As we all know, after the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Rui was proclaimed emperor under the support of the southern and northern clans, and the capital was Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), rebuilding the Jin Empire and historically known as the "Eastern Jin Dynasty". Due to the huge power of the clan, the Eastern Jin Dynasty basically established the door valve political system of "king and horse, sharing the world", and thus opened a typical door valve political period in which the "four major families" of Wang, Yu, Huan and Xie jointly ruled with the emperor in the middle of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. However, when the Jin Dynasty became emperor, the "Zhongxing Sizuo" appeared in the government and the public, that is, the four most important ministers who assisted Sima Rui, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, but this did not include Wang Dao and other important courtiers of the imperial court, but Diao Xie, Liu Kui, Zhou Yan, and Dai Yuan, who were not well known to later generations. What about their lives? Why did it get the reputation of "ZTE Sizuo"? And why is it not famous in the hereafter?
Schematic diagram of the distribution of door valves of the two Jinshi clans
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" >1, "ZTE Sizuo" biography</h1>
(1) Diao Xie
Diao Xie (?) –322), courtesy name Xuanliang, was a native of Rao'an County, Bohai County (present-day Yanshan, Hebei). During the Western Jin Dynasty, he served as Dr. Taichang and Dazhongzheng of Bohai County.
When the "Yongjia Rebellion" broke out, Diao Xie crossed the river and defected to Sima Rui, where he successively held the posts of military priest and priest, and Left Changshi. Because of his loyalty and ability, he was gradually relied on by Sima Rui as his heart.
Sima Rui was proclaimed empress dowager, and Diao Xie served as Shang Shu Ling. He and Liu Kui and others did their best to promote the "government of fragmentation", strengthen the imperial power, and suppress the clan, which was hated by the Clan of the Langya Wang Clan and other clans.
In the first year of Yongchang (322), Wang Dun attacked Jiankang in the east under the name of Diao Xie, Liu Kui, and the Qing Emperor. Diao Xie suggested that Emperor Yuan of Jin exterminate the Wang clan who remained in Jiankang, but Emperor Yuan of Jin did not allow it. Before jiankang fell, emperor Jinyuan ordered Diao Xie and others to flee. Because of his old age and infirmity, inability to ride horses, slow movement, and the usual harsh retinue, he was killed when he fled to Jiangcheng (present-day northeast of Nanjing).
(2) Liu Kui
Liu Kui (273–333), also known as Dalian, was a native of Pengcheng Commandery (present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu). During the Western Jin Dynasty, he successively served as secretary Lang and Peng Chengli. During the "Yongjia Rebellion", he avoided crossing the river in chaos, and was taken as a confidant by Sima Rui and served as a royal historian. In view of the prosperity of the clan, Liu Kui joined forces with Diao Xie to strengthen the imperial power and suppress the clan, which caused the clan to be jealous. Before Wang Dun's first rebellion, before the fall of Jiankang, Liu Kui led his family and cronies to flee to Hou Zhao Shile, and later died in civil unrest.
(3) Zhou Yan
Zhou Yan (269–322), courtesy name Boren, was a native of Ancheng County, Runan, (present-day Runan, Henan). During the Western Jin Dynasty, he served as a secretary Lang and a general of the Zhen Army. During the "Yongjia Rebellion", Zhou Yan crossed the river and successively served as a military priest, a jingzhou assassin, an official Shangshu, and a general of the guard army, and became a confidant of emperor Yuan of Jin.
During Wang Dun's first rebellion, Wang Dao led hundreds of tribesmen who remained in Jiankang to kneel in front of the palace gate and plead their sins. Although Zhou Yan pretended to ignore Wang Dao's request, he played secretly many times and strongly advised Emperor Yuan not to destroy the Wang clan.
After Wang Dun's rebels captured Jiankang, they killed Zhou Yan with Wang Dao's acquiescence. Later, Wang Dao inspected the old files in the palace and saw Zhou Yan's secret music of rescue him many times, and he couldn't help but cry bitterly. When he returned home, he said to his sons, "Although I will not kill Boren, Boren will die by me." In the shadows, bear this good friend! ”
(4) Dai Yuan
Dai Yuan (269–322), courtesy name Ruosi, was a native of Guangling Commandery (廣陵郡; present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu). When he was young, he was a thief, and later he was persuaded by Lu Ji. Sima Rui was proclaimed emperor, and Dai Yuan successively served as Shangshu and general of the Protector Army, and became a confidant of Emperor Jinyuan because of his diligence in performing his duties, loyalty and reliability. In order to prevent Wang Dun and control military power, Emperor Yuan of Jinyuan made Dai Yuan a general of Zhenxi, overseeing the military forces of Yan, Yu, You, Ji, Yong, and the six prefectures.
