Chapter 16 "The Rebellion of Eight Kings" and the Death of Emperor Hui

The world of the Sima family in the Jin Dynasty was obtained from Cao Wei, and it was also obtained by usurpation.Therefore, Emperor Wu of Jin always felt a little guilty, for fear that one day he would repeat the same mistakes as Cao Wei.He summed up the experience of Cao Wei's demise, and believed that it was because the imperial family was treated too harshly, so the royal family was isolated and helpless.Therefore, as soon as he became emperor, he divided his sons and cousins ​​into princes to consolidate the ruling foundation of the Sima family.It's just that water can carry a boat and overturn it. Although these princes and kings can strengthen the Sima family's strength, they will also form a trend that cannot be lost.If the emperor is shrewd and capable, there will be no problems, but if he is an idiot like Emperor Jin Hui, those princes and kings will inevitably have different ideas.Coupled with Queen Jananfeng's misbehavior, it undoubtedly provided these princes and kings with an excuse.When Jananfeng killed the prince Sima Yu, the chaos finally broke out.

In May of the first year of Yongkang (300), Sima Lun, king of Zhao, summoned the chief Sima of the three divisions of the imperial guards to issue an edict in the name of Emperor Hui to abolish Empress Jia.The brigade of forbidden troops entered the palace at night, and Chen Bing was full of Taoism. After controlling all the key points in and out of the palace, he sent Sima Xun, king of Liang, to protect the emperor. When Jananfeng saw King Qi leading troops into the palace, he was shocked and said, "What do you want?" King Qi said, "I am here to arrest you according to the emperor's edict." Jananfeng said, "I issued all the emperor's edicts. , where is there any other edict." But King Qi ignored her and asked his subordinates to take her down.Jananfeng saw Emperor Hui of Jin sitting there from a distance, looking at all this stupidly, as if he hadn't understood what was going on, he yelled loudly: "Your Majesty, let others abolish my wife, and then she will be abolished." It's you." She counted on Emperor Hui to save her.It's a pity that if the stupid emperor can understand what she is talking about now, how can he let her hold power for so many years.King Sima Lun of Zhao deposed her as a commoner and imprisoned her in Jinyong City, the cold palace.Later, he gave her a glass of golden wine and forced her to commit suicide.It was here that Jananfeng forced the Queen Mother Yang Zhi to death. Unexpectedly, many years later, he would also die in this place, which can be regarded as retribution.

As soon as Jia Nanfeng died, Sima Lun, king of Zhao, took control of the political power, but this man was a fool and ignorant person. He launched a coup and killed Jia after he listened to the idea of ​​​​the little official Sun Xiu.Now the throne is empty, although the emperor is stupid, he is still the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Zhao Wang Sima Lun still wants to use him as a cover to order the world, so he is trying to find another queen for him.As soon as Sun Xiu, a small official, rose to prominence, he clinged to the high school and recognized General Pingnan Sun Qi as his fellow clan.At this time, he recommended Sun Qi's granddaughter Yang Xianrong to be the queen.

Yang Xianrong was born in a noble family, she was the grand-niece of the Western Jin Dynasty hero Yang Gu, and she was still a young girl in her teens at that time, but it was bad luck to marry this idiot emperor in his forties.What's even more unfortunate is that because Emperor Hui of Jin was used as a cover to pass around among the princes and kings, she, the queen, was deposed and established five times.Later, Emperor Hui of Jin died, and she became the queen of Emperor Zhao Liu Yao.Such a thrilling experience can be regarded as a legend in troubled times. Zhao Wang Sima Lun has great ambitions.In the first month of spring in the first year of Yongning (301), he sent Emperor Hui's uncle Yiyang King Sima Wei to Emperor Hui to force the stupid emperor to "Zen".It's just that although the emperor is stupid, he also knows the importance of the seal and ribbon, and hugs him tightly, and will not let go of it even if he dies.Sima Wei bullied the emperor to be stupid, and didn't bother to talk to him, so he grabbed it with his hand, almost breaking Huidi's fingers, making the emperor cry.Then, Sima Lun respected the crying stupid emperor as "the Supreme Emperor" and sent him to Jinyong City to be imprisoned.It's just that Sima Lun was still Emperor Hui's great-uncle, and now he let his grand-nephew be his overlord.As soon as Sima Lun became the emperor, he conferred official positions on all his followers, regardless of whether they were academicians or generals, or even attendants and soldiers.At that time, the official hats worn by officials were all decorated with mink tails.He appointed too many officials, too many, and the collection of sable tails in the official treasury was not enough, so he had to find some dog tails to make up for it temporarily.The folks made up a ballad to satirize them, which is called "the mink is not enough, the dog's tail continues".This is the origin of the idiom "dog tail continues mink".

