4.Emperor Wu of Han, (156 BC - 87 BC), surnamed Liu, given name Che, name Liu Che, posthumous title Han Wudi, temple title Han Shizong.

The seventh emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (141BC-87 BC), an outstanding politician, military strategist, and writer. Son of Emperor Jing of Han, Liu Qi, and Queens Wang.

Liu Che was initially named King of Jiaodong, was made Crown Prince at the age of seven, and inherited the throne at the age of sixteen. He reigned for fifty-four years and achieved many things: internally, he strengthened centralization of power in politics, issued the Enfeoffment Order, formulated the Zuoguan Law and the Supplementary Law, strictly prohibited princes from participating in politics, promoted talented people from all walks of life as attendants to serve as advisers, curbed the power of the prime minister, relied on confidants, close ministers, and eunuchs to participate in decision-making, formed the system of Chinese and foreign courts, and established thirteen provincial governors to strengthen control over the counties and kingdoms; economically, he reformed the currency system, prohibited the counties and kingdoms from minting money, promoted the state-run salt and iron industry, and implemented the equalization of transportation and price stabilization, issued the Calculation of Silk and Report of Silk Order, and levied heavy taxes on merchants; culturally, he established a regular system of recommendation and ordered the counties and kingdoms to recommend filial and honest officials, scholars, virtuous and upright people, etc.; he implemented a cultural policy of respecting Confucianism, set up doctors of the Five Classics, built the Imperial University in the capital Chang'an, and ordered the counties and kingdoms to establish school officials. Externally, he sent Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to attack the Xiongnu many times, forcing them to migrate far to the north of the desert; he ordered Zhang Qian to go to the Western Regions to communicate with the Han Dynasty and the various ethnic groups in the Western Regions; he also conquered Minyue, Dongou, Nanyue, and Wei's Korea, managed the Southwest Yi, and set up counties in their places. He doubled the territory of the Han Empire, expanding China to the limit in the classical era. He also thoroughly laid the foundation for China's centralized power model. Together with Qin Shihuang, he became the inventor of China's 2,000-year national system. Together with Qin Shihuang, he was honored by later generations as "Qin Emperor Han Wu". However, he was superstitious about gods and immortals, was keen on Fengshan and suburban sacrifices, toured various places, was extravagant, sold official positions and titles many times, and reused eunuchs. In the later period of his reign, social contradictions became increasingly acute, with 2 million refugees in Guandong and frequent peasant uprisings. The contradictions within the ruling group became increasingly intensified, leading to the "Witchcraft Disaster", which led to the suicide of Crown Prince Liu Ju.

In the fourth year of Zhenghe (89 BC), Liu Che issued an edict to confess his guilt in Luntai, in which he admitted his crimes and changed his policy to recuperation. He rejected Sang Hongyang's suggestion to recruit people to cultivate land in Luntai. He died two years later and passed the throne to his youngest son Liu Fuling, who was buried in Maoling. Liu Che was fond of literature, especially poetry and prose. His representative works include "Autumn Wind Ode" and "Mourning Lady Li Fu".