In China's history, division and reunification alternated. The Han Dynasty was a period of great unification that lasted for four hundred years, with only 20 years of turmoil brought about by Wang Mang's usurpation of Han. On the contrary, from the Three Kingdoms to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was a long period of division and turmoil in the past four hundred years, of which only the Western Jin Dynasty briefly unified for more than 10 years.
The end of the Three Kingdoms was between Sima Zhao and Sima Yan' father and son. Sima Zhao destroyed Shu, and Sima Yan usurped Wei and wu, and boiled the Three Kingdoms clean. Sima Yan's mother, Sima Zhao's wife Wang Yuanji, also played a very important role in it.
Wang Yuanji (217–268), a native of Tan County, Donghai (東海郯县; present-day northwest of Tancheng, Shandong). Her grandfather was the famous Wang Lang. Historically, Wang Lang was not scolded to death by Zhuge Liang, but did help Cao Wei in the process of usurping Han, and was later appointed Situ.
Wang Yuanji's father was Wang Su, the son of Wang Lang. Wang Su was a confidant of the Sima family, and in the course of the war between Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, he made many contributions and served as the leader of the Central Committee.
Wang Yuanji, born in such a famous family, has known Dali since childhood and is very sensible. According to records, at the age of eight, she was able to recite the Book of Poetry and the Analects, and she never forgot them, showing great talent. When She was nine years old, Wang Yuanji's mother fell ill, and she served her mother from side to side, and for a long time she did not wear clothes. So Wang Su and his wife began to let Wang Yuanji, who was only in primary school, participate in managing the family affairs, and Wang Yuanji also did a very good job.
These performances made Situ Wang Lang very happy. Wang Situ said, "This lady will definitely make the old Wang family prosperous." It's just a pity that she's not a man! ”
Of course, Wang Situ is still an old feudal after all, forgetting that girls can also light the lintel - marry and have children. He could not have imagined that his own grandson and son-in-law would bury himself to the Cao Wei Dynasty, who had been loyal to him for half a lifetime.
In 228, Wang Lang died (this year coincided with Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, so the Romance of the Three Kingdoms orchestrated the scolding of Wang Lang), and Wang Yuanji cried bitterly at her grandfather and was very sad. In 231, at the age of 15, Wang Yuanji married Sima Yi's second son, Sima Zhao. In this year, Sima Yi led his troops against Zhuge Liang for the first time, and was beaten by Zhuge Liang not lightly.
However, Wang Yuanji quickly achieved good results on her battlefield: she gave birth to several sons.
Among them, Sima Dingguo, Sima Zhao, Sima Guangde and several other sons unfortunately died early at the age of a few years, but there were also two sons who grew up to adulthood. They were Sima Yan and the Sima You brothers. The Sima family was talented in Sima Yi's generation and In Sima Shi and Sima Zhao's generation, there were not so many talents in the next generation. And Sima Yan and Sima You brothers are rare talents among them.
Relatively speaking, Sima Zhao's elder brother Sima Shi first married Xiahou Shi and gave birth to only five daughters, and later married Wu and Yang, without even giving birth to a son and a half daughter. In the end, sima you had to be adopted from Sima Zhao. As a result, Sima Zhao's line was able to occupy the throne of the Western Jin Dynasty.
In the 30 years after marrying Sima Zhao, Wang Yuanji continued her virtuous performance. She did her best to be feminine to her in-laws, modest and cautious. This is nonsense, who dares to play tough in front of Sima Yi and Zhang Chunhua. In addition, she also conformed to etiquette for others whose status was inferior to her own, making the harem of the Sima family orderly. In 256, Wang Yuanji's father Wang Su died, and Wang Yuanji once again indulged in grief. By ancient Chinese standards, this is a good performance.
In addition, Wang Yuanji can also recognize people. At that time, Sima Zhao had a very powerful strategist under him, that is, Zhong Hui. Wang Yuanji often said to Sima Zhao, although this guy is big, but his ambitions are greater, there is no principle in doing things, you must be careful, available, but not trustworthy. Sure enough, by 264 AD, Zhong Hui took the opportunity to destroy Shu to launch a rebellion, but because Sima Zhao had already made preparations, it was quickly quelled. After this matter came out, everyone praised Wang Yuanji's vision.
