This work is a contribution to the column of the Museum of History, representing only the personal views of the author; this work is not a rigorous historical academic research, for reference only; unauthorized, prohibited second transmission, violators will be investigated.
This article is written by Jinfan Ranger
Sima Chi's death came from a banquet.
Since Liu Cong's return to Pingyang, Jia Yu and others in Guanzhong have supported Sima Yi as crown prince and are ready to take over Sima Zhao's class at any time.
In this regard, Liu Cong hated it with itchy teeth: the existence of Chang'an Xingtai meant that the value of Sima Chi in his hands had fallen all the way, and the possibility of him using Sima Chi to exert influence on the Central Plains was gradually decreasing, so Liu Cong had been looking for an opportunity to deal with Chang'an Xingtai.
Soon, a piece of news excited Liu Cong: Jia Yu, the core figure of Chang'an Xingtai, was dead.
During the conquest of Jia Yu and Liu Yao, he killed his brother-in-law Peng Dangzhong because he had made a history of liangzhou in the Han dynasty.
Peng Dangzhong's other identity is the stable leader of Lu Shuihu. He was from the Anding Peng clan, and since the Western Han Dynasty, the Anding Peng clan has been the hereditary chief of Lu Shuihu in the Anding region, commanding many local Lu Shuihu tribes, and his influence should not be underestimated.
After Jia Yu took office as the Taishou of Anding, he was framed by The Yongzhou Assassin Shi Dingqiu, causing Sima Mo, the king of Nanyang, to send his military commander Xie Ban to attack Jia. Jia Yu fled all the way to Lushui, became brothers with Peng Dangzhong and the local Leader Dou Shou, and used the strength of the Hu people to counterattack Xie Ban, and finally succeeded in counter-killing.
Later, Peng Dangzhong was co-opted by Liu Cong and became the Assassin of Liangzhou under the jurisdiction of the Han Dynasty, and Jia Yu ruthlessly killed his brother in the conquest, which also planted a seed of hatred in the heart of Peng Langzhong's son Peng Tianhu.
Peng Tianhu besieged Jia Yu with the stable Hu people, and Jia Yu fled in defeat, falling into a mountain stream at night and being killed by Peng Tianhu. A major loyal minister of the Jin Room died like this, which also solved one of Liu Cong's troubles. He decided to disgust Sima Zhao again and severely suppress the confidence of those loyal subjects of the Jin Dynasty.
In the first month of the seventh year of Yongjia, Liu Cong feasted on the courtiers at the Guangji Hall, and just as the courtiers were congratulating Liu Cong on the New Year, a servant dressed in green clothes came forward to pour wine for the courtiers.
The old Jin Dynasty ministers Yu Min and Wang Jun and others on the table fixed their eyes on it. It was no one else who poured wine for them, it was the former emperor Sima Chi. They couldn't help but feel sad and hugged Sima Zhao and wept bitterly.
It seems that Sima Chi still has a strong appeal, and Liu Cong decided not to give Sima Chi a way to live. A month later, Liu Cong sent Sima Chi, as well as Yu Min and Wang Jun, who were crying bitterly at the table that day, to the guillotine, and Promised Sima Chi's little lady Liu, Liu Cong took her back as a nobleman.
But for the Han Dynasty, Sima Chi's death did not mean the end of the troubles, in other words, the Greatest Trouble of the Han Dynasty was not here in the Jin Dynasty, but in Liu Cong himself.
