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Biographies

Peterson's Book

Empress Lü Zhi

Song, Ruizhi. (2000). "Lu Zhi" in Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century, 45–49. Translated by Liu Zhenyun. Edited by Barbara Bennett Peterson, He Hong Fei, Wang Jiyu, Han Tie, and Zhang Guangyu. Armonk and London: M.E. Sharpe Inc., an East Gate Book. ISBN 076560504X.

NOTE: Peterson uses "Lu" instead of "Lü"
Page 45: Empress Lü Zhi (240–180 BC) was born in Shangfu County of Shandong province. During the Qin Dynasty, her family moved to Pei county and her father wed her to Liu Bang, then a local magistrate. Liu Bang became one of the peasant leaders in the rebellion against Qin, and captured their capital at Xianyang. His greatest challenger for the control of China at this point was Xiang Yu, a military leader who descended from the warlords of the State of Chu. Lu Zhi and her parents were even captured and held hostage by Xiang Yu. By 202 BC Liu Bang had defeated Xiang Yu and became the supreme ruler of China. With his wife, now empress, Liu Bang had a son, Liu Ying, who would become Emperor Hui of Han, and a daughter, Liu Yuan.
Page 45-46: Empress Lu aided Liu Bang in eliminating non-Liu family members from power. For example, in 196 BC she successfully plotted to have both Han Xin and Peng Yue killed, two men who were instrumental in the founding of Han. Although they turned away from the totally centralized system of the Qin in favor of a feudal system where semi-independent kingdoms existed under Han suzerainty, Emperor Gaozu of Han and Empress Lü both made gradual efforts to reduce the power and influence of these general-vassals who were potential challengers to imperial rule.
Page 46: QUOTE: "Liu Bang had taken a beautiful concubine, Qi Zi, who bore him a son, named Ru Yi. Liu Bang favored Ru Yi and considered naming him his heir, while Empress Lu favored the elevation of their son Liu Ying. The empress and the prime minister, Zhang Liang, worked through various political factions at court to preserve the throne for Liu Ying. On April 25, 195 B.C., Liu Bang died, but Empress Lu did not immediately announce his death. She conspired with her confidant Shen Yiji to control the generals in the provinces, ensured the succession of her son and finally announced her husband's passing three days later."
Page 46: Although Emperor Hui of Han technically ruled China for seven years, Empress Lü was actually in charge as empress dowager. She promoted her Lü family members at court, further entrenching her power and influence. However, Liu Bang ensured that before he died, he set forth into law that only Liu family members could become kings. Liu Bang's eight sons to Empress Lü and other concubines were made kings; they were Liu Fei (King Qidi), Liu Ying (King Xiaohui, later Emperor Hui), Ru Yi (King of Zhao), Liu Heng (King of Dai), Liu Hui (King of Liang), Liu You (King of Huaiyang), Liu Chang (King of Huainan), and Liu Jian (King of Yan).
Page 47: These sons of Liu Bang would either be instruments of Empress Lü to further gain power, or obstacles which she would need to overcome if she was to amass more power. She assassinated Ru Yi by poisoning his wine, and brutally persecuted his mother, Lady Qi, who was the favored concubine of her late husband, Emperor Gaozu. Allegedly, she had Lady Qi's hands and feet cut off, her eyes dug out, her ears burned, and forced her to take medicine that made her dumb. Lady Qi was even forced to live at this point in a pigsty where she was mocked as the "human-shaped pig." The Empress Dowager had her son Emperor Hui look at Lady Qi in this dismal state, which made Emperor Hui cry bitterly. After that point, he gave up all his authority to his mother, who from then until her death ran the affairs of state.
Page 47: When both Emperor Hui of Han and Liu Fei, King of Qi, were called to a bancquet by Empress Dowager Lü in 193 BC, Emperor Hui managed to infuriate the empress dowager by sitting next to Liu Fei in a show of respect. The empress dowager ordered that Liu Fei's drink should be poisoned. To her surprise when she asked everyone to raise their cups in a toast, Emperor Hui took Liu Fei's cup and was about to drink it, but she immediately swatted it out of his hands, saving his life. After this fiasco, Liu Fei granted the empress dowager's daughter Princess Lu Yuan with the region of Chengyang, which pleased Empress Dowager Lü, who decided that Liu Fei should be allowed to return home.
Page 47: In 192 BC, Modu Shanyu, chief of the Xiongnu, asked for Empress Lü's hand in marriage, since the two were now widows. The empress dowager wrote back to respectfully decline this offer. Through diplomatic means, however, she continued to appease the Xiongnu leader with gifts of carriages, while he in turn sent swift steppe horses to her court.
Page 47-48: Emperor Hui of Han died in 188 BC. His heir, the Liu Gong, became Emperor Qianshao of Han. In order to appease the sons of Liu Bang who desired the throne as well, she granted them commissions as commanders in southern China. There was a rumor that Emperor Shao was not the real son of Emperor Hui, allegedly because Hui's wife was barren and took the son of another mother to be her own (i.e. who she supposedly conceived with Emperor Hui) while killing that natural mother to cover it up. Emperor Shao swore to seek revenge for this.
Page 48: However, Empress Dowager Lü was not about to let Emperor Qianshao take charge, and by 187 BC dominated the government by claiming that Emperor Qianshao was too ill to manage the affairs of state and removing the ministers who had served Liu Bang, replacing them with her own. This included Chen Ping and Shen Yiji, her right and left prime ministers, respectively. She even made members of the Lü clan kings, which Liu Bang would have been against. She eventually had Emperor Qianshao removed and replaced with the King of Changshan, who became Emperor Houshao of Han, who was a puppet ruler. She then had Zhi Houchao enfeoffed as the King of Changshan, who was not of the house of Liu. At the same time, she imprisoned Liu You, King of Zhao (elevated to that position after Ru Yi was killed), allegedly because he plotted treason against the throne, but this was based on the accusations of his wife, a member of the Lü clan who was jealous of her husband's love for a concubine. Empress Dowager Lü eventually had Liu You killed. She was even responsible for the death of the next King of Zhao, Liu Hui. She also continued to marry off female members of the Lü clan to the Liu clan.
Page 48: After Empress Lü Zhi died on July 30, 180 BC, the Liu family clan acted on their pent up rage against the Lü clan by slaughtering many of them and removing them from power. Liu Bang's son Liu Heng was then put on the throne as Emperor Wen of Han.
Page 49: Empress Lü would come to be known by posterity as a cruel politician who nonetheless improved the lives of the common people and lowered taxes while increasing state revenues and promoting peace. Jian Bozhan and some other Chinese historians even consider her the first female emperor of China, although she never formally accepted this title.

Empress Dowager Dou

Zhao, Xiaoming. (2000). "Empress Dowager Dou" in Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century, 51–56. Translated by Zhu Zhongliang. Edited by Barbara Bennett Peterson, He Hong Fei, Wang Jiyu, Han Tie, and Zhang Guangyu. Armonk and London: M.E. Sharpe Inc., an East Gate Book. ISBN 076560504X.

Page 51: Empress Dou (Wen), whose personal name was Dou Yi and who lived from c. 200 to 135 BC, was the wife of Emperor Wen of Han, mother of Emperor Jing of Han, and empress dowager maintained effective control over the court through her advocation of Daoism. She was born in Guanjin of Qinghe County in what is now modern-day eastern Hengshui, Hebei province. Her parents died when she was very young. She had two brothers, Dou Jian, also known as Changjun, and Dou Guangguo, also known as Shaojun. She was originally a servant of Empress Lü Zhi when she was accepted into the imperial palace.
Page 51-52: The court intended to send Dou Yi as a concubine to the King of Zhao, but the eunuch who was responsible for escorting her failed in his mission, so she wound up becoming a concubine at the court of the Liu Heng, the King of Dai, who would later become Emperor Wen. Liu Heng was nominated by his Liu family members to become emperor in the wake of the elimination of the Lü clan from power.
Page 52: When Liu Heng was still just the King of Dai, he bore children with Dou Yi, including a daughter named Piao and two sons, Qi and Wu. Dou Yi and her progeny accepted a subservient and secondary role to King Liu Heng's imperial concubine Madam Wang, whose children she bore with Liu Heng had a superior status. However, Madam Wang died before Liu Heng became Emperor Wen, so Dou Yi was able to seize the opportunity. The prime minister and officials at the imperial court in 179 BC sent a petition to Emperor Wen requesting that he designate an heir apparent. After declining this proposal several times, Emperor Wen finally chose Dou Qi to be his successor. Thus, with a little more encouragement by his mother Empress Dowager Bo, Emperor Wen also took Dou Yi to be his official bride. QUOTE: "Their daughter Piao was named the princess of Guantao and Wu was confirmed as King of Huaiyang. Dou Yi's parents were posthumously granted titles: her father as duke of Anchen, and her mother as Madam Anchen. Large tombs were constructed to rebury her deceased parents, and her brother Changjun received large grants of farmland."
Page 53: QUOTE: "The ministers found wise tutors for the Dou brothers, and the emperor refused to confer any official positions upon them. Empress Dou herself had learned from the former Lu intrigues, and she maintained a respectful position at all times, cognizant of her humble birth and subsequent good fortune. Her brothers grew to be gentlemen of virtue and taste. Empress Dou lost her sight during an illness, and the affections of the emperor shifted to concubines Madam Handan and Ji, but neither bore any children."
Page 53: QUOTE: "When Emperor Xiaowen died in 157 B.C., Crown Prince Qi ascended the throne as Emperor Xiaojing (Jingdi), and Dou was made empress dowager. Her brothers were elevated in reputation; after Changjun died, his son, Pengzhu, was named Duke Nanpi, Shaojun was made Duke Zhangwu, and Hou Ying, a cousin of Empress Dou, was named Duke Wei for his military accomplishments. Dou Yi became grand empress dowager in 141 B.C., when the Emperor Wudi ascended the throne upon the death of Jingdi."
Page 53-54: QUOTE: "Empress Dou is famous in Chinese history for maintaining an interest at court in Daoism, especially the ruling philosophy of 'wu wei er zhi,' or 'governing by doing nothing (that goes against nature).' By this the Daoists meant doing what comes naturally, not inaction. Empress Dou, a follower of the teachings of Laozi, believed the universe operated according to its own harmonies and the efforts of humankind to interfere simply upset those harmonies. Accomplishments should be spontaneous; if one goes with the flow, one will have no failures. The ideal political state for Empress Dou and her supporters was unsophisticated and simple, without elaborate rituals and etiquette; the emperor should rule as a Daoist sage over a passive peasantry. At the same time, the court also supported Confucian academicians, so there were often intellectual arguments over the virtues of Confucianism versus Daoism."
Page 54: QUOTE: "The empress trained her son Jingdi in Daoist theories, and they remained the guiding principles during his reign. The Laozi, also called the Dao de jing (The Way and Its Power), was widely circulated in court circles, as was the venerated Zhuangzi, which contained poems and parables. Both Daoist texts were from the 3rd century B.C., as was another favorite, the Leizi. The person who transcended ambition, desire for power, and control and blended with nature became one with the Dao and was beyond all harm. Daoists such as Empress Dou were reacting against Confucian rigidities, but not Confucian ethics or the ideals of virtue."
Page 54: QUOTE: "When the Emperor Wudi took the throne, he made Dou Ying, then Duke of Weiqi, prime minister, and Tian Jie, then Duke Wuan, the military affairs minister—both of them were Confucians. Next he appointed Zhao Wan, another disciple of Confucianism, as senior official in charge of the archives, and Wang Zhang as imperial officer in charge of logistics and palace security. These officials suggested that Wudi establish [sic] a special place where Confucianism could be worshipped; they put forward their teacher Shen Pei to take charge of the planning. These same officials advised Wudi not to look to Empress Dou for guidance, knowing that she favored Daoism."
Page 54: QUOTE: "Empress Dou secretly investigated the new officials and made her findings known to the emperor, who thereupon decided against establishing the temple and eventually dismissed his new Confucian appointees, Zhao Wan and Wang Zhang. The deposed Confucians committed suicide. Henceforth, Empress Dou would permit no advances in the acceptance of Confucianism."
Page 55: QUOTE: "That the general public had widely accepted Daoism at the time is recounted by the bo shu (old writings on silk) excavated in the Han tombs at Mawangdui in Changsha. It appears that Daoist ideas were accepted widely to replace the tyrannical Legalism prominent during the Qin dynasty. In addition to eliminating corruption from the Qin dynasty, this philosophy also served as a stimulus to economic vitality and social freedoms, which contributed to the early health of the Han dynasty. From early Daoism there continued strong beliefs in alchemy, seeking to turn base metals such as cinnabar into gold and in finding the elixir of life to guarantee immortality."
Page 55: QUOTE: "The resurgence of Daoism (which had been important earlier during the Zhou dynasty) in Empress Dou's lifetime also supported the Naturalists' school of thought, which taught the concepts of the yin and yang. (The universe or nature was composed of yin (the female principle) and yang (the male principle); yin was dark, earth, and negative, while yang was bright, hot and positive). Nature was a balance of these two forces. So strong was the influence of revived Daoism under her patronage that in 110 B.C. Emperor Wudi was persuaded to perform a sacrifice to heaven on the summit of Mount Tai in Shandong and perform similar ceremonies at the mountain's base honoring the earth. When Dou Yi died, she was buried with her husband in Shuangling (Shuang mausoleum). Her personal wealth, treasures, and wardrobe were bestowed upon her daughter, Princess Piao. She will always be remembered as a politician who used Daoism to keep China unified."

Zhuo Wenjun

Yang, Fanzhong. (2000). "Zhuo Wenjun" in Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century, 58–61. Translated by Xu Kaichang. Edited by Barbara Bennett Peterson, He Hong Fei, Wang Jiyu, Han Tie, and Zhang Guangyu. Armonk and London: M.E. Sharpe Inc., an East Gate Book. ISBN 076560504X.

Page 58: QUOTE: "Zhuo Wenjun (ca. 179–118 B.C.), a talented poet who lived during the Wester (Former) Han dynasty, was noted for her love affair with scholar-writer Sima Xiangru (179–118 B.C.). She was born in Linqiang county, Sichuan province, to a wealthy industrialist's family. Her father, Zhuo Wangsun, operated an iron mine and became the richest man in the region. Zhuo Wenjun lived with her widowed father, whose household included another daughter and a son by another wife. Wenjun was considered attractive and entertained her father by playing the seven-stringed zither."
Page 58-59: QUOTE: "While still young, she married into the wealthy Chen family, and soon discovered that her husband was an invalid; there was no love between them, and he died not long afterward. Wenjun became a widow at seventeen. She longed to return to the home of her father, but it was forbidden by feudal ethics of the time. In her despair, she devoted herself to reading books, becoming especially attached to one written by Sima Xiangru, whom she greatly admired. After many months, Wenjun finally left the confines of her deceased husband's family after what was deemed an appropriate period of mourning and re-entered the home of her father, although there was now a distance between them."
Page 59: QUOTE: "Sima Xiangru, a native of Chengdu, Sichuan provicne, excelled in writing prose-poems that developed out of songs from the state of Chu. His best-known work includes various styles of prose including 'Zi xu fu' and 'Shang lin fu,' both considered prose masterpieces in Western Han scholarship. Sima Xiangru had served Emperor Jingdi's younger brother, Liu Wu. But after Liu Wu's death, he lost his post and decided to return home via Linqiong. His friend Wang Ji, head of the county, hosted him and introduced him to Zhuo Wangsun, who invited them both to dinner. Since it was well known that Zhuo had a lovely and well-read daughter, the invitation was accepted. Sima Xiangru, a bachelor leading an itinerant scholarly life, welcomed the opportunity. Zhuo Wangsun gave a sumptuous banquet and had placed Wenjun's zither in the reception room. Sima Xiangru noticed the instrument, picking it up to play. One of his songs was 'Courting of the Phoenix,' in which he revealed his admiration for a beautiful woman. This conjuring melody reached Wenjun, and she tried to see from where the music was emanating. Peering from behind a magnificent screen, she watched Xiangru play; he appeared masterful and elegant, and she fell in love with him at first sight. Sima Xiangru noticed her and wrote a note to her professing his admiration; that night she joined him. Early the next day she, accompanied by her maid, and Sima Xiangru left for Chengdu. They had eloped, causing a scandal throughout the country. Her father, realizing what had happened, told no one. After reaching Chengdu, the couple spent their days writing poetry together and playing the zither. But as Sima Xiangru was rather poor, the couple soon returned to Linqiong, where they opened a small wine shop in which Wenjun heated and served the wine and Sima, taking off his scholar's robes, washed the cups and dishes."
Page 59-60: QUOTE: "Her father, upon hearing this, could not tolerate such a standard of living for his daughter, believing she disgraced him. Zhuo Wangsun presented them with a hundred servants, a million copper coins, and the dowry form her first marriage. Overnight the young couple became wealthy, and they returned to Chengdu to purchase land, houses, and possessions."
Page 60: QUOTE: "Shortly thereafter, one of Sima Xiangru's rhapsodic poems on hunting was read by the new emperor, Wudi, who invited Sima Xiangru to the palace as a court official. The young couple enjoyed their success at court in Chang'an. Later Sima Xiangru was named commander of the imperial bodyguards in Chengdu and was dispatched there to represent the emperor. Wenjun was proud of her husband, and her father, pleased to have such a son-in-law, bestowed additional riches upon them. Sometime later, Sima Xiangru resigned his official post as he suffered from diabetes and returned with Wenjun to Maolin, near Chang'an."
Page 60: QUOTE: "Now middle-aged, the couple suffered personal setbacks. Sima Xiangru fell in love with an attractive young girl and determined to marry her; Wenjun, in her despair, took to writing poetry to lift her spirits. Her moving poem, 'White Hair,' has been retold down through the centuries:"

White as the snow on the mountain,

Pure as the moon in the sky.

But I know you now love another,

I bid you a last goodbye.

Today the good wine flows freely,

Tomorrow to the ditch I go.

In short steps by the ditch I wander,

In silence the water flows.

O Sorrow, is there need in wedlock

For tears to well from the heart?

I wish I had a true lover,

In old age never to part.

Page 60-61: QUOTE: "Deeply touched by Wenjun's poem, Sima Xiangru felt ashamed and gave up the idea of marrying the younger woman; he stayed with Wenjun until he died. Although some scholars now have doubts about the authorship of this poem, Zhuo Wenjun and Sima Xiangru remain famous as the first couple in China's history in which both partners were talented and brilliant. Zhuo Wenjun's elopement served as a role model for modern Chinese young women who defiantly challenged old feudal marriage customs in which bonds were arranged by matchmakers. Wenjun has been celebrated as a strong, talented poetess, who used the power of her pen to win back the affections and attentions of the man she loved."

Loewe's Book

Loewe, Michael. (2000). A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han, and Xin Periods (221 BC - AD 24). Leiden, Boston, Koln: Koninklijke Brill NV. ISBN 9004103643.

Emperor Gaozu of Han

Page 253: Liu Bang, or Emperor Gaozu (202-195), was QUOTE: "one of the few emperors of China to leave his mark on its history. A brave military commander he inspired the trust of his brothers-in-arms; aware of the character of some of his followers he was perhaps prone to suspect that their ambitions were leading to dissidence. Ready to listen to the advice of some of his supporters he would at times refrain from a rash action.. Unlettered as he was he could at times hearken to the reminders of the need to honour civil values, such as those pronounced by Lu Jia..."
Page 253: QUOTE: "As might be expected, the accounts of Liu Bang, first emperor of the Han Dynasty, include a wealth of detail that partakes more of hagiography or mythology than attested fact. His miraculous conception was heralded by his father's sight of a dragon hovering over his mother. When he grew up his bodily features included a prominent nose and forehead, and a fine beard, together with seventy-two black moles on his left thigh. Without a working occupation he underwent tests for an official post and became head of the postal station of Sishui...He would buy alcoholic drink on credit; and marvelling [sic] at the dragons that they constantly saw above him, at the end of the year the woman who sold it to him cancelled his debts. While serving as a conscript at Xianyang...Liu Bang was struck with admiration when he caught sight of the First Emperor of Qin."
Page 253: QUOTE: "Mr. Lü...a fugitive from a vendetta and a guest of the Magistrate of Pei...was an experienced physiognomist; he pronounced that he had never encountered anyone like Liu Bang and ignoring his wife's protests gave him his daughter in marriage. In time she gave birth to the future Huidi and the princess Luyuan...a passing stranger, likewise an expert at foreseeing a person's future from their bodily features, predicted a life of honour and glory for all members of the family."
Page 253-254: QUOTE: "As head of his postal station Liu Bang devised a distinctive type of headgear. Sent with a party of convict or conscript labourers to Lishan...site of the First Emperor's mausoleum, Liu Bang chose to set them free to enjoy a life of freedom. Drunk, he was making his way through rough ground by night and killed a snake that lay in the path of his party. Such an act was to be interpreted later as the conquest of the divine power (Di 帝) of white by that of red, which was subsequently to be taken as one of the symbols of the Han dynasty. His wife surprised him once by discovering him at a time when he had taken to a life of hiding; she had recognised his whereabouts thanks to the emanation of the energy of the clouds that lay constantly over his presence."

FIRST MOVES AGAINST QIN

Page 254: A more trustworthy account of Liu Bang, style Liu Ji...names his father as a man known later as Tai Gong...and his mother as Liu Ao...or 'Old Mother Liu', and this statement of his marriage to Mr. Lü's daughter may be regarded as acceptable. His career may be said to have started in 209, when Chen Sheng...took the first steps to rise against Qin and declared himself king of Chu. Xiao He...and Fan Kuai...destined to play leading parts in the foundation of the Han empire, called on Liu Bang to lead his following, that was several hundred strong, in response to Chen Sheng's initiative. The civil war that had now started may be seen as developing in at least three stages. First, pretenders to the old kingdoms launched a number of independent moves against Qin. Secondly, the newly formed kingdom of Chu set about coordinating their effort, with the co-operation of both Liu Bang and members of the Xiang family. There then ensued the split between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu...culminating in the latter's defeat and death.
Page 254: QUOTE: "At the encouragement of Liu Bang the elders of Pei put to death their magistrate, who had been appointed by Qin; and at their insistence Liu Bang agreed to lead them against Qin, with the title of Pei Gong...He is said to have sacrificed to Huangdi...and Chiyou...and to have selected red to be the colour of the ensigns carried by the force of 3,000 men that he had collected. Others who responded to Chen Sheng's activities included Xiang Liang...and his nephew Xiang Yu, in Wu, and Tian Dan...Han Guang...and Wei Jiu...the self-established kings of Qi, Yan, and Wei. Liu Bang scored some success in the fighting against Qin in 208, taking Feng...only after he had received reinforcements from Xiang Liang."
Page 254: QUOTE: "After hearing of the death of Chen Sheng, Xiang Liang set up a descendant of the old royal family of Chu, as Chu Huai Wang...Possibly Liu Bang had helped him to do so. In concert with Xiang Liang, Liu Bang inflicted a defeat on Zhang Han...one of Qin's most able generals, at Donga...and again at Puyang...which Zhang Han managed to hold by surrounding it with water. Unable to take Dingtao...Liu Bang and Xiang Yu defeated a Qin force at Yongqiu...putting Li You...to death. In this encounter, Liu Bang was assisted by a number of his most staunch and loyal supporters, such as Fan Kuai and Xiahou Ying....who made their names as successful generals throughout Liu Bang's reign as emperor."
Page 254: QUOTE: "Re-inforced, Zhang Han defeated and killed Xiang Liang at Dingtao. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu moved west with Lü Chen...to encamp at Pengcheng...and Deng...When the king of Chu took personal command of his forces, he bestowed appointments and titles on his senior generals, including those of Governor (Zhang...) of Dangjun...and Wan hou...on Liu Bang. When Zhao Xie...of Zhao, sent a request for troops to relieve him from Zhang Han's attack at Julu...the king sent Song Yi...Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng...to assist him. At the same time he sent Liu Bang to proceed west so as to make his way into the Qin metropolitan area."

THE ADVANCE AGAINST QIN

Page 254: QUOTE: "It was perhaps at this point that animosity arose between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. The king of Chu had made a compact with his generals that whoever would be the first to occupy the key area that was 'Within the Passes' would be set up to rule it as its king. According to the record, the deliberate choice made by the king to send Liu Bang to march west followed advice that had been tendered by some of his generals; they warned him of Xiang Yu's temperament and the record of destruction that he had wrought; they hoped that it would be possible to win over the land and its inhabitants without bloodshed by commissioning Liu Bang, known for his clemency, to undertake the final assault on the Qin homeland."
Page 254-255: QUOTE: "In 207 Xiang Yu put Song Yi to death, and assuming the supreme command of the forces of Chu he defeated Qin at Julu, capturing Wang Li...At the same time Liu Bang had been joining forces with some of the other leaders and seems to have been operating against Qin independently, failing to take Kaifeng...but defeating Yang Xiong...at Baima...and Ouyu...and butchering the inhabitants of Yingyang...Thanks to the advice of Zhang Liang...he took over the old territory of Han...and was able to take over Nanyang after defeating Lü Yi...its governor (Shou...). It was again thanks to Zhang Liang that he decided not to press on to the metropolitan area, thus leaving Wan...as a potential source of danger in his rear. Laying siege to this important city he agreed to accept its surrender from Lü Yi without a fight, thereby inducing others to make over to his side; it was perhaps to win such support that he had put a ban on looting. At Liu Bang's entry into the heartland of Qin's territory, by way of the Wu guan...Zhao Gao...put the Second Qin Emperor to death and installed Ziying...as king of Qin. He however executed Zhao Gao and prepared to withstand Liu Bang's advance. Once more Zhang Liang had a hand in guiding Liu Bang's strategy; before launching a full-scale attack he sent Li Yiji...and Lu Jia...with overtures to Qin's generals; he then defeated the Qin forces soundly at Lantian..."

AS KING OF HAN

Page 255: QUOTE: "206 is usually taken as the first year of the Han Dynasty; and while it is true that it was in that year that Liu Bang received the title of king of Han and inaugurated some of the steps whereby the Han empire came to be organised, it was not until 202 that he adopted the title of emperor. Receiving the surrender of Ziying, in Xianyang, Liu Bang spared his life. At the suggestion of Zhang Liang and Fan Kuai he agreed not to dally in the city. He sealed up Qin's imperial treasuries and store-houses, and it was at this juncture that Xiao He took possession of the documents and maps on which the administration of the empire had depended. Re-iterating his claim to rule over the area, by virtue of the compact to which the king of Chu had agreed, he sought to re-assure the inhabitants by proclaiming the abolition of the severe punishments that had characterised Qin and by instituting a simple code of law of three clauses."
Page 255: QUOTE: "Encamped at Bashang...Liu Bang took steps to prevent other leaders penetrating into the metropolitan area to challenge him. Advancing west, Xiang Yu found his way barred, and was argued by Fan Zeng...to attack, while he could still command a force that was superior. A confrontation was avoided owing to the intermediacy of Xiang Bo...a friend of Zhang Liang; and it was due to Xiang Bo and Fan Kuai that Liu Bang escaped safely from Fan Zeng's plot to have him murdered in the course of the sword-play that was staged by way of entertainment at a banquet."
Page 255: QUOTE: "Open antagonism between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu could not now be avoided. According to the accounts, doubtless drafted to illustrate his wickedness, when Xiang Yu made his way into Xianyang, he set about butchering its inhabitants and perpetrating a massive destruction of the city and its buildings; and he put Ziying to death. Refusing to accept Liu Bang's kingship in the metropolitan area, he declared that Chu Huai Wang was to bear the title of Yidi...but proceeded to act independently of his orders. Adopting for himself the title of Xi Chu Ba Wang...he established eighteen leaders of the land as kings over carefully defined areas; Liu Bang was thus nominated by his rival to be king of Han; safely away to the far west, he would rule over the lands of Ba, Shu and Hanzhong."
Page 255: QUOTE: "Once there, possibly aware that his men felt separated from their own homes, possibly responding to the instigation of Han Xin...Liu Bang determined to regain the initiative. Leaving Xiao He to collect locally grown supplies for his troops, he advanced with some success back into Qin's old capital area (205), where he accepted the surrender of a number of kings whom Xiang Yu had installed there. He established what were to be the regular units of Han provincial government, i.e. commanderies (jun...), in the lands that he and his supporters now occupied, encompassing the three divisions around Xianyang itself and the units known later as Longxi, Beidi, Shangjun and Henan. He initiated steps to set up forms of local administration, and ordered the distribution of bounties and relief from taxation for certain groups of persons. In symbolical terms he dismantled the shrines to the soil and the grain which Qin had served and set up his own in their place; perhaps to gather moral support for his cause he ordered public mourning for Yidi, recently put to death at Xiang Yu's orders; and he called for all to join in the punishment of his murderers. A little later he gave orders for services to be rendered to Heaven and Earth, the four quarters, Shang di...and the spirits of the mountains and the rivers."

THE STRUGGLE WITH XIANG YU

Page 255-256: QUOTE: "In the first military encounter, Liu Bang was soundly defeated by Xiang Yu at Pengcheng. The lucky chance of a storm allowed him to escape, but members of his family remained as hostage in Xiang Yu's hands. Encamped at Xingyang..., Liu Bang received re-inforcements in the shape of a rag-bag army that Xiao He had collected. He was also supported by the more professional help of Han Xin; and he was able to build a protected way to ensure the safe conduct of supplies from the Ao...granary. This line, however, was subject to being cut by Xiang Yu's forces, now besieging Xingyang; hard pressed, Liu Bang offered to divide the rule of the world with Xiang Yu, only to be refused. To weaken Xiang Yu's following, Liu Bang tried to win over some of his supporters by means of bribery. At the same time others who were operating on his behalf were able to take over territories from Wei and Zhao, which were formed into the commanderies of Hedong, Taiyuan, Shandang, Changshan and Dai (204). Liu Bang escaped from Xingyang by means of a ruse that had been suggested by Ji Xin...and he left the city's defence in the charge of others. Back in the metropolitan area, he agreed to a proposal of Yuan Sheng...to weaken Xiang Yu by forcing him to split his forces, so as to meet attacks or threats from several fronts. Xiang Yu was able to take not only Xingyang but also Chenggao...whence Liu Bang was again able to escape."
Page 256: QUOTE: "The tide now began to turn in Liu Bang's favour. His forces captured a number of cities, including Suiyang...and Waihuang...Han Xin defeated the independent rulers of Qi and Zhao; Han Xin and Guan Ying...won victories over the forces of Chu. Chu's supply line was in danger; in 203 Liu Bang captured Chu's stock of valuables and re-took Chenggao, also gaining access to the Ao granary. There ensued the famous conversation that the two protagonists exchanged, facing each other from the opposite banks of a river, at Guangwu...Xiang Yu offered to settle the conflict by single contest; Liu Bang upbraided his adversary on ten counts, starting with his refusal to honour the agreement made by Chu Huai Wang, and mentioning the wanton destruction that he had wrought at Xianyang, and his desecration of the tomb of the First Qin Emperor. He also referred to Xiang Yu's murder of Ziying, his massacre of a large number of Qin troops and his treatment and murder of Yidi; in all his conduct was characterised, in terms that the historian perhaps used anachronistically, as that of gross immoral behaviour (Dani wudao...)."
Page 256: QUOTE: "To these charges and to other insults, Xiang Yu responded by ordering one of his concealed bowmen to shoot. Severely wounded Liu Bang retired to Chenggao and thence to the safety of the metropolitan area, before re-joining his forces at Guangwu, whence he was able to harass Xiang Yu's army and cut his supply lines. At this juncture Liu Bang was obliged to accede to Han Xin's request to be nominated king of Qi, of which he stood possessed. Short of food, and under attack by Han Xin, Xiang Yu agreed to a proposal to restore Liu Bang's father and wife, and to divide the world with him, in regions that lay east and west of the Hong...canal. Zhang Liang and Chen Ping persuaded Liu Bang not to forego the advantages of his position by moving west so as to honour the terms that had been agreed, but which were not destined to last."

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HAN EMPIRE

Page 256: QUOTE: "The failure of Han Xin and Peng Yue...to join forces with Liu Bang, as had been agreed, resulted in his defeat by Xiang Yu, and he was obliged to secure their support by the promise of territorial rewards that would be given after his final victory. Shortly afterwards (202) Xiang Yu found himself encircled at Gaixia...and realised that Liu Bang had occupied all the lands that he had controlled; there followed his brave attempt to escape and his death, leaving Liu Bang victorious, soon to take over the ancient land of Lu, and to bestow a whole series of bounties and rewards on his followers. Depending on the degree of merit earned, these included a gift of orders of honour or exemption from tax; he redeemed the promises made to Han Xin and Peng Yue, now appointed kings of Chu and Liang, and a general amnesty to criminals was accompanied by the restoration of commoner status to slaves. He confirmed the title of king for seven of his leading supporters; and it was at their proposal and insistence of many others that Liu Bang acceded to the request to adopt the title of Huangdi...Other appropriate titles were conferred on members of his family. At the banquet held to celebrate the victory, the new emperor freely acknowledged the qualities of his supporter, without whose help he could never have succeeded; in particular he named Zhang Liang, Xiao He, and Han Xin. Wu Rui...was named as king of Changsha; Zou Wuzhu...as king of Min Yue..."
Page 256-257: QUOTE: "Hitherto Han Gaodi had been settled at Luoyang which he had intended to make his capital; but he was persuaded by Lou Jing...and Zhang Liang to move to a safer site within the passes, where he and his successors would rule from Chang'an. From here he set about the task of bringing the different parts of his empire under better control. He eliminated the kings of various family origins whose powers he had been obliged to accept and replaced them by members of his own family. He is reported, perhaps anachronistically, as having bound his supporters by oath to bring down any king of another surname who had been set up. As a result, by the end of his reign (195) the Han empire comprised the central area under control of the Metropolitan Superintendent (Neishi...) and fifteen commanderies established in the centre, north and the west (Henei, Henan, Hedong, Wei, Nan, Nanyang, Wuling, Ba, Shu, Guanghan, Hanzhong, Beidi, Longxi, Shang and Yunzhong)."

THE SUBORDINATE KINGDOMS

Page 257: QUOTE: "These commanderies were surrounded by an arc that stretched from the north-east to the south-east, in which members of his own family had been established as the new subordinate kings. These included his younger brother Liu Jiao...king of Chu 201-178; his elder brother Liu Xi...king of Dai 201-195; his cousin Liu Jia...king of Jing...201-195; and his sons Liu Fei...king of Qi 201-188; Liu Chang...king of Huainan 196-174; Liu Ruyi...king of Zhao 198, who was put to death by the Empress Lü in 186; Liu Heng...king of Dai in 196, who acceded as emperor (Wendi) in 180; Liu Hui...king of Liang 196-181; and of Zhao in 181 until his suicide in that year; Liu You...king of Huaiyang in 196, and of Zhao in 194 until his suicide in 181; and Liu Jian...king of Yan 195-180. Liu Bang's other son, Liu Ying...had been nominated as his Heir Apparent in 205, while he had still been king of Han, succeeding him as emperor in 195 and dying in 188. Wu Rui survived as the only king, apart from those such as Zhao Tuo...in the extreme south, who did not bear the surname of Liu."
Page 257: QUOTE: "These results had been achieved by means of a ruthless policy of military suppression of those who, albeit his companions in arms and firm supporters hitherto, had aroused Liu Bang's suspicions of disloyalty or dissidence. They included Zang Tu...who showed his hand by taking over Dai in 202; Han Wang Xin...who acted in collusion with the Xiongnu...(201); Chen Xi...who tried to take over the lands of Dai and Zhao (197); Lu Wan...one of Liu Bang's oldest companions, whom he reluctantly had to judge guilty, and who died among the Xiongnu; Ying Bu...who probably harboured no dissident thoughts but was the victim of slander (196); and Peng Yue, first reduced to commoner status but betrayed by the Empress Lu [umlaut missing]. Han Xin...suspected of a plot to rebel in 201, had survived after reduction to the rank of noble, to suffer execution in due course. If it may be thought that Liu Bang was too prone to suspect disloyalty in quarters where it may not have existed, the reason may perhaps be seen in his familiarity with the rise and fall of monarchs in the immediately preceding years, as, e.g., in Qi between 208 and 203."

REWARDS FOR SERVICE

Page 257: QUOTE: "A number of steps were being taken to consolidate the authority of the new empire. Already in 202 some of the noble families had been moved to the central area, presumably in order to keep them under surveillance; the Changle...palace was put in a state of repair, and orders were given to build, or rebuild, the defensive walls of the county towns. Starting with Cao Shen...a large number of Gaodi's supporters were rewarded with nobilities in 201, and it was in this year that some of Liu Bang's relatives were appointed to be kings. To dispel the fears of some that the services they had rendered during the hard years of fighting would pass unrecognised, Gaodi gave a nobility to Yong Chi...a man whom he had had cause to hate. In 200 imperial officials beginning with the Chancellor moved to take up their duties in the new capital city of Chang'an, now boasting the Weiyang...palace, with its fortified towers, and the imperial arsenal and granaries. Gaodi expressed his anger with Xiao He, who had been responsible for these buildings, on account of the expenditure of expense and effort, only to be re-assured by Xiao He that they were necessary as a display of imperial might and prestige. A series of orders in 199 provided privileges in return for certain types of military service, limited the use of the Liu hat to those of a certain status and forbade merchants from wearing luxury clothing. In the following year members of the former royal or noble houses of Qi and Chu were brought into the metropolitan area to receive grants of land, where a watch could doubtless be kept for signs of subversive activities."

CONTROL OF THE EMPIRE

Page 257-258: QUOTE: "Along with the stipulation that only members of the Liu family should be nominated as kings, it was agreed that nobilities should be bestowed only on those who had rendered meritorious service, and nearly 150 were granted. Regulations of 196 covered the statutory dues to be paid by the kings and nobles, and the empire wide poll tax. A decree which referred to China's past history and claimed that the world was now being governed as a single family called for the presentation of men of ability to serve imperial needs. Calling at Pei after one of his expeditions (195) Gaodi made merry with the companions of his youth, and left promising the district exemption of tax in perpetuity."
Page 258: QUOTE: "In religious terms, as early as 205 the king of Han had given orders that the worship of the power of black should be added to that of the four powers of white, green, yellow and red that he had inherited from Qin. Later he gave orders for the establishment that was needed to maintain services at the tombs of a number of heroes of the past, including Chen Sheng, and, perhaps surprisingly, the First Qin Emperor; and on one occasion when he was passing through Lu he is said to have sacrificed to Confucius. Our sources tell us that it was thanks to the influence of two men, Lu Jia...and Shusun Tong...that Gaodi accepted the need to introduce a measure of refinement at the court, thereby enhancing the majesty of his position."
Page 258: QUOTE: "Gaodi took command in the field in a number of campaigns to suppress the rebel leaders, such as Zang Tu. It was when he was on the march against Zhao Li...(200), who had been set up as a king of Zhao, that he was surrounded by Xiongnu forces at Pingcheng...escaping with the help of a trick devised by Chen Ping. In 199 he narrowly avoided a plot laid by Guan Gao...a chancellor in Zhang Ao's...kingdom of Zhao, to murder him. He took a personal part in the fighting against Chen Xi and Ying Bu (196), but sent an expedition against Lu Wan under the command of Fan Kuai and Zhou Bo..."

DEATH AND THE SUCCESSION

Page 258: QUOTE: "Struck by a stray arrow in the fight against Ying Bu, Gaodi fell ill. Asked whom he would recommend to succeed after the death of Xiao He, Chancellor of State (Xiangguo...), he named Cao Shen...to be followed by Wang Ling...with the assistance of Chen Ping; and he re-iterated his trust in Zhou Bo as a man who would ensure the safety of the dynasty. According to the record, which may perhaps have been compiled with hindsight, the Empress Lü and Shen Yiji...tried to conceal the news of his death (195), with a view to staging a coup; but they were prevented from doing so for long owing to the warnings of Li Shang...to the effect that civil war would undoubtedly follow any such attempt. Liu Bang was buried at Changling...a site placed directly to the centre outside Chang'an's northern wall, and he was given the posthumous title of Gao Huangdi...In addition to the shrine erected for his memorial at the capital, his successor gave orders for what was termed the Palace at Pei to be transformed into a secondary shrine, and for other shrines to be set up in the provinces. He also conferred the posthumous title of Taizu...on his father. This carried with it the provision that the devotions at his shrine should be maintained in perpetuity, and this order remained in force until the end of the Former Han dynasty."

Emperor Wu of Han

Page 273: Liu Che, who ruled as Emperor Wu (141-87 BC), QUOTE: "reigned as emperor for one of the longest periods of a Chinese monarch, being exceeded near his own time only by Zhou Nan Wang (314-256). The reign saw decisive developments that affected the rest of the Han dynasty and it was often taken as an example that other dynasties might wish to emulate. Such developments were partly possible owing to the efforts that were made to consolidate imperial rule in decades before his accession. Major steps to strengthen China, to intensify the government's control and to expand its territories were taken from 135 onwards and reached their most successful point by 105. But from 91 it was found impossible to maintain the pace of advance, and withdrawal and retrenchment became necessary. In addition to military reverses and setbacks in foreign expansion, the last years of the reign saw some critically dangerous incidents of unrest and attempted rebellion."
Page 274: QUOTE: "During his childhood and youth, Liu Che, a younger son of Jingdi and Wang Zhi...was under the dominance of his grandmother, Wendi's empress Dou Taihou...(died 135); in 150 he was raised to be Heir Apparent. He was still comparatively young (sixteen sui) when he succeeded his father as emperor."

CONSORTS

Page 274: QUOTE: "Six of Wudi's consorts merit mention...Chen Huanghou...was declared empress at his accession; but failing to produce a son, and being accused of practising witchcraft, she was deposed in 130, to be succeeded by Wei Zifu...(Wei Taihou...). Wei Taihou's position was secured by the birth of her son Liu Ju...in 129, to be nominated Heir Apparent in 122; but along with him she suffered as a victim of the dynastic disputes of 91, committing suicide in that year. That such disputes involved domestic rivalries as well as political issues may be seen in the bitter hatred felt by the Wei family towards Li Furen...As a favoured minor consort, Li Furen had born Wudi a son named Liu Bo...who was nominated king of Changyi in 97. Devastated by her death, Wudi gave vent to his feelings in a poem. Liu Fuling...as son born to Wudi by Zhao Jieyu...in 94 when he was some seventy years old, was to succeed as Zhaodi in 87, after his mother's death."
Page 274: QUOTE: "Somewhat exceptionally, in view of the prevailing policy of reducing or eliminating the kingdoms, three other sons who were born to other consorts were nominated as kings in 117, i.e. Liu Hong...son of Wu Furen...who became king of Qi, and Liu Dan...and Liu Xu...born to Li Yi...who became the kings of Yan and Guangling. The documents of investiture, which are retained in one of Chu Shaosun's additions to the Shiji, suggest that this step had not been taken without controversy, some persons evidently believing that the honour of a nobility would be sufficient for the three sons."
Page 274: QUOTE: "Of these six consorts it was Wei Taihou and Li Furen who exercised greatest influence over the public affairs of the empire. Members of their two families rose to occupy positions of high authority in either civil or military appointments during the reign (e.g., Wei Qing and Huo Qubing of the one family, as against Li Guangli and Li Yannian of the other.)"

