Chapter 13 An idiot can also be an emperor

In March of the first year of Emperor Wu of Jin Taikang (280), Wang Jun, a general of the Western Jin Dynasty, led an army of 80,000 sailors into Stone City. Sun Hao, the last emperor of Eastern Wu, surrendered, and Eastern Wu perished.At this point, the last of the three kingdoms ceased to exist, and the whole country was unified again. Almost a century has passed since the great turmoil at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the reunification of the Western Jin Dynasty.For a hundred years, there have been endless wars, which have brought great damage to the social economy.Now that the country is unified again, it is naturally a good thing for the common people who have been dizzy from the war.For Emperor Wu of Jin, the establishment of this unrivaled feat was enough to make him feel proud of his brilliance and martial arts.Now that the great cause of unification has been completed, the next thing is how to consolidate his Sima family's imperial career.However, although Emperor Wu of Jin worked hard for the longevity of the Sima family's world, he failed to consider the most critical issue of the successor of the dynasty, and even appointed an idiot as the prince.

This idiot is Sima Zhong, the eldest son of Emperor Wu of Jin.Of course, it might be a bit too much to say that he is an idiot. After all, he still knows what is cold and what is hot, and he does not lack language skills, but the prince's foolishness can be seen at a glance.He was established as the prince at the age of nine, and because of his stupidity, Emperor Wu of Jin worried about him, and even thought of replacing him.But the stupid son's mother, Empress Yang Yan, firmly disagreed, and her reasons were very high-sounding: "If you want to grow up as a son, you can't be moved." Let the stupid son be the prince.

Empress Yang is Sima Zhong's biological mother, so it is understandable to defend him like this.But apart from this stupid son, she also has two other sons, and they are all normal. Even if she insists on having a son-in-law, she doesn't necessarily have to have this idiot.It turned out that Empress Yang also had her own plans.Although Emperor Wu of Jin had a good relationship with her, he was also a philandering radish. Since the extermination of Wu, he had held banquets on a large scale, and there were as many as ten thousand women in the harem.With so many beauties, Emperor Wu of Jin felt a little overwhelmed, and was afraid that they would compete with each other, so he came up with a way: he drove around the palace in a sheep cart, and when the sheep stopped at the concubine, he Stay there.He felt that this method was very fair.Unexpectedly, a wise concubine discovered that sheep love to eat bamboo leaves and salt, so she specially put bamboo branches sprinkled with salt water in front of the door, which really attracted frequent visits from driving sheep.The other concubines saw that this trick was very effective, so they followed suit one after another. As a result, Emperor Wu of Jin stopped here and there, and was very busy.Such "hard work" has brought him many sons, which inevitably makes Queen Yang feel threatened.If the prince was abolished because he was stupid, it would undoubtedly open a gap. Even if he could make his own son the prince, it would not be bad if the emperor changed his mind and fell in love with the son of another vixen.This is a big issue related to the status of herself and her family. It is better to stick to the principle now and let the emperor have no chance to take advantage of it. Therefore, she must insist on supporting this stupid son.Later, the queen Yang Yan passed away, and before she died, she recommended her cousin Yang Zhi to the emperor and made her queen.This Yang Zhi is also a beauty, very much favored by Emperor Wu of Jin.She carried forward her sister's last wish and spared no effort to maintain the crown prince's status. In this way, Sima Zhong's crown prince position became more stable.

However, Sima Zhong's stupidity was well-known, and all the ministers in the court knew it.The ministers felt that the prince would be unable to handle political affairs when he became emperor in the future, and they also wanted to persuade Emperor Wu of Jin to abolish him.The minister and Qiao once said to Emperor Wu of Jin in a roundabout way: "The crown prince is 'simple' by nature, and has an ancient style. But now it is no longer the time of ancient times, and human relations are dangerous. I am afraid that the crown prince will not be able to manage His Majesty's family affairs in the future." Although on the surface Complimenting the prince for "having a pure and ancient style" is actually implying that his brain is not enough.But Emperor Wu of Jin ignored it.Later, Emperor Wu of Jin once boasted to them that his son had made great progress recently, and asked them to ask them in person.After returning, a few sycophants said that the prince had indeed made a lot of progress, and what the emperor said was right at all.But He Qiao said honestly: "The prince is still the same as before." This made the emperor very unhappy, and he left immediately.Minister Wei Guan took advantage of the banquet held by Emperor Wu of Jin, pretended to be drunk, fell in front of the throne, and said to the emperor: "I have something to tell your majesty." He mumbled, "This seat is such a pity." Emperor Wu of Jin immediately understood that he was referring to the crown prince as an unworthy emperor, but pretended not to understand, and said, "What nonsense are you talking about, you must be drunk. " Then, he ordered his attendants to help Wei Guan up and send him away.Since the emperor insisted so much, the ministers couldn't say anything more.