In March of that year, Liu Cong's daughter Liu E (劉娥) was made empress and began to build a palace for her, and chen Yuanda, a court lieutenant, sent a letter to Liu Cong, advising him: "The purpose of establishing a monarch for the people is to let the monarch manage them, not to use the lives of the people to satisfy a person's poor and extravagant desires." Because of this, the Jin Dynasty was tyrannical and ruthless, and my Great Han replaced them. The reason why the people are eagerly waiting for our Han country is that they hope that they can recuperate a little. Look at the Guangwu Emperor who was diligent and thrifty, did not seek material desires, and did not cherish the people? Since His Majesty took the throne, more than forty palaces have been built, and with repeated battles, a large supply of military food is needed, so that hunger and disease are prevalent among the people, causing people to die and flee. As a result, you still want to build a lot of construction, is this the idea of a monarch? Now the remnants of the Jin Dynasty occupy Guanzhong in the west and Jiangdong in the south; Li Xiong in Chengguo occupies Bashu; Wang Jun and Liu Kun are spying on our flanks; Shi Le and Cao Ling's tributes and reports are becoming less and less, and His Majesty is not worried about all this, but he is still building a palace. In the past, Emperor Wen of Han cherished the people's strength in such a stable society. In this era of wars and chaos, His Majesty only occupied two counties during the time of Emperor Wen of Han, but there were more enemies in need of conquest and defense than Emperor Wen of Han, and at this time, he had to build such a luxurious imperial palace, and the subject did not dare to say these few words without risking death. ”
Chen Yuanda profoundly pointed out the complicated situation facing the Han Kingdom; on the one hand, the internal class contradictions caused by years of conquest and famine were very acute; on the other hand, the external situation was becoming more and more unfavorable to the Han Kingdom, and there were more and more enemies, but Liu Cong was obviously unable to hang on to the face of Chen Yuanda when chen Yuanda said this, and he was angry and scolded: "As a son of heaven, do you still want to ask you the opinion of this rat generation when you build a palace?" If you are not killed, this palace will not be repaired! He gave the order to his entourage: "Drag this rat and his wife out and kill them, hang up their heads in the East Market, and then bury these rats together!" ”
To say that Chen Yuanda was indeed a man who was not afraid of death, he learned that Liu Cong was in Li Zhongtang in the Runaway Garden at this time, so Chen Yuanda prepared a lock to lock his waist, and when he went in, he locked himself under the tree under the hall, shouting loudly: "What I am talking about is for the sake of the great cause of the society, and His Majesty wants to kill me, so I can be with Long Feng and Bigan, what is not satisfied!" The entourage did not look good and prepared to pull Chen Yuanda away, only to find that Chen Yuanda had locked himself up and could not move him alive or dead.
Fortunately, the courtiers pleaded bitterly with Liu Cong, and Empress Liu E also told Liu Cong that if she killed Chen Yuanda like this, it would make me bear the name. If His Majesty really had to kill him, then let the concubine die first. Liu Cong slowly calmed down his anger and gave in to Chen Yuanda, saying that I have been in a bad mood lately, you are right, and I will listen to your advice.
But the current situation will not be changed because Liu Cong did not repair the palace, in April of this year, the news of Sima Chi's execution reached Chang'an, and the crown prince Sima Yi officially ascended the throne as emperor, changing yuan Jianxing, who was the last emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty.
At this time, the outer city of Chang'an had less than a hundred households left, and the city was overgrown with thorns and weeds, and even in broad daylight, there were not a few pedestrians in sight. Miyagi Castle was also dilapidated, there were only four cars in the whole city, and the hundred officials could only walk on the court, they did not even have a unified set of official clothes, and could only wear various colors of clothing. Looking at Chang'an City at a glance, it is undoubtedly a weather of the end of the day.
But Sima Ye thought that he was the Son of Heaven and could naturally command the four sides. So the fourteen-year-old Sima Ye issued an absurd edict: "Now we should sweep away the fierce enemies, and return to the old capital." Wang Jun and Liu Kun were specially ordered to lead 300,000 troops to attack Pingyang, Sima Bao, the king of Nanyang, led 300,000 troops to Chang'an, and Sima Rui led 200,000 troops to Luoyang. ”
Let's not say that these Fang Zhen grand officers can't get these armies, and even if they can, Sima Ye doesn't want to think, if they really have these armies, why should they listen to the orders of a young Tianzi who has no real power?
