Excessive luxury and extravagance at the imperial…

Sun Quan declares himself emperor in 229, an act that almost damages the alliance with Shu, as many Shu officials see this as a sign of betrayal of the Han Dynasty—to which Shu claims to be the legitimate successor.

However, Zhuge Liang opposes ending the alliance and in fact confirms it with a formal treaty later this year, in which the two states pledge to support each other and divide Wei equally if they can conquer it.

Later this year, he moves his capital from Wuchang (in present-day Ezhou, Hubei) to …

…Jianye, leaving his crown prince Sun Deng, assisted by Lu Xun, in charge of the western empire.

Kushan emperor Vasudeva I is recorded in the Chinese historical chronicle Sanguozhi to have sent tribute to the Chinese emperor Cao Rui of the Wei in 229 CE (third year of Taihe): "The king of the Da Yuezhi, Bodiao (Vāsudeva), sent his envoy to present tribute and His Majesty granted him a title of "King of the Da Yuezhi Intimate with Wei.” He is the last Kushan ruler to be mentioned in Chinese sources.

His rule corresponds to the retreat of Chinese power from Central Asia, and it is thought that Vasudeva may have filled the power vacuum in this area.

The great expansion of the Dharmaguptaka Buddhist group in Central Asia during this period has also been related to this event.

The first sign of the deterioration of Sun Quan's reign occurs in 230, when he sends his generals Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi with a navy of ten thousand into the East China Sea to seek the legendary islands of Yizhou and Danzhou to seek to conquer them, despite the strenuous opposition of Lu Xun and Quan Cong.

Ardashir has conquered the provinces of Margiana and …

…Chorasmia (Khwarezm) in the region of modern Turmenistan.

The “King of Turan” supposedly acknowledges Ardashir’s suzerainty.

Uruk, when the Parthians annexed the Seleucid Empire in 141 BCE, had again entered a period of decline from which it has never recovered.

The decline of Uruk may have been in part caused by a shift in the Euphrates River; by Sassanian times, settlement lies outside the ancient city.

Local rebellions have formed around the Sassanid empire in the first few years of Ardashir’s reign.

Nonetheless, Ardashir has further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of …

…Sistan, …