Characters and stories of the Two Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties (35) - The Rebellion of the Eight Kings

The Rebellion of the Eight Kings occurred in the Western Jin Dynasty, was a civil unrest caused by the imperial family for the central power, caused by Empress Jia Nanfeng's interference in government and power, this rebellion lasted for sixteen years, according to the order of appearance, its core figures were Sima Liang, the king of Runan, Sima Wei, the king of Chu, Sima Lun, the king of Zhao, Sima Yan the king of Qi, Sima Qi, The king of Changsha, Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, Sima Yue, the king of Hejian and Sima Yue, the king of The East China Sea.

When Sima Yan was seriously ill, he ordered Sima Liang, the king of Runan, and his cousin Yang Jun to jointly assist Sima Zheng, but Yang Jun took advantage of Sima Yan's serious illness and could not speak, and declared that Emperor Xuan's will was to make a will and assist the government alone. Sima Zheng was stupid and unable to control the country, and the government fell on the side of his foreign relative Yang Shi, and Empress Jia Nanfeng, in order to prevent Yang Jun from monopolizing power, secretly sent people to contact Sima Liang (Sima Yi's fourth son) the king of Runan, and Sima Wei (Sima Zheng's half-brother) the king of Chu, asking them to bring troops into Beijing to attack Yang Jun, and Sima Wei, the king of Chu, brought troops from Jingzhou into Luoyang, and then Jia Nanfeng designed for Emperor Hui of Jin to issue an edict declaring that Yang Jun was plotting rebellion and slaughtering Yang's relatives. After the Yang forces were destroyed, Sima Liang, the king of Runan, and the elder chancellor Wei Wan, were divided into Dazai and Taibao to jointly run the imperial government, Jia Nanfeng did not benefit from this incident of overthrowing Yang, and Sima Wei, the king of Chu, was also hated by Sima Liang and Wei Ou, so he again corrected sima liang and Wei Ou to plot to abolish the establishment, ordered the depose of the two, and ordered Sima Wei, the king of Chu, to search and arrest and kill them. At this time, Jia Nanfeng appeared and claimed that Sima Wei, the king of Chu, had false edicts, killed ministers without permission, and plotted against him, and put Sima Wei, the king of Chu, to death, so that the power of the government was fully controlled by Empress Jia.

In order to control the government for a long time, Zhao Jia Nanfeng designed to wrongfully accuse the crown prince Sima Suo and depose him as a commoner, and everyone was deeply dissatisfied with the deposed prince, and Sima Lun ,the ninth son of Sima Yi) the Prince of Zhao took advantage of this opportunity to use this opportunity to plot against Jia Nanfeng, releasing rumors that some people were plotting to depose Jia Nanfeng and restore the crown prince, hoping to kill the prince by the hand of Jia Nanfeng, and then using the killing of the prince as a reason to attack Jia Nanfeng. As a result, after the rumors spread, he successfully made Jia Nanfeng scheming, and sent his henchman Huang Mensun to Xuchang to kill the crown prince, so Sima Lun attacked and captured Jia Nanfeng with a false edict, and soon after poisoned, Sima Lun the King of Zhao began to control the government.

Sima Lun the Prince of Zhao was incompetent, but his confidant Sun Xiu forged a spell and pretended to be emperor Chan's edict, and in 301 AD Sima Lun usurped the throne as emperor, and sent Sima Zheng, the Emperor of Jinhui, to Jin Yongcheng under house arrest, and transferred Sima Ran, the King of Qi, who was involved in the deposing of Jia, to Xuchang. After Sima Lun succeeded to the throne, his actions caused dissatisfaction among many of the princes of the domain, and Sima Yan (Sima Zhao's grandson and Sima You's second son) joined forces with Sima Ying (Sima Yan's sixteenth son, Sima Zheng and Sima Chi's half-brother), Sima Yi the Prince of Hejian (sima Yi's third brother Sima Fu's grandson and cousin of Emperor Sima Yan of Jinwu), Sima Yan the Prince of Changshan (sima Yan's sixth son, Sima Zheng and Sima Zhao's half-brother), and Ma Xin of the Xinye company Ma Xin (sima Yi's grandson) to jointly attack Sima Lun. The Three Kings raised their troops like bamboo and soon attacked the city of Luoyang. Upon hearing this news in Luoyang, the left general Wang You raised an army to kill Sun Xiu in Zhongshu Province, and in the name of Sima Lun the King of Zhao, he ordered his generals to dismiss the troops, escort Sima Lun the King of Zhao to Jinyong City, and restore Sima Zheng, the Emperor of Jin, from Jin Yongcheng, and soon Sima Lun was given death.

