In May of the fifth year of Shengping (361), Sima Tan, the emperor of Jinmu, suddenly fell ill and died at the Xianyang Temple at the age of 19. Since Sima Ping had no heirs, Empress Chu ordered that Sima Pi, the King of Langya, was the orthodox concubine of the imperial court since Zhongxing, and no one was more suitable to be emperor than him. Therefore, the hundred officials of the imperial court prepared the emperor's car and drove to the palace of Langya to meet Sima Yi. After Sima Pi succeeded to the throne, he renamed Sima Yi, the king of the Eastern Sea, as the king of Langya, pardoned the world, and changed the following year to Longhe Yuan.
Sima Pi was obsessed with the art of alchemy and immortality, and at a young age he was keen to study the method of immortality. Soon after becoming emperor, she was unable to manage the government because of the accidental consumption of Dan medicine and poison, and Empress Chu had to come to the court again to assist the government.
After Empress Dowager Chu re-listened to the government, she conspired with the ministers of the dprk to deal with the problem of Huan Wen's excessive power, and ordered Huan Wen to be the assassin of Yangzhou, and gave him the high position of prime minister to let him preside over the affairs of the government, in an attempt to deprive him of his military power. As a result, Huan Wen not only refused to go to Jiankang, but instead requested that the capital be moved to Luoyang, proposing that all the people who had migrated to Jiangnan since the Yongjia Rebellion (307) be moved north to enrich the area south of the Yellow River.
Huan Wen's performance caused an uproar in the government and the public, and for nearly half a century, northern immigrants had already laid their roots in Jiangnan, and the older generation had forgotten what their hometown was like, while those born in the south had no such concept. Moreover, the Central Plains is a ruin, under the iron hooves of the Hu people, the environment is dangerous, where is the comfort and safety of Jiangnan? The ministers of the COURT, headed by Sima Yu, all thought that Huan Wen's proposal was not feasible, but they were all afraid of Huan Wen's power, and no one dared to take the lead in raising objections.
The scattered horse chang attendant Sun Shu then bravely stood up and raised objections in the letter, listing many reasons why it was not appropriate to move the capital in a hurry. Because Sun Wei was only a very famous literati and had no political background, Huan Wen was not good at what to do with him.
Huan Wen was not happy, and the imperial court had to be jealous of the three points, and discussed sending a servant to talk to Huan Wen and persuade him to retract his claim. Wang Shu of Yangzhou saw the essence of the matter and said, "No, Huan Wen is just bluffing to scare the imperial court, and he doesn't really want to move the capital, although he promised him well, he himself will not go." So the imperial court issued an edict saying: "Knowing that you want to personally lead the three armies to retake the Central Plains and restore the old capital, if you do not have the ambition to martyr the country with your body, who can do so!" Just to rebuild the capital on the ruins, it takes time to operate and govern, which is hard for you to plan and arrange, I believe that with your scheming, coupled with your hard work, there will be a satisfactory ending. After Huan Wen received the edict, the matter of moving the capital was indeed over.
In July of the second year (364) of the jin dynasty emperor Xingning, the imperial court twice urged Huan Wen to enter the imperial government, but this time Huan Wen was on the road, but he came with a large army, and Sima Yu hurriedly sent Shang Shuche to stop it. Huan Wen was stationed at Ochre County (赭圻, in present-day Fanchang County, Anhui), and his ambition to spy on Jiankang was already evident.
In February of the third year of Xingning (365), when the Eastern Jin Dynasty's powerful ministers were fighting with their hearts, Former Yan, under the leadership of the auxiliary chancellor and Dazai Murong Ke, survived the crisis and returned to the normal track. As a result, Murong Ke personally led the Yan army to the south on a large scale, successively taking Xuchang and Luoyang, and Huan Wen lost the lost land recovered by the last Northern Expedition and lost it again.
Sima Yu then personally went to Xian Zhou (陳州, in present-day Anhui, a small island in the Yangtze River) to meet huan Wen to discuss the Northern Expedition. Aren't you Huan Wen going to move the capital to Luoyang, now that Luoyang is lost, you have to fight back again, saving yourself the need to spy on Jiankang every day. He also ordered Huan Wen to move the town of Guyi (present-day Dangtu, Anhui) to make preparations before the expedition Just as Sima Xunyu was leaving Jiankang, Sima Pi, the Emperor of Jin, ate the elixir of immortality as a meal. Unfortunately, he died of poisoning at the age of 25. Earlier, The Attendant Gao Song had repeatedly advised Sima Pi, saying, "This is not what an emperor should do, and His Majesty's practice, like an eclipse of the sun and the moon, is not a good thing." "Sima Pi has gone mad and can't listen to it at all.
