Inspiration from the Ancient World

By Zangxuangao - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=165023159

After Empress Jia was dethroned, Sima Lun took over the regency with Sun Xiu, though they were not content with this level of power. They plotted to take the throne by forcing Emperor Hui to abdicate. They sought to gain support by giving family members and allies among the higher nobility honors and other awards and recruited others to drum up support among the people. They also had a distant relative of Sun Xiu made empress for Emperor Hui. As Sima Yun tried to take over the military from Sima Yun, Sima Yun objected and attacked with 700 men that he had in Luoyang and nearly succeeded in killing Sima Lun. A supporter of Sima Lun pretended to defect and killed Sima Yun, bringing about the end of the rebellion and giving Sima Lun an excuse to purge the court of his rivals. He relocated Sima Jiong, who was unhappy with the position he received, to Xuchang in Central China. Soon after receiving the Nine Bestowments from the emperor, Sima Yun claimed he had a dream of Sima Yi telling him to move into the Western Palace, where Emperor Hui lived. On 3 February 301, he presented a forged edict that Emperor Hui was abdicating to him.

After Sima Lun usurped the throne, Sima Jiong rebelled, sending out a proclamation as he did so. Sima Ying, another half-brother of Emperor Hui, among others joined with him.Sima Ying was considered 'beautiful but dull in the mind and did not read books, but he heeded his advisor Lu Zhi's advice to rally the people to his cause'. With Sima Ai, another half-brother of the Emperor, they were able to raise an army of around 200,000 troops. Sima Yong, who was in Chang'an, joined with them. Collectively, they were known as the Three Princes, referring to Jiong, Ying, and Yong.

Sima Lun sent a force of 24,000 under Zhang Hong to secure the passes and 30,000 under Sun Hui to confront Sima Ying. Zhang Hong's forces defeated Sima Jiong's forces several times, but a miscommunication caused Sun Fu to report that Zhang Hong had been defeated to Sima Lun. Because of this news, Sima Lun recalled forces until the delayed news of Zhang Hong's successes reached him. By the time he redeployed his soldiers, Sima Jiong had defeated Zhang Hong. While this was going on, Sun Hui was moving on Sima Ying, meeting with early success. Lu Zhi advised a surprise attack rather than retreat. Sun Hui, confident because of his victories, hadn't set up a defense so Sima Ying's army was able to smash through Sun Hui's forces and crossed the Yellow River to march on Luoyang.

As the coalition reached Luoyang, the officials and generals within the capital started turning on Sima Lun and Sun Xiu even though they'd tried to block any news of their losses from reaching people within the capital. On 30 May 301, Sima Lun was captured by the Left Guard along with Sun Xiu and his supporters. Theyy were executed, though Sima Lun was forced to denounce his conduct for a few days before being forced to commit suicide.

Emperor Hui was restored to the throne and 'celebrated the occasion with a five-day non-stop drinking binge'. Sima Ying reached the capital on 1 June with Yong following on 7 June. Since Sima Jiong was still fighting Zhang Hong, Sima Ying sent solders to help him. When Sima Jiong reached Luoyang , he arrived on 23 July with 'several hundred thousand armored soldiers, before whom the capital trembled in awe'.

On 11 August, Sima Jiong received the Nine Bestowments and was also made regent for Emperor Hui. He wanted to have Sima Ying as co-regent, but Lu Zhi advised Sima Ying to return to Ye to take care of his ill mother, so he left Jiong with most of the responsibility. While he was in Ye, he also took care of the people by distributing grain to areas that had been most affected by the war, had more than 8,000 coffins built, and had funerals for those who'd fallen in battle, including 14,000 of Sima Lun's soldiers, all at Lu Zhi's behest.

By Ian Kiu - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3708103

Founded by Sima Yan forcing Cao Huan to abdicate, the Western Jin began on 4 February 266. Cao Huan was demoted to Prince of Chenliu and later buried with imperial honors. Known as Emperor Wu of Jin, meaning the 'Martial Emperor of Jin', after his death, he would move to reunify China, a task he'd accomplish by 280. After this, China experienced a decade of peace under his rule, with economic prosperity as reflected by the 'extravagant and outlandish lifestyles of the aristocracy'. He decreed that his eldest son, Sima Zhong, who might have had a developmental disability, should follow him, per Confucian primogeniture.

During this time, several officials expressed concern over the population increase in the populations of non-Han people who had been living within China for centuries, many since the late Han dynasty. These groups had lived among the northern Han Chinese, picking up settled agriculture and were Sinicized to various degrees. Collectively, these groups were known as the Five Barbarians (Wu Hu) and consisted of the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Di, and Qiang. The Xiongnu were from the steppes of East Asia and despite no longer being unified, still drew a sense of identity from their shared ancestors. The Jie were primarily from the area around the Bing Province and had a relatively small population. The Xianbei occupied the Mongolian plateau and had become vassals in 207, though some moved to the Hexi Corridor. The Di were from northern and western China, though Cao Cao had 50,000 of them relocated toward central China to keep them from allying themselves to the Shu and as a result of their frequent rebellions, which continued under the Jin. The Qiang were a group from Qinghai and Gansu that had settled in Guanzhong where the watersheds of the Wei and Jing rivers were and often fought amongst themselves since they weren't a unified group as well as rebelling because of their poor treatment by the Han Chinese rulers.

When Emperor Wu died in 290, Emperor Hui, his son Sima Zhong, ascended and almost immediately, the War of the Eight Princes broke out, though this wasn't a single conflict, but rather a series of short, intense periods of conflict with intervals of peace, nor were all eight of the princes involved at the same time. The eight were members of the Sima family, most direct descendants of Sima Yi with two being grandnephews and three being sons of Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu considered having his father-in-law, Yang Jun, and his uncle, Sima Liang, as regents for Emperor Hui, but Yang Jun took advantage of Emperor Wu's failing health to sent Sima Liang away. He also hid the decree making him and Sima Liang co-regents and had his daughter, Empress Yang Zhi name him sole regent. Emperor Wu was too ill to stop this manipulation before he died.

Because Yang Jun was obviously trying to consolidate power, continued to try to assassinate Sima Liang, and refused to accept advice, the ministers were unhappy with him. Empress Jia Nanfeng was also unhappy that her power as Empress was being taken by the Empress Dowager Yang Zhi. Empress Jia called for Sima Liang and Sima Wei to overthrow Yang Jun. Sima Liang was reluctant, but Sima Wei started his troops marching on Louyang. On the 23 April 291, Empress Jia called for Yang Jun's deposal while her allies and army occupied the gates of his home. Yang Jun was caught flat-footed but Empress Yan Jia tried to get the troops to turn against Empress Jia, which implicated her in her father's plans. His family and supporters were 'executed as the extermination of all third degree relatives', the 'most severe punishment for a capital offense', except for Yang Zhi, who was confined in the palace for the rest of her life.

