We read all the lead to present a different history.
In the world's impression, the founding emperors of ancient dynasties often had a strong personality charm, and they also had extremely high talent and outstanding talents in politics or military. Because of this, they can rely on their own strengths to search for talents, formulate strategies, stand out in the era of the crowd, become the last to laugh, and obtain supreme power. However, there are always exceptions to the world, such as Sima Rui, the founding prince of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, who was an exceptionally weak emperor.
▲Stills of the interior of the palace during the Wei and Jin dynasties
Sima Rui was the great-grandson of Sima Yi, the grandson of Sima Ling the Prince of Lang, and the son of Sima Xiao the Prince of Lang. In the first year of Taixi (290 AD), Sima Rui attacked the evil king of Lang and participated in the war against Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu. After the defeat, Sima Rui left Luoyang and returned to fengguo. At that time, as the first-class warrior clan in the north, the Wang clan's manor was in the territory of the Langya Kingdom, and Sima Rui also befriended Wang Dao, who was born in the Langya Wang clan during his residence in Luoyang. Wang Dao was the younger brother of Wang Yan, the leader of the world's famous scholars, who was talented, resourceful, and had great political resources, and Sima Rui introduced him as a confidant and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility.
▲The former residence of the Wang clan of Langya
After the death of Sima Yan, the Emperor wu of the Jin Dynasty, the western Jin dynasty court frequently appeared, eventually triggering the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", and the Central Plains land was suddenly plunged into chaos. Since his grandfather Sima Ling was only Sima Yi's son, and his father was doing nothing, Sima Rui had no advantage in this change, so he could only hide in the corner and watch the drama, watching the royal family members attack each other. It was not until the second year of Yongxing (305 AD), when Sima Yue, the king of the Eastern Sea, pulled him into the company, and the cowardly Sima Rui did not dare to refuse, so he was appointed as the general of Pingdong and the military of Xuzhou, responsible for staying behind in Xia Pi to guard the rear. Therefore, Sima Rui asked Wang Dao to be Sima and advise him.
▲Painting of war scenes from the two Jin Dynasties
In September of the first year of Yongjia (307 AD), Sima Rui, at the suggestion of Wang Dao, crossed the river to Jianye to prepare for independence. Because Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jinwu, did not absorb the Jiangdong Shi clan into the imperial court when he destroyed Wu, the attitude of the clan at that time to Sima Rui was very cold, and there was no will to support the latter as emperor. Seeing this situation, Wang Dao personally came forward and visited one by one to win the support of a large number of family members. Subsequently, Wang Dao took advantage of the opportunity of the three folk gatherings in early March to respectfully follow Sima Rui with some celebrities to set off his prestige. At the same time, Sima Rui adopted Wang Dao's suggestion of preferential treatment for the Jiangnan shi clan, and worshiped Gu Rong, He Xun and other Jiangnan celebrities as subordinate officials. Soon, the Jiangnan Shi clan supported Sima Rui one after another, and the Northern Shi clans that moved south one after another also joined the ranks.
▲Stills of the Jiangnan Shi clan
In the fifth year of Yongjia (311 AD), Sima Yue, the prince of Taifu and the King of the Eastern Sea, died of illness, and the Xiongnu army besieged Luoyang, and Sima Chi, the emperor of Jinhuai, was unfortunately captured and killed in Luoyang shortly after. Two years later, Sima Yi, the grandson of Emperor Sima Yan of The Jin Dynasty, proclaimed himself emperor at Chang'an (historically known as "Emperor Huan of Jin"), and he ordered Sima Rui, Liu Kun, and others to lead a three-way army of 700,000 people to attack Pingyang. At that time, Sima Rui's wings were gradually growing, and there were a large number of warrior clans around him, and his strength was extremely strong, and Sima Yi also regarded this "imperial uncle" as the main force, but unexpectedly the latter resisted under the persuasion of the Jiangnan Shi clan.
▲ Wax statue of Xiongnu nobles
In December of the fourth year of Jianxing (316 AD), the Xiongnu Emperor Liu Cong sent the general Liu Yao to besiege Chang'an, and Sima Yi had no choice but to surrender the city, and the Western Jin Dynasty was destroyed. After the news reached Jianye, the warrior clans around Sima Rui had long been impatient and persuaded to advance. On April 6 of the following year, Sima Rui announced that he would inherit the Yuan Dynasty, that is, the Jin throne, the era name Jianwu, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty was officially established. In April of the second year of Jianwu (318), the obituary of Sima Yi's death reached Jiangdong, and Sima Rui officially ascended the throne as emperor, changing the name of Yuan Taixing to "Emperor Jinyuan", at this time the territory was mainly Yangzhou, Jingzhou, and Jiaozhou south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. After ascending the throne, Sima Rui announced a general amnesty for the world, and all officials were promoted to two ranks, and Jianye was renamed Jiankang to avoid the former emperor Sima Yi. Although Sima Rui's reign was widely used as an assistant, Wang Dao always held the greatest power as a core adviser, and was even called "Zhongfu" by Sima Ruigong.
▲Portrait of Sima Rui, Emperor of Jinyuan
It is also easy to understand that because Sima Rui did not have enough prestige among the imperial family, his own ability was not outstanding, and the strength of his confidant ministers was weak, it was difficult for him to get the real support of the Northern and Southern Shi clans. To this end, he could only rely on Wang Dao, who was born in the first clan in the north, and used him as a political link to gather all the clans of the north and south around him. Because Wang Dao was so important, Sima Rui appointed him as chancellor and took charge of the imperial government. At that time, Wang Dao was in charge of the center, and his brother Wang Dun held heavy troops outside and controlled the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and 70% of the officials in the government and the opposition had more or less relations with the Wang family, so they were called "the king and the horse, the world together". This situation was not reversed until the rise of the Yu family. However, for later historians, Sima Rui has a more curious place in him - the controversial life. It is rumored that after Sima Yi's grandson Sima Xiao attacked the King of Langya, Princess Xiahou (Xiahou Yuan's great-granddaughter) had an affair with the royal official Niu Jin (niu Qin), giving birth to Sima Rui, who was later called "Niu Rui", and Li Yan of the Ming Dynasty even called the Eastern Jin Dynasty "Southern Dynasty Jin Niu Clan".
▲ Former residence of Li Yan
According to the Tang Dynasty Book of Jin and related historical records, Sima Yi learned of the prophecy of "Ox Succeeding Horse Queen" from a book called "Xuanshi Tu" and asked Guan Ren to divinate the fortunes of his descendants, and the results were exactly the same as those of Xuanshi Tu, but Sima Yi did not understand what this meant. When Sima Yi became the prince and took power, he suddenly remembered the prophecy of "Niu succeeding the horse", and then contacted niu jin, a general who had made great achievements in battle, and suddenly realized, so he quietly poisoned people in the wine and killed Niu Jin at the wine banquet. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the study of Wei Wei has prevailed, directly affecting the psychology of the people, so sima Yi's killing of Niu Jin may be the reason. However, for Sima Rui's true bloodline, although posterity has talked about it a lot, it is still impossible to know.
Resources:
"Book of Jin, Volume 6, Emperor Ji No. 6", "Wei Shu Liechuan 84th Biography of Sima Rui of the Jin Dynasty"
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