Text/Lin Yan
Sima Rui, the founding emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, saw that there were not many concubines recorded, only five, and gave birth to six sons and a daughter.
In his later years, Sima Rui was subject to the powerful minister and the general Wang Dun, named Tianzi, but his orders could not go out of the palace.
Sima Rui, the Emperor of Jin Yuan, became angry and angry, and died of depression on the tenth day of the first month of November in the first year of Yongchang (323 AD), at the age of forty-seven, and passed on the throne to his eldest son Sima Shao, known as Emperor Ming of Jin.
Sima Shao, Emperor Sima Shao of the Jin Dynasty, born in the ninth year of the Western Jin Dynasty (299), was born in Wen County, Hanoi County, born in the State of Langya (now part of Linyi City, Shandong Province), the eldest son of Emperor Yuan of Jin, the half-brother of Sima Yu, Emperor Wen of Jin, and his mother was the Xun clan of the Gongren Clan.
When Sima Shao was young, he showed a distinctive wisdom, and one day, Sima Shao sat on his father's knee, and at this time an emissary from Chang'an arrived. His father, Sima Rui, asked Sima Shao, "Can you tell me which of the sun and Chang'an City is far from the capital?" ”
Sima Shao said without hesitation: "Of course, the sun is far away, Chang'an City is near, I have heard of people coming from Chang'an, I have not heard anyone say that people come from the side of the sun, so we can see that Chang'an is close to the capital." Emperor Jin Yuan was amazed.
The next day, Emperor Yuan of Jin feasted on his courtiers, so he asked Sima Shao the same question, which of the sun and Chang'an City was far from the capital? This time, Sima Shao said the opposite answer: "The sun is close to the capital." ”
Emperor Yuan of Jin was puzzled, so he asked, "Why did you say chang'an City yesterday?" ”
Little Sima Shao smiled slyly: "We can all see the sun, but no one in the capital can see Chang'an!" ”
The Jinyuan Emperor was overjoyed and decided that the son was a child prodigy.
Sima Shao had a very Confucian temperament, filial piety to his elders, and liked to make friends with scholars, but he also had no lack of military talent, a quick temperament, good at decision-making, and attached great importance to the ministers at that time, such as Wang Dao, Yu Liang, Wen Zhao, and Huan Yi.
Sima Shao often debated Confucian theories with his ministers, had his own unique views, and never easily succumbed to the views of others.
Sima Shao also liked to ride horses and shoot arrows, and was good at appeasing the generals in the army, and the talents of jiangdong at that time were all vying for attachment.
When the Wang Dun Rebellion broke out, the Sixth Army of the Royal Family in the capital was quickly defeated and scattered, and Sima Shao, who was then the crown prince, led the garrison of the capital to fight the rebels to the death, and the crown prince Wen Zhao strongly discouraged it, and cut the rope of the horse with a sword, and the group stopped.
Wang Dun became more and more powerful, and then manipulated the imperial court, he always believed that Sima Shao was fierce and strategic, and was admired and trusted by both the government and the public, so he wanted to depose him as crown prince on the charge of filial piety.
Wang Dun
At a court meeting, Wang Dun asked Wen Zhao in a loud voice, "What merit does the crown prince have?" What is commendable to the government and the public? ”
The implication is to threaten Wen Zhao to propose the idea of deposing the crown prince.
Wen Yu replied slowly, "The prince's quest for an unfathomable way to govern the world will enable the country to be in long-term peace and stability, which is not something that short-sighted people can realize." From the point of view of etiquette, this is called filial piety! ”
The ministers supported Wen Yu one after another, believing that his statement was in line with the facts, so no one supported Wang Dun, and Wang Dun's plot to depose the crown prince and plot to usurp the throne could not succeed for a while.
In the first month of the first year of Yongchang after the death of The Jin Yuan Emperor Sima Rui, Sima Shao formally succeeded to the throne, during which time, relying on the weak power of the royal family, he finally overthrew the power of the courtiers, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty experienced a brief stability.
In the summer and June of the first year of Taining (323), Wang Dun was preparing to send an army to attack the capital, and Sima Shao, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, secretly learned of the news and traveled on horseback.
Sima Shao found that Wang Dun's men were stationed by the lake, so he rode around on horseback.
Sima Shao's birth mother, Xun Shi, was a descendant of the Xianbei people captured by the Jin Dynasty, so Sima Shao had obvious Xianbei characteristics, with white skin, yellow whiskers, sunken eye sockets, and a large nose.
The sentries of Wang Dun's garrison saw Sima Shao and thought this man was very strange, so he said, "Is this a strange person?" ”
Wang Dun was daydreaming at this time, dreaming that the sun was surrounding the barracks, so he was awakened and said, "It must be that yellow-bearded xianbei slave coming!" ”
So he ordered five cavalrymen to pursue and kill. Sima Shao, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, was about to set up his horse to leave, when the horse panicked and pulled a piece of horse dung and eggs from the ground.
Looking at the horse manure that was steaming, Sima Shao took a quick turn and took cold water to pour on the horse manure, so that the horse manure quickly cooled.
On the way, Sima Shao also met an old woman from a roadside snack shop, so he gave her his seven-treasure horse whip and said, "After a while, the pursuing soldiers arrived, please ask the old man to give this whip to them." ”
After a while, the cavalry did catch up, the old woman was handed the whip to the cavalry, the cavalry passed each other, played for a long time, do not know what treasure, when they found that the horse dung on the ground is cold, think that Sima Shao ran away early, so they retreated, Sima Shao thus evaded the pursuit.
In the second year of Taining (324), Sima Shao took advantage of Wang Dun's serious illness to decisively quell Wang Dun's rebellion, and in order to stabilize the situation, he did not hold Wang Dun's cronies accountable.
Continue to reuse the guidance of the King of Xiang and maintain a close and harmonious relationship with the Jiangdong family.
Unfortunately, when Sima Shao was about to show his talents and plan to do something, a superstar suddenly fell.
In the third year of Taining (325), Sima Shao fell ill and died at the age of twenty-seven, with the imperial court title "Ming" and the temple name "Suzong", buried in Wupingling, and the crown prince Sima Yan succeeded to the throne as Emperor Cheng of Jin.