense coat, is known in China.

Prince Shotoku, intent on strengthening Japan's central government, returns to the imperial family powers that had passed to the feudal nobles.

In emulation of the Chinese bureaucratic system of government, Shotoku establishes a system of court ranks that encourage the addition of merit to the traditional qualification of heredity as a requirement for advancement and the holding of office.

The missions he dispatches to China restores communications that had been cut off in the fifth century.

During Shotoku’s regency, Buddhist monasteries, such as the (now-lost) Hokoji and Wakakusa-dera, are constructed and furnished with bronze images of Buddhas made by immigrant Korean artisans such as the Tori group.

Tori Busshi creates the Shaka Triad at Horyuji in Nara as a votive offering in memory of Prince Shotoku.

Songtsän Gampo becomes the first emperor of the Tibetan Empire after his father Namri Songtsen is poisoned.

Tibet's power expands beyond Lhasa (Tibetan Plateau) and the Yarlung Valley during his reign.