Chapter 8 1. Introduction

"Book of Jin" Volume 6 "Ming Emperor Ji" Shi Chen said: "Wei Yang lived in the residence, relying on the torrent, the Chu River was constantly fighting, and Fangcheng was against the enemy. He had to push the generals and ministers to the general. The army doubles the royal family, and those who take advantage of it but have no intention of doing so are the Duke of Zhou." According to the "Book of Jin" Shichen, since the "five horses" crossed the river, Wang Dun has been in Jing and Jiang Zhuzhou to discuss Ping Huayi, Du Tao, Wang Ji, and Du Zeng. Due to the situation, the soldiers rebelled against Jin by raising troops.Since then, most of those in the upper reaches have followed Wang Dun's footsteps, and they have a heart for profit, relying on soldiers to do whatever they want, trying to consolidate the interests of their clan, overwhelm their competitors, and even try to move the top of the Jin family.Those who guard the Jin family will contact other gentry figures to control the upper reaches of the powerful vassal, or think of another strong vassal near the capital to consolidate the foundation and counter the upper reaches.At the beginning of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there were many turmoil and endless competition, and they all followed this track.This kind of conflict is a dispute between the local and the center in terms of the national system, a dispute between the upper and lower reaches in terms of geographical location, and a dispute between the gentry clans in terms of characters.The clan politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty can be said to be the politics in which the clans of clans seek development in the midst of competition and maintain the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

In the dynastic politics of ancient China, there were ministers of Jiang, Guan, Wei, and Huo who came out of the general army in all dynasties. Not all such people behaved like Wang Dun of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.The reason why Wang Dun is Wang Dun, and the reason why there are as many powerful vassals in the Eastern Jin Dynasty as Wang Dun, is the historical reason, one is the lack of imperial power, and the other is the special soldiers of the gentry.Once the imperial power seeks to be revitalized and the gentry is unable to specialize in troops, the politics of the clan will gradually change, but this is already after the Feishui War.

Sima Rui, the king of Langya in the Western Jin Dynasty, was sent by Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea, to Jianye in the late period of the Eight Kings Rebellion.Customized by Xianning in the Western Jin Dynasty, Langye was originally a big country.However, as a result of the changes in the political situation during the Eight Kings Rebellion, the Langya King at the time of his southward journey, compared with the kings in the Eight Kings Rebellion, had less power and few, and could not be the same year.Sima Rui, the king of Langya, was not qualified to inherit the throne because he was a weak vassal and "sent to the country".It was only because of the fall of the two capitals, the captivity of Huai and Min, and the death of Wu and Hui's descendants that the Jin family had no room to gain a foothold in the north, so that the remote Jiangdong became the place where Zhengshuo was located.King Langya obtained the throne by chance, and he did not have legal authority, strength, or meritorious service, so it was impossible for him to possess even the not-so-powerful imperial power that Emperor Wu of Jin had.

The special soldiers of the gentry are a unique phenomenon in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. They did not exist in the Han, Wei, and Western Jin Dynasties that preceded this, nor did they exist in the Southern Dynasties that followed.In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the soldiers of the gentry were first mobilized by Wang Dun of Langya. Generally speaking, it was because the gentry had become a powerful social class, and the Langya Wang family was at the top; in particular, it was because the imperial power was not strong enough to control gentry.The gentry had soldiers to specialize in because refugees from the north continued to come south to replenish their troops.The generals that the gentry rely on to command troops in battle are the vagrant commanders who have been on the battlefield for a long time.

"Book of Southern Qi" Volume 17 "Yu Fu Zhi" said: "Chengyu passed on the national seal, Qin Xi also, the Central Plains of Jin was chaotic, there was no Hu, and there was no Hu at the beginning of Jiangzuo. The northerners called the Jin family the emperor of Baiban." "Taiping Yulan "Volume 682 quotes "The Book of Jade Seals" and says: "The emperor of the Yuan Dynasty traveled eastward, and there were no jade seals for several emperors. The northerners all said that the Sima family was the emperor of Baiban." "The seal in the south of the Yangtze River is also called the emperor of the white board in the Central Plains." The emperor of the case was ridiculed as the emperor of the white board because he had no official seal.Cheng Dachang's "Yan Fan Lu" Volume 10 notes: "The emperor of the white board can't speak the seal, as if there is no official who tells the order." The emperor of the white board is an emperor without authority. Its existence depends on the support of several noble families.For the benefit of the family, every gentry tried to coerce the emperor and make other gentry submit to themselves.Therefore, the emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty can only survive under the conditions of balanced status and equal interests of the various clans, and it is very difficult to maintain this balance for a long time so that it will not be destroyed. "Book of Jin" Volume 6 "Yuan Di Ji" said that "Zhongzong (Emperor Yuan) lost control of his strong ministers and died with Qi axe." Qi ax was conquered, symbolizing authority.In fact, Emperor Yuan never had the "Qi ax" to control the strong ministers, and the strong ministers did not allow Emperor Yuan to hold such a "Qi ax".The Wang Dun rebellion was caused by Emperor Yuan's desire to use Diao Xie and Liu Kui as "Qi Axe" to control strong officials. As a result, the "Qi Ax" failed, and the strong officials rebelled first.

Even so, the Eastern Jin regime lasted for a century after all.The development of its political situation is the fact that the power of several aristocratic clans has changed from balance to imbalance, and then entered a new balance after complex evolution.Correspondingly, the political situation in the Eastern Jin Dynasty changed from stability to turmoil, and from turmoil to new stability.With each such change, the ruling gentry was replaced by a new sect.Under the conditions of weak imperial power and no change in the situation of the gentry and soldiers, this cyclical historical process will continue.The maintenance of balance and the achievement of stability often depend on strong ministers like "those who take advantage of their own interests but have no intention of doing so".Among the few such powerful ministers, Xi Jian was the earliest and the most important one.Xi Jian played a big role in the maintenance of the Eastern Jin court and the continuation of the political pattern of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It seems that Jin historians have not paid enough attention to this point.