In July of the first year of Ningkang (373), the minister Huan Wen was seriously ill and could not complete his ambition to usurp the throne until his death.
In order to avoid being liquidated and to preserve the Huan family, he deposed his adult son Huan Xi, ordered his five-year-old son Huan Xuan to inherit his title, and then divided the power into two, handing over the eight states in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River under his control to his younger brother Huan Chong, and returning the rest to the imperial court.
Liu Yu pacified Huan Xuan
After doing all this, he knew that the imperial court and the families behind it would definitely let the Huan family go, after all, there was still a tacit understanding between the families.
That is, political frustration will not pursue the entire family, after all, no one dares to guarantee that their family can prosper for a hundred years.
In the same month, Huan Wen died, and Huan Xuan inherited the title of Duke of Nanjun.
But because his father had a black history of usurping the throne in his later years, the Eastern Jin Dynasty court has always been wary of the Huan family, and in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, where the children of the scholar clan were generally twenty years old, Huan Xuan was not awarded the official position of the prince washing horses until he was twenty-three years old.
A few years later, Huan Xuancai was promoted to Yixing Taishou.
The unwillingness in his career has always made Huan Xuan depressed, after all, his father was so powerful back then, but when it was his turn, he could only serve as a mere guard, what did it mean?
Not long after, Huan Xuan abandoned his official position and returned to the fiefdom, and when he passed through Jiankang, he visited Sima Daozi.
Sima Daozi is a member of the Eastern Jin Dynasty royal family and the prime minister of the dynasty, if he can get his support, his career may be much smoother.
The territory of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
But it's one thing to think about it, it's another thing to do it, and once Sima Daozi asked him such an embarrassing question with the strength of wine: "Your father Huan Wen wanted to usurp the throne back then, what do you think about this matter?"
For Huan Xuan, this is a very sensitive and dangerous topic, and no matter how you answer it, it is wrong.
If the father is wrong, that is, the father is really a rebellious minister and thief, then as a son, he naturally belongs to the same party, then he declares his political death.
If the father is right, then does Huan Xuan also inherit the will of Huan Wen's usurpation?
It can be said that this is a topic related to life and the future, and Huan Xuan naturally didn't dare to answer, so he could only kneel down in fright.
If it weren't for the palace governor Shi Xie to see Huan Xuan's embarrassment and relieve him, I'm afraid Huan Xuan would not end well, and because of this, Huan Xuan hated Sima Daozi very much.
And through this incident, Huan Xuan also knew that it had turned out that in the past twenty years, the Huan family was still suspicious of the imperial court, and no matter what he did, the imperial court would suppress himself.
Instead of being suppressed step by step, it is better to learn from his father back then, and to go further than his father, it can be said that from this time on, Huan Xuan germinated the heart of changing the dynasty.
Jingzhou during the Eastern Jin Dynasty
Huan Xuan's Nanjun fief is in Jiangling, and Jiangling is the seat of Jingzhou Thorn History, at this time Jiangling Thorn History is Wang Chen, Wang Chen is the son of Wang Tanzhi of Taiyuan Wang.
At the beginning, Wang Tanzhi and Xie An cooperated and jointly blocked Huan Wen's plan to become emperor, so the Wang family and the Huan family actually did not deal with each other.
So in Jingzhou, Wang Chen fought against Huan Xuan everywhere, so that Huan Xuan couldn't raise his head.
But there is no way, who makes the Huan family weak? can only hold on, hibernate and wait for the opportunity to take off.
In October of the seventeenth year of Taiyuan (392), Wang Chen died of illness, and for the new candidate for the Jingzhou Assassin History, Emperor Xiaowu of Jin planned to appoint his brother-in-law Wang Gong to take over, Wang Gong was also Wang Chen's clan, but Huan Xuan did not want to have the Wang family to suppress him.
So he sent someone into Beijing to bribe the nun Zhi Miaoyin, who was favored by Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin Dynasty, and finally replaced him with Yin Zhongkan, a relatively weak Huangmen squire, and with the help of Zhi Miaoyin, Yin Zhongkan successfully served as the assassin of Jingzhou.
On the one hand, Yin Zhongkan needed to use the prestige of the Huan family to govern Jingzhou, and Huan Xuan needed to use Yin Zhongkan's troops to help him, and the two sides hit it off and became inseparable "friends".
At the same time, Huan Xuan also watched the situation in the imperial court, waiting for the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, after all, Sima Daozi's dictatorship had already caused dissatisfaction among the gate lord clan.