On 4 May 291, Sima Liang and Wei Guan became Emperor Hui's new regents. Sima Liang took advantage of his new position and handed out appointments and titles to about 1,081 people to gain their favor. Empress Jia also began placing her own relatives in positions of power at the same time. Sima Liang and Wei Guan were both concerned about Sima Wei, Emperor Hui's half-brother, who was 'notorious for his violent temperament', so they tried to strip him of his military power and make him return to his fiefdom, but he worked with Empress Jia to depose them. The edict that Empress Jia gave, however, didn't allow Liang Wei to raise his own military force, so he forged one that made him Commander of all military forces with full control over operations. He arrested Sima Liang and Wei Guan on 26 July 291 and they were both put to death.

After taking control of a significant part of the military through the forged edict, Sima Wei was advised to go after Empress Jia's relatives, Jia Mi and Guo Zhang, but he hesitated. Empress Jia was advised to punish Sima Wei for killing Sima Liang and Wei Guan. Empress Jia didn't hesitate and her troops against Sima Wei the next day, spreading that the edict wasn't authentic. Sima Wei was captured and executed and his full brother Sima Ai was demoted for supporting him.

This left Empress Jia as the defacto power in China for the next 9 years, with her relatives, especially Jia Mi and Guo Zhang, assisting her. Ministers like Zhang Hua and Pei Wei tried to keep the government running, but the widespread corruption of the Jia clan made it difficult. Rumors abounded that Empress Jia was particularly debauched and tyrannical, which laid the groundwork for the discontent that would grow through the decade. She also made a series of transfers that had an effect on the next stages of the War of the Eight Princes, such as moving Emperor Hui's great-uncle Sima Lun to Louyang after he failed to quell an uprising in 296 resulting from famine and plagues, and assigning Sima Ying, another half-brother of Emperor Hui, to Ye, near modern day Hebei, as the result of an argument he had with Jia Mi about how Sima Yu, the Crown Prince, was treated. The later required that Sima Yong, the Emperor Wu's second cousin and grandson of Sima Fu, was moved from Ye to Guanzhong, near central Shaanxi.

By Yu Ninjie - CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87881

While Zhuge Liang lived, the office of chancellor controlled much of the politics of Shu, but after his death in 234, three chancellors had the office by 258, after which, political power became increasingly concentrated in the eunuch faction, leading to increased corruption. Shu also failed to have any major achievements after Zhuge Liang's death. When Wei launched a three-pronged offensive, Shu was forced to retreat, giving up 'territory formerly considered impassable' as they did. Liu Shan, the second Shu emperor, surrendered to Wei only 43 years after it was founded, and Liu Shan was made the 'Duke of Safety and Happiness', which was a 'trivial position with no actual power' by the Wei Emperor.

The Wei weren't free from court intrigue, however. Beginning in the late 230s, the tensions between the Cao and Sima clan began to show. Sima Yi, who served as general, regent, and Grand Tutor, felt threatened when Cao Shuang, who was also a general and regent, placed his supporters in key posts. The Sima clan had a lot of property and their position was further boosted by Sima Yi's military victories because he was 'an extremely capable strategist and politician'. He eventually beat Cao Shuang by putsch, a type of coup carried out by a minority group, which forced Cao Shuang's faction out of their positions of authority. Many groups, including the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group of scholars, writers, and musicians, protested against Sima's rising power. In 260, Cao Mao was 'killed in a failed coup against Sima Zhao' and Cao Huan, the fifth Wei emperor, took the throne. Not long after, Sima Zhao died and Sima Yan became the Duke of Jin. Sima Yan was not content with his title and sought to become emperor himself. In 266, Cao Huan decided to abdicate, establishing the Jin dynasty with Sima Yan becoming Emperor Wu of Jin, 40 years after the Wei dynasty began.

Sun Liang's ascension to the throne of Wu in 252 was the beginning of a steady decline for the state. Because Sima Zhao and his grandson Sima Shi were able to suppress rebellions in the southern Huai River, the state of Wu lacked opportunities to expand their influence beyond their borders. Sun Hao, who took the throne in 264, was the fourth emperor of Wu and would be known as Emperor Mo. He'd been a 'promising young man, but upon ascension he became a tyrant, killing or exiling all who dared oppose him in court'. In 269, a Jin general began preparations to invade Wu by building a fleet of ships and training the marines that would man them. Four years after this, Lu Kang, a Wu general, died, leaving no competent successors to take his place. In 279, Sima Yan directed five simultaneous attacks along the Yangtze River while the fleet based in Sichan sailed toward the Jing Province. Wu was unable to meet the strain caused by this attack and Jianye fell in 280 and Sun Hao surrendered.

During the nearly 125 years of the Three Kingdoms period, the population of China drastically decreased from about 56,486,856 people in 156 to 16,163,863 people as the Jin dynasty reunited China in 280, or only about 35.3% of the 156 number. The battles for land between the three and with their non-Chinese neighbors accounts for some of this, with some groups using 'scorched earth' tactics, but so do the famines of the Central Plains that caused and followed the Yellow turban Rebellion. There were also likely outbreaks of diseases as government broke down, as well as people leaving China to account for some of the decrease in population.

By Francis Lister Hawks Pott - Pott's Sketch of Chinese History, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105271135

With the abdication of Emperor Xian on 11 December 220, the Han dynasty ended. He proclaimed that Cao Pi Emperor Wen of Wei had received the Mandate of Heaven. He would rule over the northern part of China. Not everyone accepted this, however. Liu Bei declared himself to be emperor, attempting to continuing the Han dynasty, on 15 May 221, beginning the state that would become known as the Shu, or junior, Han, which is often just referred to as Shu. He would be known as Emperor Zhaolie and would rule over the southwestern part of China. Initially, Sun Quan remained loyal to Wei and was granted the title King of Wu, ruling over the southeastern part of China, but would eventually be remembered as Emperor Da of Wu, though he wouldn't declare himself to be emperor until 229.

In late 221, Shu invaded Wu, retaliating for the loss of Jing Province and Guan Yu's death. In spring of 222, Liu Bei came to command the invasion force. Sun Quan had his general Lu Xun command the defense of Wu. While Lu Xun's subordinates advised against it, he allowed Liu Bei's forces to become committed below the Yangtze Gorges before he began to use fire attacks against Liu Bei's flank to cause disorder and forced Liu Bei to retreat. It was after this that Sun Quan declared himself independent of Wei with the largely desolate area between the Huai and Yangtze rivers forming a largely static barrier between the two. The year 223 saw Liu Bei's death, resulting in his 17 year old son, Liu Shan, and his regent Zhuge Liang controlling the Shu government and the return of diplomatic relationship between Shu and Wu.

Sun Quan focused on the 'aborigines of the southeast, whom the Chinese collectively called the Shanyue' in 224 and was able to bring about 40,000 of them into his army auxiliaries. He would go on to rule over Wu for over 40 years as both king and emperor, a time that was seen as a 'time of plenty' with the Shanyue bolstering agriculture worker numbers, which also resulted in a flourishing of transportation, construction, and trade.

The Shu were also focusing on their southern borderlands, dealing with the Nanman peoples, who were revolting against their authority and were looting in Yi Province. The Shu were able to forge a diplomatic relationship after defeating the chieftain Meng Huo. The border between Wei and Shu, especially around Hefei, was 'the scene of many bitter battles and under constant preassure from Wei after the Battle of Red Cliffs. Warfare had grown so intense that many of the residents chose to migrate and resettle south of the Yangtze'. Regardless of how much they tried, the Wei couldn't break through the Wu's river defenses.

