Xidao Dynasty

Era beginning/end

After achieving its freedom, Xiang Feng enters a brief age of consolidation and regulation that forms the framework of centuries to come.

Though the unified reign of the First Xidao Emperor lasted only 12 years, he managed to subdue great parts of what constitutes the core of the Xiang Feng homeland and to unite them under a tightly centralized Legalist government seated at Xianyang. The doctrine of Legalism that guided the Xidao emphasized strict adherence to a legal code and the absolute power of the emperor. This philosophy, while effective for expanding the empire in a military fashion, proved unworkable for governing it in peacetime. The Xidao Emperor presided over the brutal silencing of political opposition, including the event known as the burning of books and burying of scholars. This would be the impetus behind the later Minkai synthesis incorporating the more moderate schools of political governance.   Major contributions of the Xidao include the concept of a centralized government, and the unification and development of the legal code, the written language, measurement, and currency of Xiang Feng after the tribulations of the Waring States period. Even something as basic as the length of axles for carts—which need to match ruts in the roads—had to be made uniform to ensure a viable trading system throughout the empire. Also as part of its centralization, the Xidao fortified the ports of Xiang Feng as well as moved the established strongholds in the western mountains, placing the capitol to where it remains to this day.   The tribes of former slaves to the south, collectively called the Júwàirén by the Xidao, were free from Fengese rule during the majority of the dynasty. Prohibited from trading with Xidao dynasty peasants, the Xiongnu tribe living in the Ordos region in southeast Xiang Feng often raided them instead, prompting the Xidao to retaliate. After a military campaign, the region was conquered in 295/2 AI and agriculture was established; the peasants, however, were discontented and later revolted.   A major Xidao innovation that has lasted till the modern era was reliance upon a trained intellectual elite.. They were civil servants appointed by the Emperor to handle daily governance. Talented young men were selected through an elaborate process of imperial examination. They had to demonstrate skill at calligraphy, and philosophy.   After Emperor Xidao Shi Huang's unnatural death due to the consumption of lodestone pills, the Xidao government drastically deteriorated and eventually capitulated in 207 BC after the Xidao capital was captured and sacked by rebels, which would ultimately lead to the establishment of a new dynasty of a unified Xiang Feng. Despite the short 15-year duration of the Xidao dynasty, it was immensely influential on Xiang Feng and the structure of future Fengese dynasties.