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Power and organisation

Emperor Wu of Han

Knowing when to stop

Emperor Wu of Han (Western Han · 156–87 BCE) — Knowing when to stop.

Power and organisationQin, Han and the Six DynastiesKnowing when to stop

What actually happened?

In the first years of Wu's reign the treasury overflowed. According to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, the coin in the capital had piled up until the cords strung through it rotted and could not be counted, and the grain in the great granary was stacked outdoors, year on year, until it spoiled. What he took over had been saved by his father and grandfather.

The savings were somebody else's

The money, grain and horses he went to war with had been put by the two reigns before him. Being able to afford a campaign does not mean every one is worth it. The more room you have, the more it matters to ask whether this one has to be fought.

A big cash pile in the bank does not make every new business worth funding.

Later writers counted the cost

In his note on the Zhao emperor's annals, Ban Gu says that after Wu the empire was drained and its registered households halved. The total was counted afterwards. People inside the reign could not see it. Each campaign had reasons on its own; the sum is the number.

Each monthly top-up has a reason, and at year-end the budget has doubled.

The hardest thing he did was stop

Late in life he was asked to push one step further west. He refused and admitted fault in an edict. This page splits the edict into two chapters: whose accounts to open when you stop, and where the effort goes afterwards.

Cutting a three-year project is not the hard part. Saying in the meeting 'I judged this wrong' is.

How do I use it today?

This week, take one thing you are expanding and write down what it has actually cost so far and what it has brought back. Then ask: if someone asked tomorrow for another round, what would I use to decide when to stop?

Deep read

The Edict of LuntaiThe hardest part of stopping is turning over the old accounts firstAsked to garrison a place even farther west, he refused, and first counted the dead from the last campaignWhere the Effort Goes NextStopping is not resting: the effort you pull back needs somewhere to goAfter the edict he made his chancellor Marquis Who Enriches the People and put Zhao Guo in charge of a new way of farming

Read alongside

Liu XiuBoth faced the Western Regions. Wu stopped only after decades of campaigns. Liu Xiu, with his own country just settled, was asked by the states there to send a protector-general and declined at the start. One pulled back after spreading out; the other worked out first whether he could carry it.

Further

Huo Qubing Sima Qian Liu Bang

Lines to keep

The more room you have, the more you must ask whether it is worth it.

Each item has a reason; the sum is the number.

The hardest step is to stop, so open your own books first.