By Esiymbro - Own work using:Li Xiaojie (1999). Donghan Zhengqu Dili [Administrative Geography of the Eastern Han Dynasty] CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92070972

After Dong Zhuo's death, some considered making Liu Yu emperor because he was part of the imperial family, though this began to wane as the coalition members turned their attention to enlarging their own armies rather than trying to restore the Han dynasty as things became more unstable. This resulted in the central government collapsing and Emperor Xian being captured by various warlords as they captured Chang'an. Lü Bu was attacked by Don Zhuo's officers and his co-conspirator and his entire family was executed but Lü Bu managed to escape to join with Yuan Shao who was in Ji Province and pushed north of the Yellow River, taking control from the previous Governor.

Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, Lü Bu, and Tao Qian, the Governor of Xu Province, fought over control of the land between the Yellow and Huai Rivers. Cao Cao was able to end the Yellow Turban uprising and then drove Yuan Shu south of Huai, devastated Tao Qian because Tao Qian's subordinate had killed his father, and had Liu Bei, Tao Qian's general, surrender to him. In 196, he gained control over Emperor Xian, acting as a loyal minister and used this position to give him the 'formal legal authority to control the other warlords and force them to comply in order to restore the Han dynasty. He executed Lü Bu and ended up controlling southern China by 198.

Yuan Shu established a capital at Shouchun, modern day Anhui, after he was driven south by Cao Cao, though he attempted to push back north to regain the territory he'd lost. He declared himself Emperor in 197, though this drew the ire of many warlords and caused many of his subordinates to abandon him. He died in 199.

In 200, Cao Cao was fighting Yuan Shao's forces around Guandu while a detachment of Cao Cao's army forced Liu Bei to flee to Jing Province, where he sought refuge and was able to maintain those followers who went with him and gained more followers through Liu Biao, the Governor of Jiang Province. In 2088, when Liu Biao died, he opposed the political machinations that put Liu Biao's youngest child, Liu Cong, in the position of governor. Liu Cong surrendered to Cao Cao, allowing Cao Cao to take control of the province. Liu Biao's oldest son, Liu Qi, joined with Liu Bei and they established a line of defense at the Yangtze River to fight against Cao Cao's take over of the province. They would eventually be forced to retreat, seeking support from Sun Quan who had power over the lower Yangtze River, though they were able to keep control over most of Jing's fleet of ships. Cao Cao took control over the port at Jiangling and worked his way eastward, demanding that Sun Quan surrender to him. At Red Cliffs, or Chibi, Cao Cao was defeated and forced to retreat back north by the alliance.

Zhou Yu, who served under Sun Quan, gained control over Jiangling in 209 and Liu Bei captured the Xiang River basin, taking control over the Southern part of Jing Province, though Sun Quan had to cede his control over Jiangling to Liu Bei after Zhou Yu's death in 210 because he lacked the ability to establish authority. In 211, Liu Bei received an invitation from Liu Zhang to aid Yi Province against a northern threat. There were factions in Liu Zhang's court that wanted Liu Bei to be in control of Yi Province, which caused conflict between the two leaders so that within a year, Liu Bei turned against Liu Zhang . By 214, Liu Zhang surrendered Yi Province to Liu Bei.

During this time, in 211, Cao Cao defeated the warlords who had control over the Wei valley, allowing him to capture Chang'an. In 215, he captured Hanzhong, which threatened Liu Bei's territory to the south. Sun Quan was fighting Cao Cao's forces over the middle Yangtze, but they were at a stalemate. Sun Quan resented Liu Bei, however, since he was the weaker ally and had so much more territory and he demanded to have more of the Xiang River basin. They were able to reach an understanding later in the year where the Xiang River would be the border between them.

By Yu Ninjie, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1389351

After infighting between officials, eunuchs, and regents with weak central authority followed by several rebellions, including the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which gained several hundred thousand followers from all over China. Even though they were defeated, the situation throughout the empire remained turbulent. Many of those who were part of the rebellion became bandits after being dispersed after their defeat, which led to Emperor Ling making Liu Yan an administrator in direct control of a regional military, which made the provinces fully administrative units leading to intra-governmental chaos and making it easier for the leaders of these provinces to cut ties with the central government.

After Emperor Ling's death, the power struggle within the capital reached a state where the frontier army of Liang Province lead by Dong Zhuo was brought in to reinforce the position of He Jin, who was the regent Marshal for Emperor Shao. He Jin was assassinated by the eunuchs he was trying to overthrow when they learned of his plan. The eunuchs would have a power struggled that resulted in Louyang burning and allowed Dong Zhuo to seize de facto control over the government. He changed the emperor, deposing Emperor Shao in favor of Emperor Xian, which sparked more rebellions throughout China.

By SY - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62648652

Emperor Ling was 12 when he took the throne, and Empress Dowager Dou Miao acted as his regent. Dou Wu, her father, and Chen Fan, a Confucian scholar who became known as the Grand Tutor, aided her in this. They were viewed as potential reformers against the powerful eunuchs, especially the way Empress Dowager Dou and her father handled a pair of incidents known collectively as the Disasters of the Partisan Prohibitions, where a group of Confucian scholars who were officials in the imperial government and university students in Louyang who agreed with and supported them as they opposed the powerful eunuchs, who called them 'partisans'. The first, which happened in 167, under Emperor Huan, ended bloodlessly with Dou Wu requesting leniency for the partisans, which Emperor Huan listened to, sparing the lives of the partisans and exiling them back to their homes with their 'civil liberties stripped for life', though these rights were restored under Empress Dowager Dou's regency and many of those who had participated were made imperial officials.

The second even occurred in 168 after Empress Dowager Dou was incarcerated so the eunuchs could use her seal to issue imperial orders after the they found out she, Dou Wu, and Chen planned to exterminate the lead eunuch due to the eunuchs having too much influence over Emperor Ling. The eunuchs then removed the partisans from their governmental position and stripped their rights again, and then convinced Emperor Ling that they intended to rebel. About 100 of the partisans were executed, including Chen, though many were hidden by an underground network. Dou Wu was defeated in battle and then committed suicide after being falsely called a traitor by the eunuchs.

This gave the eunuchs essentially free reign to sell and barter offices as well as infiltrated military command. Two particular eunuchs, Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang held so much influence over the emperor that he called them 'mother' and 'father' and they convinced him that he shouldn't ascend to the top floors of any towers as they didn't want him to see the mansions they'd built themselves.

