The history of the Jin Dynasty can be roughly divided into four periods according to its ups and downs, the expansion of the territory of Jin Taizu and Jin Taizong is the first period, the chaos of the Hailing King is the first trough of the Jin Dynasty, and the Zhongxing of Jin Shizong and Jin Zhangzong is the third period, and the last period is the decline and fall of the Jin Dynasty. During the reigns of Kim Sejong and Kim Jangjong, although there were some problems, the overall trend of the Jin Dynasty was still good, and the domestic economy developed by leaps and bounds. But the Jin Dynasty slid from this prosperous era to decline so quickly that one had to question the abilities of its successor monarchs.
King Wei Shao finished Yan Yongji
The first monarch of the Jin Dynasty, King Wei Shao, was a monarch with no name in history, not only because he was originally regarded as a "puppet" emperor when he ascended to the throne, but also because he was later killed by the rebellious general Hu Shahu, destroying the historical materials of his reign. During his tenure, the rule of the Jin Dynasty did begin to decline, and the political shortcomings of Jin Zhangzong in his later years gradually appeared, coupled with the threat of the rising Mongol army, which made the achievements of King Wei Shao so unbearable. Although the previous political hidden dangers affected the political measures of King Wei Shao, his low personal ability was also an important reason for the decline of the Jin Dynasty.
Li Yuanfei's interference, and the ascension of King Wei Shao to the throne
Before talking about the merits of King Wei Shao, we must first clarify the political situation of the central government of the Jin Dynasty before King Wei Shao ascended the throne. At the end of Jin Zhangzong's reign, Jin Zhangzong had lost the enterprising spirit of his youth, and not only did he no longer exert himself, but he also began to stay away from his courtiers and began to listen to his relatives. Among these relatives, the most powerful are the two brothers of his concubine Li.
Jin Zhangzong's concubine Li Shi'er
Jin Zhangzong's concubine Li Shi was originally the daughter of a prisoner and had a very low status. Because of his father's fault, the whole family was imprisoned in the palace. At that time, the palace women had to read and write under the guidance of the palace teacher, and Li's voice was clear and the fastest to understand, which left a deep impression on the teacher Zhang Jian at that time. Therefore, when Jin Zhangzong asked Zhang Jian who had the highest talent, Zhang Jian recommended Li to Jin Zhangzong. Because Jin Zhangzong loved literature and Li Shi had a certain literary background, he was deeply favored by Jin Zhangzong and was soon given the title of Shufei. This incident is recorded in the History of Jin as follows:
"It was in the Palace of Time that Zhang Jianjiao was taught, and the masters and children and the palace ladies all learned from it. ...... Among the women, only the master is easy to understand, and Jian does not know who he is, but his voice is clear. Emperor Zhangzong asked Jian, the woman in the palace sect who could teach. Jian zhi said: "The one who has a clear voice is the most teachable." 'Emperor Zhangzong sought it with advice. "
Jin Zhangzong's original counterpart, Pu Chashi, died of illness long ago, and Jin Zhangzong's posthumous position has been vacant. Jin Zhangzong once wanted to make Li shi empress, but was hindered by his ministers. Because the Jin Dynasty system at that time stipulated that only the daughters of the ministers of the Jurchen Ministries were eligible to be made empresses, Jin Zhangzong had to give up, but he still made Li a concubine.
After Li Shi became a yuan concubine, his two brothers Li Xi'er and Thege Ben Chicken Dog ascended to heaven and were successively awarded the posts of Envoy of Xuanhui and Envoy of the Near Attendant Bureau. These positions were primarily responsible for guarding the emperor's safety at that time, that is, serving as the emperor's bodyguard. Therefore, they became close associates of Jin Zhangzong by virtue of li's favor.
After the feudal centralization reached a certain level, the imperial power would swell to an uncontrollable point, and the reign of Jin Zhangzong was the peak of the Jurchen centralized power, so the ministers above the court at that time did not interfere to balance Jin Zhangzong's ability. At that time, the Lee brothers and the Lee clan were arbitrarily in the court, and many ministers came to the court to ask Jin Zhangzong to punish them. However, Jin Zhangzong only criticized two sentences and then did not deal with it, which shows that Jin Zhangzong at that time had trusted slaves more than he trusted the civil and military bureaucracy. This, like the eunuch dictatorship of previous dynasties, was a sign of decay after the extreme expansion of imperial power.