[1] February 313 AD
In fact, at this time, the various forces in the land of Shenzhou had already gone their own way, and it was not the emperor who controlled the right to speak, but the absolute strength. The battle for the History of Yanzhou is a good example.
Originally, Liu Kun had appointed Chen Liu taishou Jiaoqiu as the Assassin of Yanzhou, but Xun Fan of Kaifeng Xingtai appointed Li Shu as the Assassin of Yanzhou, which led to Li Shu preparing to fight Jiao Qiu directly, and Liu Kun had to summon Jiao Qiu back. After Liu Kun lost Yecheng under Shi Hu's attack, Liu Kun made his nephew Liu Yan, who had originally guarded Yecheng, serve as the Assassin of Yanzhou and guarded The Hill of Yanzhou. As a result, Sima Rui of Jiangdong again fell in love with the former Zhongshu attendant Xi Jian, and also appointed him as the Assassin of Yanzhou and guarded Zoushan. In this way, the three assassination histories of Li Shu, Liu Yan, and Xi Jian appeared in Yanzhou, and the chaos was so great that the officials and people of Yanzhou did not know whose orders they should obey.
In fact, this edict not only failed to command Fang Zhen in various places, but instead aroused Liu Cong's vigilance. After all, Sima Yi's ascension to the throne gave the remnants of the Western Jin Dynasty scattered everywhere a unified banner, which was extremely unfavorable to the Han Dynasty.
In April of the first year of Jianxing (313), Liu Cong ordered Liu Yao to be the commander and command a large army led by Qiao Zhiming and Li Jingnian to pounce on Chang'an, and Zhao Yan followed as a reserve. Sima Yi sent Koji Yun to camp in the Yellow and White Cities to defend against the Han attack. In May, Liu Yao led his army into Pusaka and prepared for a general offensive against Guanzhong.
At this time, the only forces that could rescue Chang'an were Wang Jun and Liu Kun, but they were all in trouble.
Let's start with Wang Jun. Due to the alliance between Duanbu Xianbei and Shi Le, Wu Huan also jumped to Shi Le's side, and Wang Jun's power was further reduced, and his territory was slowly eroded by Shi Le's infiltration.
Just as Liu Yao was sending troops to Chang'an, Shi Le also sent Shi Hu to occupy the city of Yicheng, and also annexed Li Yun, the leader of the beggar army who had been a close associate of Sima Yue and was now wandering in the Hebei region. Wang Jun continued to appoint another general of the Beggars Army, Bo Sheng, as the Assassin of Qingzhou to continue to resist Shi Le's attack, but Wang Jun was also well aware that Bo Sheng was also white in front of Shi Le.
Wang Jun did not put his hopes on Bo Sheng, and in order to strengthen his defenses, he sent Zao Songtun to camp in Yishui, and at the same time once again summoned Duan Qilu's family to jointly block Shi Le. However, Duan Yilu had already allied himself with Shi Le and turned a deaf ear to Wang Jun's orders. Therefore, Wang Jun instead bribed Tuoba Yilu and Murong Xi with heavy money, and allied with them to jointly fight against Duan Yilu, who did not obey orders.
[2] April 313
Duanbu Xianbei assisted Shi Le in defeating Tuoba Liuxiu, who had come to support Wang Jun, but was defeated by Murong Xi's eldest son Murong Han along the way. Hearing the news of Tuoba's defeat, Murong Han stopped advancing and set up camp at Tuhe River, waiting for the situation to change.
The situation did change in the direction of Shi Le's favor, first sending Kong Cang to break through Dingling and kill the Yanzhou Assassin Shi Tian Hui appointed by Wang Jun, plus Bo Sheng was also forced to surrender shi le, and most of the counties east of the Taihang Mountains fell into Shi Le's hands.