When the princes and kings from all over the country heard that Zhao Wanglun had become the emperor, they were naturally dissatisfied, so they raised the banner of saving the emperor and sent troops one after another.Two months later, Sima Jiong, King of Qi, Sima Ying, King of Chengdu, Sima Yong, King of Hejian, and Sima Yi, King of Changsha, who held heavy troops in their hands, joined forces to attack Sima Lun.Sima Lun panicked, and together with his confidant Sun Xiu, every day, a large group of people would dance in the palace, hoping to retreat.It's a pity that the great gods couldn't save them. Soon, the four kings invaded Luoyang, killed Zhao Wang Sima Lun and Sun Xiu, and invited the stupid emperor back.But they all have meritorious support, no one will obey anyone, they all want to give orders and become the boss, and they all have heavy soldiers, so just a few days after they settled down, these few began to fight, and the guise of Emperor Hui became the contention again. object.The princes and kings in the melee all wanted to snatch him, so they could issue edicts and orders to deal with political opponents in a clear and honest manner, and become the de facto boss.So the poor foolish emperor was often sleeping soundly in the middle of the night, when suddenly soldiers broke into the palace, lifted the dragon quilt, put on the dragon robe, or forced him to sign on the hall, or forced him to pack the dragon chariot on his way.In the scuffle, King Sima Jiong of Qi and Sima Ai, King of Changsha, were killed one after another. Chengdu King Sima Ying temporarily took the lead and grabbed the emperor, so he asked Emperor Hui to sign himself as "the emperor's younger brother", intending to seize power.But at this time, Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea, appeared dissatisfied with this. He found an opportunity to snatch Emperor Hui into his army, and unfurled the banner of Fengdi's northern expedition to crusade against Sima Ying, king of Chengdu, and Sima Yong, king of Hejian.The armies of the two sides fought several times, resulting in rivers of blood and corpses strewn across the fields.Emperor Hui encountered dangerous situations several times in the rebellious army. The most dangerous time, Emperor Hui was hit by a knife in the face and an arrow in the body, and almost died.In the end, in the first year of Guangxi (306), Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea, wiped out the kings who rebelled and took over the power alone. Only then did Emperor Hui end his turbulent life in exile and return to Luoyang.

Participating in this melee were King Sima Lun of Zhao, Sima Jiong, King of Qi, Sima Ying, King of Chengdu, Sima Yong, King of Hejian, Sima Yi, King of Changsha, and Sima Yue, King of Donghai.Including Sima Liang, king of Runan, and Sima Wei, king of Chu, who had been killed, there were a total of eight princes and kings, which were known as the "Eight Kings Rebellion" in history.This turmoil lasted for sixteen years, which seriously damaged the vitality of the Jin Dynasty and made people miserable.The capital Luoyang and Guanzhong are the main battlefields, and the victims are particularly fierce.Moreover, he was busy with the civil war, and the frontier preparations were slack. During the melee among the kings, Hu people were attracted to join the war.

The stupid Emperor Hui of Jin has been through wars and chaos for many times. Although he has not become smarter and has never been able to figure out why he was turned around like this, he has gradually gained some experience.Zhao Wang Sima Lun usurped the throne and imprisoned Emperor Hui in Jinyong City. After a lot of trouble, he couldn't forget the Yiyang King Sima Wei who broke his fingers.When Sima Lun fell, Sima Wei, king of Yiyang, was also arrested.The kings discussed and wanted to spare him, but Emperor Hui, who had been sitting blankly on the seat, suddenly said: "Api (Simawei's nickname) broke my fingers and took away my seal ribbon. You must kill him." Going to the execution ground willingly, I am afraid that this is the only edict issued by Emperor Hui in his life to reflect his own will.Later, in the scuffle between Sima Ying, king of Chengdu, and Sima Yue, king of Donghai, Emperor Hui was in an extremely dangerous situation. He was slashed in the face and shot with three arrows. His body blocked the emperor.When the rebels arrived, Emperor Hui shouted: "This is a loyal minister, don't harm him." The rebels said, "We are under the order of the emperor's younger brother (Sima Ying, king of Chengdu), and we will not harm your majesty." As a result, Ji Shao died in the Under the knife, his blood splashed on the emperor's clothes.Later, the emperor was moved to a safe place, and the attendants wanted to wash off the blood.But Emperor Hui said: "This is the blood in Ji Shi's blood. Why do you have to wash it?" This is really reasonable, and it became another famous saying of this stupid emperor.Later, Wen Tianxiang also specifically proposed "for Ji Shi's blood" in "Song of Zhengqi".Historians have recorded so far, and they can't help but exclaim: Who said that Emperor Hui is stupid.This Ji Shao is also very famous, he is the son of Ji Kang, one of the seven sages in the bamboo forest.Ji Kang died at the hands of Sima Zhao, but his son became a loyal minister of the Jin Dynasty. It is really amazing how the world has changed.

Emperor Hui of Jin returned to Luoyang and became the puppet of East China Sea King Sima Yue again.But the prince gradually felt that the stupid emperor was getting more and more unpleasant, so he poisoned him to death in December of the first year of Guangxi (306).Because Sima Yue was the Shuzong of the Jin Dynasty, he did not dare to be the emperor himself, so he supported Sima Chi, the 20th son of Emperor Wu, as Emperor Huai of Jin Dynasty.In the fifth year of Yongjia (311), Emperor Huai of the Jin Dynasty was captured by the Huns and Han, and the Western Jin Dynasty survived in name only. In the fourth year of Jianxing (316), the Huns invaded Chang'an again and captured Emperor Min of Jin. The Western Jin Dynasty officially perished, only 51 years after its founding .