Oh, this is a good day.
For centuries, the Middle Kingdom has prospered under the rule of the Han Dynasty. The Han spread its borders further than any Empire before it, and great technological and societal advances brought about a long lasting golden age.
You know, not counting those 14 years when Wang Mang usurped the dynasty by founding Xin and then proceeded to wreck up the place so thoroughly via well-meaning stupidity that he completely wasted all popular support he ever had and was swiftly overthrown and the dynasty reestablished by a distant cousin.
People whisper that the Mandate of Heaven has left the Han, that the sun is setting on the Empire.
To be a little more specific, an agrarian crisis was sparked as famine and a series of floods in the Yellow River area forced huge numbers of northern farmers and former military settlers down south, where large landowners exploited this new surplus of labor to amass vast fortunes off the back of underpaid tenants. At the same time, the government was imposing new taxes on the peasants to fund new fortifications along the Silk Road and garrisons against foreign infiltration or invasion. Landowners, landless peasants and former soldiers formed somewhere between 150 and 200 armed bands all across the empire, some turning to banditry out of desperation, others coming together for mutual defense, and others being used as private armies by the wealthy, all while the squabbling factions of the imperial court spend basically all their time obsessing over affairs in the capital and ignoring the provinces. People make a lot out of the corruption of the eunuchs, but most of the high officials in the government were the very same landowners making a killing off the backs of the desperate peasantry, so...
Powerful noble clans such as the Yang and Yuan use their influence and fame to place retainers, in laws and relatives in positions in both the central and local governments, slowly spreading their dominance throughout China.
As a commentary on the increasingly aristocratic make up of Han's government in the lead-up to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, 1/3 of the officials who have biographies in the
Book of Later Han (a history that covers the Han Dynasty from 6-189 AD) are the sons or grandsons of other high officials, while 1/5 of the remainder are either from powerful families in the provinces or are descendants of famous officials from earlier on in the dynasty's history (both the Caos and Xiahous are in the latter category, BTW, being descendants of Cao Shen and Xiahou Ying, two of the most famous figures in the early years of the dynasty).
And the Yang and Yuan clans mentioned above? Between them, these two clans have had at least one of their number filling one of the posts in the Three Excellencies (the three highest-ranking positions in the central government other than the Grand Tutor, which is an honorary title more than a substantial office) on and off for almost fifty years out of the last hundred, and because of Han's system of recommendations for office (as well as the practice of outright selling positions), both of these clans have numerous clients and lackeys in addition to their own relatives scattered throughout the government.
You are Liang Shu. You are a youth from a minor, obscure noble clan with a meagre estate on the outskirts of a mostly unknown village.
A minor noble? I presume that means that we've inherited a rank of 9 or higher on the 20 Ranks system, rather than us having an actual dedicated noble title like a marquessate (which would entitle us to a set portion of the tax revenue collected from at least one county). If that's correct, that would mean that other than neat little bragging-rights rewards like being seated higher at local feasts, being exempt from corvee labor and being allowed to ride on ornamented horses, we're also entitled to an annual salary of at least 450 bushels of millet. Being generous with that during times of famine coul be
very useful, I'll just say.
Prefect of Xinshen County in Shangdang Commandery
This would be in contemporary Bing Province (modern Shanxi Province). Shangdang is in roughly the same area as modern Changzhi City, BTW.
... Funny enough, if we founded our own dynasty and used the traditional "name your dynasty after whatever Warring States polity was centered on the place you founded yourself in" thing, we could very well end up calling ourselves Wei or Jin. Or Zhao, though we'd need to center ourselves in northern Bing for a while to justify that.
I'm still thinking of a build. I'll probably ramble a lot on the possible ramifications and who we might be comparable to with a lot of these options, so please bear with me.
rofl:
