Emperor Han Wu, Liu Che was initially named Zhi and styled Tong. He was one of th most influential emperors in Chinese history, and could parallel Emperor Quin Shi Huang. Liu Che ascended the throne at a young age, and was in power fo 54 years. The Han dynasty flourished under his reign and became the first prosperous feudal dynasty.
Background
FAMILY
The future Emperor Wu's mother had initially been married once, to a commoner called Jin Wangsun (金王孫) and had a daughter from that marriage. However, her mother Zang Er (臧兒) (a granddaughter of one-time Prince of Yan, Zang Tu (臧荼), under Emperor Gao) was told by a soothsayer that both Wang Zhi and her sister would one day become extremely honored. Zang got the idea to offer them to Crown Prince Liu Qi (later Emperor Jing) and forcibly divorced Wang Zhi from her then-husband in the process.
When Consort Wang was pregnant, she claimed that she dreamed of a sun falling into her womb[citation needed]. It was also said that Emperor Jing dreamed of a scarlet boar descending from the cloud into the palace[citation needed].
Consort Wang's new husband, the Prince of Qi, would become emperor Han Jingdi, upon the death of his father, the emperor, Han Wendi.
EARLY YEARS
The future Emperor Wu was born as Liu Che, in 157 BCE, to one of Emperor Jing's favorite concubines, Consort Wang Zhi, and as the tenth child of Emperor Jing.
In 153 BC, Liu Che (the future Wudi) was given the title "King of Jiaodong".
As emperor Jing's eldest son, the future Han Wudi became officially named as heir apparent, at age nine
When Emperor Jing died in 141 BCE, the 15 year old heir apparent heir apparent Wudi acceeded to the imperial throne, as Emperor (di) Wu of the Han dynasty.
After Emperor Wudi ascended the throne, his grandmother Empress Dowager Dou became the Grand Empress Dowager, and his mother Empress Wang became the Empress Dowager. He made his wife (and cousin, with Empress Chen being the daughter of his aunt) Chen Jiao empress.
The first few years of Emperor Wu's reign saw the administration dominated by three figures — his Daoist grandmother Grand Empress Dowager Dou, his mother Empress Dowager Wang, and her half-brother Tian Fen (田蚡, Marquess of Wu'an and commander of the armed forces). Emperor Wu was forced to submit to his grandmother Dou's wishes. In 139 BC, Confucian officials Zhao Wan (趙綰) and Wang Zang (王臧) advised the emperor to no longer consult the grand empress dowager, because of her adherence to Taoism. Grand Empress Dowager Dou had Zhao and Wang charged with corruption, and they ended up committing suicide in prison, the emperor unable to help them, only managing to keep his throne through the mediation of his aunt and mother-in-law, Princess Piao.
Emperor Wu created his own close circle of advisers, constantly seeking young, capable officials around his age, whose views of state government agreed with his own, hiring, promoting, or punishing them outside of the normal bureaucratic process. Emperor Wu did not hesitate to remind these advisers of his position — punishing them severely or even executing them if they were found corrupt or to have hidden secrets from him. On the other hand, he respected those officials who did not flatter him and would honestly rebuke him when they saw fit. The most famous of these latter officials was Ji An (汲黯), whose offensive and brutal comments often gave Emperor Wu fears of staying in front of him. Still, he respected Ji's integrity sincerely. Emperor Wu also showed typical young male rebelliousness at times, often sneaking out of the capital disguised as an ordinary marquess, for hunting and sightseeing.
Emperor Wu's marriage to Empress Chen was initially a happy one — so much so that he once boasted to her mother, Princess Piao, that he would build a house of gold for Empress Chen. (This led to the Chinese idiom "putting Jiao in a golden house" (金屋藏嬌), which, became a term for keeping a mistress rather than a wife.) This did not last however, at least partly because Empress Chen never bore him a son, despite being treated by physicians. Later, while visiting his sister Princess Pingyang, he was entertained by a female singer/dancer Wei Zifu, the daughter of one of the princess' lowly lady servants, and Princess Pingyang offered Wei to become one of Emperor Wu's consorts. She became his favorite. Empress Chen was so jealous that she attemptedsuicide several times, but each time she failed; each attempt made Emperor Wu more angry at her. Princess Piao, in order to avenge her daughter, tried to have Consort Wei's brother Wei Qingkidnapped and secretly executed, but Wei Qing was saved just in time by his friends. Emperor Wu promoted both Consort Wei and Wei Qing in front of the Empress and her mother, initially out of protest. Later he discovered qualities in Wei Qing and made him one of the emperor's closest attendants, and later a general.
Emperor wudi of han also implanted Confucianism into the main government after the death of his grandmother Empress Dowager Dou.
