In 317 AD, the Western Jin Dynasty fell. Sima Rui, the king of Langya, the royal family of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, rebuilt the Jin Dynasty in Jiankang, and the history books called it the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In 420 AD, Liu Yu deposed Emperor Gong of Jin and proclaimed himself emperor, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty officially perished. From 317 to 420, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was 103 years old. However, there were 11 emperors in these 103 years. And this shows that the average reign of the emperors of the Eastern Jin Dynasty is not too long. Among them, the sixth emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty who I want to talk about today ascended the throne at the age of 21 and died of poisoning at the age of 25!
One
Specifically, Sima Pi (341 – March 30, 365), known as Qianling, was a native of Wen County, Hanoi (present-day Wen County, Henan Province). The sixth emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (reigned July 13, 361 - March 30, 365), the eldest son of Emperor Sima Yan of the Jin Dynasty, and his mother was a Zhou nobleman.
Sima Pi was born in the seventh year of Xiankang (341). In the eighth year of Xiankang (342), Sima Pi was named the evil king of Lang. In the same year, Emperor Jin Cheng died, and his eldest son Sima Pi was supposed to ascend the throne, but Yu Bing was afraid of losing power, so he supported Sima Pi's uncle Jin Kangdi to ascend the throne and change the Yuan to Jianyuan on the grounds that Sima Pi was young. In this regard, in the author's opinion, this is undoubtedly the best embodiment of the weakness of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, that is, the scholars can directly intervene in the succession to the throne.
On September 24, the second year of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty (344), Emperor Kang of Jin established his son Sima Dan as the crown prince. On September 26, Emperor Kangdi of Jin died in the Shiqian Palace at the age of 23. After the death of Emperor Kangdi of Jin, the crown prince Sima Dan succeeded to the throne as Emperor Mu of Jin. In the first year of Yonghe (345), after Emperor Mu of Jin ascended the throne, Sima Pi was worshiped as a regular attendant. In the twelfth year of Yonghe (356), he was a general of the Chinese army. In the third year of Shengping (359), he served as a hussar general.
In May of the fifth year of Shengping (361), Emperor Mu of Jin died, and the Empress Dowager Chu Lianzi ordered that Sima Pi should have ascended the throne as emperor a long time ago, he was an orthodox royal family, and now no one is more suitable to be emperor than him. Thus, Sima Pi ascended the throne. For Sima Pi, the throne could have been obtained earlier.
Two
In May 361 AD, Sima Pi ascended the throne and granted amnesty to the world, and at the same time named his younger brother Sima Yi as the king of Langya. In July, Emperor Mu of Jin was buried in Yongping Mausoleum; In September, the concubine Wang Muzhi was appointed as the queen. In November, Sima Pi issued an edict to let Emperor Mu of Jin and Emperor Kang of Jin succeed to Sima Yan of Jin Xianzong.
In the first year of Longhe (362), shortly after Sima Pi ascended the throne, he issued an edict to reduce the field tax, and only two liters per mu were collected. In August of the same year, Sima Pi ordered Yuan Zhen to transport 50,000 hu rice to Luoyang, and in the winter and October of the same year, he rewarded the poor with rice, five hu per person. From this point of view, Sima Pi was a monarch who paid attention to the people's livelihood.
On the other hand, after Sima Pi ascended the throne, the former Yan generals Lü Hu and Fu Mobo captured the small base and marched to Luoyang. In April of the first year of Longhe (362), Lü Hu invaded Luoyang again. In May, Sima Pi sent Beizhonglang generals Yu Xi and Jingling Taishou Deng Yao to lead the navy to rescue Luoyang. In this battle, the Eastern Jin army successfully forced back the Former Yan army and ensured the peace of Luoyang.
On the first day of December in the first year of Longhe (362), there was a solar eclipse, and Sima Pi issued an edict stating that he would reduce the severe and cumbersome taxes, and carefully discuss the laws and regulations, and follow all the essentials of derogation. In the first month of the first year of Xingning (363), it was changed to Xingning. In March of the same year, Sima Pi personally went to the fields to work to develop agriculture.
Three
In the end, judging from Sima Pi's performance after his accession to the throne, he was fully capable of becoming a more accomplished emperor. However, Sima Pi has always liked the art of immortality, and often breaks the grain and takes pills. After ignoring the persuasion of the minister, Sima Pi had a lot of medicine after taking the medicine and could not listen to the government, so the Empress Dowager Chongde Chu Garlic was regent. Sima Pi first appointed Huan Wen Yangzhou Assassin Shi, and then sent someone to let him enter the court as the prime minister, but Huan Wen did not agree.
For Huan Wen, his ambition gradually swelled, so he was reluctant to enter the court as an official with no real power. In July of the second year of Xingning (364), Sima Pi issued a holy decree to let Huan Wen enter the court, but in August of the same year, after Huan Wen arrived in Ochre, he built a city and lived there, that is, Huan Wen gradually did not take the Eastern Jin Emperor seriously.
On March 30, the second month of the third year of Xingning (365), Sima Pi died in Xitang at the age of twenty-five, which can be said to be an untimely death. Moreover, in the opinion of many historians, Sima Pi died of poisoning because he took a large amount of pills. After Sima Pi's death, he was called mourning, and he was buried in Anping Mausoleum with Queen Wang. It is worth noting that Emperor Sima Pi of Jin Ai had no heirs, and the Empress Dowager issued an edict to let Sima Yi, the evil king of Lang, inherit the throne.