(Jiankang Palace)
Three years of Taining, 325 AD, August 25.
The weather in Jiankang City was abnormal, and it snowed all night.
The north wind swept the white grass to the ground, and the snow flew in August.
The snow was slaughtered, and the city of Jiankang was dead silent.
In the midst of all the silence, Sima Shao, the second emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, died.
Sima Shao's death represents the end of an era.
He was a Ming Jun, a Ming Jun who was extremely rare in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and even in the Two Jin Dynasties.
When he ascended the throne at a young age, he supported the world, calculated to eliminate the powerful ministers, and swept away the four seas.
In just twenty-seven years of his life, the emperor burned his life and illuminated the future of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
(Emperor Sima Shao of Jin)
Now, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was about to usher in his third master, that is, the eldest son of the former emperor, Sima Yan.
The succession of fathers and sons was both a natural consequence and a patriarchal system, but after Sima Yan became emperor, he could not effectively manage this huge empire.
It is not that the emperor is poor and short-witted, nor is it that the emperor is shallow, but because the emperor is very young, and when he ascended the throne, he was only five years old.
The emperor was young, the lord was suspicious of the country, and he could not personally govern, so of course the power of the government fell into the hands of the Empress Dowager Yu (foreign forces).
Familiar recipe, familiar taste.
This is simply the feudal imperial era, a fixed plot for thousands of years.
As long as the emperor is young, he must be too late to take charge.
Is there a problem with this system of listening to the government and making the claims of the dynasty?
From a macro point of view, there is no problem.
The reason why a five-year-old child can become an emperor is not that he is suitable to be an emperor, but because of the patriarchal succession system, he was chosen.
In his early adult age, he could exist as a mascot for a vast empire, but he could not take on the running of the state apparatus.
In other words, in a simple word, that is, the emperor is young and cannot participate in the work, but the imperial court is busy all day, and someone must take care of things, right?
Therefore, Empress Dowager Yu stood up.
(Empress Yu image)
As empresses of the pro-dynasty system, they often had to play two or more roles.
Above the court, they were agents of the authority of the Son of Heaven, handling all the decisions of the empire on behalf of the emperor.
In the middle palace, she will become the empress dowager of the motherly world, always remember the etiquette in the palace, and also educate the little emperor all the time, so that he can keep learning poetry and economics and imperial norms.
In addition to these two, she is also a woman who came out of her mother's Yu clan and bears the rise and fall of this family.
Obviously, it is difficult for the empress dowager to withstand this piece of heaven alone.
For Empress Yu, there was no way to divide the power.
The power of the Empire is envied by others, but it is extremely heavy, and if you don't find someone to help you work, you are likely to die of overwork.
And the empresses of the past and the present often tend to favor their mothers and families in the division of power, which is what we know as foreign forces.
This time, Empress Yu gave the power of government to her brother, Yu Liang.
Yu Liang (庾亮), a native of Yanling County, Henan.
Career, not too smooth, before the minister to join the army, Zhongshu Lang and other positions, in the workplace achievements are mediocre, and have not done any achievements.
If I have to say that Yu Liang is different from other people, it is that he is very good-looking.
According to the records of the history books, Comrade Yu Liang was handsome in appearance and graceful in style, and was a beautiful man who was uncompromising.
But good looking, in the political arena of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it seems that there is no great use.
Before Empress Yu came to power, the major affairs of the imperial government had always been the responsibility of the chancellor Wang Dao.
Wang Dao, I think everyone is very familiar with it.
(Wang Dao)
This is a world-renowned courtier.
He once joined hands with the Yuan Emperor Sima Rui to cross the south and found the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
He also helped the Ming Emperor Sima Shao regulate the contradictions between society and people's livelihood and revitalize the economic development of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
This is a famous minister with great responsibilities.
Loyalty to the emperor, harmony to colleagues, and benevolence to the people.
But as soon as Yu Liang came to power, Wang Dao could only step down.
It is said that although Comrade Yu Liang's ability is not outstanding, it is not useless, and it is still remarkable in many places.
But after all, Wang Dao laid too good a foundation when he was in office, and as soon as Yu Liang took over, there was a big problem.
Yu Liang was very loyal to the emperor and good to the people, but his attitude towards his colleagues was very bad.
Yu Liang believed that his sister was the emperor's biological mother, the empress dowager of the dynasty, that is, he entered the dynasty as an official, that is, the emperor's relatives and relatives of the state, and his natural status was higher than that of these scholars and doctors from the cold door, so this benevolent brother often gave instructions to his colleagues in his daily work, pointed fingers, and even developed into a party in the later stage, cracking down on dissidents, and seeing who was unhappy to clean up whoever was unhappy.
After coming and going, the naturally temperamental ministers could not stand this kind of unprovoked office oppression, so in the second year of Xianhe, in 327 AD, a mutiny broke out.
Li yang nei Shi Sujun, under the name of "Qing Jun's side", rebelled.
Liyang was in present-day Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province, and Neishi was just a local grassroots civil official.
(Su Jun)
An unarmed civilian official wanted to rebel, of course, to unite with the forces of the military generals, so Su Jun found Zu Yue, who was then the general of Zhenxi.
General Zhenxi, as the name suggests, was a military general who guarded the western frontier of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
One article and one martial art, meat and vegetarian collocation, two people a total, the Eastern Jin Dynasty court Yu Liang took power, Empress Yu also restrained the Middle Palace, controlled the little emperor, she was a foreign official, such a current political pattern, foreign relatives in power, it is really difficult to have the opportunity to be promoted, since this is the case, it is better to oppose him, vigorously create a great cause.
