Sima Xiangru
Sichuan remained quiescent during the wars before and after the Qin dynasty indicating the Qin policy of assimilation had been successful. Archaeological remains in Shu from this period are very similar to those of northern China, while the Ba area remained somewhat distinct. When Liu Bang launched his campaign to found the Han dynasty Sichuan was an important supply base. In 135 BC, under the expansionist Emperor Wu of Han, general Tang Meng, attempting an indirect approach to the Kingdom of Nanyue, made a push south of the Yangtze River and a little later Sima Xiangru pushed into the hill country west of Sichuan. These campaigns into tribal territory proved more expensive than they were worth and in 126 BC they were both cancelled to shift resources to the Xiongnu wars in the north. In the same year Zhang Qian returned from the west and reported that it might be possible to reach India from Sichuan. An attempt to do this was blocked by the hill tribes. In 112 BC Tang Meng resumed his expansionist wars southward. His harsh methods provoked a near mutiny in Sichuan and Sima Xiangru was brought in to enforce a more moderate policy. By this time Chinese expansion across flat agricultural country had reached a natural geographical limit. Expansion into the hill country to the south and west was much slower.