The family gate lords can take turns to govern, but the Sima royal family cannot hold the imperial power
The Eastern Jin Dynasty was essentially the product of the compromise between the small sect of the Sima family and the northern clan of the south, in order to maintain the consistent interests of the clan gate lords, the clan gate lords could take turns to govern, but the Sima royal family could not hold the imperial power.
However, after the Battle of Weishui, the political balance was broken, and the clan Sima Daozi and his son were able to take power, but Sima Daozi and his son were both authoritarian and mediocre, and they continued to centrifuge up and down, especially when the power of the gate lord clan was still strong, intending to weaken the strength of the towns.
In the first year of Long'an (397), Qing and Yan assassinated Shi Wang Gong and planned to raise troops, which was a small admonition, and Huan Xuan, who saw the right time, encouraged Yin Zhongkan to send troops together.
Huan Xuan had agitated once before, but Yin Zhongkan was afraid of being weak and did not dare to act rashly.
Now that Wang Gong has raised the banner and even contacted himself, what are you waiting for?
Seeing that the towns were about to move, in order to calm the anger of the public, Sima Daozi cut down the two backers of Shang Shufu and Wang Xu, the general of Jianwei, and finally calmed Wang Gong's anger, and as for Huan Xuan, he therefore entered the list of Sima Daozi's concerned figures.
And Huan Xuan also seized the opportunity and wrote a letter to ask for the governor of Guangzhou, but Sima Daozi didn't want him to continue to collude with Yin Zhongkan, so he asked him to supervise Guangzhou and Erzhou.
But Huan Xuan just wanted a position, and he didn't plan to take office at all, so he put Sima Daozi together.
Since Wang Gong planned to send troops, Sima Daozi saw that Wang Gong and Yin Zhongkan's power had become too big to lose, so at Sima Shangzhi's suggestion, he planned to win over and develop some allies in case the two of them raised troops again.
But I didn't expect to cause the dissatisfaction of Yuzhou Assassin Shi Yukai, after all, Sima Daozi actually stretched out his hand to the Yu family, and the Yu family was also a shaft gate valve back then, and he couldn't tolerate the power of the Sima royal family, so he began to encourage Wang Gong to send troops.
And Wang Gong brought Yin Zhongkan to plan to send troops again, Yin Zhongkan was full of confidence, thinking that this time it was inevitable, and gave Huan Xuan 5,000 soldiers and horses to send troops together with Yang Yanqi, the prime minister of Nanjun.
The Beifu soldiers once shined in the Battle of Weishui
As a result, Liu Gaozhi's Beifu soldiers suddenly rebelled, Wang Gong's troops were defeated and killed, and Huan Xuan and others could only retreat to Caizhou to continue to confront the imperial court.
In order to divide and disintegrate Yin Zhongkan and others, Sima Daozi demoted Yin Zhongkan as the Assassin of Guangzhou, Feng Huanxuan as the Assassin of Jiangzhou, and Feng Yang Yan as the Assassin of Liangzhou in the name of the imperial court.
Such an operation made the three of them sit on an equal footing, Huan Xuan and Yang Yan were satisfied, and Yin Zhongkan was angry alone, so far Jingzhou is a three-legged trend.
To be honest, at this time, the strongest power is still Yin Zhongkan, and in order to prevent the other family from dominating, he played a check and balance.
Yang Xuan wanted to fight Huan Xuan, he didn't allow it, Huan Xuan wanted to fight Yang Xuan, he didn't allow it, but Huan Xuan refused to give up, taking advantage of Yin Zhongkan to open a warehouse to help the victims when he sent troops to attack Baling, and stopped Liangzhou Assassin Shi Guo Quan, falsely claiming to have received a secret edict from the imperial court to crusade against Yang Yan, and then planned to let his brother Huan Wei be the internal response, and the inside should be the external one.
But Huan Wei is a more fearful person, and he directly sold Huan Xuan, Yin Zhongkan took Huan Wei as a hostage and persuaded Huan Xuan to stop.
But Huan Xuan refused to let go of this opportunity, thinking that Yin Zhongkan was an indecisive person and would definitely not hurt his brother, so he still sent troops.
In Baling, Huan Xuan first defeated the army sent by Yin Zhongkan, and then marched to Jiangling.
In the last years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, wars were frequent
Soon Yin Zhongkan and Yang Yanqi joined forces to attack, Huan Xuan first retreated to show weakness, Yin Yang and the two pursued after them, but in the end they were defeated by Huan Xuan, so far Huan Xuan completely mastered Jingzhou.