Of course, rebellion is rebellion, but it cannot be said that externally, we still have to play the slogan of "Qing Jun's side", and the purpose of shouting this slogan is also very simple, that is, to beautify this rebellion.
Are we for personal gain? Are we here to make money? Are we rogue thieves?
Of course not, we want to get rid of the adulterous courtiers around the emperor.
What the? You say that the emperor has no traitors around him?
Sorry, I said there is.
Yes, it's a false slogan that everyone knows, but it's been tried and tested for thousands of years.
Because this rebellion broke out very suddenly, the capital City Jiankang had no defense, and was easily stolen by Su Jun and Zu Yue.
The city gates are wide open and undefended, and tonight the Eastern Jin Dynasty will be cool.
The rebel army invaded Jiankang, and without saying a word, went straight to the palace and directly captured the little emperor Sima Yan.
The six-year-old little emperor was still the supreme son of heaven one second, and the next second he became a prisoner in the prison cart.
But to everyone's surprise, the little emperor's performance was unusually calm.
At this time, he had become a prisoner of the order, faded the Tianzi costume, wore a plain dress, faced with the vicious eyes and clamor of the rebels, the emperor did not panic, did not ask for forgiveness, did not please, and was not afraid to dodge, actually took out a history book from his arms and read it with relish.
(Sima Yan, Emperor of Jincheng)
What kind of boldness is it for a six-year-old child to collapse in front of Tarzan without changing his face? How bold?
With such an emperor, the Eastern Jin Dynasty should not have perished at this time.
Su Jun and Zu Yue occupied the imperial palace and took the emperor, which seemed to be a successful rebellion, but in fact, the surprise attack was only half carried out.
Yes, capturing the emperor doesn't mean anything.
Three-legged frogs are not easy to find, and two-legged emperors are still a lot.
Captured this, and that, killed this, and the next.
But it was obvious that Su Jun and Zu Yue, who had decided to rebel on a whim, had ended the plan they had made at the night of meetings.
This is a very hasty operation.
The reason why grass is grassy is because although they have the courage of heroes, they do not have the brains of heroes.
Su Jun and Zu Yue did not think about what to do after the occupation of Jiankang, what to do after controlling the emperor, how to control the armies of the battalions in Gyeonggi, how to plot against hundreds of officials, and how to control the complex and ever-changing political situation in an instant.
They didn't think anything of it, and rushed to Jiankang City with two watermelon knives.
As a result of this impulse, the armed forces of the Eastern Jin Dynasty reacted quickly, and the troops stationed around Jiankang quickly counterattacked Su Jun and Zu Yue, who were in Jiankang City.
The two anti-thief comrades who were not prepared and planned to be unreliable finally ended up in a dead army.
The emperor changed from a prisoner to a son of heaven, and when his foreign relative Yu Liang fought, he disappeared from sight, and as soon as the war was over, he immediately stepped up his power and directly sat firmly in the position of the head of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
It seems that Yu Liang is an opportunist, or a more despicable kind.
Everything seems to have changed, but everything seems to have not changed.
What is even more unfortunate is that Yu Liang, who has absolute power, has begun to become more rampant, and when he was only cracking down on dissidents in the office, he has now directly become a mutilation of his colleagues, and whoever is not pleasing to the eye will be killed.
The eastern Jin dynasty, Sima Zong, the king of Nanton, was poisoned by Yu Liang because of his disagreement with Yu Liang's political views.
(King SimaZong of Nanton)
The little emperor went to the court for a few days, and first he did not see Sima Zongshang folding his son, and second, he did not see him ask for leave, so he asked Yu Liang:
"Where is the usual white-headed man?" - Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 93
Where did Sima Zong go?
Yu Liang was not impressed and replied:
"Liang is plotting against him." - Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 93
Sima Zong plotted against him and was already killed by me.
The little emperor pondered for a moment, and then said this:
"If an uncle says that a man is a thief, he will kill him; and if he says that a man is a thief, what shall he do?" - Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 93
Uncle Yu Liang (Yu Liang was the emperor's uncle) said that whoever is an anti-thief can kill whom, so if someone tells his uncle that he is an anti-thief one day, what should I do?
The speaker may not have a heart, but the listener must have intentional.
In the political atmosphere of conspiracy and intrigue, the little emperor had only a few words, but like a sharp knife, he stuck in Yu Liang's heart.
(Yu Liang)
The young emperor who ascended the throne was bound by foreign politics all his life, and almost no day was he able to personally govern.
But the emperor proved to people that he was not a cowardly emperor, and he was not willing to be a puppet emperor.
But the brutal history has left the emperor a prisoner for a lifetime.
He was too young after all.
Many years ago, he was chosen by fate to become the king of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
And now, he struggled all his life, but he still couldn't escape the invisible prison of Jiankang City.
Yes, as a puppet emperor, Sima Yan was disgraceful.
He did not have any great achievements, and he did not have any good stories that left his name in history.
He was the emperor, but he was also the most miserable man in the world.
An emperor who has lost power, alive, is far more painful than dead.
On the fifth day of the first month of June in the eighth year of Xiankang (342), in the middle of summer, there were snowflakes flying and the cold wind was like a knife.
In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was snowing again.
On this day, Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jincheng, died of illness at the Jiankang Imperial Palace at the age of 21.
Born in the snow night, returned to the snow.
Life is as lonely as snow, perhaps lonely and nameless, is the destination of this emperor's life.