Sima Pi did not leave any heirs due to his indiscriminate consumption of "immortal medicines", and Empress Chu issued an edict saying that Sima Yi was both talented and talented, and that he was the emperor's younger brother and should inherit the throne. Therefore, the hundred officials went to the palace of Sima Yi to greet Sima Yi, who on February 23, that is, the emperor's throne, pardoned the world, and set the following year as the first year of Taihe, known as the Deposed Emperor of Jin (also known as the Duke of Haixi). Empress Chu continued to be the regent of the dynasty.
Sima Yi became emperor, which meant that Huan Wen had already been the four emperors of Chengcheng, Kang, Mu, and Ai, plus the deposed emperor Sima Yi of the Jin Dynasty, who was the elder of the Five Dynasties. It is very natural for fierce struggles to occur in the heart, others sit in peace and health, do nothing, the emperors go down from generation to generation, they are running and working outside, born into death, what is the purpose of the end? Is it the life of making a wedding dress for others? Sometimes, Huan Wen lay on the bed with empty eyes and suddenly said to his cronies; "If you are willing to be content with the status quo and obscure all your life, won't you be laughed at by Wen Jing (Sima Shi, Emperor Sima Zhao of Jin Jing) in the future!" Everyone around him knew that he had the intention of usurping the throne, and they did not dare to be angry. Sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night and suddenly sat up and said to himself: "Since a person cannot live for a hundred lifetimes, he should be left with a stink for ten thousand years." He had been to Wang Dun's cemetery and sighed long and short at the grave. Perhaps, as Liu Hui said at the beginning, he was a gambler and had no full certainty
No bets will be placed. Huan Wen estimated that his confidence was still insufficient at this time, so he specially found Du Ling, a master of alchemy who could predict people's nobility, and asked Du Ling to test what height his official position could reach. Du Ling shook his head and said, "Ming Gong's merits are unparalleled in the world, and he is an extremely popular subject." During thought it was already amazing, but found Huan Wen's face full of displeasure. To this end, Huan Wen intends to establish another prestige and increase political chips, and he is waiting for an opportunity.
In the second year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (367), Murong Ke, a former Yan auxiliary chancellor, prominent statesman, and military figure, died, and the Former Qin dynasty and opposition believed that there were only incompetent people left in the Yan state and prepared for a crusade. Unexpectedly, his own backyard was on fire first, and Gongliu of Jin and Gonggong of Zhao, together with two other imperial relatives, Wei Gongzhuang and Yan Gongwu, rebelled in Pusaka (present-day southern Shanxi), Shaancheng (in present-day Shaanxi County, Henan), Andua and Anding. Jian Jian had to divide his troops to suppress it, busy cleaning up the backyard.
Huan Wen also felt that this was a good opportunity to fight against Former Yan, but before going out on the expedition, he also had to put forward some conditions with the imperial court, suggesting that he wanted to enjoy some special treatment. After careful "study", the imperial court awarded him a special courtesy of one level higher than that of the princes in the third year of Taihe (368). But there is still a force that makes Huan Wen feel uneasy,
At that time, the Beifu soldiers stationed in the important town of Jingkou were brave and good at war, while the Pingbei generals, LingXu, and Xi Erzhou, who were in charge of this unit, were still unenlightened and did not correct their positions. Huan Wen once said in public: "Jingkou liquor can be drunk, and soldiers can use it." Xi Huan did not know that Huan Wen was coveting Jingkou's army, and thought he was praising him. So he wrote to Huan Wen saying that he would assist the Jin Dynasty with him and lead his troops north to repair the Garden Tomb.
At that time, Xi Huan's son Xi Chao joined the army under Huan Wen's men, and he knew Huan Wen's thoughts very well. After seeing his father's letter, he secretly opened it to see it first, and couldn't help but be surprised, tore up his father's letter, and rewrote a letter himself, saying that he was not a general, could not be competent for the heavy responsibilities of the army, and was old and sick, asked to find a leisurely place to recuperate, and persuaded Huan Wen to take over the soldiers in Jingkou. This made Huan Wen very happy, and he immediately transferred Xi Huan to the title of Champion General and Hui Ji Neishi, and Huan Wen himself concurrently served as Xu and Yan Erzhou Assassins. At this point, Huan Wen could finally rest assured of the Northern Expedition.
In April of the fourth year of Taihe (369), sima Huanwen, who was 58 years old at the time, began his third northern expedition, leading 50,000 infantry and horses from Guyi. Huan Wen sent the Jianwei general Tan Xuan (檀玄) to capture Hulu (湖陵城, southeast of present-day Yutai County, Shandong) and captured the former Yan general Murong Zhong .com.
