In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there was a saying called "the king and the horse, share the world". The meaning of this sentence is that the Langya Wang family and the imperial family are evenly matched, giving people the feeling that the world is not only the emperor's, but the two sides are in common. It can be seen that the influence of the Wang clan is also very large. And this king refers to the Wang clan of Langya, specifically To Wang Dao and Wang Dun.
We know that the Jin Dynasty established by the Sima Yi family was divided into the Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. This Western Jin Dynasty was founded by Sima Yi's grandson Sima Yan, but he was only stained with the light of his grandfather, father, and uncle. Although the Western Jin Dynasty achieved unification, the time was too short.
Of course, there are many reasons for this, but one of them is that after Sima Yan founded the country, he vigorously divided the seals and made the sons of the following clans under Sima Yi crowned kings, and the purpose was obviously to defend the imperial family. However, the result was frequent civil strife, especially among the Eight Kings, which led to the Western Jin Dynasty falling into infighting and the depletion of the ruling clique.
But it is precisely because of the division of the seal, so just like the Ming Dynasty, after the fall of the country, the king of the clan can re-establish, and the same is true of the Jin Dynasty.
The founder of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was Sima Rui, the imperial family of the Western Jin Dynasty. Sima Rui was the inherited king of Langya, with a fief in Langya, Shandong. Don't look at his grandfather as Sima Yi's son, but because he is out of the house, he is not welcome, and in his generation, he is even farther away from the royal family.
He also didn't have the strength and was easily overlooked, so he didn't participate in the Rebellion of the Eight Kings. Wang Yuan, on the other hand, was from the Wei and Jin dynasty, and was a fellow countryman with Sima Rui. Moreover, the two families have great influence in the local area, so the two have known each other very early, and the relationship is quite good.
Sima Rui is ambitious, and Wang Dao is not far behind, the key is that this person is still smart. He always suggested that Sima Rui go south to Jianye, which is today's Nanjing.
After arriving in Jiangdong, Wang Dao also advised Sima Rui to contact the southern warrior clan, and at the same time to win over the people and gentlemen who went south, and expand their strength to achieve great things. As a result, Sima Rui gradually grew bigger, and the feelings between the two became deeper and deeper.
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Rui ascended the throne as emperor and restored the Jin Dynasty, known in history as the Eastern Jin Dynasty. But it is still that sentence, Sima Rui belongs to the collateral lineage, the influence is not large, the prestige is not high, although the shi clan has supporters, but there are also many opponents.
Therefore, in order to stabilize his rule, Sima Rui used Wang Dao more heavily, and crowned Wang Dao as Shangshu and held the power of the dynasty, and Wang Dao's influence became more and more powerful. Wang Dao has a cousin Wang Dun, this guy is not an ordinary person, he is Sima Yan's son-in-law, but he is slightly different from Wang Dao, Wang Dao is more like a strategist, a literati. Wang Dun had soldiers in his hands and attacked the military.
The brothers ascended the throne for Sima Rui and established the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which can be said to have made great contributions, and one is inside and one is outside. Many of the sons of the Wang family were given important official positions.
Because, at that time, there were rumors that the king and the horse shared the world. And Sima Rui also saw that the influence of the brothers was too great, especially Wang Dun, who had soldiers in his hands, fought with each other, and finally launched a coup d'état.