As we all know, the history of ancient China has always had a kind of dynastic cycle law, that is, the so-called "long time will be combined, and long time will be divided." "The hundreds of years after the Western Jin Dynasty briefly unified China was the longest period of great division in China's more than two thousand years of feudal history, from the fourth year of the Western Jin Dynasty (316), when Chang'an was breached and the Western Jin Dynasty was destroyed, to the ninth year of the Sui Dynasty (589), when Emperor Wen of Sui sent a large army to attack the State of Chen to completely complete the unification, which was the famous Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
It is true that for nearly three hundred years there has indeed been a situation of division and war for a long time, but it is not without a moment of approaching national reunification. The Former Qin we are talking about today is a regime that almost completed unification in the past three hundred years, and it not only destroyed the separatist regimes of various ethnic minorities in the north in just ten years, but also marched south with a million troops under the personal leadership of former Qin Emperor Jian Jian, trying to eliminate the Eastern Jin Dynasty in one fell swoop and realize the unification of China. If it were not for the Battle of Shuishui, the Eastern Jin Dynasty defeated The Former Qin with fewer victories and more, China's history may have been rewritten, and China's unification would have been more than two hundred years ahead of schedule. From the perspective of later generations, a very important reason for the fall of Former Qin was the early death of a person who was very important to Former Qin, and this person was Former Qin's chancellor, Wang Meng.
When Wang Meng was born, the Western Jin Dynasty had already perished, and the Qingzhou region where he was born (present-day Shouguang, Shandong) was attacked by Later Zhao's founding monarch Shi Le two years before he was born, and in order to escape the war, Wang Meng's family was displaced and drifted all the way to Wei County (魏郡, in present-day Wei County, Hebei) before resettlement. However, although the family was destitute, Wang Meng was not willing to be poor, he had lofty ambitions, and he loved to learn to the extent that he could not release the scrolls, and he traveled around to understand the situation at that time.
Wang Meng originally had the opportunity to serve later Zhao and the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but both refused because they did not meet his expectations, but the ideal monarch he was waiting for would eventually arrive. After the death of former Qin Emperor Jian Jian, the successor emperor Zhi Sheng was very tyrannical, and The nephew Jian Jian, who had the ambition to save the country, wanted to get rid of Jian Jian, and Jian Jian asked Shang Shu Lü Po Lou for advice on how to get rid of Zhi Sheng, and Lü Po Lou knew that Wang Meng's ability was strongly recommended to him, and Jian Jian saw that Lü Po Lou admired Wang Meng so much, so he asked Lü Po Lou to ask Wang Meng to come to his aid. After talking with Wang Meng, Jian Jian was greatly impressed, and even thought that Wang Meng was his confidant, and the two talked very speculatively, so Wang Meng finally stayed with Jian Jian to serve him.
However, within a year or two, with the help of Wang Meng, Jian Jian eliminated Zhi Sheng and his friends, established himself as the Heavenly King of Great Qin, and changed his name to Yuan Yongxing, and Wang Meng was also appointed by Jian Jian as Zhongshu Shilang, and was able to take charge of state military secrets. Wang Meng was later sent by Jian Jian to govern the localities, and specifically to govern that kind of very chaotic area, at this time Wang Meng's major characteristics in political governance were shown, Wang Meng was very strict in law enforcement, and he would not feel afraid of the identity of the other party at all.
As soon as he arrived in the local area, he was arrested and imprisoned by his superiors and escorted to Chang'an because he had eliminated the officials who were on the side of the disaster, which led to false accusations by the officials' friends. Finally, after learning that Wang Meng was using heavy codes in order to use the legal system to cause chaos, Jian Jian not only pardoned Wang Meng for the crime of executing officials without authorization, but also praised Wang Meng as comparable to Guan Zhong, Zi Chan and others.
Wang Meng's just and righteous deeds made his political achievements very outstanding, and his promotion was like riding a rocket, which also caused the jealousy and hatred of those old nobles, and some generals who followed Jian Jian to fight the world openly insulted Wang Meng, believing that Wang Meng did not have the slightest battle merit but could participate in confidential affairs, and Wang Meng was picking peaches. Wang Meng also confronted him, saying that he wanted to pick these people's peaches. After knowing what these people were thinking, Jian Jian decided to kill the chicken and the monkey to play a deterrent role. As a result, no one dared to openly attack Wang Meng after this incident, and Jian Jian was not soft on those who secretly slandered Wang Meng, and in the end, those who were jealous of Wang Meng no longer dared to hurt Wang Meng.
However, Wang Meng did not intend to spare these old nobles, because many of these people relied on their own identity and merits, acted recklessly and unscrupulously, corrupted the social order, and made the law useless, Wang Meng decided to open a knife to these people. With the cooperation of Yushi Zhongzhong and Deng Qiang, as many as twenty outlaws were disposed of by Wang Meng, and even Jian Jian's brother who wanted to pardon the empress dowager did not have time. After Wang Meng's vigorous law enforcement, the atmosphere of the court was greatly improved, the social order was also stabilized, and the credibility of the law was greatly enhanced.