The Former Yan side did not dare to be sloppy, and appointed Murong Li the Prince of Xia Pi as the governor of Dadu, leading 20,000 infantry and cavalry to meet the Jin army at Huangxu (in present-day Kaifeng and Lankao, Henan), which was the first head-on confrontation between the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Former Yan army, and after a battle, the Yan army was defeated, and Murong Li fled to Yicheng alone. Former Yan Gaoping Taishou Xu surrendered. The Jin advances Deng And Zhu Xu defeated the Yan general Fu Yan at Linzhu (林渚, in modern Xinzheng, Henan). Former Yan then sent Murong Zang (慕容臧), the king of Le'an, to lead an army to resist the Jin forces, and Murong Zang also lost one after another.
In July, Huan Wen entered Wuyang (武陽, southeast of present-day XinXian County, Shandong), and Former Yan Yan Prefecture assassin Shi Sun Yuan, a native of exile, saw the arrival of the Jin army and led his clan to raise an army to meet him. Huan Wen arrived at Fangtou (枋頭, in present-day western Xun County, Henan), and the Former Yan court panicked, after they had sent Li Feng, a regular attendant, to Former Qin to ask for help, but there was no news from Former Qin. Emperor Murong You of Yan and Murong Jue( murong Jue) discussed preparing to abandon the capital Yecheng and flee back to Longcheng (龍城; present-day Chaoyang, Liaoning). At a critical juncture, Murong Chui, the king of Wu, stepped forward and said, "Don't be busy, I ask to go to war, and if I can't win, it's not too late for you to run." Murong Chui then had Murong Chui replace Murong Zang as the governor of Southern Qi, and together with Murong De the Prince of Fanyang led 50,000 troops to defend against Huan Wen. At the same time, he then sent Chang Shile Song to Chang'an for help, on the condition that he agreed to cede the land west of Hu prison pass (虎牢關, in present-day Xingyang, Henan) to Former Qin.
Jian Jian summoned the group of ministers to discuss, and everyone's opinions were basically the same: "When Huan Wen struck all the way to Bashang, Yan Guo stood by and watched, and now it is their turn to be beaten, why should we save them?" Moreover, yanguo does not call us vassals, so why should it save them?" Only the super strategist Wang Meng did not speak.
After the meeting, Wang Meng offered advice to Jian Jian: "First send troops to fight back the Jin army together with the Yan state, and then take advantage of the fact that the Yan army is exhausted and defenseless, and then destroy the Yan state, which is called first save and then take; Otherwise, once Huan Wen occupies the Central Plains, it will become a strong enemy of Great Qin, and it will be difficult for us to touch the Central Plains. Jian Jian deeply agreed, and immediately ordered the generals Gou Chi and Luozhou Assassin Shi Deng Qiang to lead 20,000 troops to rescue Former Yan.
The Yan army did not fight the Jin army to the death as Wang Meng expected, and Murong Chui only held huan wen in Fangtou, taking the method of avoiding his sharp edge and seeking opportunities to attack. Huan Wen had previously demoted the Yan general Duan Si as his guide, and Murong Chui, seeing the opportunity, sent the general Xi Luoteng to capture Duan Si in battle with the Jin army, and then beheaded Huan Wen's general Li Shu and the old general of Later Zhao, and the morale of the Jin army was demoralized.
Huan Wen's expedition, which was also deep into the enemy's territory, was very concerned about logistical transportation problems, and ordered Yuan Zhen, the assassin of Yuzhou, to lead the department to open the stone gate and inject the yellow river water into Suishui to transport grain and grass. Murong Chui was not an idle man, and sent Murong De to lead 15,000 cavalry to occupy Shimen first. Yuan Zhen could not conquer the stone gate, naturally he could not inject water, and the lifeline of the Eastern Jin Dynasty that used the advantage of waterways to transport supplies was cut off. At the same time, Former Yan Yuzhou assassin Shi Li Bang spontaneously led 5,000 local troops to harass and ambush everywhere in the rear of the Jin army, and cut off the Land Grain Route of the Jin Army.
Until September, Huan Wen's main force had not yet engaged Murong Chui head-on, so he was in a hurry and had no intention of fighting. I also heard that Former Qin's reinforcements were approaching. Huan Wen knew that there was only one way to die if he stayed any longer, and ordered all the ships to be burned, discard the weight and armor, and withdraw his troops from the land. All the generals of the Yan army vigorously advocated the pursuit, and Murong Chui said, "There is no hurry. Huan Wen had just retreated, and he must have maintained a high degree of vigilance, and he would definitely send the elite hall queen. At this time, the attack may not be successful, it is better to slow down first. When he is glad that we have not pursued, he will travel day and night, and when his soldiers are exhausted, they will attack again, and they will surely win a great victory. Murong Chui personally led 8,000 cavalry and slowly followed the Jin army.