DYNASTIC CRISIS

Page 274: QUOTE: "Two cases of a highly dangerous dynastic crisis arose, in 122 and 91. In the early part of 122 Wudi had yet to nominate his heir apparent. Liu An...king of Huainan since 164, had perhaps been open to the suggestion that he possessed a stronger claim to the throne than Wudi, his young half-nephew, himself. Implicated in 124, perhaps unjustly, in charges that had been brought against his son Liu Qian...Liu An was punished by the reduction of the territory of his kingdom. Suspected later of disloyalty and of plotting a rebellion he chose suicide rather than face the punishment that would await him (122), and his kingdom was brought to an end, to be administered as the commanderies of Jiujiang and Yuzhang. Five months later Wudi appointed his own son Liu Ju to be Heir Apparent."
Page 274-275: QUOTE: "The scale of the danger that faced the imperial house at this time was compounded by fears that a similar plot was being hatched by Liu Ci...A brother of Liu An and king of the neighboring kingdom of Hengshan since 153, Liu Ci had ruled over a household that was all too open to intrigue and jealousies, and he could not evade an accusation of treason. He too chose suicide, and Hengshan became the commandery of Jiangxia and the kingdom of Lu'an. At much the same time Liu Jian...king of Jiangdu since 127, had been bent on a path of evil and had been making military preparations that could hardly be ignored. Threatened with punishment for his intentions to revolt he too took his own life, Jiangdu kingdom thereupon becoming Guangling commandery."
Page 275: QUOTE: "Before the next major crisis broke, potentially violent conditions led the government to institute large scale searches for criminals in 100 and 99, the latter year being marked by serious banditry and the breakdown of communications in eastern China. That Chang'an itself was also liable to such dangers is evident from the need to close the city gates in 100. But the crisis and outbreak of violence that arose in 91 was of a much more serious nature and could well have jeopardised the continued existence of the dynasty. Deriving perhaps from the antagonisms of the imperial consorts' families of Wei and Li, it involved charges of witchcraft and imprecation against the emperor, and resulted in severe figting and heavy bloodshed in Chang'an. Wudi himself, old and somewhat decrepit, was out of the city during the early stages of the affair and allowed Jiang Chong...to arouse his suspicions that disloyalty and treachery lay within the palace. Heavy casualties resulted from the fighting between the contending forces of the Emperor and the Heir Apparent. These included the suicide of the Empress Wei and death of her son Liu Ju, Heir Apparent for over thirty years. Two Chancellors (Chengxiang...) Gongsun He...and Liu Quli...fell victims; Huo Guang was the only prominent member of the Wei family to survive. Two of the three brothers of Li Furen (already dead herself) were executed, and the third, Li Guangli...took the opportunity to transfer his loyalties to the Xiongnu. Wudi himself had made his way back to the capital and was perhaps able to exert sufficient authority to restore order. No heir apparent was nominated until two days after his death..."

CONSOLIDATION AND STRENGTH

Page 275: QUOTE: "Despite these dangers the six decades of Wudi's reign saw the steady growth of the central government's strength; the authority of the imperial house was consolidated and the powers of the localised leaders were diminished. The force of administration grew to be more effective throughout the realm and large stocks of material resources were laid by. At the same time China lay open to penetration by potential enemies from the north, while the limits of imperial authority were somewhat ill defined in the south."
Page 275: QUOTE: "The full force of positive policies led to a drastic elimination of the powers of the kings, experiments in controlling the economic effort of the population and external moves that were backed by initiative rather than constrained by a fear of invasion. These modernist policies had reached their full force by 105, but in the closing years of the reign it became clear that retrenchment must replace expenditure and that aggressive exploration must give way to the needs of defence and economy."
Page 275: QUOTE: "Of the thirteen men who held the highest office of state (Chancellor) one (Dou Ying...) was dismissed as a victim of rivalry between the families of the imperial consorts; three were dismissed in reasonably honourable circumstances; two committed suicide; and three died in prison or were executed."
Page 275-276: QUOTE: "From early in the reign orders called for the presentation of men of ability with a view to their service as officials. While it seems likely that these steps were producing results, perhaps by c. 120, it cannot be known how effectively they were meeting the increasingly greater need for more administrators. Such needs arose from the growing complexity of the central government, and the creation of five new commanderies following the revolts of 122. In addition, administrative changes of three types called for more officials: (a) the metropolitan area was split into two units, under the control of the Metropolitan Superintendants of the Left and the Right (Zuo Neishi...and You Neishi...probably from 135), with the further separation of Hongnong as a commandery in its own right (114); (b) the reduction of some of the large commanderies by the foundation of smaller units, i.e. Xihe, from Shangjun (125); Tianshui and Anding, from Longxi (114); Lingling, from Guiyang, and Wudu, from Guanghan (111); and (c) the replacement of a number of kingdoms by commanderies, either in all or in parts of their territories (Jiyin and Jiquan in 138; Shanyang in 136; Qinghe in 135; Yan in 127; Qi, from 126 to 117; Jidong and Jibei in 116; Changshan and Dai in 114; Jiaoxi in 108). In all, this mounted to the creation of over twenty new administrative units, whose sub-units of counties (Xian...) also required a staff of officials. A further twenty-five commanderies were founded as a result of the extension of Chinese influence after military activities."

THE NOBILITIES

Page 276: QUOTE: "According to one count, Gaodi had bestowed nobilities on 147 of his followers as rewards for their services and support in establishing his empire. These men were ordered to take up residence away from the capital in their nobilities, and it was clearly in their own interests to maintain order and collect taxation there. They were thus in effect acting as local officials, at a time when fully trained persons were not available for such purposes. Twelve more nobilities of this type had been bestowed during the time of the Empress Lü, ten under Wendi and eighteen under Jingdi. The larger number of seventy-five granted during Wudi's long reign included forty-one that were given to leaders or officials of non-Chinese peoples of north or south who had transferred their loyalties to Han. A few precedents for such ennoblements had been made in previous reigns. During Wudi's time, twenty were given to leaders of the Xiongnu. One was given to a descendant of the royal family of Zhou in order to maintain sacrifices to that house."

ECONOMIC IMBALANCES AND CONTROLS

Page 276-277: QUOTE: "In the absence of information it is not possible to determine how far two major factors affected China's economy - the growth and spread of the population, and the extent to which iron came into general use by farmers. The contrast between the large landed estates and the small holdings available to the peasantry drew a protest from Dong Zhongshu...but no steps were taken to eliminate such an imbalance during Wudi's reign. Allusions to the temptation to exchange the hard work of the fields for more lucrative occupations in manufacture or commerce reflect certain tendencies of the age. Natural disasters are reported, for example, in the form of floods (138), a major change in the course of the Yellow River (132), a plague of locusts (129), drought (129, 124 and 107), or famine and heavy rains (114). Major breaches in the banks of the Yellow River (109), or a project to extend waterways for purposes of communication, required large forces of conscript labour to effect the necessary repairs. The repeated campaigns fought in the north and the south, and expeditions to Korea, placed heavy burdens on China's manpower and levied a heavy toll on imperial finances."
Page 277: QUOTE: "Maintenance of imperial prestige, or indulgence in the emperor's fancies, could also be expensive. Early in the reign (138), the young Wudi had brushed aside the protests of Dongfang Shuo and had an area set apart as the Shanglin...Park, on the west side of the city, to serve his sporting pleasures. The Bureau of Music (Yue fu...) was set up at imperial expense, probably in 114, with orders to collect songs and to provide musical entertainment on religious and other occasions. The construction of the Jianzhang...and Mingguan...palaces (104 and 101) cost money, as did the institution of the Juedi...games and other spectacles (108) that may have been designed to impress non-Chinese visitors with the wealth of the Han empire."
Page 277: QUOTE: "In the face of these and other resulting problems Wudi's officials introduced a number of innovations with which to increase the production of the fields and the efficiency of the economic effort. New methods of agriculture ahd been evolved by Zhao Guo...and towards the end of the reign officials sought to operate these on an empire wide scale. State sponsored farms, worked by conscript servicemen, were established in the north-west, to supply the garrison forces that stood to arms there. Towards the end of the reign Sang Hongyang...tried to take this principle further suggesting the establishment of colonies as far west as Luntai...where servicemen should be posted to dig the necessary irrigation channels and to farm the land. At the time it was not possible to adopt this expensive proposal."
Page 277: QUOTE: "Modernist statesmen who were in office probably saw every advantage in allowing private landowners to extend their holdings, in so far as such increases, whether brought about by reclaiming land for cultivation or by other means, spelt more revenue in the form of the land tax. Some land which had come into official possession by confiscation from criminals was made over to privileged persons, possibly with this end in view. Attempts to ease the distribution of staple goods on an equitable basis and to prevent the growth of commercial monopolies are seen in the Jun shu...and Ping zhun...systems, introduced to control prices c. 115-110."
Page 277: QUOTE: "Voluntary or enforced migrations served to even out the density of the population. In 139 gifts of money and land encouraged families to move to Maoling...chosen to be the site of the emperor's tomb and shrine in 139. Similar movements followed there in 127, as well as to the newly founded commandery of Shuofang. Officials and others were forcibly moved to the borders in 118, possibly by way of punishment for illegal minting of coin, and in 96 to Maoling, and perhaps to the later site of Yunling."
Page 277: QUOTE: "The government's firm control of the coinage may be said to start from the introduction of the five shu...piece in 119, destined to be the regular coin in use until the Tang dynasty. Supervision of minting was placed under an official of state entitled the Superintendant of Waterways and Parks (Shuiheng Duwei...). Officials likewise supervised the conduct of trade in controlled markets, and certain discriminatory measures operated against merchants. In 129 they were required to pay tax on their carriages. Legal restrictions were imposed on them in 97, subject as they had been to heavier rates of taxation than others (e.g., in the form of the property tax of 119). But despite these measures it is evident that large fortunes were to be made by dealers in a whole variety of articles of trade, whether livestock, processed foods, fruit, textiles or manufactures. Imperial decrees bestowed orders of honour (Jue...) at frequent intervals during the reign, and these were sometimes available for purchase. A new source of revenue was found in 123 by the introduction of a new series of military orders which could be bought for cash."
Page 277-278: QUOTE: "By contrast with their willingness to allow large estates to grow without limitation, Wudi's advisers saw good cause for the state to take over certain undertakings that could provide revenue for the imperial treasury rather than riches for private magnates. It was for this reason that ownership of the iron and salt mines, and responsibility for distribution and manufacture, became a monopoly of state from 119. These measures were associated with Sang Hongyang, himself of a mercantile family, and Kong Jin... and Dongguo Xianyang...two men who had acquired private experience in these undertakings. Due to encounter criticism, the monopolies feature as one of the topics to be subjected to question in the inquiries of 81. By AD 1-2, the official agencies set up to operate these industries numbered thirty-four for salt and forty-eight for iron."

EXTERNAL RELATIONS AND TERRITORIAL EXPANSION

Page 278: QUOTE: "Reports from travellers such as Zhang Qian...consolidation of the defence lines and extension of the routes into central Asia encouraged the export of surplus Chinese products, mainly silk, in exchange for imports such as woollens, furs and luxury goods and possibly horses. The caravans that set out under government protection annually from Chang'an from perhaps 110 were the first to exploit what were to be known as the Silk Roads. It was in Wudi's reign that travellers from the west brought clover plants and the vine to China."
Page 278: QUOTE: "Defence against actual or potential enemies and deterrence of their raids, the expansion of Han influence and perhaps of trading possibilities, and the development of a colonialist policy were the principle motives behind the military activities in which Han forces were engaged during Wudi's reign. In the north these included major campaigns fought against the Xiongnu, mainly in 127 and 119; armed expeditions into Central Asia from 121; and the establishment of fortified lines of communication as far as Dunhuang...and Juyan...by c. 100. Documents testify to the professional standards reached by the garrison forces, largely of conscripts, that were posted there. With the decline of Han's effort, expeditions into the far west involved the surrender to the Xiongnu of Li Ling in 99 and Li Guangli in 90. Advances in the south-east, south-west and Korea were undertaken when it appeared that security had been achieved in the potentially dangerous north, and were completed in Nan Yue...by 112, and in Chaoxian...and Yizhou...by 108. During the course of his journey and missions, Zhang Qian sent envoys to make contact with peoples or states that lay far afield from China, including some in Northern India, Bactria, ?Sogdiana, ?Ferghana, and the Persian Gulf, or, more specifically, in Karashahr, Samarkand, ?Herat and Arsacid Persia. A marriage settlement linked Wusun...with the Han court c. 110; Loulan...surrendered to Han power in 108."
Page 278: QUOTE: "In all, these extensions of Han influence and acquisitions of territory resulted in the establishment of a total of twenty-five commanderies (of which four were to be withdrawn fairly soon). But at the time when these policies were being prosecuted, from 135, there was no shortage of voices warning against their dangers and expense. The views of Zhufu Yan...Zhaung An...and Xu Yue...none of whom reached high office, were left unheeded."
Page 278: QUOTE: "Some of the Chinese generals who fought in the northern campaigns were themselves natives of the northern commanderies and could perhaps appreciate the difficulties of the terrain and conditions in which they would meet the Xiongnu. Those who, like Huo Qubing, Wei Qing, or Li Guangli, were members of the families of imperial consorts were perhaps treated less harshly than their colleagues, both by their superiors at the time and by the historians who recounted their exploits. A further complexity entered into the intrigues of the palace in the rivalry that grew up between Huo Qubing and Wei Qing, to the disadvantage of the latter."

CHANGING MODES OF THOUGHT

Page 278: QUOTE: "It would be strange if the half century of Wudi's reign, marked as it was by increasingly intensive political activity and determined efforts to assemble men of intellectual ability at the court, had not witnessed major developments in Chinese thought and experiments in literary exercises. The death of the Empress Dowager Dou (135) allowed attention to certain modes of thought that she had not favoured. In intellectual terms, while the description of the age as being marked by the victory of Confucianism cannot be regarded as valid, perhaps one of the most far-reaching influences was that which derived from Dong Zhongshu. Drawing perhaps on some of his predecessors, Dong Zhongshu set out a universal framework within which imperial rule occupied an essential place in the ordering of the cosmos, promoting the ethical ideals and the social distinctions ascribed to Confucius. Citing the lessons of China's past, Dong Zhongshu bequeathed to imperial China a legacy known as Han Confucianism that was, however, by no means necessarily accepted during his own time."
Page 278-279: QUOTE: "As a man-centered system, Han Confucianism stood in contrast with certain types of nature-centered thought, in which human existence and effort took their own, subordinate place within the unitary realm of Heaven, Earth and Man. Such ideas, which may be generally described as Daoist, are represented in the Huainanzi, which reached written form from 139 onwards. Overall its authors distrusted positive schemes that a government would set up to organise human effort at the cost of the individual's freedom of mind and action or the sustained sponsorship for a set of man-made values."
Page 279: QUOTE: "At the time, however, other considerations were equally influential. The decrees of Wudi's government were calling for the suppression of special attention to the teachings of state-centered thinkers such as Shang Yang...Shen Buhai...or Han Fei...or to the activities of those who, such as Su Qin... and Zhang Yi...had practised a real politik during the time of the Warring States. Nevertheless, Wudi's imperial government could not have been maintained without recourse to a forceful application of the penal sanctions that those thinkers had advocated. Compromise was necessary. For, as had been pointed out by Jia Yi...if such government was indeed continued without taking note of the ideals of a type that Confucius or Mencius advised it would be nurturing the seeds of its own destruction."
Page 279: QUOTE: "Sima Tan...had singled out six modes of thought, i.e. those of Yin Yang...Ru...Mo...Ming...Fa...and Daode...as deserving close comment, but it would be premature to assume that these existed with some measure of integrity and exclusiveness as early as Wudi's reign...Nor can it be said how far adherence to the theory of the Five Phases (Wu xing...) as yet affected political decisions or official ideology. At the outset of the dynasty Han had inherited Water as its patron element or symbol, and suggestions that this should be changed to Earth, as proposed by Jia Yi and Gongsun Chen...had been abortive. Significantly just such a change was in fact introduced in 105, together with the adoption of the new regnal title of 'Grand Beginning' (Taichu...) and a newly adjusted calendar. These steps may be regarded as attempts to display the authority that the dynasty possessed within the universal system and to substantiate its claim to rule the people of the earth. The adoption of new titles for some of the senior officials of state (e.g. Guangluxun...Da Honglu...Zhijinwu...) in 104 may have derived form [sic] the same motives."

LITERATURE

Page 279: QUOTE: "Various leads contributed to the promotion of literature during the reign. A decree of 136 which had a profound effect on subsequent scholarly developments and the requirements demanded of officials laid special emphasis on five texts that were to be incorporated in the official canon. Discoveries of copies of some of these and of other texts, in one version or another, are said to have derived from the work of Liu De...(king of Hejian 155 to 130/129) and the demolition of Confucius' house in the time of Liu Yu...king of Huaiyang 155 and of Lu from 154 to 128. Such developments have been regarded as giving rise to the controversy between the New Text and Old Text schools."
Page 279: QUOTE: "The new forms of histories, that were due to affect China's official historiography for centuries, owed their origin to the private ventures undertaken by Sima Tan and continued by his son Sima Qian according to the instructions that he received from his father on his deathbed. The histories themselves incorporate examples of other prose works such as those of a philosophical content by Dong Zhongshu, or submissions on political issues by Dongfang Shuo. Poetry was represented in the large number of fu...composed by Sima Xiangru, Mei Sheng...and many others, including Liu An...Yuqiu Shouwang...and Ni Kuan. The catalogue of the imperial library included one item of fu, in two pian, that were attributed to Wudi himself...The histories include the texts of the lament that he is said to have composed on the death of his consort Li Furen...and of a song that he wrote to celebrate the completion of repairs to the dykes of the Yellow River (109...). He may also have written songs on religious occasions in 122 and 93."

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES

Page 279: QUOTE: "A new degree of intensity is noticeable in the accounts that we have of the religious cults of state during Wudi's reign. That we learn more about the emperor's personal participation in these rites than in political and dynastic decisions or military activities perhaps reflects a change that had affected his function. Gaodi for one had led his supporters on the field of battle and commanded them to found the institutions of the empire; Wudi retained full authority and sanction with which to approve his ministers' actions and suggestions, but his initiative seems to have been directed either to domestic dynastic matters or to seeking contact with higher powers. Such a situation was doubtless welcome to men of ambition who wished to wield power in the offices of state."
Page 280: QUOTE: "From his predecessors Wudi inherited the duty of worshipping the Five Powers (Wu di 五帝) which were performed at altars erected at Yong...since 144 at least. Beginning in 134 it was intended that he would take part personally every three years, but the seven subsequent occasions when he attended to these rites between 123 and 92 were not spaced at such regular intervals. It was apparently at his own suggestion that he inaugurated the worship of Hou tu...at Fenyin...in 114, and he attended there five times again between 107 and 100. In addition, in 113 he instituted services to Tai yi...whether that deity was regarded as a power of the constellations, as an abstract 'Grand Unity' or as an anthropomorphic figure. The worship of Taiyi took place at Ganquan...and Wudi attended in person in 106, 100 and, in his old age, in 88. The Bureau of Music (Yue fu...) was founded perhaps in 114; musical performances were introduced into some of the religious cults at about that time."
Page 280: QUOTE: "Huangdi...Power of Yellow, duly featured in the services rendered to the Five Powers. Seen earlier as a culture hero, he was also attracting attention for other reasons, such as his alleged power of conferring immortality, and his association with the discovery of certain ancient tripods in 113. That he was not singled out for special devotion in the newly arising cults of state may perhaps be due to the loss of faith in his powers or the shameful end in 122 of Liu An...whose court had sponsored his cause. Wudi sacrificed at the site alleged to be his tomb in 106. It is not clear what his immediate objectives were behind his visit to Mount Tai...and performance of the Feng...and Shan...rites there..."
Page 280: QUOTE: "Two sets of religious hymns that are preserved in the Han shu reflect features of some of these practices, perhaps of Wudi's time...As distinct from the deliberate actions taken by Huidi and Jingdi to promote the reverence due to their immediate ancestors there appear to be no corresponding steps taken by Wudi. Nor are there records of visits that he paid to their shrines. In 106 and 93 he paid his respects to Gaodi at the Mingtang...that had been erected at Taishan (also to Jingdi in 93)."
Page 280: QUOTE: "In addition to his part in religious services of state, Wudi was open to beliefs in a variety of gods or spirits and susceptible to the promises or pretensions of a number of masters of the occult arts, or others, including Li Shaojun...Shaoweng...and Luan Da...They persuaded him that they could bring his late consort Li Furen back to earth, provide the means of deathlessness, arrange direct contact with holy spirits or transform base metals into gold, and he responded by taking symbolical steps to induce the presence of the gods by the choice of iconography shown in his palaces. Their failure to deliver results earned them punishment, sometimes by the death penalty."
Page 280: QUOTE: "Apart from visits to religious sites that lay within reasonable proximity to Chang'an, Wudi embarked on imperial progresses to more distant parts of the empire. His initial visit to Taishan of 110 was followed by others in 106, 104, 98, and 93."

Crespigny's Book

de Crespigny, Rafe. (2007). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Leiden: Koninklijke Brill. ISBN 9004156054.

Emperor Guangwu of Han

Page 557-558: Emperor Guangwu was born as Liu Xiu on January 13, 5 BC, in Jiyang County, Chenliu, Nanyang Commandery, where his father Liu Qin was the local magistrate. He claimed descent from Emperor Gaozu of Han through Emperor Jing of Han. His family lost noble status during Wang Mang's reign, but regained it afterwards.
Page 558: Starting at age 15, he studied for five years in Chang'an under the Palace Counsellor Xu Ziwei. He lived as a member of the landed gentry, but his brother, styled Bosheng (real name Liu Yan) gathered a gang of retainers and was rumored to be plotting rebellion. Liu Xiu sought refuge at Xinye in 22 AD to avoid association with his brother, and was harbored by Deng Chen, the husband of his sister Yuan. Liu Xiu met Yin Lihua in 23 and she became his formal concubine.

THE INITIAL REBELLION

Page 558: While in Wan City in 22, capital of Nanyang Commandery, Liu Xiu was selling grain when he was approached by Li Yi, leader of a local clan. He invited Liu Xiu to meet his cousin Li Tong in order to scheme of revolting against Wang Mang. However, Liu Xiu's brother Bosheng had killed a half-brother of Li Tong, so relations were a bit tense. However, the two came to an agreement to combine forces. Bosheng was considered the leader of this new pact.
Page 558: Despite private ownership of crossbows being outlawed in 10 AD, Liu Xiu bought them on the black market to aid the rebellion of his brother and Li Tong in early winter of 22. Recruting some rebels at Wan City alongside Li Yi, Liu Xiu and the gang then headed to Chongling District to join a larger body of rebels. Chongling District was the home district of the Liu clan, where Liu Bosheng acted as leader.
Page 558: Initiating the rebellion, Liu Xiu killed local officials and then moved to take Wan City. However, he barely escaped death after being defeated at Xiao-Chang'an. Liu Bosheng made a pact with another group of rebels the following year and succeeded in defeating two armies sent by Wang Mang. They then besieged Wan City. Liu Bosheng's position as rebel leader was undermined by the election of his cousin, Liu Xuan (Emperor Gengshi of Han), as the Han claimant to the throne. Under the new regime, Liu Xiu was appointed as Minister of Ceremonies. Liu Bosheng was relegated to Minister over the Masses and continued to lead the siege of Wan.
Page 558-559: Battle of Kunyang: Under the new government, Liu Xiu was made lieutenant-general and was commissioned to take northern and eastern Nanyang, while also settling in Yingchuan, Runan, and Pei. Wang Mang's generals Wang Xun and Wang Yi defeated Han forces at Yingchuan and drove them into the city of Kunyang. On July 7, 23, Liu Xiu approached Kunyang with a relief force. Wang Xun and Wang Yi devoted most of their energies to the siege, and only sent a minor force to check Liu Xiu. Liu destroyed this detachment and attacked the besiegers before the walls of the city soon after, gaining a victory after troops from within the city poured out to help. This victory not only guaranteed new supplies for Han forces, but also that Wang Mang's major strategy for suppressing the rebellion was foiled.
Page 559: Three days before the Battle of Kunyang, Wan City surrendered to Liu Bosheng. However, a few weeks later the new Emperor Gengshi of Han had Liu Bosheng executed on grounds of treason. This made Liu the new leader of his clan, but also put him in a tight spot. Feeling his life was in danger, he decided to resign from being Minister of Ceremonies. Liu wore no mourning clothes for his brother and acted as if everything was fine, and for this Gengshi promoted him to general status and enfeoffed him as a marquis. This move showed that Gengshi regretted what he had done, as well as demonstrated the importance of Liu Xiu in the rebellion.

COMMISSIONER IN THE NORTH 23-24

Page 559: After Wang Mang's death, Gengshi promoted Liu Xiu as Acting Director of Retainers in autumn of 23. In his job, Liu was commissioned to oversee the rebuilding of palaces and offices in Luoyang in order to move the capital to there from Wan. Just a few weeks later, though Liu Xiu was sent out as a commissioner to the north to gain the loyalty of people there to the new regime. In this task he was given the title Acting Grand Marshal and was even given the Staff of Authority to QUOTE: "make appointments and carry out punishments in the emperor's name." This appointment was opposed by the advisor Zhu Wei, but Gengshi had no worries since Liu Xiu had to rely on connections that he did not have north of the Yellow River. His duties were limited to Ji Province, traveling to the capital of Wei Commandery and then to Handan, capital of Zhao, and then to Julu.
Page 559: While Liu was stationed in Shanggu in early 24, the rebellion of Wang Lang broke out. Wang was a diviner and astrologer. He claimed descent from Emperor Cheng of Han and gained influence due to fear over the Chimei (Red Eyebrows). He proclaimed an imperial title in the winter of 23/24 while stationed in Handan city. Liu was then stationed in Ji City of Guangyang (??? Crespigny does not say when he got there from Shanggu). Wang Lang's influence was strong in the region, so Liu Xiu had to flee under close pursuit, making his way to Xindu where the loyalist Ren Guang received him. He raised troops and then attacked Zhao (??? the Kingdom of Zhao, I presume, since Handan was the ancient capital of the State of Zhao). Liu's forces were defeated and he was forced to take refuge in Guang'e city, Julu.
Page 559-560: However, reinforcements from Shanggu and Yuyang arrived shortly. Troops led by Wu Han and Geng Yan destroyed the forces of Wang Lang in the north and turned the tide of the war. Liu then received support from Gengshi's general Xie Gong. By summer of 24, the Han forces moved towards Handan, the city fell within three weeks, and Wang Lang was cut down as he tried to flee.
Page 560: During this six month rebellion, Liu Xiu gained support from the gentry by taking Lady Guo Shengtong, niece of Liu Yang the King of Zhending, into his harem. Liu then commanded the major force north of the Yellow River.

IMPERIAL POWER, 24-30

Page 560: Seeing his success building, the Gengshi Emperor sent a messenger to Liu Xiu to enfeoff him as King of Xiao (the county of Pei where he had grown up). However, there were conditions for this: Liu Xiu had to disband his army and travel to the court at Chang'an. Liu Xiu was persuaded by his officers not to obey. Liu Xiu then concealed his plans long enough to have Gengshi's general Xie Gong trapped and killed by Wu Han. Afterwards, Liu sent Wu Han and Geng Yan north to secure You province. Liu then made an excuse that he could not disband his army because he still had bandits to deal with, and so fought against roving bandits while at the same time amassing a gigantic force. His army became so huge that Emperor Gengshi's court described Liu as the Bornze Horse Emperor, after one of the major groups. When a wing of the Chimei (Red Eyebrows) crossed the Yellow River into Henei in the autumn of 24, Liu Xiu engaged them, defeated them, and forced them to flee south where they regrouped with the larger Red Eyebrow Army advancing toward Chang'an.
Page 560: The Red Eyebrows succeeded in capturing the passes leading to Gengshi's makeshift capital Chang'an, and so Emperor Gengshi was trapped and isolated from the bulk of the empire. The Emperor surrendered in winter of 25; the capital region of Chang'an was then thrown into disorder, with Liu Penzi made the new emperor (but only a puppet ruler of the Chimei).
Page 560: After facing Gengshi's garrison at Luoyang, at the urging of his followers Liu Xiu proclaimed an imperial title at He in Changshan on August 5, 25. He became the Jianwu Emperor ("Establishing Military Power") and was known posthumously as Emperor Guangwu of Han. Three months later, Emperor Gengshi was strangled to death in Chang'an by the Chimei commander Xie Lu, while the young puppet ruler the Chimei established, Liu Penzi, was a mere pushover. Zhu Wei, leader of Gengshi's troops in Luoyang, surrendered to Emperor Guangwu; Zhu Wei, like many former enemies, was received cordially and treated generously, thus many were easily won over to Guangwu's side. Liu now had control over the greater part of the empire north of the Yellow River.
Page 560: In 26, the Red Eyebrows left Chang'an to relocate further west, but they were pursued by the warlord Wei Ao, who controlled the upper Wei Valley. As the Red Eyebrows shifted east, they braced for considerable damage as Emperor Guangwu's generals Deng Yu and Feng Yi attacked them with varied success. In the spring of 27, they were trapped at Hongnong and were forced to surrender. Many of the survivors were relocated to Luoyang where they could be kept under surveillance.
Page 560-561: Emperor Guangwu built a relationship of neutrality with the warlord Wei Ao of the upper Wei Valley and with the more distant warlord Dou Rong, who controlled northwestern territories beyond the Yellow River. For now, Emperor Guangwu focused on consolidating his control over the North China Plain and the eastern coast of China. He suppressed bandit groups and the rebellion of Liu Yang, King of Zhending, in 26 AD. The revolt of Peng Chong in Yuyang lasted from 26 to 28, but was finally put down in that year. From 26 to 27, Guangwu had to fight with his imperial rival Liu Yong south of the Yellow River. In 28 he fought against Liu Yong's son Liu Yu.
Page 561: In 29 AD, Guangwu defeated the combined forces of the warlords Zhang Bu, Dong Xian, and Li Xian, who controlled territories stretching from the Mount Tai region in Shandong all the way to the basin of the Huai River. By 30, he had defeated the last remnants of their forces. The warlord Qin Feng, based in Nan Commandery, was assaulted by the Han General Cen Peng, who crossed the Han River in autumn of 27. Qin Feng was totally defeated by 29 AD, while his associates Tian Rong and Yan Cen fled through the Yangzi River gorges to join Gongsun Shu in Sichuan.

CONTROL OF THE WEST, 30-36

Page 561: By 30 AD, the major rulers of China were Guangwu in the east, Wei Ao in the upper Wei Valley, Gongsun Shu in Sichuan, and Dou Rong in the far northwest. Dou Rong made diplomatic overtures to Guangwu in 29, and so the two became allies. Guangwu had a shaky relationship with Wei Ao, and when Guangwu asked for permission to move his forces through Wei's territory, Wei refused. An initial offensive against Wei Ao in 30 was unsuccessful, while Wei Ao's counterattack was repelled. Another campaign in 32 nearly wiped Wei Ao off the map, if not for an immediate disturbance in Yingchuan which forced Guangwu to pull back east. However, Wei Ao died in 33 AD and Guangwu took control of his remnant forces by 34 AD.
Page 561: Gongsun Shu, based in Chengdu of Sichuan, had proclaimed an imperial title back in 25 AD. He was the only remaining obstacle left in the way of Guangwu consolidating the whole of China. After Han general Cen Peng had taken Nan Commandery in 29 AD, he took up defensive positions along the Yangzi Gorges. In 30 AD, Gongsun Shu sent his general Tian Rong down the river to recapture Nan Commandery, but this invasion was held back. This was repeated in 33 AD. His forces set up defences across the river below the Gorges, but made no effective move. Cen Peng was dispatched by Guangwu in 35 AD on a full-scale invasion. After they destroyed his floating defenses, Han troops advanced towards Jiangzhou (present-day Chongqing) and after that advanced towards Chengdu in two columns.

CONSOLIDATION OF EMPIRE

Page 562: By the late winter of 36 AD, Grand Marshal Wu Han reached and besieged Chengdu, and during the fighting Gongsun Shu was killed. The army returned to Luoyang, where in the summer of 37 AD a celebration was held to honor the triumph. As for the areas south of the middle Yangzi River, they acceded to Han authority after Cen Peng's conquest of Nan Commandery in 29 AD. However, the Vietnamese Trưng Sisters raised a rebellion in 40 AD in Jiaozhi Commandery, which was on the Red River Delta in what is today northern Vietnam. From 42 to 43, Han General Ma Yuan (Han Dynasty) fought these insurgents and killed both the sisters in the end. To cement his victory, Ma Yuan had the sacred bronze drums of the people there melted down so they could be made into a bronze horse statue set up in Luoyang.
Page 562: In the winter of 47/48, the non-Chinese hill tribes west of Lake Dongting in Hunan stirred rebellion in Wuling Commandery. Liu Shang's army suffered defeat there, and was replaced by Ma Yuan, who also died on campaign in the summer of 49 but succeeded in forcing the enemy to submit. Before his death here, Ma Yuan also dealt with the Qiang people in the northwest, incorporating surrendered Qiang into frontier areas.
Page 562: QUOTE: "From the mid-20s, the pretender Lu Fang had maintained an imperial claim, first in the region of Anding and then in Shuofang and Wuyuan, on the northern loop of the Yellow River. His position was not strong, but he received support from the Shanyu Yu of the Xiongnu, who was pleased to have a puppet through whom he might press against China. In 30 Lu Fang's forces occupied Dai Commandery, and Guangwu was forced into the defensive."
Page 562-563: After defeating Wei Ao, the Han turned to attack Lu Fang in 33 with marginal success. Lu Fang withdrew from these conquered territories in 42 AD, but soon after the Xiongnu moved right into the frontier to raid Chinese territory.
Page 563: Shanyu Yu died in 46 AD, which was followed by a succession dispute. QUOTE: "The Prince Bi was indignant at being excluded from an inheritance he considered his due, and after a deal of intrigue he took title as Shanyu in the winter of 48/49. He had only limited support, however, and was soon obliged to entrust his fortunes to China: by 50 he was established in a puppet court in Xihe, with an undertaking to assist in the defence [sic] of the borders of Han. The remarkable reversal allowed the imperial forces to re-occupy all but the furthest-flung frontier territories. The Xiongnu were no longer a major threat, and the other major groups, Wuhuan and Xianbei in the east, became at least nominal allies, with subsidies to encourage their loyalty. From further afield, various tribal states of Korea sent tribute, and in the last year of his life Guangwu received a mission from a ruler of distant Japan. As for the conquest of the Xiongnu in the north, this was not achieved until the campaign of Dou Xian in the middle of Eastern Han."

THE RESTORATION OF CIVIL AUTHORITY

Page 563: In 40 AD, the five-piece (wushu) coin was restored, with the weight of copper [3.25 g] matching the face value of the coin. This brought about financial stability. The conquest of Han armies had brought political stability throughout the empire. Wang Mang's reforms were abandoned for a model of governance mostly parallel to Western Han, although there was one significant change. During most of Western Han, the Chancellor held the greatest amount of power with the Imperial Counsellor (Bielenstein's Grandee Secretary) ranked just below with important censorial powers; these two were sometimes accompanied by a Grand Commandant or Grand Marshall which made Three Excellencies, but more often than not it was only the Chancellor and Imperial Counsellor. However, in 8 BC Emperor Cheng of Han initiated a reform that raised the status of the Grand Marshal and the Counsellor (renamed Grand Excellency of Works or Grand Minister of Works) while reducing the power of the Chancellor (renamed Grand Excellency over the Masses, or Grand Minister over the Masses). This was an effort to undermine the Wang clan of Wang Mang; although that was unsuccessful, it did implement a tripartite division of the highest executive ranks in officialdom, a system kept by Emperor Guangwu and virtually retained throughout the whole of Eastern Han (spare the reforms of Cao Cao).
Page 563-564: Guangwu was an active ruler, leading troops in support of his generals and sending instructions on strategy. He often traveled and took interest in state affairs. He accepted the advice of his ministers and held court conferences to discuss policy issues. However, he was determined to maintain control and did not grant any subordinate power which could threaten him.
Page 564: QUOTE: "In 25, therefore, Guangwu appointed Wu Han as Grand Marshal, Deng Yu as Grand Excellency over the Masses, and Wang Liang as Grand Excellency of Works; in 51 the title of the Grand Marshal was changed to Grand Commandant, while the prefix 'Grand' was removed from the other two Excellencies. Furthermore, while Wu Han continued in his office until his death in 44, Guangwu frequently changed the occupants of the two civilian offices, and resented any attempt by the incumbents to interefre in his conduct of government. He was particularly firm with the pretensions of the various Excellencies over the Masses, who might otherwise have sought to match his authority of the old Imperial Chancellors and, as Bielenstein observes, there was a gradual shift in power within the triumvirate, so that the Grand Commandant was eventually seen as holding higher authority than the other two Excellencies."
Page 564: QUOTE: "Authority in the government of Later Han was thus firmly in the hands of the sovereign, and the chiefs of the bureaucracy had censorial and advisory rather than executive power. The system worked well for Guangwu and his immediate successors, but it rendered the dynasty increasingly vulnerable in later reigns, when younger, less energetic or less competent rulers came to the throne."
Page 564: Though some were briefly revived, by the end of Guangwu's reign the ten Kingdoms of the Han Dynasty were dismantled and their territories swallowed up by neighboring commanderies. However, in 37 AD there were still 137 marquisates, only 45 of which were held by imperial relatives. QUOTE: "As Bielenstein observes, the pensions reserved for these fiefs meant a considerable reduction in the tax revenues available to the central government."
Page 564: Under Emperor Guangwu's reign, the central state relinquished its control over the salt and iron industries, abolishing those monopolies. Whereas before they were the responsibility of the Minister of Finance (i.e. Grand Minister of Agriculture), the responsibilities of these industries were taken care of by local commandery units. Other activities which were decentralized were the controls of waterways and taxation of fisherman. Though they had to send reports to the throne, commandery units in Eastern Han were more independent of central control. In 36 AD the heads of provinces were no longer required to send reports to the throne, while in 42 AD the provincial Governors were replaced by Inspectors. The latter had no executive power and only the right to report to the throne.
Page 564: Conscription into labor or military forces was compulsory during Western Han, as each male citizen was required to give two years, one for training as a Skilled Soldier (caiguan), Cavalryman (jishi), or sailor in a Towered Warship (louchuan), and one for serving in the capital or on the frontier. They then retured home and reported for a brief time annually to their local militia. All of this was changed under Emperor Guangwu. In 30 AD, the inner commanderies of the empire abolished the position of Commandant while military matters were now responsibilities of the commandery Administrator. In 31 AD, Skilled Soldiers, Cavalrymen, and sailors were disbanded while training was carried out in a home guard unit known as the People's Sections. Men on the frontier were still called for service, while occasional revolts and incidents of banditry often required the temporary reestablishment of the Commandant in certain commanderies, but overall the majority of Eastern Han subjects were QUOTE: "unskilled in arms and of limited use for major warfare."
Page 564-565: The reduction in the number of armed and militarized subjects meant fewer chances for banditry and rebellion. Thus mandatory conscription was abolished for the rest of Eastern Han, substituted by a gengfu military tax and volunteer recruitment.
Page 565: Crespigny writes that Guangwu's QUOTE: "decentralisation [sic] of power meant that local gentry and their interests held increasing importance for the future of the dynasty."

RITUAL AND SCHOLARSHIP

Page 565: Emperor Guangwu "followed traditional patterns of legitimacy" by performing ceremonies for the gods of Heaven, Earth, and Agriculture, restoring imperial tombs, constructing an Ancestral Temple, Altar of Heaven (Southern Altar in Luoyang), Altar of Earth (Northern Altar in Luoyang), and a Spiritual Terrace. He made ritual sacrifices at Mount Tai. He had sacrificial ceremonies conducted in honor of Confucius.
Page 565: As early as 26 AD, Academicians were appointed to the new Imperial University (Taixue), while Emperor Guangwu visited the new buildings of the University in 29 AD. Guangwu was influenced by the writings of the New Text tradition, which included apocrypha and portents. He was for the most part rational (not zealously seeking for immortality potions) but was superstitious enough to select ministers of state based on prognostication. He also became angry when ministers such as Huan Tan, Zheng Xing, and Yin Min discounted the value of the apocrypha. In 56 AD, Emperor Guangwu even had the apocrypha incorporated into the official canon of Confucianism, which was retained throughout the dynasty and beyond.
Page 565-566: Emperor Guangwu died on March 29, 57. He was burined in a tomb southeast of Luoyang. Imitating the humble Emperor Wen of Han, Guangwu ordered that his funeral and period of mourning should be brief and simple to reflect his frugality and modest living. QUOTE: "Unlike the previous dynasty, no special county was established for his tomb, and this model was followed by his successors."

Emperor Ming of Han

Page 604: Emperor Ming of Han (r. 57–75 AD) was born Liu Yang (28–75 AD) before changing his name to Liu Zhuang in 43 AD, the year that he was named heir apparent by his father Emperor Guangwu of Han (August 20, 43 AD).

