wei, seeing that eastern han was gradually unifying the empire, inexplicably began considering independence. he tried to persuade dou to enter into an alliance with him to resist eastern han; dou refused. when eastern han started considering conquering chengjia, wei, apprehensive of the implications of chengjia's fall, tried to persuade emperor guangwu not to carry out a campaign against chengjia, and later refused to lead his forces south against chengjia.