Third, the bitter emperor squeezed by the door valve politics
Compared with his cultural and artistic career, Sima Yu's administrative career was indeed very difficult and difficult, and he finally buried his life for it. The fundamental reason for this is that it has lost the balance with the gate valve power represented by Huan Wen and has become a victim of the torn alliance of imperial power door valves.
Because he had lost touch with the second Emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in his infancy, and Sima Yu became an adult, his interests in life had long been attracted by metaphysics, literature and art, and he did not care much about government affairs. But after all, he was the backbone of the imperial family, the concubine of Sima Rui, the emperor of The Jin Dynasty, and he was also intelligent and capable. Therefore, it enjoys a high prestige in the royal family. In the first year of Yonghe (345), Sima Tan, the Emperor of Jin, was unable to govern at a young age. The regent empress dowager Chu Yuzi originally wanted to ask her father Chu Qi to govern, but later adopted the opinions of the courtiers and worshiped Sima Yu as the general of the Fu Army and the six affairs of The Book of Shangshu. In this way, Sima Yu actually became the official representative of the imperial power side in the Gate Valve Imperial Power Alliance. Since then, Sima Yu has put on a heavy burden of government affairs. Step by step, he was dragged into the political whirlpool, unable to extricate himself, until he lost his life.
In the process of losing power in the government, Sima Yu made several important and even fatal mistakes, so that he could not resist Huan Wen's rapid rise and powerful offensive, and finally could only become a political doll at the mercy of Huan Wen and die of anger.
The first mistake Sima Yu made was to use Huan Wen and raise tigers for trouble.
Soon after Sima Yu came to power, he encountered a thorny problem. Previously, yu Yi, the representative of the door valve side in the door valve imperial power alliance, died, and the power of the door valve side temporarily appeared in a vacuum, who will fill this gap, which became a hot topic of attention and discussion between the DPRK and China at that time. Yu himself left a last word, hoping that his son Yu Yezhi would succeed him. However, many people in the DPRK believed that the Yu family had been too powerful over the years and posed a serious threat to the imperial court. Now that Empress Yu and Yu Yi have passed away, they should take the opportunity to weaken. Therefore, He Chong, who assisted Sima Yu in assisting the government, proposed to use Huan Wen. But by Liu Wei's reminder:
Xiao Yu was dying, and his cousin was replaced by a sub-gardener. The imperial court was worried that it would not obey its orders, and it was unknown what it was sent, but it was a joint discussion to use Huan Wen. Liu Yinyue: "If Yi goes, he will be able to conquer Western Chu, but I am afraid that he will not be able to replicate it." ("The New Language of the World")
Liu Wei was a master of Qing Tan and a master of human goods, and he believed that the advantage of using Huan Wen was that he would certainly be able to maintain the territory of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and quell the rebellion of Li Shi in Western Shu. However, in that case, Huan Wen's power would become stronger, and it would not be controlled by the imperial court. Therefore, Liu Yu persuaded Sima Yu to leave the upper reaches of the Yangtze River on his own, but Sima Yu still rejected Liu Yu's suggestion and appointed Huan Wen as the general of Anxi. Since then, the Eastern Jin Dynasty has been caught in the competition between the gate valve forces represented by Huan Wen and the imperial power forces represented by Sima Yu.
Sima Yu could be described as a gentleman's heart to Huan Wen, and entrusted Huan Wen with a heavy responsibility for the sake of the overall situation of the imperial court. But Huan Wen was not, and he had always regarded Sima Yu as his potential opponent and imaginary enemy. And has been trying to find out Sima Yu's bottom line in all aspects, that is, to be prepared to deal with him:
Xuanwu was carried together with Jian Wen and Dazai, and the secret people shouted before and after the public opinion. Disturbed, Dazai panicked and begged for advice. Looking at Jian Wen, Mu Ran was quiet. Xuanwu people said: "There is such a sage in the imperial court. ("The New Language of the World")
Only against imaginary enemies will they come up with such a loss to test the courage of the other party. Another example:
The history of Xi Chiseled Teeth was not common, and Xuanwu was even more instrumental, and before he was thirty, he used it for Jingzhou Zhizhong. Chiseled teeth Xie Yiyun: "Don't meet Ming Gong, Jingzhou is old and engaged in ears!" After seeing Jian Wen and returning to his life, Xuanwu asked, "How about seeing King Xiang?" Answer: "I have never seen this person in my life." "From then on, the purpose was made for Hengyang County, and the sexual theory was wrong. In the midst of illness, he was like a Han Jin Spring and Autumn, and his taste was outstanding. ("The New Language of the World"
A historian who was originally a heavy-handed historian changed his attitude and was excluded because his evaluation of Sima Yu was higher than his own. If these were still Huan Wen's secret rivalry with Sima Yu when his wings were not yet full, then as he became powerful and had the ability to subvert the imperial court, he began to attack the imperial power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. One of the most serious incidents was the abolition of The Deposed Emperor Sima Yi and the appointment of Sima Yu as Emperor Jianwen.