BEFORE HIS ACCESSION

Page 604: QUOTE: "Liu Zhuang was born in 28, the fourth son of Emperor Guangwu but his eldest by the Honoured Lady Yin. After the conquest of Gongsun Shu in the west, the emperor was urged to grant fiefs to his sons, and in 39 Liu Zhuang was named Duke of Donghai."
Page 604: QUOTE: "We are told that the young prince was competent in Chunqiu, and about this time he was permitted to attend court audience behind a screen in the throneroom."
Page 605: QUOTE: "In 41 Liu Zhuang's mother the Lady Yin was appointed empress in place of the Lady Guo, probably due to pressure from the Nanyang clique at court. The Lady Guo's eldest son, Liu Qiang, continued as Heir, but logic required Liu Zhuang should likewise replace his half-brother."
Page 605: QUOTE: "In 43 the general Zang Gong was engaged with a group of religious rebels led by Dan Chen in Henan, but several assaults had dgained no success. Senior ministers argued that the attacks should be pressed harder, but Liu Zhuang urged that pressure be eased, in expectation that the rebels would seek to escape from the siege and could be defeated in detail. Zang Gong was instructed accordingly, and the enemy indeed scattered and were destroyed."
Page 605: QUOTE: "In the summer, soon after this successful advice, Guangwu appointed Liu Zhuang as his Heir, and Liu Qiang took his place as King of Donghai."
Page 605: QUOTE: "Liu Zhuang evidently held a substantial position in the counsels of the court. In 51, particularly, following the submission of the Southern Shanyu Bi of the Xiongnu, the Northern Regime asked for peace. There was considerable debate, but Liu Zhuang argued that the commitment of Han to the Southern court precluded any rapprochement with the North; the new tributaries might become uncertain, and the long-term goodwill of the Northern barbarians could not be relied upon. It appears that he expressed both the consensus of the meeting and the wishes of his father."

ACCESSION AND REIGN

Page 605: "On the death of Emperor Guangwu in the early summer of 57, Liu Zhuang came to the throne without opposition or incident. Thirty years old by Chinese reckoning, he was the second and last of the rulers of Later Han to ascend the throne as a mature man. Adopting the reign-title Yongping...'Everlasting Peace,' he maintained it until his death, and the empire was indeed comparatively calm, with occasional natural misfortunes but several good harvests, and a number of favourable omens."
Page 605: QUOTE "The Treatise of Economics of Jin shu, JS 26:781, says that Emperor Ming established an Ever-Full Granary...at Luoyang in 62. There was already a Great Granary...at the east of the city, by the terminus of the Yang Canal which brought supplies up from the Vast Canal system of the eastern plain; the emperor's initiative was to set up a system of official marketing, by which the government bought grain when it was cheap and sold it at low prices when supplies became limited. Senior advisors endorsed the scheme, and it was claimed that the price of a hu...of unhusked grain [some 20 litres] was reduced from about a hundred to just twenty cash...Former Han and Wang Mang had maintained such a policy...and there was an Office for Price Adjustment and Stabilisation by the Ao Granary at the head of the Vast Canal near Rongyang. Wang Mang's policy on this line, however, part of his government's monopolies or Six Controls...had been a focus of complaint from his opponents, and Emperor Guangwu had abolished the office...Emperor Ming's program thus restored an earlier scheme, and reflected a centralising policy opposed to the new traditions of Later Han."
Page 605: QUOTE: "The matter was reconsidered a few years later, about 68, and at that time the official Liu Ban argued that though the idea was attractive, official purchasing actually raised the price of grain to profit great landholders in times of plenty, while the common people gained no advantage in time of shortage. The plan was therefore dropped. It may be noted that the biography of Liu Ban is the only text where official price control of grain is mentioned in the Hou Han shu...Liu Ban was probably right: price control was a good idea, but its administration was beyond government competence. The experiment was short-lived and not attempted again."
Page 605-606: QUOTE: "[Bielenstein, however, argues that price stabilisation was maintained by Later Han in the same fashion as Former Han...]"
Page 606: QUOTE: "More generally, in his father's style, Emperor Ming was prepared to tolerate the power of great landed families, and though there was an attempt to prohibit individuals from being involved in both farming and trade, the policy was largely ignored: by the middle of the second century the Simin yueling...of Cui Shi described the working of a manorial holding, an impressive combination of agricultural production and marketing enterprise."
Page 606: QUOTE: "The economic recovery during the years after Emperor Guangwu's restoration of power allowed for a deal of new construction: in 60 the Northern Palace at Luoyang was restored, and new offices were built for a number of ministries. More importantly, it was now possible to tackle the immense problem of the flooded Yellow River, and in the late 60s, under the direction of Wang Wu and with the designs of Wang Jing, the government embarked upon the repair of the Vast Canal and Bian River complex by Rongyang in Henan. Emperor Ming inspected the completed work in 70, and issued an edict to commemorate the achievement."
Page 606: QUOTE: "With further controls established across the North China plain in following years, the danger of flooding was largely ended. Commanderies along the restored course were ordered to appoint officers to maintain the dykes...while reclaimed land was to be distributed among the common people, not to the benefit of those who already possessed great holdings."
Page 606: QUOTE: "Like his father, Emperor Ming kept a firm hand on government, but he made considerable show of public goodwill, with several awards of noble rank, donations of land to the poor, and exemptions from taxation for favoured localities, while he also travelled widely: to Chang'an in 59, extensively across the east in 62, to the dynastic homeland in Nanyang in 67 and again to the east in 72, when he carried out the Ploughing ceremony at Xiapi. He was praised by later generations for maintaining his father's sense of morality and restraint, for his support of Confucian principles, and for the efficient conduct of his government. When the historian and writer Ban Gu presented his 'Rhapsody on the Two Capitals'...he compared the moral restraint of Later Han to the excesses of the Former dynasty: and though Ban Gu was something of a flatterer he does appear to have expressed the ideals of the time."

FRONTIER AFFAIRS

Page 606: QUOTE: "During the late 50s the Qiang war-leader Dianyu embarked on a series of raids from outside the northwestern frontier against Jincheng and Longxi, but he was defeated by Ma Wu and Dou Gu and brought to surrender in 59. Following the precedent set by Ma Yuan twenty years earlier, numbers of tribespeople were brought to settle within the frontiers of the empire: half a century later this policy proved to present a major problem."
Page 606: QUOTE: "Immediately to the north of the empire, the division of the Xiongnu in the time of Emperor Guangwu during the early 50s had weakened the traditional enemy, and the commitment of Han to the Southern Shanyu remained firm. In 65 there was some concern that the two sides might come to terms, so the office of General on the Liao...was established, with an army based in Wuyuan to strengthen defences and ensure that the non-Chinese remained divided. Former Chinese inhabitants were encouraged to go back to the north, and prisoners were sent to join the army and to settle their families there, with rewards and recompense for those who died, but the program had only limited success: few people had any desire to return to the uncertain lands along the frontier."
Page 606: QUOTE: "For their part, the Northern Xiongnu vacillated between requests for peace and intermittent raiding, and in 73 the emperor approved a punitive campaign. The main army missed the rendezvous, so little was achieved directly and the commanders Zhai Tong and Wu Tang were punished. On the other hand, the western column led by Dou Gu defeated a Xiongnu king and occupied the region of Yiwu by present-day Hami, and in the following year Dou Gu and Geng Bing established a position in the region of Jushi near Turfan. This was the first time that Chinese arms had returned to central Asia since the time of Wang Mang, and some cities sent hostages to the Han court while the post of Protector-General of the Western Regions was re-established. Very soon afterwards, in 75, the garrisons were driven out by a counter-attack from the Xiongnu [see sub Geng Gong]."
Page 606-607: In the far southwest, the empire achieved a vast, albeit nominal, expansion in 69 when the king of the Ailao people came to the frontier by the Dali Lake and offered his submission. This followed a similar approach in 51, but the new subjects were numbered at over half a million, and other tribes likewise offered tribute. The commandery of Yongchang, comprising two new counties and six from Yizhou commandery, was set up to cope with the increase. The territory formally extended from present-day Yunnan into Burma/Myanmar and had general command of the routes towards India, but it was never strongly controlled by Han [see sub Liumiao].

IMPERIAL RELATIVES

Page 607: QUOTE: "In 52, while he was still Heir, Liu Zhuang took the young Lady Ma, daughter of Ma Yuan, into his harem. The Ma family was at that time out of favour, but the Lady made herself agreeable both to her consort and to her mother-in-law the Empress Yin, and in 60 she was proclaimed empress. She was unable to bear children, but an agreement was reached that she should foster Liu Da, fifth son of Emperor Ming by his Honoured Lady Jia, who was a maternal cousin of the Lady Ma. The child was named Heir on the same day as the empress was appointed."
Page 607: QUOTE: "The emperor held to the principle that close imperial relatives should not be involved in regular government, and he refused a request by his sister, the Princess Liu Hongfu, that her son his nephew should be commissioned into the civil service. Similarly, though the agreement of the Ma and the Jia marked a successful alliance between a leading family of the northwest and the Nanyang faction at court, neither family gained particular advantage from close connection to the throne; the model of the Wang at the end of Former Han was still very close. The Empress Ma made a point of her modesty, and her relatives received no fiefs or appointments. The Lady Jia was awarded insignia and gifts after the death of the Dowager Yin in 64, but she died in obscurity in the rear palace, and even after her son, Emperor Zhang, came to the throne ten years later she received no acknowledgement."
Page 607: QUOTE: "Emperor Ming enfeoffed his sons as kings in 72, but their states were only half the size of his brothers and half-brothers the sons of Emperor Guangwu. As he was planning their territories, with the maps spread out in front of him, his empress said 'Your sons have fewer counties to maintain themselves; isn't that a reduction?' The emperor replied, 'How can I allow my sons to rank with those of my later father? If they have an income of twenty million a year, that is surely enough!'"
Page 607: QUOTE: "The emperor had problems with his brothers. At the time of his accession the King of Shanyang Liu Jing, full brother of the emperor, sought to persuade the former Heir Liu Qiang to rebel against the new ruler. Liu Qiang promptly reported this treasonous advice to the throne, and the matter was smoothed over, but in the 60s Liu Jing began to give himself imperial airs, and in 67 he was found guilty of encouraging magicians and shamans to devise curses against his sovereign. He was arrested and committed suicide; it is likely he was not entirely sane, but the whole history made the emperor uneasy."
Page 607: QUOTE: "Soon afterwards and more seriously, there arose the affair of Liu Ying the King of Chu. A close friend of the emperor before his accession, Liu Ying was interested in various forms of the occult, including Huang-Lao and some early forms of Buddhism, and though there had been some questions about his conduct during the 60s, his brother had firmly supported him. In 70, however, Liu Ying was accused of wicked associations and seeking false omens, and the emperor was disillusioned and angry. Liu Ying was sent into exile, his fief was reduced to a marquisate, and he killed himself in the following year."
Page 607: QUOTE: "The affair did not end at this, for the emperor pursued the alleged conspiracy with the utmost energy. Thousands of people were arrested and tortured, and great numbers were killed. Another half-brother, Liu Kang, was implicated and punished, and though the persecution was later eased a further, similar, allegation was made against the ruler's full brother Liu Yan, King of Huaiyang, in 73. Many more were killed, including the Excellency Xing Mu and Han Guang, husband of a princess."
Page 607-608: QUOTE: "Liu Yan was arrogant and aggressive, and he and his royal brothers may have been inappropriately interested in the occult, but there appears to have been no good evidence of an organised conspiracy. This series of problems, however, first with Liu Jing, then the alleged treason of Liu Ying, involving also Liu Kang, and finally Liu Yan, affected Emperor Ming. He had initially shown trust, and done his best to support his brothers, but during the latter years of his reign he was embittered and suspicious, and the accusations and purges did not end until his death. Disruptive though they were for the court and the high nobility, however, these unfortunate affairs do not appear to have had wide affect upon the empire as a whole."

RITUAL AND SCHOLARSHIP

Page 608: QUOTE: "Confucian scholarship and ritual were important to the apparent legitimacy of the rulers of Han, and Emperor Ming paid them a great deal of attention. Early in 59 he held a great assembly at the Bright Hall...attended by the whole court, and it appears that he not only completed the ceremonial buildings commenced by his father but also inaugurated the rituals and costumes to accompany them."
Page 608: Back in 56 AD, Guangwu had established the Southern Altar and the Northern Altar for the worship of Heaven and Earth; in 59 AD, Emperor Ming established Five Suburban Altars outside the capital to Welcome the Ethers during the beginning of the four seasons and in the middle of the year. He also established an Altar of Rain in the complex of Guangwu's Altar of Heaven, as well as a Temple of the Epochal Founder to honor his later father.
Page 608: QUOTE: "In 58, moreover, the New Text scholar Fan Shu, a cousin of the late Emperor Guangwu, persuaded Emperor Ming to act as patron to studies on the classics by Academicians and other senior advisers, and it appears that the subsequent winter ceremonies at the Hall of the Circular Moat included expository sessions at which scholars discussed questions with the sovereign. On the first occasion the Five-fold Experienced Huan Rong and his disciples took part in discussions before the ruler, and in 71 Emperor Ming himself promulgated Wu[xing]jia yaoshuo zhangju...'Detailed Commentary to Major Points of the Tradition of the Five Powers.' Final editing was carried out by Huan Rong's son Huan Yu, who was later involved in the conference at the White Tiger Hall under Emperor Zhang, and the compilation was then placed in the library of the Hall of All-Embracing Brightness in the Northern Palace."
Page 608: QUOTE: "The scholarly work carried out under the patronage of Emperor Ming may be compared ot the debate in the Hall of the Stone Conduit [...Shiqu], held by Emperor Xuan of Former Han in 51 BC, and to the later conference in the White Tiger Hall...Again, unlike the Stone Conduit debates, which were concerned to decide between contending texts, Emperor Ming appears to have fully accepted the New Text. The White Tiger Discussions sponsored by his son proved more influential, and began at least as a questioning of orthodoxy, but it was the intention of both rulers to appear as patrons of scholarship and philosophy, while Huan Yu's work of compilation was analogous to that of Ban Gu in 79."
Page 608: QUOTE: "During the course of this progam, some time in the middle 60s, it appears that the emperor was considering abolishing the University, presumably because the work being carried out in the Hall of the Circular Moat rendered the deliberations of the Academicians superfluous. He was dissuaded by the Excellency Zhao Xi, who argued that both institutions had a role, and both should be maintained."
Page 608-609: QUOTE: "As another aspect of his concern for scholarship, in 66 Emperor Ming set up the Palace School for Noble Families...[literally: 'little lords of the four lineages']. Established in the Southern Palace, the School was designed initially for young gentlemen of the four great clans of relatives by marriage, the Fan family of the mother of Emperor Guangwu, the Yin and Guo of Guangwu's two empresses, and the Ma of Emperor Ming's own consort [the phrase 'little lords' indicated that they could expect noble titles, but had not yet been enfeoffed]. The School also accepted the families of kings and marquises, and likewise catered to princes of the Xiongnu who came as hostages. The curriculum was based firmly upon the Five Classics: Changes, History, Poetry, Ritual, and Chunqiu, and this academy for young noblemen was maintained for most of the dynasty though, not surprisingly, its standards varied with the passage of time."

DEATH AND BURIAL

Page 609: Emperor Ming died on September 5, 75 AD, at the age of 48 and after reigning for 18 years. He was given the temple name Xianzong, or "Illustrious Exemplar" while his tomb northwest of Luoyang was named "Mound of Illustrious Integrity." Since he had no sons with Empress Ma, his fifth son with Consort Jia, the young heir apparent Liu Da, became Emperor Zhang of Han.

Emperor Zhang of Han

Page 495-496: QUOTE: "Liu Da 劉炟 (57–88) [Emperor Zhang 章帝 (reg. 75–88)]. Fifth son of Emperor Ming, Liu Da was born in 57 to the Honoured Lady Jia. His elder half-brothers were children of minor concubines without noted lineage, but Liu Da's mother was a woman of family from Nanyang, and she was a maternal cousin of the Lady Ma, who was designated empress. The Lady Ma could not bear children, and it was evidently by agreement between the families that Liu Da was named Heir on the same day, 8 April 60, the Lady Ma was brought to the throne. As the empress brought the boy up, he came to look upon her relatives as his own, while his natural mother and her kinfolk gained little from their connection to the throne."

STYLE OF GOVERNMENT

Page 496: QUOTE: "Nineteen years old by Chinese reckoning when he came to the throne, Liu Da was formally of full age and the Dowager Ma never acted as regent. On the other hand, for the first years of the new reign the Grand Tutor Zhao Xi and the Grand Commandant Mou Rong shared control of the Secretariat, which gave formal command of the government, and one may assume that they had influence on policy. Mou Rong died in 79, and Zhao Xi and the Dowager Ma followed him in 80, so that by the Western age of twenty-three the emperor had full charge."
Page 496: QUOTE: "From the time of his accession, the government of the young ruler sought to present an image of benevolence. Edicts were issued expressing sympathy, concern and interest in the problems of the people, there were frequent awards of noble ranks and donations on auspicious occasions, and relief was granted from imposts at times of misfortune or ill omen. In 85 it was ordered that in future a woman who gave birth should be exempted from the poll tax for three years, that her husband should be exempted for one year, and that the family should receive a special grant of grain."
Page 496: QUOTE: "In 76, after a disease among cattle had seriously affected agriculture, an edict ordered that crimes not liable to the death penalty should not be tried until the autumn, so as to restore the traditional balance of the seasons between the forces of Yin and Yang. In further development of this principle, it was ordered in 84 that, except for capital crimes, plaints and lawsuits could be considered only in autumn and winter, that questioning should be enforced with the bastinado only while the accused was still able to stand, and that executions were to be carried out only in the first month of winter, not during the whole season [see also sub Chen Chong]."
Page 496: QUOTE: "In 78, on the advice of the Internuncio Deng Xun an edict approved the cessation of canal works on the Hutuo River in the Taihang Mountains: the project had proven too difficult, it was considered wrong to submit the people to such extravagant corvée, and transport was thereafter carried out by donkey-carts. In similar fashion, during the mid-80s the dangerous sea-route along the coast, from the mouth of the Yangzi past present-day Fujian to the Bay of Canton, was partially replaced by a new road from Lingling and Guiyang across the Nan Ling ranges to Nanhai in the far south [see sub Zheng Hong]."
Page 496: QUOTE: "As part of his personal government, Emperor Zhang travelled widely outside the capital. On each of his tours he held or arranged for special sacrifices, received his royal kinsmen in audience, called local officials to report, held jail release and heard law cases, gave alms to relieve stress, and forgave taxes for the regions where he travelled. In the autumn of 82 the emperor went north through Henei into Wei commandery, and in the winter he went west to Chang'an, into the hills beyond, and made a boat journey on the Jing River. Late in 83 he went east through Chenliu and Yingchuan, and in the autumn of 84 he journeyed into Jing province, visiting the homeland of his ancestors and then travelling south as far as the Yangzi. In the spring of 85 he went east again, holding the Ploughing ceremony in Jiyin, visiting Mount Tai, and offering sacrifice to Confucius and his disciples in Lu. One year later he travelled to the north: having carried out Ploughing in Henei, he issued an edict urging local authorities ot encourage agriculture, then went through Zhongshan to the northern frontier, where he arranged a series of sacrifices to his predecessors and to local deities. In the summer and autumn of 87, a few months before his death, he journeyed southeast to Pengcheng and Pei. An impressive display of energy and interest, the tours provided a considerable contrast to many later rulers."
Page 496-497: QUOTE: "Despite imperial benevolence and good will, there were signs of problems to come. In particular, by the middle 80s there was increasing conern that government revenues were insufficient to maintain the necessary business and responsibilities of the state. Zhang Lin of the Secretariat proposed the reintroduction of a centralised monopoly on salt and the establishment of government trade to control the activities of private merchants and gain profit for the state. The emperor was persuaded to accept his suggestions, but the program was opposed by conservative Confucianists such as the Excellency Zhu Hui, and it was ended soon after Emperor Zhang's death. The fact remained, however, that the imperial government could not gain access to an appropriate proportion of the national wealth, and the situation became far worse when the cautious policies of Emperor Zhang were replaced by the more ambitious ideas of his widow, the regent Dowager Dou, and her family."

FRONTIER AFFAIRS

Page 497: QUOTE: "At the beginning of his reign Emperor Zhang inherited a military disaster. Based upon a successful incursion into the region of Turfan, Emperor Ming had reestablished the Protector-General for the Western Regions, but just before his death the Northern Xiongnu attacked in force, killed the Protector-General Chen Mu, and brought local sympathisers to besiege the Wu and Ji colonels Geng Cong and Guan Chong in Jushi. The new government was persuaded to send an army to their rescue, but the losses were heavy and at the conclusion of the campaign the various outposts and garrison positions were abandoned."
Page 497: QUOTE: "In following years, the misfortune which had had [sic] been suffered through the over-ambitious appointment of a Protector-General was more than made up by the remarkable achievements of the energetic Ban Chao. With very few troops, relying largely upon local alliances and his own strategic skill, Ban Chao established a Chinese position in the Tarim Basin, and by the late 80s his authority dominated the Western Regions. The culmination of his success came in the 90s, but with minimal expenditure of Chinese men and material he largely reconstructed the empire which had been held in central Asia by Former Han."
Page 497: QUOTE: "Closer to home, there was trouble with the Qiang war-leader Miyu in the northwest. The Chinese were able to keep incursions in check and maintained reasonable control through the Protector Fu Yu, but in 86 Fu Yu was killed in battle, and in the following year his successor Zhang Yu killed Miyu by treachery. Miyu's son, Mitang, then took up a campaign of revenge, and the problem remained to trouble Emperor Zhang's son and successor Emperor He. As in the north, there was a constant problem of keeping Chinese people on the ground in the face of regular disruption, and a number of edicts ordered that criminals and convicts should be sent to garrison duty in Jincheng."
Page 497: QUOTE: "Following the settlement reached by Guangwu and Emperor Ming, dealings with the Xiongnu remained comparatively peaceful: the Chinese continued to subsidise the Wuhuan and Xianbi to attack the Northern Xiongnu, but they launched no major expeditions, and in 84, after a series of droughts, the Northern Xiongnu asked for peaceful trade through the frontier of Wuwei. The Han court approved, but the Southern Xiongnu sent raiding parties to kidnap the merchants from the north and plunder their caravans. The Southerners may have been inspired by hereditary enmity, but they were no doubt also concerned that a rapprochement between China and the steppe would weaken their special position as a loyal ally and buffer state."
Page 497: QUOTE: "In 85, after heated debate at court, it was resolved that Northerners taken prisoner by the South should be returned and the Chinese treasury would pay their ransoms, with blood money for those who had been killed. This was a weak compromise between the war party and those who favoured peace, so the Southern raiders were rewarded for their disruptive activities, while Northerners could have no faith in Chinese authority. Hopes of peace were lost, but the Han government gained advantage as increasing numbers of Northern Xiongnu came to the frontier to surrender outright. The steppe regime became still weaker, and in 87 the Youliu Shanyu of the north was killed by Xianbi raiders. Opportunity thus developed for the great campaign of conquest by Dou Xian in the following reign."
Page 497: QUOTE: "Elsewhere, there was some trouble with the Ailao people of the far southeast, and endemic disturbance from the non-Chinese people of the hills in the west of Wuling. Both regions, however, were controlled by local forces, and other peoples made offerings to the court: in 84 tribespeople south of Rinan presented egrets and a rhinoceros, and in 87 the Yuezhi people from the north of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, and also Parthia 安息, sent tribute to Ban Chao: the cortége included lions and a fuba 符拔, said to have resembled a deer 鹿 or a 'unicorn' 麟 lin but without horns. Such gifts from distant lands, together with frequent favourable omens reported inside China, enhanced the prestige of the dynasty without any great display of military ambition or energy [the triumphs of Ban Chao in the Western Regions came from his own initiatives, and he neither sought nor received a major commitment from the central government]. Not surprisingly, the reign of Emperor Zhang was looked back upon with admiration by generations which followed."

RITUAL, SCHOLARSHIP, AND PHILOSOPHY

Page 498: QUOTE: "Besides practical matters of politics and policy, Emperor Zhang paid great attention to ceremony, with sacrifice and worship offered to the deities and spirits, to his imperial ancestors, and to Confucius. He was also a patron of scholarship, he introduced a new calendar, and he sought to reform the rituals of the court. None of his projects were totally successful, but the programs enhanced imperial authority, and the discussions in the White Tiger Hall, in particular, are a landmark in Confucian philosophy."
Page 498: QUOTE: "From an early age, the future ruler appears to have been genuinely interested in Confucianism, particularly the Old Text of History and in Zuo zhuan, and in 76, soon after he had come to the throne, he called the Old Text enthusiast Jia Kui to discuss questions of scholarship. Delighted with his presentations, he had Jia Kui present a long memorial describing how Zuo zhuan was superior to the Gongyang and Guiliang commentaries to Chunqiu, and arguing that only Zuo zhuan agreed with the established texts of prognostication...Rewarding Jia Kui, the emperor ordered him to select twenty good young scholars from amongst those currently studying Gongyang, instruct them in Zuo zhuan, and compile a new edition of the classic of the commentary. Continuing his discussions and show of favour, he also had Jia Kui prepare comparisons between the Old and New Texts of the History and the Poetry, together with a commentary to the Old Text Zhou li or Zhou guan."
Page 498: QUOTE: "The Academician Li Yu and other scholars of the established New Text were concerned at this support for the rival tradition, and in 79, on a proposal of Yang Zhong, the emperor convened a formal conference in the White Tiger Hall to resolve the many disagreements. It was planned to follow the model of the debate in the Hall of the Stone Conduit [石渠 Shiqu], held by Emperor Xuan of Former Han in 51 BC: questions were presented to the panel of scholars by Wei Ying, and Chunyu Gong prepared a summary of their opinions which was presented to the emperor for final decision. A full record was then provided in the form of memorials to the throne...and a summary 'Account of the General Significance' of the gathering, Bohu tongyi 白虎通義 or Bohu tong delun 白虎通[?][?] was prepared later. Ban Gu was responsible for much of this work of recension."
Page 498: QUOTE: "Though Jia Kui and other Old Text scholars took part in the conference, and Chunyu Chong was a particular favorite of the emperor, the surviving text of Bohu tongyi reflects almost entirely the teachings of the New Text. There is some question how much has been amended, interpolated, or even forged since the original compilation, but it does appear, as Tjan suggests, that New Text orthodoxy carried the day, and that despite his formal involvement Emperor Zhang's wishes were disregarded. As Tjan observes, however, Emperor Zhang maintained his support for Old Text scholarship rather than New. In 83 he issued an edict expressing concern at the deterioration of learning and the proliferation of detailed and overlong commentaries; he renewed instructions that good students should be introduced to the study of Zuo zhuan with the Guiliang commentary to Chunqiu, together with the Old Text of the History and the Mao interpretation of the Poetry, also in Old Text tradition; and he appointed nominees of Jia Kui to the court of his senior son Liu Kang the King of Qiansheng. In the long term, the New Text retained formal dominance until the end of Han, but the most energetic and imaginative scholars were those of the Old Text tradition."
Page 498: QUOTE: "By the latter part of the first century AD, the Taichu 太初 [Grand Beginning] calendar, which had been in use for almost two hundred years, had become seriously inaccurate, and in 85 Emperor Zhang proclaimed a new calendar, based on an amended version of the ancient Sifen 四分 [Quarter Day] system. Some attempt at reform had been made under Emperor Ming [see sub Zhang Sheng], and the ruler sought advice from the Bureau of Astronomy, but the essential calculations were made by the individual officers Bian Xian and Li Fan, and Jia Kui was commissioned to prepare a final report on several questions of fine tuning. This was the major reform of the dynasty, though Sivin 69:19-33 points out that while the Quarter Day calendar was more accurate on the length of the year, it was no better at predicting eclipses."
Page 498-499: QUOTE: "Emperor Zhang was also interested in ritual. At the recommendation of his nominal uncle Ma Fang in 80 he had adopted special music for the seasonal ceremony to Welcome the Ethers 迎氣, though a more extended repertoire was rejected because of the cost of instruments and players. And in 85 an edict discussed the possibility of developing a new and comprehensive set of rituals for the court and other ceremonies. The Minister of Ceremonies Chao Kan argued that this was too great a task for one person, and there would be great difficulty in obtaining a consensus among any group of scholars. The emperor raised the matter again in the following year, but the scholar Ban Gu recommended another general conference, and form his own experience the emperor forecast that such a gathering would produce disagreement without decisions.
Page 499: QUOTE: "Seeking to break the deadlock, at the beginning of 87 Emperor Zhang commissioned the scholar Cao Bao to prepare a set of procedures based upon the remnant text of Shusun Tong 叔孫通, who had constructed a system for the founding Emperor Gao of Former Han, with other material from the classics, histories and suitable works in the imperial collection. Cao Bao had long been working on such a project and at the end of the year he presented Xin Li 新禮 'New Rituals,' dealing with every matter from capping to marriage, and covering all levels of society, from the ruler to the common people. The emperor was compelled to recognise, however, that any attempt to enforce such a vast production would meet massive opposition. He accepted the document but did not present it to his ministers for discussion, and though Cao Bao's program was used in the first years of Emperor He, it was indeed found too clumsy and was largely abandoned."

COURT AND HAREM

Page 499: QUOTE: "Unlike his father, Emperor Zhang had no problems with his kinsmen. He treated his half-brothers generously, allowing them to remain in residence at the capital, and he ended the persecutions maintained by Emperor Ming, so that hundreds of people who had been sent to exile were able to return home. The emperor received his royal uncles and cousins both at the capital and on his tours, and when Liu Yan and his son Liu Fang were accused of treachery early in his reign he treated them leniently and later, touched by pity, eased Liu Yan's exile."
Page 499: QUOTE: "The politics of the imperial harem were complicated, as much through the ambitions and intrigues of rival consort families as through Emperor Zhang's own preferences. He respected the Dowager Ma, his titular mother, and planned to enfeoff her male kinsmen, but the Lady argued against such favouritism and the fiefs were only granted in 79, a little before her death. On the other hand, the Dowager sponsored her cousins, two sisters Song, who had entered Liu Da's harem in 75 when he was still only Heir. They became Honoured Ladies, and one of them bore Liu Qing, who was appointed Heir to the new ruler in 79. It was evidently intended that the Ma family and the Song family should hold distaff influences together."
Page 499: QUOTE: "The Dowager, however, was not able to arrange for the Lady Song to become empress, and the position fell to a concubine of the Dou family, who was appointed in 78. The Lady Dou had entered the harem only recently, she was some years younger than the Song sisters and she attracted the favour of the twenty-year-old emperor through her youth and novelty—and perhaps also because the relevant Lady Song was unavailable by reason of pregnancy. Political considerations would in any case have encouraged the ruler not to commit himself too firmly to one distaff faction, and the Lady Dou was not only a member of a great family from the northwest but was also a granddaughter of Emperor Guangwu and thus a second cousin of Emperor Zhang."
Page 499: QUOTE: "For a few years the rivalries remained in balance. Like the Lady Ma before her, the Empress Dou could bear no children. Two sisters of the Liang family, however, had been brought into the harem in 77, and they too had imperial connections through their aunt, a daughter of Emperor Guangwu. Both were appointed Honoured Ladies and in 79 one of them gave birth to Liu Zhao, future Emperor He. The Dowager Ma died at this time, and the Empress Dou formed an alliance with the Liang and commenced a campaign of slander against the Song and the brothers of the late Dowager. In 82 the infant Liu Zhao was named as Heir in place of Liu Qing. The Ladies Song died in prison under accusation of witchcraft and the Ma brothers were disgraced in the following year."
Page 499: QUOTE: "The Liang were delighted at the prospects before them, but their ambitions were a threat to the empress and her family. In 83 the sisters' father Liang Song suffered an anonymous denunciation and was executed, both Honoured Ladies 'died of grief,' and the Empress Dou took the child as her own. It is said that his true maternity was forgotten, and the boy himself did not know the identity of his mother."
Page 499-500: QUOTE: "The first Heir named by Emperor Zhang, Liu Qing, was his third son; his elder borthers had been born to unknown concubines whose lack of family made them unsuitable. Given the situation which had developed through the intrigues of the Empress Dou, it appears that by 82 the emperor had no choice but to approve Liu Qing's dismissal. Liu Zhao, future Emperor He, was a son of the well-born Lady Liang and just one year younger, so the choice was appropriate. Emperor Zhang continued to treat Liu Qing well, and it is something of a tribute that the rival princes became close and trusted friends."
Page 500: QUOTE: "Despite their ambitions and pretensions, moreover, the consort families themselves were held under control. The emperor reprimanded and later disgraced the Ma, and shortly before his death he expressed anger and disgust at the conduct of his brother-in-law Dou Xian: he was barely persuaded not to punish him heavily for extortion, and he gave him no position of any significance. Unfortunately for the future of the dynasty, however, Emperor Zhang died on 9 April 88, aged just over thirty. His successor Liu Zhao was only ten sui, the Empress, now Dowager, Dou became regent for his minority, and her family, led by Dou Xian, gained great power at court."
Page 500: QUOTE: "Emperor Zhang was awarded the temple name Suzong 肅宗 'Respectful Exemplar' and his tomb northwest of Luoyang was named 'Mound of Reverence' 敬陵."

Emperor He of Han

Page 588: QUOTE: "Liu Zhao 劉肇 (79–106) [Emperor He 和帝 (reg. 88–106)]. Born in 79, Liu Zhao was a son of Emperor Zhang by one of his two Honoured Ladies Liang. About this same time his elder half-brother Liu Qing, who had been born in the previous year to an Honoured Lady Song, was named Heir under the patronage of the Dowager Ma. When the Dowager died soon afterwards, however, chief influence in the harem was taken by the Empress Dou; in 82 the empress had the Ladies Song, Liu Qing's mother and aunt, sent to prison to die, and had Liu Zhao replace Liu Qing as Heir."
Page 588-589: QUOTE: "A grand-daughter of Liang Tong, leading associate of Emperor Guangwu's ally Dou Rong, Liu Zhao's mother was thus well-born and had an old connection with the family of the empress, but the Liang gained little from their scion's elevation; the Lady Dou had no wish to share her authority and influence. In 83 the Honoured Ladies' father Liang Song was charged with treason and executed. His daughters then 'died of grief,' and the Empress Dou thereafter brought Liu Zhao up as her own son; it is said that the child's true maternity was forgotten and he did not know the identity of his mother until many years later: the Lady Dou died in 97 and the matter was then investigated and reported by the Grand Commandant Zhang Pu. On the other hand, Emperor Zhang continued to treat the former Heir Liu Qing well; despite their formal rivalry, the two princes were close friends."

ACCESSION AND TUTELAGE

Page 589: QUOTE: "On 9 April 88 Emperor Zhang died and Liu Zhao came to the throne at the age of ten sui. The Dowager Dou became regent, the Grand Tutor Deng Biao accepted the lead of her family, and the Dowager's eldest brother Dou Xian held great power in government. Soon afterwards Dou Xian was involved in the murder of the imperial kinsman Liu Chang, and as the scandal broke the Dowager sought to distract attention by placing him in command of an expedition against the Northern Xiongnu. There was considerable opposition within the court, but the dissidents were quelled, the army was prepared, and early in 89 Dou Xian embarked on a campaign of conquest."
Page 589: QUOTE: "The operation was completely successful, the power of the Northern Xiongnu on the steppe was destroyed and by 91 the remnant court had been driven away to the west. In the longer term, on the other hand, the high cost of the war placed overwhelming strain upon the Han regime, while the Southern Xiongnu, allies and puppets of China, were unable to establish an effective government over their former rivals."
Page 589: QUOTE: "As Dou Xian returned from the northwest in the summer of 92 the prestige and authority of his family appeared to be at its height, but Emperor He was resolved to free himself from the control of his overmighty subjects. Encouraged and supported by Zheng Zhong and other eunuchs, he gave orders to arrest the supporters of the Dou clan and had Dou Xian stripped of his insignia. Dou Xian and his brothers were sent from the capital and were either killed or obliged to commit suicide, while the Dowager was held under arrest in her apartments; she took no further part in government."
Page 589: QUOTE: "Emperor He had taken the cap of manhood in 91, when he was eleven by Western count, and was thus formally competent to rule without a regency, but it is impressive that he could organise a coup eighteen months later against such a powerful and apparently well-entrenched family. He surely owed a great deal to the energy of Zheng Zhong and his colleagues, and this was the first of several occasions in which eunuchs of the palace played a critical role in a struggle for power at the capital. We are nonetheless told that Liu Zhao consulted his half-brother Liu Qing, one year older than himself, as he was planning the project, so it appears that he was willing and able to take an active role."
Page 589: QUOTE: "Following the coup the Grand Tutor Deng Biao resigned his office, while the Grand Commandant Song You was obliged to commit suicide for his support of the Dou. Song You's successor Yin Mu was granted control of the affairs of the imperial secretariat, implying formal command over the government, but it is unlikely the emperor relinquished any real power; rather he was able to use Yin Mu as his chief executive. In any case, Yin Mu died in the following year, and for the rest of his reign Emperor He held undisputed authority."

COURT AND HAREM

Page 589: QUOTE: "In 92 the Lady Yin from Nanyang entered the imperial harem. A member of the same family as the second empress of Guangwu, she achieved swift promotion and imperial favour, and in 96 she was appointed empress. Unfortunately, she bore no children, and she steadily lost favour to her distant cousin the Honoured Lady Deng Sui, daughter of Deng Xun, former Protector of the Qiang, and also from a great clan of Nanyang. The empress showed her feelings at her gradual eclipse, and in 102 it was alleged that had engaged [sic] in witchcraft: it may have been a false accusation for political purposes, but it is possible that she had sought magical aid to regain the emperor's affections and to conceive an heir. In any event, the Yin family was disgraced and the empress was dismissed and sent to the harem prison, where she died. A few months later, at the end of the year, the Lady Deng was named empress."
Page 589: QUOTE: "Born in 81, the Lady Deng had entered the harem in 96. She likewise bore her consort no children, though the emperor did have two sons by concubines. Nothing is known of the mothers, but Emperor He evidently trusted his empress to deal with the two boys, and when he died without naming an Heir in 106 the Lady Deng, now Dowager, was able to determine the succession and rule as regent."

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Page 589-590: QUOTE: "The destruction of the Northern Xiongnu by Dou Xian was supposed to produce peace on the northern frontier, but the effect of that military triumph was weakened by the failure of the Southern Xiongnu regime to achieve a settlement with the Northerners for whom it was now formally responsible. The prince Shizi, an established friend of Han, attacked and plundered even those who came south to submit, and when the new Shanyu Anguo sought to bring him under control in 93, Shizi appealed for help. In the following year a Chinese army attacked Anguo and he was killed. Shizi succeeded him, but there was then a rebellion amongst the Northerners, and though the Chinese came to his defence the insurgents escaped north into the steppe."
Page 590: QUOTE: "The leader of these rebels, Fenghou, was himself a Southern prince. He and his followers maintained their independence for several years, though they were under pressure not only from the Southern Xiongnu and the Han but, perhaps more dangerously, from Xianbi tribes moving west to fill the vacuum left by the fall of the Northern Xiongnu. By 104 Fenghou had been driven to seek surrender, but his request was not approved, and only in 118 were he and a remnant of his original following able to obtain refuge."
Page 590: QUOTE: "On the one hand, Fenghou's rebellion marked the failure of the Southern Xiongnu settlement; and on the other, his failure demonstrated how the Xianbi were taking over the steppe and removing any long-term hope of peace in the north. Furthermore, while the general Ren Shang was able to use Xianbi auxiliaries against Fenghou in 94, three years later there occurred the first recorded raid of Xianbi against the northeastern frontier. The former allies were now turning against China itself, incidental attacks were reported in the following years, and in 104 a special military region was set up in the Daling ranges west of Liaodong. About the same time, moreover, perhaps inspired by the activities of the Xianbi, the people of Gaogouli [Koguryo] and other tribes of present-day Manchuria began to attack the far northeast."
Page 590: QUOTE: "At the beginning of the reign of Emperor He there was trouble with the Qiang war-leader Mitang, whose father Miyu had been murdered by the Han official Zhang Yu. In 89 Zhang Yu was replaced as Protector by Deng Xun, who opposed Mitang with a mixture of diplomacy and force, so that by the early 90s Mitang had been largely isolated from his allied tribes, while the Little Yuezhi people of the hill country in the west of Jincheng, who had been well-treated by Deng Xun, volunteered to form a Loyal Auxiliary."
Page 590: QUOTE: "Deng Xun died in 92, but his successors maintained the pressure, and after a last attack on the Longxi frontier in 97, which required troops from the capital to settle, Mitang was obliged to surrender in 98. A rising in 100 was put down by the Protector in the following year, and the court now ordered the restoration of Xihai commandery to the west of Jincheng near the Koko Nor/Lake Qinghai. This territory had been claimed by Wang Mang but later abandoned: it does not appear that the new unit was maintained for long."
Page 590: QUOTE: "The troubles on the frontier had made Chinese settlement in Liang province uneasy and unstable, and though the government sought to hinder emigration and to encourage new colonists, including convicts whose sentences were remitted as a reward, much land within imperial territory was taken up by Qiang people coming to live within the frontier. The process had begun with Ma Yuan at the beginning of the dynasty, but the growing numbers of these 'Eastern Qiang' confirmed the demographic weakness of Han China in the northwest and brought major problems in the following reign."
Page 590: QUOTE: "Further afield in central Asia, by contrast to the misplaced effort in the northern steppe, the enterprise of Ban Chao achieved a great deal with small demand on resources from China Proper. He had been engaged in the region with increasing success since 73, he defeated an army of the Great Yuezhi in 90 and, following the destruction of the Northern Xiongnu in 91, he obtained the surrender of their former tributary Qiuzi [Kuqa], north of the Takla Makan. Though his brother Ban Gu died as a supporter of Dou Xian in 92, Ban Chao's position was not affected. He was named Protector-General of the Western Regions, and with the conquest of the remaining kingdom of Yanqi [Karashar] in 94 he gained control over the whole Tarim basin. The court received hostage princes and quantities of tribute from more than fifty states, while an embassy from Parthia came in 89, and a second, bringing a gift of ostriches [?][?]大[?] arrived in 101."
Page 590-591: QUOTE: "Ban Chao was rewarded with enfeoffment in 95, and in 97 he sent Gan Ying on his celebrated mission to explore the far west. He remained at his post in Yutian [Khotan] until 102 when, at the age of almost seventy, he was at last given permission to retire. Ban Chao's achievements appear to have owed more to his personal authority and skill than to any real strength of Chinese arms, and his successor Ren Shang was a fighting man rather than a diplomat. Soon after the death of Emperor He in 106 a major uprising amongst the dependent city-states forced the Chinese to withdraw from the region, and this was followed by the rebellion of the Qiang people in Liang province; the restoration of the empire in central Asia proved as short-lived as the dynasty's triumph on the northern steppe."
Page 591: QUOTE: "Elsewhere, rhinoceros and elephants were received from the southwest in 94, and in 97 King Yongyoutiao of Shan in present-day Burma/Myanmar sent an embassy with gifts to the court, while there was formal submission of tribespeople beyond the frontier of Shu commandery. On the other hand, the non-Chinese of Wuling were in 'rebellion' from 92 to 94, and those of Nan commandery in 101 and 102; both incidents no doubt reflect local resistance to Chinese colonisation. And in the further south, there was trouble with tribes in the south of Rinan in 100, requiring the appointment of a military command for that region two years later. The south of the empire, however, saw no events so dramatic as those of the north, for this region was affected rather by the quiet and steady pressure of colonisation than by the need to defend a weakened and vulnerable frontier."