POETRY
Various important aspects of Han poetry are associated with Han Wudi and his court, including his direct interest in poetry and Wu's patronage of poets. Han Wudi was a patron of literature, who has a number of poems attributed to him. As to the poetry on lost love, some of the pieces attributed to him are beautiful and wonderful, however, critical questions remain on whether Wudi was the actual author of these certain pieces of verse.
The following work is on the death of Li Furen, one of his favorite concubines/wives.
The sound of her silk skirt has stopped.
On the marble pavement dust grows.
Her empty room is cold and still.
Fallen leaves are piled against the doors.
How can I bring my aching heart to rest?
INTERESTS
Emperor Wu took great interest in buiding canals and developing agriculture. The famous canals constructed during his reign including the Longshou Canal, the Liufu Canal, and the Baiqu Canal. He deployed tens of thousands of wokers to control the floods in the Yellow River. Agricultural tools and farming methods were improved, thus futrther increasing agricultural production.
Career
EARLY REIGN
After Emperor Wudi ascended the throne, his grandmother Empress Dowager Dou became the Grand Empress Dowager, and his mother Empress Wang became the Empress Dowager. He made his wife (and cousin, with Empress Chen being the daughter of his aunt) Chen Jiao empress.
The first few years of Emperor Wu's reign saw the administration dominated by three figures — his Daoist grandmother Grand Empress Dowager Dou, his mother Empress Dowager Wang, and her half-brother Tian Fen (田蚡, Marquess of Wu'an and commander of the armed forces). Emperor Wu was forced to submit to his grandmother Dou's wishes. In 139 BC, Confucian officials Zhao Wan (趙綰) and Wang Zang (王臧) advised the emperor to no longer consult the grand empress dowager, because of her adherence to Taoism. Grand Empress Dowager Dou had Zhao and Wang charged with corruption, and they ended up committing suicide in prison, the emperor unable to help them, only managing to keep his throne through the mediation of his aunt and mother-in-law, Princess Piao.
Emperor Wu created his own close circle of advisers, constantly seeking young, capable officials around his age, whose views of state government agreed with his own, hiring, promoting, or punishing them outside of the normal bureaucratic process. Emperor Wu did not hesitate to remind these advisers of his position — punishing them severely or even executing them if they were found corrupt or to have hidden secrets from him. On the other hand, he respected those officials who did not flatter him and would honestly rebuke him when they saw fit. The most famous of these latter officials was Ji An (汲黯), whose offensive and brutal comments often gave Emperor Wu fears of staying in front of him. Still, he respected Ji's integrity sincerely. Emperor Wu also showed typical young male rebelliousness at times, often sneaking out of the capital disguised as an ordinary marquess, for hunting and sightseeing.
Emperor Wu's marriage to Empress Chen was initially a happy one — so much so that he once boasted to her mother, Princess Piao, that he would build a house of gold for Empress Chen. (This led to the Chinese idiom "putting Jiao in a golden house" (金屋藏嬌), which, became a term for keeping a mistress rather than a wife.) This did not last however, at least partly because Empress Chen never bore him a son, despite being treated by physicians. Later, while visiting his sister Princess Pingyang, he was entertained by a female singer/dancer Wei Zifu, the daughter of one of the princess' lowly lady servants, and Princess Pingyang offered Wei to become one of Emperor Wu's consorts. She became his favorite. Empress Chen was so jealous that she attempted suicide several times, but each time she failed; each attempt made Emperor Wu more angry at her. Princess Piao, in order to avenge her daughter, tried to have Consort Wei's brother Wei Qing kidnapped and secretly executed, but Wei Qing was saved just in time by his friends. Emperor Wu promoted both Consort Wei and Wei Qing in front of the Empress and her mother, initially out of protest. Later he discovered qualities in Wei Qing and made him one of the emperor's closest attendants, and later a general.
Emperor wudi of han also implanted Confucianism into the main government after the death of his grandmother Empress Dowager Dou.
IMPERIAL EXPANSION
In 135 BC, after Grand Empress Dowager Dou died, Emperor Wu moved with new authority. While Empress Dowager Wang and Tian Fen were still influential, they lacked ability to restrain the emperor's actions.
Wudi began a military campaign of territorial expansion, initially almost destroying his empire, in the process. Reacting to border incursions by sending out the troops, Wudi sent his armies in all directions but the sea.
In 138 BC, Minyue (modern Fujian) attacked Donghai (modern Zhejiang) and the Yue people of Donghai sought help from Han. Tian's opposition mattered little. Emperor Wu acted quickly, sending an army to occupy the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Fujian, displacing the local populations of both areas, Wudi had them relocated to inland locations of his empire.[4] A more official version of these events was that upon hearing news of Han's expedition force being dispatched, Minyue withdrew. Fearful of another Minyue attack, Luo Wang (駱望), the King of Donghai, purportedly requested that his people be allowed to relocate into China proper. Emperor Wu subsequently relocated them to the region between the Yangtze and Huai Rivers.
