Chapter 48 12. The arrangement of history

When the former Qin Empire stabilized the north, the only Eastern Jin regime in the entire Chinese world that was confronting it was experiencing changes again and again. First of all, Huan Wen, who had held power for many years, finally lost his power.In the first year of Xian'an in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 371), Huan Wen almost lost his face in the Fangtou fiasco. In order to regain his reputation, he followed Xi Chao's suggestion and deposed Sima Yi, who was in power at the time, and established Sima Yu, the king of Kuaiji. For the emperor, that is, Emperor Jianwen of Jin Dynasty.

The succeeding emperor was not much better than the abolished Sima Yi, and he was short-lived.In the second year of Xian'an (AD 372), Emperor Jianwen, who had been on the throne for less than a year, died in fear, and Prince Sima Yao came to the throne, the ninth emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowu. Huan Wen, who was full of expectations that Emperor Jianwen would give up the throne to himself before his death, was disappointed, so he went to Beijing to pay homage to Emperor Jianwen, and led his army to the outside of Jiankang City in February of the following year. He ambushed soldiers in Xinting in advance and ordered to summon Xie An, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Wang Tanzhi, Minister of the Ministry of Officials.Huan Wen originally thought that he was ahead of the game, but he didn't expect that at the last moment, he fell into the hands of Xie An, who he personally invited out of the mountain.

As a celebrity in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, many people should know the story of Xie An. The most famous one is of course "Resurrection".So much so that the popular saying among scholar-bureaucrats at that time was that "Anshi refuses to come out, what will he do like a common man?" Finally, because his younger brother Xie Wanfu's army was unfavorable, he agreed to Huan Wen's invitation to serve as an official under him.Huan Wen admired Xie An very much, and once proudly said to the people around him: "Have you ever seen me have such a guest before?" People in the capital were panicked, and the court was in chaos. It was rumored that Huan Wen wanted to kill two important ministers in order to stand on his own.Wang Tanzhi was frightened to death, and asked Xie An what to do.Xie An said calmly, "Jin Zuo's survival depends on this trip."

Wang Tanzhi had no choice but to bite the bullet and go out of the city with Xie An to Huanwen's camp. He was so nervous that he was sweating profusely, his clothes were soaked, and the court board in his hand was knocked down. Xie An took his seat calmly, and then said to Huan Wen with a calm expression: "I heard that the princes with the right way set up guards in the four directions, why should Duke Ming ambush the soldiers behind the scenes?" Huan Wen was startled, and quickly laughed and said, "I have to be on my guard." He had to order the ambush to be removed, and the meeting that was supposed to hide the murderous intention turned into a quiet meeting in Xie An's hands.

Soon Huan Wen fell ill and had to return to Gushu.Relying on the unique charm of scholar-bureaucrats in that era, Xie An finally turned the corner, and the crumbling Eastern Jin Dynasty escaped a catastrophe. After Huan Wen returned to Gushu, his condition worsened day by day, but he was still fantasizing about getting the honor of Jia Jiuxi, so he kept sending people to urge him.Xie An and Wang Tanzhi deliberately procrastinated, repeatedly revising the already drafted imperial edict, and delaying issuing it.Finally, Huan Wen didn't make it to the end. This great careerist from ancient to modern times died with regrets that he had never exhausted throughout his life.

After Huan Wen's death, Huan's power did not fall away all at once.As the fourth family presiding over the Eastern Jin Dynasty after the Langya Wang family (Wang Dao, Wang Dun), the Yingchuan Yu family (Yu Liang, Yu Yi), and Qiao Guo Huan family (Huan Wen), the Xie family, whose ancestral home is Chenjun It should be regarded as the best reputation. After Xie An was appointed as Minister of Public Affairs and Minister of the Ministry of Officials, he realized the potential conflicts among the gentry within the imperial court. In order to stabilize the political situation, his governing policy was to focus on harmony and stability.Therefore, he did not take advantage of the opportunity of Huan Wen's death to destroy the Huan Group. Instead, he continued to trust and reuse Huan Wen's younger brother Huan Chong, who succeeded Huan Wen, and asked him to supervise the military forces of Xu, Yu, Yan, Qing, and Yang and serve as the governor of Xuzhou. , guarding Jingkou, and later turned into the governor of the seven states and the military, and concurrently served as the governor of Jingzhou. Huan Chong is a person who is completely opposite to his brother's character and temper, and has no ambitions. .