SCHOLARSHIP AND PHILOSOPHY

Page 591: QUOTE: "Following the conference at the White Tiger Hall in 79 the New Text had continued to dominate the University, but this tradition of thought and interpretation had lost its authority among the best scholars. Concerned at the Legalist tendencies of the government, regular New Text men such as Lu Gong and his brother Lu Bi sought to encourage moral teaching as a complement to the law, but as the struggle between orthodoxy and innovation continued, disillusion with the New Text, notably expressed in the writings of Wang Chong, affected the whole academic community."
Page 591: QUOTE: "Early in the reign, the capping ceremony of 91 was carried out according to the deailed New Rituals 新禮 which had been presented to Emperor Zhang by Cao Bao. Though Cao Bao was a scholar of the New Text, the timing of the imperial coming of age fitted the requirements of the Old Text tradition, for New Text theories would have delayed the ceremony until the ruler was twenty sui. The timing was important, for it entitled the young ruler to govern for himself, and gave him the opportunity to destroy the Dou family. The general procedure, however, had proven excessively complex, and about 95 the Grand Commandant Zhang Pu and Zhang Min of the Secretariat memorialised against the reforms and criticised Cao Bao for having confused the procedures laid down by the sages. Emperor He did not formally accept their recommendation, but Cao Bao's rituals were largely abandoned."
Page 591: QUOTE: "Emperor He was interested in scholarship and tolerant of both Confucian traditions. He continued to favour Jia Kui, but he also respected the New Text scholar Lu Pi, who had himself been recommended by Jia Kui despite their different approaches, and in 100 these two and others held discussions at court. Otherwise, there was a general decline in orthodox learning. In 102 the Excellency Xu Fang complained that the traditional meanings of the Confucian classics were being lost amidst a plethora of new interpretations, and that the confusion was reflected at the Imperial University. Seeking to improve the situation, he urged that examinations should encourage literal readings and accepted interpretations, and candidates who failed to follow authority should be penalised. The proposal was discussed at court, agreed and duly ordered, but the effect was rather to stultify than reinvigorate official scholarship, and as the Dowager Deng took regency power after the death of Emperor He in 106, Fan Zhun of the Secretariat presented a memorial in which he deplored the decline of Confucian learning and the empty formality of orthodox teaching."
Page 591: QUOTE: "On the other hand, the emperor was definitely interested in history. As the celebrated Ban Gu had fallen victim to the coup which destroyed his patron Dou Xian in 92, Emperor He ordered that his history of Former Han should be continued by his sister Ban Zhao—as in his dealings with Ban Chao's affairs in central Asia, it is clear that he was more concerned with the work that was done than with pursuing the relatives of a disgraced politician. In a most unusual step, moreover, the Lady Ban received formal appointment at the Eastern Pavilion in order that she might use the archives and books. We are told that the emperor visited the library on several occasions, and that he showed personal interest in the materials which were held there and in the recruitment of skilled staff."

STYLE OF GOVERNMENT

Page 591-592: QUOTE: "Recognising the support he had obtained from the palace eunuchs for the coup against the Dou, Emperor He increased the number of their senior ranks: where Emperor Ming had had four Regular Attendants, there were now twelve positions available, and there were twenty Attendants at the Yellow Gates. Zheng Zhong, leader of the coup, was rewarded with enfeoffment in 102, and his title later passed to an adopted son. Both through the circumstances of the coup and the imperial favour which followed, the eunuchs began to accumulate significant potential power, and gained influence at the expense of the traditional bureaucracy. On occasion Emperor He would ask advice from the generality of officials; he sought to improve and expand the procedures for selection; and he amended commandery quotas to accord with their population. It was nonetheless observed that gentlemen of middling rank were beginning to pay attention rather to their own interests than to those of the state and the dynasty, and there was concern that the bureaucracy was becoming corrupt and dysfunctional."
Page 592: QUOTE: "Unlike his father, Emperor He did not travel widely. He visited Chang'an to pay respects to the dynastic ancestors, but his only substantial journey outside the capital region was a tour to Jing province in 103, when he likewise visited ancestral tombs. He planned to visit the Yunmeng marshes by the junction of the Han and the Yangzi, but the Excellency Zhang Yu sent messengers to discourage him, for there had been rebellion in Nan commandery during the previous year. The emperor returned to Luoyang, and rewarded Zhang Yu for his advice."
Page 592: QUOTE: "More generally, despite criticism of the regime as unduly Legalistic, the emperor gave ostentatious attention to public welfare, and responded particularly to natural disasters and misfortunes of the people. In one incident, when there was drought in the capital region in 94 he went in person to inspect the prisons and hold jail delivery. When it was found that a number of people were being held on false charges he had the Prefect of Luoyang sent to prison himself, while the Director of Retainers and the Intendant of Henan were both reduced in rank; good rain fell soon afterwards. On the other hand, an ordinance of 103 provided that judgements [sic] of minor offences could be carried out in summer rather than waiting for autumn. It was intended that justice would be done more swiftly and prisoners would not have to wait so long to know their fate, but many local authorities found occasion to inflict even capital punishment during the summer [see sub Lu Gong]."
Page 592: QUOTE: "There were serious plagues of locusts and drought in the middle 90s, followed by floods in 98 and 100, and a number of earthquakes. These were met by a remission of tax, the opening of granaries, loans from the state, remission of debts, frequent donations and frequent relief to the poor. In 99 permission was given for distressed people to fish and gather fuel in the wilderness regions—they were probably doing so already—and edicts were issued for the resettlement of refugees from disaster areas. There were also three general remissions of tax, regardless of need."
Page 592: QUOTE: "Ebrey has remarked that the frequency and apparent success of such relief measures and donations indicates an overall prosperity and adequate government resources. It does appear, however, that the empire was affected by such a large number of natural disasters, and it is possible that the economy was weakened. The salt and iron monopolies which had been restored by Emperor Zhang were abolished early in the reign, and although a single office for iron was re-established in Zhou commandery in 102, this was nothing like the scale which had applied during Former Han. Given the costs of war against the Xiongnu, the state had limited long-term capacity to maintain its benevolent role in time of need."
Page 592: QUOTE: "Towards the end of the reign of Emperor He there were some attempts to reduce expenditure on luxuries for the palace: in 103 it was ordered that the special courier service bringing lychees and longans to the imperial table from the south should be ended [see sub Tang Qiang], and this policy of restraint was followed still more energetically by the regent Dowager Deng after her husband's death. Increasingly, however, local communities were required to fend for themselves in time of emergency, and there are records of wandering people and evidence of weakening central authority."

DEATH AND JUDGMENT

Page 592: QUOTE: "Emperor He died on 13 February 106, in the winter at the end of the Chinese year, twenty-seven years old by Chinese reckoning. He was succeeded by an infant son, and his widow the Lady Deng Sui maintained regency control of the government for fifteen years until her death."
Page 592: QUOTE: "The emperor was buried in the 'Mound of Accord' [?]陵, southeast of Luoyang...and he was awarded the temple-name Muzong 穆宗 'Solemn Exemplar.' In 190, however, the scholar Cai Yong recommended to Dong Zhuo, controlling the court of Han at the time, that Emperor He and his successors should be deposed from their permanent positions in the Imperial Ancestral Temple on the grounds that they had shown no merit or virtue."
Page 592-593: QUOTE: "As Mansvelt Beck has observed, this deposition of Emperor He was necessary in order to rationalise the theory and rituals associated with the worship of the imperial ancestors and predecessors. His recommendations were accepted by a powerless court, but they made no real difference to the collapsing dynasty [MBeck 90:106-107]. In later times, historians have debated whether it was Emperor He or his successor Emperor An who was the first of the worthless rulers; given the circumstances of his time one must doubt whether Emperor He truly deserved the ferocity of Cai Yong's attack."
Page 592: QUOTE: "It appears nonetheless that the last years of the first century AD marked a critical point in the fortunes of Later Han. The government was still able to deal with its social and fiscal responsibilities, but it did so with increasing difficulty, while the unstable situations in the north and northwest were dangerous legacies for the future. The emperor himself had small opportunity to contemplate or deal with such problems: he died as a young man, after little more than ten years of active personal rule. For the sake of the dynasty, his greatest failure was his early death, and the fact taht he left only children to succeed him: see Liu Sheng and Liu Long, the Young Emperor."

Emperor Shang of Han

Page 531: QUOTE: "Liu Long 劉隆 (105–106) [Emperor Shang 殤帝, the Young Emperor (reg. 105–106)]. Liu Long was born in 105 to an unknown concubine of Emperor He. Because of a high mortality rate among the imperial children, the infant was taken from the palace and cared for by a commoner."
Page 531: QUOTE: "Emperor He died on 13 February 106, in the winter at the end of the Chinese year 105/106, and that same evening his widow, now the Dowager Deng empowered as regent, brought the three-month-old Liu Long back to the palace and placed him upon the throne. Liu Long was actually the younger of two surviving sons, but the Dowager passed over his elder brother Liu Sheng on the grounds that he was suffering from an incurable illness."
Page 531: QUOTE: "Liu Long himself lived only a few months after his accession. He died on 21 September, just one year old. His tomb...was set close to that of his fatehr in the southeast of Luoyang...Though his reign was short, it had extended across more than one calendar year, so he received a dynastic titl; the character Shang 殤 'Young' refers to his early death...He did not, however, receive a temple name."

Empress Deng Sui

Page 121: Empress Deng Sui (lived 81–121), born in Nanyang, was the wife of Emperor He of Han and later the regent Dowager over Emperor An of Han.

THE RISE TO HIGH RANK

Skipped this section.

THE DOWAGER AND THE SUCCESSION

Page 123: QUOTE: "There are no details of the illness of Liu Sheng, the son of Emperor He who had now been passed over for a second time; it may have been physical or mental. A number of officials believed that the disability was not sufficiently serious to disqualify him from the imperial succcession and the Dowager was choosing youthful rulers in order to prolong her regency. It does not appear, however, that Liu Sheng was maredly older than Liu You, and he may have been younger...It is arguable that the Dowager had sought to carry out her responsibilities with honour: it may well be that the illness of both Liu Sheng and Liu Qing were, in different ways, truly incapacitating, while the choice of Liu You restored the inheritance to the lineage of the former Heir Liu Qing and prevented the claims of other descendants of Emperor Zhang from causing a struggle for the succession."

THE DOWAGER AND THE REGENCY

Page 123: QUOTE: "There is no question, however, that the Dowager enjoyed exercising power. It is said she consulted her elder brother Deng Zhi on the imperial successions, but this may be little more than lip-service to public expectation, and it is clear that she restricted the role of her male kinsmen in government. In 108 Deng Zhi was named General-in-Chief...a position which Bielenstein regards as indicating his authority as regent...My own interpretation, however, is that the Dowager ruled as regent through her authority to 'take part in the affairs of court'...and Deng Zhi's position as her senior male relative was not significantly affected by his title as General-in-Chief: the appointment was actually used as an excuse to relieve him of direct command of operations against the rebel Qiang, where he had achieved very limited success."
Page 123: QUOTE: "Deng Zhi and his brothers formally withdrew from government when their mother the Lady Yin died at the end of 110, and unlike Liang Ji, Dou Wu and He Jin, senior relatives by marriage in later reigns, Deng Zhi never held control of the affairs of the Imperial Secretariat, giving formal command of the government. From 106 the Grand Tutor for the Young Emperor Zhang Yu and the Grand Commandant Xu Fang held this authority, but that arrangement ceased in 107 after the appointment of Emperor An; there was never any doubt that the Lady Deng was the effective ruler."
Page 123: QUOTE: "Even after Emperor An had formally taken the cap of manhood [?][?][?] at the beginning of 109, the Dowager continued to dominate the court. When she was taken ill a few months later, there was suggestion that she might hand over power, but the Lady reacted strongly and firmly. There were a number of protests over the years, and the emperor was naturally resentful, but there was no effective challenge until her death in 121. When he at last gained power for himself, Emperor An turned on the Deng family, disgraced its leaders and drove them to exile or suicide."
Page 123: QUOTE: "From 106 to 121, therefore, the Lady Deng was the de facto ruler of Later Han, primarily responsible for government policy, and the events of those years are discussed and summarised below."

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AND THE QIANG REBELLION

Page 123: QUOTE: "On the northern frontier, the pattern begun in the time of Emperor He initially continued. In 106 there was a new incursion of the Xianbi in the northwest, but the Northern Xiongnu sent messengers to Dunhuang commandery offering tribute. In the autumn of that year, however, there was a general outbreak of rebellion in central Asia and the Protector-General Ren Shang was besieged at Shule [Kashgar]. He called for help, and a force of five thousand horsemen, primarily composed of auxiliaries from the Qiang and other non-Chinese tribes of Liang province was sent to his relief. Though the siege was broken before the relief force arrived, the troubles continued and worsened, Ren Shang was recalled and replaced, and in the summer of 107 the Dowager ordered that the whole territory of the Western Regions should be abandoned: the extended empire was more than the government could afford to maintain."
Page 123-124: QUOTE: "The strategic decision was justifiable: the enterprise in central Asia had been the personal achievement of Ban Chao, and its military costs now appeared to outweigh the benefits. Unfortunately, the withdrawal still required a transitional military presence, and when the Qiang were subjected to a further impressment they rose in rebellion throughout Liang province: the troubles in the far west were seen as a clear sign of weakness, and the non-Chinese resented the conscription and feared they would be kept from their homes indefinitely. An initial mutiny, badly handled, spread rapidly, and though some of the insurgents simply fled across the frontier other groups fought back. By the winter of 107 the insurgents had cut off the road to central Asia, and the great Qiang rebellion was maintained for more than ten years."
Page 124: QUOTE: "The rebellion was far more serious than the earlier wars of this region, for those had been waged primarily against tribespeople on or outside the frontier, the so-called 'Western Qiang,' while this affair involved the 'Eastern Qiang' who had settled within imperial territory. That process had begun early in the first century, partly by circumstance and partly through policy decisions by officials like Ma Yuan. The result, in any event, was that Chinese and non-Chinese occupied the same territory, and when trouble broke out the Qiang turned on their neighbors with devastating effect. Within a very short time the whole of Liang province had been affected, government offices were destroyed, and Chinese people fled south and west to escape massacre."
Page 124: QUOTE: "The government initially sought to ease the trouble with an amnesty, but by the end of 107 the rebels had found a leader, Dianlian of the Xianlian tribe in western Longxi, and they captured military equipment from camps and bases in the region. In the winter a hastily-gathered imperial army was sent out, commanded by the Dowager's brother Deng Zhi, with Ren Shang as his assistant. Many of the troops were untrained men from inner commanderies, and they were defeated in a series of battles in Hanyang. By the end of 108 Deng Zhi had been recalled, probably to save him further military embarrassment, Qiang raiding parties were ravaging the territories still under nominal imperial control, and there was widespread famine."
Page 124: QUOTE: "In the winter of 109 the Shanyu Tan of the Southern Xiongnu joined the Xianbi and Wuhuan of the northeast in rebellion against Han, and though that trouble was soon settled the situation had become so unstable that the imperial forces were brought back to defeat Chang'an, while in 110 and 111 the headquarters of Jincheng, Longxing, Anding, and Beidi and Shang commanderies, and that of the Protector, were withdrawn south and east into more secure territory. In an effort to deny resources to the enemy, the government now forced its own people to leave their homes, and this deliberate depopulation, combined with the effects of the war itself, reduced Chinese tenure of the northwest still further."
Page 124: QUOTE: "In fact the year 111 marked the high point of Qiang success, for Dianlian died in the following year, and none of his successors was able to achieve the wide authority which he had held. Following another offer of amnesty, the Han forces returned to the attack and by 114 they had largely recovered Jincheng. A major defensive was defeated in 115 but thereafter, under the command of Ren Shang, the Chinese regained the initiative and as the remnant rebels were harried by raids, increasing numbers came to surrender. In 117 Ren Shang and the Protector Ma Xian defeated the last major army at Fuping in Beidi, and by 118 all resistance had ended."
Page 124: QUOTE: "The victory, however, was Pyrrhic, for massive damage had been done to the Chinese position in the northwest. There were continuing small-scale risings and raids across the frontier, while the displaced commandery capitals returned but slowly to their former sites and communications were only gradually restored. The government made grants of grain and farmland to refugees, forgave taxes on several occasions, and attempted to persuade emigrants to return, but the loss of population was not recovered. It was not until the late 120s that there was an active program of reconstruction, and that was overtaken by events ten years later."
Page 124: QUOTE: "The imperial position as a whole had also suffered heavily. The direct costs of the war were enormous—24,000 million cash—and the collateral damage and disruption to the region was even greater. Furthermore, the loss of revenue from Liang province placed increasing strain upon the already stretched finances of a government which had been in difficulty even before the disaster, and in later years the pressure for funds from other sources would disrupt the equilibrium of both the court and the provinces. In the end the armies of Han had been successful, but they had certainly achieved no long-term stability."
Page 124-125: QUOTE: "By good fortune for the Chinese, the rebellion of the Xiongnu, Xianbi and Wuhuan in 109 and 110 had not involved any active co-operation with the Qiang, and the trouble was put down within a few months. This was the first time that the hitherto subservient state of the Southern Xiongnu had turned against its master, and though peace was kept for the next ten years, and the surrender of the pretender Shanyu Fenghou in 118 marked the end of that renegade enterprise, the northern frontier was no longer stable and the problem of the Xianbi remained intractable."
Page 125: QUOTE: "Apart from the joint enterprise of 109–110 and some raids on the northeast in 115 and 117, the Xianbi had been comparatively quiet during this period, but they continued to spread westwards. By 118 and 119 they were raiding Shanggu and Dai commanderies, and their expanding power threatened the Xiongnu and the Wuhuan as well as the north of China proper. Though leaders of the latter groups accepted Chinese suzerainty once more, they were driven to do so through their own weakness against the newcomers, while many of their subjects abandoned their former allegiance and styled themselves Xianbi. By the end of the Dowager's regency in 121 the Xianbi were dominant on the steppe while the northwest remained devastated in the aftermath of the Qiang rebellion."
Page 125: QUOTE: "Elsewhere in the northeast Chinese fortunes varied. In 107 tribute came from the Wa 倭 people of present-day Japan, and in 109 from Gaogouli [Koguryo] in present-day Manchuria. In 111, however, there was raiding by the people of Fuyu, northern neighbors of Gaogouli, and in 118 Gaogouli attacked Xuantu. During these years the court set up the commandery-level Dependent State of Liaodong in the hill country about the Daling River to strengthen military control there, and in 120 the Xianbi of that region offered submission while Fuyu sent tribute. In the following year, however, when the Inspector of You province Feng Huan attacked Gaogouli and its allies he was tricked by a false surrender and suffered a serious counter-attack."
Page 125: QUOTE: "From 109 to 111 there was serious piracy along the coast of the North China plain, but the south of the empire remained comparatively calm, apart from a series of disturbances in Wuling during 115 and 116, all of which were put down locally, and a rebellion which affected Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu and Nanhai about the same time. This too was settled by local forces, though the Imperial Clerk Ren Chuo was sent to lead them, and he was given authority to issue an amnesty to those insurgents prepared to surrender."
Page 125: QUOTE: "As in the northeast, Yi province in the southwest experienced alternating tribute missions, raids, and rebellions from the non-Chinese people of the frontier. In 107 and 108 some sixty thousand Qiang, separated from their rebellious cousins in the north, declared their submission, and the Dependent States of Jianwei and Guanghan, followed later by a third for Shu commandery, were set up to deal with them. Chinese sources say they were designed to assist the settlement of surrendered barbarians, but the Dependent States did not control new territory; on the contrary they included counties which already existed but which were now subject to military administration, and with their new population of non-Chinese they may be seen as much a sign of instability as of imperial expansion. On the other hand the region was certainly more secure than Liang province, and a number of new horse-parks were developed for the imperial cavarly, taking the place of those which had formerly been maintained in that now vulnerable territory."
Page 125: QUOTE: "In 120 King Yongyoutiao of Shan...in the region of present-day Burma/Myanmar, sent tribute to the court. He had showed similar respect to Emperor He in 97, but this embassy included musicians, conjurers, jugglers and people who could swallow fire. They performed at the court assembly on New Year's Day 121, and Yongyoutiao was sent an official seal."
Page 125-126: QUOTE: "The envoys from Shan claimed that their country was connected in the southwest to the state of Daqin...traditionally identified with the Roman empire; they presumably referred to the sea route across the Indian Ocean. About the same time, following the end of the Qiang rebellion some Chinese presence was restored in central Asia. In 119 Cao Song the Administrator of Dunhuang sent an officer to set up a military colony at Yiwu near Hami and arranged for agents to take up residence in Shanshan and in the kingdoms of Jushi about present-day Turfan. In 120 the king of Further Jushi called on the Northern Xiongnu in Dzungaria to help him drive the Chinese away, and the king of Shanshan felt threatened and asked for help. The Dowager invited Ban Chao's son Ban Yong to comment. While he did not support a full campaign, Ban Yong did propose a cautious advance, primarily to deprive the Xiongnu of the resources of the region. So it was agreed that the claim to authority in the west should be revived, with residents in various city-states and a garrison presence in Dunhuang to back them. Military colonies were as yet too ambitious, but this limited establishment marked the beginning of the second expansion of Later Han into the Western Regions."

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

Page 126: QUOTE: "Towards the end of the reign of Emperor He there was increasing concern about the weakness of government finance and the failure of officials to care for the people. Soon after she came to power the Dowager issued edicts expressing concern about the quality of local administration and calling for stricter attention to pastoral care, notably for refugees from the various disasters which afflicted the empire. She was particularly encouraged in this policy by Fan Zhun, an officer of the Imperial Secretariat; in the following years she held special recruitment for worthy men in retirement and in 108 she sent Fan Zhun and Lü Cang as special commissioners to organise relief in the east of the empire."
Page 126: QUOTE: "The problems of drought, flood and locusts in the time of Emperor He continued with comparable and even increased ferocity during the regency of his Dowager Deng. There are almost annual reports of such misfortunes, coupled with frequent references to earthquakes and great winds. Some of these, particularly those in the Treatise of Astronomy and of the Five Powers, may reflect the exaggeration and even invention of contemporary politicians or later historians...but it is clear that many of the phenomena recorded in the annals were only too real, that the human distress was very great, and that the government made such efforts as it could to alleviate it. There are frequent references to the opening of government granaries...and in 107 it was recorded that grain was to be transferred from Yang province north to impoverished areas of Xu and Yan provinces. In 109 there were reports of cannibalism in the capital district, and the Vast Pond and other imperial parks were opened to the public. In later years, drought was accompanied by visitations of the imperial prison and jail release, together with prayers for rain; and successive plagues of locusts brought donations and the remission of taxes. In 113 there was another forced transfer of grain from the commanderies south of the Yangzi to afflicted territories in the north, while grain was also requisitioned from counties on the Vast Canal to replenish the great Ao Granary. In 119 there was plague in Kuaiji, and a special mission was sent with the Court Physicians, to authorise tax relief and to grant somewhat macabre awards of coffins."
Page 126: QUOTE: "There were attempts at positive construction, notably in 115 and 116 when old water control works in Wei and Taiyuan were repaired to increase arable land for new settlement. Elsewhere, however, the costs of the great rebellions and constant calls for tax remission and famine relief meant that there were few resources available."
Page 126: QUOTE: "The Dowager made several economies on ceremonial and imperial expenditure. We are told that she was little enamoured of magical or mystical beliefs and practices: she eliminated many of them from official ceremonies; and at the end of 106 she ordered the cessation of the festivals of Fishes and Dragons...and of the Manyan...monster...In the following year the drummers and pipers of the Yellow Gates were transferred to more practical employment with the Feathered Forest corps of guards, while the allocation of fodder for the imperial stables was reduced except for those horses actually drawing carriages, and the manufacture of goods in the palace workshops was restricted. The Dowager likewise reduced expenditure on imperial banquets, and it is said that she herself ate meat only once a day."
Page 126-127: QUOTE: "These reforms had been found necessary even before the outbreak of the great Qiang rebellion in 107, and the financial problems of the imperial government then became even greater. In 109 there were further reductions, notably in the ceremony of the Great Exorcism...in the entertainments offered at the annual changing of the palace guards [Bodde 75:75], and in the court assembly held for the New Year of 110. The revenues of all marquisates were heavily cut, particularly at time of inheritence, as were the numbers of officials and their salaries, while the penalty for peculation in office included proscription of the culprit's family for three generations. Also in 109, the sale of offices and orders of honour was approved and inaugurated: secondary marquisates and lesser noble ranks were made available, as well as junior positions as guards and clerks at the capital. The program was introduced on recommendation from the Excellencies, and there was precedent from the time of Emperor Wu of Former Han, when proceeds had been similarly used to cover military expenses, but this was the first occasion in Later Han: the model would be followed by Emperor Huan, and a more extensive and corrupt system would develop under Emperor Ling."
Page 127: QUOTE: "Given such pressures, at the peak of the Qiang rebellion in 111 the official Pang Can raised serious debate about the most effective way to maintain order on the frontier, and whether large regions of the northwest should not be abandoned. The government was persuaded to continue its campaign of reconquest and was eventually successful, but the costs and losses were enormous. It is impossible to assess the situation accurately, but it appears that by the end of the Dowager's rule, and despite her best efforts, the imperial government was functionally bankrupt: it was certainly generally incapable of carrying out its traditional duty to provide relief in times of public distress."

MORALITY AND SCHOLARSHIP

Page 127: QUOTE: "When the Dowager took power as regent in 106 official scholarship was in decline. The New Text had triumphed under Emperor Zhang, and its dominance had been confirmed by the authoritarian examination system at the University, instituted at the urging of the Excellency Xu Fang. In fact, however, New Text theories were largely rejected by leading scholars of the time, and the most distinguished preferred to work and teach privately. Early in the regency Fan Zhun presented a memorial urging the promotion of learning, praising the patronage shown by the early emperors, and particularly the splendid age of Emperor Ming, when the Book of Filial Piety was known even by military men, and the Xiongnu King Dajuququ came to study at Luoyang. On the other hand, Fan Zhun deplored the empty formality of orthodox teaching, and while recognising the value of Confucianism to law and political affairs, he emphasised the importance of individual morality, which was better fostered by the teachings of Huang-Lao and other forms of popular religion. He urged the government to seek out scholars in retirement and offer them appointment, and the Dowager issued a number of calls for nomination as Sincere and Upright, Plain and Honest, and King and Worthy."
Page 127: QUOTE: "For her own part, the Dowager had maintained her interest in scholarship. After she entered the imperial harem she was tutored by the Lady Ban Zhao on the classics, history, mathematics and astronomy, and when she came to power she worked on government business during the day and studied at night. She also had palace eunuchs attend lessons on the classics in order that they in turn could teach the inmates of the imperial harem."
Page 127: QUOTE: "The Lady Deng sponsored two major projects. About 110 the scholars Liu Zhen, Liu Taotu and Ma Rong, were commissioned to join Academicians of the University in compiling a definitive edition of the official Five Classics, Changes, History, Poetry, Ritual and Chunqiu. The project was supervised by the eunuch Cai Lun, putative developer of paper, and was carried out in the imperial library of the Eastern Pavilion."
Page 127: QUOTE: "In 120 Liu Zhen was further commissioned to work with Liu Taotu, Liu Yi and Li You on the official history of Later Han, Han ji, later known as Dongguan Hanji. The work had been started by Ban Gu and others under orders from Emperor Ming, with the title Jianwu zhuji...'Diary of the Jianwu Period,' and this second installment contained annals for the period 58 to 106, being the reigns of Emperor Ming, Zhang, He and the infant Shang, together with tables and biographies of leading men, imperial relatives by marriage and noted scholars. A few years later Liu Zhen and Liu Taotu asked for the assistance of the scholar Zhang Heng, but Emperor An did not approve. Liu Zhen and Liu Taotu died soon afterwards, and further requests by Zhang Heng to complete the work were likewise rejected. It is possible, therefore, that this particular recension may never have reached final form."
Page 127: QUOTE: "Though she had limited interest in the Imperial University, in 119 the Dowager did summon some forty young members of the imperial clan and another thirty of her own family to the capital. They were provided with lodgings so they might study the Confucian classics and the histories, and the Lady Deng herself supervised their examinations. One cannot be certain how much this program overlapped with or supplemented the Palace School for Noble Families set up by Emperor Ming, but in the style of Fan Zhun's proposals ten years before the Dowager explained that she sought to revive the good examples of earlier rulers, and with this special tuition, together with her commissioning of classical editions and dynastic history, she could claim to follow the tradition of imperial patronage."
Page 127: QUOTE: "As further evidence of the Dowager's concern for Confucian principles, in 116 the government ordered that high officials should observe a three-year period of mourning for the death of a parent. The decision represented a triumph of theoretical morality over the real needs of administration, for the inconvenience of losing the services of senior ministers for extended periods was naturally great. The policy was initiated and supported by the Excellency Liu Kai, but it indeed proved impracticable and was rescinded after the Dowager's death."
Page 127: QUOTE: "Finally, we may note that in 119 the Excellency Li He, who had sought to enhance the prestige of the University, persuaded the court that worship of a Sixth Venerable One...should be restored to the official program of rituals, as in Former Han. Given the previous concern of the Dowager to reduce and simplify state rituals, this addition may have reflected the personal influence of Emperor An."

THE DEATH OF THE DOWAGER AND THE FALL OF THE DENG CLAN

Page 128: QUOTE: "The Dowager died on 17 April 121, after a short illness, at the age of forty by Western reckoning. One of the most competent and effective rulers of Later Han, she ahd placed two emperors upon the throne and controlled the government in difficult times for more than fifteen years. Emperor An, however, bitterly resented her refusal to grant him power after he had formally come of age, and though her authority was unassailable while she lived, the emperor, once freed of her tutelage, soon turned upon her family."
Page 128: QUOTE: "After her death it was claimed that the Dowager had been disillusioned with the quality of the emperor, and that she had even planned to depose him and put his cousin Liu Yi, King of Pingyuan, in his place. Certainly Liu Yi had been among the princes brought to the capital for education in 119, and he received some signs of favour from the Lady Deng, but it is hard to believe she would have risked the turmoil of a succession conflict, while the allegation came from known enemies of her family. Given Emperor An's performance in power, however, it might have been better if the Dowager had followed such an inclination. In any event, Emperor An accepted the charge, and he may well have been waiting for an excuse to rid himself of such a powerful family. He had senior ministers present indictments of treason, then stripped the Deng of their fiefs and their property, and drove many to suicide. Within a few months their power and influence were ended."
Page 128: QUOTE: "Despite the quality of her government and the later wilfulness of Emperor An, notably in regard to the succession of his only son Liu Bao, traditional commentators regard the regime of the Dowager Deng as an aberration from the proper pattern of imperial government, and the experience of the Deng family demonstrated the difficulties faced by any imperial relatives by marriage. No matter how it was managed, their position depended upon the good will or weakness of the emperor, and once the sovereign was in a position to exercise his own power there was no possibility for resistance. In different ways, the Dou in the time of Emperor He, and later the Liang and Dou under Emperors Huan and Ling, demonstrated the ultimate authority of the imeprial throne and the weakness of any subject, no matter how mighty, who might hope to contend with it. In the long term, there were no good answers."

Emperor An of Han

Page 580: QUOTE: "Liu You 劉祐 or Liu Hu 祜 (94–125) [Emperor An 安帝 (reg. 106–125)]. The Qing commentator Hui Dong, cited in HHSJJ 5:195, observes that the Shuowen dictionary identifies the character 祜 hu as the taboo personal name of the emperor, so HHS is mistaken in giving it as You 祐. Most scholars, however, still follow HHS."

ACCESSION AND TUTELAGE

Page 580: QUOTE: "Son of Liu Qing the King of Qinghe and his consort the Lady Zuo, it is said that when he was still young Liu You enjoyed the study of history and the Emperor He admired him and frequently invited him to the palace. When Emperor He died in 106, Liu Qing and his royal brothers were for the first time sent out to their states, but Liu You was kept at the capital. Emperor He's successor was his infant son Liu Long, but the Young Emperor died on 21 September, and two days later Liu You was brought to the throne. He was aged thirteen sui."
Page 580: QUOTE: "Emperor He had sired two sons by unknown concubines, and Liu Long had an elder brother Liu Sheng, but the regent Dowager Deng claimed, probably correctly, that he was incapacitated by illness, either physical or mental, and so he was twice passed over for the succession. Liu You's own father Liu Qing died at the end of 106, a few months after his son's accession, and he was known to have been ill. There were other sons surviving of Emperor Zhang, but Liu Qing had at one time been his father's Heir, he had been dismissed primarily through the intrigues of the Empress Dou, and he had been a close friend and companion of the late Emperor He. So the Dowager's choice of Liu You was not unjustified: his appointment restored a lineage which had formerly been approved, and it removed the likelihood of a succession struggle amongst other descendants of Emperor Zhang."
Page 580: QUOTE: "Some officials believed that Liu Sheng's disability was not so serious as to disqualify him from the succession, and in the winter of 107/108, one year after the accession of Liu You, the Excellency Zhou Zhang attempted a coup to depose the Dowager and her nominee and set Liu Sheng upon the throne. The plot, however, was found out, and Zhou Zhang killed himself. There was no further questioning of Liu You's claim to the throne, and Liu Shen died without heirs in 113."
Page 580: QUOTE: "At the beginning of 109, at the age of sixteen sui, Emperor An took the cap of manhood and came formally to full age. Unlike his predecessor Emperor He, however, he remained under the control of the Dowager, who dominated the court until her death in 121. There were a number of protests, and the young emperor was bitterly resentful, but he had no effective authority; a discussion of politics and policy from 106 to 121 therefore appears under the biography of the Lady Deng Sui. Only after her death, in the summer of 121, did Emperor An achieve full authority in the government; he was then twenty-seven years old by Western reckoning."
Page 580: QUOTE: "In 119 the Dowager had called junior members of the Liu and Deng clans to the capital for special tuition in the classics, and she paid particular attention to Liu Yu...the King of Pingyuan. Soon after her death the emperor's former wet-nurse Wang Shang and the eunuchs Li Run and Jiang Jing, close associates of the emperor and enemies of the Deng family, claimed that the Dowager had lost faith in Liu You's ability, and had been thinking of deposing him in favour of his cousin. It is doubtful she would indeed have taken such a drastic step, but the emperor attended to the accusation, and it is likely he was ready to rid himself of his powerful subjects. Though he had hitherto shown respect to the Dowager's family, he now gave a fine show of indignation, endorsed charges of Impiety and had members of the Deng group stripped of their fiefs and their property. At first the Dowager's eldest brother Deng Zhi was spared, but he was forced to quit the capital, was exiled to the south, and duly committed suicide. The disgrace of the late Dowager's family was soon revoked, and Deng Zhi received honoured burial, but the power of the Deng was broken, and Emperor An and his favourites could rule largely untrammelled."

AFFAIRS OF STATE

Page 581: QUOTE: "In the aftermath of the great Qiang rebellion, there was still trouble in Liang province, notably from the tribal chieftains Manu and Renliang, who made successful raids on Jincheng, Zhangye and Wuwei; only in 122, after they had been defeated by Ma Xian, could the program of reconstruction continue. The administration of Jincheng was returned to its former capital soon after the end of the major rebellion, but it was not until 123 that the headquarters of Longxi were restored, and the Baoye Road, chief imperial highway through the Qin Ling ranges, which had been damaged by the insurgents in Hanzhong, was re-opened only in 125. There followed some ten years of reasonable security."
Page 581: QUOTE: "The troubles of the northeast, already manifest in the time of the Dowager Deng, continued to develop. During 121 Gaogouli [Koguryo] and the neighboring tribes of the Hui and Mo raided Liaodong and Xuantu, though the ruler of Fuyu sent aid to China and a measure of peace was restored in the following year. The incursions of the Xianbi were substantially more serious, for it was about this time that those people acquired a new war-leader, Qizhijian. In 121 Qizhijian led a major attack into Yunzhong and Dai, and also sent raiders against Xuantu, and though a garrison camp was set up in Yuyang, in the following year he led raids as far as Taiyuan. In 123 Qizhijian defeated the Southern Xiongnu in Wuyuan, and in 124 he defeated them in Dai commandery, killing one of their kings on each occasion. In effect, the whole northern frontier of the empire was now vulnerable."
Page 581: QUOTE: "Southwest, there was rebellion in Shu in 122 and in Yuexi in 123, and though these incidents were dealt with locally another Dependent State was set up in that region; similar defence positions had been set up by the regent Dowager Deng. The far south at least was peaceful, and both Jiuzhen and Rinan reported tribute missions and favourable omens."
Page 581: QUOTE: "More generally, there were several visitations of rain and floods, destructive winds and earthquakes, so various areas were given relief from taxes, while the government also issued grants of noble ranks, special summonses to office and calls for recommendations."
Page 581: QUOTE: "During the spring of 124 Emperor An made a tour to the east as far as Taishan, where he offered sacrifice to his imperial predecessors and to Confucius, and held a reception for members of the sage's clan; in the winter of that year he travelled to Chang'an, again paying respects to the tombs of the rulers of Former Han and their great ministers. A few months after his return to Luoyang, in the spring of 125 he embarked on a tour to south [sic], visiting the tombs of Later Han ancestors in Nanyang, and ordering the Administrators of Changsha and Lingling to offer sacrifice to local deities of their region. Despite these demonstrations of goodwill, the emperor became ill and died on the journey back to Luoyang."

RELIGION AND SCHOLARLY PATRONAGE

Page 581-582: QUOTE: "As discussed under the entry for the Dowager Deng Sui, in 119 worship of a Sixth Venerable One...was restored to the official program of rituals, as practiced in the Former Han and recommended by the Excellency Li He. Since the Dowager had sought to reduce and simplify state rituals, this addition may reflect the personal influence of Emperor An before he came to power, though in other respects it appears that the nominal sovereign held small influence at court."
Page 582: QUOTE: "In one respect the personal government of Emperor An specifically reversed a decision of the regent Dowager: it had been ordered in 116 that high officials must observe a three-year mourning period for the death of a parent; the requirement was impracticable and was withdrawn soon after the emperor came to power. More generally, the new regime showed itself anxious to recruit men of local distinction, particularly hermit scholars, and several special invitations and more general summonses were issued. Some of these calls to office were intended to bolster the prestige of the throne by attacting celebrated men, but one may also suspect there was genuine concern that the quality of new entrants to the bureaucracy was in some decline, and there was a real need to attact good men."
Page 582: QUOTE: "Emperor He and the Dowager Deng had both shown interest in scholarship, but the academic climate of their time was still dominated by the official New Text tradition, and their patronage had been extended to history rather than to philosophy. As Emperor An began his personal rule, Chen Zhong and others argued that the prestige and popular acceptance of his government would be enhanced by patronage of Confucian masters. The emperor agreed, and one of the first fruits of the new approach was the presentation of the path-breaking dictionary Shuowen jiezi 說文解字. Compiled by Xu Shen, the work was presented to the throne by his son Xu Chong."
Page 582: QUOTE: "It appears that the grasp of the New Text on official scholarship was weakening. Xu Shen was known primarily as an Old Text scholar, and although his work was completed about 100 it had not been presented earlier, evidently because of doubts about its suitability. Now it received official endorsement, and in 123 some junior officials were chosen for their knowledge of the Old Text History, of the Mao interpretation of the Classic of Poetry, also in the Old Text tradition, together with the New Text Guliang commentary to Chunqiu. In a further show of support, the emperor paid a formal visit to the University in 124, and he may have been planning the revival of an institution which was now at a low point of decline. He died, however, less than a year later, and it was left to his son and successor, Emperor Shun, to attempt a reconstruction and restoration."
Page 582: QUOTE: "In general, Emperor An was interested in and influenced by portents and omens. In 122 he dismissed the Excellency of Works Chen Bao on account of an earthquake, widespread rain and storms; this created an unfortunate precedent which weakened the long-term authority of the heads of the imperial service. Though natural catastrophe continued, the sovereign himself was no doubt encouraged by a steady flow of favourable omens: in 123 Rinan reported dragons and Jiuzhen auspicious plants; in 124 Youfufeng had white pheasants and Langye a yellow dragon, while Yingchuan reported a white deer, a white tiger and two 'unicorns' 麒麟 qilin. At the beginning of 125 Dong commandery had two yellow dragons and another qilin, but despite such signs of good fortune the emperor died just a few weeks later."

COURT POLITICS AND THE SUCCESSION

Page 582: QUOTE: "Regardless of national affairs and questions of ritual and scholarship, power at court was strongly influenced by those whom the emperor personally trusted. He paid great respect to his maternal uncle Geng Bao, who was first appointed as a minister and then, in 124, as General-in-Chief, and he showed remarkable generosity to Feng Shi, on one occasion spending two weeks at his ministerial lodging and distributing valuable gifts; Feng Shi became Grand Commandant in 124. Within his private apartments Emperor An favoured his former wet-nurse Wang Sheng and the palace eunuchs Fan Feng and Li Run, but he was greatly influenced by his empress the Lady Yan Ji, whose brothers, led by Yan Xian, acquired ministerial and military posts, commanded the palace guards, and dominated the court."
Page 582-583: QUOTE: "The Lady Yan entered the harem in 114. She swiftly attracted the emperor's favour, and was made empress in 115. She did not, however, bear him children; and soon after her ascension she poisoned the Lady Li II, who had given birth to a son, Liu Bao, in that same year. The regent Dowager Deng had Liu Bao named as Heir in 120, but although he had no brothers his position was not secure. In 124, after a complex struggle for influence, the Empress Yan, aided by the eunuchs Jiang Jing and Fan Feng, accused the nine-year-old of involvement in a conspiracy, and towards the end of the year he was dismissed as Heir. The decision was fierecly opposed by the minister Lai Li and many other senior officials who demonstrated before the gates of the palace, but the emperor held to his decision."

