Chapter 48 Chapter 47: Ming Emperor Sima Shao

Sima Shao (298-325 A.D.), Emperor Ming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was named Daoji.The eldest son of Yuan Emperor Sima Rui.His mother, the Xun family, was probably from Xianbei, and she gave birth to Emperor Ming and Sima Po, king of Langya.When Sima Shao grew up, he had a yellow beard and looked exactly like the Xianbei people in the Yan Dynasty.Sima Shao was extremely intelligent since he was a child, and Emperor Yuan loved him very much. At the beginning of Jianxing (313-316 A.D.), Sima Shao served as the general of Dongzhong Lang and guarded Guangling.Sima Rui was the queen of Jin, Sima Zhao was established as the crown prince, and in March of the first year of Taixing (318 AD), he was established as the crown prince.

Sima Shao has civil and military talents, is courteous and virtuous, likes to make friends with guests, and is elegant and good at writing.He had a close and friendly relationship with famous ministers Wang Dao, Geng Liang, Wen Qiao, Huan Yi and others at that time.He once debated with Wang Dao about the classics and righteousness, but Wang Dao couldn't argue with him.He is good at learning martial arts, good at comforting soldiers, and is very much supported by the government and the field. In the first month of the first year of Yongchang (322 A.D.), Wang Dun rebelled in Wuchang.In March, the rebels occupied Stone Town.Prince Sima Shao boarded the chariot and wanted to lead his soldiers to fight Wang Dun to the death.The concubine Wen Qiao thought it was a risk of failure, so he resolutely dissuaded him.He drew his sword and cut off the holster around the horse's neck, so that the chariot could not start, Sima Shao had no choice but to give up.

After Wang Dun took control of the court, he hated the talent and prestige of the prince Sima Shao very much, and wanted to depose him on the charge of unfilial piety.Wang Dun met all the officials and asked Wen Qiao sternly: "What is the virtue of the crown prince?" Wen Qiao replied calmly: "The sea is so deep that it is difficult to measure it. Those with great minds cannot be measured by those with small minds. With the sage's According to the measure of propriety, the prince can be called filial piety." Everyone agreed, and Wang Dun's plot to abolish the prince was thwarted.

After the success of Wang Dun's rebellion, he controlled the government and became domineering and popular.Sima Rui was indignant, fell ill and died.In November of the first year of Yongchang (AD 322), Sima Shao ascended the throne as Emperor Ming. Because Wang Dun attempted to usurp the throne, he forced the court to conscript him and return him to the court.In order to stabilize Wang Dun, Emperor Ming readily agreed, and wrote an imperial edict in person, enlisting Wang Dun to enter the court, adding special ceremonial guards such as yellow axe and saber, and giving special honors such as not being famous, entering the court without going, and walking on the sword.Wang Dun then moved the town to Gushu and took charge of Yangzhou animal husbandry.

In June of the first year of Taining (323 A.D.), Emperor Ming made his concubine Yu the queen.Take Yu Liang, the queen's brother, as the supervisor of Zhongshu. Wang Yunzhi is Wang Dun's nephew, smart and cute. Wang Dun likes him very much and always takes him with him.One day, Wang Dun and Wang Yun had a drink at night, and Yunzhi drank a few cups, overwhelmed by alcohol, so he went to bed first.It happened that Wang Dunsui and his confidant Qian Feng conspired to rebel, which happened to be heard by Wang Yunzhi.In order to prevent Wang Dun from killing people, he deliberately vomited on the bed.Wang Dun remembered that there was a child beside him, so he went to check it out, and saw him lying in the spitting dirt, so he didn't doubt it.Later, Wang Yunzhi asked to go back to visit his father, and Wang Dun agreed.He hastily informed his father, Ting Wei Wang Shu of Wang Dun and Qian Feng's plans.Wang Shu and Wang Dao reported to Emperor Ming immediately, and Emperor Ming immediately took precautionary measures.

Just as Wang Dun was stepping up his preparations to raise troops again, he fell seriously ill.In May of the second year of Taining (AD 324), he arbitrarily used the name of the imperial court to worship his nephew Wang Ying as General Wuwei as his deputy; he took his brother Wang Han as the general of hussars and the third division of Kaifu Yitong.Qian Feng said to Wang Dun: "If there is a high mountain and a low water, the general will take the king to inherit the big event?" Wang Dun said dejectedly: "The extraordinary things must be undertaken by extraordinary people. Ying'er is young, how can he succeed?" Take on such a big event! After I die, you disband your generals and return to the imperial court. This is the best plan; return to Wuchang, withdraw your troops and stick to it, serve the court, and make continuous contributions. This is the best plan; This is a bad plan." Qian Feng said to his buddies: "The prince's plan is the best policy!" Then he negotiated with Shen Chong to speed up the rebellion.

