Emperor Wu of Jin
Sima Yan, emperor of the Jin Dynasty, was the founding emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, and in the early days of his reign, he was a powerful and ambitious monarch. He exerted great efforts to govern, innovate politics, revitalize the new economy, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, which once gave the country signs of prosperity, known in history as the "rule of Taikang".
However, the good times did not last long, and Sima Yan established a foolish son as the crown prince, who was the famous Jin Hui Emperor Sima Zheng in history. After the Jin Hui Emperor ascended the throne, the country began to decline, so that civil unrest occurred, which then triggered the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", so that the Western Jin Dynasty, which existed for only fifty years, vanished in the long river of history.
Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jinwu, knew that Sima Zheng was a bit stupid, so why did he insist on making him crown prince? We try to tease through some of the key historical events to find out why they are behind them.
How stupid is Sima Zheng? There are two allusions that speak for themselves.
Once, Sima Zheng, the Emperor of Jinhui, took a group of ministers on a tour of hualin garden, and it was spring, and the sound of frogs in the garden sounded. Sima Zheng thought that the frog was hungry, and asked around, "Is this frog an official's family or a private one?" Left and right listened to the crying and laughing.
At that time, there was a famine in the world, the people were starving all over the wilderness, and the disaster reports in various places flew to The Beijing Division like snowflakes, and Sima Zheng learned that the people had no food to eat, and he was very puzzled, and asked a very classic sentence: "Why don't you eat meat paste?" When the ministers heard these words, they immediately looked at each other and did not know how to answer.
Of course, these two jokes happened after Sima Zheng became emperor. However, he did not become stupid as an adult, but had intellectual problems since birth.
Sima Zheng
Despite this, Sima Zheng was crown prince at the age of eight. Why did Sima Yan do this? You know, Sima Yan has more than twenty sons?
Sima Yan's eldest son, Sima Zheng, died early, and Sima Zheng, as the second eldest son, was promoted to the eldest son. According to the law of the ancestors, the eldest son should inherit the throne. This was an old rule set down since the Western Zhou Dynasty, and Sima Yan naturally did not dare to violate it casually.
Of course, the rules can also be broken, and in history, people who are not the eldest son of the concubine who are emperors abound, but Sima Yan has his own considerations.
At first, Sima Yan defeated Sima You with the advantage of being the eldest son of a concubine and became the first emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty. Although Sima You lost in the competition, he was quite popular in the dprk and had always been a hidden worry for Sima Yan. If his parents had not repeatedly told Sima Yan to treat his brother kindly before his death, he would have killed Sima You long ago.
Sima You
Sima Yan insisted on making Sima Zheng the crown prince, which was to see the special status of his eldest son. On the one hand, it was to declare the legal rationality of the succession of the eldest son of the concubine, and to break Sima You's desire to seize power; on the other hand, he was to consolidate power, after all, he was also the eldest son of the concubine.
Of course, Sima Yan may have done so only as a stopgap measure, and he wanted to abolish Sima Zheng and replace him with a son of normal intelligence after his power was consolidated.
The intellectual disability of Crown Prince Sima Zheng had become a well-known fact in the imperial court, and they were worried about the future of the country.
Once, Sima Yan was drinking with the ministers at Lingyuntai, and after three rounds of wine and five flavors of dishes, the minister Wei Huan pretended to be overwhelmed by wine, stumbled and fell to his knees in front of Sima Yan's dragon bed, wanted to stop talking, swallowed and vomited three times back and forth, and then touched the dragon bed and said: "This seat is a pity!" ”
Emperor Wu of Jin immediately understood his implications, and his face showed displeasure, but it was not easy to make his words clear in person, so he had to calm his face and deliberately prevaricate: "Did Wei Aiqing drink too much?" ”
Emperor Wu of Jin did not want to replace the crown prince as soon as possible, but the time had not yet come, and he also had his own grievances.
Later, Sima Yan listened to the rumors of the ministers Xun Xun, Feng Zhen, and others, and insisted that Sima You return to the fiefdom, and in the end, Sima You vomited blood and died in grief and anger.
The death of King Qi made Sima Yan breathe a long sigh of relief, and he no longer had to worry about someone snatching his throne. It is reasonable to say that at this time, he should consider the matter of changing the prince, right? The answer was no, and Sima Yan encountered resistance again, which came from his wife Empress Yang.
Sima Yan was a person who was afraid of his wife, and for such a major matter as the replacement of the crown prince, he naturally had to obtain the consent of Empress Yang. When Empress Yang heard about it, she resolutely opposed it, and also took out the ancient precept and said: "If you are a concubine, how can Your Majesty easily replace the crown prince?" ”
Sima Yan was unable to persuade Empress Yang and had to shelve the issue again. In 274, Empress Yang finally fell ill, and when she was dying, she took Sima Yan's hand and asked the emperor to swear to heaven that he would keep Sima Zheng's position as crown prince.
Sima Yan was overwhelmed with grief, nodded tearfully, and agreed to Madame's last request.
Empress Yang
With the passage of time, Sima Yan finally firmed up his mind and decided not to change the prince again. Why? Because he had a clever imperial grandson Sima Song, he saw the hope for the future of the empire from Sima Song.
There is also a very funny story about the birth of Sima Song.