DEATH AND JUDGMENT

Page 583: QUOTE: "On 23 April 125, as Emperor An was on tour to the south he was taken ill at Wan city in Nanyang. He continued his program for another few days, returned north past Wan, but died on 30 April, at the age of thirty-two."
Page 583: QUOTE: "Since the emperor's only son Liu Bao had been deposed there was no designated Heir and no obvious successor, and the right to choose his replacement and to act as regent devolved upon the Lady Yan, now Dowager. For the time being, she and her associates concealed the ruler's death. During three days on the road they had food and drink taken to the closed carriage and maintained the formality of an official diary, and it was not until the evening of 4 May, the day after the cortège had returned to the capital, that the death was announced. The Lady Yan then attended court, and she and her brother determined on the successor, the five-year-old Liu Yi 劉懿, the Little Emperor, a cousin of the late sovereign."
Page 583: QUOTE: "It is said taht Liu You had shown intelligence and ability when he was young, but that he failed to live up to his early promise. He was certainly frustrated by the Dowager Deng's extended regency, and he became worried that she might replace him with a more impressive candidate. This could have been a good idea, for during his few years of personal rule Emperor An proved quite inadequate to his responsibilities. He displayed interest in ritual and scholarship, but his reliance upon personal favourites disturbed the balance of government, and his subservience to his Empress Yan, culminating in the dismissal of his only son Liu Bao, was a blow to the dynasty itself: it was dangerously significant taht the legitimate heir had to be brought to the throne by a group of eunuchs. Unlike the Dowager Deng, and Emperor Shun after him, Emperor An had no great crisis to deal with: his failure was all his own and the damage he inflicted was considerable."
Page 583: QUOTE: "Emperor An was buried in the 'Mound of Respect'...northwest of Luoyang, and he was given the temple-name Gongzong 恭宗 'Respectful Exemplar.' In 190 Dong Zhuo, who controlled the court of Han at that time, approved a recommendation of Cai Yong that his tablet should be deposed from a permanent position in the Imperial Ancestral Temple on the grounds that he had shown neither merit nor virtue..."

Emperor Shun of Han

Page 473: QUOTE: "Liu Bao 劉保 (115–144) [Emperor Shun 順帝 (reg. 125–144)]. Liu Bao was born in 115, the son of Emperor An by his concubine the Lady Li I. His mother was poisoned soon afterwards by the Empress Yan, and Liu Bao knew nothing of her, but he was the only son of the emperor, and in 120 he was duly appointed as Heir. He is described as gentle and generous, a good student of the Book of Filial Piety, and it is said that the Dowager Deng was pleased with him."

THE HEIR AND HIS SUCCESSION

Page 473: QUOTE: "The child had two wet-nurses, Wang Nan and Song E, and the Lady Wang was a particular favourite. In 124 Liu Bao became the centre of a struggle for influence in which Wang Nan and the kitchen officer Bing Ji were opposed by the eunuchs Jiang Jing and Fan Feng and the Lady Wang Sheng who had been wet-nurse to Emperor An. Upset and confused by the intrigues, Liu Bao took refuge at a mansion lately built for Wang Sheng, and Wang Nan and Bing Ji lost much of their influence. Wang Sheng and her allies then accused them of conspiracy: both were killed and their families and associates were exiled to the far south."
Page 473: QUOTE: "Liu Bao mourned his two former favourites, and Wang Sheng and her associates were concerned he might later seek to avenge them. They accordingly told Emperor An that Liu Bao had also been involved in the alleged conspiracy, and urged that he dismiss him as Heir. The ruler was encouraged by his Empress Yan, and though the minister Lai Li and many other officials demonstrated against the plan at the palace gates, in the autumn of 124 the boy was deposed and given title as King of Jiyin."
Page 473: QUOTE: "Early in the following year Emperor An died while on tour to the south. Despite his deposition as Heir, Liu Bao was an obvious candidate for the succession, but the Empress Yan, now Dowager, had the right to act as regent and, when no Heir was formally appointed, to choose a new ruler from the males of the imperial clan. To prevent any difficulty, she and her supporters concealed the emperor's death until the cortège had returned to the capital; they then passed over Liu Bao and named his cousin, the five-year-old Liu Yi, as emperor."
Page 473-474: QUOTE: "Liu Yi, however, died at the end of that same year, and though the Yan group had some knowledge of his fatal illness they had no firm plans made and no candidate prepared. They attempted once more to conceal the death, but a few days later, on 16 December, a group of eunuchs led by Sun Cheng carried out a successful coup and placed Liu Bao upon the throne. As the Dowager was placed under arrest, her brothers and their eunuch allies were killed and remnants of the Yan group were exiled to the far south."

STYLE OF GOVERNMENT

Page 474: QUOTE: "Liu Bao came to the throne at the age of eleven sui, just over ten years old by Western reckoning, and with the disgrace of the Dowager Yan there was no specific person to control a regency. The officials who had protested against his deposition in the year before were rewarded with appointments: Lai Li was reappointed as a minister and then General of Chariots and Cavalry; Huan Yan, who had been Tutor to Liu Bao when he was Heir, now became Grand Tutor; and Zhang Hao was made an Excellency. Zhu Chang was first appointed as head of the Dowager's household, but after the convenient death of the Lady Yan a few weeks later he too was made an Excellency. The Grand Tutor Huan Yan also held control of the affairs of the Imperial Secretariat, giving formal command of the executive government, sharing responsibility for the first three years with the Grand Commandant Zhu Chong and his successor Liu Guang. Huan Yan was dismissed in 128, but Lu Guang and his successor Pang Can continued in control of the Secretariat, even after the young emperor had taken the cap of manhood in 129."
Page 474: QUOTE: "The eunuch Sun Cheng, leader of the plot which had restored Liu Bao to his inheritance, was rewarded with a county marquisate, while nineteen of his colleagues also received fiefs and gifts. Early in 127 Sun Cheng joined the Director of Retainers Yu Xu in an attack on the eunuch Zhang Fang, accusing him of extortion and conspiracy, and the emperor was forced to dismiss him. Zhang Fang had taken no part in the coup against the Yan clan, but he was a personal favourite of the young ruler and Emperor Shun resented the humiliation. He soon afterwards ordered Sun Cheng and his associates to go to their fiefs, and though there were protests at such treatment of his loyal supporters, the emperor remained adamant until he was embarrassed into recalling the exiles by the intervention of Zhu Chang."
Page 474: QUOTE: "Despite his youth, Emperor Shun could make decisions on his own, but they were not always wise: he tended to vacillate from one policy to another, and he continued to be influenced by friends and associates. The court was to a considerable degree divided between Yu Xu and his Confucianist associates, notably Zuo Xiong, Huang Qiong and Zhou Ju, who sought moral and administrative reform, and those who opposed their sometimes extreme measures. The cliques and factions appear to have been separated as much by personality as by philosophy and, as in the case of Sun Cheng, officials of the bureaucracy were quite willing to accept alliance with the eunuchs or other personal favourites of the emperor."
Page 474: QUOTE: "From the mid-120s to the mid-130s Yu Xu and his associates sought to improve the conduct of government. Yu Xu was chiefly concerned with specific instances of corruption, while Zuo Xiong sought to establish a general Confucian dominance in the recruitment and control of the bureaucracy for the longer term. They introduced some reforms to the procedures for selecting officials, and they persuaded the emperor to invite a number of distinguished scholars in retirement to take positions at court, but in the long term their efforts were unsuccessful, for they used the Secretariat, with its close connection to the throne, as their base, and much of their success came from factional support at court and influence with the emperor. In such a process other members of the regular bureaucracy, even the Excellencies who theoretically held control of the Secretariat and all other officials, were often bypassed and unable to play an effective role. From this point of view, the very means by which Yu Xu and his colleagues sought to reform the administration brought about a decline in its authority."
Page 474: "Even as Yu Xu and his colleagues were attempting to tighten the requirements for entry to the imperial service, moreover, there appears to have been increasing difficulty in finding satisfactory officials. There were several edicts calling for special nominations, and the young emperor was frequently successful in attracting leading scholar recluses to his court, but there was a growing tendency for men to avoid public life, to attend rather to their private affairs, or even to seek distinction as hermits. It is difficult to assess the degree to which potential recruits may have been discouraged by stories of intrigues at court, or whether the responsibilities of family estates were becoming greater and more attractive, but the lack of good men to hold office, and the problems of keeping them at their posts, were of constant concern and led to many of the irregularities of appointment and promotion which the purists complained about."
Page 474-475: QUOTE: "In somewhat similar fashion, the government continued to display evidence of financial stress. On several occasions convicts were permitted to redeem their offences by payment of a fine—certainly a more profitable procedure than inflicting punishment—and during the difficult years about 140 forced loans were called from the holders of fiefs and from wealthy commoners."
Page 475: QUOTE: "Across the empire, there were continuing natural disasters, earthquakes, floods, drought and locusts, and in 132 there were fierce attacks by wolves in Changshan. The government responded with humble edicts of remorse, and also by opening granaries and giving exemption from taxation, while commissioners were sent to supervise relief work and assess the quality of the local administration. In 134 a major project, led by the Internuncios Wang Hui and then Sima Deng, repaired the channel of the Yellow River and its tributaries near Rongyang in Henan. Though the work was important for transport on the Vast Canal which supplied the capital, and imperial officials were sent to supervise, it was not funded primarily by the central government but by cash and corvée labour extracted from commanderies of the region. Other projects in this period were likewise arranged at a local level, apparently without assistance from a cash-strapped court."
Page 475: QUOTE: "Besides this, there were more spiritual concerns: in 129 it was ordered that people should be prevented from quarrying in the hills because their activity could be releasing emanations which brought floods and the failure of crops. Drought at the capital in 132 and 134 brought prayers for rain and jail release; when there were floods in Ji province the Palace Attendant Wang Fu and others were sent to offer sacrifice to the gods of Mount Tai and the Eastern Sea, to the Yellow River, the Luo, and other troublesome streams; while in 133 an earthquake at Luoyang led to an edict seeking advice."
Page 475: QUOTE: "One of the submissions on this occasion came from the Court Astronomer Zhang Heng, who had lately developed a seismograph, but was nonetheless quite prepared to use natural phenomena as omens of concern. He and others at this time, notably the official Li Gu, complained that the emperor was failing to exercise full authority and that he paid too great attention to his personal attendants and family connections. In some response, in 134 the ruler sought the opinion of Zhou Ju, newly appointed to the Secretariat, and the Excellencies Liu Qi and Kong Fu were dismissed."
Page 475: QUOTE: "Though they dealt with them on occasion, the regular officials always resented the power of the eunuchs, whom they regarded as illegitimate advisers to the throne. There had been disapproval when Sun Cheng and his colleagues were enfeoffed, and there was further protest in 135, when eunuchs were authorised to pass on fiefs to their adopted sons. By this time, however, there was greater anxiety about the rise of the Liang family."
Page 475: QUOTE: "The Lady liang Na had entered the harem of Emperor Shun in 128, and in 132 she became empress. Her father Liang Shang was first appointed as a Palace Attendant and a colonel in the Northern Army, but when his daughter came to the throne he received additional honours and became Bearer of the Mace, chief of police at the capital. In 134 he was offered position as General-in-Chief, ranking with the Excellencies, and though he initially refused he took the office in 135. The family now held great power at court, and officials had to deal not only with the emperor and his favourites but also with the consort family."
Page 475: QUOTE: "Liang Shang appears to have exercised his authority with some restraint, and his position was only enhanced when a group of eunuchs sought to accuse him and his associates of treachery. Their slander was disproved, the conspirators were killed, and the emperor was confirmed in his confidence. Though he continued to hold ultimate power, it appears Emperor Shun was content to leave much of the business of government to this mature and responsible relative, old enough to be his father; and Liang Shang did maintain a balance between the inner court of the emperor and his officials in the outside bureaucracy."
Page 475: QUOTE: "When Liang Shang died in 141, he was succeeded in his high office by his son Liang Ji. In the following year there was another attack, for as eight commissioners were sent out to assess the condition of the empire, one of them, Zhang Gang, remained at Luoyang and sent in an indignant report on the corruption of Liang Ji and the excessive favour being shown to the family. It is said that the emperor appreciated his honesty, but nothing was done. Certainly the sovereign could maintain control, but when he died three years later the Liang acquired real power."
Page 475-476: QUOTE: "More widely in the empire, there was increasing trouble from the early 130s. As pirates ravaged Kuaiji in 132, the religious rebel Zhang He caused disturbance to the whole of Yang province, and in 134 there was banditry in Yi province. A major rising among the non-Chinese of the far south in the late 130s triggered discussion of the need to send a full imperial army, and though the people were settled by the experienced officials Zhu Liang and Zhang Qiao, the lower Yangzi was then afflicted by the bandit troops of Zhang Ying, while in 143 there was rebellion in Yang, Xu and Jing provinces. Financially, the government was under such strain that official stipends were reduced, a forced loan of a year's tax was made from kings and marquises, convicts were permitted to ransom themselves by fines, and it was forbidden to brew wine."
Page 476: QUOTE: "All these troubles and difficulties were important enough to be recorded in the imperial annals, but the problems of the northern frontier were far more serious and placed far greater strain upon the empire."

NON-CHINESE AFFAIRS

Page 476: QUOTE: "In the aftermath of the great Qiang rebellion from 107 to 118 the northwest remained restless; in 126 a rising in Longxi was put down by the Protector Ma Xian. [NOTE: On page 652 it clarifies this title as 'Protector of the Qiang'.]"
Page 476: QUOTE: "Further afield, the enterprise of Ban Yong in central Asia was largely successful, culminating in the defeat of Yanqi [Karashar] in 127, but Ban Yong was dismissed as the result of an intrigue, and though his father Ban Chao had spread the authority of Han over the whole Tarim basin and across the Pamirs, his own operations had gone little further than Shanshan and Yanqi. The states in the west of the Tarim sent tribute and sometimes contributed troops, agents were placed in various cities, and new colonies were set up in Yiwu and Jushi, on the Northern Road through Turfan. There was, however, no firm and consistent Chinese control, and little contact further west, though the general settlement lasted until the 150s."
Page 476: QUOTE: "In 129, at the urgings of the energetic official Yu Xu, the government resolved the reclaim territories in the northwest which had been abandoned in the course of the Qiang rebellion. Reprieved convicts were sent to settle the frontier, while the administrations of Anding, Beidi and Shang commanderies were restored to their former capitals."
Page 476: QUOTE: "At least in appearance, therefore, there was reconstruction in the region, and in 137 the emperor went on progress to Chang'an: this journey, accompanied by donations to the poor and dispossessed, is the only occasion on which he is recorded as having left his capital."
Page 476: QUOTE: "The major problem, however, lay more directly to the north, and particularly with the Xianbi who now controlled great parts of the steppe and were inspired by their war-leader Qizhijian. In 126 an attack on Dai commandery brought the death of the Administrator, and as raiding continued the troops of the Liyang camp in Wei commandery were sent north to garrisons in Changshan while further recruits were gathered for training. In 127 the Xianbi raided Liaodong and Xuantu in the east, and in 128 they attacked Yuyang. The Protector Geng Ye defeated them on occasion and the Chinese mounted a series of punitive expeditions, but disturbance remained endemic along the whole frontier."
Page 476: QUOTE: "By the middle of the 130s the trouble was beginning to influence other non-Chinese groups: the Wuhuan raided Yunzhong, while Qiang tribesmen attacked Longxi, Hanyang and Wudu. These latter were regularly defeated by the Protector Ma Xian, but in 140 rebellion among the Xiongnu, compounded by failure among the Chinese, brought widespread disaster."
Page 476: QUOTE: "Leader of the insurgents was the chieftain Wusi, and as his following increased he was joined by the prince Yiti and attacked the Shanyu Xiuliu. The insurgents were driven back by the General on the Liao Ma Xu, but then Xiuliu was placed under such pressure by the Emissary Chen Gui for his failure to control the people that he committed suicide. The rebellion spread further, and the government was obliged to withdraw the headquarters of Xihe and Shang commanderies once more to the south, and to combine Shuofang into Wuyuan, where the remnant civilian regime could be guarded by the garrison under Ma Xu."
Page 476: QUOTE: "The rebellion was brought under control by the end of 140, and Wusi surrendered in early 141, but in the mean time he had established links with the Wuhuan and with the Qiang. In 140 these latter raided Wudu and the region about Chang'an and threatened the Long Road to the northwest. In 141 they defeated and killed the general Ma Xian in Beidi."
Page 476-477: QUOTE: "This last misfortune for the Chinese inspired a new series of rebellion and raiding, Wusi returned to the fray, and as the Qiang attacked Longxi and Chang'an once more the commandery capitals of Anding and Beidi were also brought back to the south. Over the following years the Chinese gradually gained the upper hand, and the trouble was finally ended in 144, but the work of reconstruction had been overthrown, the commandery headquarters never returned to their former territories, and although there was some resettlement by convicts there was no real attempt to recover the ground that he been lost [sic]."
Page 477: QUOTE: "In the mean time, the death of Shanyu Xiuliu had caused great damage to the prestige of that regime and had broken the line of inheritance. The Han court set up the prince Toulouchu with great ceremony, but it is doubtful whether he or his successors held any real authority over their nominal subjects. In effect, the greater part of the Ordos had been abandoned by the Chinese, and the Xiongnu people who occupied the region were organised rather in campfire and tribal units than as part of a coherent, controllable state."

SCHOLARSHIP AND BELIEF

Page 477: QUOTE: "In 131 Emperor Shun, probably at the instigation of the energetic Zuo Xiong, ordered the restoration of the Imperial University. Emperors Zhang and He had supported the institution, but the stultifying effect of official New Text teachings brought its decline, and though the regent Dowager Deng had imitated some reforms and Emperor An may have planned improvements, it was now said that the Academicians failed to teach, their pupils would not study, the buildings were in ruins and the site had reverted to pasture and gleaning. In the late 120s the Court Architect Zhai Fu had proposed rebuilding, and though the work was delayed several years in 131 and 132 a labour force of 112,000 convicts constructed 240 buildings with 1,850 rooms; within a year the new complex was ready."
Page 477: QUOTE: "Leading Confucian scholars were now recruited as Academicians, scholarships were offered, and the number of students grew. Direct entry to the bureaucracy by examination was always limited, but time at the University formed part of the curriculum vitae for many young men of the gentry and frequently preceded their entry into local government or nomination for senior office. The reconstruction also demonstrated Emperor Shun's formal commitment to Confucian ideals, and as patronage continued and grew in later years, notably under the influence of the Liang family of his empress, the University became a centre of reformist activism."
Page 477: QUOTE: "Besides this restoration of the University, in 136 the scholars Fu Wuji and Huang Jing were commissioned to prepare an imperial collection of Confucian classics, treatises by philosophers and works on art and literature. Little is known of this ambitious project, and it appears to have been later discontinued, but one may note that neither of the principal researchers held office at the University."
Page 477: QUOTE: "Emperor Shun himself appears to have been genuinely interested in the mantic practices endorsed by New Text Confucianism. He went to considerable lengths to bring the scholar recluse Fan Ying, expert in the Book of Changes, to his court, and he also sought advice from Lang Yi, who was noted in the same field. We have observed how he would issue humble edicts in response to portents, in 132 he had the Palace Attendant Wang Fu lead a special expedition to make sacrifice to the deities of rivers and mountains, and he held two special ceremonies at the Hall of the Circular Moat. Even more personally, with four Honoured Ladies to choose from, he wanted to select his empress by lot, so the spirits could decide for him. He was dissuaded by the conservative Hu Guang, who insisted upon the traditional criteria of family background followed by virtue, age, and lastly physical attraction; so the Lady Liang Na was chosen."
Page 477: QUOTE: "If Emperor Shun was interested in the esoteric, beond even the orthodoxies of the New Text and the approved apocrypha, he matched a growing tendency. The rebel Zhang He, who was active in Yang province in 132 and 133, is the first to be described in the Annals as religious or heterodox [?][?], and it appears probable that the Rice Sect of Zhang Liang was among a number of religious movements in Yi province about this time. Closer to home, it is claimed that an early version of the Taoist text Taiping jing 太平經 was presented to the throne by Gong Chong and/or Xiang Kai, disciples of the teacher Gan Ji from the region of Langye. The emperor may have been interested, but his advisers rejected it as being heretical and inappropriate."

DEATH AND JUDGMENT

Page 477: QUOTE: "Emperor Shun died on 20 September 144, at the age of thirty sui. He was buried in the 'Mound of Glory' [?][?] northwest of Luoyang and received the temple-name Jingzong 敬宗 'Reverent Exemplar.' In 190, however, Dong Zhuo, who controlled the court of Han at that time, approved a recommendation of Cai Yong that his tablet should be deposed from a permanent position in the Imperial Ancestral Temple on the grounds that he had shown neither merit nor virtue..."
Page 477-478: QUOTE: "The emperor was succeeded by his infant son Liu Bing, born the previous year to his concubine the Honoured Lady Yu. Power in the state, however, was taken by the Lady Liang Na, now regent Dowager, and her brother Liang Ji."
Page 478: QUOTE: "From the point of view of the dynasty, like Emperor He before him Liu Bao's great failing was his early death, which left the way open for the dominance of the consort family; and the Dowager Deng was a more effective ruler than the Liang family. More generally, and despite the harsh assessment of Cai Yong, historians have debated whether Emperor Shun was indeed a weak and inadequate ruler, or whether his reign marked a brief attempt, ultimately unsuccessful, to restore the declining fortunes of the house of Han, a period of hope which was shattered by the 'stupid tyranny' of Emperor Huan and Ling: e.g. ZZTJ 68:2173-74; deC 96:555-558, discussed by MBeck 86:364."
Page 478: QUOTE: "Certainly the first decade of the reign of Emperor Shun proved to be the last time that a ruler of Later Han dealt directly with his Confucianist officials, and the style of government followed that traditional model, with worthy sentiments and attempts at reform. The teenage sovereign, however, was strongly influenced by personal relationships, and his policies could vary through the intrigues and favourites within the palace or the strong will and authority of leaders in the bureaucracy. It does not appear that he had great interest in abstract notions of consistent and impartial government, and the partnership between the ruler and his ministers suffered accordingly."
Page 478: QUOTE: "Perhaps most significant is the appointment of Liang Shan as General-in-Chief and the consequent extension of his influence. The emperor was twenty years old in 135, formally of full age, and should in theory have had no problems exercising his authority, but he preferred to rely upon the older man, and even after Liang Shang's death in 141 he allowed Liang Ji to take his father's position."
Page 478: QUOTE: "A decisive moment came in 142, when Zhou Ju and others persuaded Emperor Shun to appoint eight commissioners for a general investigation of the empire. The men were chosen for their moral authority and held wide power of supervision and remonstrance, but when Zhang Gang criticised the favour shown to the Liang, the emperor noted the problem but took no action. This marked the end of any possibility that Confucian officials of the traditional bureaucracy might match the authority of the consort family. It is possible, but unlikely, that the emperor could have changed his attitude, but for the time being he had accepted the Liang family, and his death soon afterwards confirmed the new, and potentially dangerous, situation."
Page 478: QUOTE: "It may indeed be argued that, for all the difficulties which faced the empire, the reign of Emperor Shun was a period of hope and offered the dynasty a chance for revival. Sadly, the ruler himself was lazy, fickle, and not very interested."

Emperor Huan of Han

Page 595: QUOTE: "Liu Zhi 劉志 (132–168) [Emperor Huan 桓帝 (reg. 146–168)]. Born in 132, Liu Zhi was a great-grandson of Emperor Zhang through his son the King of Hejian: the personal name of this man is normally given as Kai, but it may in fact have been Gong...One of the king's sons was Liu Yi, Marquis of Liwu in Zhongshan, who had at one time been favoured by the Dowager Deng but had later been pressed into obscurity. Liu Zhi was born to the Lady Yan Ming, wife or perhaps concubine of Liu Yi."

ACCESSION AND TUTELAGE

Page 595: QUOTE: "In 146 Liu Zhi was brought to Luoyang and betrothed to the Lady Liang Nüying, younger sister of the regent Dowager Liang Na and her brother the General-in-Chief Liang Ji. Liu Zhi's distant cousin Liu Zuan, eight years old, was on the throne at that time, but Liu Zuan had spoken disapprovingly of Liang Ji, and he died soon afterwards. There is debate whether the boy was murdered, but it is certainly remarkable that the Lady Liang Na [sic] was to be married to the outsider Liu Zhi, and not to the reigning Liu Zuan."
Page 595-596: QUOTE: "The Grand Commandant Li Gu argued that Liu Suan the King of Qinghe, who was known to be a young man of character, should be granted the succession. He had made the same suggestion at the time Liu Zuan was appointed, and he was initially supported by the other two Excellencies, Hu Guang and Zhao Jie, but these two allies withdrew under pressure from the Liang group. When Li Gu continued to argue, the Dowager dismissed him. Liu Zhi was then brought to the throne, aged about fourteen by Western reckoning, and in 147 he was married to the Lady Liang Nüying. Soon afterwards, following an abortive uprising in favour of Liu Suan, the unlucky pretender was exiled and committed suicide while Li Gu and Du Qiao both died in prison."
Page 596: QUOTE: "Emperor Huan took the cap of manhood in 148, and the Dowager formally handed power to him shortly before her death in 150, but in practice he was under the influence of his empress Liang Nüying, while the General-in-Chief Liang Ji exercised power as before. The emperor had no means to oppose his dominance, and it is possible that, like Emperor Shun before him, he had no particular ambition to do so. By the late 150s, however, after the Liang family had controlled the court for almost fifteen years, and Emperor Huan was in his middle twenties, it appears that he had become somewhat impatient and that he had no reason to be concerned for his own future."

AFFAIRS OF GOVERNMENT 144-159

Page 596: QUOTE: "Though Liu Zhi had no real authority during the first years of his reign, it seems appropriate to provide a summary of events during that period, and indeed to extend the survey back to the two previous years, when his short-lived predecessors Liu Bing, Emperor Chong, and Liu Zuan, Emperor Zhi, were upon the throne."
Page 596: QUOTE: "Through the middle 140s the northwest of the empire continued to suffer from the aftermath of the second great Qiang rebellion, with occasional disturbance punctuated by formal surrenders. In the southeast, moreover, there was widespread rebellion in Yang province, led by Zhang Ying, Xu Feng and others, while a number of Administrators were found to have been corrupt or cruel, and suffered death in prison. Early in the regency, in 146, an edict complained of the quality of candidates recommended by the provinces and commanderies, and ordered that junior officers of ten years good service should be nominated, while the sons and grandsons of those found guilty of corruption should be excluded."
Page 596: QUOTE: "Also at this time, continuing the patronage which the Liang family had shown for the Imperial University during the reign of Emperor Shun, there was a first move towards establishing a regular procedure for student entrance into the imperial civil service. Later Han had maintained no regular system of examination entry such as had been used in Former Han, but in 146 the heads of commanderies and kingdoms were ordered to nominate men between the ages of fifty and seventy as Understanding the Classics, presumably with a view to their joining the staff of the University, while sons of senior officials, from the General-in-Chief to those ranking at Six Hundred shi, were required to attend as students, and ten successful examinees were made gentlemen cadets or members of the Suite of the Heir, entry-level appointments to the bureaucracy. Other officers, cadets and young men of family were likewise encouraged to study and were rewarded with recognition, money and advancement."
Page 596: QUOTE: "Two years later, during the minority of Emperor Huan in 148, it was ordered that all students sixteen sui or older could take examinations similar to those given to candidates recommended from the commanderies and kingdoms as Understanding the Classics. The thirty-one most successful were appointed Gentlemen of the Household, most senior of the gentlemen cadets, the next seventeen became members of the Suite of the Heir, and the next seventeen became Gentlemen at the court of a king. In 156, with government still in the hands of the Liang, a new system was introduced, allowing candidates to take examinations in an increasing number of classics over a period of years, and to rise with each success, so that it became possible to obtain a substantive post in the bureaucracy. Compared to the number of students at the University, and the number of officials recruited by other means, this route of entry was narrow, but the changes marked a restoration of entry to the civil service by academic examination."
Page 596-597: QUOTE: "In general, after so many changes of ruler, the Liang government felt the need to seek popularity. After an eclipse early in 147, it was ordered that senior officers should report on the problems of the empire, and this was followed by an amnesty and a wide variety of awards of noble ranks among the people. Soon afterwards officers were sent out to deal with famine relief in Jing and Yang provinces. In the summer there was a wide call for nominations and further advice from senior officers and marquises, together with edicts threatening heavy punishment for corruption. There was also some lightening of penalties for those condemned to death less one degree, notably that they were no longer to suffer the bastinado, which sometimes produced a fatal result, and orders were given year by year that convicts should be sent to settle the frontier regions; in reverse, an edict of 149 permitted the return of many families which had been exiled earlier."
Page 597: QUOTE: "In 148 the emperor's taking of the cap of manhood was celebrated by donations to the nobility and also to commoners over eighty, while the kingdom of Qinghe, held by the late Liu Suan, was renamed as Ganling and the son of Liu Li/Hui of the Anping lineage was placed upon the vacant throne. More significantly, perhaps, in the winter of that year there were two rebellions, one in Chen, where a certain Chen Jing styled himself the Son of the Yellow Emperor 黄帝子, and one in Runan, where the chieftain Guan Bo proclaimed himself a Perfect Man [?][?]. Both were swiftly eliminated, but the titles they took were signs that the cult of Huang-Lao 黄老, combining worship of the legendary Yellow Emperor 黄帝 and Laozi 老子, had now acquired a political manifestation. About this time the regency government arranged for the construction of a temple to Laozi at his national birthplace in Chen, and during the 160s Huang-Lao received patronage from Emperor Huan himself. These beliefs, however, also served as the basis of several rebellious movements, culminating in the Yellow Turban movement of the early 180s..."
Page 597: QUOTE: "Following the financial crisis of 143, echoes of state poverty may be found in an edict of 149, allowing various penalties, including execution, to be alleviated by payment of a fine, though in the same year provision was made for grants to common people who could not afford the cost of a funeral. There were several ominous natural misfortunes, including earthquakes and floods, and occasional reports of such favourable signs as yellow dragons. In 151 there was pestilence in the capital and imperial officials were sent to distribute medicine, but later that year a drought is said to have caused famine leading to cannibalism in Rencheng and Liang. In 153 there were locusts over much of the empire, the Yellow River flooded, and there were numbers of displaced refugees in Ji province; the government attempted to provide relief, but similar disasters struck in the following year, and in 155 it was again necessary to provide aid to the starving in the region of the capital and in Ji province, this time by authorising the forced requisition of any supplies of grain that could be found."
Page 597: QUOTE: "Led by Gongsun Ju, there was serious banditry in the east about Taishan and Langye, affecting Qing, Yan and Xu provinces from 154. In 155 the government granted relief from taxes, and also established Commandant's offices in the affected commanderies, intensifying the military administration. In 156 the General of the Household Duan Jiong, later one of the leading military commanders of the day, settled that trouble, but after more than ten years of comparative quiet there was renewed difficulty in the north. In 155 the rebel chieftain Bode attacked the capital of the Southern Shanyu in Xihe, and although he was defeated by Zhang Huan, also to become a noted general, incursions by the Xianbi in following years extended along the whole frontier. In the south in 157, there was rebellion in Jiuzhen in present-day Vietnam and, within the empire, in Changsha."
Page 597: QUOTE: "In 154, evidently as further display of the regency government's commitment to good morality, it was ordered that mourning for parents must again be observed even by the senior officials of the provinces and commanderies, and two years later junior officers were ordered to follow the same regime. The reform had been attempted earlier, during the regency of the Dowager Deng for Emperor An in 116, but the disruption to government had brought its withdrawal in 121. The problem remained, and the edict was rescinded early in 159. In similar fashion, in 154 the government issued instructions to enforce the sumptuary laws for carriages and clothing, as in the ideal time of Emperor Ming."
Page 597: QUOTE: "Despite worthy edicts and moral exhortations, and attempts at generosity to the people, Liang Ji, his wife Sun Shou and their relatives were widely accused, probably with justice, of personal corruption and greed, and it appears that the emperor himself came to resent their dominance. The authority of the Liang was centred upon the empress, and when the Empress Liang died in the autumn of 159 the family position suffered a serious blow. Deprived of her alliance within the palace and the information which she had provided, Liang Ji was cut off from the centre of authority. He attempted to gain control of the emperor's favourite, the Lady Deng Mengnü, but her kinsmen resisted his plans and in an attempt to force their submission he killed her brother-in-law and attacked her mother, the Lady Xuan."
Page 597-598: QUOTE: "Given the history of his predecessors and the immediate threat to his favourite's family, Emperor Huan was now concerned for his own safety, and in a secret meeting held in a lavatory he enlisted the aid of the palace eunuch Tang Heng. Tang Heng gathered four colleagues, Zuo Guan, Shan Chao, Xu Huang, and Ju Yuan, they swore an oath in blood with the emperor, and the five eunuchs carried out the coup with surprising ease [see sub Ju Yuan]. As the Director of Retainers Zhang Biao brought guards to surround Liang Ji's residence and remove his seals of office, Liang Ji and the Lady Sun Shou killed themselves. Many of their kinsmen were arrested and died in prison, and officials at court and in the bureaucracy who were seen as having supported the Liang were disgraced and dismissed. The five eunuch allies were rewarded with county marquisates and seven loyal officials received lesser fiefs."

PERSONAL RULE: THE POWER OF THE EUNUCHS AND THE POLITICS OF THE HAREM

Page 598: QUOTE: "In seeking assistance against Liang Ji, it was natural and inevitable that Emperor Huan should have looked to his eunuch attendants, for they were the only people with whom he had close contact and confidence: members of the outer court and the bureaucracy had no natural access and were controlled by the network of the Liang family in power. At the same time, it was also true that after almost twenty years of dominance by the Liang there were many who had enjoyed their patronage and regarded the consort family as natural rulers of the state. In any event, the personal government of Emperor Huan was noted for the favour which he showed to his five eunuch allies, and the manner in which they and their colleagues, particularly the notorious Hou Lan, extended their influence and power."
Page 598: QUOTE: "Within a few months the division between the palace and the outer bureaucracy was entrenched by the case of Li Yun and Du Zhong, who were executed for their intemperate criticism. Attacks on the pretensions and corruption of the imperial favourites continued in the following years, with some success, and in 167 Hou Lan, Zuo Guan and Ju Yuan were disgraced and dismissed, but the emperor's earlier support had offended many of the officials and gentry. The ruler's personal conduct was regularly called into question, there was criticism of his extravagance in construction and of the size of his harem, and protest from within and without the bureaucracy was combined, still more dangerously, with an increasing reluctance by men of good-will to involve themselves in the service of the state whose procedures and policies were seen as corrupt and immoral."
Page 598: QUOTE: "In many areas of the countryside, moreover, eunuchs and their associates took advantage of influence at court to claim a position against the gentry who had generally dominated the local communities; such conflicts led to a number of atrocities [see, for example, the case of Xu Xuan]. There were private feuds among leading families which were equally ferocious [see, for example sub Su Buwei], but the activities of the eunuchs did a great deal to alienate the imperial regime from the gentlemen at court and in the country who should have been its chief supporters."
Page 598: QUOTE: "Financially, the central government continued to suffer pressure. There were only limited resources to assist those affected by natural disaster or otherwise in need, and the costs of rebellion and war were greater than regular imperial revenues could cope with. In 161 the salaries of all officials were reduced and the pensions of kings and marquises were halved, while secondary marquisates, some lesser noble ranks, and various positions as guards about the palace were offered for sale [the regent Dowager Deng had been forced to a similar policy in 109]. In the following year, as an army was raised to deal with the rebellion in the south, there was a forced loan of all official salaries, and royal and noble pensions were withheld. In 162 palace guards not on active duty lost their traditional allocation of winter clothing, and the isse was halved for all members of the bureaucracy. It is uncertain which of these measures applied only to that time of emergency or whether some were maintained for several years, but the edivence of stringency is clear."
Page 598: QUOTE: "In 165 an edict ordered a levy on arable land at the rate of ten cash per mou [?]. Land had long been subject to taxation, assessed at one-thirtieth of estimated production and normally paid in kind, but contemporary commentators such as Zhongchang Tong argued that this was quite inadequate for the needs of the state...It appears that the new impost was an attempt to gain access to resources controlled by great landowners...but it is again impossible to judge how long the levy was maintained, though it was renewed by Emperor Ling in 185."
Page 598-599: QUOTE: "The general economic situation did not improve: in 166 an edict observed that the harvest had failed, bringing hunger to the people, and that there had been floods, drought, pestilence and bandit disturbances, especially in the south. Relief from taxes was ordered for all the territories, with full exemption for those most seriously affected. As famine became worse in the region of the capital and in Ji province, clerks of the Excellencies were sent to issue relief grain. In the following year there were river floods in six provinces and sea flooding at the mouth of the Yellow River. Once more there were awards of cash and orders for distribution of grain."
Page 599: QUOTE: "During the few years of his personal rule, Emperor Huan left the capital only twice. In 163 he went on a hunting trip to Chang'an, accompanied by inevitable protests at such extravagance, and in the winter of 164 he made a two-month tour to the south, visiting the ancestral tombs at Nanyang, then journeying further to the Han River and the Yunmeng marshes by the junction of the Han and the Yangzi."
Page 599: QUOTE: "Despite the economic problems of the time, Emperor Huan is known as one of the great builders of Han. It is claimed that during the 160s his Court Architects were responsible for new parks and hunting grounds, while he took personal pleasure in the restoration of the Garden of the Shining Dragon in the Northern Palace...including a number of pavilions and other buildings, and used it for his personal treasury. On the other hand, there were a remarkable number of fires during this period, so that much of Emperor Huan's building expense was owed to the need to repair palace buildings, tombs and other imperial sites after conflagrations. It is possible that some fires were deliberately lit by people discontented with the eunuch dominance of the state and seeking to protest by portent, and certainly the Excellencies Chen Fan and Liu Mou used a series of outbreaks at the end of 165 as grounds for memorials of remonstrance."
Page 599: QUOTE: "Besides his energetic construction work, we are told that Emperor Huan was fond of music, and was a fine performer on the lute [?] and pipes [?]. He was more celebrated, however, for his love of women, and the size and expense of the imperial harem was a major cause for complaint. The inhabitants already numbered more than a thousand at the time of the Liang regency, presumably in the hope that they would distract the young ruler from more political matters, and the harem continued to grow even after complaints on its expense caused six hundred women to be dismissed in 161. By 166 the number of six thousand third-rank concubines was cited by the critic Xiang Kai, and if this is correct Emperor Huan may hold the world record: a maximum of three thousand was recorded towards the end of Former Han...in modern times it is said that the nineteenth century Ottoman Sultan Abdul Aziz had nine hundred women in his seraglio at Istanbul; and the twentieth century King Faisal of Arabia accumulated more than a thousand. Xiang Kai may have exaggerated, and some of the women may have been servants and attendants to others and not formally taken as concubines, but apart from the practical problem of personal dealings with such a mass of femininity, even by roster, the costs of housing and food were a serious burden on the state."
Page 599: QUOTE: "The imperial harem, however, was not only for the emperor's pleasure: it was supposed to produce an heir, and in that regard both the sovereign and his women were quite unsuccessful. Emepror Huan was fertile, for he sired three daughters, and possibly a son who died young [see sub Zhou Teng], while it is claimed that several pregnant concubines were killed by the empress Liang Na; XHS 1:5b also refers to imperial children dying young. The Empress Deng, however, had no son, and early in 165 she was dismissed. One accusation was that she had been engaged in black magic, and she may indeed have sought to obtain a child by use of potions. She died in the harem prison a few days later, her kinsmen were disgraced, and some were killed."
Page 599: QUOTE: "In the winter of that year the Lady Dou Miao was named empress in her place. Though Emperor Huan was reluctant, his position was weakened by the disgrace of his former favourites Zuo Guan, Ju Yuan and Hou Lan, and he was pressed by his senior ministers, notably the Grand Commandant Chen Fan and the Director of Retainers Ying Feng, who argued that it was for the good of the dynasty taht he take a women [sic] of family as his consort. He had no interest in the Lady Dou, however, and attended her rarely, if at all. His preference was for the Lady Tian Sheng, who shared his bed and his favours with eight companions, probably in hope that the magic number nine would help produce male children. In the event, such efforts were unsuccessful, and when the emperor died two years later the Lady Dou became regent Dowager and avenged herself upon her late husband's favourites."

