Chapter 4 4. Whose Eastern Jin Dynasty

AD 318 may be epoch-making.The year before, the last emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty was killed.In this year, Sima Rui ascended the throne in Jiankang (now Nanjing) as Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.In the next year, Liu Yao, the emperor of the "Han Kingdom" of the Xiongnu, changed the title of the country to the former Zhao; From then on, the Eastern Jin Dynasty occupied Jiangnan, the former Zhao occupied Guanzhong, and the later Zhao occupied Guandong. The south and north have changed masters or protagonists. In the north, the Hu people are in charge, while in the south, the gentry are in charge.

The Hu family and the gentry are the two pens that write this period of history. It is not surprising that the south became the world of gentry, because Sima Rui, the first emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, did not have much political capital.He was able to establish a government-in-exile and ascend to the throne, relying entirely on the support and support of the gentry.Fortunately, these gentry also had a brilliant politician as the host. He is Director Wang. Wang Zhi was born in a famous family, a native of Langye (Langye is pronounced like Langya, also written as Langya, in today's Linyi City, Shandong Province), and he was an old friend with Sima Rui, who was originally the king of Langya. The Eastern Jin Dynasty actually came from his foresight .Director Wang saw early on that China would be in chaos, so he persuaded Sima Rui to seek the post of General Anton, cross the river and move the town of Jianye (renamed Jiankang during Emperor Jin Min) to prepare for the future.

Facts have proved that Director Wang is very far-sighted.Nine years later, the Western Jin Dynasty really perished.The northern gentry lost their hometown, and the southern gentry lost their center.Politically and culturally important clans went south one after another (known in history as "clothes to the south"), exiled refugees gathered in Jianye (Jiankang), and Jianye became another Luoyang. Sima Rui's proclaiming himself emperor seemed logical. However, Sima Rui, who has just arrived, has no prestige.The northern gentry had no confidence in him, while the southern gentry had doubts about him. Even Sima Rui himself felt a little uneasy about being dependent on others.

It was Director Wang again who did the work. Wang Dao knew very well that the Central Plains would surely fall, and the Jin Dynasty could not be revived. The only way out was to go to Anjiang Zuo and rule with the Hu people in the north.In this way, the vested interests of the aristocratic family may be preserved, and the Chinese civilization will be passed on. This requires a member of the Sima family to be the emperor, and it also requires the full cooperation of the northern and southern gentry.With the former, the status of "Chinese authenticity" can be maintained; with the latter, the new regime will not be a castle in the air.

Too bad it's hard.The northern gentry regarded Jiangdong as a "land of barbarians" and the southerners as "remnants of the subjugated country" (the remnants of the Sun Wu regime); the southern gentry regarded the northern gentry as invaders and hated them for infringing on their territory and interests.Reconciling the contradiction between the two becomes the key. For this reason, Wang Dao was exhausted.He even learned to speak Wu dialect, unlike other northern gentry who insisted on speaking only Luoyang dialect.He also invented the method of sending overseas Chinese, setting up overseas Chinese prefectures, overseas Chinese counties, and overseas Chinese counties in areas with weaker gentry forces in the south, which are equivalent to the special zones and territories of the northern giants in Jiangdong.This takes into account the interests of both parties.More importantly, he won the support of the southern gentry leaders.

For example, Gu Rong. Gu Rong was born in the four major families in Wu County, and his grandfather Gu Yong was Sun Quan's prime minister.Thanks to Director Wang's efforts, Gu Rong took the lead in expressing his support and support to Sima Rui, and the two had a meaningful conversation. Sima Rui said: "I am ashamed to live in another country." Gu Rong knelt down and replied: The king regards the world as his home, please don't pay too much attention to moving the capital. This is actually a kind of tacit understanding.On behalf of the new regime and the northern gentry, Sima Rui admitted that the real owner of Jiangdong was the local aborigines, while Gu Rong, on behalf of the aboriginal gentry in Jiangdong, recognized that the Sima regime was the authentic Chinese and cooperated with it.From then on, the harmony between the north and the south was established, and the foundations of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties were also laid.

