Sima Chi: From emperor to servant, he was poisoned after being humiliated
Text/Zhang Xiuyang
Sima Chi (284–313), Emperor Huai of Jin, courtesy name Fengdu, was the twenty-fifth son of Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin, half-brother of Emperor Hui of Jin, and his mother, Yuanji, the third emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, reigning from 307 to 311 AD.
Sima Yan had many sons, 25 of whom Sima Yan was the youngest. In 289, Sima Yan made Sima Chi, who was only 5 years old, the King of Yuzhang. Later, the fool Sima Zheng became emperor, and his foreign relatives and kings took power one after another. Sima Chi was young, he was clean and self-righteous, only closed doors to study, study historical books, and did not participate in the chaos at all, so that he not only saved his life, but also had a certain reputation.
The luck and misfortune of Sima Chi's life came from his idiot eldest brother Sima Zheng of Jinhui and his sister-in-law Jia Nanfeng, a famous ugly woman in history.
The ugly Jia Nanfeng turned the Western Jin Dynasty into a pot of porridge. The farce of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" was staged, and Sima Chi's personal honor and disgrace were reduced to the clutches of those in power.
Jia Nanfeng first killed Empress Yang's father and daughter, her relatives, and thousands of henchmen. She also cleverly used a trick, first instigating Sima Wei, the king of Chu, to kill Sima Liang, and then a horse gun, saying that Sima Wei had corrected his intention to kill people, plotting against him, and killing Sima Wei as well.
An ugly empress actually killed two princes, and Jia Nanfeng became the target of everyone. In 300 AD, Sima Lun, the King of Zhao, raised an army to besiege the palace and killed the vicious Jia Nanfeng.
Then everyone you don't obey me and I don't obey you, and the princes appear one after another, in the same room. It was not until 306 AD that the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", which lasted for sixteen years, came to an end.
The Rebellion of the Eight Kings lasted for sixteen years, starting in March of the first year of Yuan Kang (291) and ending in the first year of Guangxi (306).
By 304, only four of Sima Yan's 25 sons remained in internecine warfare.
At this time, Sima Xi, the king of Hejian, was in power, and he deposed the emperor's brother Sima Ying the King of Chengdu, so he could only choose one of Sima Yan the King of Wu and Sima Chi the King of Yuzhang and entrust him with a heavy responsibility.
Compared with Sima Zheng, Sima Yan was incompetent and had no prestige, so he made Sima Chi the emperor's brother-in-law, as Sima Zheng's legal successor.
In 306, Sima Yue, the king of the Eastern Seas, seized power, and he poisoned Emperor Hui, Sima Zheng, who succeeded him as emperor, the Emperor Huai of Jin. In the following year, he changed his name to Yuan Yongjia and made Sima Yue the assistant to Taifu.
During the seven years of the reign of Emperor Huai of Jin, there was no new political upsurge in the Jin Dynasty, the people of the world were hungry, people couldnibalized, displaced people were everywhere, and most of the hundred officials were also exiled. The chaos of the government and the weakness of the country provided an opportunity for the leaders of the surrounding ethnic groups to drive straight in.
Sima Yue poisoned the idiot emperor Sima Zheng and sent Sima Zhao to the throne, and from then on, gave him supreme glory and gave him boundless shame.
During the more than ten years of the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, the national strength of the Western Jin Dynasty was greatly depleted, and at this time, the internal turmoil was peaceful and external troubles were born again.
Those ethnic minorities who migrated inward, such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and so on, were not willing to submit, and they took the opportunity to raise troops to rebel against the rule of the Jin Dynasty. By 308, the Xiongnu nobleman Liu Yuan declared himself emperor at Pingyang and gathered forces from all sides to openly make enemies of Jin. Shi Le and Wang Mi, who had been defeated by the Jin army, also defected to Liu Yuan.
In 309 AD, Shi Le led more than 100,000 people to attack Luoyang several times, almost destroying the city. In October 310, Shi Le, Wang Mi, Liu Yao, and others led an army to attack Luoyang.
The soldiers in Luoyang were exhausted, and Emperor Huai had no choice but to issue an edict calling on all localities to send troops to serve the king. However, due to Sima Yue's monopoly and unpopularity, and there were riots in various places, the princes and generals took care of themselves, and in the end there was no team to rescue them.
In the first month of the fifth year of Yongjia (311), emperor Huai of Jin secretly issued an edict against Sima Yue, and in March issued an edict to fight, and Sima Yue fell ill and died in the same month.
At this time, the grain and grass in Luoyang City were exhausted, and there were bandits and soldiers everywhere, and it had reached the point where people ate people, and the hundred officials of wen and wu fled.
Sima Chi also wanted to take advantage of the chaos to escape, but there were no guards around him. He ran out of the Xiye Gate with a few eunuchs, but was robbed by thieves and had to return to the palace.
In June, the city of Luoyang was breached by Shi Le and others, who captured Emperor Huai, killed the crown prince Sima Yi, the clan chambers, officials, and soldiers of more than 30,000 people, and excavated mausoleums and burned the palace. The Xiongnu set fire to the entire city of Luoyang. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it took countless manpower and material resources to build a generation of famous cities in a hundred years, and they completely burned them.
This is the famous "Yongjia Rebellion" in Chinese history.
After the Yongjia Rebellion, a large number of people moved from the Central Plains to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to avoid war, and the Jin Dynasty ruling group moved south, and the capital Jiankang (present-day Nanjing) established the Eastern Jin Dynasty, known in history as "Yiguan Nandu".
Emperor Huai of Jin was sent to Pingyang, and Liu Cong appointed Sima Chi, the emperor of JinHuai, as the Third Division of Yi Tong and the Duke of Ji Commandery. However, Sima Chi did not receive good treatment, and Liu Cong insulted him in every way, even summoning him as a servant, and whenever he feasted, he let him wear the costume of a waiter to pour wine for the guests.
Liu Cong once said to Emperor Huai of Jin at a banquet: "When you were the King of Yuzhang, I once came to you with Wang Ji, and Wang Ji introduced me to you. Show me the music you wrote and say, 'I heard you are very good at writing words, try to help me see.' At that time, Wang Ji and I wrote "Sheng De Song", which you appreciated very much. And led me to shoot arrows in the imperial hall, I got twelve chips, you and Wang Ji both got nine chips, you gave me a bow and silver research, do you remember? ”
Emperor Huai of Jin said, "How dare I forget, but I hate that I didn't know your imperial appearance earlier." ”
Liu Cong said: "Your family is killing each other, why is it so powerful?" ”
Emperor Huai of Jin said, "This is probably not a human affair, it is the meaning of heaven." The Great Han will be ordained by Providence, so they will drive each other away for His Majesty. Moreover, if my family can carry out the great cause of the Martial Emperor and the harmony of all the families, how can His Majesty get the world! ”
Sima Chi was ordered to be a servant who poured wine at the banquet, and word spread that there were old Jin courtiers crying, which disgusted Liu Cong and realized the danger of Sima Chi's survival.
Soon after, on the first day of February 313 (March 14 of the Gregorian calendar), Liu Cong poisoned Emperor Huai of Jin with poisoned wine, at the age of 30, and his burial place is unknown.
(The picture in this article is a network information)