Han Wudi

Emperor Wu of Han, known as Han Wudi, ruled for over fifty years and turned the Han into an expansionist power. He pushed the empire's borders into Central Asia, Korea, and the south, and campaigned hard against the Xiongnu nomads to the north. He sent the envoy Zhang Qian west, which opened the trade and diplomatic links later called the Silk Road. He made Confucian learning the basis of state service while keeping strong central controls, and his constant wars and state monopolies strained the treasury and the peasantry by the end of his reign.