Sima Rui, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, relied on the Door Valve family Wang Clan to sit firmly on the throne, which also laid hidden dangers for the fall of power. In order to win over the Wang family, Sima Rui constantly enfeoffed his family members as high-ranking officials Houlu, and married the women of the Wang clan as their queen. This made the Wang clan, which was already powerful in Jiangnan, even more like the sun in the sky, and the world only knew the king but not the horse.
In order to suppress the growing Wang family, Sima Rui cultivated his henchmen in the dynasty to eliminate the Power of the Wang clan. As a result, Wang Dun of the Wang clan raised an army to retaliate, killed his henchmen, completely emptied Sima Rui, and ordered the emperor to leave the palace. In his later years, Sima Rui was like a prisoner imprisoned in the imperial palace, and the power of the imperial government was controlled by Wang Dun. So how was Sima Rui overthrown, and how did he die?
Sima Rui was like a prisoner in his later years
Sima Rui had just ascended the throne, and he still had common interests with the Wang clan, one to consolidate the throne, and the other to expand his power through the merits of support. Therefore, Sima Rui had a very harmonious relationship with Wang Dao of the Wang clan, comparing him to "Xiao He" and calling Wang Dao "Zhong's father". Wang Dao's courtesy and kindness to Sima Rui was also reciprocated, and he gave advice to Sima Rui, advising him to be diligent in his administration and self-denial, to practice benevolent government in the south, and to win the hearts and minds of the people.
Image of Sima Rui, Emperor of Jinyuan
However, this humility between the monarchs and courtiers took a sharp turn as the expansion of the Wang family's power reached its peak. The Wang clan seized a large number of benefits by virtue of their first merits in supporting the new emperor, Wang Dao served as the high-ranking control center of the Chancellor in the Eastern Jin Dynasty court, and Wang Dun held the military power in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to conquer the subordinates and suppress the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. More than half of the Eastern Jin dynasty and local officials had direct or indirect relations with the Wang clan. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were eight empresses of the Wang clan alone, which shows the prosperity of their power.
The power of the dynasty was all in the hands of the Wang clan, which of course made Sima Rui, the true supreme ruler of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, dissatisfied and jealous, and the fall of power was as uneasy and fearful for the emperor as the average person who "lives and dies in the hands of others". Therefore, Sima Rui intended to cultivate his confidants above the court to oppose the Wang clan's dictatorship, and he reused Liu Kui, Dai Yuan, and other ministers who dared to fight against the Wang clan.
Sima Rui's suppression of the Wang family caused the Wang clan to be vigilant and resilient. In 322, Wang Dun, who had a large army in his hands, raised an army from Wuchang down the Yangtze River to attack Jiankang, killing Dai Yuan and other Sima Rui's right and left arms in the court under the name of "killing the traitors". Coupled with Wang Dao's internal and external cooperation, Wang Dun quickly took control of the situation, and Sima Rui's fiasco could only bow his head and be small. Wang Dun knighted himself as an official and took charge of the imperial government. In April, Wang Dun returned to Wuchang and remotely controlled state affairs in Wuchang. Sima Rui, the emperor, decreed that he would not leave the palace and completely became a "prisoner" emperor.
Relief of Sima Rui, Emperor of jinyuan