After the outbreak of the Wang Dun Rebellion, Dai Yuan returned to Beijing and commanded the suppression of the rebellion. After fierce fighting, the Jing army was defeated, Jiankang fell, and Dai Yuan was also brutally killed by Wang Dun.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > why were the two and four people known as the "Zhongxing Four Zuo" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty? </h1>
In the second year of emperor Taining of the Jin Dynasty (324), Wang Dun rebelled again, and the soldiers were defeated and killed. Emperor Ming of Jin rehabilitated and posthumously rehabilitated Zhou Yan and Dai Yuan. Diao Xie and Liu Kui were unable to defend the emperor's father because they fled, and they were accused by the courtiers, and they were not rehabilitated and posthumously awarded.
During the reign of Emperor Jin, Diao Xie's son Diao Yi went to the imperial court and requested that his father be rehabilitated. Auxiliary Minister Yu Bing believed that Diao Xie could not repay the king with his death, but died on the way to escape, and it was not appropriate to rehabilitate and posthumously give gifts. Danyang YinRong was indignant, and Shangquan said: "Wang Dun is evil and rebellious, and his sins are not to be punished... Zhongxing Sizuo, the head of the dynasty. In current affairs, he was poor and calculated, and he was ordered to disobey the court, not to escape from prison. It is advisable to show the gift, so as to show loyalty and righteousness. Emperor Jincheng and his ministers not only adopted Yin Rong's suggestion in the end, but also did not dispute his title of "Zhongxing Sizuo".
Eastern Jin Dynasty courtiers
As we all know, the Jinyuan Emperor "Zhongxing", when the imperial court was assisted by such as Wang Dao, Xi Jian, Gu Rong and other leaders of the northern and southern clans, displaced people, can be described as Junyan Jiji. Why did Diao Xie and four other people stand out and win such a reputation?
In terms of its reasons, we have to mention once again the typical door valve political system of "kings and horses, sharing the world". The Western Jin Dynasty clan headed by Sima Rui did not have the ability to build the country alone; the reason why the northern and southern clans headed by Wang Dao and Gu Rong supported Sima Rui was that they valued his status as a clan of the Jin Dynasty, and second, their own prestige was not high, and it was difficult to achieve the effect of ascending to the top and calling for the four seas to be annexed, so they had no choice but to support the Jin Yuan Emperor, taking "Zhongxing" as the call, rallying the officials and people of Jiangnan, and making concerted efforts to compete with the Xiongnu, Xiongnu, And other foreign tribes in the north. In this sense, the "Zhongxing" of the Jinyuan Emperor was the "Zhongxing" with incomplete imperial power, and Wang Dao, Gu Rong and other northern and southern clans paid more attention to the preservation and maximization of their own family rights and interests in the Jiangnan region, rather than trying to be bold, exerting efforts, expelling the Tartars, and restoring the rivers and mountains of the Jin Dynasty.
Knowing this, it is not difficult to understand why, after the founding of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, various power struggles within the imperial family, between the royal family and the clan, between the clan and the clan, and between the clan and the displaced people were staged in turn or staggered; why the ancestors who were determined to carry out the Northern Expedition and regain the lost land were restrained everywhere, so that they ended up depressed and the Northern Expedition was destroyed; why the "Northern Expedition" launched by Yu Liang and Huan Wen often became formalities and ended in failure.
Therefore, the four Diao Xie people, who came from a humble background, had no door to rely on, and could only rely on their own ability and loyalty to the emperor to gradually rise to high positions. In this sense, they and the imperial power formed a community of interests that prospered and lost. Therefore, the four talents will do their best to assist the Jin Yuan Emperor and spare no effort to implement measures to strengthen the imperial power and inhibit the clan. However, these measures broke the delicate balance of power between the imperial power and the clan, and the clan was jealous of the clan that suffered a huge loss of rights and interests, which eventually led to the Wang Dun Rebellion.