Emperor Ming had already known that Wang Dun and his gang would raise troops to rebel again. He could not tolerate Wang Dun doing whatever he wanted to him like his father Emperor Yuan, and was determined to suppress it.In order to know himself and the enemy, he put on the clothes of ordinary people, rode on a badan horse, and sneaked to the place where Wang Dun was stationed, carefully inspecting the camp and the deployment of troops.When Emperor Ming was inspecting, some soldiers became suspicious of this unusual young man and reported to Wang Dun.Wang Dun was taking a nap when he heard the soldier's description of the appearance of the visitor. He was surprised and said, "It must be that yellow-bearded Xianbeier who looks like my grandfather to peek at my barracks." So he immediately sent five cavalry generals to chase after Emperor Ming.At this time, Emperor Ming had finished his reconnaissance and hurried away.After running for a while, I came to a town.When the horse excreted manure, he soaked it with water to cool it down quickly.Seeing an old lady selling food by the roadside, Emperor Ming handed her the seven-treasure whip and said: "The horsemen behind will come after you, so you can show him this whip." After saying that, he rode away.After a while, the cavalry came after him and asked the old lady, "Have you ever seen a yellow beard running away?" The old lady replied, "It's gone far away."The five cavalry generals had never seen such a rare whip inlaid with precious jade, they hurriedly gathered around to look carefully, tsk-tsk admiration, and seeing that the horse manure was cold, they thought they had run far away, so they stopped chasing and Emperor Ming was able to escape safely.

After mastering Wang Dun's situation, Emperor Ming decided to attack Wang Dun.In order to disintegrate the rebels and encourage the officers and soldiers, Wang Dao announced that Wang Dun was dead, and led his children to mourn for Wang Dun. People believed it and inspired their fighting spirit.Emperor Ming issued an edict to declare Wang Dun's crimes, and announced that he would personally conscript the rest of the party, Qian Feng and his ilk.The imperial edict said: "I will lead all the armies and crusade against Qian Feng. Anyone who can kill Qian Feng and send his head will be named five thousand marquis. All civil and military officials who are entrusted by Wang Dun will not be questioned. Wang Dun's sergeant, single Those who are in the army will be repatriated and given preferential treatment for life. The rest will be on vacation for three years, and when they return from vacation, they will be trusted and treated equally with the officers and soldiers of the old guard." The issuance of this edict dealt a great blow to Wang Dun's group politically. .When Wang Dun saw the edict, he was so angry that he hurt his body with anger, and his condition worsened, so he could not lead troops to attack the court.Wang Han said: "This is a matter of our family, and it is our duty. I should go there!" Wang Dun then took Wang Han as the marshal, and in July of the same year, Qian Feng, Zhou Fu, Deng Yue and others led 50,000 people by land and water to the capital. Jiankang attacked and went to the imperial court, using the excuse of killing the traitor Wen Qiao and others.The rebels came fiercely, and soon hit the south bank of Jiangning (that is, the south bank of the Qinhuai River).Emperor Ming personally led the army to strengthen the defense.He also dispatched General Duan Xiu, Sima Cao Hun of the Central Army and other brave men to cross the river at night to make a surprise attack.In the early morning of the next day, he fought in Yuecheng on the south bank of the Qinhuai River, defeated Wang Han's army, and beheaded his forward general He Kang.

When Wang Dun learned that Wang Han had been defeated in the first battle, he was furious and scolded on the hospital bed: "My brother is really a useless old servant girl! The situation is over!" He said to Lu Bao, who joined the army who was guarding him, "I will risk my life and get sick. Go to command." As he spoke, he struggled to get up.But he was exhausted due to illness and fell down heavily, so he had to give up.After panting for a while, he said to his uncle Shaofu Yangjian and Wang Ying: "After I die, Ying'er will ascend the throne as emperor immediately. First appoint all the officials in the court, and then take care of my funeral." die.However, Wang Ying was afraid that the news of Wang Dun's death would distract the army, so he kept the funeral in secret. He wrapped the corpse in a mat, coated it with wax, and buried it underground in the hall.

In July, Yanzhou Inspector Liu Xia, Linhuai Prefect Su Jun and other commanders and tens of thousands of reinforcements came to the capital. At this time, Shen Chong, Qian Feng and others had led the rebels to cross the Qinhuai River and hit Xuanyang Gate.Liu Xia and Su Jun then led the army to attack from Nantang and smashed the rebels. More than 3,000 rebels were drowned and died.Liu Xia defeated Shen Chong's army at Qingxi nearby.Seeing that the situation was not good, Wang Han and others set fire to the camp and fled overnight. The official army won a decisive victory.Emperor Ming issued an amnesty order to disintegrate the rebel officers and soldiers, but Wang Dun's best friend was not within the scope of amnesty.He also ordered Su Jun, the governor of Yu Liang, and others to pursue Shen Chong in Wuxing, and Liu Xia, the governor of Wen Qiao, to pursue Wang Han and Qian Feng in Jiangning.Wang Han and Wang Ying's father and son went to Jingzhou to join Wang Shu in a single boat. Wang Shu mercilessly threw them into the river and drowned.Shen Chong was defeated and returned to Wu Xing, lost his way, and strayed into the home of Wu Ru, a former general.Wu Ru tricked him into hiding in the wall, and said to him with a smile: "I can easily get three thousand households." Shen Chong regretted being fooled, and begged: "You don't have to be greedy for a title. If you can save me, my clan will be saved." If you kill me, your family will be destroyed." No matter how much Shen Chong threatened and lured, Wu Ru still killed Shen Chong and passed on to the capital.After Qian Feng's defeat, he fled to Luzhou, where he was arrested by Wang Dun's general Ning Yuan and Xunyang prefect Zhou Guang, and Xuan Yi was killed.Wang Dun was dead, and his corpse was exhumed and beheaded for public display.

Emperor Ming used the weak to control the strong, and finally quelled the civil strife and consolidated the Eastern Jin regime.He was brave and resourceful, and wanted to do something, but it was a pity that his life was not short, and in the second year (325 AD), he died of illness in the eighth month, only 27 years old.Buried in Wuping Mausoleum, the temple name is "Suzong".