In the fourth year of Long'an (400 years), seeing that Huan Xuan completely mastered Jingzhou, the imperial court had no choice but to allow it to add the capital to supervise Jiangzhou and Yangzhou Yuzhou, a total of eight counties, and lead the history of Jiangzhou.
Huan Xuan, who was jealous of the imperial court and suppressed without real power, obtained such a status in just three years, and it can be said that his ability is quite strong.
Why did the imperial court agree so simply? If you don't agree, you can't do it, because Sun En's uprising is about to overthrow the imperial court.
Of course, this pot is still owned by Sima Daozi's son Sima Yuanxian.
Let's talk about Sima Daozi first and son, Emperor Jin An was originally a young and unbeneficial, unspeakable and dull emperor, and the power of the court and government was held by Sima Daozi, but he didn't expect to be stolen by his son.
As the son of Sima Daozi, Sima Yuanxian inherited his father's insidious and cunning nature, and when his father was drunk, he issued an edict in the name of the stupid emperor to remove his father from his position, and then replaced him by himself.
When Sima Daozi woke up, he found that the power he had finally grasped was actually robbed by his son, although he was furious, but he was helpless.
As for Sima Yuanxian, in fact, with this ability, it is true that he is insidious and cunning, but he is ambitious and talented, and he completely buried the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
In the third year of Long'an (399), Sima Yuanxian ordered that the slave-free people of the eight counties of Jiangdong be sent to Jiangbei to join the army, which triggered a large-scale uprising.
According to the regulations at that time, once they joined the army, they could not leave the army, their families had to return to the army, and the whole family had to move from the original land to the place where they were soldiers.
This means that most families will lose their property to garrison the front line, and as for their land, it will be occupied by the magnates, which is equivalent to cutting off the people's livelihood.
As a result, the uprising in the eight counties broke out, and the most appealing of them was Sun En's rebel army.
Sun En's Rebellion
Sun En is the Langya Sun family, and his uncle Sun Tai is the leader of the "Five Buckets of Rice Sect", as early as the good time when Wang Gong raised troops for the second time, Sun Tai was ready to start an incident, but because of the leak and was killed, Sun En fled with the remnants of his troops to the Zhoushan Islands to hibernate.
With the outbreak of the uprising in the eight counties, Sun En saw the opportunity to raise the banner.
In November of the third year of Long'an (399), Sun En successfully landed in Shangyu, and attacked Huiji after killing the Shangyu County Order, Huiji Taishou was Wang Xizhi's son Wang Ningzhi, who was superstitious about ghosts and gods, and was finally killed by Sun En.
For a time, Sun En's prestige increased greatly, and the volunteers from all over the country responded to Sun En, and his power grew rapidly, preparing to attack Jingkou, directly threatening the capital Jiankang, and the imperial court hurriedly sent Xie Yan and Liu Gaozhi to suppress it.
After Huan Xuan learned about it, he claimed to want King Qin, but in fact he just wanted to fish in troubled waters.
After Sun En was defeated by Liu Yu, Sima Yuanxian immediately asked Huan Xuan to go back, but how could he spit out the meat that had eaten his mouth?
Of course, Sima Yuanxian's main purpose is also to grasp more power, and if he takes down Huan Xuan, who is currently the largest in the territory, it will be enough to help him ascend to the throne of his dreams.
In the first year of Yuanxing (402), Sima Yuanxian took Liu Gaozhi as the vanguard and ordered a crusade against Huan Xuan.
Liu Gaozhi
At first, Huan Xuan was still very surprised, after all, Sun En's rebellion had just been pacified, and Sima Yuanxian was going to send troops again, so it was obviously not the right time.
But his cousin, Taifu Changshi Huan Shisheng, told him that this was true, and immediately put Huan Xuan on guard.
It is said that Sima Yuanxian is about to send troops, and he does not avoid the people of the Huan family, which is really a little conceited.
At this time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty belonged to a three-legged situation, the fifteen states south of Jiankang were controlled by Huan Xuan, Liu Gaozhi controlled seven states and the Beifu soldiers, and the imperial court could only control the Taihu Lake and Qiantang River basins.
Therefore, Liu Gaozhi is worried that after Huan Xuan is eliminated, the next one will be his turn, in addition, he wants to make a profit, sit and watch Sima Yuanxian and Huan Xuan fight, and then kill the one who wins, and he can legitimately become bigger.
Therefore, Liu Gaozhi's journey dragged on, and before he arrived in Jingzhou, Sima Yuanxian, who Huan Xuan had already killed down the river, was caught off guard.
In order to win over Liu Gaozhi, Huan Xuan sent Liu Gaozhi's cousin He Mu as a lobbyist.