During the later part of the Han dynasty, unorthodox schools of thought around Confucianism and Daoism began to develop, such as the Five Pecks of Rice society in Sichuan, the leader of which, Zhang Daolingin, claimed to have seen Laozi as a 'holy prophet who appointed him as his earthly representative known as the Celestial Master'. He created a Daoist sect that did not accept money from lay followers, only pecks of rice. In 184, under the leadership of Zhang Lu, the Five Pecks of Rice staged a rebellion, wanting to set up a Daoist state. The most successful rebellion was that led by Zhang Jue, the leader of the Yellow Turbans and a faith healer. He had hundreds of thousands of followers and 'challenged Han authority by claiming they would bring about a utopian era of peace'. They were able to organize rebellions across eight provinces in 184 and were known for their yellow cloths or scarves wrapped around their foreheads. While they had success initially, most of their leadership was dead by the end of 184. While the import of the Yellow Turban Rebellion is debated among scholars, some scholars point out that the fact that the generals didn't disband their forces after the rebellion played a large role in the events that would follow.

During the short time that Emperor Shao was on the throne, a eunuch plotted against the General-in-Chief of the army and was executed for it. This allowed the General-in-Chief to begin plotting against the eunuchs, by moving several generals into position close to the capital. He was able to 'forcefully persuade' the Empress Dowager He, Emperor Shao's mother, to turn over the eunuchs, though the eunuchs used her mother and brother to get the order revoked. The eunuchs sent the General-in-Chief a message that Empress Dowager He wanted to talk to him again and they ambushed and beheaded him. Yuan Shao, who'd been an officer i the Army of the Western Garden laid siege to the Northern Palace and his brother, Yuan Shu, laid siege to the Southern Palace. At the end of the siege, supposedly 2,000 eunuch were slain.

Emperor Shao and his brother Liu Xie were found wandering the hills by Dong Zhuo, who was the General of the Vanguard. Dong took over Luoyang, forcing Yuan Shao to flee, and was made Excellency of Works. He also demoted Emperor Shao and promoted Liu Xie as Emperor Xian of Han in 189. Empress Dowager He was poisoned to death four days later. He also burned the capital and forced the court to move to Chang'an in 191, and was killed by a conspiracy including his adopted son in 192. This threw Chang'an into chaos, pushing Emperor Xian to flee in 195 and it would be nearly a year before he reached Louyang. During this time, the empire was being carved up by eight powerful commanders or officials including Cao Cao.

By en:user: Kowloonese - en:File:EastHanSeismograph.JPG, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87690

With so many infants and young children being appointed emperor, the governmental power largely was held by the Empress Dowager and various regents or advisors. There were also natural disasters to deal with, which were initially dealt with under Empress Dowager Deng's rule by tax remissions, shipments of government grain, and donations to the poor. Repairs to the water control works were undertaken in 115-116, but the Qiang rebellion, which happened between 107-118 took a lot of money away from these relief efforts. The Qiang people were moved by Emperor Jing and were subject to conscription and theft of goods and even women and children by Han border officials, which prompted their revolts. The revolt of 107-118 cut China off from Central Asia.

Empress Dowager Dang did reduce her expenses, such as limiting the amount spent on banquets and luxury goods as well as selling some civil offices and secondary marquess ranks in an attempt to raise money. The selling of offices would continue past her reign, becoming very prevalent under Emperor Ling's reign. Emperor An continued her relief efforts.

By Emperor Shun's rule, however, the local governments handled most public works projects without assistance from the central government. He did supervise major disaster relief programs, however, and Zhang Heng, a court astronomer, developed a device that could determine where an earthquake happened, even if it was hundreds of kilometers away. His first demonstration was detection of an earthquake that occurred about 300-400 km from Louyang, where the seismometer was set up and was confirmed by a message that was delivered soon afterwards. He also had the Imperial University repaired, which had become dilapidated though it was still in use as a pathway for young men of the gentry class to enter civil service.

As Liang Ji sought to gain more power and to mitigate the 'unseemly image of placing child emperors on the throne', he granted general amnesties, reduced how severe punishments were, including banning the bastinado, allowed exiles to return to their homes, and allowed convicts to settle land on the frontier of China. He developed the formal exams of the Imperial University so that students would take tests on different classical texts to progress through each year. When he was deposed by Emperor Huan, the students of the Imperial University 'took to the streets in the thousands chanting the names of the eunuchs they opposed in one of the earliest student protests in history'.

Emperor Huan embraced Huang-Lou Daoism rather than Confucianism, though this would not continue past his reign. His reign was further defined by corruption and lavish spending on projects such as new hunting parks, palace buildings, imperial gardens, and expanding the harem to be able to house thousands of concubines. This corruption alienated the gentry class and they refused to serve in office when the government was dominated by eunuchs. While Emperor Ling had fewer concubines, he continued to allow the eunuchs to handle the matters of the state while he pretended to be a 'traveling salesman with concubines dressed as market vendors or dressing in military costume as the "General Supreme" for his parading Army of the Western Garden'.

Externally, the Han dynasty had to deal with the Xiongnu and the Xianbei peoples, with the Xianbei taking over the northern steppe where the Northern Xiongnu had been before they fled to the Ili River valley, in modern Kazakhstan in 91. Since the Han didn't take possession of the land, the Xianbei moved in, adding the Xiongnu people who remained in the area to their numbers. They used raids to improve the outcomes of trade negotiations.

When Emperor He died in 105 CE, he hadn't appointed a successor, which gave his wife, Empress Dowager Deng Sui, final say over who would be the next emperor. She initially appointed his infant son Liu Long, who would later be known as Emperor Shang of Han, but he died when he was 1 year old. She skipped over Emperor He's other son, Liu Sheng, and instead appointed his nephew, Liu Hu, who would be known as Emperor An of Han, who was 12 at the time.

Empress Dowager Deng was regent and de facto ruler until she died in 121. She was largely considered competent, but after her death, two eunuchs accused her of plotting to overthrow him. Emperor An then charged the entire Deng clan with treason, which resulted in them being stripped of title and office, reducing them to commoner status, and then exiled them to remote areas, which drove many of them to commit suicide. Emperor An's wife, Empress Yan Ji worked with the two eunuchs to demote the heir apparent, Liu Bao, on conspiracy charges over the protests of senior officials.

When Emperor An died in 125, Empress Dowager Yan chose Liu Yi, a cousin of Emperor An's who would be remembered as Emperor Shao, who was described as young when he took the throne, but he died later in the year, likely due to a conspiracy to overthrow Empress Dowager Yan and put Liu Bao on the throne. Empress Dowager Yan was put on house arrest while her brothers were killed and the rest of her family sent to Vietnam. The eunuchs who'd worked with the Yan clan were also slaughtered by those who were loyal to Liu Boa.

Liu Bao, who would be known as Emperor Shun, took the throne in 125 at the age of 10. He relied on his wet nurse, but she wasn't an effective advisor though she was kind. She took up the role of empress dowager for him, though without the title. When he was 19, he selected Consort Liang Na, who was 16 at the time, to become his empress because he felt she was the most virtuous of his consorts. They had no sons together, so his son Liu Bing, who was about 1 when he took the throne and died 4 months later and would be remembered as Emperor Chong of Han. He was followed by Emperor Zhi of Han, who was 7 when he ascended to the throne, though he was likely poisoned for criticizing Liang Ji, Empress Dowager Liang's brother and the regent.