Huan Wen was indeed very alert, and during the retreat, worried that the enemy would poison upstream, he ordered the soldiers to sink wells to get water, and walked 700 miles in one go, and after a few days, they changed to a rapid march, and retreated south at the same time as the starry night. Murong Chui said, "You can attack!" He ordered Murong De to lead 4,000 elite cavalry to cut a path and ambush in a mountain stream east of Xiangyi (襄邑, in present-day Sui County, Henan).
When the Jin army reached Xiangyi, it was exhausted, and it had not yet figured out how many pursuing soldiers were behind it, and the front was intercepted by ambush troops, and the whole army collapsed suddenly, which immediately turned into a massacre. The 8,000 cavalry of the Yan Military Region actually killed 30,000 Jin troops.
Huan Wen continued to flee south with less than half of his remnants, but only then did he flee to Chencheng, where he encountered Former Qin reinforcements who happened to arrive there, and the Jin army was severely damaged, and less than 10,000 people finally fled back. Huan Wen's painstakingly managed elite troops were almost lost, and afterwards he blamed Yuan Zhen and degraded Yuan Zhen as a civilian. Yuan Zhen was not convinced, and wrote to the imperial court to complain, accusing Huan Wen of various crimes.
The imperial court did not dare to provoke Huan Wen and upheld the original judgment. Yuan Zhen launched a rebellion against Shouchun City in anger, and simultaneously asked for help from Both Former Qin and Former Yan. Huan Wen retreated to Shanyang (山陽, in modern Huai'an, Jiangsu), and the imperial court not only did not dare to hold him accountable, but also ordered his attendant Luo Han to bring cattle and sheep wine to Shanyang to treat him, and appointed his son Huan Xi as the Assassin of Yuzhou. Soon, Huan Wen moved to the town of Guangling (廣陵, in present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu). This time the dispatch of troops made Huan Wen lose face, and from then on, the two words of the Northern Expedition were completely blocked. After being dull for a while, someone stepped forward to share his worries. Xi Chao said to Huan Wen privately, "Ming Gong is in a heavy position, and if he does not emulate Yi Huo (Yi Yin and Huo Guang) and do the abolition of the establishment, it will not be enough to re-establish authority and shock the world." Huan Wen immediately understood, so the two closed the doors and windows, lowered the curtains, and muttered a conspiracy.
Xi Chao considered that Sima Yi was cautious and careful, and there was nothing wrong with it, and believed that it was only possible to use private things that people could not see to frame. Therefore, he offered a plan to Huan Wen: "We will say that the emperor has long suffered from impotence and cannot have children, and the 3 sons born in his harem are the favored ministers Xianglong, Ji Hao, Zhu Lingbao and others who do the work, and they are in harmony with Tian Meiren and Meng Meiren, not of royal blood." "
Subsequently, these words spread rapidly among the people, people could not distinguish between the true and false of these rumors, there was no genetic identification at that time, and even if there were, those conspirators had 100 ways to deal with it, and poor Sima Yi became a scapegoat in front of the powerful courtiers, and could only sit still.
On November 13, 371, huan wen unexpectedly came to Jiankang and openly proposed to Empress Chu that Sima Yi be deposed as the king of the East Sea, and that Sima Yu be made emperor, and that he submit a pre-written edict. At that time, Empress Chu was burning incense in the Buddhist hall, and the internal attendant reported; "There's an emergency song outside." Empress Chu came out, leaned on the door before reading the recital for a few lines, and said, "Rumors together, I guessed that there would be such a thing!" Halfway through the sight, those incomprehensible words made her really unable to look at them, so she ordered the servant to find a pen and reply on the recital: "I am unfortunate to encounter all kinds of troubles, and I miss the living and the dead, and my heart is like a knife." At first, Huan Wen was still worried that Empress Chu would oppose, panicked to the point of sweating, her face was green, and when the edict was approved, she couldn't help but be ecstatic. Two days later, Huan Wen summoned the Hundred Officials to the Imperial Court and announced the abolition of the Emperor, and the Hundred Officials were shocked. Huan Wen saw that everyone was panicking, and he also followed a blank face, not knowing how to be good. Shang Shu's servant Wang Biao saw that things could not be recovered, so he said to Huan Wen, "If you want to do the abolition of the establishment, you must come according to the rules!"
Therefore, he ordered someone to find the "Book of Han and Huo Guang's Biography", according to the script, according to huo Guang's process of deposing the King of Han Changyi, he withdrew the imperial seal ribbon of Sima Yi, the deposed emperor of the Jin Dynasty, and Sima Yi became the first and only emperor who was deposed during his reign since the establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Huan Wen then led the Wen and Wu officials to the Huiji Palace to greet Sima Yu. After Sima Yu accepted the ribbon of the national seal, he immediately became emperor, known in history as "Emperor Wen of Jin", and changed his era name to "Xian'an".