Director Wang succeeded. Obviously, without Wang Dao, there would be no Eastern Jin Dynasty. Sima Rui was well aware of this.Therefore, on the day of his ascension to the throne, he even repeatedly invited Wang Dao to sit on the imperial bed with him and accept the congratulations from all the officials.Director Wang had no choice but to decline humbly: If the sun shines with all things, how will the ministers pay their respects? Sima Rui just gave up. However, Wang Dao did not respect the Eastern Jin emperor, and the Jin emperor could not compete with the Wang family for power.In the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the administrative power was in the hands of Wang Dao, while the military power was in the hands of Wang Dao's cousin Wang Dun.Wang Dao is in charge of the government, and Wang Dun is in charge of the military talisman. The actual power is never under the royal family. People at the time said: The king and the horse share the world.

Whose family belongs to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, isn't it clear at a glance? In fact, co-governance by the monarch and his ministers was a characteristic of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but this dynasty only had half of the country, and the powerful officials involved in politics were not only Wang Dao's family.To be precise, the politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was that the high-ranking gentry took turns to sit in the manor, and the four families with the greatest authority and influence were (in order of the order in which they took charge of the government): Wang: Director Wang;

Yu family: Yu Liang; Huan's: Huan Wen; Xie Shi: Xie An. In the old days, Wang Xietang Qianyan was called this. Indeed, Wang Dao and Xie An made the greatest contribution to the Eastern Jin regime.Director Wang created the foundation, while Xie An defended it.In 383 A.D., Fu Jian, the former Qin emperor, sent a large-scale army to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty with an overwhelming advantage.Xie An, who was in power, took his brother Xie Shi as the commander and his nephew Xie Xuan as the vanguard, defending against the enemy outside the country, and defeated Fu Jian's attack in one fell swoop.

This is the famous Battle of Feishui. The Battle of Feishui is of great significance.At that time, the north fell into the hands of the Hu people, and the south was not completely sinicized.The Han nationality and Han culture take Jiangdong as a barrier, and it can be said that their lives are hanging by a thread.Therefore, the victory of Xie An, Xie Shi and Xie Xuan not only saved the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but also saved the Chinese civilization. Wouldn't it be great for the monarch and his ministers to rule together? It is a pity that although the politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty had the meaning of "a republic of false monarchs", it was not guaranteed by systems and laws.Emperor Jin Yuan and his descendants were not reconciled to leaving power behind, and there were also conspirators and careerists among the powerful officials.Wang Dun and Huan Wen tried to usurp the throne, and Huan Wen's youngest son Huan Xuan finally proclaimed himself emperor.After all, both the Wei and Jin dynasties established their countries because of "abdication", and the Sima family couldn't prevent people from imitating their ancestors.

Therefore, the political turmoil in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was no less than that in the Western Jin Dynasty, except that the Western Jin Dynasty was a struggle between the royal family and the royal family, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty was a struggle between the royal family and powerful officials.There are also many conflicts between powerful officials and noble families (such as Wang Dao and Yu Liang, Huan Wenwen and Yin Hao), northern nobles and southern nobles, high-ranking nobles and low-ranking nobles, aristocratic families and poor families. What is the result? Unrest is frequent.Before the Battle of Feishui, there were Wang Dun's rebellion, Su Jun's rebellion, and Huan Wen's failed attempt to usurp the throne.After the Battle of Feishui, there were Sun En's Rebellion, Huan Xuan's Rebellion, and Lu Xun's Rebellion.During the Su Jun Rebellion, the Jiankang Palace was burned down; during the Huanxuan Rebellion, the country's name was changed to Chu.As for civil war, of course, it is inevitable. The Eastern Jin Dynasty was not peaceful. The final result was that the regime fell into the hands of Liu Yu, who was born in a commoner family, and the procedures of Wei Dynasty Han and Jin Dynasty Wei were also gone through.In 420 A.D. (the second year of Yuanxi), Emperor Gong of Jin Dynasty Sima Dewen gave way to Liu Yu, king of Song Dynasty.The Eastern Jin Dynasty finally perished in civil strife, a total of 104 years, eleven emperors. Liu Yu's new dynasty was named Song, and was called "Liu Song" in history to distinguish it from the later "Zhao Song" which had both north and south.Liu Yu himself was Emperor Wu of Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty.Nineteen years after he proclaimed himself emperor, the Northern Wei Dynasty perished in Northern Liang, the Wei, Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms era ended, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties began (see the twelfth volume of the History of China, "Southern Dynasties, Northern Dynasties").