In the later period of Jin Zhangzong, he began to become faint
When Jin Zhangzong was weakening, he had no heirs, but his two imperial concubines, Jia And Fan, were pregnant at that time. In order to be able to transition the throne to his son, Kim Hadjong had to choose the weakest and most incompetent person in the clan to inherit his throne, and he set his sights on Kim Sejong's seventh son, his uncle Yongji.
When Jin Zhangzong ascended the throne, several sons of Jin Shizong disobeyed his nephews, among whom King Zheng, King Yue, and others were killed by Jin Zhangzong for rebellion, and Jin Zhangzong took the position of emperor. At that time, Yongji did not arouse the vigilance of Jin Zhangzong because of his "soft and bright intelligence", and in the following years, Jin Zhangzong was still close to his uncle, in order to pass on his throne to this weak and incompetent puppet.
Before Jin Zhangzong's death, he issued an edict for Yongji, the King of Weishao, to inherit his throne, but he also stated that if there were boys in his widow, King Weishao would hand over his throne. The edict of Jin Zhangzong is recorded in the History of Jin as follows:
"Emperor Wei Wang, the body of Emperor Chengshizong, Zhong Houqing yu Yuan Concubine, people look forward to it, and the calendar is there." Emperor Taizu of the Present Dynasty taught the meaning of Zhigong, Fu Baozuo, that is, the emperor was located in front of the coffin. In the Book of Rites, there are two concubines, and there are two people who have been appointed to the throne, and if there are men who are men, they should be appointed as the crown princes, and if they are all men, they can choose those who can be established. "
But Jin Zhangzong did not expect that this puppet of his own choosing would later smash his plan, kill his concubine, and cut off his heir.
Kill the imperial concubines and establish their status
According to Jin Zhangzong's will, the emperor's throne of King Wei Shao may only sit for less than a year before giving up to a newborn baby. In order to be able to occupy this position for a long time, how to get rid of Jin Zhangzong's widow became the first task of King Wei Shao. Moreover, King Wei Shao also had to first clear out Li Yuanfei's forces in the dynasty, so as to ensure that his plan was executed. Moreover, once Li Yuanfei fell, even if Jin Zhangzong's son was born, no one could help him control the situation, and he would still be able to sit on the throne.
King Wei Shao killed Concubine Li and took the throne
Therefore, King Wei Shao targeted the three former imperial concubines, and two months after he ascended the throne, he announced to the outside world that there were problems with the pregnancies of Jia and Fan. Among them, Jia's due date has passed, but there is still no movement, and the paradigm is damaged in the process of pregnancy, and after medication, the fetal shape has been lost, so the pregnancy has to be terminated. After he issued the edict, Fan Shi applied to King Wei Shao in the hope of becoming a nun, and King Wei Shao granted her request. This incident is recorded in the History of Jin as follows:
"Now the Pingzhang government servant Sanduan, Zuo Chengsun is Kang Songyan, the emperor Jia Shi should be exempted from milk in November, and now it is three months, and the matter is not known. Fan's delivery period, combined in the first month, and the deputy envoy of the Taiyi Physician Yan Yan, since the first November of the year diagnosed Fan's fetal qi damage, so far, although the pulse is harmonious, the fetal shape has been lost. And Fan Shi voluntarily cut his hair in front of the divine emperor as a nun. "
As for the jia problem, King Wei Shao used this matter to make a big fuss, and the spearhead was directed at Li Yuanfei, who had a large power in the dynasty at that time. King Wei Shao said that Jia's pregnancy was an illusion, but in fact she was only ill, and li shi passed on false news to Jin Zhangzong in order to be able to usurp the throne. In order to be able to use the li family's baby to impersonate the crown prince after the death of Jin Zhangzong, in order to gain the world. Jia also actively cooperated with Li, so both should be sentenced to capital punishment. After that, King Wei Shao killed Jia and Li, and Li's brother Li Xi'er and others also ambushed him.
At this point, Li's power in the court was completely eliminated, and the direct descendants of Jin Zhangzong no longer existed, King Wei Shao finally sat on the throne, and the puppets supported by Jin Zhangzong himself finally regurgitated his master.
The rise of the Mongols and the misjudgment of King Wei Shao
At the time of King Wei Shao's ascension to the throne, another nomadic people in the steppe was rising rapidly, that is, the Mongols. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan, the Mongol tribes gradually completed their unification and became a force to be reckoned with. Before King Wei Shao ascended the throne, he had contact with Genghis Khan, and when Genghis Khan learned that the new emperor of the Jin Dynasty was King Wei Shao, he said that the emperor of the Jin Dynasty was a mediocre talent, and he said: "I mean that the Emperor of the Central Plains is a heavenly man. "Began to despise the Jin Dynasty government.
