Two Jin Dynasty And Northern and Southern Dynasties Characters and Story Series (53) - Jian Jian

Jian Jian (338 – 385 CE), a native of Linwei (present-day Qin'an County, Gansu Province), was a member of the Xian clan and the third former Qin monarch during the Sixteen Kingdoms period.

The Zhijian family has been the leader of the Qiang clan for generations, and Gongjian's grandfather Gonghong has descended successively to Former Zhao, Later Zhao, and Eastern Jin, and has been appointed as the Great General of the Northern Dynasty, the Assassin of Jizhou, and the Duke of Guangchuan County, and his father is Former Qin Donghai Wang Gongxiong. Legend has it that when Jian Jian was born, there was a vision, so Jian Jian's grandfather Gong Hong liked him very much, and when he was a teenager, Jian Jian was very intelligent, and Gong Hong lamented that this child was very qualified, it must be extraordinary. Later, Jian Jian's uncle Jian Jian established Former Qin, and Jian Jian also followed him into the pass, and in 354 AD, Zhi Xiong died, and Jian Jian inherited his father the King of Donghai.

In 355, Former Qin Died of Illness and succeeded his son Zhisheng to the throne, but Zhisheng was a very brutal emperor. In 357, the Qiang leader Yao Xiang plotted against Guanzhong, and Fu Jian, together with Huangmei and Deng Qiang, led an army to resist, and finally defeated and killed Yao Xiang, and Yao Xiang's brother Yao Xiang led his troops to surrender to Former Qin. Although Zhi Huangmei made great contributions, Zhi Sheng did not reward him, but insulted him, And Huang Mei rebelled in anger, and in the same year, Zhi Sheng deliberately harmed Zhi Jian and his brother Zhi Fa, and was known to Zhi Jian, so Zhi Jian preemptively attacked and entered the palace to depose and kill Zhi Sheng, and then Zhi Jian succeeded to the throne under the persuasion of the Qun courtiers.

When he was young, he had the idea of unifying China, so after succeeding to the throne, he promoted and reused a group of shrewd and incorruptible Han scholars to participate in the government, of which Lü Polou (the father of Lü Guang, the founder of Houliang), and Wang Meng (see my previous article) were the most famous of them. When Jian Jian succeeded to the throne, various ethnic groups in the former Qin Guanzhong region were mixed, ethnic hatred and killing occurred one after another, the national legal system was not perfect, And Sheng was extremely brutal, coupled with floods and droughts, the lives of the common people were miserable. After succeeding to the throne, Jian Jian rectified the administration of officials, punished lawless and powerful people, quelled civil unrest, set up schools, reclaimed wasteland, and implemented a policy of recuperation. In 364 AD, the Duke of Runan, Gong Teng, plotted to rebel and was killed, and in 367 AD, the generals of Zhengbei, The General of Zhengdong, and the general of Yongzhou, the general of Yongzhou, conspired to rebel (known as the Rebellion of the Five Dukes). Jian Jian tried to persuade him to strike his troops, promising not to pursue everything as it was, but these men still rebelled, and Jian Jian defeated several people to calm the chaos, but when Jian Jian attacked Zhi Jian, he took the initiative to surrender the city of Shaanxi (present-day Shaanxi County, Henan) to Former Yan, and asked troops to respond, which shook Former Qin and forced Jian Jian to send a large army to Huayin (present-day Huayin, Shaanxi) to guard against it, because Former Yan's wife Murong Jue refused to surrender, thus avoiding a greater crisis.

In 369, after repelling the Northern Expeditionary Army of Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Murong Chui, the King of Wu of Former Yan, was ostracized by Murong Jue, and Yin Chayang mistakenly defected to Former Qin, and Murong Jian was very happy and personally went out to the countryside to greet him, and made Murong Chui the champion general. In the same year, Former Yan, which lacked a mainstay, was attacked by Former Qin, and after a year-long war, Wang Meng led a large army to capture the Former Yan capital of Yicheng (邺城, in present-day southwest of Linzhang County, Hebei), and former Yan emperor Murong Wei was also captured by Former Qin's pursuers on his way to Liaodong, and Former Qin officially annexed Former Yan. After recuperating and recuperating greatly, Former Qin successively destroyed Former Qichi, Former Liang was captured by Former Qin's strong strength and former Qin, Tuguhun also paid tribute to Former Qin, Longxi Xianbei also kept hostages in Chang'an to show his loyalty, and in 373 AD, Former Qin won the war with the Eastern Jin Dynasty and captured Yi and Liang Prefectures.

