The "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" that occurred in the Western Jin Dynasty was the largest imperial civil unrest in history, which directly led to the demise of the Great Unified Dynasty of the Western Jin Dynasty. The "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" lasted sixteen years and was divided into two stages. The first stage lasted for three months, from March 291, when Empress Dowager Jia Nanfeng, the Empress Dowager Sima Zheng of Jin, instigated Sima Wei, the King of Chu, to enter The Capital to kill Yang Jun, an auxiliary chancellor, and in June, Jia Nanfeng ordered sima liang, the prince of Runan, The chancellor Wei Wan, and Sima Wei, the king of Chu, to kill sima liang, the chancellor.
After the murder of the "Second King", Jia Nanfeng took full control of the imperial government, although she reused her brother Jia Mo, nephew Jia Mi, cousin Guo Zhang, and other relatives and henchmen, but she also used Zhang Hua, Pei Jun, Pei Kai, Wang Rong and other famous ministers to govern the government, and the operation of the Western Jin regime was still relatively stable, and this period lasted for 8 years. It can be seen that the first stage of civil strife did not bring disaster to the Western Jin Dynasty.
Eight Kings Rebellion image map
The fatal blow to the Western Jin Dynasty was the second stage of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings". That is, from 299 AD when Jia Nanfeng wanted to depose the crown prince Sima Song, to 306 AD, when Sima Chi, the emperor of Jinhuai, ascended the throne and Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea, assisted the government, it lasted for seven years.
It was this seven-year-long scuffle between the princes and kings that caused political turmoil, the people were not happy, the people were in turmoil, the people were in turmoil, and foreign invasions led to the rapid demise of the Western Jin Dynasty.
The trigger that triggered the large-scale attack and massacre of the Western Jin dynasty royal family and pushed the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" to a climax was the abolition of the crown prince by Empress Jia Nanfeng of the Jin Hui Emperor. But behind it, there is a small person who has to be mentioned - Sun Xiu. It was his appearance that disrupted Jia Nanfeng's wishful thinking, not only pushing Jia Nanfeng to the end of the road, but also pushing the civil strife of the Western Jin dynasty to a climax, triggering a large-scale scuffle between princes and kings, and finally pushing the Western Jin Dynasty to the end.
The Rebellion of the Eight Kings took the opportunity to invade
First, the cold door officials, flattering and promoting, the first arrogance
Sun Xiu was a native of Langya (present-day Linyi, Shandong) and his birth year is unknown. The records of him in the history books are relatively scattered. According to the analysis of historical materials from all aspects, he was born in Hanmen, and in the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, he served as a small official in Langya County. At that time, Sima Yi's ninth son Sima Lun was the King of Langya County, so Sun Xiu had been serving under Sima Lun.
"Chu Sun Xiu was an official of Langya County, and he asked for a pin in the township council, and Rong Cong's brother Yan would not allow it, and Rong persuaded him to do so." (Book of Jin) – This record reveals two pieces of information: First, Sun Xiu was born in the cold door. The Western Jin Dynasty officials practiced the nine-pin Zhongzheng system, and he took the initiative to request to participate in the "township council" appraisal, and Wang Rong's younger brother Wang Yan, who was a famous scholar, thought that he was not qualified enough, and only under the persuasion of Wang Rong did he let him participate in the township council; second, although Sun Xiu was only a small official at this time, he already had a certain reputation, so Wang Rong persuaded Wang Yan to let him participate in the township council appraisal.
Sun Xiu image diagram
According to the "Biography of Sima Lun of the Book of Jin", "Xiu started from the small history of Langya, tired officials in the State of Zhao, and flattered himself" "Xiu was also cunning and cunning, greedy and profitable." Sun Xiu was cunning and cunning, lustful and greedy, and had little talent, starting from Xiao Shi, relying on flattery and flattery, and after being promoted to become an official, he has been serving under Sima Lun, the King of Zhao.
Sun Xiu followed Sima Lun for a long time, relying on flattery and his own cleverness, trying his best to please Sima Lun and advise him, so he was deeply favored by Sima Lun and also promoted his arrogance. When Sima Lun was the general of the Western Expedition, Sun Xiu relied on his power and indiscriminately imposed punishments and rewards, triggering a rebellion by the Qi and Qiang peoples, and after the Yongzhou Assassination History was dissolved, the imperial court recalled Sima Lun. Later Liang's sima wei was appointed as the general of Zhengxi, and all the generals advised Sima Shu to kill Sun Xiu in order to appease the resentment of Qiang and Qi, and Sun Xiu's friend Xin Ran tried his best to intercede, and Sun Xiu had to avoid death.
Second, give advice, borrow a knife to kill people, and kill the prince and empress
After Sima Lun, the King of Zhao, was recalled to the capital, he was appointed as a cheqi general and crown prince. At this time, Empress Jia Nanfeng took control of the imperial government. Sima Lun took the opportunity to befriend Jia Nanfeng and became a close confidant of Jia Nanfeng.