In the face of Huan Xuan's wooing, Liu Gaozhi's son Liu Jingxuan, nephew He Wuji, and general Liu Yu persuaded him to immediately fight Huan Xuan, but Liu Gaozhi did not listen, surrendered without a fight, Jiankang was lost, and Sima Yuanxian and his family were executed.
So far, the political power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty has been controlled by Huan Xuan, and on the third day of Jiankang, Liu Gaozhi's military power was cut.
Liu Gaozhi wanted to raise troops, but he hesitated, lost people's hearts, and hanged himself in frustration.
So far, Huan Xuan has successfully achieved his father's position back then, and he also wants to complete what his father did not do back then-usurpation.
In the first month of the second year of Yuanxing (403), Huan Xuan appointed himself as a general, and was named the king of Chu in September, adding nine tins, and then engaged in various auspicious rui to prepare for the usurpation.
In December of the same year, Huan Xuan ascended the throne in Guyi, established the country as "Chu", respected his father Huan Wen as the ancestor, and established the Huan Chu Dynasty.
桓楚疆
But Huan Xuan was driven down after less than half a year as the emperor, and died in Jiangling while fleeing, and the rise of Huan Xuan was Liu Yu, the Song Wu Emperor who founded the Southern Dynasty.
From the first year of Yuanxing (402) when Huan Xuan killed Sima Yuanxian to the usurper of the throne and became the emperor, and then to the first year of Yongshi (404) when he was killed and killed, the Huan Xuan Rebellion lasted only two years, but it profoundly affected the historical trend of later generations, that is, the rise of the Han people represented by Liu Yu.
As mentioned earlier, the gate valve politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was essentially a temporary product of the alliance between the fragile imperial power and the overseas Chinese clans, and the gate lords of the Shi clan themselves could not allow one family to dominate in order to maintain the status of each family, let alone allow the Sima royal family to reinvigorate the imperial power.
But why could the gate lord clan tolerate the buffer and destroy Yin Zhongkan and Yang Ji to occupy Jingzhou, and then occupy the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River? and even kill Sima Yuanxian? It was because Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin Dynasty and Sima Daozi's father and son began to deprive the gate lord clan of their great power, intending to restore the imperial power.
These actions not only seriously violated the political interests of the gatekeepers, but even further threatened the core land interests of the gatekeepers.
It can be said that the acquiescence of the gate lord clan to Huan Xuan's ascension is not to recognize how high Huan Xuan's prestige is, after all, it is much higher than Huan Xuan's prestige, but a counterattack to the Eastern Jin Dynasty's royal family's attempt to revive the imperial power.
The gate valves hope that Huan Xuan can continue to maintain the door valve politics and the economic interests behind it after he takes the throne, and they hope to become people like Wang Dao and Xie An.
As for Liu Gaozhi, the same is true for Huan Xuan, Huan Xuan was able to make Liu Gaozhi lead the Beifu soldiers to surrender, and use this to completely control the situation, not because of how strong the relationship between Huan Xuan and the Beifu soldiers is, but simply because Liu Gaozhi was dissatisfied and jealous of Sima Yuanxian.
Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty Liu Yu
But with Huan Xuan's usurpation, the gate valve and the Beifu generals represented by Liu Gaozhi were disappointed in Huan Xuan.
After all, Huan Xuan's usurpation has infringed on the interests of various clans, and as a founding king, Huan Xuan does not have the bearing of a founding monarch at all.
So far, the Eastern Jin Dynasty up to the gate lord family, down to the common people have deviated from Huan Xuan, and Huan Xuan has disbanded a large number of low-born Beifu soldiers, their way out is either to flee north or rebel, and the defeat of Huan Xuan, who lost the hearts of the people, is inevitable.
Accompanying the defeat of Huan Xuan was the rise of Liu Yu and the Hanmen clan represented by Liu Yi, Tan Daoji, Wang Zhenxi, and Liu Muzhi, and finally defeated the old gate valve represented by Huan Xuan, which was a historical trend, and also the historical trend of the Southern Dynasties after the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Since Liu Yu became emperor, the Han people in the Southern Dynasty continued to rise, ending the era when the gate lords were in power, and laying the political pattern of "the Han people in charge of the secrets" in the Southern Dynasty.
Since then, the call for a breakthrough in the needs of the lower classes has become higher and higher, and the emperor finally gave birth to a big killer weapon - the imperial examination in order to balance the power of the scholars.
It can be said that the Huanxuan Rebellion completely affected the political pattern of the Southern Dynasties in the future.