NON-CHINESE AFFAIRS AND INTERNAL REBELLION

Page 600 QUOTE: "Following his coup against the Liang family in 159 Emperor Huan's prestige was no doubt enhanced when the court received an embassy from Tianzhu 天竺 [northern India, identified also as Shentu [?][?]] a few months later. A second embassy arrived in 161, as did a tribute mission from Fuyu 扶餘, which bordered China in the region of Manchuria."
Page 600: QUOTE: "Most spectacularly, it is recorded that a mission from Daqin 大秦, identified as the empire of Rome, came to Luoyang from the south in 166. The envoys claimed that they had been sent by their king Andun [?][?], presumably the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus [reg. 161–180], and the gifts they brought, including ivory, rhinoceros horn and tortoise shell, had evidently been gathered on their journey. There was and still is some suspicion that these men were enterprising traders rather than accredited officials, but their visit provided valuable prestige to the emperor at a time of political difficulty. [It may be only chance, but the date of this visit coincided with the outbreak of the Antonine plague which ravaged the Roman empire from the middle 160s: the question of epidemics is discussed in the entry for Liu Hong, Emperor Ling.]"
Page 600: QUOTE: "Closer to home, there was continuing trouble on the frontiers and major rebellion within the empire. In 159 non-Chinese tribes made incursions on the western frontier of Yi province, which were settled in 161, but in the meantime there arose the first of a series of disturbances which were to bedevil the south of Jing province."
Page 600: QUOTE: "In 160 the non-Chinese of the region of Changsha raided the commandery, and the hill people of Wuling attacked into Nan commandery. They were dealt with by Du Shang and Feng Gun, but in 162 there was major rebellion affecting Changsha, Guiyang, Lingling and Cangwu. An initial attempt to restore order was unsuccessful, the Inspector and the Administrator of Cangwu fled, and the situation was compounded by a mutiny of local troops. As the capital of Changsha fell to the rebels, raiding in Wuling drove the Administrator there to flight too, while the insurgents extended their depredations across provincial borders east into Yuzhang and south into Nanhai."
Page 600: QUOTE: "Feng Gun was then given an army and a general's command, and he gained some access, but the cost of the enterprise was sufficient to require a forced loan from official salaries and the withholding of royal and noble pensions. Trouble continued on a smaller but still substantial scale from 163, but was eventually settled by the Inspector Du Shang in 165."
Page 600: QUOTE: "During the middle 150s there had been widespread banditry about Taishan and Langye led by Gongsun Ju. Commandant's offices were established there, and though Gongsun Ju was killed in 156, his place was taken by Shusun Wuji. He in turn was eliminated in 160, but it was only in 162 that the Commandant's office was withdrawn from Langye, and not until 165 that the same sign of security was possible in Taishan. In that year, moreover, there were two rebel emperors, one northeast in Bohai and one southeast in Guangling. Both were swiftly destroyed, but they continued the religious tradition which had inspired similar claims in the late 140s."
Page 600: QUOTE: "The major problem facing the empire, however, was that of the Qiang in the northwest. Following the second great rebellion of the early 140s there was a period of comparative peace, notably in the late 150s through the benevolent administration of the Protector Diwu Fang. In 159 Diwu Zhong left that position, and he was succeeded by Duan Jiong, a man of very temperament; the Qiang both within and outside the frontier became restless. In 160 a raid on Zhangye by 'Western' Qiang was repelled by Duan Jiong, who then pursued the fugitives beyond the frontier and heavily defeated them."
Page 600: QUOTE: "Attacks nonetheless continued, and after Duan Jiong was dismissed in 161 on account of a mutiny, the situation rapidly became worse, as rebel 'Eastern' Qiang from within the empire ravaged Liang and Bing provinces and threatened Chang'an. The general Huangfu Gui was sent out and defeated them, and in the following years various insurgencies were dealt with by local forces, but the whole territory was under constant threat and by 164 it appeared that Liang province was almost out of control."
Page 600: QUOTE: "At this point Duan Jiong was agian appointed Protector, and began a program of active engagement against the Qiang along the frontier. After a series of campaigns, in the spring of 167 he achieved a decisive victory over the Dangjian group as they attacked Wuwei, and the Western Qiang were finally pacified."
Page 600-601: QUOTE: "There remained the Eastern Qiang, settled in what was nominally Chinese territory, whose most powerful tribe was the Xianlian. In the spring of 167, at the same time as Duan Jiong was concluding his business in the west, the Xianlian Qiang raided towards Chang'an. They were defeated by the general Zhang Huan but made further attacks in the summer and the winter of that same year. Now, however, encouraged by the success of Duan Jiong's energetic strategy, the court approved his proposal to apply the same firm policy to the Eastern Qiang; the program, however, was not ready until 168, the beginning of the reign of Emperor Ling."

PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION AND POLITICAL OPPOSITION

Page 601: QUOTE: "The regent government of the Liang family had maintained the custom of calling for special nominations to office, and made particular point of sponsoring scholarship and the Imperial University. Under such patronage, the numbers of staff increased, and it was said that there were as many as thirty thousand students. As Emperor Huan took power in 159, this became a problem for his government."
Page 601: QUOTE: "Firstly, the University itself was not well regarded, for the official New Text teachings continued to be out of favour among serious scholars, who regarded them as pointless and trifling. Second, there were still only limited means by which a student could obtain direct entrance to the commissioned civil service through examination, and the vast majority had to rely upon patronage from senior officials at the capital or in their home country: there was thus a large number of frustrated politicians."
Page 601: QUOTE: "Furthermore, though many moral and traditional Confucianists had opposed the apparent excess of the Liang, their opposition was now turned against the eunuch favourites of the emperor, and the Liang family's past patronage of scholarship meant that Emperor Huan could have little expectation of support. On the contrary, through the 160s there was increasing protest at his government, and the students of the University, notably under their leader Guo Tai, gave vociferous support to strong opponents of the eunuchs such as Li Ying and Ying Feng."
Page 601: QUOTE: "At the same time there was increasing reluctance by many good men to enter the imperial service. To some extent this was a development of the hermit tradition which had developed in earlier generations [Vervoorn 90], but it was compounded by widespread disapproval of Emperor Huan's own government and, still more significantly, by a growing tendency for men to reject nominations or resign their posts if they considered their patron or superior officer to be of poor moral quality [?][?][?]. In effect, current Confucian principle regarded individual morality and personal relationships as more important than public service to the state. Many men, of course, were still prepared to serve, and long-term officials such as Hu Guang and members of the Yuan family received wide respect, but the imperial government itself received little support and considerable opposition from its traditional allies among the educated land-owning gentry."
Page 601: QUOTE: "By the middle 160s the excesses of the eunuchs and their associates had caused Emperor Huan to lose some confidence, but his relations with the moral Confucianist party was little improved and he was under pressure from his senior traditionalist ministers, particularly when they obliged him to accept the Lady Dou as his consort. It appears that he may have been seeking an alternative source of legitimacy, and found it in the worship of Huang-Lao 黃老, a combined deity of the Yellow Emperor 黄帝 and the ancient sage Laozi 老子."
Page 601: QUOTE: "Known since the Former Han, the Huang-Lao cult became increasingly popular in the second century AD and inspired a number of religious and rebel teachers, such as Chen Jing and Guan Bo at the beginning of Emperor Huan's reign in the late 140s. About 148, moreover, the Liang regency dedicated a temple to Laozi at his putative birthplace in Chen, so there was a tradition of government patronage as well as rebel ideology."
Page 601: QUOTE: "In the spring of 165 the emperor sent the eunuch Zhu Guan to carry out worship at the temple of Laozi in Chen, the first occasion on which he had shown such interest. A few months later Zuo Guan and his family were disgraced, but in the winter the eunuch Guan Ba was sent on a second mission; it was probably at this time that the celebrated Laozi ming...stele, composed by the local Chancellor Bian Shao, was set up. The inscription praised the combined deity and described how he could manifest himself to guide earthly rulers."
Page 601-602: QUOTE: "Very soon afterwards, moreover, an edict in the summer ordered the abolition of local shrines throughout the empire, on the grounds that they encouraged heterodox superstition. The prohibition does not appear to have lasted long, and certainly not after Emperor Huan's death, but it is probable that he was likewise seeking to establish his own orthodoxy at the expense of local rivals. [Some scholars have suggested that the emperor's interest in Huang-Lao was inspired by the Empress Dou, but this seems unlikely: Zuo Guan's expedition had taken place before she came to the throne, and we are told that the Emperor Huan had little interest in her. It may be that he was encouraged by the eunuchs and some women of his harem.]"
Page 602: QUOTE: "As culmination of this policy, in the summer of 166 the emperor himself carried out worship to Huang-Lao in the Garden of the Shining Dragon at Luoyang. The Treatise of Sacrifices describes how the altar was covered with cloth of patterned wool, with gold utensils, a special throne and palanquin for the deity, and music suitable to the imperial sacrifice to Heaven, and we are told that the ceremony also referred to the Buddha, cited as [?][?] or [?][?]."
Page 602: QUOTE: "The ruler was evidently making a claim for legitimacy independent of traditional Confucianism and with potential appeal to many people at the capital and the provinces, but there is no way to assess how far this policy might have extended or to what long-term effect. In a critical pair of memorials soon afterwards the scholar Xiang Kai derided his pretensions to morality, and in any case Emperor Huan died just eighteen months later. There was no repetition of his patronage."
Page 602: QUOTE: "At the same time as it developed the worship of Huang-Lao, the government sought to curb the Confucianist officials and the students who supported them. In 166 the two Administrators Cheng Jin and Liu Zhi were executed for having supported or permitted attacks on eunuch associates and clients in their territories, and later in the year the anti-eunuch official Li Ying and his colleagues were charged with seeking favour among the students of the University and support in the provinces, and forming a faction to plan treason. Furious, the emperor had some two hundred men arrested and held under torture for several months. Though [sic] the influence of Dou Wu and Chen Han they were released with an amnesty in the middle of 167, but it was ordered that they should be proscribed from holding any office in the future. From the terms for proscription [?][?] and for faction [?][?], the group is known to history as the Proscribed Party [?][?], and this First Faction incident would have major repercussions in the reign of Emperor Ling."

DEATH AND JUDGMENT

Page 602: QUOTE: "Emperor Huan died at the very end of the Chinese year 167, on 25 January 168, at the age of thirty-six sui. He was buried in the 'Mound of Comprehension' [?][?] southeast of Luoyang and received the temple-name Weizong 威宗 'Majestic Exemplar.' In 190, however, the court of Han controlled by Dong Zhuo approved a recommendation of Cai Yong, that Emperor Huan's tablet should be deposed from a permanent position in the Imperial Ancestral Temple on the grounds that he had shown neither merit nor virtue..."
Page 602: QUOTE: "Though the emperor left only daughters, his twin brother Liu Kui might have succeeded him to the throne. That possibility was destroyed, however, when Liu Kui was found guilty of treason in 165. The charge was doubtful, and Liu Kui was restored to his former position just two days before the emperor's death, but it was clearly not possible for him to take the throne. As a result, the Lady Dou, now dowager, and her father Dou Wu had freedom to choose among all male members of the clan. Their choice, and one cannot feel that it was a good one, fell upon Liu Hong, Emperor Ling."
Page 602: QUOTE: "Emperor Huan has been widely criticised by historians, both Chinese and Western. He is commonly coupled with his successor among the worst emperors of all time, and the great Sima Guang referred to the 'stupid tyranny' of Huan and Ling. The reasons are not far to seek: Emperor Huan's reliance upon his palace eunuchs and his estrangement from the bureaucracy and gentry of the countryside did a great deal of harm, and the Faction Incident marked a very low point."
Page 602: QUOTE: "On the other hand, it must be recognised that the government was facing great difficulties [sic, a missing period!] The frontier and the north-western provinces were increasingly unstable and vulnerable, the resources of the state were limited, and the long hegemony of the Liang family had weakened the links which should have bound the ruler to his natural allies among officials and other leaders of local communities."
Page 602-603: QUOTE: "These were very large problems, and though the young ruler failed to solve them, he was little aided by the economic and philosophical tendencies of the age, which encouraged men to cultivate private interests at the expense of any contributions they might make to the public good. Emperor Huan had many faults and made several errors of judgment, but he was not necessarily as bad as he has been painted by traditional historians."

Emperor Ling of Han

Page 511: Emperor Ling of Han (r. 168–189), or Liu Hong (b. 156), was the son of Liu Chang, the Marquis of Jiedu Village, and was a great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang of Han. Liu Chang died when Liu Hong was young; the latter inherited the marquisate of his father.

ACCESSION, REGENCY AND THE EUNUCH COUP OF 168

Page 510: QUOTE: "When Emperor Huan died in the winter of 167/168 he left no heir, and his widow the Dowager Dou Miao had the constitutional right to choose any member of the imperial clan to succeed him. She and her father Dou Wu consulted together, and they asked the advice of the Imperial Clerk Liu Shu, a member of the Censorate who came from that territory. He recommended Liu Hong, at that time twelve sui, a little more than ten years old by Western reckoning, and on 17 February 168 Liu Hong was placed upon the throne. We are told that Liu Shu praised his high moral qualities, but he was surely rather young for such an encomium, and we may assume that in the eyes of his sponsors Liu Hong's chief advantages were that he was old enough to avoid the risks of infant mortality, and young enough to require the guidance of a regent, thus ensuring the hegemony of the Dowager's clan for some years to come. As the boy was brought to the capital, his father and his grandparents were granted posthumous imperial honours, but his mother the Lady Dong was left behind in Hejian."
Page 510-511: QUOTE: "While the Dowager Dou held power as regent, her father Dou Wu was named General-in-Chief, which gave nominal command over the Northern Army, the major professional force at the capital, and he maintained a close partnership with the senior official Chen Fan, now Grand Tutor. With the Excellency Hu Guang they shared control over the Secretariat, centre of imperial authority, and under their patronage Li Ying and other reformers who had been proscribed the year before were brought back to the capital and given high office. The moral Confucianists believed that the time for change had come, and they planned to eliminate the power of the palace eunuchs who had held such influence under Emperor Huan."
Page 511: QUOTE: "As the Dowager resisted the plans of her father and her associates, the matter was undecided for several months. Eventually, however, Dou Wu and Chen Fan had their ally Shan Bing appointed Prefect of the Yellow Gates, with authority over all palace eunuchs, and Shan Bing had the eunuch Zheng Li arrested and tortured. From his forced confession they obtained a case against the senior eunuchs Cao Jie, Wang Fu and others. Orders were given for their arrest to, but at this point, early on 25 October, the eunuchs struck back. They swore an oath to destroy their enemies, Cao Jie persuaded the young emperor to support them against the alleged traitors, and with this imperial authority the Secretariat was persuaded to issue an edict dismissing Dou Wu."
Page 511: QUOTE: "Refusing to accept the edict, Dou Wu gathered the troops of the Northern Army to regain control. Chen Fan also attempted a counter-attack, but was overpowered and arrested. The eunuchs then gathered a scratch force of palace guards to face Dou Wu, and they were fortunate enough to have the support of the well-known general Zhang Huan, lately returned from the frontier. It is claimed that Zhang Huan was confused as to which side he should support, but his intervention proved decisive, and as the two sides faced one another Dou Wu's men steadily abandoned him. By the middle of the morning he had been driven to flight and suicide, other members of the family and their party were killed, and the Dowager was placed under house arrest. She played no further role in government and died, not necessarily of natural causes, in 172."

EUNUCH GOVERNMENT AND PROSCRIPTION

Page 511: QUOTE: "Following their decisive victory over Dou Wu and his allies, the eunuchs renewed the proscription against the Confucianist reformers such as Li Ying, but they still had some concerns, and the students of the University and various junior officers maintained their agitation. In the winter of 169 the eunuch Hou Lan reported that Zhang Jian and a group of his fellow-countrymen from Shanyang had sworn an oath of mutual allegiance. Such a ceremony may have been innocent—a group of likeminded men from the same region confirming friendship and brotherhood—but Zhang Jian was an old enemy of Hou Lan, and the eunuchs claimed that the gathering was treacherous. They persuaded the young emperor that the members of the Prescribed Party were a threat to the state which had to be crushed. Zhang Jian made his escape, and the student leader Guo Tai was not directly involved, but Li Ying, Liu Shu, Fan Pang and some hundred others were killed, while their wives and children were sent to the frontiers. Many people also denounced one another for private reasons, and it was estimated that six or seven hundred people were executed or exiled. This Second Faction Incident marked the beginning of the Great Proscription."
Page 511: QUOTE: "In 172 the senior eunuch Hou Lan was dismissed for corruption and killed himself, and the death of the Dowager Dou soon afterwards inspired a flurry of protest, seeking to take advantage of the set-back to the emperor's favourites. Slogans opposed to the eunuchs and blaming them for the Lady Dou's death appeared on a gate of the capital, but the frontier general Duan Jiong, now Director of Retainers, promptly conducted a purge of students at the University."
Page 511: QUOTE: "In 176 the elderly Administrator of the distant commandery of Yongchang, Cao Luan, presented an ill-advised plea for leniency; the emperor was furious at the suggestion, and the proscription was extended even to most distant relatives. Three years later this was reversed, but it was not until the time of the Yellow Turban rebellion of 184, fifteen years after its commencement, that the Proscription was ended, largely because of concerns that disaffected and resentful gentry might join the rebel cause."
Page 511: QUOTE: "In practice, though the Proscription affected hundreds and even thousands of people, many of them scholar-officials of high quality, the administration continued to function and many men of family, notably from the well-established Yang and Yuan clans, were content to serve the state and were respected for doing so. The eunuchs had the support of the young emperor, and their intervention for personal gain sometimes disrupted the government, but in formal terms the situation was not greatly changed."
Page 511-512: QUOTE: "As time passed, however, the imperial bureaucracy was weakened by frequent changes among the Excellencies. In the twenty years of the reign of Emperor Shun there had been ten appointments as Grand Commandant, seven as Excellency over the Masses and eight as Excellency of Works. During the eight years of the personal reign of Emperor Huan from 159 to 167, there were seven Grand Commandants, five Excellencies over the Masses and seven Excellencies of Works, an average of some two new appointments each year. Under Emperor Ling, however, during the twenty years from 169 to 189, there were twenty-five Grand Commandants, fourteen Excellencies over the Masses and twenty-two Excellencies of Works, an average of three appointments a year. Some appointments were promotions within the ranks of the Excellencies, and some men held the same office on separate occasions, but the overall effect was to remove continuity at the highest level and reduce the influence of those who were nominally the most senior of the state. Many Excellencies left office on account of unfavourable omens, notionally accepting responsibility for the balance of the cosmos, but in fact reducing the authority of government. And during the 180s, the sale of office, or fines for acceptance, extended to Excellency ranks as well and did further damage to the prestige and morale of all officials."
Page 512: QUOTE: "The reign of Emperor Ling was marked by a host of reports of portents, some natural, such as earthquakes, locusts, floods, and droughts, the latter praticularly from 175 to 177, others more questionable, such as the appearance of magical snakes and dragons, notably in 178 and 179, and some suspicious, such as frequent fires in imperial buildings, culminating in a conflagration at the Southern Palace in 185. Following such events there were calls for sealed memorials on problems of the day, and the government attempted to relieve distress by distribution of supplies or exemption from taxation. Finance, however, continued to be difficult, and many people who had been arrested but not yet convicted were encouraged to commute their risk by paying a fine."
Page 512: QUOTE: "Offices and noble ranks were offered for sale from 178...At first the trade was restricted to secondary marquisates and some junior positions in the palace guards, in much the same fashion as had been used by the regent Dowager Deng in 109 and Emperor Huan in 162, but the program was later extended to all ranks of the civil service, from the Excellencies down, and new appointees had to negotiate the amount they should pay for the privilege. Proceeds from the sales and fines were placed not into the public treasury but into the private hoard of Emperor Ling, while in a cynical market, as wealthy men received a discount for payment in advance, those who were considered particularly worthy were assessed at a lower rate. We are told in particular that in 185 Cui Lie paid five million cash to become Excellency over the Masses; the emperor expressed regret that he had not extracted double the amount, but Cui Lie's own reputation suffered heavily."
Page 512: QUOTE: "It is clear that many suitable candidates had adequate private means; and the fact that men like Cui Lie could put up such great sums may be taken as a sign of the inability of the imperial government to find more regular means of tapping the financial resources of the empire as a whole. At the lower level, however, there was certainly hardship, and the system was liable to gross corruption as men sought to recoup their investment in office by extorting wealth from the communities in their charge."
Page 512: QUOTE: "Also in 178 Emperor Ling authorised his School at the Gate of the Vast Capital to provide an alternative route of entry to the civil service. The emperor was interested in literary composition and calligraphy, and had established the School to encourage such studies, but he now called for nominations from senior officials at the capital and in the provinces and ordered that graduates could be appointed directly to office. Students of calligraphy were required to write nine thousand characters in the major scripts, and were then assigned to the Imperial Secretariat, while others obtained positions as Inspectors, Administrators or senior advisors at court."
Page 512: QUOTE: "The new establishment provided a challenge to traditional forms of scholarship, and leading scholars and officials such as Cai Yong objected to the patronage of such frivolous compositions such as rhapsodies. Even from the hostile evidence, however, the curriculum was not without merit. On the practical side, it included the style and technique of drawing up official documents, while in more imaginative fashion it included the art of the rhapsody and calligraphy. It is arguable that a graduate of such an institution would have been at least as well equipped to handle affairs of government as an official who had spent all his time in study of the texts of current Confucianism. There was, however, a moral and political dimension ot the argument."
Page 512-513: QUOTE: "After the heady years of political activity under Emperor Huan and in the early 170s, the Imperial University had fallen once more into decline. It appears that entry to the civil service may still have been available by examination, on the limited scale established under Emperor Huan, we have no record of any such candidates, and the scale of the backlog may be judged by an edict of 176, which provided for special examinations of some hundred University students aged sixty or over, who were then appointed as gentlement cadets, members of the Suite of the Heir, and to junior positions at royal courts or commandery offices."
Page 513: QUOTE: "The most dramatic example of failure in official scholarship came in 175, when the eunuch Li Xun memorialised that texts in the imperial library of the Orchid Terrace were being altered by Academicians of the University to support and fit their own theories. In response, Cai Yong and other scholars proposed that five classics, Analects, Changes, Ritual, History, and Chunqiu with the Gongyang commentary, be edited and engraved upon stone. Emperor Ling approved, and he visited the University in 182, presumably to inspect the final stages of the work. The Stone Classics, completed in 183, determined the canon for future generations of scholars, but the monumental project had been called into being by the corruption of the formal guardians of Confucian tradition."
Page 513: QUOTE: "Within the palace, the eunuchs were by no means always united, and there were a number of rival cliques. The leading favourites, notably Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang, were ferocious in maintaining their position and equally energetic in seeking profit. Even at the time of the Yellow Turban uprising in 184, when the maverick Lü Qiang persuaded the emperor to end the proscription of reformists and to restrict eunuch power, Zhao Zhong and his fellows had him charged with treason and compelled to commit suicide, while the successful generals Lu Zhi and Huangfu Song both suffered dismissal for refusing their demands. Like their master, the senior eunuchs had limited concern for the good of the state and far more for their own self-interest."

THE PERSONAL RULE OF EMPEROR LING

Page 513: QUOTE: "Emperor Ling took the Cap of Manhood in 171 at the age of sixteen sui, and later that year the Lady Song was named as his first empress. She soon lost favour, and was dismissed in 178, but the emperor amused himself with other companions. We are told that he would set up an imitation market-place in the harem, with his concubines running the stalls. As in a real market, they were encouraged to fight and steal from one another, while the emperor dressed as a merchant and called at each place, to eat and drink and amuse himself like the proverbial travelling salesman."
Page 513: QUOTE: "Among other inappropriate conduct, it is said that he dressed one of his dogs in a cap and sash of honour, that he personally drove a donkey-cart—so donkeys became fashionable and expensive at the capital—and that he enjoyed barbarian clothing and food. More seriously, he composed a study of the mythical emperor Fuxi...in fifty parts...and his interest in literature was reflected in the establishment of the School at the Gate of the Vast Capital, described above."
Page 513: QUOTE: "By 175 all the heads of offices under the Minister Steward were eunuchs, and the emperor increased their number to provide for his personal comfort. In 180, against protests at such extravagance, he set up the Jade Sceptre Park for Bird-Netting and Park of Spiritual Jade at Luoyang, and in the following year he established the Stables for Thoroughbreds to collect fine horses from commanderies and kingdoms. Each project was carried out at vast expense, large amounts were paid to traders or embezzled by eunuch officials, and besides the extravagant works at Luoyang Emperor Ling also acquired land for houses and pavilions in his former home country of Hejian, and had a commemorative stele erected there."
Page 513: QUOTE: "At the end of 184, after the crisis of the Yellow Turban rebellion, there was some show of economy: a few rare delicacies were no longer required, and the emperor ate meat only once a day, while those horses in the imperial stables which were not required for ceremonial processions were transferred to the army. These signs of restraint were more than balanced in the following summer, when a great fire destroyed much of the Southern Palace. Despite the financial straits of the government, senior eunuchs persuaded Emperor Ling to levy a special land tax to pay for rebuilding; the whole program became a centre of extravagance and corruption, while large amounts were taken for the emperor's own treasury in the Western Garden. Apparently as a gesture to the public good, in 186 the eunuch engineer Bi Lan improved the water supply within the city of Luoyang, but increasing contributions were exacted from new appointees as Inspectors or Administrators in the provinces, secondary marquisates were sold for half a million cash, and the sale of offices reached a peak of extortion."
Page 513-514: QUOTE: "Given his supreme authority and his access to the resources of the empire, Liu Hong's conduct appears absurd, but we are told that as a junior marquis, before he came to the throne, he had been poor, and that he never recovered from the experience. He was devoted, moreover, to the eunuchs Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang, describing them as his mother and his father, and even as they encouraged the young ruler in his building program they constructed great mansions for themselves. Concerned that the emperor might find out, they persuaded him that it would bring ill fortune to the people if he climbed tall buildings, and in this way they concealed their extravagance."
Page 514: QUOTE: "In 188, with another gesture towards the public good, the emperor used his own money from the Western Garden to assemble eight regiments as a private army. Predictably, a eunuch, Jian Shi, was made senior colonel, and even the General-in-Chief He Jin was placed under his orders. As Emperor Ling died in the following year, nothing more came of this new array, but he did find occasion to hold a grand parade, dress up in military costume, and be acclaimed as 'General Supreme'...Like Caligula and Nero during the previous century in Rome, Emperor Ling evidently regarded his position and power as an opportunity for play-acting and pleeasure; he was, however, less blood-thirsty."

EPIDEMICS, FAITH-HEALING AND REBELLION

Page 514: QUOTE: "Amongs the plethora of other portents during the reign of Emperor Ling, the Annals and the Treatise of the Five Powers...describe a remarkable increase in the incidence of epidemics...during the reign of Emperor Ling, with outbreaks recorded in 171, 173, 179, 182, and 185, and earlier under Emperor Huan in 151 and in 161. Before that time, there had been illness in Kuaiji in the southeast in 38 and 39 and again in 119, and sickness at the capital in 125. The outbreak in 151 affected the capital and the southeastern commanderies of Jiujiang and Lujiang, but from 160 there are no particular areas named and the epidemics appear to have spread across the empire."
Page 514: QUOTE: "At the other end of the Eurasian landmass the Antonine plague, which afflicted the Roman empire for fifteen years from the mid-160s, was described by the physician Galen and is identified by Hopkins 83:22 as smallpox. It is said to have been brought by troops returning from campaign in Mesopotamia, though it could, of course, have come from further east. [It is uncertain whether the alleged embassy which reached the court of Emperor Huan in 167 was involved in the spread of the sickness: it would appear to have been established in both regions by that time.] Unfortunately, though Ge Hong...of the fourth century provides a clear description of smallpox in China, there are no clinical descriptions from the second century [and one must remark that most historical studies of diseases in Western literature are marked by an unfortunate tendency to superficial reading of Chinese sources, accompanied by a somewhat insouciant attitude towards dates and a general ignorance of geography...]. There are many attested examples of the devastation brought by new outbreaks of known diseases, or how sicknesses formerly restricted to non-human populations may make a 'species jump' to afflict mankind with similar dramatic effects, and McNeill 76:103-104 suggests that the epidemic of the second century, and a subsequent one in the mid-third century, marked either a resurgence of smallpox or the arrival of measles among humans. In Han China, the pattern of illness after 190 is confused by famine and war, with itinerant hordes of refugees and massive armies providing convenient reservoirs for a variety of infectious diseases. We can recognise one major attack in 217, which devastated the capital of Cao Cao's kingdom of Wei and which probably represented a recurrence of the same disease as had afflicted the reigns of Emperor Huan and Ling."
Page 514: QUOTE: "One phenomenon very probably related to this great epidemic was the growth of faith-healing, generally associated with unorthodox cults which frequently developed into religious rebellion...Among early rebels of this type we may note Zhang He in the early 130s, Pei You in the late 140s, He Deng and Dai Yi with Long Shang in the mid-160s, and the Xu family of Kuaiji in the early 170s...We are told that there then were a number of such sects, including Luo Yao/Zhao in the region of Chang'an, Zhang Xiu or Zhang Liu in Yi province, and Zhang Jue on the North China plain...Of these, the movement of most dramatic and widespread consequence was that of Zhang Jue, who came from Zhuo commandery but who had adherents across the whole of eastern China, Nanyang in the south, and even in the imperial capital."
Page 514-515: QUOTE: "Zhang Jue's Way of Great Peace...was based upon faith-healing, and he treated the sick with charmed water and required them to confess their sins. Claiming that the blue sky of Han would be replaced by the Yellow Heaven of a new age and order, in 184 Zhang Jue raised rebellion across the greater part of the empire. His followers wore yellow cloth about their heads as a badge and were known as the Yellow Turbans...The imperial government was at first hard-pressed, but recovered its position surprisingly well, and by the end of the year Zhang Jue was dead and his armies had been destroyed. The fighting, however, was ferocious, with heavy casualties on both sides, and large groups of Yellow Turbans continued to operate for many years afterwards: the surrender and accession to Cao Cao of the Yellow Turbans of Qing province in 192 represented a major gain to his forces."
Page 515: QUOTE: "Historians have debated the significance of the Yellow Turban rebellion in weakening the dynasty of Han and bringing its ultimate destruction. The Chinese Communist tradition, with a prejudice towards peasant revolution in the style of their twentieth-century success, has seen Zhang Jue's movement as crucial, and it is certainly true that the need to raise great armies to deal wih the threat militarised and destablised the empire. On the other hand, though numbers of officials were killed, the basic structure of commandery and county government appears to have been restored quite quickly, and there was a long tradition of disorder and feuding in the countryside...The final collapse of government was the result of events at the imperial capital following the death of Emperor Ling, and the Yellow Turbans played no role in those affairs."

NON-CHINESE, FRONTIER AFFAIRS AND INTERNAL REBELLION

Page 515: QUOTE: "In 167, at the end of the reign of Emperor Huan, the general Duan Jiong had been given authority for operations against the Eastern Qiang, and notably the Xianlian tribe. He achieved his first major successes in the spring and summer of 168, and although there was criticism of his ferocity from his fellow-commander Zhang Huan, the regent Dowager ordered that the process of extermination should continue, and the policy was maintained after the destruction of the Dou family. By the first half of 169 the Xianlian had been pacified by massacre and Duan Jiong returned in triumph to the capital."
Page 515: QUOTE: "Success against the Qiang was more than balanced by increasing difficulty with the Xianbi [sic] and their energetic warlord Tanshihuai. From the time of Emperor Huan he had embarked on a series of incursions along the frontier, and from the late 160s into the 180s the Annals record almost annual raids against You or Bing provinces or both."
Page 515: QUOTE: "In the winter of 174 a raid deep into Beidi was defeated by the Administrator Xia Yu, formerly an officer of Duan Jiong, and as the situation became still more serious it was proposed to send a major expedition into the steppe. There was a good deal of concern, but in the summer of 177 three columns were sent out, led by Xia Yu, Tian Yan, also a former officer of Duan Jiong, and Zang Min, who had served with success against rebels in the southeast. The enterprise, however, was defeated with heavy losses, the first time that a full Chinese army had suffered such a fate since the time of Former Han, and incursions continued along the whole of the north."
Page 515: QUOTE: "By good fortune for the Chinese, Tanshihuai died in the early 180s, his son Helian proved less able, and the Xianbi confederacy fell into disarray. Raids continued for a few years longer, but they were less intense, and the Xianbi were not able to take advantage of the imperial distraction with the Yellow Turban rebellion of 184."
Page 515: QUOTE: "In the far south of the empire, a number of tribute missions were recorded from non-Chinese states and peoples, but there was also a major rebellion in 178 among the non-Chinese of Hepu and Jiaozhi, which extended down the coast to affect present-day Vietnam; it was settled in 181 by the general Zhu Jun. Another rebellion in 184 was soon put down."
Page 515: QUOTE: "In 176 the non-Chinese of Yizhou commandery in the southwest rebelled and captured the local Administrator. The trouble spread wide, and the court even thought of abandoning the territory, but the local officer Li Yong took command, secured the alliance of the Banshun people of Ba commandery, and settled the disturbance. The Banshun in turn made a rising in 182 to protest against ill-treatment, but when the humane official Cao Qian was sent they submitted to an amnesty; there was a further brief flurry in 188."
Page 515-516: QUOTE: "Within the empire, the non-Chinese of Jiangxia rebelled in 169, but were put down by local forces, and when the tribespeople of the Danyang hills south of the lower Yangzi laid siege to the Administrator Chen Yin, he was likewise able to defeat them."
Page 516: QUOTE: "The outbreak of the Yellow Turban rebellion in 184 represented the greatest challenge to the authority of the Han state. The origins of Zhang Jue's religious regime are discussed in the section above and in his biographical entry, but it should be recognised that the government at Luoyang obtained remarkable success against what appeared at first to be a very powerful opponent. The imperial commanders suffered setbacks, but by the end of the summer Yingchuan, Runan and Chen had been pacified, in the winter Huangfu Song defeated the last Yellow Turbans in the north, and Zhu Jun concluded the reconquest of Nanyang soon afterwards. Various independent groups survived, and others claimed the title for themselves later, but the heart of the movement had been destroyed, and it represented thereafter no direct threat to the dynasty."
Page 516: QUOTE: "Rather more localised, but almost as damaging, was the mutiny and rebellion in Liang province which broke out at the end of 184. In this case, no ideology was involved, but for the next several years a large group of non-Chinese and renegades, led by such men as Beigong Boyu, Wang Guo and Han Sui, removed imperial control from a great part of the province, and in 185 and 187 their forces threatened the old capital of Chang'an. They were driven back in 188, but the northwest of the empire was divided thereafter among petty warlord states, and central control was not restored for more than twenty-five years."
Page 516: QUOTE: "Closer to the imperial capital, groups operating in the Taihang mountains, known collectively as the Black Mountain bandits and loosely associated under Zhang Niujue and then Zhang Yan, became so entrenched that the government was obliged to come to terms and recognise their rebel regimes as part of its regular administration, with rights of appointment and nomination for office comparable to those of regular commanderies and kingdoms. After 190 the various groups were attacked and brought under some measure of control by Yuan Shao and others, but there were no resources to deal with them in the second half of the 180s."
Page 516: QUOTE: "Elsewhere in the empire, rebellions in Jiangxia and Wuling in 186 were put down locally, but Ou Xing and others led a widespread rising in the south of Jing province until they were quelled by Sun Jian the Administrator of Changsha, one of a new breed of fighting men who came to prominence at this time. There were rebels in Henan, Runan, and Yingchuan, many styling themselves Yellow Turbans, and though they were dealt with fairly swiftly, the Yellow Turbans of Qing and Xu provinces were a major force in the east of the empire until they were persuaded to give formal submission to the warlord Cao Cao in 192. In 188 a group of rebels from Bobo in Xihe also claimed affiliation with the Yellow Turbans; they ravaged Taiyuan and Hedong, and survived to play a role in the 190s. In a sad postscript to the history of the Southern Xiongnu, the Shanyu Yufuluo was driven from his heritage and ended his days as a marginal bandit leader loosely associated with the Bobo group and other regional rebels."
Page 516: QUOTE: "As some response to the wave of unrest across the empire, and in the belief that the resources and authority of individual commanderies were too limited to cope, in 188 the government re-introduced a system of provincial Governors, with the equivalent of ministerial rank, for some of the troubled regions. The first appointments were to Yi, Yu and You provinces, and though Inspectors continued to be appointed elsewhere, provinces under a single executive became core units of administration outside the capital."

DEATH AND JUDGMENT

Page 516: QUOTE: "Emperor Ling died on 13 May 189 at the age of thirty-four sui. He was buried in the 'Mound of Civil Achievement'...northwest of Luoyang. Unlike his predecessors, he was never awarded a temple-name, and in 190 Dong Zhuo, who controlled the court of Han at the time, approved a recommendation of Cai Yong that his tablet should be deposed from a permanent position in the Imperial Ancestral Temple on the grounds that he had shown neither merit nor virtue..."
Page 516-517: QUOTE: "Though one may debate the judgments of traditional scholars and historians on a ruler such as Emperor Huan, it is difficult to dispute the general condemnation of Emperor Ling. He may have had artistic and literary skills, but he was quite unsuited to rule China at such a time. Even allowing for the exaggeration of critics, he was evidently besotted by his eunuch associates within the palace, and as absurdly greedy and extravagant at a time when the state was under desperate financial and military pressure. The sale of offices, or forced fines for taking them up, distorted and corrupted the bureaucracy, while the wastage which accompanied his vast building program in the mid-180s was utterly inappropriate after the disruption of the Yellow Turban rebellion."
Page 517: QUOTE: "Emperor Ling evidently enjoyed his life, whether playing with dogs and donkeys and with the women of his harem, or dressing up for a grand parade of his private army of the Western Garden. It does not appear, however, that he had any idea what was really going on in his government or in the empire at large, nor that he had any care for the problems of the time. Remarkably, the turmoils of rebellion and war were dealt with by his military men, and at the time of his early death the dynasty still held power and authority. As a final kick, however, Emperor Ling left two sons with claim to the succession, and the combination of low-born consort family and some fearful eunuchs made disaster all but inevitable."

Ban Chao

Page 4: Ban Chao (32–102 AD) was the youngest son Ban Biao, and strangely born in the same year as his older brother Ban Gu. He was trained in the basics of the Chinese classic texts. When Ban Gu made a bad reputation for himself with government authorities over his historical work covering Western Han, Ban Chao stood in his defense. Ban Chao and his mother accompanied Ban Gu when the latter was appointed to the Imperial Library. They had little money at the time, and Ban Chao earned a meager living as a copy-clerk for the government. However, Emperor Ming of Han became fond of him and appointed him as a clerk in the Orchid Terrace, yet Ban was dismissed for some fault.
Page 4: Battle of Yiwulu: In 73, the General Dou Gu (and Geng Chong) prepared for an offensive against the Xiongnu, and in this 40-year-old Ban Chao was given a post as an assistant major. He earned a good reputation as a commander of an attachment that faced the Xiongnu, which led Dou Gu to promote him as an assistant to the staff officer Guo Xun, who was then going to lead an embassy to the Western Regions.
Page 5: As part of the embassy, Ban visited the Kingdom of Shanshan near Lop Nur. At the same time, its King Guang received an embassy from the Northern Xiongnu. Ban Chao and his men slaughtered the Xiongnu envoys and presented the King with their heads. The King then sent hostages to the Han Empire. For his part in this, Ban Chao was rewarded with cloth. Emperor Ming and Dou Gu both concluded that Ban Chao should be made a full major on a long-term mission. Ban Chao was offered more soldiers, but he was content with just 30 he had before. With these troops, he traveld to Khotan. Its King Guangde was at that time hosting a Xiongnu Resident, and gave only a minor show of courtesy to Ban as he arrived. The King's soothsayer told Ban to surrender his horse and Ban retaliated by killing him. Guangde, seeing that Ban Chao was ruthless, killed the Xiongnu agent and gave formal submission to Han.
Page 5: Ban Chao traveled next to the Kingdom of Kashgar, then ruled by Douti. Douti was the former officer of King Jian of Qiuzi (Kucha), the latter who recently dethroned the King of Kashgar and put Douti on the throne. When Ban learned that there was local opposition to the new leader Douti, he had his officer Tian Lü capture Douti. Ban enthroned Zhong, a prince of the native dynasty, as the new ruler of Kashgar. Ban decided to be lenient with his captive, and so sent Douti back to Kucha unharmed.
Page 5: However, by 75 a considerable Xiongnu force returned to the north, which allowed the state of Karasahr to rebel against Han. In that year, Karasahr forces killed Chen Mu, the Han Protector-General of the Western Regions. They then besieged the Han colonels Geng Gong and Guan Chong. The state of Kucha then allied with the state of Gumo, located in what is now Aksu Prefecture, to assault the Han ally of Kashgar. Ban Chao supported the new King Zhong of Kashgar for several months. However, he was ordered to pull back safely into Han territory as the new Emperor Zhang of Han became concerned that Ban would be cut off and annihilated. Ban Chao prepared to leave, but the people of Karasahr viewed such a withdrawal as betrayal and did not want Ban to leave them, holding him up in Khotan. Ban Chao, not knowing if they would let him go and inspired by ambition, turned back to Kashgar to face his enemies. He won a stunning victory and in the next several years extended Han influence by diplomacy through his base of Kashgar.
Page 5: QUOTE: In 78 AD, Ban Chao gathered a fighting force of 10,000 men from Kashgar, Khotan, and the neighboring state of Jumi to assault Gumo, the latter which was aided by the Kingdom of Sogdiana. Ban Chao won another victory, and convinced Emperor Zhang to send reinforcements and that he could control the Western Regions through skilled diplomacy. The Han officer Xu Gan arrived with reinforcements of a thousand troops in 80, which included reprieved convicts and non-Chinese auxiliaries. In the meantime, Ban Chao put down a local rebellion, but beyond that no other significant actions took place.
Page 5: Ban was promoted Chief Clerk in Command of Troops in 83 AD, an office which provided Ban with music and banners fit for an independent commander. Ban prepared to assault Kucha, but he needed to make an alliance with the Wusun people of the Tian Shan mountain range. Emperor Zhang approved of this, and so sent his envoy Li Yi to deal with Wusun. While in Kashgar, Li Yi criticized Ban Chao's plans and the fact that Ban kept his family with him in Kashgar. Embarrassed, Ban Chao dispatched his family back to Han China. Despite this report, Emperor Zhang still trusted Ban. When the Wusun finally sent hostages, the envoy Li Yi escorted them to Luoyang. To buttress his already existing forces, Ban received 800 new troops in 84.
Page 5: In 84 AD, the King of Yarkand rebelled against Han authority, so Ban arrayed a force against him, composed of troops from Kashgar and Khotan. However, King Zhong of Kashgar betrayed Ban Chao, so the latter was forced to turn back and face a new threat. The Kingdom of Sogdiana then got involved, sending aid to King Zhong of Kashgar. However, Ban Chao sent gifts of silk to the Yuezhi of the Kushan Empire, the latter who were linked by marriage to the ruling house of Sogdiana. Kushan put pressure on Sogdiania to back down from the fight, so Sogdian troops withdrew and King Zhong was taken with them.
Page 5: However, this wasn't the last time Ban Chao met King Zhong. King Zhong made a secret alliance with Kucha and Sogdiana, visiting Ban Chao under the false pretense of submission. Ban Chao played along, but then had King Zhong assassinated at the welcoming banquet.
Page 5-6: Yarkand was still a threat to Ban Chao, so the latter raised a 25,000 man with troops from Khotan and elsewhere to assault Yarkand in 86. However, Kucha was able to relieve Yarkand with reinforcements of 50,000 troops, twice the number that Ban Chao had raised. Ban Chao used deceptive strategy to defeat his enemy. He fainted retreat, which forced the enemy to divide its forces. Then Ban Chao made a dash towards the Yarkand forces' main camp. Yarkand was forced to surrender and Kucha withdrew from the fight. The conflict lasted perhaps until 87, though the Book of Later Han says the victory was in 86.
Page 6: Since the Yuezhi of the Kushan Empire had sent tribute to Han, handed over hostages to Han, and aided Han forces in subduing the states of Jushi in Turfan, they asked for a Han princess in return. Ban Chao rejected this demand, and so Kushan prepared to war against Han. In 90 AD, Kushan sent 70,000 troops to destroy the forces of Ban Chao, the latter who employed scorched-earth to starve this large enemy force. The Kushan troops were running low on food provisions, and so the Kushan commander Xie turned desperately to Kucha in purchasing more foodstuffs. However, Ban Chao seized their messengers and had their severed heads presented to Xie. Commander Xie, seeing all would be lost if he stayed, decided to withdraw. After this defeat, Kushan was subdued by Han and Ban Chao's prestige reached even greater heights.
Page 6: Around this time, the Han General Dou Xian was successful in destroying the Han enemy of the Northern Xiongnu on the eastern Eurasian Steppe. With Han's power and influence rising, Kucha and its allies of Gumo and Wensu made a formal submission to the Eastern Han in 91 AD. In that same year, Ban Chao was promoted as the new Protector-General of the Western Regions. Xu Gan was made Ban's Chief Clerk. King Youliduo of Kucha was deposed and sent to Luoyang as prisoner; the former hostage prince Boba was then made King of Kucha. Ban Chao made his new headquarters at Kucha and Xu Gan camped at Yarkand.
Page 6: Karasahr and its allies of Weixu and Weili remained a threat to Ban's authority, and furthermore were responsible for the death of Protector-General Chen Mu in 75 AD. Ban Chao raised a large army with contingents from Kucha, Shanshan, and elsewhere to fight Karasahr. Ban Chao plundered the city of Karasahr to avenge the death of Chen Mu. He then placed the former hostage prince Yuanmeng on the throne of Karasahr. Ban Chao then made Khotan his base.
Page 6: In 95 AD, an imperial decree arrived granting Ban a county marquisate that allowed him to gather tax money from a thousand households. This despite potential soiled relations with the court ever since his brother Ban Gu was executed in 92. In 97 AD he sent his emissary Gan Ying to explore the west, an embassy which claimed to gather tribute from unknown foreign states. In 100 AD, Ban Chao requested to retire at the age of seventy, claiming ill health and old age. He noted that barbarians did not show respect to old men. His sister Ban Zhao supported his appeal, and in 102 the emperor granted him retirement. He spent 30 years of his life in the west, returning to Luoyang in the autumn, and dying one month later. Ban was replaced by Ren Shang as Protector-General of the Western Regions, but an uprising in 106 damaged Han Chinese authority, and as a result the Han abandoned its domains in the Western Regions in 107 AD.