The easing of the relationship between Huan Chong and Xie An temporarily eliminated the biggest hidden danger in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Although other members of the two families also had some opinions on this, they could not change the general trend.History is so interesting. Between the 1970s and 1980s of this chaotic century, an "unprecedented and unprecedented" unity situation appeared in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. This situation is actually nothing more than a "castle in the sky". On the basis of the personal atmosphere that man creates, its destruction is also a short-term thing.However, comparing it with the unification of the north at the same time, it is not so much a coincidence of history as it is a fatal joke made by history on Fu Jian.

Although Fu Jian lost his most powerful assistant, Wang Meng, he was still invincible in the Southern and Northern Wars.After destroying Liang and the Ping Dynasty, his former Qin Empire had already controlled the desert in the north, Koryo in the east, Liangzhou in the west, and the Huaihe-Nanzhong line in the south, almost becoming the suzerain of the Chinese world.If any netizen happens to have a map of China at hand, you might as well make a gesture, and you will be amazed at the vastness of this empire. Fu Jian not only created the most powerful country in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, but even compared his empire with Chinese history. Compared with other dynasties, it is not inferior. Even the Northern Wei Dynasty during the heyday of the Northern Dynasty in the future, its territory is far less than that of the former Qin Dynasty.The empire built by the Di people was almost unprecedented (of course not unprecedented), and Fu Jian felt that his martial arts were no less than that of the First Emperor, so he certainly wanted to catch up with his new target: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.The greatest achievement of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was to attack the Xiongnu in the north and connect the Western Regions to the west. Fu Jian believed that the "attack on the Xiongnu in the north" had been completed (eliminating and merging the forces of the Tuoba and Tiefu tribes), and he decided to pacify the countries in the Western Regions.

Just in September of the eighteenth year of Jianyuan (AD 382), King Cheshiqianbu and King Shanshan of the Western Regions came to Chang'an to meet Fu Jian and asked to send troops to conquer the countries in the Western Regions that refused to accept the former Qin Dynasty. Set up protection.Fu Jian appointed his favorite general, Lu Guang, the son of Lu Polou, as the commander-in-chief to conquer the Western Regions. Together with Jiang Fei, Peng Huang, Du Jin, Tang Sheng and other generals, he led 70,000 infantry and 5,000 elite cavalry to conquer the Western Regions. In the first month of the following year, Lu Guang and others set out from Chang'an with Shanshan King and Cheshiqianbu King as guides.The former Qin army crossed more than 300 miles of desert and marched to Yanqi, and Yanqi and other small countries in the western regions surrendered upon hearing the news.King Qiuci resisted stubbornly and was defeated.Countries in the Western Regions feared Lu Guang's prestige, and surrendered to the former Qin one after another.

The prosperity of the former Qin Dynasty made no one doubt that the second Qin-Han era was coming.Facing the vastness of the country, Fu Jian couldn't help but lamented Liu Bang's "safety and warriors guard the four directions".In the fifteenth year of Jianyuan (379 A.D.), after the rebellion of Fu Luo, Duke Xingtang of Youzhou was quelled, Fu Jian moved the members of the Di tribe to various places, and let the relatives of the Fu family leave Chang'an to guard all parts of the country. His beloved son, Duke Changle, Fu Pi was guarding Yecheng, the capital of the former Yan. At this time, it seemed that the world was about to be settled, and the feudal lords could be divided. (It's a pity that Fu Jian, without Wang Meng's assistance, miscalculated after all. Although this strengthened the former Qin's control in the Kanto area, it also weakened the power of the Di people who lived in Guanzhong in Chang'an, which will eventually become a serious problem in the future.) At this time, Fu Jian had put the plan to eliminate the ultimate opponent, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, into his short-term schedule. He began to build official residences for Sima Yao, Xie An, Huan Chong and others in Chang'an, preparing for their arrival.