After Jia Nanfeng took power, because he had been childless and feared that the crown prince Sima Su would succeed to the throne and lose power himself, in 299 AD, he found an excuse to drunk the prince with wine, forced him to copy a document prepared in advance to make Emperor Hui of Jin abdicate, framed the prince for being eager to usurp the throne, and deposed and imprisoned the prince.
Sima Zheng, Emperor Hui of Jin
The innocent deposing of the crown prince caused dissatisfaction among the courtiers, and Sima Ya and Xu Chao, who served the crown prince, contacted Sima Lun, who was then the crown prince's wife and held the power of the forbidden army, through Sun Xiu, and wanted to depose Jia and restore the crown prince, sima Lun agreed, and began to make preparations.
However, Sun Xiu believed that the prince was very clever, and if the prince took the throne in the future and appointed a virtuous minister, he would inevitably not be reused. So he persuaded Sima Lun to say: "Now the whole court knows that you are close to Jia Hou, after abolishing Jia, restoring the prince, although you can make you a meritorious contribution, but after all, you are Jia Hou's gang, and the prince may not reuse you in the future." It is better not to be a little more upset, Jia Hou will definitely plot to kill the prince, and at that time, wouldn't it be more advantageous to exterminate Jia Hou in the name of murdering the prince? ”
"Things will arise, and The prince of Xiuzhi is wise, and if he returns to the Eastern Palace, he will seek government with the sages, and he will not be able to judge himself, but he will not be able to do so, but he said: 'The prince is fierce and fierce, and he must not be privately invited.'" After the Ming Gong su shi Jia, the time discussion was based on gong as the party of the Jia clan. Although he wants to make a great contribution to the prince now, the prince is angry, and he will not be rewarded by the Ming Gongyi. Now that the matter is postponed, Jia Hou will harm the prince, and then after the abolition, it is enough to avenge the prince, and it is enough to make meritorious contributions, and it is only a disaster to avoid disaster. 'Lun follows it. (Book of Jin)
A sentence awakened Sima Lun, so the two began a bigger plan. Sun Xiu first deliberately spread the news that some people wanted to depose Jia Hou and restore the crown prince, so that Jia Hou and Jia Mi and his gang would know about it. Sima Lun and Sun Xiu also persuaded In front of Jia Hou and Jia Mi that the crown prince should be removed as soon as possible to avoid future troubles. Xiu Nai slightly leaked his plot, which made the Party quite aware of it. Lun and Xiu were persuaded to harm the prince early, in order to despair. (Book of Jin)
Empress Dowager Jia Nanfeng of the Jin Dynasty
Jia Hou's gang did not know what the plan was, and after hearing the rumors of the restoration of the crown prince, they were very worried, so they sent the eunuch Sun Wei to kill the prince. After the crown prince was killed, Sima Lun and Sun Xiu immediately took action, falsely issuing edicts to organize Sima Ran, the prince of Qi, and others to arrest Jia Hou and his cohort Jia Mi and others for the crime of murdering the prince, and all of them were killed, along with the important ministers Zhang Hua, Pei Jun, Jie Jie, Xie Jie, Du Bin, and so on.
Since then, Sima Lun has controlled the power of the imperial government, and he has impersonated edicts, declared himself the governor of Dadu, Xiangguo, and Shizhong, and sealed civil and military officials, buying people's hearts, and as many as thousands of people were named marquises alone. Sun Xiu was even given the title of Daigun (大郡食邑) and held military power.
Third, once the dynasty gains power, it acts arbitrarily, and eventually leads to disaster and death
After Sima Lun took power, Sun Xiu was more favored for his meritorious contributions. In order to seek greater power, Sun Xiu also sent Yamen Sun to pretend to be a ghost, under the pretext of Emperor Xuan's sima Yi's words, to let Sima Lun ascend to the throne early, and arranged for his confidants to make emperor Chan edicts, forced Emperor Hui to hand over the seal, and persuaded Sima Lun to ascend the throne as emperor.
After Sima Lun pretended to be prevaricating, he took the throne in 300 AD and proclaimed himself emperor, honoring Emperor Hui as Emperor Taishang and changing the yuan to the beginning. Sun Xiu's persuasion was meritorious, and he was also given the titles of Shizhong (侍中), Zhongshu Supervisor (中書監), and HuiQi (骠骠將軍), and later he was given the titles of Auxiliary General and Xiangguo Sima (相国司馬), and he became a figure of power and opposition.