It is not difficult to speculate that in the minds of Yin Rong, who was a comrade with Diao Xie and the other four people or comrades, Diao Xie, Liu Kui, Zhou Yan, and Dai Yuan could be called ministers of the society, and the emperor's zuo was by no means comparable to Wang Dao, Wang Dun, and others who only cared about the selfish interests of the family, and even started military offenses. Therefore, he vigorously opposed the opinions of the people, strongly advocated the rehabilitation of Diao Xie, and praised the four people as "Zhongxing Zhizuo", and mercilessly excluded Wang Dao and others from the country, although they were famous and important subjects, but in fact the thieves of the country were excluded. Although the JinCheng Emperor and Yu Bing were well aware of this, the times changed and the characters were metabolized; the Wang family had been replaced by the Yu family; the stakeholders were either dead or hidden; the political pattern of the royal family and the clans containing each other and relying on each other was difficult to reverse; therefore, the reputation of the Jincheng Emperor and the clan for the "Zhongxing Sizuo" tacitly acquiesced.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" >3, "ZTE Sizuo" Why is the reputation of the future generations not obvious? </h1>
Why is it that whether it is the middle and late Period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, or later generations, the deeds of "Zhongxing Sizuo" have not been widely circulated and are well known? Wen Shijun speculated that there are three reasons for this:
First, as mentioned earlier, in the middle of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, due to the delicate balance between the royal family and the clan gradually achieving the distribution and sharing of power, the door valve political system was gradually stabilized and consolidated. Both the royal family and the clan are secretive about the past when the JinCheng Emperor wanted to have exclusive imperial power, which in turn intensified the power struggle between the royal family and the clan. Although the clans, out of consideration for the interests of their own portals, united with the imperial family to thwart the second rebellion launched by Wang Dun to make the Wang clan dominant, they also had to approve of the royal family's rehabilitation and posthumous gifts to Zhou Yan, Dai Yuan, and Diao Xie against their will. Although this is the bottom line of the clan compromise, this does not show that they are not angry about the actions of the four people of diao xie. Therefore, they will never tolerate the imperial family's wanton praise of Diao Xie and others, and they will never allow the deeds of Diao Xie and others to be praised in the government and the public, and they will not allow the courtiers of diao Xie to appear again in the imperial court. Over time, Diao Xie and others were gradually forgotten by the people of the times and posterity.
Second, most people at the time regarded the four as the perpetrators of the rebellion that detonated Wang Dun. Emperor Jin Cheng pointed out in the "Posthumous Gift of Diao Xieben Official's Edict": "The cooperation is in loyalty to the Lord, and the way of the subject is lost, so Wang Dun is entrusted with the name of justice, and the real is unscrupulous, so that the sheji is humiliated, the Yuan Emperor is ashamed, and the source of the disaster is not for it!" "In the view of Emperor Cheng of Jin, Diao and Liu gave people a handle, causing Wang Dun to rise up and commit crimes, resulting in a dilemma of national danger, humiliation, and death, which can be described as unwise; fleeing to the enemy country, stealing life, and stealing life is even more unforgivable and praiseworthy.
Third, although the four people of diao xie are shrewd and strong and loyal to the royal family, they inevitably have defects and flaws in their character. Diao Xie, who was praised by the Jin Yuan Emperor as "resisting the ambition of being bright and talented", Zhou Yan, who was known as the "crown cover of Zaifu", Dai Yuan, who was praised by Lu Ji as "the relic of the southeast and the qipu of the Zai Dynasty", or the strong and clever, not accustomed to it, or did not get rid of the old habits of Wei and Jin celebrities, and drank heavily. These defects or flaws in character undoubtedly put them in great contrast with the exemplary figures respected by Confucian scholars and doctors, and they are far from the clean officials and officials that the people talk about.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > Wen Shijun said</h1>
At the beginning of the founding of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the political pattern of door valves was initially formed. Unwilling to let the imperial power fall by the wayside, the Jinyuan Emperor Credit Diao Xie, Liu Kui, Zhou Yan, and Dai Yuan, who ruled with the clan, vigorously promoted measures to strengthen the imperial power and suppress the clan; Diao Xie, Liu Kui, Zhou Yan, and Dai Yuan, who were born in the declining or Hansu class, either because they had no door to rely on, or based on the ethical belief of loyalty to the king, also regarded the imperial power as the basis of their own advancement, and they were involved in the whirlpool of the struggle between the imperial power and the clan power without hesitation, and thus incurred the disaster of killing themselves. With the consolidation of the political system of the door valve, their deeds have gradually been consciously or unconsciously diluted and forgotten by the people of the time or posterity.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="34" > references</h1>
(Tang) Fang Xuanling: Book of Jin, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1974.
Tian Yuqing: The Politics of Gate Valves in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Peking University Press, 2005.
Wang Zhongji: History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2016.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Gaosheng)
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