Salt and Iron debate during the Han dynasty

Emperor Wu-ti began his reign in 140 BC. During its early years he was under the moderating influence of relatives and court officials; however, by the late 130s he had decided that the essentially defensive foreign policy of his predecessors was not going to solve his foreign problems. In 133 he launched attacks on the nomadic Hsiung-nu people, who constituted China's principal threat on the northern frontier, and thereafter he committed his realm to the expansion of …

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