The Prolonged Agony of Emperor Wu's China

A History of Mankind (194)

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Outside of Emperor Wu’s relatively quiet court – shocked only by incidents such as Sima Qina’s castration, or the execution of the occasional scheming minister and even a witch who became too close to one of the emperor’s consorts – military success went hand in hand with a harsher approach to law enforcement.

As millions of new subjects came under direct Chinese control from Inner Mongolia to the shores of the Gulf of Tonkin, Wu displayed a taste for mass punishments and public executions that upset some of the most devoted Confucian courtiers; this may have led to the appointment of “probing clerks” who travelled across the empire reporting on the fairness and impartiality of the verdicts pronounced by civil servants¹.

As he reached middle age in the 110s BC, Wu was resembling the First Emperor more and more. He started to tour commanderies incessantly, worshipping in local temples, as he had trusted confidantes look for immortality potions. In very Chinese fashion, the governors of two commanderies who were unable to properly supply the imperial entourage while on tour committed suicide.