(Jincheng Emperor Sima Yan image)
In the eighth year of Xiankang, in 342 AD, the third emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yanlong, the emperor of Jincheng, rode to the guests, went on a big journey, and died.
Throughout his life, the emperor lived under the lascivious power of foreign politics, depressed, and never really grasped the power that belonged to the emperor.
For the emperor, this was undoubtedly a very pitiful life.
An emperor can undertake the great cause of reviving the dynasty, and he can also bear the fate of the destruction of the country and the death of the family, but he can never accept the day when power is stripped away by others.
An emperor is power.
If power is lost, then the emperor is no longer an emperor, but a puppet.
But there was no way, Sima Yan's fate seemed to be doomed from the moment he ascended the throne.
When he ascended the throne at the age of five, he was destined to let others help take care of the government.
This person was the emperor's mother, Empress Yu.
As empress dowager, her identities are diverse.
When she stepped into the imperial palace and became the woman of the emperor (the former emperor), she was the symbol of the times of the mother's world and the favor of the six palaces.
The emperor loved her, cared for her, trusted her, and she was the only emotional sustenance of the emperor as a lonely man.
But she could not give herself wholeheartedly to the emperor, or to the Eastern Jin dynasty.
She has the blood from her mother's family, and many of her choices determine the honor and disgrace of the entire Yu family.
And the sudden death of the former emperor made her step up to the position of the peak of power in an instant.
Sima Yan was his biological son, so she had the power to rule the court and listen to the government.
But I think, as empress, on the surface she is the executor of the temporary emperor's will, but in fact she is more like a mascot used to stabilize the dynasty.
Empress Yu was the lord of the middle palace and a female stream, and it was difficult for her to enter and exit the court freely and openly, so the responsibility she could bear was more likely to be responsible for educating the little emperor.
(Empress Yu image)
Standardize the etiquette of the emperor's palace and urge the emperor to learn the norms of being an emperor.
In the eyes of most people, the emperor was an extremely easy and simple job.
As the master of the world, he has always been regarded as an absolutely free figure by the people of Li.
We often hear statements like this:
If I were the Emperor, how would I...
If I were an emperor, I would do whatever I wanted...
This is indeed a true portrayal of some emperors, at least a true portrayal of those emperors from ancient times to the present.
As a dimwitted monarch, many of the emperor's ideas will eventually become a purpose, that is, to enjoy pleasure.
Since we want to enjoy ourselves, we must expropriate and wantonly want to be poor.
Of course, this is not the case for all dark lords.
Good emperors probably have similar qualities, but the characteristics of faint emperors are very different.
For example, some emperors love pleasure, some like women, some like to kill, and some are not bloody or perverted hobbies in personality, but they will be too addicted to some personal hobbies, such as the Song Dynasty Huizong loves to engage in literature and art, and the Ming Dynasty Emperor of the Apocalypse likes to do some carpentry work.
Emperor Huizong of Song (left) Emperor Wuzong of Ming (right)
These hobbies would have been beyond reproach, but if they were overly indulged and done all day, they would affect the emperor's original work.
Yes, this is the most essential difference between the Dark Lord and the Ming King.
Faint monarchs often think that the emperor is a privilege, as long as you have this privilege, you can enjoy the supreme pleasure, take a step back, even if you do not want to enjoy, become the emperor, at least the world's largest, can always do what you like.
In fact, the emperor was indeed roughly the same as they thought, but not exactly the same.
Because being emperor is both a privilege and a responsibility.
With that said, some readers may not fully understand, so I can take a simpler analogy:
The emperor and all professions under the whole world are the same, it is a job.
Since it is a job, if you don't do it well, you are likely to mess up the work.
A person who has been fishing at work for a long time will inevitably be eaten by the entire company (dynasty).
Pleasure and pain always complement each other.
If being a fainting person can make the emperor himself feel happy, then it will inevitably make the emperor feel miserable in the next few days.
If it makes you happy, it must make you miserable.
Because when the emperor is happy, the pain is already brewing.
More importantly, if you want to be a Ming Emperor, then the emperor's life will certainly not be very happy.
We all say that in the era of feudal imperialism, the emperor was the master of the world.
Since the emperor is the master, then he naturally has to be the master of the world.
(Jin Dynasty)
In general, the Western Jin Dynasty was still a unified regime, but the Eastern Jin Dynasty could only be regarded as a small dynasty in a quiet corner.
But even so, it is not too much to describe the entire empire in terms of a vast territory and a thousand miles of fertile land.
There were thousands of prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of the dynasty, and the number of officials who took office in other places and all over Gyeonggi combined was more than 10,000.
It was an extremely large and complex dynasty.
At sunrise, from the beginning of the early dynasty, the folds were one after another, one important thing after another, and the piles and piles, no matter how big or small, had to be personally solved by the emperor himself.
This is the most basic work indicator of a good emperor.
