<h1>Emperor Gaozong of Song: Sima Rui, the Emperor of the Jin Dynasty, knew that he had no ability to escape, and he did not want to recover his homeland and fight back to the Central Plains, which was really humiliating. </h1>
Who is stronger, Emperor Gaozong of Song, or Sima Rui, the Emperor of Jinyuan? Radio
0 people 0% Song Gaozong
0 people 0% Jin Yuan Emperor
0 people 0% almost vote
In November of the first year of Yongchang of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (323), Sima Rui, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, died in the capital Jiankang (present-day Nanjing) at the age of 47. It is rumored that Sima Rui was forced by the powerful minister Wang Dun to end up depressed.
Speaking of Emperor Yuan of Jin, he is probably most familiar with the phrase "The Book of Jin and the Biography of Wang Dun", "The king and the horse share the world". Not only the Langya Wang clan, but also the Yingchuan Yu clan, the Huan clan of Chen Guo, and the Xie clan of Chen Jun, all lived with the Sima family. Yes, the imperial power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was weak, the door valve was in charge, the warrior clan ruled to handle large and small affairs, and the emperor became a signboard for offering.
At that time, people felt that the reason for this phenomenon was that Sima Rui was incompetent, believing that Sima Rui was at best a "talent of the Middle Man", but it was really difficult for him to shoulder the great mission of reviving the Jin Dynasty. Even Emperor Gaozong of Song, who also retreated to half of the country, looked down on him and commented, "If Emperor Yuan is only able to protect the left side of the river in the district, he can slightly take the heart of the Central Plains (Song Shi Gaozongji)." Yet history has repeatedly told us to look through the fog and explore the facts.
<h1>First, the cattle follow the horse</h1>
There is a theory that Sima Rui was not a descendant of the Jin Dynasty royal family, but that he was actually Sima Yi's grandson, Sima Xiao,the princess of Sima Yao, the Prince of Langya, and a minor official named Niu Jin in the palace who hooked up with a minor official named Niu Jin and gave birth to an illegitimate son. Later, after the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Rui became the founding emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, so he was called "Niu Ji mahou".
The Sixth Book of the Jin Dynasty: "In the beginning, Xuanshi tu had "cattle after horses", so Emperor Xuan (Sima Yi) was deeply jealous of niu, so he made two bottles, a total of one sip, to store wine, the emperor drank the best, and used poisonous wine to make his cattle gold. And King Gong(Sima Xiao) concubine Xiahou Shi actually passed through the xiao official Niu Clan and gave birth to Emperor Yuan, and also had Fu Yun. "
Such a statement is even recorded in such a grand historical place as the Book of Jin, is Sima Rui really not a descendant of the Sima family?
Sima Yi and Cao Cao
It should be known that the reason why The Jin Yuan Emperor was elected as emperor by the Menmen clan was because of the sudden demise of the Western Jin Dynasty, and if the Jin dynasty subjects who had taken refuge in Jiangdong wanted to resist the invasion of the Hu clan in the north and save their lives, they had to rise up to resist, and it was absolutely impossible for a family name to repel the Hu soldiers in the northern country, so it was necessary to take the lead in uniting the overseas Chinese clan (the shi clan in the north and the south), the Wu clan (the indigenous clan in jiangnan) and other major groups to jointly resist foreign insults.
In fact, before Sima Rui, Jiangdong Haoqiang had also sought out the leading elder brother, first to promote the Eastern Wu Clan and restore Eastern Wu; later, he once cooperated with Chen Min, an official of the Western Jin Dynasty who wanted to divide Jiangdong. However, these two times failed, because although such an operation was beneficial to the Jiangdong Shi clan, the overseas Chinese clans in the south would inevitably be excluded, and in the political structure of Jiangnan at that time, the overseas Chinese clan was dominant, and their non-cooperation was actually a veto. What kind of character can make the Jiangdong clan and the overseas Chinese clan accept it, I think it is only the Jin Dynasty clan, after all, the Jin Dynasty once ruled the world, and the prestige is still a little.
Having said all this, I actually want to show that in that era when great importance was attached to blood orthodoxy, but where there was a little wind that showed that Sima Rui was not a descendant of the Jin Dynasty clan, the Jiangdong clan and the overseas Chinese clan would inevitably have to fight for this, and if Sima Rui was fake, what else could he rely on to gather the consensus of the major groups in Jiangnan.
