Chapter 3 2. Huan Xuan's ambition

When Sun En was advancing to Jiankang, Huanxuan Shangshu, who was far away in Jingzhou, asked to go down the river to fight against the rebels.Sima Yuanxian, the real power faction in Jiankang City, was jealous of Huanxuan, and would rather vigorously promote Liu Yu and other low-ranking generals than Huanxuan to come to the capital and cause trouble.In the name of Emperor An, he issued an edict to order Jingzhou's army to stand by on the spot, and Jiankang's Beifu soldiers were enough to handle it. Jingzhou is also very ambitious. This Huan Xuan is the son of Huan Wen, so he naturally inherited many similar genes.His father wanted to proclaim himself emperor back then, but his luck was not good, and his support rate was not high enough to persuade him to advance, so he died of hatred.Huanxuan's talent is far worse than that of his father, but he can catch up with a "good year": the Eastern Jin Dynasty is in trouble at home and abroad, and the two factions of Sima Daozi and Liu Laozhi seem to be in harmony with each other, so there is just a gap to take advantage of.So he wrote a letter to Sima Daozi, mocking the emperor's uncle severely.The content of the letter is included in "Book of Jin Biography of Sima Daozi". The whole text does not contain dirty words, and the writing is quite interesting:

"The thieves built the suburbs, the wind can't enter, the rain can't make the fire, the food is exhausted, the ear is gone, it is not the strength (Sun En failed to capture Jiankang, but the lack of the right time and place, it is not that you can't beat you). The former national treasure (Wang Guobao) ) died, Wang Gong did not take advantage of this prestige to enter the unified government, which shows that his heart was not insulting to the Duke of Ming, but called him disloyal. Heart, who is the one who sometimes loses hope? How can it be said that there is no good victory? It has always been unbelievable (today's high-ranking officials and dignitaries, how can there be any celebrities who have clear hope? Could it be said that there is no good? It's just that they can't trust each other). Use reason People who are good, then they can be loyal and trustworthy; those who seek profit, how can they be more trusting of evil (for a gentleman who is reasonable, he can be treated with faith; for a villain who pursues profit, what kind of faith is there?—— This sentence makes perfect sense. It has always been the same when discussing the word "faith" throughout the ages)? It has been a long time, and it has become the disaster of today. Ah Heng (the ancient official name, referring to the assistant minister) is so important, it is not easy to say, ask Blessings come to the fore, and disobedience or disasters. A gentleman in the court would not have a heart, but he is afraid of harming his body and ears. Xuan Xi's appointment is far away, so he writes the facts (it is not that the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty do not understand this reason, but only It’s just that I’m afraid of harming myself, so I, Huan Xuan, have to take my leave, so I’m going to tear my skin apart and tell the truth).”

Every sentence in a text message hits the point. On the surface, it is talking about great principles, but underneath it is full of knives.Sima Daozi and his son read it with horror and anxiety.Sima Yuanxian has a counselor named Zhang Fashun who is deeply loved by Sima Yuanxian. After reading this letter, he advised him to act first. Soldiers are the vanguard, and if you send troops to crusade, you will definitely be able to deal with Huanxuan.Sima Yuanxian was hesitant, but it happened that Huan Xuan's subordinate Yu Kai, the prefect of Wuchang, sent a big gift and offered to ask Ying to be an internal response to cooperate with the imperial army to attack Huan Xuan.Sima Yuanxian was overjoyed, so he issued an imperial edict in the first month of the first year of Emperor Jin'an Yuanxing (402 A.D.) to list Huan Xuan's crimes, and launched a large-scale crusade by land and water.

Huan Xuanyuan was in Jingzhou, and he believed that the imperial court had just been damaged by Sun En's rebellion, and there were many problems, and it was impossible to have the opportunity to trouble him immediately, so he did not take any early warning measures.Fortunately, there was someone in the Huan clan, and Huanxuan's cousin Tai Fu Chang Shi Huan Shisheng sent a secret letter to announce the news (Sima Yuanxian originally planned to get rid of the Huan clan, and his favored hussar chief Shi Wang Dan happened to be Huan Xiu of the Central Guard. Uncle, after a few good words, Sima Yuanxian could not find Bei, and did not deal with his son surnamed Huan. Lianlian is not a glamorous thing at all, but Sima Yuanxian’s kindness has finally dug his own grave).

Frightened, Huan Xuan planned to stick to Jiangling to delay the opportunity.The bystander Qing, the long history Bian Fanzhi said: "Duke Huan is famous far and near, and the world is shaking; Sima Yuanxian is still young, and Liu Laozhi is unpopular (as mentioned earlier, Liu Laozhi's Beifu soldiers fought very well, but their military discipline was so poor that they were not popular in the court and the opposition. What a good reputation: the government is afraid that he will overpower the Lord, and the opposition hates his insatiable greed), if our army can approach the capital, we will use both kindness and power to make them collapse. Is there any reason to lure the enemy into the country and seek death?"

This guy Huanxuan has much stronger views and ambitions than Sima Daozi and his son, but in the end he is still the same thing, and he reacts similarly to similar advice.Hearing this, his confidence suddenly increased, and he asked his brother Huan Wei to stay in Jiangling, while he himself went up to spread the word, retaliated against him in the same way, listed Sima Yuanxian's various crimes, and then led his troops down the east of the river and went straight to Jian When Kang came, it was like entering a land without people along the way. The few resistances were easily repelled, and the governor of Yuzhou and Sima Shangzhi, the king of Qiao, were also captured.