The so-called centralized power, of course, means that power is concentrated in the hands of the emperor alone.
And the emperor who stayed in Jiankang City (the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty) all day had a hard time understanding what was happening in every piece of land he owned.
Then these folds, which were summarized from all over the country, were looked at by the emperor one by one, and became the best embodiment of the emperor's centralized power.
Day after day of labor, approving recitals, handling political affairs, receiving ministers, in a way, bound the emperor's life.
Although, for most of the folds, the emperor is a glance at ten lines, but just a stroke of the imperial pen on the fold, hastily write the three words "know" is perfunctory.
Now, do you still feel that the emperor is free?
If you still feel that the emperor still has relative freedom, although he does not have absolute freedom, then you may wish to read on.
Yes, there is nothing wrong with this idea, the golden silk birds that are kept in cages, although they cannot fly, still have the right to flap their wings.
But the emperor hardly had even this right.
(Emperor)
The daily travel and curfew system of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was an extremely relaxed type in the dynasties.
At the beginning of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, Gaozu Liu Bang did not allow more than three people to gather to drink.
Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered the people of the whole country to ban eating pork.
But in this dynasty, the people's lives were still quite comfortable and comfortable.
The people could go shirtless in the wineries with peanuts and rice and bacon, drinking in groups of three or five and punching.
Jiankang City is the royal capital, the social security is excellent, the road is not left behind, the night is not closed, people often sing and dance, all night.
But the emperor could not enjoy all this.
Food, clothing, shelter, and everything is restricted.
What the emperor wears is not up to him.
There are clothes for the upper dynasty, clothes for the feast, clothes for sacrifices, and of course, you can't sleep naked, and there are also special pajamas.
Those royal dresses specially customized for the emperor are stuffy, heavy and heavy, which is a manifestation of the identity of the emperor, but over time, it has become an invisible shackle.
(Various costumes of the emperor)
It made the emperor feel breathless all the time.
And what the emperor eats, where the emperor lives, where the emperor rests, in the etiquette norms set by the ancestors, there are more clear regulations.
The empress dowager and empress dowager in the middle palace, as well as the imperial history and officials who are specially responsible for picketing the heavenly son, will remind the emperor all the time what you should eat, where you should live, and which concubine you should spend the night with.
And their very "considerate" and "meticulous" concern and reminder were essentially telling the emperor:
You are the emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and you do not represent yourself.
Therefore, for the prestige and system of a generation of emperors, the emperor can only live step by step.
Yes, no one looks at the ordinary man, and the world of the ordinary man is only himself.
However, the emperor's life was a lifetime of constant attention by all the people of the world, the courtiers and the public.
Even if the emperor was a social terrorist, he had to accept this kind of gaze as if he were desperate.
Because the emperor is a ming emperor.
Ming Jun, it seems, must live his life like this.
Now, back to the question at the beginning: Do you still think the emperor is free?
Towards the end of the article, readers may find a problem.
The protagonist of this article is Sima Pi, the Emperor of the Jin Dynasty, but I do not seem to mention a word about the story of this emperor.
(Image of Sima Pi, Emperor of the Jin Dynasty)
There is indeed a reason for this, not that I have not mentioned anything, but the life of this emperor is too simple to be summarized in one paragraph.
This was a faint emperor who had been doing nothing all his life, liked Taoist techniques, loved to engage in alchemy and practice, and as a result, he quickly ate his body into problems, fell ill, and died.
In fact, it was not the emperor sima pi's deeds that were short and fierce, ordinary, and the emperors of the Eastern Jin Dynasty before him were almost ordinary.
Emperor Jinyuan humbly gave in, and was bullied by his courtiers to the doorstep and did not dare to fight back.
Although the Jin Ming Emperor was young and promising, his life expectancy was too short, he had the intention to kill thieves, and he was unable to return to heaven.
Emperor Jincheng ascended the throne at a young age and lived in the shadow of foreign forces all his life.
Although the Title of Emperor Kang of Jin was "Kang", he was obviously not a healthy emperor, and he received a bento after three years on the throne, not to mention any achievements.
Emperor Mu of Jin, too, was living in the complex power struggle of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, unable to show the ambitions of the emperor, depressed, and ended without illness.
Perhaps, this is the ultimate fate of the emperors of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
We always explain the King, the Ming King.
Ke Mingjun is not an instant noodle in a convenience store, and it will be neatly arranged on the shelves.
Ming Jun is actually very rare, like a sudden twinkling star in the endless starry sky, which cannot be sought.
(The Crumbling Eastern Jin Dynasty)
In this way, throughout the dynasties, the fate of the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties seems to be a little worse.
Even if there is a true Ming King, the country will not decay so badly.
Before the Emperor of Sorrow, the emperors were not very good, and after the Emperor of Sorrow, the emperors were only worse.
It seems that the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the last years, is coming.