The severe situation in the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
And when the Western Jin Dynasty fell, it was not like the northern Song Dynasty Jing Kang's change, the imperial clan was boiled by the Jin people, and Zhao Zhuo ran out. In fact, when Sima Rui crossed Jiankang in the south, in addition to him, there were four Sima princes, namely Sima Xi the King of Xiyang, Sima Zong the King of Nantong, Sima You the King of Runan, and Sima Hong, the King of Pengcheng, these five princes crossed the south together, and later Sima Rui became the emperor, so there was a nursery rhyme at that time that "five horses crossed the river, and one horse became a dragon." Among the five princes, Sima Xi the Prince of Xiyang and Sima Zong, the King of Nantong, were both grandsons of Sima Yi, and according to their bloodline, they were one level higher than Sima Rui, who was only Sima Yi's great-grandson. In other words, if Sima Rui is suspected to be fake, and it is not enough to replace one from the remaining spare tire, why bother to choose a fake one?
The earliest claim that Sima Rui was not a descendant of Sima Yi came from the Eastern Jin Dynasty historian Sun Sheng's "Jin Yang Qiu", and later the "Book of Song" and "Book of Wei" were recorded according to this, and the Tang Dynasty also referred to these historical books when revising the "Book of Jin".
Northern Wei and Southern Song Dynasty
Sun Sheng was Huan Wen's proud aide, and he may have two meanings in the book, one is to represent the door valve to knock on the Eastern Jin Dynasty imperial family, to keep his duties, and the other is to publicize the improper position of the Eastern Jin Emperor to prepare for Huan Wen's replacement. As for the Book of Song and the Book of Wei, one is to replace the regime of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the other is the sworn enemy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, of course, how disgusting it came, after all, the Book of Wei still calls the Southern Dynasty "Island Yi" in the book. In the Tang Dynasty, because the Tang Dynasty was the successor of the Northern Dynasty, in order to weaken the orthodoxy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the saying "niu followed the horse" was retained.
In summary, there should be no doubt that Sima Rui himself is indeed a descendant of Sima Yi, but with the needs of the development of later generations, he has continuously added oil and vinegar to his life, which has become what we see today.
<h1>2. The talent of Sima Rui</h1>
Although Sima Rui was a great-grandson of Sima Yi, the founder of the Jin Dynasty, if you look at sima Yan, the first emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan's father Sima Zhao and Sima Rui's grandfather Sima Ling were half-brothers, that is to say, in Sima Rui's generation, he was only a side branch of the Western Jin dynasty, but he was able to establish the Eastern Jin Dynasty later, which must have been superior.
Sima Rui's first outstanding point is that he will take sides. Sima Rui's state of Langya was very close to sima Yue's state of the East Sea, so he mixed with Sima Yue very early. In the second year of Yongxing (305), when Sima Yue, the king of the Eastern Sea, raised an army to attack Guanzhong, he left the military garrison of Sima Rui, the evil king of Lang, to guard the base camp, which shows that Sima Rui was still highly valued by Sima Yue. And Sima Yue later became the final winner of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", so Sima Rui followed such a boss, and his status naturally rose. Later, in order to expand his power, Sima Yue sent Sima Rui out of Zhenjiangdong, which created the later Jin Yuan Emperor.
The second outstanding feature of the Jin Yuan Emperor is his insightfulness. Sima Rui knew Wang Dao when he was young, and as soon as he came into contact with Sima Rui, he knew that Wang Dao was a talented person, so he was very important and trusted him, and even honored Wang Dao, who was as old as himself, as "Zhongfu". Later, he even requested Sima Yue to send Wang Dao to assist him, and the military planning obeyed his arrangement. Sima Rui had great trust in the Wang Dao clan (including Wang Dun at first), and later the Langya Wang clan did contribute heavily to the process of Sima Rui's founding, and it can be said that without the full support of the Langya Wang clan, Sima Rui really might not be able to ascend to the throne. And all this stems from Sima Rui's intellectual talent.
Standing in line or knowing people are all speculative tricks. As a king, he must have superb political skills, so how did Sima Rui use his political skills?
<h1>3. The Jin Yuan Emperor was in charge</h1>
The administration of the Jinyuan Emperor can be divided into two parts, with the title of emperor as the boundary, which can be divided into "out of the town of Jiangdong stage" and "call the emperor stage". Look at them one by one.
