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.

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, …

…Gorgan (Hyrcania), and …

…Khorasan.

Ardashir has marched also on Oman and Bahrain, where he has defeated Sanatruq the ruler of Bahrain.

Bahrain is known at this time as Mishmahig (which in Middle-Persian/Pahlavi means "ewe-fish").

Bahrain is also the site of worship of a shark deity called Awal.

Worshipers have built a large statue to Awal in Muharraq, although it has now been lost.

Mosul, where Christianity has been present among the indigenous Assyrian people as early as the second century, becomes a part of the Persian Empire under Ardashir.