Following him was Emperor Huan of Han, who was 14 when he took the throne under the regency of Empress Dowager Liang and her brother. He married Empress Dowager Liang's sister Liang Nüying, giving the Liang clan more power over the emperor, though he relied more on the eunuchs. Empress Liang Nüying wouldn't allow other consorts to have sons, murdering those who became pregnant. Emperor Huan didn't trust her, but didn't want to challenge Liang Ji, so he 'rarely had sexual relations with her', she died 'angry and depressed that she had lost her husband's favor' in 159.

By Gary L. Todd, Ph.D., Professor of History, Sias International University, Xinzheng, China - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4574150

The peace and stability of Emperor Guwangwu's reign, once the empire was reunified, helped improve China's financial situation. The changes that Wang Mang had made to the currencies were revoked and private manufacturers were taxed heavily while the government made large purchases from them for weapons and shields for the army. He also permitted peasants to pay to avoid conscription, relying instead on volunteers to join the army, a system which persisted throughout the Eastern Han. He extended the pay-to-avoid tax to the month of corvée labor, though hiring laborers was becoming more popular at this time. He also worked on restoring marquessates to the relatives of the marquesses who'd been over them before Wang Mang demoted them, further helping to reestablish stability between the Western and Eastern Han dynasties.

When Emperor Ming of Han took the throne in 57, he went further and reestablished price control by resetting up the Office for Price Adjustment and Stabilization and had the government buy grain cheaply to sell to the people when private prices rose, which continued until 68 when 'he became convinced that government hoarding of grain only made wealthy merchants even richer'. He had the ability to address the flooding of the Yellow River because Emperor Guangwu's economic prosperity. By 8 April 70, an edict boasted, the southern branch of the Yellow River, which had been emptying south of the Shandong Peninsula, was 'finally cut off by Han engineering'.

Emperor Zhang of Han, who began to reign in 75, had to deal with an agrarian crisis almost as soon as he took the throne. An epidemic broke out among the cattle in the land and he provided disaster relief to those affected. He would also lighten punishments, such as bastinado, where the feet are whipped, in order to 'restore the seasonal balance of yin and yang and cure the epidemic'. He also updated the calendar which had become inaccurate in the time since Emperor Wu had made changes 200 years before, shifting it back to the one developed under the Zhou dynasty because Emperor Wu's calendar had drifted out of agreement with the seasons. During his reign, the dominant power among the consorts shifted from the empress dowager to the empress when his wife, Empress Dou schemed to have her adopted son proclaimed crown prince through false accusations and other tactics which would lend themselves to corruption and tainting of future reigns.

In 88, Emperor He of Han took the throne, he commissioned Lady Ban Zhao to finish the work of her father and brother, the Book of Han, which 'set an important precident of imperial control over the recording of history and thus was unlike Sima Qian's far more independent work, the Records of the Grand Historian'. He handled various outbreaks of locusts, floods, and earthquakes by cutting taxes, providing government loans, forgiving debts, opening the granaries, and helping people resettle away from the areas affected. He thought that a severe drought that happened in 94 was the result of some type of injustice in the legal system, so he inspected the prisons and found that there were some that were there on false charges and released them. Reportedly, the rain came soon after this. Empress Dowager Dou continued to wield power the court, even hiding who his mother was from him. He enlisted the eunuchs to help him overthrow Empress Dowager Dou, overthrow the Dou clan on charges of treason, and placed the empress dowager under house arrest.

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While he claimed the title of emperor over Luoyang, Liu Xiu, or Emperor Guangwu of Han as he was known posthumously, wasn't in control over the entire empire initially, or even after the Gengshi Emperor's death. He had to reunify China and eliminate pretenders to the throne. He started with the Chimei, the Red Eyebrows who had their pretender to the throne, Liu Penzi. They were more incompetent than the Gengshi Emperor and the people of the Guangzhong, the area they'd managed to take over and modern day central Shaanxi, and they plundered the area when they ran out of supplies. They they withdrew to the east, toward modern day Shandong. Guangwu anticipated this and had his troops hassle the Chimei and set up an ambush at Yiyang in Luoyang. The Chimei were exhausted and they surrendered, which caused Guangwu to spare them, even Liu Penzi.

The Chimei represented the largest group that Emperor Guangwu had to deal with, but there were many regional groups that he had to deal with. There were other pretenders to the throne, such as Liu Yong, and commanders and governors who payed lip service to the emperor but acted independently, such as Wei Xiao who was commander over Xizhou and Dou Rong who was governor of Liang Province. One of the more powerful that challenged Guangwu was Gongsu Shu, who declared he was emperor of Chengjia, controlling the Yi and Yunnan provinces. He watched Guangwu work to unify the empire again without helping, first through diplomacy before through warfare, often trying repeatedly to convince those who were recalcitrant to join him rather than annihilating them. As more areas joined with Guangwu, Wei became more determined to remain independent and convinced Dou to join with him, though Dou did refuse. As Emperor Guangwu began to accept that the Wei and Gongsun would submit, Emperor Guangwu began a campaign against them in the summer of 30 CE. Wei submitted to Gongsun after his regime collapsed and died in 33 CE. His son surrendered in the winter of 34 CE, after Luomen, the capital of Shuoning, fell. Gongsun tried to win by assassinating generals rather than meeting Emperor Guangwu's army directly. This worked for a while, though the Eastern Han army regrouped and surrounded Gongsun in his capital of Chengdu. The Eastern Han army feinted that they were 'collasping from fatigue' in the Winter of 36 CE, which caused Gongsun and his army to leave the city to attack. Gongsun was mortally wounded in this encounter. After this, Emperor Guangwu was in control of the empire again, though 300 cities had been massacred to do so.

Beginning in 37 CE, Emperor Guangwu readjusted the various marches among other organizational changes to maintain the relationships between the empire and the various generals and the nobles. Generals were given large territories but no title beyond 'general', as well as giving them 'great wealth and often listened to their advice, but rarely put them in positions of authority', which help reduced the friction and keeping their relationships in a good place. He did largely avoid conflict that he did not have to go into. Two such unavoidable conflicts were those that involved the Trưng sisters, Vietnamese sisters known as Zheng Ce and Zheng Er in Chinese who rebelled and Zheng Ce claimed to be queen in 40 CE and were defeated in 43 CE, and when the Xiongnu harried the northern borders. Mostly, his reign was quiet as far as wars went.

In his private life, he 'married his childhood sweetheart Yin Lihua' and then 'entered into a political marriage with Guo Shengtong' who was related to a regional warlord. Guo quickly gave birth to a son, Liu Jiang in 25 CE. When it came time to declare his empress, he wanted to honor Yin, but since she'd not yet had a son, she demurred and insisted that he name Guo instead, which he did and then named her son crown prince. By 41, though, Guo no longer had the emperor's favor. She was deposed, though rather than being imprisoned, as was the usual fate of deposed empresses, but rather made her son Prince of Zhongshan and made her Princes Dowager of Zhongshan with her brother becoming an important official and given great wealth, likely as a way to give her an alimony. He made Yin his empress and her son, Liu Yang, the crown prince, changing his name to Zhuang.