Sima Lun, King of Zhao
Sima Lun had no knowledge, was mediocre, and lacked wisdom and strategy, so he listened to Sun Xiu in everything, and Sun Xiu was temporarily powerful. "Lun has no learning, does not know the book" "Lun Su is mediocre, has no wisdom, is subject to Xiu, the authority of Xiu is vibrating in the imperial court, and everything in the world is showy and there is no desire for Lun." (Book of Jin)
Sun Xiu was a traitorous villain, and as soon as he gained power, he exposed his arrogant, adulterous, cruel, greedy and lustful nature. Taking advantage of Sima Lun's trust in him and his own cleverness, he toyed with Sima Lun in the palm of his hand, wantonly murdered courtiers, and formed parties for personal gain.
Si Li engaged in a contradiction between You Hao and Yin Chao, who lured You Hao's household slave Jinxing and falsely accused You Hao and Xiangyang Zhongzheng Li Mai of rebellion, and Sun Xiu arrested and killed them without censorship; Zhang Lin and he were both Sima Lun's subordinates, but because of the contradiction between the two, Sun Xiu persuaded Sima Lun to kill Zhang Lin and exterminate his three clans.
When Pan Yue, the first beautiful man of the Western Jin Dynasty, Caizi, and Huangmenlang, was appointed as the inner history of Langya, Sun Xiu served Pan Yue as a small history. Pan Yue hated Sun Xiu's personality and whipped Sun Xiu many times, and Sun Xiu was very jealous. "Chu Qian (Pan Yue's father) is Lang Yan Neishi, and Sun Xiu is Xiao Shi to Yue, and cunning and self-congratulatory. Yue hated him as a human being, and after Several insults, Xiu Chang was angry that "after Sun Xiu gained power in the JinShu Pan Yue Biography, he killed Pan Yue and his family all for treason.
Pan Yue (Pan An), the first beautiful man of the Western Jin Dynasty
Pan Yue's good friend, Shi Chong, the richest man in the Western Jin Dynasty and a wei wei, also had a conflict with Sun Xiu, who, after gaining power, coveted his huge wealth and the beauty of Shi Chong's favored concubine Lu Zhu, and openly sent someone to ask for the green beads, after Shi Chong's refusal, the green beads fell from the building and committed suicide, and Sun Xiu instigated Sima Lun to exterminate Shi Chong's clan and take away his family wealth.
Sun Xiu's son, Sun Hui, was short and ugly, and originally made a living by selling horses. After Sun Xiu gained power, he was made a lieutenant of the Shooting Sound School, and soon after Jia Hou's death, Sun Xiu forcibly married Jia Hou's daughter Princess Hedong for his son.
Sun Xiu persuaded Sima Lun to be the emperor of merit, and he was deeply favored by Sima Lun, and became more and more arbitrary. In the affairs of the imperial court, no matter how big or small, Sima Lun had to consult his opinion first. Sun Xiu also casually deleted and revised Sima Lun's edicts, sometimes four times a day, causing dissatisfaction among the courtiers.
Shi Chong's favorite concubine Lu Zhu
Sima Lun's usurpation of the throne and Sun Xiu's arrogance finally triggered a large-scale civil unrest in the Western Jin Dynasty, and Sima Yun, the king of Huainan, took the lead in rebelling against Sima Lun and Sun Xiu, but was soon defeated and killed. Subsequently, Sima Ran, the King of Qi, joined forces with Sima Yuan, the King of Hejian and Sima Ying, the King of Chengdu, to take the opportunity to raise an army, and the "Three Kings" joined forces to attack Sima Lun and Sun Xiu, and the hundred officials and generals all wanted to kill them.
Sima Lun and Sun Xiu were terrified, sent troops to fight, and were defeated and retreated. Finally, Sun Xiu ordered that all the sons of officials under the age of 15 in the capital be gathered together and followed in battle, but due to the unpopularity of Sima Lun and Sun Xiu, the Left Guard general Wang Youyi rebelled and led his troops into the palace to behead Sun Xiu.
Sima Lun was defeated and captured, covered his face with a scarf, and shouted, "Sun Xiu harmed me!" Sun Xiu hurt me! Emperor Hui of Jin restored him to death.
Although the imperial civil unrest caused by a minor official of the Western Jin Dynasty ended temporarily with Sima Lun and Sun Xiu being reprimanded and Emperor Hui of Jin restored to the throne, this civil unrest that lasted more than 60 days killed more than 100,000 people and further exacerbated the crisis of the Western Jin Dynasty's rule.
Moreover, the victory of the "Three Kings" did not end the civil strife of the Western Jin Dynasty, but on the contrary pushed the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" into a more protracted and more chaotic and complex situation: After that, the princes and princes continued to launch round after round of mutual attacks because of the struggle for power and profit, and the Xiongnu, The Qiang, and other foreign forces took advantage of the opportunity to enter, causing serious damage to the social economy of the Western Jin Dynasty, and the class contradictions and ethnic contradictions broke out in an all-round way, which eventually led to the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Central Plains entered a period of turmoil in the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms that lasted for nearly three hundred years.
(Reference: Book of Jin)