Former Qin territory

Before wang meng died in 375 AD, he suggested that Jian Jian first solve the hidden problems of the Xianbei and Qiang ethnic minorities against the Former Qin regime before considering launching a war in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but Jian Jian did not listen to Wang Meng's words after unifying the north and focused on solving the national problems in the country. In 376 AD, Former Qin attacked Guzang, Former Liang perished, in the same year the only remaining state of the northern divided regime was also destroyed by Former Qin, until qin successfully unified the north, but Jian Jian did not make integration measures for this multi-ethnic country, the Xianbei people of Longxi were still in the Longxi region, and most of the Former Yan Xianbei people, except for the Murong clan and some of the Guandong Hao clan, were still in the former Yan homeland, after the elimination of the Daiguo, although The Northern Xiongnu people led the remnants of the state on behalf of the people, but the residence was still in the north. After the rebellion of Zhiluo was put down, 150,000 families of the Yu people in Guanzhong were separated from Guanzhong and moved to Kanto, which dispersed the power of the Yu people, and the various ethnic minorities who moved to Guanzhong also became a major problem for Former Qin's confidants.

In 378, Jian Jian launched the War of Cutting Jin, attacking Xiangyang (present-day Xiangyang, Hubei) and Pengcheng (present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu) in two directions, with the intention of destroying the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The Western Route fought against the Eastern Jin forces for more than half a year before Xiangyang was taken in the first month of the following year, and in 379 Pengcheng was also captured by Former Qin, at which point the Jin army launched a counterattack and defeated Former Qin at Junchuan (present-day northern Xuyi County, Jiangsu). During the southern attack on the Eastern Jin Dynasty on the eastern and western fronts, Beihai GongZhizhong and Xingtang Gongzhiluo successively rebelled, and Gongjian sent troops to fight, and finally captured Gongluo and killed Gongzhong to quell the chaos. In 382 AD, Gong Jian assembled a group of ministers and proposed a plan to personally conquer the Eastern Jin Dynasty and unify the whole country, and the plan was unanimously opposed by the imperial court, but Zhi Jian made up his mind, so he began the War of Annihilation of Jin in 383 AD, resulting in a major defeat at the Battle of Shuishui, and the Former Qin army suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Zhi Rong, and Zhi Jian himself was wounded and fled to Huaibei on a single horse.

After the Battle of Shuishui, Longxi Xianbei rebelled against Former Qin and established Western Qin. While Murong Jian was in Luoyang, Murong Chui joined forces with Ding Zhiren to rebel against Qin, and in 384 AD besieged Yecheng and established Later Yan, and in the same year Murong Hong gathered his troops in Guandong to establish Western Yan and lead the crowd to attack Chang'an. In order to recruit the rebellious Murong Xianbei, Gong Jian recruited Murong Hong, the Duke of Julu, and ordered him to join Dou Chong and Yao Cang in courting Murong Hong, but as a result, Murong Hong's troops were defeated and killed, and Yao Cang sent xie to flee because Gong Jian killed his emissaries and instigated more than 50,000 Qiang families to return, claiming to be the King of Qin and establishing Later Qin. Later, Former Qin was besieged by Later Qin and Western Yan, and Jian Jian was also captured by Later Qin at WujiangShan. After the Qin lord Yao Cang asked Jian Jian for the imperial seal and proposed that Jian Jian give up the throne, Yao Jian repeatedly insulted Yao Cang to seek death, and Yao Cang ordered his people to hang Jian Jian in the Xinping Buddhist Temple (present-day Nanjingguang Temple, Bin County) at the age of forty-eight. In order to cover up his killing of Jian Jian, Yao Cang deliberately made Jian Jian the king of the heavens, and in the same year, when Zhi Jian's son Zhi Pi learned of his death, he immediately became emperor, and Yu Jian was made Emperor Xuanzhao, and Lü Guang, who returned to Liangzhou after conquering the Western Regions, learned of Jian Jian's death and also made him Emperor Wenzhao.