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r/threekingdoms • … • u/Fermule

Suppose Emperor Ling avoided his early death. Could the Han dynasty survive, or was it already doomed?

Forgive me if I get any of the facts wrong, I'm an amateur. I also realize that what-ifs aren't really good history - but we're not on AskHistorians, are we?

Anyway, I think a good contender for the Point of No Return for the Han was Emperor Ling dying so young - his kids are children, there's a succession crisis, yada yada yada, Dong Zhuo burns down Luoyang. But Emperor Ling died in his early thirties - if he lived a full lifespan and all the succession problems were averted, could the Han have held on?

Now there would still be a lot of problems to navigate even with the succession crisis averted - China was not in good shape:

- While the Yellow Turban rebellion was put down, we'd likely see remnants and splinter factions just as we did historically. - Disproportionate power was being accumulated by the eunuch faction - Liang Province is revolting (tell me about it!) - Possible rebellions in Vietnam, or by the Shanyue maybe? We're in what-if territory, anything's possible - Corruption in the civil service at all levels due to the pay-to-play system - Poverty and famine, which in turn lead to widespread banditry - Liu Yan was plotting some schemes. I think Zhang Lu was also de facto independent by then ? - Dong Zhuo had access to veteran troops and was, perhaps, not quite a trustworthy man - A lot of the nation's wealth was being pissed away on palaces and such

Now, I'm not arguing that Emperor Ling was the man to meet this challenge - many of the problems are pretty much directly his fault. However, the prestige and legitimacy of the Han went a long way (just ask Cao Cao and Liu Bei), and even a crappy Emperor could be better than a civil war. Would a full-length reign for Emperor Ling be enough to stave off collapse, or was the Han already doomed no matter what?

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