In 47 CE, the Xiongnu were dealing with another succession dispute, with Punu and Bi as the two main actors, with Punu being the current leader and Bi being the son of the previous ruler. Bi claimed the title and said he'd submit to Emperor Guangwu in 48 CE. Punu then submitted, which stopped the war against the Han.

The Han Restoration and Beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty

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The reason for the Yellow River changing its course lies mostly with the amount of silt it carries, which is also the source of the yellowish color giving it its name. While dikes had been built to try and control the flooding, they failed during Wang Mang's rule. The flooding in 11 BCE resulted in the Yellow River having two branches, with a northern one that emptied slightly north of the Shandong Peninsula while the southern branch emptied south of it. The southern branch displaced thousands of peasants and helped to lead to the downfall of Wang Mang.

When Liu Xuan took the throne as the Gengshi Emperor, the posthumous title of Emperor Guangwu gave him thought he is also known as the King or Prince of Huaiyang which was another title granted to him by his brother, he initially was widely accepted and his edicts, such as the Xin officials who submitted to him would be allowed to keep their offices, were obeyed, at least nominally, but soon, people began seeing his advisors and those around him as being uneducated and unable to govern, weakening their trust and confidence in the government. Pretenders to the throne also rose, with one being a fortune teller named Wang Lang who claimed he was the son of Emperor Cheng and a singer and Empress Zhao Feiyan tried to kill him but killed a substitute baby instead. Those north of the Yellow River believed him and several commanderies pledge allegiance to him. This pushed Liu Xiu, the future Emperor Guangwu and the Gengshi Emperor's brother, out of Jicheng, modern day Beijing, though he was eventually able to unify those commanderies in the north that were still loyal to the Gengshi Emperor, resulting in the Gengshi Emperor putting him in charge of the northern territories. After a siege, he was able to kill Wang Lang in 24 CE.

The Gengshi Emperor moved his capital to Chang'an from Louyang and had to deal with the resentment of those who'd risen up against Want Mang and were now being treated as traitors. The Gengshi Emperor granted them a general pardon, which helped for a time. He was, however, timid and ineffective, which caused problems, as did his ignorance of official protocol. He also asked questions of generals such as 'How much did you pillage today?', which eroded confidence in his leadership even more. He left most of the governing to Zhao Meng, the father of his imperial consort, and Zhao abused his power while the emperor was quite often intoxicated. To his credit, when Zhao's crimes were revealed, the emperor had him executed, though there were other officials remaining who abused their power, which frustrated and angered the general population.

In the winter of 24 CE, the Chimei, the Red Eyebrows, wanted to return to their homes, but their leaders thought it'd be too difficult to call them up again, should it be needed, so they were given the objective of capturing Chang'an. Liu Xiu decided not to engage, despite having a relatively strong force under him. He remained in Henei, north of the Yellow River, as it was a strategically advantageous location. There, he would, in the summer of 25 CE, break ties with the emperor and fought the emperor's forces over control of Henei and Louyang. He declared himself emperor and founded what would be known as the Eastern Han Dynasty and began advancing on the Shanxi, reducing the number of troops that the Gengshi Emperor could call upon. To protect the Gengshi Emperor, his troops conspired to kidnap him to Nanyang, in modern day Henan, but their plan was discovered and many of them were executed. Zhang Ang, a general who was part of this conspiracy managed to occupy much of Chang'an, which pushed the Gengshi Emperor to flee as the Chimei were reaching Chang'an.

While this was happening, the Chimei chose a descendant of Liu Zhang, who had been known as the Prince of Chengyang and had been popular enough to be worshiped as a god after he died. They settled on Liu Penzi, who was 15 at the time, to be their puppet emperor as he was not actually given any power. The Gengshi Emperor's troops were eventually able to push Zhang Ang out of Chang'an, but he surrendered to and joined the Chimei, helping them attack Chang'an. The Gengshi Emperor was eventually forced to flee with those few who were still loyal to him. Eventually, one of his generals, Yan Ben, turned on him, capturing him, hoping to use him and those with him as bargaining chips. Liu Xiu heard about this and declared that the Gengshi Emperor was the Prince of Huaiyang and that he wasn't to be harmed but should be delivered to him. When Chang'an fell, Luoyang surrendered to Liu Xiu and allowed him to enter to make it his capital.

After being held captive by Yan Ben for a few months, the Gengshi Emperor negotiated surrender terms in the winter of 25 CE. He was promised that he'd be the Prince of Changsha. The Chimei, however, wanted him to be executed. Though he was allowed to return to Chang'an to give the imperial seal to Liu Penzi under the guard of Xie Lu, Emperor Penzi's general, they didn't kill the Gengshi Emperor, moved by Liu Gong's, the Gengshi Emperor's general, threat of suicide at the site of the execution. The Gengshi Emperor was forced to remain under Liu Gong's protection inside Xie Lu's headquarters.

The Xin Dynasty (9-23 CE)

By Stevenliuyiderivative work : Esiymbro - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77043084

After the assassination of Emperor Ping by Wang Mang adding poison to his pepper wine when he was 12 years old in 5 CE, he was followed by his infant cousin with Wang Mang as his regent, though he wouldn't ascend the throne and was officially usurped by Wang Mang. Liu Ying was chosen since Wang Mang wanted someone he could control, passing over 53 adult great-grandsons of Emperor Xuan and instead choosing a great-great-grandson, of which there were 23. During the selection process, with the approval of Grand Empress Dowager Wang Zhengjun, Wang Mang took the title 'Acting Emperor' and was to be so until the chosen heir could be selected and raised to majority. During his 'regency', there were several rebellions against Wang Mang. In 9, he officially took the throne, consigning Liu Ying to a dukedom as the Duke of Ding'an.

Wang Mang wanted to return China to a 'fabled golden age', as it would have been during the early Zhou dynasty and which Confucius idealized as well. He started with massive reforms, including abolishing slavery and nationalizing land ownership in 9 CE. Both were reversed in 12 CE after 'widespread protest'. A historian living near in time to Wang Mang's reign viewed these reforms as the reason Wang Mang's downfall, though modern historians point to Wang Mang's policies were 'in line with earlier Han policies'.

In order to try and stabilize a faltering economy, improve the livelihood of peasants, and weaken the power of noble families, Wang Mang also issued new denominations of currency several times, though this managed to debase the value of the currency in the Empire instead, causing greater economic harm. He was forced to rescind government monopolies in 22 CE due to being unable to enforce them. Further complicating Wang Mang's reign were several natural disasters, including the Yellow River changing its course, resulting in massive flooding, plagues of locust, and famines. Because Wang Mang's policies failed to solve the multiple crises, rebellions soon broke out among the peasants who had previously supported him.

In the eastern parts of the empire, desperate peasants became bandits, running in groups that grew to tens of thousands by the 20s CE. They organized into factions with the most powerful being the Red Eyebrows. Together with the nobles and Han imperial clan, they fought in a civil war against Wang Mang's army that started in 19 CE. Smaller bands along the Yangtze joined in the uprisings. The Xiongnu took advantage of this civil war to make inroads against the Protectorate of the Western Regions.