Bi Lan

Page 18-19: QUOTE: "Bi Lan...(d.189). A eunuch, during the 180s Bi Lan was one of the twelve Regular Attendants enfeoffed as marquises. As Prefect of the Lateral Court he cast bronze statues and bells for the Southern Palace at Luoyang, and also constructed water-lifting machines: Heavenly Deer...and Frogs...probably fed by noria buckets, served aqueducts leading into the palace; while a square-pallet chain pump...and Thirsty Crows...probably suction-pumps rather than syphons, supplied the north-south roads of the city."
Page 19: QUOTE: "In 189 Bi Lan was one of the group which waylaid and killed the General-in-Chief He Jin and he no doubt died in the slaughter which followed."
Page 19: QUOTE: "Needham and Bielenstein emphasise the achievements of Bi Lan as an engineer and artisan, but traditional historians noted the extravagance of his works, which were associated with Emperor Ling's mistaken and corrupted projects of rebuilding at Luoyang."

Cao Cao

Page 35: Cao Cao (155–220), son of Cao Song by his wife Lady Ding (hence an adoptive grandson of the eunuch Cao Teng), was nominated as Filial and Incorrupt in his youth and became a gentleman cadet at the Han court. QUOTE: "A student of the Art of War, Cao Cao was fond of hawking and hunting with dogs. Notorious as a young thug about town, he was nonetheless sponsored by the minister Qiao Xuan, and he was also received by the celebrated judge of character Xu Shao, who prophesied that he would be 'a good servant in time of peace, a dangerous chieftain in time of trouble;' opinions differ whether this was intended as a compliment."
Page 35: QUOTE: "In the late 170s Cao Cao became a Commandant of Luoyang, responsible for police in the capital county. He made a name for himself by strict application of the law, even against men of great family, and particularly for killing an uncle of the favoured eunuch Jian Shi who was out after curfew. He was transferred to be a magistrate in Dong commandery, but in 178, as the Empress Song was dismissed and her male relatives executed, it happened that Song Qi a brother of the Empress Song, had married one of Cao Cao's cousins; in revenge for Jian Shi's misfortune, the eunuchs implicated Cao Cao and had him dismissed."
Page 35: QUOTE: "Because of his ability as a scholar, and no doubt also through the influence of his father, who held high office at court, Cao Cao returned to office as a Consultant. A submission in favour of the late reformers Dou Wu and Chen Fan was predictably ill-received, but in 182, when there was a general request for comments after a series of unfavourable portents, Cao Cao presented another memorial on the weakness and corruption of the government. This was noted, but the quality of the regime continued to decline. Cao Cao realised the exercise was pointless and wrote no more."
Page 35: QUOTE: "Despite his record of opposition to eunuchs, confused moreover by his family background, Cao Cao was evidently pragmatic on the subject. He is said to have remarked that there was certainly a role for the eunuchs at court and in the harem, but they should not be given such favour and power: a simple process of impeachment and execution for a few individuals would eliminate the problem."

INTO YAN PROVINCE, 184-195

Page 35: QUOTE: "When the Yellow Turban rebellion broke out in 184, Cao Cao was sent to Yingchuan as a Commandant of Cavalry. He took part in operations against the main force of rebels and was then appointed Chancellor of Ji'nan. Many county officials were subservient to imperial relatives by marriage, but he had several of them dismissed, and he also eliminated a number of local cults and unorthodox religious practices. He was increasingly concerned, however, that his actions in office had gained him enemies at court who might threaten his family; he pleaded ill health and left office. He was later re-appointed as a Consultant, and in 188 he was named as a colonel of the Western Garden, the private corps of Emperor Ling."
Page 35-36: QUOTE: "When Dong Zhuo seized power at Luoyang in 189, he wanted to have Cao Cao as one of his counsellors, but Cao Cao fled: a number of exaggerated tales are told of his ruthlessness on this journey to escape...Arriving in Chenliu, he sold family property to raise a following and joined the alliance under Yuan Shao, who gave him acting appointment as a general. In 190, irritated by his comrades' lack of action, he advanced into Henan but was heavily defeated at Rongyang. Wounded in the fighting, he was rescued by his cousin Cao Hong. He raised more men from Yang province, and though he was nearly killed in a mutiny, he did obtain some reinforcements. It is said also that about this time he joined with kinsmen of Humu Ban, an envoy of Dong Zhuo who had been killed by Wang Kuang, to kill Wang Kuang in his turn."
Page 36: QUOTE: "In 191 Cao Cao achieved some success against the bandit chieftain Bo Rao in Dong commandery, and Yuan Shao named him Administrator to replace the ineffectual Wang Hong. Cao Cao freed the territory of bandits and in 192, after the death of Liu Dai the Inspector of Yan province, he was invited by Bao Xun and other officers to become Governor and deal with the Yellow Turbans invading from Qing province. Though he suffered a number of serious set-backs, by the end of the year he had persuaded the rebels to submit; he may have gained their accession through negotiation rather by military success, but these Qingzhou Troops...numbered at thirty thousand, were a substantial addition to his forces."
Page 36: QUOTE: "Cao Cao was at this time allied to Yuan Shao against his cousin Yuan Shu, and early in 193 he drove Yuan Shu away to the Huai and took a strong position south of the Yellow River. In the autumn, however, his father Cao Song was killed by troops of Tao Qian the Governor of Xu province. Cao Cao made a brutal attack upon Xu, and renewed the offensive in the following year: it is uncertain whether his ferocious campaigns were inspired by a desire for conquest, by the need to demonstrate that no-one could attack his family with impunity, or because he was truly mournful and angry; or perhaps all three."
Page 36: QUOTE: "Certainly the enterprise was counter-productive, for in the summer of 194 his one-time friend Zhang Miao turned against him and invited Lü Bu to take over Yan province. Cao Cao returned quickly, but almost all his territory was lost: only three counties in Dong commandery were held by loyalists under the guidance of Xun Yu and Cheng Yu, and the people of Xu province were certainly not prepared to welcome or support him. There was famine, Cao Cao suffered several defeats and almost despaired, but he managed to regroup his men and he received some reinforcements from Yuan Shao. After eighteen months struggle he eventually regained the province, and by the end of 195 Zhang Miao and his family had been destroyed. Lü Bu took refuge in Xu province, where he engaged Yuan Shu and Liu Bei in a three-sided struggle for control south of the Huai."

CONTROL OF THE EMPEROR, 196-200

Page 36: QUOTE: "Now with title as Governor of Yan province, Cao Cao set his headquarters at Xu city in Yingchuan, present-day Xuchang in Henan, and established military agricultural colonies to settle refugees and provide supplies for his army. As Emperor Xian came from Chang'an to the east Cao Cao used the good offices of Dong Zhao to contact Yang Feng and other leaders of the imperial escort, and in the autumn of 196 he went himself to Luoyang. He was enfeoffed as a marquis and given office as Director of Retainers with the Staff of Authority and control of the Imperial Secretariat. He over-awed or drove away the other chieftains, and within a very few days the court was transferred to Xu city. From that time on Cao Cao held control of the emperor and his puppet government, and after some awkward negotiations with his nominal superior Yuan Shao he took the title as Excellency of Works."
Page 36: QUOTE: "Early in 197 Cao Cao moved west against Liu Biao in Jing province, but was defeated by a sudden attack from Zhang Xiu in Nanyang. Though he was wounded, however, he rallied his men and made a successful counter-attack. In the autumn he attacked Yuan Shu again, drove him across the Huai, then returned against Zhang Xiu. This time he had more success, but after some months he learned of a potential raid against Xu city by Yuan Shao's forces and withdrew once more."
Page 36: QUOTE: "In the autumn of 198 Lü Bu turned again on Liu Bei, who fled to Cao Cao for help. Cao Cao attacked Lü Bu, besieged him at Xiapi, and captured the city in the winter. Killing Lü Bu, he acquired general control of Xu province, and after the death of Yuan Shu in the summer of 199 he had no major opponent in the region of the Huai."
Page 36: QUOTE: "By this time, Yuan Shao in the north had destroyed his rival Gongsun Zan and was preparing to move against Xu city. Both sides sought allies, but Cao Cao was able to neutralise Yuan Shao's potential supporters, while his enemy Zhang Xiu left Liu Biao's service to join him. On the other hand, Liu Bei had become involved in a plot to support the emperor, and when Cao Cao sent him on detachment to the southeast he joined Yuan Shao's cause, allied himself with local bandits, and made a diversion in Runan. With a lightning attack, Cao Cao drove him away."
Page 37: QUOTE: "In the spring of 200 Yuan Shao crossed the Yellow River and then gradually brought his army against Cao Cao's position by Guandu, along a ridge above the Bian River, part of the Vast Canal complex between Zhengzhou and Kaifeng in present-day Henan. Cao Cao was heavily outnumbered and in desperate straits, but he held his ground from autumn until winter. Advised by the defector Xu You, he then led a raiding party behind Yuan Shao's lines, defeated his general Chunyu Qiong and destroyed his major supply train. At this blow Yuan Shao's army disintegrated; he abandoned his position and Cao Cao pursued him to the Yellow River."
Page 37: QUOTE: "In the mean time Liu Bei had been sent back by Yuan Shao to cause trouble in Runan, and he allied himself with the bandit Gong Du. Following the defeat of Yuan Shao, however, Cao Cao drove him away to take refuge with Liu Biao in Jing province, while a secondary force regained control of Xu province and the region of the Huai. At the beginning of 202 Cao Cao paid a commemorative visit to his home country of Qiao in Pei, where he gave orders for a new canal and offered sacrifice to his former patron Qiao Xuan."

CONQUEST OF THE NORTH, 202-207

Page 37: QUOTE: "In the summer of that year Yuan Shao died in Ji province, leaving his youngest son Shang as his heir despite the claims of his eldest, Yuan Tan. In the autumn Cao Cao attacked across the river, and by early summer 203 he had driven the Yuan back to their capital at Ye city in Wei commandery, present-day Linzhang in Henan. He then withdrew, and issued a series of civil orders encouraging teaching and the recruitment of good officers."
Page 37: QUOTE: "With the pressure relieved, the Yuan brothers quarrelled, and Yuan Shang laid siege to Yuan Tan. Yuan Tan asked for help from Cao Cao, and at the beginning of 204 Cao Cao attacked Ye. In the summer he defeated a relief force and captured the city. Yuan Shang fled north to the third brother, Yuan Xi, in Yu province, and Cao Cao now broke with Yuan Tan: he defeated and killed him with his family in the spring of 205. Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang were faced with mutiny among their own troops, and they fled to refuge with the Wuhuan people beyond the frontier."
Page 37: QUOTE: "Over the next two years, from his new base at Ye city, Cao Cao brought Ji and southern Bing province under control, extending his authority from present-day southern Shanxi to the north of modern Beijing, pleasing the people by relief from taxes, and rewarding his supporters with enfeoffment. He also prepared canal-works for an attack on the Wuhuan, and in the summer of 207 he moved against them. Blocked by flooding on the coastal route to the northeast, he took his army in oblique approach outside the frontier into the valley of the Daling River in present-day Liaoning. In the battle of White Wolf Mountain [...Bolang/Bailang Shan] Cao Cao defeated a confederate force and killed the Wuhuan war-leader Tadun. The Yuan brothers fled to Gongsun Kang in Liaodong, who killed them and sent their heads to Cao Cao."

SOUTH AND WEST, 208-212

Page 37: QUOTE: "Triumphant in the north, in 208 Cao Cao took title as Imperial Chancellor, sole head of the civil government, and turned his military attention against Liu Biao in Jing province on the middle Yangzi. In the autumn, before the campaign had begun, Liu Biao died. Like Yuan Shao, he left his inheritance to his younger son Zong, and the elder, Liu Qi, was predictably resentful. As Cao Cao approached, Liu Zong was persuaded to surrender and Liu Bei, who had taken refuge in Jing province, fled south. Cao Cao chased and heavily defeated him a the Chang Slope by present-day Dangyang in Hubei. Liu Bei's officer Guan Yu held the Han River fleet, but Cao Cao drove south to seize the naval base and arsenal at Jiangling city on the Yangzi, by present-day Jingzhou in Hubei, then moved eastwards downstream to face Liu Bei and Liu Qi by present-day Wuhan."
Page 37: QUOTE: "At this point Sun Quan, warlord of the lower Yangzi, sent forces under his general Zhou Yu to support the defenders. In the battle of Red Cliffs, on the Yangzi south of Wuhan, Cao Cao's fleet was destroyed by fire-ships and he was forced to retreat. The extent of the disaster may have been exaggerated, and it is said that there was sickness in the camp which made the withdrawal necessary. It is possible that Cao Cao was seeking only to test the opposition rather than commit himself to a major thrust, but this proved to be the closest he ever came to command of the Yangzi, conquest of the south, and restoration of a unified empire."
Page 37-38: QUOTE: "Leaving a line of defences on the Yangzi and the Han, in 209 Cao Cao turned to cross the Huai against Sun Quan, making a demonstration of his naval capacity and confirming the frontier about Hefei in present-day Anhui with military colonies. Returning to Ye, he made some administrative arrangements and began to enhance the city with buildings, notably the Copper Bird Terrace. At this time he issued an autobiographal apologia for his career and also announced his policy of firm government by all men of ability, regardless of their private morality."
Page 38: QUOTE: "In 211 Cao Cao made preliminary moves against Zhang Lu in Hanzhong commandery on the upper Han River, but by doing so he disturbed the petty warlords of the Wei valley. Taking up their challenge, he advanced to the west and once more showed his mastery of the oblique approach. Faced with major defences at the Tong Pass, by the junction of the Wei with the Yellow River, he left a small blocking force to deceive the enemy and took a detachment northwards to establish a bridgehead on the Puban Crossing over the southern run of the Yellow River between present-day Shenxi and Shanxi. He then took his main army across and marched south with the River at his flank to face and destroy the enemy at Huayin, south of the Wei."
Page 38: QUOTE: "Leaving Xiahou Yuan and other commanders to mop up in the northwest, in 212 Cao Cao returned to Ye, then moved to attack Sun Quan across the Huai. Though he reached the bank of the Yangzi, however, Cao Cao's men could not break the enemy defences, and Sun Quan was confirmed in his control of the southeast."

PROBLEMS WITH THE HAN, 213-219

Page 38: QUOTE: "Returning to Ye in 213, Cao Cao was enfeoffed as Duke of Wei, received the Nine Distinctions, and placed three of his daughters into the imperial harem. He established a court parallel to that of imperial Han and a princely ancestral temple, while in the following year he was given special insignia and rank above the kings. He also had the Empress Fu arrested on a charge of treason; she died soon afterwards, and in 215 Cao Cao's middle daughter became empress."
Page 38: QUOTE: "In that year Cao Cao attacked Zhang Lu, crossing the Qin Ling ranges from the Wei valley to the upper Han. After a short battle at the Yangping Pass, Cao Cao occupied Hanzhong, and in the winter Zhang Lu came to surrender. Returning to Ye in 216, Cao Cao received title as King of Wei 魏王, ploughed the Sacred Field and established ministers."
Page 38: QUOTE: "Southeast across the Huai, Cao Cao attacked Sun Quan again in the latter part of 214, and another expedition in 217 reached his defensive beach-head at Ruxu on the northern shore of the Yangzi. There was sickness in the camp and the main army was obliged to withdraw, but Cao Cao left a strong set of garrisons, and this static threat compelled Sun Quan to make formal acknowledgement of his suzerainty and accept a renewed marriage alliance. The 'surrender' had no practical consequences, but as Cao Cao returned north he was granted insignia hitherto reserved for the emperor."
Page 38: QUOTE: "Though it does not appear to have inflicted as much military damage as one might have expected, the sickness in Cao Cao's army on the Yangzi in 217 evidently extended across the whole of China, and it certainly cut a swathe through the court. Among the many that died at this time were the scholars and officials Wang Can, Chen Lin, Liu Zhen, Xu Gan, Ying Chang, and Sima Lang, brother of Sima Yi the future founder of the Jin Dynasty."
Page 38: QUOTE: "In 218 Cao Cao returned west to attack Liu Bei, now in Yi province, but in the spring of 219, before he had taken command, his general Xiahou Yuan was defeated at Dingjun Mountain in Hanzhong. Cao Cao attempted to restore the position, but the territory was lost and Liu Bei expanded his power east down the Han. In the autumn, still more seriously, Liu Bei's commander in Jing province, Guan Yu, moving north from the Yangzi, destroyed the forces of Cao Cao's general Yu Jin in Nanyang and laid siege to Cao Ren in Fan city, present-day Xiangfan in Henan [sic], threatening to break into the heart of Cao Cao's territory. Guan Yu, however, was checked at Fan, and in the winter Sun Quan sent his general Lü Meng to attack up the Yangzi into Jing province and take him from behind. Guan Yu's position collapsed, he himself was killed, and Liu Bei was driven back into Yi province."

PARTIAL EMPIRE

Page 38: QUOTE: "Cao Cao had stationed himself south of Luoyang for the emergency. At the beginning of the New Year he returned to that city, where he died soon afterwards, on 15 March 220. When his son Cao Pi took the imperial title at the end of the year, Cao Cao was posthumously honoured as Emperor Wu of the new Wei dynasty."
Page 38-39: QUOTE: "A man of many and great talents, Cao Cao was a fine poet in the traditional style, he compiled a commentary to the Art of War of Sunzi...and he was, as one might expect, a keen and skilled player of 'surrounding chess' 圍棋 [Japanese Go]. As a military commander, he had a flair for surprise and the indirect approach and, most importantly, he as able to hold the loyalty of his men even in times of stress and difficulty. He could be both generous and ruthless, he was always extremely conscious of his own dignity, and he seldom forgave an insult."
Page 39: QUOTE: "Cao Cao's reputation has suffered from his record, as the man who took power from the last emperor of Han but failed to restore the unified empire: on the other hand, given the destruction of civil war, and the expansion of colonised territory south of the Yangzi, this was beyond anyone's ability. From his warlord base, Cao Cao restored a measure of administrative and economic order in a chaotic situation. His dynastic state lasted another forty-five years, and was better founded and more successful than many of those which came after."

Cen Peng

Page 54-55: In regards to the death of Cen Peng (d. 35) mentioned in the passage for Gongsun Shu, Cen's passage here says: QUOTE: "At this point, however, one of Gongsun Shu's followers, pretending to come as a runaway slave, gained access to Cen Peng and killed him...With the death of their commander, the Han main army was obliged to withdraw down the Min River, but Zang Gong's advance from the line of the Fu was not affected, and within a few weeks Wu Han had brought a new force of invaders up the Yangzi and renewed the offensive along the Min."

Chen Mu

Page 73: QUOTE: "Chen Mu 陈睦/[?] (d.75). In 75, after Dou Gu had obtained the surrender of the kingdoms of Jushi near Turfan, the government of Later Han restored the office of Protector-General of the Western Regions. Chen Mu, the first incumbent, set his headquarters in Yanqi [Karashar], while his subordinate Wu and Ji Colonels Guan Chong and Geng Gong camped further east in Nearer Jushi by Turfan and in Further Jushi north of the Bogda range. Soon afterwards, however, the Northern Xiongnu returned to Further Jushi, defeated Geng Gong and killed King Ande. The people of Yanqi and Qiuzi [Kuqa] then attacked Chen Mu's headquarters, killed him, and also slaughtered two thousand soldiers and officials."

Dong Zhuo

Page 157: QUOTE: "In his youth Dong Zhuo had dealings with the Qiang people, gained reputation as leader of fighting men, and distinguished himself on the frontier. Braver and stronger than other men, he carried a bow at each side and was skilled with both of them. About 165 he was recommended as a cadet in the Feathered Forest guard, then became a major under Zhang Huan."
Page 157: QUOTE "In the winter of 167 Dong Zhuo and his colleague Yin Duan defeated rebel Qiang in Hanyang, killed their leaders and forced their surrender. Dong Zhuo was rewarded with silk, which was distributed among his troops, and he was appointed a gentleman cadet for civil service. He then became a county magistrate in Yanmen, a divisional commandant in Shu, and Wu and Ji Colonel in the Western Regions; leaving the last office on account of some wrongdoing. In the late 170s he became Inspector of Bing province and in the early 180s he was Administrator of Hedong."
Page 157: QUOTE: "In the summer of 184 Dong Zhuo was sent as General of the Household of the East with the Staff of Authority to take over operations against the Yellow Turbans led by Zhang Jue in Julu. He was not successful, however, in the autumn he was dismissed. Soon afterwards, as rebellion broke out in Liang province and Chang'an came under threat Dong Zhuo was sent to the west as a subordinate general, first under Huangfu Song and then under his replacement Zhang Wen."
Page 157: QUOTE: "After almost a year of indecisive engagement, in late 185 the main body of the enemy were defeated by Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong at Meiyang in Youfufeng: it is said the rebels were demoralised by a shooting star which appeared to fall in their camp. They nonetheless withdrew in good order, and when Dong Zhuo and Zhou Shen were sent to follow them into Hanyang they were both compelled to fight their way out. In accounts of the campaign we are told how Dong Zhuo extricated his force from a siege by the Qiang and other non-Chinese: pretending that he wanted to catch fish to alleviate the problems of his men under siege, he dammed a river and then used it to protect his line of retreat, while he had also kept a large reserve force to threaten the enemy and restrict their manoeuvre. He later claimed that he had urged Zhou Shen to act as spearhead while he himself waited in reserve, but that Zhou Shen refused to co-operate and so both forces got into difficulties. His victory at Meiyang, the only success achieved by imperial forces, earned Dong Zhuo a district marquisate."
Page 157: QUOTE: "In 188 a new coalition of rebels laid siege to Chencang in Youfufeng. Dong Zhuo, now General of the Van but under the command of Huangfu Song, joined operations against them, and the enemy were defeated and driven away. It is said that Huangfu Song rejected his advice on two occasions, first in not hastening to relieve the city and then attacking the rebels as they retreated; on both occasions his decisions proved successful. Though Dong Zhuo may have been embarrassed, he was promoted in fief and appointed Governor of Bing province with both civil and military authority. Though ordered to leave his troops under the command of Huangfu Song, he refused to do so, and when he was called to the capital as Minister Steward he claimed that his men would not allow him to leave."
Page 157-158: QUOTE: "There are several stories about Dong Zhuo's arrogance, his insubordination, and his military failures. He is said to have lacked energy against the Yellow Turbans [see sub Guo Dian], he refused to respect Zhang Wen [see sub Sun Jian] and he gave mistaken advice to Huangfu Song. Some tales may have been true, but many were surely written in the light of his later reputation as the traitor who destroyed the Han; there seems no doubt of his victory at Meiyang in 185."
Page 158: QUOTE: "After the death of Emperor Ling in 189 the General-in-Chief He Jin planned to eliminate eunuch power from the court, and he called in Dong Zhuo to place pressure on his opponents. Dong Zhuo came with threats against the wrongdoers at the capital, but while he was in camp outside Luoyang the eunuchs killed He Jin and were then slaughtered themselves by guards at the capital. Dong Zhuo saw flames in the sky and led his men forward. On 25 September he took possession of the young emperor Liu Bian and his brother Liu Xie, then entered Luoyang to establish his own regime. When the senior ministers protested, he replied that the killing and burning and the flight of the ruler from the capital displayed their failure, and the time for reform had come. His army at the capital, which terrified the inhabitants with ill-disciplined ravages, provided all the authority he needed."
Page 158: QUOTE: "At one level, Dong Zhuo did attempt to restore the government. He held ceremonies to honour Chen Fan, Dou Wu and the men of Faction, he appointed scholars and reformers to high office at court and in the provinces, and he restricted his own favourites to middle-rank military commands. On the other hand, as a fighting general from the uncouth northwest, Dong Zhuo had no right to his authority and no acceptance among the gentlemen from central China who controlled the bureaucracy. Though he revived for himself such titles as Chancellor of State...and raised his fief to a county marquisate, he held his position by military force and only another army could remove him: that way led to civil war and the end of Han."
Page 158: QUOTE: "Dong Zhuo's conduct ensured massive opposition. On 28 September, three days after entering the capital, he forced Liu Bian to abdicate in favour of his younger half-brother Liu Xie, Emperor Xian. Two days later the Dowager He died, and she was duly followed by Liu Bian. Both deaths were the work of Dong Zhuo. Regardless of their faults and irrespective of claims for reform, there was no justification for such brutality, and by the spring of 190 the leaders of eastern China had joined in 'loyal rebellion' to remove the usurper and restore the Han."
Page 158: QUOTE: "Dong Zhuo's men were at first successful in holding the passes which led to Luoyang, but his regime had lost authority over the greater part of the empire, and in the spring and summer of 190 the court was withdrawn west to Chang'an. The civilian population was driven away, and Luoyang became a centre for military defence, with wholesale plundering of the city, the imperial tombs and the treasures of the dynasty. Dong Zhuo also destroyed the traditional coinage, melting down statues to cast new money, and bringing massive inflation."
Page 158: QUOTE: "Dong Zhuo made some attempt to come to terms with his enemies, but he had embarked upon a personal feud with Yuan Shao, leader of the allies, by executing Yuan Wei, his own former patron, and other senior members of the clan. So the gentlemen he sent on embassy were killed without compunction. In the spring of 191 the general Sun Jian in the service of Yuan Shu forced his way into Luoyang from the south, and in the summer Dong Zhuo completed the retreat to Chang'an, where his government was based upon raiding abroad and terror within, with banquets accompanied by torture. Despite his initial restraint of office-holding among his supporters, Dong Zhuo now granted honours and fiefs to the most junior members of his family, and stored treasure and supplies at his fortified fief city of Mei, west of Chang'an."
Page 158: QUOTE: "Wang Yun, Excellency over the Masses appointed by Dong Zhuo, planned his assassination, notably with Lü Bu, who had sworn an oath to Dong Zhuo as son to father, and served as his bodyguard. On 22 May 192, as Dong Zhuo called upon the emperor, Lü Bu and his associates killed him, and they followed up the coup by the massacre of his family and supporters at the capital and at Mei. We are told Dong Zhuo was vastly fat, and as his corpse lay exposed someone placed a wick in the belly and lit it: he burned like a candle for several days. The coalition of Wang Yun and Lü Bu was swiftly overthrown by former officers of Dong Zhuo, led by Li Jue and Guo Si, and the regime at Chang'an fell into utter confusion."
Page 158: QUOTE: "In traditional history, Dong Zhuo is reviled for destroying the dynasty of Han, and the accusation is not unfair. Given the chaos at Luoyang in 189, the task of restoration and reform was perhaps impossible, but Dong Zhuo was quite unsuited and inadequate to the task, and he confirmed the collapse of imperial government."

Dou Gu

Page 162: Dou Gu (d. 88 AD) was a son of Dou You and a nephew of Dou Rong. He was married to Princess Liu Zhongli, a daughter of Emperor Guangwu. He was promoted to the junior post of Gentleman of the Yellow Gates. He was interested in the Five Classics and military strategy.
Page 162-163: Dou Gu's association with critic Du Bao led was a source of embarrassment for him, which was brought to light by a supporter of Ma Yuan (Han Dynasty), leader of a political faction. However, Dou Gu avenged himself in 49 AD when he joined others in condemning Ma Yuan, which brought about Ma's posthumous disgrace and the decline of his clan.
Page 163: Dou Gu inherited his father's fief in 56 AD. In 58 AD, Emperor Ming of Han promoted him as the General of the Household of the Feathered Forest. He then accompanied Ma Wu on a campaign which defeated the Qiang leader Dianyu
Page 163: In 61 AD, Dou Mu (son of Dou Rong and cousin to Dou Gu) became disgraced in office, so he was forced to retire alongside his cousins, which included Dou Gu, the latter who remained at home for ten years.
Page 163: Battle of Yiwulu: However, Emperor Ming needed experienced commanders in his fight against the Northern Xiongnu in 72, so he privately consulted with Dou Gu. An arrangement was made to have Dou Gu appointed as Commandant of the Equipage, leading a force recruited from Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang as well as an auxiliary force of 12,000 Qiang and other non-Chinese tribesmen from the northwest. QUOTE: "In 73 he moved north from Jiuquan in conjunction with another column under Geng Bing, which was to attack from Juyan/Edsin Gol. At the same time, two armies further east, commanded by Zhai Tong and Lai Miao, advanced from Shuofang in the Ordos region and from the Sanggan valley at Yanmen. Of the four commanders in this enterprise, only Dou Gu achieved any notable success. Reaching Lake Barkol, he defeated a Xiongnu king and occupied the region of Yiwu near present-day Hami."
Page 163: QUOTE: "Dou Gu was honored as Specially Advanced, and late in 74, leading Geng Bing and Liu Zhang with a combined force of 14,000 horsemen, he made another expedition. Advancing to the Barkol Tagh, their forces defeated the Xiongnu once more and received submission from the kingdoms of Jushi in Turfan. For the first time Later Han gained control of the approaches to the Western Regions and re-established the protectorate which had been maintained by Former Han."
Page 163: After Emperor Zhang of Han succeeded to the throne in 75, Dou Gu returned to the capital and was made the Minister Herald, as well as a leading adviser on frontier policy. His great-niece became empress in 78, he became Minister of the Household in 82, and then Minister of the Guards in 83. Although vastly wealthy, his son Dou Biao died before him, so his marquisate became extinct after his death.

Dou Xian

Page 170: Dou Xian (d. 92 AD) was orphaned in his youth when his father Dou Xun was disgraced and died about 70 AD. However, Dou Xian was fortunate enough to have his two sisters enter the imperial harem in 77 AD, and even more fortunate to have the eldest of these become the official Empress to Emperor Zhang of Han, her name being Empress Zhangde and her unofficial name being Empress Dou (Zhang).
Page 170-171: Empress Dou held Dou Xian in high regard and he was considered leader of the clan. He became a gentleman cadet at court, and then was appointed as a Palace Attendant, then General of the Household Rapid as a Tiger in command of palace guards.
Page 171: Members of the imperial clan and former consort families felt intimidated by Dou, who forced Princess Liu Zhi, the daughter of late Emperor Ming, to sell him a pleasure ground at an unfairly low price. Emperor Zhang was outraged and prepared to make an example of him, but Empress Dou persuaded him not to punish Dou Xian, while Dou Xian quickly handed the property back over to Princess Liu Zhi. Immediately after this fiasco, Dou Xian received no position of importance.
Page 171: With Emperor Zhang's death in 88 AD, Empress Dou became the regent dowager for the child Emperor He of Han. He used her new position of power to gain his own influence, becoming her agent and getting the former Grand Commandant Deng Biao promoted as Grand Tutor for the new reign of He. Dou earned a bad reputation for being cruel and impatient, sending his retainers to kill the son of Han Yu, a former Intendant who had been involved in the interrogation of his father Dou Xun years before. Dou Xun took this a step further by having the young man's head presented to his father's grave as an offering.
Page 171: Marquis Liu Chang, son of Liu Shi the King of Qi, came to Luoyang to deliver a message of condolence for Emperor Zhang's death. While there, Liu Chang gained the favor of Empress Dowager Dou, which made Dou Xian fear he had a new rival. He plotted to have his retainers kill Liu Chang and have it blamed on his brotehr Liu Gang. However, the clerical officer He Chang discovered the plot and leaked it to the court. In the scandal that ensued, Dou Xian was detained and put under house arrest in the palace.
Page 171: Soon after this, the leader Tuntuhe, Shanyu of the Southern Xiongnu, reported that the Northern Xiongnu were stirring trouble on the northern steppe. The General Geng Bing was delighted at the prospect of an offensive campaign to take over the steppe, but senior ministers were opposed to the idea. Empress Dowager Dou saw this as an opportunity to save face for her clan and restore Dou Xian's reputation by giving him command of forces which hopefully would be victorious. For this campaign, Dou Xian was given the title General of Chariots and Cavalry and sent out on an expedition against the Xiongnu with Geng Bing as his second-in-command officer. By the late winter of 88 AD, the army was prepared. The core of this force were elite fighting forces from the five regiments of the Northern Army (stationed at the capital), buttressed by levies from frontier commanderies, from the military bases of Liyang in Wei Commandery and Yong in Youfufeng Commandery, and the General on the Liao in Wuyuan. As for non-Chinese, besides the main Southern Xiongnu army drafted for this fight, there were auxiliary forces gathered from the Qiang and other tribal peopels. All of these forces together totalled roughly forty thousand men.
Page 171: Battle of Ikh Bayan; Han forces were to rendezvous at the Gurvansaikhan Mountains in the summer of 89 AD, where they could then travel from high ground into Mongolia. The senior colonel Yan Pan was dispatched to the northwest to defeat the Shanyu of the Northern Xiongnu at Jiluo Mountain, and once this was achieved they chased his forces into the Altai Mountains. It is recorded that of the goods they seized from the Xiongnu, a million head of horses, cattle, sheep, and camels were taken. They estimated that they killed 13,000 of his men and 200,000 people from eighty-one tribes submitted to Han. Dou Xian and Geng Bing moved at liesure towards the north. Using an inscription written by historian Ban Gu for the occasion, they erected a celebratory stele at Mount Yanran in the Hangayn Nuruu mountain range which described the Han's foreign expeditions throughout Shanyu Modun's territory during the 2nd century BC.
Page 171-172: QUOTE "As Dou Xun returned to Wuyuan, he sent two envoys, Wu Si and Liang Fang, to offer the Northern Shanyu gifts of gold brocade anda summons to surrender. The Shanyu agreed, but as he approached he heard the Han troops had withdrawn. Still in the Altai, he decided to wait. He did send a younger brother as envoy and hostage, but Dou Xian insisted he come in person. Even as these negotiations were in train, the Southern Shanyu Tuntuhe sent eight thousand cavalry under the prince Shizi to accompany the Emissary Geng Tan in an attack on the Northern headquarters. Putting the Shanyu to flight, they seized his seal and treasury, his wife and family, and several thousand of his subjects. Dou Xian had sent Liang Feng and Ban Gu on a second embassy to the Shanyu, but by the time they arrived Geng Tan and Shizi had driven him away. The envoys returned, and Dou Xian recommended that the Shanyu was now too weak to be worth dealing with; he should be finally eliminated. In the autumn of 91 the colonel Geng Kui attacked and destroyed the remnants of the Northern court. The Shanyu fled to the west and was not heard of again."
Page 172: QUOTE: "Dou Xian planned to set up a puppet court for the Northern Xiongnu, parallel to that of the south, with the prince Atong as his preferred candidate. Yuan An and others argued that this would break faith with the Southern Shanyu, long-time ally of Han, and though Dou Xian won the debate he was obliged to accept the prince Yuchujian, younger brother of the regent Shanyu, instead of Atong. The new arrangement lasted only a year."
Page 172: For his military service, Dou Xian was generously rewarded by the court with the title General-in-Chief and granted a county marquisate of 20,000 households in 90 AD. QUOTE: "Dou Xian refused the fief, but the position of General-in-Chief was raised: in the past it had been below the Excellencies, with staff equivalent to taht of the Grand Commandant, but Dou Xian now ranked next only to the Grand Tutor, while the number of salaries of his staff were vastly augmented."
Page 172: QUOTE: "The Dou faction now dominated the court, with Geng Kui and Deng Die in military authority, the clerical officers Ban Gu and Fu Yi controlling the affairs of the Secretariat, and number of clients in positions of authority within and outside the capital. Dou Xian's brothers received fiefs of 6,000 households each, Dou Du and Dou Xiang were ministers, and Dou Jing was Bearer of the Mace until his excess of corruption rendered it politic to remove him from executive power. Dou Xian's uncles Dou Ba, Dou Bao, and Dou Jia likewise held ministerial rank or its equivalent, and another dozen of the family were appointed to high office in the court and the administration. Within the palace itself, Guo Ju, Deng Die's brother Deng Lie and other allies held great influence with the Dowager Dou, and there were allegations of sexual and political intrigue."
Page 172: QUOTE: "At this time, while Dou Xian was still with the army in the northwest, the young Emperor He was able to gather support among a group of eunuchs led by Zheng Zhong to free himself from the control of these over-mighty subjects. In the summer of 92, as Dou Xian returned to the capital, he was welcomed by the Minister Herald with an imperial donation for each of his men. As he entered the palace, however, imperial orders called the palace police and the troops of the Northern Army to guard the gates while Deng Die, Deng Lei, Guo Ju and other associates of the Dowager Dou were arrested and executed. The Supervisor of Internuncios was then sent to strip Dou Xian of his insignia as General-in-Chief. Dou Xian's fief was changed, and he and his brothers were sent from the capital."
Page 172: QUOTE: "In a show of respect for the Dowager, Emperor He did not formally order her brothers' execution, but as they arrived at their estates Dou Xian, Dou Du, and Dou Jing were compelled to commit suicide. Because of his good reputation, Dou Xiang escaped that immediate fate, but he and other associates of the family were dismissed and likewise expelled."

Dou Wu

Page 169: QUOTE: "Dou Wu 竇武...(d. 168); Youfufeng. Son of Dou Feng and a descendant of Dou Rong, who had been an ally ofthe founding Emperor Guangwu of Later Han, Dou Wu was a collateral relative of the Empress or Emperor Zhang who had been regent for the young Emperor He and whose family controlled the government until the overthrow of their power in 92. Though the family had not recovered its position at the capital, the Dou retained personal influence and considerable wealth in their home country about Chang'an, and Dou Wu's father was a commandery administrator."
Page 169: QUOTE: "Dou Wu became known as a scholar of the classics, living in a marshland with a private academy of a hundred students. He initially took no interest in politics, but in 165 his eldest daughter Miao entered the harem of Emperor Huan and was appionted an Honoured Lady. Dou Wu then came to Luoyang as a cadet gentleman, and when she was proclaimed empress at the end of the year he was made colonel of a regiment in the Northern Army and received a county fief with revenue from five thousand households."
Page 169-170: QUOTE: "Dou Wu was later promoted Colonel of the City Gates, responsible for the outer defences of the capital. He gave patronage to students and junior clerks, recommending many for promotion and distributing rewards and subsidies, while his own style of life was simple and plain. With a fine reputation and many recipients of his bounty, he confirmed his alliance with Chen Fan and other leading officials and established a substantial position at court. At the time of the First Faction incident in 166–167, when the eunuchs had Li Ying and other critics arrested and Chen Fan was dismissed for protesting, Dou Wu made an eloquent submission, threatening to resign his office and his fief, and obtained the release of the prisoners. He also urged the emperor to employ better men as his senior officials, and made specific recommendations. Predictably, Emperor Huan was not pleased at this political activity, and he had no fondness for the empress."
Page 170: QUOTE: "Emperor Huan died on 25 January 168 and the Lady Dou, now Dowager, held authority in the government. Since the emperor had died without an heir, the Dowager could choose his successor from among any cadets of the imperial house; the young woman consulted her father within the private apartments of the palace. Despite his association with the outer court and bureaucracy, Dou Wu did not involve any senior ministers in the selection. He and his daughter were chiefly interested in descendants of Liu Kai the King of Hejian, a son of Emperor Zhang of Later Han, and they sought advice of the Imperial Clerk Liu Shu, member of the Censorate, who came from that territory."
Page 170: QUOTE: "With his family established in power, Dou Wu and his daughter arranged enfeoffments and rewards for their relatives and clients and, like the Liang before them, members of the family received significant military and police appointments about the capital. Dou Wu himself became General-in-Chief, the same position formerly held by Liang Ji, brother of the empress Liang Na and Liang Nüying, which gave nominal command over the Northern Army, the major professional force at the capital. He established a close partnership with Chen Fan, now Grand Tutor, and these two men, with the Excellency Hu Guang, shared control over the Secretariat, centre of imperial authority. Under their aegis Li Ying and other members of the Proscribed Party were brought back to the capital and given high office."
Page 170: QUOTE: "For a few months there was a sense of confidence that the government and the court would be reformed on idealistic Confucian lines, but a major obstacle was the influence of the harem eunuchs who had acquired power through the favour of Emperor Huan. Chen Fan persuaded Dou Wu that they should be purged, but under the influence of Cao Jie the Dowager rejected her father's proposals and continued to protect herr [sic] attendants. As time passed the frustration of Chen Fan and the reformers became obvious, and Dou Wu prepared for a coup to bring swift and bloody resolution to the stalemate."
Page 170: QUOTE: "In the autumn of 168 matters came to a head. Through his agents Shan Bing and Yin Xun, Dou Wu recommended the arrest of Cao Jie and Wang Fu, but then he then went back to bed; and during the night the eunuchs ran a counter-coup against him. Persuading the boy Emperor Ling to support them, they seized the Dowager's seal, took control of the palaces, and arrested the elderly Chen Fan as he sought to attack them. Dou Wu and his nephew Dou Shao gathered troops from the Northern Army, but they were faced by imperial orders and by the frontier general Zhang Huan, who had been persuaded to oppose the traitor. Dou Wu's men deserted him and Dou Wu and Dou Shao committed suicide."
Page 170: QUOTE: "As Dou Wu's head and that of his son were exposed at the Capital Hostel, central police station of the city, where the confrontation had taken place, other members of the family were executed and remnant relatives and clients were exiled to the far south. Chen Fan and many of his supporters among the officials were killed, and there was a second Proscription against the reformists throughout the empire."

