From the Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, Nanyang was also an important iron smelting base in China, with workshops managed by the imperial court and privately operated, especially the Kong family, which was famous for its iron smelting industry for generations. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to increase the revenue of the national treasury and adjust the fiscal policy vigorously, Kong was appointed as a big farmer to be responsible for the management of salt and iron affairs. The central government has set up industrial officials and iron officials in Nanyang. Workers make gold, silver, copper and lacquerware, while iron officials make all kinds of ironware. According to statistics, there are 47,547 producers in these two departments, which shows the prosperity of Nanyang handicraft industry.
Today, all the iron smelting sites in Nanyang are witnesses of history. Nanyang was well-developed in the Han Dynasty, and Wancheng was located in Nanyang County. At that time, it was called the five capitals together with Luoyang, Handan, Linzi and Chengdu. On the first day of February in the fourth year of Emperor Xin Mang (twenty-three years), greenwood hero recruit Lin Bing took Liu Xuan as the new emperor and set up an altar on the Qinshui River in the south of Nanyang to "start a new stove".
Later, Liu Xiu finally reorganized the world with the financial resources of Yuntai 28 and Nanyang, which laid the foundation of Luoyang and established the Eastern Han Dynasty. Nanyang has reached the peak of history-Du Nan, one of the three capitals of the Eastern Han Dynasty, is the second largest city after Luoyang. At that time, there were many famous families in Nanyang, which dominated the development of local society.
During the Han and Wei Dynasties, due to the intensification of social contradictions, large-scale unrest occurred in Nanyang. In the first year of Zhong Ping (184), the Yellow Scarf Uprising broke out. Zhang Mancheng set up an army in Nanyang, captured Wancheng, killed the prefect of Nanyang, and shocked the court. The imperial court began to suppress it with all its might. The rebel leaders Zhang Man, Zhao Hong, Han Zhong and Sun Xia died in Wancheng, and the Yellow Scarf Army failed in Wancheng. In the past year, Wancheng, as the center of the Yellow turban insurrectionary, experienced fierce fighting and suffered serious damage.
After the yellow turban insurrectionary failed, Nanyang became an important place for warlords to compete. First, Liu Biao sits in Jingzhou and takes Nanyang as the northern gateway. Second, Zhang Xiu occupied Nanyang, ostensibly United with Liu Biao. Cao Cao fought bloody battles in Wancheng and finally accepted Zhang Xiu's surrender. It was during this period that Zhuge Liang devoted himself to Nanyang, and because of Liu Bei's visit to the thatched cottage, he put forward the famous "one strategy for the ages", which provided a set of strategies for Liu Bei to occupy Jingzhou, then seize Yizhou and establish the Shuhan regime. Sima Yi, an important official of Cao Wei, was stationed in Wancheng.