Pirates are known as robbers at sea, but there was a person in the Eastern Jin Dynasty who became synonymous with pirates, and he was Sun En. However, Sun En was not a pirate from the beginning, his family was a sub-clan of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Although his family's status in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was not very high, it was higher than the average Shou clan. So how did he become a pirate? There are two main reasons for this.
1. Revenge
Why did Sun En take revenge, and what did he have to do with revenge when he became a pirate? Sun Eun mainly avenges his uncle. Sun En's uncle was Sun Tai, and Sun Tai was the master of the Wudoumi Daoist Sect, who had worked for Sima Daozi, the Prince of Huiji.
Therefore, he had some understanding of the affairs of the imperial court, and he was a religious leader, and the believers were all over the south, and he had a certain power, so he was dissatisfied with some of the systems of the imperial court, but he had no reason to confront the imperial court.
However, during the period of Emperor An of Jin, the opportunity came, Wang Gong rebelled against the imperial court, and Sun Tai found a reason, he believed that Wang Gong was a foreign minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and was not satisfied with the imperial court, so it seemed that there was indeed a problem in the imperial court, so Sun Tai also planned to rebel.
However, before Sun Tai could raise an army, his plot was exposed, so Sima Daozi killed Sun Tai, otherwise Sima Daozi would also be implicated. This forced Sun En to flee, or he would be killed by Sima Daozi.
Where did he go? Since the Sun family lived in Huiji, Sun En fled to the Zhoushan Islands, laying the foundation for becoming a pirate.
The purpose of his escape to the island was to avenge his uncle Sun Tai, and hundreds of Sun Tai's followers knew that Sun En had gone to the island, so they went to the island to support Sun En, waiting for the opportunity to prepare to avenge Sun Tai.
So avenge Sun Tai and let Sun En take the first step towards his career as a pirate.
2. Dissatisfaction with the Door Valve Clan
Sun Tai rebelled against the Eastern Jin court because he was dissatisfied with the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Gatekeeper clan. The Mongol clan was a privileged class in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, holding great power in the Tokyo imperial court and hereditary official positions.
This made it impossible for people from other classes to be treated fairly, and of course they were opposed to the Gatekeeper Clan.
After Sun Tai was killed, Sun En was forced to flee to the pirates, but he did not give up revenge, nor did he give up the struggle with the Gate Valve Clan. For example, during the reign of Emperor An of Jin, the Mongol clans in Jiangsu and Zhejiang expressed dissatisfaction with the removal of officials and slaves and the appointment of them to the army.
This incident showed that the Mengmen clan wanted to maintain their privileges, but Sun En took advantage of this to attack the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions and intended to overthrow the Eastern Jin Dynasty, at which time the Tokyo imperial court sent Liu Gaozhi and others to lead an army to resist Sun En, and as a result, Sun En's war was unfavorable and he withdrew to the island.
In the next two years, Sun En attacked the Suzhou and Zhejiang regions several times, because the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was Jiankang (Nanjing), which was obviously to oppose the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Mengmen clan.
Sun En was not a pirate at the beginning, and he did not want to be a pirate, but as the situation continued to develop, he had to become a pirate.
He initially wanted to avenge his uncle, but at the same time he also opposed the Eastern Jin Dynasty' Mongol clan, and eventually evolved into opposition to the entire Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Why? Because if Sun En only wanted revenge, then if he attacked Sima Daozi, he could avenge his uncle.
However, he repeatedly launched attacks on the Eastern Jin Dynasty from the island and directly attacked the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was no longer a simple revenge.
Since Sun En retreated to the island and always attacked the land, it is not an exaggeration to call him a pirate.
Judging from the process of Sun En's transformation into a pirate, it shows that what a person wants to do is not completely according to his own wishes. What kind of business a person can do is affected by the situation at that time, and then change the goal and direction.
Of course, this does not mean that when the environment forces you, you can become a pirate. Sun En had his last resort, but this was not necessarily his best choice, because he later committed suicide by jumping into the sea.
We also have many people in modern times, and the choice of life is also forced. For example, the work he engaged in was not exactly the same as the major he studied, or after going to society, he found that the reality was far from the ideal of his childhood.
But this is the normal state of life, except that the laws of the universe do not change, everything else is changing. In the face of unsatisfactory things, we must learn to choose, even if we can't choose what we like, don't choose a hopeless path.
Therefore, we must put a good attitude and accept the changes given to us by objective reality at any time, as long as we are not ashamed, the work within our ability is good work.
Learn to be patient, and at the same time continue to accumulate our own knowledge, until we have stronger strength, or when the situation becomes favorable to us, we can still show our skills.
bibliography:
Book of Jin, Chronicles 54/34
About the Author:
Chopin: I like Chinese history and have unique views on historical figures and events. I hope to restore the truth of history through words and uncover the little-known secrets of history. Learn about history, grasp the present, and have the wisdom of life.
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