In the history of the Three Kingdoms period, there was a large-scale political upheaval - the Wangdun Rebellion. In this incident, the clan leader of the Langya Wang clan, the powerful minister Wang Dao, and his nephew, Yuzhang Taishou Wang Dun, raised an army against the then emperor Sima Rui, and achieved short-lived success. However, after this rebellion, many people wondered: why didn't Sima Rui, as the ruler, eliminate Wang Dao and the entire Wang family?
To answer this question, we must first understand the social background and political landscape of the time.
After Sun Jian's death in 192, his son Sun Ce took over the leadership of the Jiangdong region and gradually grew in power. As Cao Cao's unification of the north accelerated, Eastern Wu also began to expand abroad. In search of a stronger ally against the Cao Wei clique, Sun Quan decided to marry his sister to Liu Bei, forming an alliance. During this period, Sima Yi, who had always been admired, was also included in the Shu Han camp, which further strengthened Jingzhou's strength.
However, after a period of cooperation, there was a rift between the two sides due to conflicts of interest and conflicting concepts. Later, Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan to attack Wei, but the result did not achieve the desired effect. Then, Guan Yu was killed by Sun Quan, which triggered a grudge entanglement that lasted for many years.
Shortly after the end of this battle, the famous "Battle of Red Cliffs" broke out in history. In this battle, each of the two countries sent elite troops to engage in a fierce battle, and the final result was that the combined army defeated the main force of Cao's army. This battle created a new situation in the world, which enabled the Western Jin Dynasty regime to develop steadily.
Since then, the contradictions surrounding the struggle for power have never stopped. Around 378 AD, the crown prince Sima Shao succeeded him as the new emperor. Because he is still relatively young, he can't handle the affairs of the court and politics well. As a result, many court ministers chose to look for powerful figures to assist. At this time, the Langya Wang clan became the most suitable candidate because of its prominent background, good reputation, and strong and loyal army.
It was precisely because of such a social background that it was difficult for Sima Rui at that time to take strong measures to deal with Wang Dun and others. In addition, we can also see some of the ideological characteristics of ancient Chinese traditional culture:
The first is the way of benevolence in Confucianism. In the ancient Chinese cultural system, rulers were expected to possess excellent qualities such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and faithfulness, and give the people a certain degree of tolerance. The absence of these elements could lead to a state of turmoil. Therefore, from this point of view, the reason why Sima Rui did not poison Wang Dao and the entire family may be because he believes that the other party is not a real villain or enemy.
The second is the philosophy of "repaying grievances with virtue". This philosophy advocates that in the process of interpersonal communication, we should focus on forgiveness and avoid excessive enmity in personal enmity. In real life, Sima Rui may believe that through his generosity, he can buy people's hearts and minds, so as to achieve the goal of stabilizing the situation.
In short, although Sima Rui failed to directly eradicate the Wang Dun family, he still reserved a certain amount of space for it. The reasons for this are not only the influence of social and historical conditions, but also the role of individual character traits. It was because he chose an attitude of compromise and tolerance that he was able to successfully defuse this crisis and maintain his dominance. At the same time, it also had a profound impact on the development of the later period of China's feudal dynasty. Of course, Sima Rui's choice cannot completely hide his shortcomings in other aspects, such as being too weak in dealing with dissidents. However, in any case, he is a very important figure in Chinese history, and it is worthy of our in-depth study and discussion.