Chapter 58 Chapter 57: Chu Emperor Huanxuan

In the eighth year of Taihe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (367 A.D.), Mrs. Ma, wife of Grand Sima Huanwen, gave birth to a boy named Huanxuan.When Huan Xuan was five years old, an unexpected opportunity made him inherit the title of Huan Wen.It was in July of the first year of Ningkang (373), Huan Wen was critically ill. Because the eldest son Huan Xi was too incompetent, he decided to hand over the tribe to the most capable fifth younger brother Huan Chong.The fourth younger brother, Huan Mi, was very dissatisfied with this, so he conspired with Huan Wen's eldest son, Huan Xi, and second son, Huan Ji, to murder Huan Chong. He got up, then abolished Huan Mi, and moved Xi and Ji to Changsha. He also said that Huan Wen left a will, and his youngest son Huan Xuan inherited the title.Thus, Huan Xuan, who was only 5 years old, became the Duke of Nanjun.

Little Nanjun Gong has extraordinary wisdom.Huan Wen's three-year mourning period expired, and all civil and military officials from Fuzhou came to say goodbye. Huan Chong stroked Huan Xuan's head and said with emotion: "These are all old officials of your family!" Hearing this, the 7-year-old Huan Xuan burst into tears , showing a very sad look, which surprised the old officials at his cleverness. The young Huanxuan was "magnificent in appearance and clear in spirit", and he was knowledgeable and good at writing.He is often conceited with his superior knowledge, which makes people a little afraid of him.Because his father, Huan Wen, had shown signs of disobedience, the imperial court deliberately suppressed him. Therefore, at the age of 23, he became a very unpopular official like Prince Xima.

Once, when Huan Xuan went to the residence of Sima Daozi, king of Langya, he met Daozi who was drunk and asked in front of many guests, "Why does Huan Wen want to be a thief in his later years?" Xuan Fu was sweating all over on the ground, in a panic.From then on, he hated Daozi and gritted his teeth. Although Huan Xuan made up for a vacancy later, he went out of Beijing to become the prefect of Yixing, but he was still depressed.He once climbed to a high place, looked at the mighty Taihu Lake in front of him, recalled how prominent his father Huan Wen was, and now he was slandered and excluded by the world. My son is the head of the five lakes!" So he decided to resign and return to Nanjun to enshrine the country.

Huan Xuan returned to Jiangling to live at home and find a job.This is the place where the Huan clan has been entrenched for generations. He can organize his troops and horses and do whatever he wants.The local scholars were more afraid of Huan Xuan than Yin Zhongkan, the assassin.Even Yin Zhongkan himself had to give up three points to Huan Xuan. At this time, the political situation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was brewing a drastic change.Sima Daozi, who monopolized the military and political power in the court, took his brother-in-law Wang Guobao as his cronies, and rejected Wang Gong, the governor of Southern Yanzhou, and Yin Zhongkan, the governor of Jingzhou, which finally triggered an armed conflict within the ruling class.

In April of the first year of Long'an (397 A.D.), Wang Gong sent people to join forces with Yin Zhongkan to oppose Sima Daozi in the name of seeking Wang Guobao.Huan Xuan wished that the world would be in chaos, so as to show off his skills, he urged Yin Zhongkan and Wang Gong to join forces.Therefore, Wang Gong listed Wang Guobao's crimes and raised his troops to punish him.Sima Daozi was unable to resist, so he had to kill Wang Guobao and asked Wang and Yin to retreat.Huan Xuan took the opportunity to invite him to be the governor of Guangzhou. Daozi was afraid that he would cause trouble in Jingzhou, so he pushed the boat along and made him the governor of Guangzhou. Huan Xuan accepted the appointment, but did not leave Jingzhou.Later, he was secretly promoted as the leader of the alliance by several armed forces against Sima Daozi, and he actively expanded his power, annexed Yin Zhongkan and other forces, and occupied a vast area in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

When fighting against Sun En's uprising army in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Huan Xuan took advantage of this opportunity to gradually extend his power eastward to Wuhu, Dangtu area, and approached Jiankang.Now that Huan Xuan had controlled two-thirds of the Eastern Jin Dynasty's territory, and his army was strong, his ambitions became even more inflated.His new goal is to destroy Sima Yuanxian, the son of Sima Daozi, and enter Jiankang. Sima Yuanxian has been using Huanxuan to deal with other opposing forces. Unexpectedly, the legacy of raising a tiger, after Huanxuan became stronger, began to threaten Jiankang, and Sima Yuanxian was deeply worried.Adviser Zhang Fashun gave him an idea: "Huanxuan just won Jingzhou, but the hearts of the people are not attached. If Liu Laozhi is used as a vanguard at this time, your majesty will continue to advance with a large army, and Huanxuan can be destroyed." Yuan Xian thought it was reasonable, so he ordered the flood Army, ready to attack Huanxuan.

In the first month of the first year of Yuan Xing (AD 402), Yuan Xian took Liu Laozhi as the vanguard and Sima Shangzhi as the rear, and personally led the army to attack Huanxuan.Huan Xuan originally thought that Yuan Xian was being overwhelmed by Sun En's uprising and had no time to look around. He was surprised when he suddenly received a secret report from an insider that Sima Yuanxian sent Liu Laozhi to attack. Not long after the war between the two armies, Liu Laozhi joined the army and Liu Yu asked to attack, but the prison refused.At this time, Liu Laozhi was thinking about his own calculations. He had always hated Yuan Xian, and was worried that Yuan Xian would become even more arrogant if Huan Xuan was destroyed. Xuanzhi got rid of Yuanxian, and then looked for an opportunity to destroy Huanxuan.So at this moment he is unwilling to fight Huan Xuan.It just so happened that Huanxuan sent prisoner's uncle He Mu to surrender. Liu Jingxuan's son Liu Jingxuan, his nephew He Wuji, and Liu Yu who joined the army objected.Although Huan Xuan made up his mind to destroy the prison, he did not show his expression on the surface.Not only entertained Liu Jingxuan with a feast, but also invited him to appreciate the famous paintings in his collection, and invited Liu Jingxuan to join the army as his counselor.