Sima Yuan, the king of Qi, took charge of the imperial government as the Grand Sima Of Qi, but he was very popular with civil engineering, indulged in wine, nepotism, and killing courtiers, and the world was greatly disappointed, so Sima Yuan, the king of Hejian, first counted the crimes of Sima Yuan, the king of Qi, and at the same time led his army to the east, but Sima Qi, the king of Changsha, also led his troops into the palace first, captured Sima Yuan, the king of Qi, and killed him. Sima Yong, the king of Hejian, wanted to use Henan Yin, Shizhong, Zhongshuling, and others to murder Sima Qi, the king of Changsha, but was discovered by the king of Changsha. Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, also felt that the king of Changsha was in the way of the dynasty, and wanted to unite with the king of Hejian to get rid of the king of Changsha, so he sent troops to attack, and the three kings were glued to the war, and there was a victory or defeat for each other. Sima Yue, the king of the Eastern Sea of The Great Sikong, was worried that Sima Qi, the king of Changsha, would not be able to win the war, so he planned to capture the king of Changsha, and then sent the king of Changsha to the hejian king to send Zhang Fang, who killed the king of Changsha.

Sima Ying, the king of Hejian and Sima Ying the king of Chengdu, became the biggest winners, and Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, was given the title of twenty counties after the war and was promoted to the position of chancellor, but soon returned to the base area of Yecheng, and the king of Hejian deposed the crown prince Sima Qin and made Sima Yue the prince of Chengdu the emperor's brother- After Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, arrived in Yecheng, he was arrogant and arrogant, and reused his cronies, which disappointed the government and the public, and these acts also caused Sima Ying to invite an excuse for revenge. In 304 AD, the Right Guard general Chen Xiao (陈眕), the old general Shangguan Wei (上官巳) the King of Changsha, and others raised an army against the King of Chengdu in Luoyang, restored Sima Qin, the King of Qinghe, as crown prince, and sent Emperor Hui on his expedition, but the crusading army was defeated at the Battle of Dangyin, and Sima Zheng, the Emperor of Jinhui, became a prisoner of Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu.

Sima Ying, the king of Hejian, saw that he could not defeat Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, so he invited the military commander Wang Jun of Youzhou to lead the Wuhuan cavalry and Duanbu Xianbei Duan Wubeichen to attack together, defeated Shi Chao and took advantage of the victory to attack Yicheng, and after the defeat of the Chengdu wang soldiers, he fled with Emperor Hui of Jin to Luoyang, which was controlled by Zhang Fang, and Zhang Fang immediately abducted Emperor Hui of Jin and returned to Chang'an, the base of the king of Hejian, and the king of Hejian deposed the emperor's brother-in-law, sent him back to the country, and replaced him with Sima Chi, the king of Yuzhang, as the emperor's brother-in-law. Zhang Fang's strong threat to Emperor Hui of Jin to move west made the world angry, and Sima Yue, the king of the Eastern Sea (the grandson of Sima Yi's fourth brother Sima Kui), took the opportunity to raise an army in Xuzhou to attack the king of Hejian, and after a year of fighting, the crusading army invaded Chang'an, welcomed Emperor Hui of Jin to return to the east, and Sima Yue, the king of Hejian, fled.

Emperor Hui of Jin returned to Luoyang, Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, was killed by a false edict, and six months later Emperor Hui of Jin died of poisoning, and the Emperor of Jinhuai, Sima Zhaoli, was still in charge of the government of the East China Sea, and took advantage of the opportunity of summoning the king of Hejian to serve as a situ to kill Sima Yue, the king of Hejian, on the way, and Sima Yue, the king of the East Sea, then led the government of the Jin Dynasty until his death in 311 AD.

Sima Yue, the king of the Eastern Seas, seized power after the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, but during this period he was not only unable to control the growing Xiongnu Han state regime, but also left Luoyang in 310 with a large number of troops and princes and ministers under the pretext of conquest of the Han state, resulting in weak defenses in Luoyang and rampant banditry. After his death, he led a large army and the han general Shi Le massacred, and in 313 AD, the Xiongnu Khanate Emperor Liu Cong took advantage of the situation to attack Luoyang and capture Emperor Huai of Jin. Although Sima Yi ascended the throne in Chang'an after Emperor Huai of Jin was killed, he was also captured in 316 AD, and the Western Jin Dynasty was officially destroyed.

The Rebellion of the Eight Kings lasted for sixteen years, during which there were wars from time to time, the imperial court was no longer able to control the whole country, and the areas affected by the war were getting larger and larger, in addition to the kings attacking each other, there were also the chaos of the Qi people in the 10,000 years, the uprising of the displaced people in Chenghan, and a series of wars fought by the Han Zhao regime against the western Jin dynasty court. These wars have caused severe damage to many areas, famine and epidemics have occurred frequently, and many people have been forced to leave their hometowns to become displaced people.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the southern Xiongnu tribes moved to Hanoi County, and Cao Cao divided the Xiongnu into five parts, living in Hezhou. During the Rebellion of the Eight Kings of the Jin Dynasty, the Xiongnu Liu Yuan took this opportunity to unite the Xiongnu tribes, take advantage of the situation, establish the Han State, and then destroy the Western Jin Dynasty. During and after the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, foreign tribes were often involved in wars in the Central Plains, such as Liu Kun,the Assassin of Hezhou (和州刺史琨) who repeatedly associated with Tuoba Yilu (拓跋猗鲁) to oppose the Han Dynasty, and Wang Jun and Sima Teng(司馬腾) also joined forces with the Wuhuan people and Duanbu Xianbei against the King of Chengdu, all of which contributed to the advent of the Wuhu Chaohua era.