Liu Laozhi played a "key role" at this time: he bore the name of Sima Yuanxian's "forward governor", but when the war came, he took a wait-and-see attitude. ).His son Liu Jingxuan, nephew He Wuji, and Liu Yu all believed that Jingzhou soldiers were stronger than Sima Yuanxian's Jiangdong soldiers, so they should lead Beifu soldiers to take the initiative to attack to eliminate future troubles.Liu Laozhi believed that it would not be difficult to pacify Huanxuan, but if the cunning rabbit dies and the good dog cooks, if Huanxuan is eliminated, he will be controlled by Sima Yuanxian in the future. It is better to use Huanxuan's power to get rid of Sima Daozi and his son first, and then make plans .Huan Xuan also saw through Liu Laozhi's mind, and lost no time in sending Liu Laozhi's uncle He Mu to persuade him to surrender.Liu Laozhi took advantage of the opportunity to board the "thief ship" and asked Liu Jingxuan to surrender to Huanxuan camp.

Sima Yuanxian had no real soldiers to use, so he had no will to resist. He heard that Huan Xuan had arrived at Xinting, south of the capital, so he abandoned his warship and returned to Jiankang.Huanxuan's army came after him, brandishing their knives and shouting: "Put down your weapons!" Sima Yuanxian's soldiers immediately collapsed, and Sima Yuanxian fled back to the mansion, leaving only the "dog-headed army officer" Zhang Fashun by his side.Seeing their father Sima Daozi, the two could only cry at each other, helpless.The ambitious but incompetent father and son were captured without a fight. Huan Xuan ordered Sima Yuanxian's party to be killed, and then ordered his men to secretly poison Sima Daozi to death on the road to exile.

Huan Xuan initially took control of the overall situation in Jiankang, and immediately took three measures to consolidate his power: The first is to appoint Liu Laozhi as the internal historian of Kuaiji. On the surface, this position is No. 1 in power in a county, but in fact it deprives Liu Laozhi of his control over the Beifu soldiers.One of Liu Lao, Jie Wufu, was born as a martial artist. He regards military power as his lifeblood, and intends to fight against Huanxuan according to Jiangbei.He found Liu Yu in private to discuss countermeasures.How clever Liu Yu was, he immediately pointed out that Huan Xuan "newly achieved ambitions, and his power shook the world. The relationship between the three armies is gone." Now it is useless to confront him.He asked Liu Laozhi to return to his hometown Jingkou.General He Wuji asked Liu Yu about the current situation. Liu Yu replied: "I think Liu Laozhi will die. You might as well go back to Jingkou with me to see the changes. If Huan Xuan is willing to be a minister, we will Follow him honestly. If not, you and I can still fight against him."

Liu Jianzhi summoned his subordinates for a meeting and planned to attack Huan Xuan.Liu Xi, who joined the army, said angrily: "The last thing the world should do is to rebel. The general rebelled against Wang Gong back then, Sima Yuanxian recently, and now Huan Xuan; one person rebelled three times, why should he stand in the world?!" Said He walked away in a huff, and the rest of the generals also left one after another.Liu Laozhi panicked and asked his son Liu Jingxuan to go to Jingkou to meet his family. He didn't see anyone at the appointed time, thinking that the matter had been revealed, he led his troops and fled northward in a hurry to Xinzhou. He was desperate and hanged himself to death.Liu Laozhi, who was almost synonymous with Beifu soldiers, ended his life in such a embarrassing way.

From the different performances of Liu Laozhi and Liu Yu before and after Huanxuan sent troops, we can see the gap between the two: Liu Laozhi is very strong in military affairs, but he is almost an idiot in other aspects, especially in the judgment of interests It seems quite naive, and he is a "family slave of the three surnames" in terms of political standpoint. He has no faith at all and cannot get the support of the majority. Liu Yu is different. Although Wang Fuzhi and others accused him of "one person and three antis" in the historical commentary (first against Liu Laozhi, then against Huan Xuan, and finally "against" Jin and proclaiming himself emperor), his so-called anti It's not a simple "scratch on the wall" type of reaction, but rather a principle of acting. Before making a decision every time, he fully analyzed the situation and made careful plans for future actions.Therefore, Liu Yu not only has his own way of fighting, but also judges the situation, uses strength when it should be strong, and shows weakness when it should be weak. As long as people have a little more luck, success is just around the corner. Huan Xuan easily got rid of Liu Laozhi, and then he showed no mercy to the former Beifu soldiers.Wuxing prefect Gao Su, generals Zhu Qianzhi, Zhu Langzhi, Liu Xi, Liu Jiwu and many other outstanding generals were killed. The remnants headed by Liu Jingxuan and clan Sima Xiuzhi wanted to rebel, and they were not opponents, so they had to flee to Nanyan and Later Qin, the two northern neighbors. The next measure was to reform the internal affairs, dismiss treacherous ministers, and promote talented people. Many outstanding officials appeared in various parts of the Eastern Jin Dynasty during this period. He also ordered to restrict the unrestrained development of monks and nuns in Buddhist temples.These were originally good things to get rid of the bad government and stabilize the current situation. Unfortunately, Huan Xuan's actions were just to take the opportunity to increase his prestige and expand his influence. Soon he exposed his extravagant and indulgent nature. The crisis of the Eastern Jin Dynasty reappeared by forming a party for personal gain.At that time, Yuan Qianzhi, the former general of the Beifu army who defected to the Hou Qin, commented that Huan Xuan was not as talented as his father, and his role was just to "drive away the ears of others"; Heroes are destroyed." The ambitious Huan Xuan ended up making wedding clothes for others.