The Eastern Han

More dangerously, the Chanyu Yu of the Xiongnu, old enemy of Wang Mang, maintained hostility in the North, with raids and constant pressure against the frontier, so that the newly restored empire was forced onto the defensive and obliged to cede ground. So the Xiongnu were divided and weakened, and much of the lost territory was regained. North of present-day Beijing, a stretch of land about present-day Chengde lay now beyond the former frontier, but otherwise the Eastern Han empire was largely coterminous with its Western predecessor. Though member of a cadet branch, the new emperor descended from the sovereigns of Western Han, so he gained authority from that connection and was able to claim that his government represented a continuation and indeed a "restoration" of the former dynasty. part from the new arrangements for military service, the government of Emperor Guangwu was organized on much the same pattern as that of Western Han.