Chapter 53 Chapter 52: Deposed Emperor Sima Yi

Sima Yi, the deposed emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (341-386 A.D.), also known as Yanling, was the mother and brother of Sima Pi, the emperor of Ai.At the age of two, he was named the King of the East China Sea, and at the age of 12, he became the regular attendant of Sanqi and the general of the town army.After that, he was renamed King Langxie, and successively served as General Cheqi, Shizhong, General Hushi, and Kaifu Yitong.In February of the third year of Xingning (365 A.D.), Emperor Ai Sima Pi died without heirs.The Empress Dowager issued an edict, and Sima Yi succeeded to the throne.

Although Sima Yi is the emperor, he is only a memorial tablet, and the real power is controlled by the powerful minister Huan Wen.At this time, Huan Wen held various important positions: General Zhengxi, Shizhong, Da Sima, Governor of Chinese and foreign armies, Lu Shang Shu Shi, Jingzhou Governor, and Yangzhou Shepherd.However, he was not satisfied. In order to improve his prestige and realize his dream of becoming emperor on behalf of the Jin Dynasty, he wanted to make another Northern Expedition. In April of the fourth year of Taihe (369 A.D.), Huan Wen led 50,000 cavalry and set off from Gushu for the third Northern Expedition to attack Qianyan.Due to the lack of overall arrangements this time, Huan Wen's lone army went deep, and the grain reserves were exhausted. He also heard that the former Qin army would rescue Qian Yan, so Huan Wen hurriedly withdrew.

Huan Wen had long had political ambitions, and he once sighed while touching his pillow: "A man can't be famous forever, but he will be stigmatized forever." He originally wanted to establish a reputation through the Northern Expedition, and replace it with the Eastern Jin Dynasty.But the defeat of the third Northern Expedition made its reputation plummet.Huan Wen was dejected by this and had nothing to do.His confidant, Xi Chao, was insidious and cunning, and figured out a poisonous plan for him.One night, the two of them lived together. Xi Chao said: "The Duke of Ming ruled all over the world, and the Northern Expedition was defeated once. If you don't do something earth-shattering, it will be difficult to undo the influence. Only learn from Yi Yin and Huo Guang. Only by abolishing and establishing the emperor can the power be revived." Huan Wen had long thought of this, and was overjoyed when he heard the plan.In a dark corner in the dead of night, the two secretly discussed a conspiracy to overthrow the deposed emperor Sima Yi.

Sima Yi has been the puppet of Da Sima Huanwen since he became emperor, and has always been worried about his own safety.He follows the rules, is cautious, and dares not make his own claims about the country's major affairs, for fear of going overboard and causing disaster.Because Huan Wenwen and Xi Chao couldn't find the emperor's bad deeds, they were afraid of abolishing him hastily, and they were dissatisfied.The two of them thought hard, and suddenly came to their minds.Secrets are forbidden in the palace, sexual affairs are easy to be falsely accused, and rumors can be spread arbitrarily, but the truth is difficult to know, so they fabricated lies that the emperor had long been impotent and could not live a married life.His three sons were born of adultery with the emperor's beauties Tian and Meng when he was a lucky man serving the inner chamber.The emperor indulged in promiscuous beauties and messed up the harem, which should be despised by the people of the country.Huan Wen ordered people to spread the fictitious court secrets widely so that everyone knows.Then, he can use this as an excuse to do business with Yi Yin and Han Huo Guang.In November of the first year of Xian'an (371 A.D.), Huan Wen came to the capital Jiankang aggressively, and presented the urgent play and the Queen Mother's order to the Queen Mother Chu.The Empress Dowager was burning incense in the Buddhist hall in the palace, and the servant said: "There is an urgent music outside." The Empress Dowager came out, and received the music in her hand.Huan Wen asked to abolish the emperor Sima Yi in his urgent performance, and make Sima Yu, the prime minister and king of Kuaiji, the emperor.In the written Queen Mother's Order, it is said: "Emperor Mu and Emperor Ai were unfortunately short-lived and had no heirs, so King Langya took the throne. I didn't expect him to be so stupid and violate the rules of etiquette. I don't know who is responsible for these three evils." The son of man. The human relationship is ruined, the ugly reputation is far away, and there is no face to be the emperor. Moreover, when the evil son grows up, he will be named the king as a vassal. This is simply deceiving the ancestors and dumping the imperial foundation. It is tolerable, which is unbearable For this reason, Sima Yi is deposed as the king of the East China Sea." The queen mother was so sad that she couldn't stand it after reading half of it.She knew that Huan Wen's intentions were hard to disobey, and there was nothing she could do about it, so she ordered someone to write, and added the following words at the end of the Queen Mother's order: "As a widow, unfortunately, I have suffered from this sorrow, and I have no gratitude, and my heart aches like a cut."