On the surface, Huan Wen's appointment of Sima Yu as emperor seems to be a reward for Sima Yu's promotion of himself. But his real purpose in employing this brutal tactic was to prove his authority and ability. According to the "Biography of Huan Wen of Jin", Huan Wen's Third Northern Expedition failed, and in order to divert his attention and save face, at the instigation of Xi Chao's suggestion, he decided to depose Sima Yi and welcome Sima Yu. Whether it is abolished or erected, there is no sufficient reason. That is to say, the final effect of this incident is to give the Sima Dynasty a little color to see how much energy Huan Wen has. Therefore, Sima Yu, who was "taken" to the throne, not only could not be happy, but only cried bitterly in the face of Huan Wen. Huan Wen could not even read the prepared speech of the Declaration of Abolition (see "The New Language of the World: Deposed"). Moreover, after taking the throne, Sima Yu did not feel the pleasure of exercising imperial power as an emperor, but on the contrary, Huan Wen pressed forward step by step, and even forced sima Yu's brother Sima Xi to be killed. Sima Yu used his throne to save the life of his brother's family.
At this time, Sima Yu, on the one hand, out of fear of Huan Wen, also proceeded from the overall situation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and appointed Huan Wen as a chancellor, leaving him in the capital. However, huan wen insisted on leaving the capital in order to grasp the initiative. Until Sima Yu was critically ill, the three edicts Xuan Huan Wen entered Beijing to explain the aftermath, but none of them were realized. Originally, Sima Yu himself had already handed over the throne to Huan Wen in disguise, but it was only because of the resolute resistance of other door valves in the court that the edict was revised. Sima Yu left this world in a state of rage—he finally tasted the evil consequences of not listening to Liu Wei's reminder and luring the wolf into the room.
The second mistake Sima Yu made after coming to power was to appoint Yin Hao. As Huan Wen's forces grew stronger, Sima Yu was anxious to cultivate and develop a force to confront Huan Wen. The object he chose was his best friend Yin Hao. If Yin Hao was a capable and reliable official, Sima Yu's vision might also be realized. Unfortunately, Yin Hao was most familiar with the metaphysics he was best at, the "Four Treatises on Talent and Nature". But those abstract philosophical book theories are difficult to use in reality. The blueprint conceived by Sima Yu and Yin Hao was to approve only Yin Hao's Northern Expedition in the event that both Huan Wen and Yin Hao applied for the Northern Expedition. It is hoped that the victory of Yin Hao's Northern Expedition will be used to establish the prestige of Yin Hao and the imperial court, and achieve the purpose of suppressing Huan Wen. However, the truth is just the opposite, Mr. Yin Hao, who has profound attainments in the four books of metaphysics and refutes zhi qi to the point of inexhaustible, failed in all three Northern Expeditions. This in turn gave Huan Wen a strong excuse to bring down his political opponents. Huan Wen took the opportunity to go to the imperial court and demanded that Yin Hao's defeat be held accountable. The imperial court had no choice but to absolve Yin Hao of his sins and depose him as a commoner. At this time, Yin Hao still did not understand why this situation occurred:
Yin Zhongjun was abandoned in Xin'an, and all day long Hengshu wrote empty words, and the Yangzhou officials sought righteousness and chased after them, stealing and looking at them, only to make the four words of 'aggressive and strange things'. ("The New Language of the World: Deposed")
The mental distress he himself had caused for this reason had even created an idiom of "aggressive and strange things". When he didn't understand, he also blamed Sima Yu, who pushed him:
After Yin Zhongjun was abolished, he hated Jian Wenyi: "The upper man is a hundred feet upstairs, and the ladder will go." ("The New Language of the World: Deposed")
It seems that Yin Hao is best at the four books of metaphysics, and he is almost ignorant of military, government affairs, and worldly feelings. Sima Yu chose such a person as a helper, which really harmed Yin Hao and himself. He was the emperor — bitter and bitter.
(This article is excerpted from Ning Jiayu's "Sima Yu: Bitter Emperor, Successful Scholar"), in Knowledge of Literature and History, No. 11, 2021)