Fan Chong

Page 195-196: QUOTE: "Fan Chong 樊崇 I...(d.27); Langye. Chief of a band of a hundred men in Ju county of Langye, Fan Chong styled himself Thrice Venerable, traditional title of a village leader. About 15 AD he crossed into Taishan commandery and set his base in the area of Youlai Mountain, present-day Cilai Shan in the Taishan massif. As Qing and Xu provinces suffered from famine, there was increasing unrest, and within a year Fan Chong had ten thousand people under his command, while other bands, led by Pang An of his own commandery and by Xu Xuan, Xie Lu and Yang Yin of Donghai, also came to join him."
Page 196: Discussing the origins of the group later known as the Red Eyebrows, and their influence on the fall of Wang Mang, Bielenstien emphasises that these were people of commoner, peasant origin, not inevitably opposed to the government, and not basically influenced by religious beliefs, still less by fanaticism. He has argued that the source of the movement was popular distress brought by massive flooding of the Yellow River: in the time of Emperor Ping, the first years AD, the river broke its dykes in the region of the Bian Canal by present-day Zhengzhou, and later breaches opened a vast area of uncontrolled streams, marshes and meanders southeast as far as the Huai River and the sea. Effectively the Yellow River had now two courses to the sea, one north and one south of the Shandong peninsula, and of these the southern route was quite uncontrolled. In human terms, the consequence was a vast displacement of people, driven north and south by flood and starvation, and these migrants in turn disrupted the economy and government across the whole eastern plain. The argument is well presented by Bielenstein in 54:147-149, who points out also that by about 20 AD several waves of migrants who had travelled south and west from the troubled area had reached the middle Yangzi and were involved in the disruption and discontent which inspired the bandits of Jiangxia, the Troops from Xinshi and the Troops of the Lower Yangzi, later allies of the gentry Han rebellion in Nanyang."
Page 196: QUOTE: "The full effects of these floods took time to work its way through the region, but the government of Wang Mang proved quite unable to cope with the work required to address the problem, and by 15 to 18 AD Fan Chong and his colleagues were at the head of a great horde of dispossessed and desperate people. Some members of the bands were of gentry origins, but the vast majority, including the leaders, were of poor and illiterate backgrounds, and even the titles of their chieftains, Thrice Venerable 三老, Assistant Officer 從事, and Clerk [?][?] reflect the low-ranking officers with which such humble people would deal."
Page 196: QUOTE: "About 18, or soon afterwards, Fan Chong felt strong enough to attack the county city of Ju. He was unsuccessful, but he ravaged the country of northern Langye, and the local forces of the counties and commanderies were unable to bring them under control. The marquis Tian Kuang 田况 had raised levies for self-defence and kept the bandits out of his territory; he argued to the court that the problems had been greatly under-estimated and the correct solution was to co-ordinate a proper local response. In 21 Tian Kuang was given command over the combined forces of Qing and Xu provinces, but he was then defeated with heavy losses and was dismissed."
Page 196: QUOTE: "Fan Chong and his fellows extended their depredations into Qi, bu the northern course of the Yellow River, then moved south into Donghai. They dominated the eastern part of the North China plain, and about this time, to distinguish themselves from the imperial forces which opposed them, they marked themselves with red colouring across the forehead: they thus became known as the Red Eyebrows 赤眉."
Page 196: QUOTE: "In the summer of 22 Wang Mang sent a large army under Wang Kuang 王匡 and Lien Dan [sic] 亷丹 [should be "Lian" not "Lien", Crespigny messed up]. Moving very slowly, and causing great distress in the countryside through which they passed, the imperial forces came up with the enemy only in the winter of that year. After successfully recapturing a county city in Dongping which had been seized by an internal revolt, they attacked a detachment of Red Eyebrows under Dong Xian in Liang commandery, but were utterly defeated. Lian Dan [see! Crespigny originally screwed his name up] was killed and Wang Kuang fled back to the capital."
Page 196: QUOTE: "About this time Fan Chong again attacked Ju city, but broke off the operation, either because many of his men had relatives in Ju or, more probably, because the citizens paid a ransom. With further reinforcements, notably from the division of the band of pirates controlled by Mother Lü 呂母 who died about this time, he invaded Donghai, but he was defeated by local levies under the commandery Administrator."
Page 196-197: QUOTE: "By this stage, it appears that the depredations of the vast horde had all but exhausted the resources of the region, or certainly those easily accessible. During 22, in seperate bands and waves the Red Eyebrows moved gradually westwards, first south into Chu and Pei, then north through Runan, Yingchuan and Chenliu towards the Yellow River. By the latter part of the year some groups were approaching Nanyang commandery, and it is again Bielenstein's argument that part of the inspiration for the revolt of Liu Bosheng and his associates in the name of Han came from the pressure of these approaching hordes."
Page 197: QUOTE: "The bulk of the Red Eyebrows, however, did not move so far west at this stage. With no direct goal, they were concerned to search for supplies wherever they might find them, and by the latter part of 23 they had turned north into Dong commandery. They may well have been seeking to return by a roundabout route to their homelands in the east, but found the floods of the region barring their way."
Page 197: QUOTE: "By this time Wang Mang had been overthrown, and in the winter of 23 the Gengshi Emperor invited Fan Chong and his fellows to his new capital at Luoyang. They offered submission and were rewarded with titles, but the honours they received from the new regime were accompanied by no useful income or formal influence, and they soon heard that their troops, deprived of their leadership, were beginning to disperse. Without opposition from the imperial government, Fan Chong and his colleagues left Luoyang and rejoined their men, but they now turned their minds to the wealth and power of the west."
Page 197: QUOTE: "Early in 24 the Red Eyebrows began to move. Fan Chong and Pang An went southwest into Nanyang, where they attacked Wan city, killed the magistrate in battle, but then crossed the Wu Pass into Hongnong. Another group, led by Xu Xuan, Xie Lu and Yang Yin, advanced through Henan, where they killed the Administrator, then journeyed south and west through the Luhun Pass into Hongnong. A third horde sought first to cross the Yellow River to the north, but was defeated by Liu Xiu, future Emperor Guangwu; it too then travelled west, by-passing Luoyang but moving through the Hangu Pass. By the end of the year all had reached Hongnong, and the Gengshi Emperor, who had mistakenly transferred his capital to Chang'an, was isolated and trapped."
Page 197: QUOTE: "At the beginning of 25 the three columns regrouped, and they established a basic organisation of thirty divisions, each said to number 10,000 men, commanded by a Thrice Venerable and an Attendant Officer. In the first month they defeated the Gengshi Emperor's general Su Mao, and in the third month, still in Hongnong, they defeated another army under Li Song. In the summer they entered the valley of the Wei, and in the sixth month, at Zheng county in Jingzhao, they chose their own emperor, Liu Penzi."
Page 197: QUOTE: "In the autumn the Red Eyebrows crossed the Wei River and made their final attack on Chang'an from the north. They were joined by Wang Kuang, Zhang Ang and other chieftains of the commoner Troops who had joined the Han cause in Nanyang but now abandoned the Gengshi Emperor. Defeating the last Gengshi army under Li Song, the bandits entered the city and installed Liu Penzi in the palace. Liu Xuan the Gengshi Emperor fled north, but was arrested by one of his former officials. His loyal follower Liu Gong, brother of Liu Penzi, negotiated terms of surrender, but soon afterwards Liu Xuan was killed by Xie Lu."
Page 197: QUOTE: "The leaders of the Red Eyebrows now awarded themselves official positions, and though Fan Chong, like most of his colleagues, could neither read nor write, he was named Imperial Secretary; Xu Xuan, who had been keeper of a county jail and had an amateur's knowledge of the Book of Changes, took title as Imperial Chancellor."
Page 197: QUOTE: "These illiterate leaders of peasant insurgents were quite incapable of forming a government and showed no interest in doing so. They plundered Chang'an and its surroundings, but any pretence at ceremonial was meaningless, and court gatherings broke down in a chaos of rivalry, quarrelling and fighting."
Page 197: QUOTE: "By the beginning of 26 the Red Eyebrows had exhausted the available supplies of the capital region and, having sacked and burned the city and looting the imperial graves as they passed, they moved out to the south. Turning west as they came to the Qin Ling mountains, they climbed the Long Slope into the upper Wei valley. The journey made no strategic sense, and was evidently an extended foraging expedition, as the group still hoped to maintain a presence in the area of the capital. When they came into the territory of Wei Ao in the upper Wei, the bandits were twice defeated by his armies, and by autumn they had been forced to retreat; as they encountered heavy snowfalls on the passes, many died of the cold."
Page 197-198: QUOTE: "So the Red Eyebrows' military power was weakened, and as they returned to the lower Wei valley they were attacked by Deng Yu, general of Liu Xiu, now Emperor Guangwu. Deng Yu, however, was defeated and abandoned Chang'an, so the Red Eyebrows returned once more to the city. By now the morale and military strength of the disorganised masses were in critical decline. Once more quitting the capital, the bandits came down the Wei, and at the beginning of 27 they returned east into Hongnong."
Page 198: QUOTE: "Though they had gained success against Guangwu's generals Feng Yi and Deng Yu, great numbers began to surrender. One party wen through the Hangu Pass, but was defeated near the Yellow River and disappeared. The main group returned through the Luhun Pass, but were met at Yiyang in Hongnong by Guangwu and his main army. With Feng Yi's troops behind them, and overwhelming forces in front, the Red Eyebrows asked to surrender. Granted their lives, they capitulated on 15 March."
Page 198: QUOTE: "Fan Chong and the other leaders were ordered to settle in the neighborhood of the new imperial capital, Luoyang, where they could be kept under observation. Within a few months Fan Chong and Pang An again planned to rebel, possibly hoping to return to banditry in the east. They were found out, and in the summer they were executed."

Gan Ying

Page 239-240: Gan Ying was a staff officer under Ban Chao. Gan Ying was sent in 97 as a member of an embassy to Daqin, which has been identified as the outskirts of the Roman Empire. From his account it appears that he did not reach any farther than the Persian Gulf, but his account of territories farther west became the basis for Han knowledge about the Mediterranean world. Afterwards, King Manqu of Anxi (Parthia), or Pacorus II of Parthia, sent an embassy to the Han Dynasty in 101 AD.

Gongsun Shu

Page 268: Gongsun Shu (d. 36 AD) was born in Youfufeng. His father, Gongsun Ren, QUOTE: "had been an Imperial Clerk in the Censorate during the reign of Emperor Ai of Former Han, and later became Commandant of Henan. Through the ren appointment right of his father, Gongsun Shu entered the civil service as a member of the Suite of the Heir, then became a gentleman cadet, and when Gongsun Ren was in Henan Gongsun Shu became a country magistrate in Tianshui. Considering him young and inexperienced, his father sent one of his officers to advise and guide him, but after a few weeks the man returned and told Gongsun Ren that his son needed no such help. Also recognising Gongsun Shu's capability, the Administrator had him supervise four other counties. We are told that the government was in good order, with no instances of robbery or banditry, while all the commandery admired his uncanny ability."
Page 268: QUOTE: "About 15 AD, Gongsun Shu was appointed Administrator of Shu, under the regime of Wang Mang, with his capital at Linqiong, west of Chengdu. He was still in that position when Wang Mang was destroyed by the army of the Gengshi Emperor of Han in 23. As the empire fell into disorder, the self-styled general Zong Cheng of Nanyang raided Hanzhong commandery. The effect of his incursions extended south of the mountains into Guanghan, while at the same time the bandit Wang Cen attacked Luo city, north of Chengdu and headquarters of the province. Song Zun, the Governor appointed by Wang Mang, was killed, and Wang Cen also took the title as a general and declared his support for Zong Cheng."
Page 269: QUOTE: "Gongsun Shu now invited Zong Cheng south to Chengdu, where he was joined by Wang Cen. As Zong Cheng paid primary attention to plunder, Gongsun Shu explained to his people that he had mistakenly believed Zong Cheng to be a true officer of the new Han regime. He arranged for a messenger to appear, pretending to be from the Gengshi Emperor and carrying forged documents which not only confirmed him as Administrator of Shu but also named him Governor of Yi province and gave him title as a general. Armed with this false authority, Gongsun Shu attacked Zong Cheng and surrendered with all his troops. As Bielenstein observes, with this complex of trickery Gongsun Shu gained reputation as a good local official, acquired a substantial number of new recruits, and set himself up as a recognised high officer of the new imperial regime. Even if the Gengshi regime objected to his pretensions, Gongsun Shu could claim to have acted in good faith, and his provincial power, whether legitimately acquired or not, gave him an excellent bargaining position."
Page 269: QUOTE: "In the autumn of the following year, 24, the Gengshi Emperor sent his officers Li Bao and Zhang Zhong to take over the territory, with Zhang Zhong designated as Inspector of Yi province. Gongsun Shu sent his brother Gongsun Hui to attack them, the Han forces were defeated and withdrew into Wudu, and Gongsun Shu's independence was confirmed. Soon afterwards Gongsun Shu took title as King of Shu...His Officer of Merit Li Xiong, who put forward this welcome proposal, emphasized the coherence and prosperity of the territory, compared it to the misery and weakness of central China, and encouraged Gongsun Shu to plan for expansion as a hegemon. Taking over Jianwei, immediately to the south, Gongsun Shu received tribute from Ren Gui, the non-Chinese chieftain of Yuexi, who styled himself as a king, while the Zuodu people in the west and some White Horse Di of Wudu also submitted. Hou Dan was set to guard the pass controlling the northern approach from Hanzhong, while Ren Man, based at Jiangzhou, present-day Chongqing, established defences on the Yangzi Gorges at the border of present-day Sichuan and Hunan."
Page 269: QUOTE: "In the summer of 25 Gongsun Shu took the imperial title. He did this in defiance of the Gengshi regime, which was clearly on the point of collapse, while Liu Xiu, future Emperor Guangwu, did not present his own claim until the autumn. The move was again encouraged by Li Xiong, and justified by various omens, including a favourable dream, a dragon which emerged from Gongsun Shu's yamen, and lights in the sky, together with calculations from apocryphal texts to foretell his succession to Han and Wang Mang. As he took the throne, Gongsun Shu announced the name of his dynasty as Cheng 成 'Complete,' based upon the name of his capital, Chengdu, and proclaimed the reign title Longxing...'Rising Dragon'. He adopted the colour white, which opposed the red of Han and succeeded to the yellow of Wang Mang, while it also reflected his position in the west, home of the Power of Metal...He designated Yi province by the imperial title of Sili...and changed Shu commandery to be the Intendancy of Chengdu...Li Xiong, Ren Man and Gongsun Shu's brothers Hui and Guang were named as Excellencies...while other members of his clan held high positions. Gongsun Shu's appointments were based chiefly upon personal connection: he showed no special favour to men of his homeland in the north, but he was likewise not bound to local leaders, and in later years an outsider such as Yan Cen of Nan commandery was readily approved for the highest military rank."
Page 269-270: QUOTE: "In 26 Gongsun Shu's general Hou Dan took advantage of the fighting between Liu Jia the king of Hanzhong and his rival Yan Cen to occupy the commandery, and during the following years Lü Wei and other gentry leaders in the Wei valley, north across the Qin Ling divide, offered allegiance to and received appointment as generals. Gongsun Shu also maintained contact with the north-western warlord Wei Ao, notably through the intermediacy of Ma Yuan, a fellow-countryman, who came on embassy from Wei Ao in 26 but was unhappy with his reception and later supported Emperor Guangwu. In the south, Wen Qi the Administrator of Yizhou commandery refused to acknowledge Gongsun Shu and sent messengers to Guangwu, while in Zangke the non-Chinese clans also resisted his authority and offered nominal allegiance to Han. These pockets of resistance were not of great importance: the armed men nominally under Gongsun Shu's command were numbered by hundreds of thousands, while the territory he controlled, the whole of present-day Sichuan, was coherent and prosperous. On the other hand, though Gongsun Shu attempted to recruit local worthies to his court and cause, we are told that many refused, and expressed loyalty to the Han even at pain of death."
Page 270: QUOTE: "As Guangwu extended his power over eastern China during the late 20s, Gongsun Shu was chiefly concerned with the symbols of empire. He paid great attention to prophecies, signs and portents which might be taken to foretell his success; he constructed a palace at Nanzheng in Hanzhong, with ten fine barges, all painted red and adorned with silk and fine woods, and he sought to replace the copper currency of Han with iron coins of his own minting—this may have reflected the fact that his territory was the dominant producer of copper in China, but the change was resented by the people. Furthermore, though Gongsun Shu is said to have issued insignia for official positions all over the empire, and his imperial claim ensured that he must at some time contend directly with Guangwu of Han, he never embarked upon a strategy to deal with the empire as a whole."
Page 270: QUOTE: "The closest Gongsun Shu appears to have come to such broad planning was in 30, when Guangwu already controlled the lower Wei valley about Chang'an and had established his dominance in the east. He was pressing hard against Wei Ao in the northwest, who was sufficiently concerned to seek an alliance, while Gongsun Shu had also received the refugee warlords Yan Cen and Tian Rong from the middle Yangzi. His adviser Jing Han proposed that he embark on a pincer movement, east though [sic] the Yangzi Gorges and north into the Wei valley, to support Wei Ao and threaten Guangwu on two fronts. Led by Gongsun Shu's brother Guang, officials at court opposed the plan and it was shelved. In any case, such a move should have been attempted three or five years earlier, while there were still potential allies in the east. By the 30s the best to be hoped for was a defensive stalemate with Wei Ao's support, for though the Sichuan basin is guarded by mountains Gongsun Shu's resources were too small to withstand the full power of the rest of the empire."
Page 270: QUOTE: "In 33, as a partial expression of Jing Han's plan, Tian Rong and Ren Man were sent through the Gorges to seize Nan commandery. They drove in the Han positions and occupied some territory along the Yangzi, but then established a defence line and advanced no further. Guangwu's general Cen Peng took no immediate action, but spent two years on the construction of warships and other equipment, and in the summer of 35 he embarked on counter-offensive. Tian Rong's river defences were broken, and the Han armies pursued him the whole length of the Gorges. Laying siege to him in Jiangzhou but by-passing that position, Cen Peng moved up the Yangzi and the Min towards Chengdu while his associate Zang Gong forced his way up the Fu River and destroyed Yan Cen's army. Guangwu offered terms of surrender, but Gongsun Shu, committed to his imperial position, refused, and in the winter he sent a false deserter to assassinate Cen Peng and thus obtained a breathing space."
Page 270: QUOTE: "The campaign was resumed by the Grand Marshal Wu Han. His strength was fully extended as he approached Chengdu, and he was briefly defeated by Gongsun Shu's general Xie Feng, but Wu Han recovered and resumed the advance. By the end of 36 he had been joined by Zang Gong from the Fu River, and together they invested Chengdu. Gongsun Shu still refused to surrender, and although the Han armies were on the outskirts of his capital their position was still vulnerable: supplies were short, the troops were exhausted, and Wu Han was considering retreat. It would no doubt have been wiser to let him withdraw, but we are told Gongsun Shu took the omens and found that 'A caitiff will die below the city walls' ...Believing this referred to Wu Han, on 24 December 36 he ordered a sortie. His men gained initial success, but Wu Han's reserves turned the battle. Gongsun Shu was badly wounded, and though he was brought back into the city he died that night."
Page 270: QUOTE: "On the following day Yan Cen surrendered, and two days later Wu Han allowed his men to loot the city. Numbers of people were killed, Gongsun Shu's palace was destroyed by fire, and Gongsun Shu's widow, his children and other kinsmen, together with Yan Cen and his family, were executed. In the following summer blind musicians and their instruments from the court of Gongsun Shu, together with various carriages, were brought to Luoyang and presented at the Altar of Heaven."

Hua Tuo

Page 332: Hua Tuo (c. 140 – c. 208) was a celebrated physician in the late Eastern Han era. While in Langye Commandery of Xu Province (renowned for its magic and medicine), Hua studied the Huangdi Neijing and was said to have become knowledgeable in the field of Chinese herbology. It is also said that he co-authored the Shen Nong bencao jing with Zhang Zhongjing. He sparingly used moxibustion and acupuncture. When performing surgery, he anesthetized his patients with wine and powdered hemp. He had an ointment which could cure surgery wounds within a month. Hua Tuo emphasized exercise as a means to prolong life through a process of calisthenics. In his diagnosis of one woman, he concluded that her troubles were caused by a dead fetus within her. He also treated internal worms, fevers, coughing, and blocked throat.
Page 332: Despite Hua's consideration of the field of medicine unworthy of a scholar, he was nominated as Filial and Incorrupt in 190 AD. He was even offered an official position to work for one of the Three Excellencies, but he humbly declined this job.
Page 332: The later Chancellor Cao Cao suffered from dizziness and headaches, which Hua Tuo cured by applying acupuncture to his diaphragm. Hua preferred the small, light acupuncture needles used to seek effect through the nervous system, rather than some who used large needles to actually puncture internal organs.
Page 332: Cao Cao later jailed and executed Hua Tuo for lying to him about returning home to treat his sick wife (in reality Hua Tuo was tired of serving Cao's court). When Cao's headaches returned and lost his son Cao Chong in 208, he regretted having Hua executed.

Ma Yuan

Page 658: Ma Yuan (Han Dynasty) (14 BC – 49 AD), who lived with his brother Kuang after his father died at age 12, studied in the capital under an expert in the Classic of Poetry according to the New Text school of Qi. Ma's three elder brothers—Kuang, Yu, and Yuan—held office under Wang Mang's regime, and encouraged Ma Yuan to pursue an official career, but Ma Yuan decided to test his fortunes as a grazier in the northwest. He did, however, become an Investigator in Youfufeng, his home commandery. QUOTE: "As he was escorting a prisoner accused of a serious crime, Ma Yuan took pity on the man: he let him go, and himself fled into Beidi. A general amnesty was issued soon afterwards, and he was able to set himself up as a pastoralist."
Page 658: QUOTE: "Ma Yuan had connections in the region through his grandfather, his father and his brother Yuan...who had acquired clients and helf office in the government horse-breeding enterprise. Now in his thirties and evidently a man of personal authority, Ma Yuan built upon these contacts and took six hundred families into his service. Extending his interests across the mountains from Longxi into the upper valley of the Han, he acquired thousands of head of cattle, horses and sheep, and vast quantities of grain. He nonetheless lived simply, dressed in sheepskins, and distributed his wealth to his brothers and to old friends."
Page 658: QUOTE: "In the early 20s, as rebellions were breaking out against the government fo Wang Mang, the General of the Guards Wang Lin...called up Ma Yuan and Yuan She...as leading men of the region. He first appointed them to clerical positions in his office, then recommended them to his cousin Wang Mang. Wang Mang named them as administrators, Yuan She in Tianshui and Ma Yuan in Hanzhong."
Page 658: QUOTE: "After Wang Mang was destroyed in 23 Ma Yuan's elder brother Yuan...Administrator of Shang commandery, took refuge in Liang province, and Ma Yuan left his position to join him. At the end of 25 Ma Yuan...went to the new Emperor Guangwu and was reappointed to Shang, but Ma Yuan remained in the west and took service with the warlord Wei Ao. Wei Ao admired him greatly, gave him title as a general and made him a member of his council."
Page 658-659: QUOTE: "In 26 Wei Ao sent Ma Yuan to visit Gongsun Shu, who had taken the imperial title at Chengdu. Ma Yuan came from the same district as Gongsun Shu and the two had been friends, so he probably expected a special relationship and was very likely prepared to change allegiance. Gongsun Shu, however, insisted upon full court etiquette, and though he offered to appoint Ma Yuan a chief general and grant him enfeoffment, Ma Yuan was offended by the formality with which he had been received and persuaded Wei Ao to reject an alliance. Two years later, in the winter of 28, Wei Ao sent Ma Yuan on another embassy, this time to Guangwu, who was at that time campaigning in the southeast. Guangwu joked that he had now visited two emperors, himself and Gongsun Shu, and Ma Yuan, confident of his value, observed that 'These days, it is not only the sovereign who selects his subjects; the subjects also choose their sovereign.'"
Page 659: QUOTE: "Ma Yuan remained with Guangwu until the following year and accepted a minor appointment at court. He then accompanied the return envoy Lai Xi, who invited Wei Ao to send his eldest son as a hostage. It appears Ma Yuan had already accepted Guangwu, but for the time being he concealed this from Wei Ao. Asked for information and advice, Ma Yuan persuaded him to agree to the emperor's requests."
Page 659: QUOTE: "It is possible that at this time Lai Xi and Ma Yuan also went on embassy to Gongsun Shu, though their proposal for his submission was firmly rejected..."
Page 659: QUOTE: "In 30 Wei Ao was forced from his isolation by pressure from Guangwu, and the two came to open warfare. Ma Yuan, now firmly in the imperial camp, obtained a commission from Guangwu to travel with an escort and seek to persuade supporters of Wei Ao and leaders of the Qiang people to change sides. An eloquent letter to Wei Ao's officer Yang Guang, preserved in HHS 24/14, was not successful, but he did attract the defection of Gao Jun and probably that of Ren Yu."
Page 659: QUOTE: "As the Han army attacked Wei Ao in 32, Ma Yuan advised Guangwu on the vulnerable points of the enemy and made a topographical map from rice grains to show the best routes for advance. After the death of Wei Ao in 33 Ma Yuan served under Lai Xi for the final campaign against the remnants of his party, and in the following year he was named a Palace Counsellor and second-in-command to Lai Xi for operations against the Qiang."
Page 659: QUOTE: "On Lai Xi's recommendation, in the summer of 35 Ma Yuan was appointed Administrator of Longxi to deal with incursions of the Qiang, and he defeated the Xianlian tribe at Lintao. Soon afterwards Lai Xi was assassinated by agents of Gongsun Shu, but Ma Yuan joined the general Ma Cheng in a campaign against the Qiang in Jincheng. They were successful, but Ma Yuan was wounded and could not maintain the pursuit."
Page 659: QUOTE: "In 36 Ma Yuan was given authority also over Jincheng, but there was a proposal at court that the western part of the commandery, the Xining valley, should be abandoned. Ma Yuan opposed the plan, arguing that the territory was excellent and that if it was left to the Qiang they would have a base to cause constant trouble. His strategy was accepted, and orders were given that the Chinese who had taken refuge in Wuwei should return. Some three thousand were brought back, and Ma Yuan supervised the reconstruction of settlements, farmlands and irrigation works, roads and fortresses. The numbers, however, were far less than the former population, for most of the refugees had gone to the south."
Page 659: QUOTE: "Ma Yuan sent messengers to persuade groups of Qiang and of Di people from Wudu to surrender to Han, and in a final campaign in 37 he starved the rebel Shenlang Qiang of Wudu into submission. For the time being the frontier was at peace."
Page 659: QUOTE: "Besides attempts to bring Chinese back to the frontier, Ma Yuan sent many of the Qiang who had surrendered to settle within Chinese territory, the commanderies of Longxi, Tianshui/Hanyang and Youfufeng. It seems likely that numbers of non-Chinese were already there, and the program followed an established pattern of migration, while it certainly relieved external pressure on the frontier. Later, however, the uneasy cohabitation of Chinese and non-Chinese brought great difficulties for Han in Liang province."
Page 659: QUOTE: "While still on the frontier, Ma Yuan wrote to the emperor urging the reintroduction of wushu cash...which had been in circulation under Former Han but was withdrawn by Wang Mang. The question was referred to the Excellencies, who shelved the matter, but when Ma Yuan was recalled to the capital as a General of the Household about 40, he asked for the arguments against the proposal. Thirteen items were raised, but Ma Yuan sent in a memorial replying to each one, and Guangwu ordered the re-issue of the coinage. Thereafter Ma Yuan held great influence at the court and with the emperor, who accepted any other proposals that he put forward, and remarked on one occasion that he had total confidence in Ma Yuan's planning."
Page 659-660: QUOTE: "Ma Yuan's military experience had hitherto been in the northwest, but from this time on he became the leading general of the dynasty. In 41 he was sent to deal with the religious rebel Li Guang in Lujiang. He raised troops from several commanderies, gathered a force of more than ten thousand and destroyed the insurgents."
Page 660: QUOTE: "In 42 Ma Yuan was sent to attack the rebel Zheng/Tr'ung sisters in Jiaozhi, and received title as General Who Calms the Waves...a style by which he is widely known in the history of southeast Asia. He gathered 8,000 men from the south of Jing province and a further 12,000 from Cangwu on the upper Pearl River, then made rendezvous with a support fleet of 2,000 ships on the coast of Hepu. From there he advanced some two hundred kilometers through mountains and wilderness, rife with sickness, to reach the Red River delta in early 43. He may have suffered a set-back, but soon regained the initiative, and in the summer his associate Liu Long defeated and killed the elder sister Zheng Ce. As Ma Yuan then captured and executed Zheng Er, the rebels scattered, and in the winter Ma Yuan moved south to destroy remnant groups in Jiuzhen."
Page 660: QUOTE: "Ma Yuan now embarked on a brief but effective campaign of colonisation and control. Following the same policy as on the northern frontier, he brought back several hundred non-Chinese leaders back to forced settlement in Jing province, while in Jiaozhi he set up stele, constructed roads, harbours, irrigation canals and fortifications, and established new counties. Forcing the non-Chinese people to accept Han law, he seized the sacred drums which had been the symbol of their chieftains' power. A connoisseur of horses, Ma Yuan had the bronze treasures melted down and re-cast into the figure of an ideal steed: this was presented to Emperor Guangwu and set up in the Southern Palace at Luoyang. As a result of Ma Yuan's energies, the region of the far south was free from major disturbance for more than a hundred years."
Page 660: QUOTE: "Ma Yuan returned to the north in the autumn of 44, reaching Luoyang in the early winter. Almost half of his men had succumbed to malaria...in the tropics, but he and the survivors were rewarded and Ma Yuan was now ranked with the nine ministers."
Page 660: QUOTE: "A few weeks after his return to Luoyang, the Xiongnu and their Wuhuan allies raided Ma Yuan's home country of Youfufeng, and Ma Yuan sought and was given chief command on the northern frontier. He established his headquarters in Zhao kingdom, and in the autumn of 45 he took three thousand men to raid the Wuhuan. They reached as far as Dai commandery, a territory now beyond Chinese control, but the enemy avoided his thrust, and as he returned he was attacked from the rear. Ma Yuan's troops were routed and he lost a third of his cavalry."
Page 660: QUOTE: "Though Ma Yuan remained in charge in the north for several years, he embarked on no further offensives, for the Wuhuan and the Xianbi [sic] turned against the Xiongnu, and as the Xiongnu state divided in the late 40s and the Southern Shanyu Bi became a client of Han, the Wuhuan chieftain Haodan also offered peace. With no further need or desire for active military action, the Han was able to resume its former territory and attempt to persuade or force the former Chinese inhabitants to return there."
Page 660: QUOTE: "In 48 the general Liu Shang and his army were destroyed by the non-Chinese of the Five Streams region, among the hills to the west of Wuling commandery. It seems likely, as Bielenstein suggests, that Ma Yuan was becoming concerned at the position of his family and faction at court, and felt the need for a demonstration of loyalty and energy after his comparative inactivity on the northern frontier. Though now sixty-two, he asked to lead a punitive expedition, and when the emperor suggested he was too old he showed his mettle by mounting his horse in full armour and weaponry. Guangwu laughed and said 'This is a valiant old man!' and gave him the appointment. His troops numbered 40,000, including levies from twelve commanderies and convicts released from punishment...and he had four Generals of the Household under his command."
Page 660: QUOTE: "Geng Shu, one of these officers, argued that the army should approach the enemy by the land route north of the Dongting Lake, but despite difficulties in bringing supplies Ma Yuan preferred the more direct route south of the lake. The question was referred to the emperor, who endorsed Ma Yuan's plan."
Page 660: QUOTE: "At the beginning of 49 Ma Yuan defeated a raid by the tribesmen, then followed them as they withdrew into the wilderness. By the end of spring he had driven the enemy back to their fortifications and cut off their supplies. Supplies were also hard to come by for own army [sic], and the troops were plagued by sickness through the summer, but the enemy became increasingly desperate. Though Ma Yuan was taken ill and died, by the beginning of winter the tribespeople had been starved into surrender, and Ma Yuan's deputy Zong Jun received their submission."
Page 661: QUOTE: "In the mean time, however, Geng Shu had written to his brother Geng Yan, a close confidant of Guangwu, criticising the conduct of the campaign. As Bielenstein observes, Geng Shu's complaints may have had some base in the earlier disagreement about strategy, but they were also a manoeuvre in court politics, for the Geng were supporters of the faction led by Dou Rong, rivals to the Ma."
Page 661: QUOTE: "The emperor sent his son-in-law Liang Song to investigate. By the time he arrived Ma Yuan's strategy had proved successful, but Liang Song was also an adherent of the Dou family and he had personal animosity to Ma Yuan, who had refused to show him the respect he believed he deserved. So his report endorsed the complaints of Geng Shu, and Guangwu accepted this and withdrew Ma Yuan's enfeoffment."
Page 661: QUOTE: "The way was now open for accusations of corruption and embezzlement, and the Ma were so far out of favour that Ma Yuan's widow dared not even bury his body in the family tomb. When she and her kinfolk approached the emperor directly, he showed them Liang Song's report, and after they had made repeated apologies for Ma Yuan's alleged wrongdoings the funeral was allowed to take place. Three years later, however, Ma Yuan's daughter entered the harem of the Heir Liu Zhuang and the fortunes of the family began to revive, reaching a peak as the Lady Ma became the empress of Emperor Ming in 60."
Page 661: QUOTE: "When Emperor Ming had the portraits of his father's great assistants painted on the walls of the Cloud Terrace in the Southern Palace at Luoyang he omitted Ma Yuan; when his brother Liu Cang questioned this he laughed. In 74, however, after the death of Ma Yuan's widow, the emperor repaired his tomb and set up a shrine in his honour, and in 78 Emperor Zhang restored Ma Yuan's marquisate and granted him the posthumous title of 'Loyalty Complete'."

Yuan Shao

Page 1009-1010: Yuan Shao (d. 202 AD), most likely the son of Yuan Feng by a concubine, became the leader of his clan, despite the fact that it was most likely Yuan Shu who was the legitimate senior member, alluded to when he wrote a letter to Gongsun Zan describing Shao as "our family slave" and not a true member of the Yuan clan.
Page 1010: QUOTE: "Yuan Shao was handsome, with an air of authority. He was a leader among young men of family at Luoyang, but was disliked and distrusted by the palace eunuchs. When the reformist party was persecuted by the eunuchs in the late 160s Yuan Shao, then in his twenties, joined He Yong and others to create a network for escape, and he made several secret journeys to rescue men under threat or in prison."
Page 1010: QUOTE: "From appointment as a cadet gentleman, Yuan Shao became a county magistrate in Dong commandery. He left office for six years, first in mourning for his titular mother, the wife of his adoptive father Yuan Cheng, then retrospectively for Yuan Cheng himself. Returning to Luoyang, he joined the staff of the General-in-Chief He Jin, served in the Imperial Censorate and was then a General of the Household. In 188 he was one of the colonels in the new imperial corps of the Western Garden."
Page 1010: QUOTE: "Following the death of Emperor Ling in 189, Yuan Shao urged He Jin to destroy the eunuchs, and he was appointed Director of Retainers with the Staff of Authority. He Jin was assassinated, and Yuan Shao led a massacre of the palace eunuchs, but as Dong Zhuo took over at the capital he was compelled to submit to the new military power."
Page 1010: QUOTE: "Then Dong Zhuo planned to force the young emperor to abdicate, and Yuan Shao escaped to the east. Dong Zhuo offered him enfeoffment and appointment as Administrator of Bohai, but Yuan Shao raised troops and gathered allies. Elected leader of the covenant of 'loyal rebels,' he took title as General of Chariots and Cavalry and Director of Retainers. Dong Zhuo sent a number of distinguished men such as Humu Ban on an embassy to offer some settlement with the rebels, but Yuan Shao ordered they should all be killed. In response, Dong Zhuo had members of the Yuan family killed at Luoyang, including Yuan Shao's natural mother, the former concubine of Yuan Feng; this mutual massacre removed any hope of avoiding a most vicious civil war."
Page 1010: QUOTE: "Based in Suanzao in Chenliu, north of the Yellow River, the allied army gained no success against Dong Zhuo's defences through 190, and in 191 Yuan Shao took over Ji province from the former Governor Han Fu. As the alliance dissolved amongst the rivalries of its leaders, Yuan Shao sent troops against Yuan Shu's general Sun Jian in Yingchuan, but was himself attacked by Gongsun Zan from the north. In 192 his troops defeated Gongsun Zan at the Jie Bridge between Julu and Qinghe, and in the following year the respected elder statesman Zhao Qi arranged a truce."
Page 1010: QUOTE: "Setting his capital at Ye city in Wei, Yuan Shao now consolidated his position in Ji province and the region north of the Yellow River, and he sent troops to sweep the Taihang ranges and break the Black Mountain bandits. When Emperor Xian fled Chang'an in 195 some advisers suggested Yuan Shao should receive the court and use the imperial authority to enhance his own, but he was persuaded to keep his independence and not involve himself. As the court came under Cao Cao's control in Xu city in 196 Yuan Shao was named Grand Commandant and granted a county fief. Annoyed that his status was lower than Cao Cao, who was styled General-in-Chief, he formally refused the office; in some consternation, Cao Cao hastily ceded him the title."
Page 1010: QUOTE: "In 198 Yuan Shao made a final attack on Gongsun Zan. He destroyed him at the beginning of the following year, and then gained the allegiance of the Wuhuan on the northern frontier. He now regretted his failure to bring the imperial government under his control, and made a number of unsuccessful efforts to alter the arrangement. When Cao Cao refused, Yuan Shao turned against him, and in the summer of 199 he embarked on an offensive to the south. Though it could appear that he was attacking the emperor himself, he justified his actions in a long proclamation of abuse and criticism of Cao Cao."
Page 1010-1011: QUOTE: "As Cao Cao faced problems with Liu Bei in the southeast, Yuan Shao was urged to take the opportunity to attack, but he was reluctant to act so swiftly. His great army advanced on slowly, and only in the autumn of 200 did it come to grips with Cao Cao's main defence line by Guandu, on the Bian Canal about present-day Zhongmou in Henan. Cao Cao was heavily outnumbered, and Yuan Shao had Liu Bei cause trouble again behind him, but in the early winter Cao Cao arranged sorties which destroyed two of Yuan Shao's supply trains. His army disintegrated, and the scattered troops fled back across the Yellow River."
Page 1011: QUOTE: "Though he had suffered heavy losses, Yuan Shao had small difficulty in confirming his power in the north. He became ill, however, and died two years later. His inheritance was lost in succession squabbles between his sons."
Page 1011: QUOTE: "Despite uncertainty over his position in the family, many people regarded Yuan Shao as representing the tradition of the great gentry and official clans of Later Han. He was personally popular, and his rise to power was aided by the support of clients and protégés who recognised past patronage from the Yuan. As chief rival to Cao Cao, however, he was not well matched, for he was neither a good judge of politics nor a brilliant general, while the favour that he showed to his youngest son Shang brought the destruction of his family."

Zhang Rang

Page 1073: QUOTE: "Zhang Rang 張讓 (d. 189); Yingchuan. A eunuch, when Zhang Rang was young he entered the harem of Emperor Huan and became an Attendant at the Yellow Gates. In the time of Emperor Ling he was promoted to be a Regular Attendant, received enfeoffment, and held great influence at court. Emperor Ling described Zhang Rang as his father and his colleague Zhao Zhong as his mother."
Page 1073: QUOTE: "In 185 there was a great fire in the Southern Palace at Luoyang. Despite the damage done to the country by the recent rebellion of the Yellow Turbans, Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong persuaded the emperor to levy a special land tax to pay for rebuilding, and when materials were sent in they falsely claimed they were unsatisfactory and forced down their price. This project was corrupted at every level, while Zhao Zhong and his fellows built themselves great mansions at the capital. Concerned that the emperor might see their massive constructions, they persuaded him that it would bring ill fortune if he climbed a tower, and so they were able to conceal their extravagance."
Page 1073: QUOTE: "In 189 the eunuchs were under threat from the General-in-Chief He Jin. He persuaded his sister the Dowager to dismiss them from the palace, but another sister had married an adoptive son of Zhang Rang. Zhang Rang pleaded with his daughter-in-law that he and his colleagues should be allowed to return. She then spoke to her mother the Lady Xing, and she in turn persuaded the Dowager to allow the eunuchs back."
Page 1073: QUOTE: "Soon afterwards, on 22 September, He Jin called again upon the Dowager. Zhang Rang and his colleagues had someone spy upon him and heard him urging her to agree to kill all the eunuchs. Zhang Rang and the others gathered several dozen followers and waylaid He Jin as he was leaving. Abusing him for his lack of gratitude for the help they had given his family, they killed him."
Page 1073: QUOTE: "Zhang Rang and Duan Gui then composed an edict appointing their allies Fan Ling and Xu Xiang to office at the capital, and when members of the Secretariat asked to confirm this with He Jin, they showed them his head."
Page 1073: QUOTE: "He Jin's officers now brought their troops to attack the palaces and slaughter the eunuchs. On 24 September Zhang Rang, Duan Gui and a few dozen followers fled the capital with the imperial children, the Little Emperor Liu Bian and his brother Liu Xie. They were pursued by Lu Zhi and a posse under Min Gong, who caught the fugitives at the Yellow River and killed Zhang Rang and his companions."

Zhang Zhongjing

Page 1055: Small side note here for Zhang Ji, or Zhang Zhongjing, who was nominated for office under Emperor Ling of Han and served as an administrator of Changsha. His writings included Shanghan lun, or "Dissertation on Typhoid Fever," while ti is believed that he and his contemporary Hua Tuo both worked on the Shen Nong bencao jing medical text, the forerunner of the Bancao jing.