However, Emperor Wu of Jin was not the master of mediocrity, and he was not so optimistic about the level of this precious son.Since he was established as the heir, the throne must be passed on from generation to generation.Whether he has the ability to give birth to a "holy heir" is a big question.Emperor Wu of Jin may think that his son is stupid and may not be able to understand the matter of men and women, so he sent a talented person Xie Jiu to "teach". Unexpectedly, the stupid son was unambiguous in this, and Xie Jiu became pregnant soon.Emperor Wu of Jin was very happy, which also increased his confidence in his silly son by a few percent, so he made a fuss about choosing a concubine for him.

The prince is the emperor, and the princess is the queen.The mother of a country has an important status, and this crown prince is so stupid, the choice of this crown princess is even more critical.However, just like setting up a prince, Emperor Wu of Jin considered it again and again, and still set up an idiot.Now he chooses a concubine for this idiot son, and he has to choose from thousands of choices, but in the end he chooses a dark, ugly, splashy and jealous daughter-in-law, Jiananfeng, who is just right for his stupid son. However, although this princess is dark, ugly and aggressive, she is quite scheming.She is dissatisfied with the idiot husband, but she knows that she and the idiot are both prosperous and hurt, and she is very concerned about maintaining her husband's status as the prince.Because the ministers often told him that the prince was stupid and couldn't manage the country, Emperor Wu of Jin became suspicious, so he planned to test him.So he held a banquet, gathered all the people in the prince's east palace, sealed several documents at the banquet, sent someone to the prince for a decision, and had a look at his ability to actually handle government affairs, and asked the envoys to sit outside and wait for the prince's decision. Document approval.How could the idiot prince do this, the concubine Jiananfeng was very nervous, and quickly found someone to be a "gunner" to answer for him.That man was quite knowledgeable, citing scriptures and allusions, and answered clearly.At this time, an eunuch in the palace reminded Jananfeng: "This paper is good, but the emperor knows that the prince is usually not very sensible, and now he writes such a paper, which makes him suspicious. In case of investigation, he will mess up the matter." It’s too bad. It’s better to discuss the matter directly and write more superficially.” Jiananfeng was overjoyed, and said to him: “Then you should write another one, and you will be rich and prosperous in the future.” The eunuch drafted another superficial one. The answer sheet, let the prince copy it again, and asked the envoys who had been waiting to send it to the banquet in the East Palace.

Emperor Wu of Jin saw that although the papers were not very well written, he finally answered every question. It can be seen that the prince's mind is still clear, which strengthened his confidence even more.In addition, the prince's son Sima Yan was also one of the reasons why he could not bear to abolish Sima Zhong.This child was born to that Xie Cairen.After she became pregnant, she asked to return to the West Palace because the princess was very jealous, and later gave birth to Sima Yu.Emperor Wu of Jin's stupid son has become a father, but he doesn't know it yet.A few years later, he went to the palace to meet his father, and saw a three or four-year-old fat boy playing with several princes. He was very cute, so he walked over and held the child's hand and giggled.Seeing this, Emperor Wu said to Sima Zhong: "This is your son." The silly boy was very happy, so he knelt on the ground to thank him, and then recognized the son.

Although Sima Yu's father was an idiot, he was very intelligent since he was a child.Emperor Wu also loved this little grandson very much, and often took him with him.Once a fire broke out in the palace in the middle of the night, and Emperor Wu of Jin went upstairs to watch, but the five-year-old Sima Yan pulled him into the shadows by his belt.Emperor Wu felt strange and asked him why he did this.Sima Yu said: "Twilight is in a hurry, and you should be on guard. You should not let others see the emperor in the light." Emperor Wu couldn't help but marvel at how sensible he was at such a young age.When Sima was six or seven years old, he accompanied Emperor Wu of Jin to the place where pigs were raised in Tailao to watch and play. He said to Emperor Wu: "These pigs are fat and big. Why do they stay here to waste the grain and food, and don't kill them for the servants to eat?" What about it?" Emperor Wu was overjoyed, and immediately sent someone to kill pigs and distribute them to his ministers, and said happily: "This child will definitely prosper my family." Deep in his heart, he regarded him as the future heir to the throne.Therefore, in order to make my beloved little grandson the emperor in the future, I have to keep the prince of this stupid son first.In this way, although Emperor Wu of Jin had been hesitating on the issue of the prince, he was not willing to abolish the stupid son after all.Time flies, the silly son is in his thirties in a blink of an eye, Emperor Wu of Jin died of illness, and this idiot became the emperor.