At first, Sima Yan was worried that the silly prince did not understand the affairs of the boudoir between men and women, which affected the opening and scattering of the royal heirs, so he specially sent his beloved talent Xie Jiu to accompany the prince to bed and tutor him one-on-one. Who knows, Xie Jiu really tutored the results, and not long after, she became pregnant.
In order to avoid being framed by crown princess Jia Nanfeng, Xie Jiu asked Sima Yan to allow her to return to the Western Palace to raise a baby, where she gave birth to Sima Song.
Some people also said that Sima Song was Sima Yan's own son, on the grounds that Sima Song was four years old, and Sima Zheng did not know that he had a son. This statement needs to be examined, but one thing can be clear: Sima Song was very intelligent from an early age and was deeply loved by Sima Yan.
Sima Song
One year, there was a fire in the palace, and Sima Yan went upstairs to look at it. At this time, Sima Song, who was only five years old, pulled the placket of Emperor Wu of Jin to hide in the shadows, and said: "In the rush of night, we should be more vigilant and not let the light of the fire shine to Your Majesty." Sima Yan was surprised to hear this, saying that this child was very similar to his great grandfather Sima Yi.
Another time, Sima Yan took the emperor to watch the pigsty, and the fat pigs were eating in the trough, and Sima Song suddenly said: "The pigs are very fat, why don't you kill the reward soldiers, but let them continue to waste grain?" ”
Sima Yan was very pleased to hear this, and touched Sima Song's back to the chancellor and said, "Those who are in the Sima family will be here." ”
From then on, Sima Yan planned to place the heavy responsibility of the Zhongxing Jin Room on Sima Song. If you want to help Sima Song ascend to the throne, you can't avoid Sima Zheng.
Sima Zheng's throne was secured, but the ministers were worried, and they were still worried about the future of the country. In order to calm the discussion of the ministers, Sima Yan decided to hold a public examination to prove that Sima Zheng was not stupid.
One day, Sima Yan summoned all the officials of the Eastern Palace, set up a banquet, and ordered someone to produce an examination paper about the government and politics, sealed it up and asked the emissary to forward it to the prince, so that he could answer within the specified time.
This frightened Crown Princess Jia Nanfeng not lightly, she was well aware of Sima Zheng's level, if the exam was messed up, the Prince might be deposed, and even her position as Crown Princess could not be saved. To this end, Jia Nanfeng invited a gunman to help the prince answer.
The level of this gunner is too high, the article is quoted, the text is brilliant, the argument is informative, the reasoning is reasonable, it is refreshing to read, and it is a good work at a glance.
An entourage next to him reminded: "No, this is also too fake, the prince usually does not read, how can he write such a high-level article?" This can be suspicious. It is better to discuss things on the facts, what is the answer, and the sentence is smooth. ”
Jia Nanfeng suddenly realized and said: If you don't write it, you will not be able to forget you when you develop in the future. This retinue was quite talented, imitating Sima Zheng's tone and quickly completing the answer sheet, the text was simple and unpretentious, and he deliberately wrote a few typos, but it was also reasonable and decent.
Then, Jia Nanfeng asked Sima Zheng to copy it and let him take it to Sima Yan for review.
Jia Nanfeng
After Sima Yan saw it, his heart was full of flowers, and he turned it to Wei Wan to appreciate, with a somewhat proud look. He said happily to Wei Ou: Old Wei, who said that my son was stupid, and now he has nothing to say?
From then on, Sima Yan no longer had the idea of changing the crown prince. Before his death, Sima Yan arranged everything for the crown prince, with Sima Liang, the king of Runan, and Yang Jun, the general of cheqi, as his assistant ministers; and following the example of Liu Bang of the Western Han Dynasty, he sealed the kings and let them defend the capital at any time.
However, people are not as good as heaven, and after Sima Yan's death, infighting broke out in the court. Jia Nanfeng seized the opportunity to seize power, killed Yang Jun, Wei Wan, Sima Liang and other auxiliary ministers, and even poisoned the crown prince Sima Song.
Jia Nanfeng's perverse behavior caused dissatisfaction among the kings, and they led their troops to attack the Jing Division under the banner of King Qin and killEd Jia Nanfeng. But the struggle between the kings did not stop, and the chaos lasted for sixteen years, which was the "rebellion of the eight kings" in history.
Rebellion of the Eight Kings
The "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" not only brought heavy disasters to the common people, but also gave the ethnic minority tribes an opportunity to take advantage of. Liu Yuan of the Xiongnu Khanate invaded the Central Plains, thus opening the prelude to the Wuhu Chaohua, and the Central Plains were plunged into nearly three hundred years of division and war.
For such an ending, Xiaobian has some feelings. Originally, Sima Yan, as the founding prince of the country, had already created a good situation, but he made a serious mistake in the matter of establishing a prince.
Out of personal selfishness, he insisted on making Sima Zheng the crown prince in order to maintain the ancient admonition of "establishing a concubine to be long"; later, due to the intervention of Empress Yang, the matter was postponed again and again; and finally because Sima Song was born, he completely abandoned his principles.
Sima Yan
In the face of such a big right and wrong thing as Li Chu, Sima Yan repeatedly abandoned his principles, compromised with reality, and established a prince who was not worthy of great responsibility, which really made people anxious about his choice. If he had the decision of Emperor Taizong of Tang to resolutely depose the unqualified crown prince and establish a normal monarch, then the future of the Western Jin Dynasty would be another situation.
References: Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 82, etc.