CONQUEST OF NANYUE
In 135 BC, when Minyue attacked Nanyue, Nanyue also sought assistance from Han even though it probably had enough strength to defend itself — a sign of submission to the emperor's authority.[citation needed] Emperor Wu was greatly pleased by this gesture, and he dispatched an expedition force to attack Minyue, over the objection of one of his key advisors, Liu An, a royal relative and the Prince of Huainan. Minyue nobles, fearful of the massive Chinese force, assassinated their king Luo Ying (駱郢) and sought peace.[citation needed]In a stroke of genius, Emperor Wu imposed a dual-monarchy system on Minyue by creating kings out of Luo Ying's brother Luo Yushan (駱餘善) and grandson Luo Chou (駱丑), thus ensuring internal discord in Minyue.
Although initially launched as a punitive expedition by Han Wudi, against the independent kingdom of Nanyue, by 111 BCE, the entire Nanyue territory, which includes modern Guangdong,Guanxi, and North Vietnam, had been conquered by Wudi's military forces and annexed to the Han empire.
WAR AGAINST THE XIONGNU EMPIRE OF THE STEPPES
However, Wudi's main obstacle to expanding his empire, were the Xiongnu, to the north: he had at first continued heqin (sometimes called "appeasement") for some time, before adopting a more belligerent policy. The Han and Xiongnu empires had been at peace under a system which had been worked out by treaties which had been put in place before the accession of Wudi to the throne. In 133 BC, at the suggestion of Wang Hui (王恢), the minister of vassal affairs, Wudi had his generals proactively set a trap for the Xiongnu Chanyu Junchen (軍臣), attempting a surprise victory. Under the plan, a powerful local gentleman, Nie Yi (聶壹) from Mayi (馬邑, in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi) falsely claimed to offer Mayi to Xiongnu after killing the county magistrate to try to entice Chanyu Junchen into advancing on Mayi, while Han forces hid around Mayi to be ready to surprise the chanyu. The plan failed when a soldier captured by Xiongnu disclosed the entire plan to Chanyu Junchen, who then withdrew quickly before the Han forces could ambush him; rather than the planned surprise overthrow of the Xiongnu state, instead this ushered in a prolonged period of escalated hostilities. The following Han-Xiongnu war was one of attrition, and for years there were continued bitter border skirmishes and major battles (though, the states remained trade partners). Wudi sent waves of troops to the slaughter, with high casualty numbers within these forces of foot and cavalry, which often began their expeditions numbering in in the 50,000 to 100,000 range. As the poets said, "only remnants returned". However, after campaign after campaign, and years of effort, Wudi successfully gained control to the "Northern Silk Road", allowing direct access to Central Asian markets (without having to go through Xiongnu intermediaries), constructing a length of fortified wall along the border of the Hexi Corridor (modern Gansu), and colonizing the area with 700,000 Chinese soldier-settlers.
XIONGNU CAMPAIGN
A major battle was pitched in 129 BC when Xiongnu attacked the Commandery of Shanggu (上谷, roughly modern Zhangjiakou, Hebei), Emperor Wu dispatched four generals, Li Guang, Gongsun Ao (公孫敖), Gongsun He (公孫賀) and Wei Qing, each leading a 10,000-strong cavalry against Xiongnu. Both Li Guang and Gongsun Ao suffered major losses at Xiongnu's hands, and Gongsun He failed to find and engage the enemy, but Wei Qing distinguished himself with a long-distance raid on a Xiongnu holy site and was promoted to a larger command. In 127 BC, a force commanded by Wei defeated a substantial Xiongnu force and allowed Han to occupy the Shuofang (朔方) region (modern western central Inner Mongolia centering Ordos), the region was immediately settled with 100,000 Chinese colonists. The city of Shuofang (朔方) was built, and would later become a key post from which offensives against Xiongnu would be launched. When Xiongnu tried to attack Shuofang in 124 BC, Wei surprised them by attacking them from the rear and took about 15,000 captives — and at this battle, his nephew Huo Qubing (霍去病) distinguished himself in battle and was given his own command. In 121 BC, Huo had a major victory over the Xiongnu Princes of Hunxie (渾邪王) and Xiutu (休屠王) — which had unforeseen good results for Han. When Chanyu Yizhixie (伊稚邪) heard of the loss, he wanted to punish those princes mercilessly. The Prince of Hunxie, fearful of such punishment, after being unable to persuade the Prince of Xiutu, killed the Prince of Xiutu surrendered his forces, which then controlled the Gansu region, to Han, and this turned out to be a major blow to Xiongnu, robbing Xiongnu of a major grazing region and other natural resources. Emperor Wu established five commanderies over the region and encouraged Chinese to relocate to the Gansu region, which has remained in Chinese hands ever since. The region would also become important staging grounds for the subjugation of Xiyu (西域, modern Xinjiang and former Soviet central Asia).