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Deciding on Emperor Wu's heir was complicated by multiple factors. His first wife, Empress Chen Jiao, was accused of using witchcraft to have a son and was deposed in 130 BCE. In 91 BCE, Crown Prince Liu Ju was accused of witchcraft and because he thought Emperor Wu would believe the allegations, he started a 5 day rebellion in Chang'an while Emperor Wu was at Ganquan, which is near modern day Shaanxi. When the rebellion was put down, he and his mother, Empress Wei Zifu, committed suicide. Emperor Wu formed a triumvirate regency for his son, Liu Fuling, who would be known as Emperor Zhao of Han and take the throne in 87 BCE at the age of 8. One of the regents died a year later. Another was accused of supporting the King of Yan as emperor and killed, leaving Huo Guang as the remaining regent. According to the Confucian establishment, Huo did not abuse the power he had and even was popular for reducing taxes that Emperor Wu had set.

Emperor Zhao died at the age of 20 in 74 BCE without an heir in place. While his nephew was at first chosen to follow him, he was removed 'after displaying a lack of character or capacity to rule'. Emperor Zhao's wife, Empress Dowager Shangguan was the one to receive the memorial signed by the ministers to approve. Eventually, a grandchild of Emperor Wu through Crown Prince Liu Ju, Liu Bingyi, later to be named Liu Xun and remembered and Emperor Xuan of Han, was chosen to be the next emperor and took the throne at the age of 17. Huo Guang continued on as regent until he died in 68 BCE, though his clan was accused of treason in 66 BCE and were eliminated, though the reason had to do more with Huo Guang's wife poisoning Empress Xu Pingjun, Emperor Xuan's wife, in 71 BCE and then pushing Empress Huo Chengjun on him in her place. Empress Xu's son, Liu Shi, would follow his father, reigning as Emperor Yuan of Han beginning in 49 BCE. He was followed by his son, Liu Ao who would be known as Emperor Cheng of Han, in 33 BCE

There were two major political factions during this time, the Modernist Party, which were dominant under Emperor Wu and during Huo's regency, and the Reformist Party, who became more dominant afterwards. The Reformist Party favored the abolition of state monopolies as well as limiting government influence in the economy, limitation of colonization, moderate foreign policies, and a frugal budget. They also preferred focusing on granting rewards for service rather than punishing faults to show how magnanimous the dynasty was. The salt and iron monopolies were abolished in 44 BCE, though they were reinstated in 41 BCE, lasting through the 1st Century CE. They also canceled 'many of the lavish spectacles, games and entertainments installed by Emperor Wu to impress foreign dignitaries' by 66 BCE for being 'excessive and ostentatious'.

During the reigns of Yuan and Cheng, there were alleged 'signs from Heaven' that the rulers were incompetent, a total of eighteen general amnesties were granted as well as a reduction in severity of punishments for crimes and the length of judicial procedures were reduced. Under the Modernist Party, it was acceptable for those who had the means to have their punishments commuted or dropped altogether, the Reformists stopped this practice since it favored the wealthy and wasn't a deterrent for crime.

To gain a male heir, Emperor Chen made massive changes to the state-sponsored religion. Rather than worshiping the Five Powers of Wudi, as had been done since Emperor Gaozu established it as the state religion in 205 BCE, in 31 BCE, he decreed that all ceremonies should be dedicated to Shangdi, the god that the Zhou dynasty had worshiped. He was encouraged to take more concubines as he continued without an heir. In 8 BCE, he finally made his nephew, Prince Liu Xin, his heir in 8 BCE. When he died either of a stroke or an overdose of aphrodisiacs in 7 BCE, rumors began to make the rounds that he had had a son with one of his concubines, but that they were killed by Consort Zhao Hede, who also supplied Emperor Cheng with aphrodisiacs. The combination of grief and fear of reprisals had her committing suicide.

Prince Xin took the throne as Emperor Ai in 7 BCE when he was 20 years old. He had the first 'crucial historical bibliographical work' the Seven Arts (Qi Lue) compiled. He first seemed diligent about ruling and did massively reduce the national expenditure. These actions gave people hope that he would be a more effective ruler than Emperor Yuan, who seemed indecisive, and Emperor Cheng, who was impulsive, but he soon fell under the sway of Consort Fu, who had been his the consort of his grandfather, and Consort Ding. At first, Grand Empress Dowager Wang limited them to visiting once every ten days, Princess Dowager Fu was soon visiting him daily and demanded both that she be granted the title of empress dowager and that her family be granted titles. Grand Empress Dowager Wang wasn't unsympathetic to Emperor Ai's bind suggested that Princess Dowager Fu be named 'Empress Dowager Gong of Dingtao' and that Consort Ding be named 'Empress Gong of Dingtao'. Grand Empress Dowager Wang wanted her nephew Wang Mang to resign so that his position as military commander be given to the Fu and Ding clans, but Emperor Ai asked that Wang Mang stay in his position. Empress Dowager Fu would continue to scheme for more and more power, leading to infighting in the capital.

Beginning in about 4 BCE, Emperor Ai began to engage in what historians believe was a homosexual relationship with Dong Xian. This was not uncommon for the Han emperors as it was expected that men would have multiple sexual relationships. What was unusual about this relationship was how quickly Dong was granted honors, which alarmed the court and any who raised objections were severely punished. Dong and his family, including his wife and sister, who would become an imperial consort, were moved into a residence in the capital that was 'as luxurious as an imperial palace'. Dong became the commander of the armed forces in 1 BCE, when he was 22, 'effectively the most powerful official in the administration'. His family even displaced the Fus and Dings after Grand Empress Dowager Fu died in 2 BCE. When Emperor Ai died in August of 1 BCE, he named Dong Xian as his heir, but Grand Empress Dowager Wang blocked this, naming Wang Mang as regent. Dong Xian and his wife were forced to commit suicide and Emperor Ai's cousin would take the throne as Emperor Ping at the age of 8.

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While Emperor Gaozu didn't align himself to a particular school of philosophy and ethics and Empress Dou embraced a proto-Taoist Huang-Lao philosophy as did her husband and son, and Emperor Wu, who took the throne in 141 BCE, followed Empress Dou's philosophy while she lived, after Empress Dou's death, Emperor Wu asked for memorial essays, or 'official communications to the emperor of China', on the topic of how to improve the government. He found the one written by Dong Zhongshu, who some call 'the first Confucian "theologian"', to be the one that appealed to him most. Dong's essay blended together Confucius' ethics with the 'cosmological beliefs in yin and yang and Five Elements or Wuxing [those being water, wood, fire, earth, and metal] by fitting them into the same holistic, universal system which governed heave, earth, and the world of man' while also justifying the imperial system 'by providing its place within the greater cosmos'. In 136 BCE, Emperor Wu eliminated any academic chair that wasn't focused on the study of Confucius' Five Classics, and in 124 BCE, he established the Imperial University, foretelling of the civil service examination system that later dynasties would use. This system allowed those who weren't related to officials to study to become officials within the bureaucracy, by focusing on knowledge of the Five Classics the most important prerequisite to gain office. The Imperial University began with 50 students and was expanded to 30,000 students by the 2nd century CE.