Seeing that Shi Le's territory was about to be even larger than that of the Han Dynasty, this made Liu Cong also shudder. Fearing Shi Le's independence, Liu Cong sent people to Xiangguo to appoint Shi Le as a servant and a general in the Eastern Expedition, and also made his mother Wang Shi the wife of Shangdang Guo and his wife Liu Shi the lady of Shangdang Guo.
Liu Cong understands very well that these means of co-optation may not necessarily play a role, but for him now, what he can do is to do his best and obey the fate of heaven. For Wang Jun, it was good that he could keep his own territory, and as for the matter of supporting Sima Ye, he didn't have to think about it at all.
[3] May 313 AD
Let's talk about Liu Kun's side. Upon hearing the news that Liu Yao had led his army to Guanzhong, Liu Kun thought that Pingyang might be empty and prepared to support Sima Yi with the strategy of encircling Wei and saving Zhao. In June of that year, Liu Kun and Tuoba Yilu met at Northern Jingbei and divided their troops into two routes south to prepare to attack Liu Cong's Pingyang.
Liu Kun occupied the Blue Valley on this road, and sent the overseer Han Zhao from the West River to the south, intending to attack Xiping. Tuoba Yilu sent Tuoba Pugen to garrison Beiqu. In response, Liu Cong also divided his troops into two routes, the general Liu Yue and others blocked Liu Kun, and the hussar general Liu Yi and others blocked Tuoba Pugen, and also sent people to assist in guarding Xiping City, firmly blocking several breakthroughs of Liu Kun. After learning that Liu Cong had taken precautions, Liu Kun had to return and abandon his original plan.
As for Sima Rui in Jiangdong, Sima Yi also sent emissaries to request support, but Sima Rui gently sent the emissaries back with a sentence that Jiangdong had just been pacified and was powerless to carry out the Northern Expedition.
[4] The situation near Binh Duong
But Liu Yao's progress in Guanzhong was not so smooth. Although the Han army, which had been fighting for three or four months, defeated the defender Li Yun several times under his brute force and reluctantly advanced the battle line to Huangbai City near Chang'an, Sima Yi sent Suo Qi to support Li Yun, once again maintaining the front.
Just when the two sides were deadlocked and Liu Yao's psychological defense line was on the verge of collapse, Zhao Yan suggested to Liu Yao: Koji Yun led the main force outside, Chang'an was bound to be empty, instead of fighting a war of attrition here, it was better to take the opportunity to sneak attack Chang'an, as long as Chang'an was taken, Huangbaicheng naturally did not fight.
Liu Yao agreed to Zhao Yan's plan, personally leading the main force to contain Koji Yun at HuangbaiCheng, while Zhao Yan led five thousand light horses to sneak into Chang'an.
The initial progress of the sneak attack was very smooth, and Zhao Yan quickly reached the outer city of Chang'an and forced Sima Ye to go to the Shooting Wild Goose Tower to take refuge. The Han cavalry searched for Sima Ye while burning the Jin army camp next to Longshou Mountain in Chang'an, causing a chaos. At dawn, Sima Ye once again retreated to the Runaway Garden west of Chang'an to avoid the enemy's attack.
Koji Jian, who was stationed at Afang Palace, learned of the attack on Chang'an and led 5,000 people to the rescue, forcing Zhao Yan to retreat. Koji Jian pursued all the way, only to encounter Liu Yao's main force at Zero Wu, and due to the small number of troops, Koji Jian was defeated.
[5] September 313
The triumphant Liu Yao let down his vigilance, but at this time, Koji Yun suddenly killed and exploded with amazing combat power, hitting Liu Yao by surprise. The Han army was defeated, the general Qiao Zhiming was killed, Liu Yao was forced to return to Pingyang, and the plan to attack Guanzhong was ruined.
