Chapter 51 Take the throne from your cousin

On the night of December 9th in the ninth year of Emperor Jin Xizong's reign (1149), Wan Yanquan, who had already gone to bed, heard a mess of footsteps coming from outside the hall, so he asked sharply, "Who is it!" The sound of footsteps stopped suddenly, and the surrounding became quiet, but this quietness did not last long, and a large group of people poured into Jin Xizong's bedroom.Jin Xizong realized that something was wrong, and hurried to get the self-defense saber that he had kept on the bed, but it was in vain.Suddenly, a knife stabbed into his body, followed by another one. In the chaos, Jin Xizong staggered and fell to the ground. He raised his head desperately, trying to see this group of rebellious rebels clearly. Just who it was, at this time, someone hacked over with a knife again, Jin Xizong finally saw the person with his last glance before he died, it was his cousin Wan Yanliang who grew up with him.

What happened to this tragedy of brotherhood? It turns out that it has to start with the succession system of the Jin Dynasty. At the beginning of the founding of the Jin Dynasty, the power of the clan and nobles was very strong.The major battles of the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty and the Song Dynasty were almost all commanded by the personnel of the Wanyan family.The Bojilie Conference, the highest political institution, is also completely controlled by the Wanyan clan.During the time of Jin Taizu, "Although there are titles of monarchs and ministers, there is no distinction between superiority and inferiority."It is said that after Jin Taizu invaded Yanjing, he sat side by side with the ministers in the main hall and asked the emperor how many yellow umbrellas there were, and planned to distribute one to each minister.When the people of Liao and Song heard about this, they all laughed out loud, but before laughing for a long time, they were chased away by the iron cavalry of the Jin people.Jin Taizong spent a little more money from the treasury, and those clan ministers quit, and they jointly decided to beat him twenty boards.This is true for small matters, but for the big matter of the emperor's ascension to the throne, it is even more necessary for everyone to discuss it.Jin Taizong wanted to pass on the throne to his son, but under the pressure of the clan and nobles, he had to appoint Taizu's eldest grandson Wanyan Quan as his successor.Wan Yanquan succeeded to the throne, that is, Jin Xizong.

Unlike his ancestors, Jin Xizong was taught by the great Confucian Han Fang since he was a child. He has a deep degree of Sinicization.This aroused the dissatisfaction of those royal families and nobles, thinking that he "lost the old Jurchen attitude" and "just like a young man of the Han family".However, Xizong was deeply influenced by the culture of the Central Plains, so he naturally believed that the authority of the emperor should be supreme, and was very dissatisfied with the status quo that the clan and nobles enjoyed great power.But he was only seventeen years old when he came to the throne, and all the political affairs of the court were controlled by powerful ministers. Zong Han, Zong Gan, and Zong Bi came to power one after another.Among them, Zong Han and Zong Bi are the famous "Big Wolf Lord" Nian Han and "Four Wolf Lords" Wu Shu in the novel.Zong Gan is Jin Xizong's adoptive father and Wan Yanliang's biological father.In this way, no matter in terms of merit or family affection, it is impossible for Jin Xizong to disobey the wishes of these powerful officials.So when he was depressed, he began to drink to relieve his sorrows, and soon developed a problem of alcoholism.He often used drunkenness to whip the people around him, making everyone feel in danger, and later, it even developed to the extent of using alcohol to kill people.Once, because of drunkenness, he ordered the execution of Zongli, the Minister of household affairs.Moreover, later on this alcoholism probably developed to the point of insanity.Jin Xizong began to beat and scold the left and right ministers and attendants at will, and even killed people with his hands.During October, November, and December of the ninth year of Huangtong, he successively killed more than a dozen princes, ministers, and concubines, and even the queen Pei Manshi was not spared.Such cruelty made all the officials terrified and everyone feared.The so-called dog can jump over the wall in a hurry, Jin Xizong's behavior has already forced the people around him to the corner, and the result of the betrayal of relatives can be imagined.