Another change caused by Empress Dou's death was that in the attitude toward the Xiongnu. In 135 BCE, the leading ministers opted to maintain peace and renew the heqin agreement, but a year later, the ministers were swayed to support war against the Xiongnu by the idea of a limited campaign along the border near Mayi were the Xongnu leader was to be drawn into an ambush to turn the Xiongnu's attention to the chaos of losing their leader rather than on harassing the Chinese. In 133 BCE, this plan was put into action, but it failed as the leader recognized signs of a trap. This led to a period of full scale war, which continued through to 89 CE. As the need for horses during this conflict were so high, the 'government offered exemption from military and corvée obligations for up to three male members of each household who presented a privately bred horse to the government' to make up the shortfall that the 300,000 horses maintained by the government couldn't meet.

One side effect of the war is that new territory was won by the Han, allowing them to expand. One of the more important places they gained was the Hexi Corridor, also known as the Gansu Corridor, to Lop Nur, which is now a mostly dried up salt lake. This gain cut the Xiongnu off from their allies the Qiang, or the western semi-nomadic peoples, likely from Tibeto-Berman origins. Under Emperor Wu, about 4.4 million square km of land was added to China, with frontier outposts that made connected the eastern end of the Silk Road to central China.

This connection to the Silk Road and it being made safer allowed the Chinese to discover 'entire countries which the Chinese were unaware of, the remnants of the conquests of Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE)' which the diplomat Zhang Qian wrote about beginning in 139 BCE. This connection went as far as Rome, with silk being imported into Rome by the time of Julius Caesar, who lived from 100-44 BCE, and Roman Glassware made its way to China during the same time period.

To the south, Emperor Wu conquered the Nanyue, who controlled much of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan Islands, and the northern part of Vietnam. this greatly expanded the land under Han control He also pushed into the area that is now North Korea in 128 BCE, though he abandoned that area two years later and another foray was made about 20 years later, which resulted in four commanderies being set up, two of which survived through 82 BCE.

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Emperor Wen ascended the throne in 180 BCE and reigned during a time of economic stability as the central government's power grew. Punishments that involved maiming or disfiguring were eliminated in 167 BCE. Taxes were forgiven across the country eight times between 180-141 BCE and the overall tax rate was halved for agricultural produce in 168 BCE, from 1/15 to 1/30 and was abolished the next year, not to be reinstated at the 1/30 level until 156 BCE, the year after Emperor Jing took the throne.

The dominant philosophy behind the government was that of the proto-Taoist Huang-Lao school of thought that focused on 'looking for solutions to strengthen the feudal order' and was espoused by Wen's wife, Empress Dou, who survived through 135 BCE, into the reign of her grandson Emperor Wu, who took the throne in 141 BCE. The name Huang-Lao comes from the Yellow Emperor and the philosopher Laozi, both of whom were thought to be the originators of the philosophy, and held to the central concept of the Daodejing, wuwei, or 'nonaction', meaning that 'rulers should interfere as little as possible if administrative and legal systems were to function smoothly'.

From 179-143 BCE, the number of kingdoms more than doubled, from 11 to 25, and the number of commanderies also more than doubled, from 19 to 40, mostly because those that tried to rebelled or didn't produce an heir were 'significantly reduced in size or even abolished and carved into new commanderies or smaller kingdoms'. One such rebellion was known as the Rebellion of the Seven States that was caused by the heir apparent of the kingdom of Wu visiting Liu Qi, who would be Emperor Jing but was still the crown prince at this time, and the two were playing a game known as liubo. The two got into a heated argument and Liu Qi threw the game, killing his cousin, which outraged the King of Wu, though he still had to 'claim allegiance to Liu Qi once he took the throne'. After Jing took the throne, the King of Wu, fearing that his kingdom would be reduced in size, rose up in rebellion along with Chu, Zhao, Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Zichuan, and Jinan, all of whom shared the same fear. The revolt was put down, with several of the kingdoms eliminated, though they were recreated later while the remaining kingdoms were reduced in size. In 145 BCE, Emperor Jing made independent administrative staffs among the kingdoms and eliminated all senior staff except for chancellors, who were appointed by the central government and had less power than they'd held before, which would be further reduced by Emperor Wu. Emperor Wu also required that kingdoms be divided between all male heirs rather than following primogeniture inheritance.

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The Han 漢 Hàn dynasty is divided into two parts, the Western Han, which lasted from 202 BCE-9 CE and the Eastern Han, which lasted from 25-220 CE, based on the relative location of the capital. Liu Bang took the throne as Emperor Gaozu of Han and initially set the capital at the Zhou capital of Louyang, but his advisors were against this due to supply and defense concerns, so he moved his capital to Chang'an, near modern Xi'an, Shaanxi. To aid in governing, Emperor Gaozu set up a three part cabinet known as the Three Excellencies with nine ministries led by the Nine Ministers. And while there was a general condemnation of the Qin's extremely harsh Legalist philosophy, the initial law code compiled in 200 BCE with the assistance of Chancellor Xiao He was very similar to the Qin code. The land was divided up into commanderies, initially 13 and then increased to 16, with 10 semi-autonomous kingdoms in the western part of the country. At first, these were given to prominent followers, but because there were rumors of rebellion and alliances with the northern nomadic Xiongnu, they were replaced by members of the imperial family. These kingdoms were set up like the central government and were required to send census information and taxes into the central government. They had to maintain a standing army, but had to have permission to deploy those troops.

Because of the vast swath of land they controlled, trade with the Xiongnu was banned, in part to keep them from getting iron weapons. To help offset the loss of income for the merchants in Dai and Yan, they were made government officials with salaries to match their position. In 200 BCE, with the assistance King Xin of Hán (not Han Xin), who had been rewarded for his service during the Chu-Han Contention with the kingship but defected to the Xiongnu's side. Gaozu led an army to fight, but they were 'heavily surrounded for seven days; running out of supplies, he was forced to flee'. Lou Jing, who had warned of the Xiongnu's strength and been imprisoned for it, convinced the emperor to enact a policy known as heqin, where princesses, generally belonging to minor branches of the family, were married to neighboring state heads to secure treaties, as well providing luxury goods as tribute. The Xiongnu were barely appeased and would continue to hassle China's northern borders, prompting the building of the Great Wall, following a border established in 162 BCE.

In 195 BCE, Ying Bu, who had aided Gaozu during the Chu-Han Contention, rebelled and Gaozu led troops against him. He was wounded by an arrow and would die the following year. His son, Liu Ying took the throne as Emperor Hui and would reign until 188 BCE when he would die without a son by his empress, so his mother, empress dowager Lü Zhi picked one of his sons by a consort, Emperor Qianshao, and acted as regent for him, but using him as her puppet. In 184 BCE, she removed him and selected Emperor Haushao to rule as her puppet. She would prove to be inept against the Xiongnu when they invaded Longxi Commandery and provoked the king of Nanyue by banning exports to his kingdom in the south. She also violated Gaozu's explicit ban on other clans holding kingship by appointing her own family members, members of the Lü clan, as kings, as well as other key civilian and military offices.