Sima Yan usurped cao wei's power, established the Western Jin Dynasty, and also made cao yi, the king of the fallen kingdom, the king of Chen Liu, and allowed him to perform the Wei state Zhengshuo in the fiefdom, and the liturgy continued to be exercised in the Wei system, while enjoying special treatment such as not being a vassal in the letter and not worshiping.
In 420, Liu Yu seized power from Sima Dewen, the Emperor of Jin, and established the Liu Song Dynasty. So, how did he deal with the Sima family of the imperial family?
(Liu Yu)
The Eastern Jin Dynasty was the world of the clansmen, but liu Yu, with his outstanding military ability and political vision, had to start from small soldiers and counterattacked to become a powerful vassal of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
The reason why Liu Yu was able to get the opportunity to counterattack was, on the one hand, that Emperor An of Jin was an idiot who did not know in winter and summer and was inarticulate, so a chaotic situation of "the generals were self-reliant and the power was in charge" was formed, which meant that the imperial power had no prestige; on the other hand, at that time, civil unrest was frequent, and the country's situation was precarious.
The so-called chaotic hero is probably a person like Liu Yu who can seize the opportunity and has great ability.
Liu Yu not only can govern the army to fight, but also very good at calming the people's hearts, so his reputation is outstanding, and there are many people who support him.
Liu Yu, who had distinguished himself in military service, was created the King of Song after he pacified Huan Xuan and returned to The Jin Dynasty, and because of his grace to the imperial court and the enjoyment of the Nine Xi Special Ceremony, he was crowned king of Song. The status of the imperial court is even more under one person and above ten thousand people.
Liu Yu, who was powerful and powerful, of course, was not willing to be driven by the fool of Emperor An of Jin, so he ordered someone to murder Emperor An of Jin. Surprisingly, he did not usurp the throne, but instead supported Sima Dewen, the younger brother of Emperor An of Jin, as emperor.
Didn't Liu Yu want to be emperor? Thoughts, thoughts too much. However, at that time, there was a plot that "there was a second emperor after Changming (Emperor Xiaowu of Jin)", and he had to support Sima Dewen after killing Emperor An of Jin.
Since both emperors had been established, Liu Yu, who wanted to be emperor, could not wait to have his confidants write the Zen Edict and let Sima Dewen transcribe it.
(Sima Dewen)
Sima Dewen was a wise man who knew that he was a puppet emperor, so he was very cooperative with Liu Yu. He also told his henchmen sent by Liu Yu that when Huan Xuan usurped the throne, the state was already gone. It was Liu Yu who gave him the mandate of the country for many years, and now I am willing to give up the throne to him.
Subsequently, Liu Yu finally ascended to the throne as he wished, and he imitated Sima Yan, making Sima Dewen the King of Lingling and letting him live in the fiefdom, while also stating that "Zhengshuo, chariot, and clothes" all followed the Jin system.
So did Sima Dewen spend his old age like Emperor Xian of Han and Like Cao Yi?
Not really. When he set off for the fiefdom, Liu Yu sent the general Liu Zunkao to garrison his fiefdom. Why? There is only one purpose, that is, to watch his every move and never give him the opportunity to rebel.
Sima Dewen's days in the fiefdom were also very miserable, and his wife and uncle often went in and out of his palace in order to please Liu Yu, monitoring his every move at any time. Empress Chu gave birth to a son, and Liu Yu ordered them to kill him.
Liu Yu not only did not allow Sima Dewen to have it, but also wanted to take Sima Dewen's life. However, Sima Dewen was wary, and all the diet was done by Empress Chu herself, so Liu Yu could not succeed. Later, it was the Chu family brothers who made a plan to deceive Empress Chu away. Immediately, the soldiers entered the house and killed Sima Dewen.
Subsequently, Liu Yu, whose regime was stable, ordered: Kill the Sima family!
For a time, the Sima family suffered an unprecedented bloody storm.
(Murder of the Sima family)
So, why couldn't Liu Yu tolerate Sima Dewen and the sons of the Sima family?
I think there are three reasons for this:
1. Liu Yu's son is young.
Liu Yu was 57 years old when he became emperor. Ancient people did not have a long life span, Liu Yu because of the perennial conquest, the body is quite sick, of course, he must consider the problem of succession. But he was a son born after the age of 43, and he inevitably feared that after his death, Sima Dewen would unite with those who supported him to restore. At that time, the Jiangshan that had been hard to fight down would have to be surnamed Sima again, so he could not tolerate Sima Dewen.
Second, Liu Yu was born in the grassroots and could not get the support of the family clan.
During Liu Yu's reign, he was light-hearted and thin-handed, harming the interests of the family clan. Therefore, the family clan is closer to the Sima family. Liu Yu was worried about the unification of the clans and supported the restoration of the descendants of the Sima family.
Third, Liu Yu's usurpation of the throne was relatively hasty.
Liu Yu was different from Cao Pi and Sima Yan, who came from a large family and took several generations to complete the usurpation plot. But Liu Yu was a rough man, and he was afraid that he would not be able to sit on the throne in his lifetime, so he completely relied on killing to usurp the throne, which was absolutely unable to subdue the people of the world, so his regime was also extremely unstable. Some enemy states in the north also tried their best to accommodate the Sima family, in order to take advantage of the chaos to overthrow the Liu Song regime.
Therefore, shortly after Sima Dewen went to the fiefdom, Liu Yu could not wait to kill Sima Dewen, and at the same time cut the blood-stained butcher knife at the Sima family.
(References: History of the South, Book of Song)