Huan Wen summoned all officials to the court.People have learned that the emperor will be abolished, and all of them are terrified and dumbstruck.Because there has been no abolishment of the emperor for several generations, and I don't know the etiquette, I had to find the "Hanshu", and according to the procedure and etiquette of Huo Guang's abolition of the Changyi king described in the "Huo Guang Biography", the empress dowager declared the abolished emperor as the king of the East China Sea.Huan Wen ordered Zhu Yao to be the guardian, and Liu Heng, the servant of Sanqi, forcibly confiscated the emperor's seal and ribbon.Frightened and humiliated, Sima Yi was ashamed and at a loss what to do.Wearing a white singlet, he staggered down the West Hall, and left Shenhumen in a low-standard cart.With tears in their eyes, the ministers rushed to the car to bid farewell to the deposed emperor.But no one dared to say a word of sympathy or farewell, only the sound of weeping and weeping.The censor and the supervisor of the palace were ordered by Huan Wen to lead a hundred soldiers, called escorts, but actually escorts, and sent Sima Yi to the palace of the East China Sea.On the same day, Huan Wen led a hundred officials to welcome Sima Yu, the king of Kuaiji, as the emperor.Huan Wen, the director and protagonist of the abolished emperor's farce, is very busy, but he has not forgotten to cruelly deal with Sima Yi's descendants.In order to get rid of the roots, he sent people to kill Sima Yi's three sons and their biological mothers Tian and Meng.In December, Huan Wen said again: "Those who are abandoned must be placed in remote places. And they can no longer manage the people of Li. The king of Donghai should be exiled according to the precedent of the king of Changyi in the Han Dynasty and placed in Wujun." Queen Mother The imperial edict said: "It's really unbearable to be demoted to the common people. As an exception, let him be made king!" But Huan Wen arbitrarily refused, and said: "You can only be named the Marquis of Haixi County." So , Sima Yi was conferred the title of Duke of Haixi County.

In April of the second year of Xian'an in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 372), Sima Yi, who was conferred the title of Haixi County Gong, was moved to Wu County.The imperial court ordered Shi Diaoyi in Wu's country to take precautions to defend, and specially sent Yushi Gu Yun to monitor.Sima Yi knew that he was in a dangerous situation, and if his words and deeds were a little careless, he would be in danger of being killed at any time.Therefore, they appear to be content with humiliation, dull and ignorant, optimistic about their fate, and doing nothing.Indulging in domestic pets, drinking heartily all day long, and wanton sensuality.He even gave birth to a child and drowned to show that he has no ambition.Huan Wen knew that he was content with being humiliated and had no intention of making a comeback, so he stopped harming him.

Sima Yu was emperor for several months and died in July of the second year of Xian'an (372 AD).At this time, Sima Yi was more restrained, in order not to arouse the suspicion of those in power and bring about the disaster of killing himself.This allowed him to spend the rest of his life in peace, and he died of illness in Wu in October of the eleventh year of Taiyuan (386 AD) at the age of 45.