Of course, Wang Meng did not only deal with the moths among those officials, he also paid attention to the development and recommendation of those officials with real talent and practical learning. After the talented officials were recommended by him, he let them play a role in suitable positions, and gave them full trust, and when there were some innocuous and small faults, Wang Meng would not care. Wang Meng not only vigorously explores talents, but also strives to improve the election and reward and punishment of officials, so that relevant standards can be institutionalized.
After dealing with Former Qin's domestic politics, Jian Jian and Wang Meng decided to expand their military abroad, because they both had the same pursuit, that is, to unify the north and even the whole country. In a very short period of time, the ethnic minority tribes around Former Qin surrendered to Former Qin. Later, Wang Meng led his army to the south to conquer the north, defeating the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the south and plundering more than 10,000 households, and defeating Former Liang's army in the north to achieve a great victory. However, when Wang Meng and Jian Jian were fighting outside, the Rebellion of the Four Dukes occurred in Former Qin, and the Four Dukes, led by the Duke Liu of Jin (the brother of the tyrant Gong Sheng), tried to capture Chang'an and even intended to attract The army of Former Yan to respond, only to be ambushed by Wang Meng's lured enemies deeper and ambushed, and finally the rebellion was completely suppressed by Wang Meng, and only the last heavyweight opponent left in the unified north, Former Yan.
At this time, Huanwen Northern Expedition to Former Yan gave Former Qin a good opportunity, Former Yan could not resist the offensive of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, so at the cost of ceding land to Former Qin, Former Qin's subjects did not agree to rescue, but Wang Meng said that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he thought that Former Qin could defeat Eastern Jin with Former Yan first, at this time, Former Yan, who had just experienced war, was naturally powerless to resist the offensive from Former Qin, and if Huan Wen attacked Former Yan, then Former Qin would be dangerous. Jian Jian agreed with Wang Meng's view and sent troops to rescue Former Yan.
Sure enough, Huan Wen was defeated by the combined forces of Former Qin and Former Yan, and as a result, Former Yan actually planned to break the previous promise at this time and was unwilling to give the promised land to Former Qin, which gave Former Qin an excellent reason to attack Former Yan. Wang Meng personally led an army to attack the State of Yan, captured luoyang, an important town in western Former Yan, and fought until Xingyang, beating King Le'an of Former Yan away before leading his troops back to the dynasty.
The following year, Wang Meng bid farewell to Former Yan at Bashang and attacked Former Yan again, this time preparing to completely destroy Former Yan, and even confidently persuaded Back Former Yan, who was trying to personally conquest, saying that Jian Jian only needed to build a residence for Former Yan's captured monarchs in China. Wang Meng and his general Yang Anbing divided into two roads, Wang Meng took the south road, Yang An took the north road, a total of 60,000 people on both roads, while Murong Ping, who was in charge of The Former Yan, led 300,000 elite soldiers to "meet the enemy", and as a result, Wang Meng was so strong that he even captured the King of Nan'an of Former Yan alive.
After Wang Meng learned that the north road was blocked in Jinyang City, he quickly rushed to the aid, jinyang city pool was strong, Wang Meng decided to outwit, after a week around the city, Wang Meng suddenly wanted the soldiers to dig tunnels into the city to seize the city gate, the soldiers successfully opened the city gate, and the army was able to pour into the city. After the city of Jinyang was destroyed, he captured the Eastern Sea King of Former Yan alive. After that, the Former Qin army attacked the city all the way and fought a decisive battle at Luchuan and Former Yan, Wang Meng's army at this time was quite inferior because a large part of the army remained behind to defend the newly captured city, but Wang Meng made a generous statement at the oath meeting, successfully mobilized the morale of the soldiers, and the Former Qin generals fought bravely to kill the enemy without hesitation, and this battle was completely won, Former Yan was unable to resist, and was finally surrounded by Wang Meng at Yecheng.
Wang Meng strictly restrained the soldiers so that they should not disturb the people of Yicheng, and even swept away the bandits in Yicheng, which made the people of Former Yan feel good about the Former Qin army, after which Jian Jian led 100,000 elite soldiers to meet the division, Former Yan Kaicheng surrendered, and after Former Qin pacified the counties of Former Yan Liaodong, the Former Yan regime was completely eliminated. Wang Meng was also able to add officials to the knighthood, and finally became the chancellor of Former Qin.
Wang Meng's years of hard work eventually made him sick, and he eventually fell ill, and Jian Jian even personally prayed for Wang Meng, and when Wang Meng's condition improved, he also pardoned the world and pardoned criminals other than death row prisoners. But Wang Meng was not cured in the end, and soon after he became critically ill, and before his death, Wang Meng not only told Jian Jian to attach importance to the governance of the country and not neglect Shoucheng because of the expansion of territory, but also resolutely warned Jian Jian not to try to destroy Jin after his death, because the Eastern Jin Dynasty belonged to The Chinese orthodoxy, whether it was the people's heart or the geographical advantages of Former Qin, it was not dominant, and the politics were also very stable, and the ethnic minorities in the north were the real confidants of Former Qin.
After Wang Meng's death, Jian Jian buried Wang Meng with the same specifications that the Han Dynasty treated Huo Guang. Unfortunately, history proves that In the end, Jian Jian did not fully listen to Wang Meng's last words, although Jian Jian completely unified the north after attacking Former Liang and Dai Guo, but in the end the army was defeated, and Former Qin soon collapsed, and Former Qin's dream of reunification also came to naught.