The death of Zhong Hui and the demise of the Shu Han Dynasty marked the beginning of the end of the Three Kingdoms era. In 265, Sima Zhao died, and Wang Yuanji became a widow. After Wang Yuanji's son Sima Yan succeeded Sima Zhao as King of Jin, Wang Yuanji became a princess of Jin. At the end of this year (early 266 in the Gregorian calendar), Sima Yan usurped the throne as emperor, established the Western Jin Dynasty, and Wang Yuanji became the empress dowager.
Sima Yan was still a very energetic emperor in the early Western Jin Dynasty. On the one hand, he worked hard to prepare to destroy Wu and unify the world, while on the other hand, he appeased the people, developed production, and saved costs. And Sima Yan's old mother, Wang Yuanji, as the supreme ruler of the mother's world, also took the lead in setting an example. She personally spun and woven fabrics in the palace, the rooms were simple furniture items, the clothes she wore were simple and unpretentious, and the meals were all home-cooked. Under her management, both the harem and the royal family could live in harmony. These laid the foundation for the strength and prosperity of the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty.
In 268, Wang Yuanji, who was 52 years old, fell ill and died. The life expectancy of the ancients is generally not long, and this age is not a short lifespan. But Wang Yuanji has never been able to let go of one thing in her heart, that is, the relationship between her two sons.
As mentioned earlier, only two of Wang Yuanji's five sons survived, namely Sima Yan and Sima You. Among them, Sima You was adopted by Sima Zhao's elder brother Sima Shi. When Sima Zhao was determining the heir, he once considered whether to position Sima You as the heir, in order to express his respect for his brother Sima Shi. Later, although the elder Sima Yan was still established, this incident had sown the seeds of discord in the hearts of the brothers.
For Wang Yuanji, Sima Yan and Sima You were both her own flesh and blood, and she was afraid that her two sons would repeat the evil consequences of the Cao family's brotherly cannibalism. Therefore, she fought with her last strength and said to Sima Yan with tears: "Your brother is anxious, and you are not kind enough to be a brother." I'm afraid you'll not be able to tolerate him after death. Look at my face, please be tolerant of him. Of course, Sima Yan agreed with a full mouth. Subsequently, Wang Yuanji died. Sima Yan buried him with Sima Zhao.
Sima Yan was very sad about his mother's death, and despite the persuasion of his courtiers, he wore a white crown, ate vegetarian food, insisted on it for three years, guarded the funeral for his mother, and also made some of Wang Yuanji's relatives official.
However, the things that Wang Yuanji was most worried about eventually happened. Because Sima You himself was talented and famous, he was unanimously recommended by the courtiers. Sima Yan's son Sima Zheng was also an idiot (the later protagonist of the famous He Bu meat eater, Emperor Hui of Jin). Therefore, some ministers wanted to persuade Sima Yan to make his younger brother the heir. This touched Sima Yan's bottom line. The two sides came and went for a while, and Sima Yan's suspicions were all concentrated on his younger brother Sima You. In 283, the ill Sima You was forced by the emperor's brother to leave the capital and return to his fiefdom. He was angry and disappointed, and he fell ill and died halfway through. At this time, it was only three years before the unification of the Western Jin Dynasty, and only 15 years after the death of Wang Yuanji.
(Sima You)
Sima You's death caused Sima Yan to lose a capable brother and could no longer find a suitable person behind him to assist the government. After another 7 years, after Sima Yan's death in 290, the foolish son Sima Zheng took the throne, and the Western Jin Dynasty was immediately caught in a great scuffle between foreign relatives and royal princes. This is the famous Rebellion of the Eight Kings. The Rebellion of the Eight Kings led to a serious weakening of the western Jin Dynasty's national strength, and five ethnic minorities took the opportunity to invade, known in history as the Five Hu Chaohua.
These are things that Wang Yuanji couldn't imagine.
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