A statue of Genghis Khan
The Mongols' behavior attracted the attention of the Jin Dynasty, and the Jin Dynasty ministers proposed to King Wei Shao to eliminate Genghis Khan, but King Wei Shao mistakenly chose to let the Khitan army go on an ambush mission. At that time, the Khitan people and the rulers of the Jin Dynasty were already separated from Germany, so they repeatedly sent people to reveal the Jin people's ambush plan to Genghis Khan, resulting in the failure of the ambush of King Wei Shao. The Mongols also began to stop attacking the Jin Dynasty and preemptively attacked the Jin. This incident is recorded as follows in the Miscellaneous Records of the Dynasty and the Opposition since Jianyan:
"The army of the king has a Tatar who tells him about it, and the Tatars doubt and do not believe it, and when the speaker comes again, the Tatars send people to serve them, and in fact, they cannot move forward."
At that time, King Wei Shao was unable to resist the Mongol attack, and at that time, he was also vetoed by someone who proposed to him to set up Liaodong Province and contain the Mongol army from the flank. Cowardly, he single-mindedly sought peace, which greatly damaged the morale of the Jin Dynasty army and also caused the military situation of the Jin Dynasty to decline.
The change of Hu Shahu and the death of King Wei Shao
Hu Shahu, i.e. Qishi Liezhong, was originally a pacification envoy of the Privy Council. However, the Mongol army fled without a fight and plundered the people's property. However, after he fled back to Zhongdu, Jin Zhangzong actually granted him the position of right deputy marshal, which made him even more unscrupulous.
Rebel leader Hu Shahu
After King Wei Shao ascended the throne, he sent him to meet the Mongol army, and he again demanded a retreat, but King Wei Shao did not appease him at that time and deposed him, causing a gap between the two. Later, due to the tight war, Hu Shahu was activated again, although the chancellor Shan Yi and others advised Hu Shahu, the king of Wei Shao, that he could not be trusted, but at that time Hu Shahu and The King of Wei Shao were close to each other, and under the rumors of his cronies, King Wei Shao still asked him to lead 5,000 troops to garrison the north of the capital. This incident is recorded in the History of Jin as follows:
Zhang Xing, the Master of the Left Counselor, wrote in a letter: "Hu Shahu acted exclusively on selfish intentions, did not follow justice, despised the provincial department to show a strong beam, flattered his ministers in order to seek praise, acted in accordance with the law, and harmed the common people." In Shanxi, there is no discipline in the division, no battle before retreating, unauthorized taking of official property, and killing county orders with a staff. The strategy of garrisoning The Concubine River and begging to move inland can be seen. "
After leaving the city, Hu Shahu and his cronies began to plot rebellion, he first tricked Fu Hai, the in-law of Nanping, a powerful minister at the time, out of the city, and after seizing Fu Hai, he led his troops into the Zhongdu City, burned the palace, and killed King Wei Shao. The "puppet" emperor's brief imperial career also came to an end.
epilogue
Due to the large-scale destruction of the historical materials of the Wei Shao King period after Hu Shahu entered Zhongdu to prevent himself from carrying the title of Emperor Ofe, the various political measures during the reign of King Wei Shao could not be fully presented. However, judging from the evaluation of Jin Zhangzong and Genghis Khan, the emperor's ability to govern should not be outstanding. His military ability is low in his mistaken dispatch of khitans to ambush Genghis Khan and his abandonment of the defense of Liaodong. And the use of Hu Shahu by credulous cronies can also be seen in his political shortcomings of not distinguishing between loyalty and treachery. Apart from the fact that the treatment of Crown Princess Jin Zhangzong at the beginning of the reign showed a certain political skill, there is really no merit.
Some people say that in fact, during the jin zhangzong period, due to the increasingly serious land annexation and the ethnic contradictions that intensified as a result, the Jin dynasty was already doomed. Coupled with the rise of Genghis Khan, the decline of the Jin Dynasty should not be entirely borne by King Wei Shao. However, if King Wei Shao could exercise benevolent government during his reign and ease class and ethnic contradictions, then the vast Jin Dynasty might not be without the strength to fight a war. King Wei Shao's low political ability was still responsible for the demise of the Jin Dynasty, and although the puppet emperor escaped the fate of the puppet, he was still not a qualified emperor.