However, Jin Xizong might never have thought that the person who killed him in the end was Wan Yanliang.Jin Xizong grew up under the upbringing of his adoptive father Zongqian, and he never forgets the kindness of his adoptive father's careful nurturing.He and Wan Yanliang also grew up together, and the two brothers have a very good relationship and a deep brotherhood.Therefore, Jin Xizong has always trusted Wan Yanliang since he came to the throne, and has repeatedly promoted him to rank.Later, he was allowed to be the Taibao, which was already a high position under one person and above ten thousand people.However, under the hands of an emperor who drank so much that he was insane all day long, such a high position may not be guaranteed.Many amazing events are often caused by small things that are not noticed by people.The same is true for Wan Yanliang's desire to seek rebellion.

This little thing is indeed trivial.On the 16th day of the first lunar month in the ninth year of Huangtong, Wan Yanliang celebrated his birthday. Jin Xizong ordered his guard Da Xingguo to send a gift to his cousin. His queen Pei Manshi learned about it and asked Da Xingguo to take his own gift by the way. .When Jin Xizong heard about this, the boss was not happy. He didn't want the queen to get too close to the foreign ministers, and he was afraid that they would form a clique.Moreover, he himself was having a fight with the queen at this time, so he might be a little jealous.So he asked the guards to beat Daxingguo with a hundred sticks, and recovered the gift from the queen to Wanyanliang.Since then, although Jin Xizong's attitude towards Wan Yanliang has not changed, he still favors Wan Yanliang, but Wan Yanliang can't help feeling suspicious and fearful.And what happened next made his doubts and fears even stronger.

In April and May of the same year, there were violent winds and heavy rain, and thunder and lightning shook the palace. According to the saying of "Heaven and Man Induction", this was a warning from heaven, indicating that the emperor was at fault.Generally, the emperor faced this situation, and as usual, he would issue a "crime edict".Therefore, Jin Xizong ordered Zhang Jun, a Han scholar, to draft the "crime decree" for himself, so as to "obey the heavenly commandment". This "crime edict" is a specific official language, and there are certain routines in writing. It is always nothing more than talking about the emperor's fault and expressing his regret.What's more, it was written to "God", and the emperor, as the "Son of Heaven", had to be humble, so there would be sayings such as "Only virtuous and superior, go up to the sky", "Gu Zi is ignorant, and I give it to the boy".Originally, this was nothing, but Xiao Xun, an insidious counselor, went to sue Jin Xizong: "Fulei" means that the emperor has no morals; It's because the eyes can't see it, and "boy" is the name of an ignorant baby; in short, this is clearly the Han people's use of words to criticize His Majesty the Emperor.

Ordinarily, with Jin Xizong's Chinese proficiency, he should not be able to understand official articles such as "Zhaojizhao".But maybe it was because he drank too much wine and his head was dizzy. Hearing Xiao Xun's words, he was furious. Li ordered the guards to drag Zhang Jun down to the hall, beat him hundreds of sticks, and rushed forward to see if he was alive. Go, cut Zhang Jun's mouth with his dagger, and finally chopped him into meat sauce on the spot.After killing Zhang Jun, Jin Xizong was still angry, and asked loudly: "He dared to write like this, who is responsible for it?" )." So Jin Xizong was angry, but since Wan Yanliang was in a high position in the Taibao and his cousin, after all, he didn't want to chop him into meat sauce on the spot like he treated Hanlin, so he issued an edict to demote Wan Yanliang. When he went out of Beijing, he was asked to be the "leading desk minister to save trouble".

However, Jin Xizong later recalled that this cousin had no major faults, so he was recalled to the court and appointed as Pingzhang's political affairs.However, Wan Yanliang, who was almost turned into meat sauce, couldn't believe the grace of the emperor's cousin this time. Whether it was for his own safety or his long-standing ambition, he had the desire to conspire against him. Wan Yanliang's desire to covet the throne is also related to the succession system of the Jin Dynasty.Wan Yanliang is also the grandson of Jin Taizu. His father, Wanyan Zongqian, is the eldest son of Jin Taizu although he is a concubine.In the Jin Dynasty, there were no fixed rules for succession to the throne, and Wan Yanliang also had the possibility of becoming emperor.So when he saw that Jin Xizong, who was also the grandson of Taizu, ascended the throne, he naturally felt a little unconvinced.He once wrote a poem: