Among the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Later Zhao was the second in territorial size to the Former Qin dynasty that once unified northern China under Fu Jian.
After defeating the Han-Zhao in 329, the Later Zhao ruled a significant portion of northern China and vassalized the Former Liang and Dai; only the Former Yan in Liaoning remained fully out of their control.
For roughly twenty years, it maintained a stalemate with the Eastern Jin dynasty in the south before its rapid collapse in 349 following the death of Shi Hu.
In 303, when a great famine broke out in Bing that displaced many of the Jie and other hu tribes in the region, the provincial inspector, Sima Teng, had these people captured and sold into slavery to fund his army.
Like many rebel generals who joined the state, he had full control over his army as the Han court had little actual power to assert their authority.
In 311, he massacred the 100,000 strong Jin imperial army in the Battle of Ningping, allowing Han forces to capture Luoyang in the Disaster of Yongjia.
In 318, he joined forces with the prince, Liu Yao, in quelling the coup of Jin Zhun, who massacred the emperor and imperial family in Pingyang.
Shi Le promptly declared independence as Liu Yao moved the capital to his base in Chang’an, splitting the empire into two.
War between the two Zhaos only broke out in 324, and in 328, Shi Le and Liu Yao led their armies to face each other in the pivotal Battle of Luoyang.
Thus, the Later Zhao became the hegemonic power in northern China, though some areas were still out of their control; the Former Liang, Dai and Duan-Liaoxi states partially retained their independence through vassalage, while the Xianbei Murong tribe in Liaodong remained loyal to the Eastern Jin dynasty.
He banned the word “hu”, opting to use “guoren” (國人; countryman) instead, and forbid the tribes from oppressing the Han Chinese scholar-officials.
Buddhism was also given a platform to grow as the Kuchean monk, Fotu Cheng, held a high-ranking position within Shi Le's court.
Most notably, he took on several grand building projects in Ye and greatly expanded his harem at the expense of the common people, who were forced into construction work and often had their women taken away from them.
In addition to the displeasure of his other sons, many of the military generals were also not pleased with his decision as he bestowed power to a regent and the soon-to-be empress dowager.
Seeing that the Jie and other tribespeople in Ye refused to submit, he decreed an infamous culling order, calling on his Han Chinese subjects to kill any hu person they find.
From the northeast, the Former Yan began an invasion to establish themselves on the Central Plains, while the Eastern Jin launched a series of northern expeditions to reclaim lost territory from the south.
Xie Fei and Wei Mengbian were two mechanical engineers under the Later Zhao who built a south-pointing chariot (also called south-pointing carriage), a directional compass vehicle that apparently did not use magnetic principle, but was operated by use of differential gears (which apply an equal amount of torque to driving wheels rotating at different speeds), or a similar angular differential principle.
[3] For the great ingenuity shown in the construction of the device, Shi Hu granted Xie Fei the noble title of hou without land possessions and rewarded him generously.