[6] November 313
[7] Battle of Guanzhong
Fortunately, at the end of this year, Liu Yao eliminated Yin Weijun of Henan, who was entrenched in the west of Luoyang, which can also be regarded as sweeping away a remnant of the Western Jin Dynasty, otherwise Liu Yao's record in this year was indeed too much to see compared with Shi Le.
[8] December 313 AD
During Liu Yao's conquest of Guanzhong, a decisive battle was about to be fought between Shi Le and Wang Jun, but before the decisive battle, they were making different preparations.
For Wang Jun, what he most wanted to realize was his dream of becoming emperor.
The reason why he had such a dream was because his father said that he had fulfilled the proverb of "Dang Tu Gao" and was destined to become emperor in the future.
Whether Wang Jun can become an emperor or not is not to say, he certainly did not study well is true, because the last person who used this proverb to call himself emperor was called Yuan Shu, and finally fell into the fate of a soldier who was defeated and died, Wang Jun learned who is not good to learn Yuan Shu, it is really difficult to say a word.
Many officials advised Wang Jun not to do such a rebellious thing, but Wang Jun was killed, and Wang Jun did not have the slightest will to restrain, but became more and more arrogant, did not pay attention to political affairs, and appointed villains. This caused the scholars and people of Youzhou to turn away from Wang Jun and flee to Murong Xi for refuge.
If Wang Jun was in the most prosperous period, it was understandable, after all, Wang Jun had the support of Duanbu Xianbei and Wu Huan at his peak, and his military strength was very strong, and with such a force as support, Wang Jun could also be considered confident in speaking. But now the Xianbei and Wuhuan people had betrayed him, and in addition to the locust plague and drought in the Youzhou area year after year, the harvest was not as good as a year, and even the army was short of food, and morale was getting lower and lower.
Shi Le had indeed been preparing to attack Wang Jun, but he still couldn't figure out Wang Jun's details for the time being, and he wasn't sure if he had the ability to swallow Wang Jun in one bite. Shi Le was ready to send an emissary to scout the situation and see what to say. One thing is certain: Shi Le, though illiterate, was very studious.
A soldier told Shi Le the story of Yang Hu and Lu Kang's friendship with each other and testing each other's falsehood, and Shi Le decided to follow Yang Hu's example and write a letter to Wang Jun to test it. However, he was still unsure of his idea, so he went to his right marquis Zhang Bin for consultation.
Zhang Bin reminded: "Wang Jun was nominally a minister of the Jin Dynasty, but in fact he had long wanted to abolish the Jin Dynasty and establish himself as emperor, but he was afraid that the heroes of the four seas would not be followed." He wants to get general you, just like Xiang Yu wants to get Han Xin. Now that the general is threatening the world, if you want to plot Against Wang Jun, I am still afraid of being humble and generous, and I can't make Wang Jun believe you by surrendering my identity. If Wang Jun were to be treated with the attitude of equal strength like Yang Hu and Lu Kang, I am afraid that it would be even more difficult to deal with, and the general might as well persuade Wang Jun to be called emperor and act opportunistically. ”
Zhang Bin's attitude was to encourage Wang Jun to realize his ambitions and immediately claim the title of emperor, because Liu Kun, Tuoba Bu, and Murong Bu in the north all regarded Jin as Zhengshuo, and once Wang Jun became emperor, it was equivalent to setting up a target for them to fight, and it was naturally easier to take him.
In order to realize his strategic intentions, Shi Le adopted Zhang Bin's suggestion. The two overlords of the north are also about to start a battle for dominance.
Resources
[1] Fang Xuanling (Tang) et al. Book of Jin
[2] Sima Guang (Song) · Zizhi Tongjian
[3] Cui Hong (Northern Wei) , Spring and Autumn of the Sixteen Kingdoms
[4] Wang Zhongji, History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin
[5] Zhou Weizhou, History of the Han and Zhao Kingdoms
[6] Li Zhen, History of the Later Zhao Dynasty
[7] Zhang Jinlong, Political History of the Northern Wei Dynasty