Ever since the Jin Yuan Emperor Sima Rui crossed the crown and established the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Jiangdong, sharing the world with the "Langya Wang Clan", the authority of the Eastern Jin Dynasty court has always fallen into the hands of the Shi clan gate valves. In just seventy years, the Langya Wang clan, the Yingchuan Yu clan, the Huan clan of the Chen Dynasty, and the Xie clan of Chen Jun, successively appeared in the past, and they specialized in imperial politics, elevating the emperor, and the nine-five-year-old emperor was like a puppet, and this situation was maintained until the reign of Sima Yao, the Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Ancient kings
In Sima Yao's childhood, he lived in fear of being dominated by Sima Huanwen, and when Sima Yao ascended the throne, the center of power shifted to the Chen County Xie clan and the Taiyuan Wang clan headed by Xie An and Wang Tanzhi. After Wang Tanzhi's death, Sima Yao, in order to restore imperial power, fostered his brother Sima Daozi (司馬道子), the prince of Huiji, and asked him to fight with xie for power.
Ancient courtiers
In 383, with the efforts of the chancellor Xie An, the governor Xie Shi, the pioneer Xie Xuan, and the frontline soldiers, the Eastern Jin Dynasty defeated the 900,000-strong army of Former Qin at the Battle of Shuishui. Although the State Zuo of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was continued, after the war, Sima Yao not only did not reward Chen Jun's Xie clan, but instead asked Sima Daozi to come forward and divide Xie An's authority. Xie An died of exclusion, Xie Xuan was also relieved of his military powers, and soon died of illness, and Sima Yao, the Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, finally regained imperial power after unremitting efforts.
However, Sima Daozi replaced Xie An as chancellor and began to monopolize the government, and the contradictions between the two brothers intensified. Although Sima Yao, the Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was proficient in the art of power, this person was not a Ming Jun, and like his younger brother Sima Daozi, he indulged in wine all day. In 380, Sima Yao's empress dowager, wang Fahui, who was "drunk and jealous", died, and Sima Yao never made an empress again, but favored Shuyuan Chen Guinu and his favorite concubine Zhang Guiren.
Ancient pet princesses
This Zhang Guiren, who entered the palace as a palace maid in his early years, not only looked outstanding, but also like Sima Yao, the Emperor of Xiaowu, liked to raise a glass and drink heavily. Sima Yao often drank and entertained with Zhang Guiren all day in the inner temple, ignoring the government and giving Sima Daozi, the prince of Huiji, full authority, so that many foreign ministers had no chance to see the emperor. The palace people in the inner hall of the palace were very afraid of Zhang Guiren, and they bowed down to him and obeyed his orders.
On the ninth month of the ninth lunar calendar in 396, on this day, as usual, Sima Yao, the Emperor of Xiaowu, met with his concubines in the inner temple, and after three rounds of drinking, Sima Yao, who was drunk, began to talk drunkenly. At that time, Zhang Guiren was nearly thirty years old, drunk all day, singing night and night, poor maintenance, and inevitably his face was haggard. Sima Yao, who drank the fragments, began to speak unobstructed, saying that Zhang Guiren was fading in age, and he liked to be young and beautiful, and he would choose a young and beautiful concubine to serve him in the future.
"The speaker has no heart, the listener has intentions", Zhang Guiren, who was embarrassed and angry, in order to avoid being beaten into the cold palace in the future, decided to act first, the banquet was over, the crowd dispersed, and Zhang Guiren waited for Sima Yao to rest. She first sent away the Yellow Gate attendants at the emperor's side, and then summoned several close palace women, who joined forces to suffocate the drunken Sima Yao with a quilt pillow. Later, Zhang Guiren bribed the emperor's internal servants with heavy money, and knew the stakes, saying that Sima Yao had died violently because of drunkenness.
At that time, Sima Daozi, who was specialized in imperial politics, was not in harmony with his brother Sima Yao, and Sima Daozi regarded his brother as a thorn in his eye, and although Sima Yao was killed by Zhang Guiren, Sima Daozi's father and son ordered that this matter should not be pursued. The crown prince Sima Dezong (Emperor An of Jin) was stupid by nature, unable to take care of himself in life, even more unclear in his speech, and even more unable to issue a thorough investigation of this matter. After Zhang Guiren killed Sima Yao, the Emperor of Xiaowu, he was miraculously not held accountable, and his whereabouts were unknown.
Some people also believe that although Sima Yao died at the hands of the palace people, he was not directed by Zhang Guiren. But there was someone else, Zhang Guiren was just carrying the black cauldron for the real murderer.