The Book of Jin once recorded that when Sima Rui first arrived in Jiangdong, the Wu clan did not want to be annexed, and it had been more than a month since they arrived in Jiankang, and no one of the scholar clan had come to visit the door, and Wang Dao was very anxious about this matter. Just in time for Sima Rui to go out to watch the zen sacrifice, Wang Dao let Sima Rui take advantage of the public opinion and arranged a majestic ceremonial guard. Wang Dao and Wang Dun and other celebrities all rode horses and attendants, and Ji Zhan, Gu Rong, and others were amazed when they saw them, and followed one by one to pray on the left side of the road. Thus Sima Rui opened up the political situation. However, Sima Guang already had doubts about this statement in the Zizhi Tong Jian Kao Yi; Mr. Tian Yuqing even passed a detailed examination in the "Politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Gate Valve" and believed that it was not a historical fact.
Wang Dao
The fact that Sima Rui was able to open up the situation in Jiangdong was that when he first arrived in Jiangdong, in order to consolidate his own power, Sima Rui relied on the power given to him by the Western Jin Dynasty (he was a general of Andong, the governor of Yangzhou and the military forces of Jiangnan), and greatly used the northern shi clans that followed him to the south, especially the most important shi people in his fiefdom of Langya, and installed them in the core departments of Jiangnan, through which sima Rui showed his talent for employing people, and in this way gained the hearts and minds of the northern shi clan, and these clans gradually united around Sima Rui Thus Sima Rui stood out from many clan members.
"Jin Shu Zhuge Hui Biography"; Yu Shi Wang was a general, while the Hui brothers and Yan Han were prominent, Liu Chao was loyal and prudent in charge of the book, and Shi Ren was the talent of the (Yuan) Emperor Shan of any country.
In the year before he became emperor, more than 100 northern celebrities were selected as officials at a time, and people at the time called them "One Hundred and Six Warriors". The privileges of the overseas Chinese clan are ensured.
The Nandu Shi clan was the basis of Sima Rui's rule and needed to be co-opted, but because he was in Jiangnan, Sima Rui did not forget to properly promote the Hao clan from Jiangnan. According to historical records, when he first arrived in Jiangnan, he took Wang Dao's advice and conscripted the Wu clan into his and dong general's mansion. Among them, the representative figures He Xun and Gu Rong were even more respectful, and the Jiangnan people recommended by Gu Rong and others were also appointed one by one.
There is a serious rivalry between the North and the South
In the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Hu people galloped, the northerners were forced to cross to the south, and under the impact of the huge waves of population migration, various contradictions in Jiangnan society were gradually stimulated, especially the contention between the northern and southern Shi clans was the most representative. It was under these circumstances that Sima Rui came to Jiangdong, and his reuse of the Beilaishi clan made the Qiao clan occupy the core of the upper political system, thus ensuring that the foreign regime of the Eastern Jin Dynasty could gain a foothold in Jiangdong. However, it did not blindly elevate the northerners and suppress the southerners, Sima Rui extended more to the Jiangdong clan, gave them a considerable degree of honor, and satisfied their vanity, but rarely granted the people in Jiangnan real power positions, because the foundation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was still the northerners after all, and it also reflected Sima Rui's superb political means.
It can be said that at the beginning of Sima Rui's southern crossing, the reason why the southern and northern warrior clans in jiangdong were able to basically maintain unity and unite with the outside world was inseparable from Sima Rui's efforts, which shows that Sima Rui was not as low as recorded in the history books.
However, this situation changed with the establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Sima Rui was proclaimed empress dowager, and strengthening imperial power became the primary task before Sima Rui. However, once the imperial power is strengthened, it is bound to turn face with the powerful Langya Wang Clan, and this road is not so easy to follow.
Wang Dun's domineering side leak in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River
After coming to Jiangnan, the Langya Wang clan, led by Wang Dao, fully supported Sima Rui. At the time, Wang Dao served as the auxiliary chancellor of the center, while Wang Dao's brother Wang Dun devoted himself to pacifying hostile forces throughout Jiangnan. The brothers Wang Dao and Wang Dun sat in the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River respectively, and on the one hand, the brothers made great contributions to the establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
However, on the other hand, the power of the Wang brothers was so powerful that it would inevitably hinder Sima Rui's plan to strengthen imperial power. Between the two sides, war is on the verge of breaking out. It was the failure of the struggle against the Langya Wang clan that made the Jin Yuan Emperor bear more than a thousand years of bad criticism in the future generations. Although the Langya Wang Clan seemed to be completely victorious, it also planted bad consequences in this struggle, and the evil consequences needed to be repaid after all.
Regarding the path of centralization of power by the Jinyuan Emperor, we will see it in the next article.
References: Book of Jin, Zizhi Tongjian, Shishu Xinyu
I am Jiang Zuo Menghualu, if you like my article, please click and forward it.