Cao Cao

At the top was the emperor himself, who was not limited by law, but had a council of advisors whose decisions he was expected to take seriously.

He also had three councilors and below them nine ministers.

The councilors, whose duties changed over time, were in charge of managing the state budget, appointing high officials, reviewing reports from the provinces, and supervising public works and military matters.

The responsibilities of the ministers were more clearly delineated.

They included religious ceremonies, the emperor's security, the imperial guards, maintenance of horses and carriages, the administration of justice, receiving foreign dignitaries, relations with the imperial family, finance, and the emperor's personal needs.

The empire itself was divided up into administrative units from large provinces to hamlets of a hundred families.

The provincial governors issued reports about the officials in the regions under their control, while more local officials were in charge of finding people fit for government service, raising troops when necessary, maintaining law and order, keeping tax records, and organizing the labor required of each subject, which amounted to one month out of the year.

There was also a parallel system of administration for the kingdoms ruled over by members of the royal family.

What they had now compared to a few hundred years before was more stable and designed for carrying bulk cargo.

Since the death of Cao Cao to the death of Sui Wendi in 604, 384 years had passed, and a lot of information had been exchanged between Arab, Persian, Indian, Southeast Asian, and Chinese sailors at every port stretching from the East China Sea to the Persian Gulf.

So as you could see, the completion of the Grand Canal happened at a...

Very opportune time in China's history.

They all have very weird pronunciations.

They pronounce Cao Cao as cow cow and all that shit, and he's got a son called Cow P. It's just fun, stupid shit.

The old voice acting from 2001.

So over the top.

All the good unlocks.

They, there's, yeah, Officer Cao Cao, Zhao Yun, Lu Bu.

[laughs]

You know, everyone's in here.

Houjing was another military leader who served the Northern Wei, and then after the division of the state, went on to serve the Gaos and the Eastern Wei.

He was another in a long line of military opportunists, going back to Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, Wang Mang, Sima Yi, Shi Le, and Er Zhu Rong.

And there were more to follow.

In 547, Hou Jing defected from the eastern way to the Liang.

Shall I bore you some more with the excesses of this man, indulging in his sexual perversions, his humiliations of ministers, and anyone he preyed on? The official histories all confirm he would force his officials' wives to participate in orgies, publicly stripped and beat ministers after mock trials staged for his amusement, and all the random executions and hideous tortures carried out for seemingly no reason.

That was Emperor Wuchang of Northern Qi.

We thought we had seen it all with Cao Cao, Lao Ai, and the Qin imperial court.

Yes, we could see.

So there's like a Chinese version of, you know, speak of the devil and he's here.

And you go on Google Translate and it is that saying, but it's a completely different sentence where it's like, and Cao Cao is like the name of like one of the generals in Three Kingdoms.

And the translation is actually speak of this general, this particular general, and he'll show up.

And that's the Chinese version of Speak of the Devils here.