KOREAN INVASION
Emperor Wu made an invasion of the Korean Peninsula by establishing the Commandery of Canghai (蒼海), but abandoned it in 126 BC. Some of his military colonies survived into the 4th century, leaving behind various particularly well preserved funerary artifacts. However, this did not turn out to be a successful expansion of territorial control.
DIPLOMACY AND EXPLORATION
The exploration into Xiyu was first started in 139 BC, that Emperor Wu commissioned Zhang Qian to seek out the Kingdom of Yuezhi, which had been expelled by Xiongnu from the modern Gansu region, to entice it to return to its ancestral lands with promises of Han military assistance, in order to fight against Xiongnu together. Zhang was immediately captured by Xiongnu once he ventured into the desert, but was able to escape around 129 BC and eventually made it to Yuezhi, which by then had relocated to Samarkand. While Yuezhi refused to return, it and several other kingdoms in the area, including Dayuan (Kokand) and Kangju, established diplomatic relationships with Han. Zhang was able to deliver his report to Emperor Wu when he arrived back in the capital Chang'an in 126 BC after a second and shorter captivity by Xiongnu. After the Prince of Hunxie surrendered the Gansu region, the path to Xiyu became clear, and regular embassies between Han and the Xiyu kingdoms commenced.
Another expansion plan, this one aimed at the southwest, was soon initiated as well. The impetus for this expansion was aimed at eventual conquest of Nanyue, which was viewed as an unreliable vassal, by first obtaining the submission the southwestern tribal kingdoms — the largest of which was Yelang (modern Zunyi, Guizhou) — so that a route for a potential back-stabbing attack on Nanyue could be made. The Han ambassador Tang Meng (唐蒙) was able to secure the submission of these tribal kingdoms by giving their kings gifts, and Emperor Wu established the Commandery of Jianwei (犍為, headquarters in modern Yibin, Sichuan) to govern over the tribes, but eventually abandoned it after being unable to cope with native revolts. Later, after Zhang Qian returned from the western region, part of his report indicated that by going through the southwestern kingdoms, embassies could reach Shendu (India) and Anxi (Parthia) easier. Encouraged by the report, in 122 BC, Emperor Wu sent ambassadors to try to again persuade Yelang and Dian (滇, modern eastern Yunnan) into submission.
LIU AN PREPARES COUP
In 122 BC, Liu An, the Prince of Huainan (a previously trusted adviser of Emperor Wu, and closely enough related to have imperial pretensions), and his brother Liu Ci (劉賜), the Prince of Hengshan, were accused of plotting treason. They committed suicide, and their families and many alleged co-conspirators were executed.
ANOTHER XIONGNU WAR
In 119 BC, Emperor Wu launched a new attempt to permanently defeat the Xiongnu empire, by making a major excursion against Xiongnu's headquarters. Wei and Huo's forces were able to make a direct assault on Chanyu Yizhixie's forces, nearly capturing him and annihilating his army. It was at this battle, however, that the famous general Li Guang, whose fortunes had been effectively sabotaged by Wei's strategic plan (who, as the supreme commander, had ordered Li to take a flanking route through a region without Xiongnu forces but which lacked food and water, resulting in Li's forces becoming lost and unable to join the main forces), committed suicide after being told that he would be court-martialed for his failures. Even though both Wei and Huo were successful, Emperor Wu particularly praised Huo and rewarded him with many others; it was from this point on that Huo began to receive primacy over the forces over his uncle Wei. After Xiongnu suffered these heavy losses, the Chanyu sought heqin peace with Han again, but broke off peace talks after Han made it clear that it wanted Xiongnu to become a vassal instead.
DESPOTISM AT HOME
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Around the same time, perhaps as a sign of what would be to come, Emperor Wu began to trust governing officials who were harsh in their punishments. For example, one of those officials, Yi Zong (義縱), when he became the governor of the Commandery of Dingxiang (part of modern Hohhot, Inner Mongolia), executed 200 prisoners even though they had not committed capital crimes — and then executed their friends who happened to be visiting as well. Emperor Wu came to believe that this would be the most effective method to maintain social order and so put these officials in power. A famous wrongful execution happened in 117 BC, the victim of which was the minister of agriculture Yan Yi (顏異). Yan had previously offended the emperor by opposing a plan to effectively extort double tributes out of princes and marquesses — by requiring them to place their tributes on white deer skin, which the central government would sell them at an exorbitantly high price. Later, Yan was falsely accused of committing a crime, and during the investigation, it became known that once, when a friend of Yan's criticized a law promulgated by the emperor, Yan, while not saying anything, moved his lips. Yan was executed for "internal defamation" of the emperor, and this caused the officials to be fearful and willing to flatter the emperor.