Chaos After Cao Cao Dies

Rachel Mawn, Writer

After Cao Cao of the Han dynasty died three men claimed to be the new emperor; Cao Pi, Lui Bei, and Sun Quan causing many years of chaos. In 220 A.D when Cao Cao died, his eldest son Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, with Wei as empire’s title and Luoyang as his capital city. In 221A.D, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, with Shu his empire’s title and Chengdu the capital city. Finally, in 229A.D, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor and moved the capital to Jiankang, with his empire’s title as Wu. Wei occupied the north, Shu occupied the southwest and Wu occupied the southeast. So three different empires formed from the Han dynesty’s rubble, each refusing to accept the others rule.

As well as different locations and names each empire had different ways of doing things. This made the Three Kingdoms Dynasty all the more chaotic. Each kingdom committed to improving the way of ruling and develop their national economy because they didn’t agree with their predecessor’s, the Han dynasty, ways of operating. In the Kingdom of Wei, Cao Cao made many reforms to discard old policies from previous dynasties. The Tun Tian  (farming done by soldiers) system was also carried out, which greatly promoted the national productivity. In the Kingdom of Shu, Liu Bei set up strict social order and tried to govern the kingdom by law. With his assistance, Shu's agriculture and handicraft industry developed rapidly. In the Kingdom of Wu, the shipbuilding industry was much more prosperous. As for the national strength, Wei ranked first, Wu second and Shu third. Throughout the Three Kingdoms Period, battles between the three countries were countless. Among those, battles between Shu and Wu fighting for Jingzhou, Shu and Wei fighting for Hanzhong. The Three kingdoms dynasty showed what results after a large, strong, and unified empire like The Eastern Han falls, chaos.