After solving Liu Laozhi, the only one under Sima Yuanxian who had strong soldiers to fight against, Huan Xuan drove straight into the capital as if he had entered a land of no one.Yuan Xian quickly retreated to the palace, and Huan Xuan ordered his subordinates to chase after him with their knives and shout: "Put down your weapons!" Yuan Xian's soldiers immediately fled one after another, and Yuan Xian was also captured alive.Huanxuan swaggered into Jiankang, and was appointed as the governor of Chinese and foreign military forces, prime minister, recorded minister, Yangzhou shepherd, governor of Xu, Jing and Jiang, and fake Huang Yue.After Huanxuan took over the power, he killed Yuanxian, Shangzhi and others, and sent Daozi to Ancheng County.

The higher Huan Xuan's position, the greater his ambition.The new goal is to usurp the throne and become emperor.The only threat to the realization of this ambition is Liu Laozhi, who controls the Beifu soldiers. He must seize the military power of Laozhi.Therefore, Huan Xuan appointed Liu Laozhi as the internal history of Kuaiji.Knowing that the lifting of the military power would lead to a catastrophe, the prisoner immediately discussed countermeasures with his son Liu Jingxuan. Jingxuan advocated sending troops to attack Huanxuan immediately. Look at the wind and surrender, now that Huanxuan has just won his ambition, his power is shaking the world, and the hearts of the people are attached to him, how can you beat him? If you want to fight, I have to go back to Jingkou and become a commoner." Liu Yu, the jailer, disagrees. , He also convened his staff to discuss, and Liu Xi, who joined the army, stood up and said: "The most unacceptable thing in the world is to commit chaos. The general rebelled against Wang Gong in the past, and Yuan Xian a while ago, and now he is going against Duke Huan. One person against three, can you still be in the army?" Do you want to be a man in the world!" After speaking, without looking back, he strode out, and the other officials also dispersed.Seeing that people's hearts have been scattered, the jailer became frightened, and hurriedly sent Jingxuan to Jingkou to pick up the family, but the appointment was not returned. The jailer thought that the matter had been revealed, Jingxuan had been killed by Huanxuan, thinking about the sad life ahead , I found a rope, tied it around my neck, kicked my feet, and committed suicide.Soon Jingxuan came back, seeing this scene, he had no choice but to run away.

After Huanxuan destroyed Liu Lao, he killed the Beifu generals Zhu Qianzhi, Zhu Langzhi, Liu Xi, Sun Wuzhong, etc., and promoted some Beifu generals such as Liu Yu as his minions, so that the Beifu soldiers would be loyal. Own.At this point, Huan Xuan felt that no one could do anything to him anymore, so he began to do whatever he wanted.When he first entered Jiankang, he once did some things to depose traitors and promote talented people, which made Jiankang scholars full of hope, thinking that they could live a stable life for a while.Unexpectedly, Huanxuan's foothold was a little more stable, and he showed his true colors. He was extravagant and indulgent, and his government orders were impermanent. He didn't pay attention to Emperor An at all.Therefore, Huan Xuan was very disappointed with Huan Xuan soon.

In September, under the persuasion of trusted ministers, Huanxuan asked Emperor An to appoint him as Xiangguo, King of Chu, and Jiuxi.So far, he is only one step away from proclaiming himself emperor. By November, Huanxuan not only used the rituals and music of the emperor, but also changed his wife from the princess to the queen, and the son to the prince.He also asked his cronies to draft the edict of Zen position, and then forced Emperor An to copy it clearly.After everything was ready, Huan Xuan officially ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in December. The name of the founding country was Chu, and it was changed to Yuan Yongshi.Emperor An of Jin was granted the title of King Pinggu and moved to Xunyang. After becoming emperor, Huan Xuan's behavior became more and more unpopular.Like his predecessors, he came to hear the lawsuit and judge the case in person, but he was released regardless of the severity of the crime.When traveling, when meeting people who stopped Chengyu from begging, they often gave them some food and clothing to show the favor of the new emperor.He was particularly harsh on the officials who played the memorial. If a word in the memorial was found to be inappropriate or wrong in the language, he would be punished to show that the new emperor was smart.He was so meticulous about small things, but he didn't grasp the big things at all, and he didn't know how to deal with government affairs, resulting in many important memorials piling up on the table.He also loves hunting, sometimes going out several times a day.He was also ingenious and moved to the East Palace. In order to repair the East Palace, he built a lot of construction and supervised it strictly.His various actions caused complaints inside and outside the court, and more and more people opposed him. Liu Yu had long wanted to destroy Huanxuan, and seeing that the time was right, he conspired with his younger brother Liu Daogui, Liu Yi, He Wuji, Wang Yuande, Wang Zhongde, Meng Chang, Tan Pingzhi, Zhuge Changmin and others to join forces. In February of the third year of Yuanxing (AD 404), Liu Yu and He Wuji led more than a hundred soldiers to revolt, killed Huanxiu, the governor of Yan and Xu, and occupied Jingkou.Meng Chang, together with Liu Yi and Liu Daogui, led dozens of people to kill Huan Hong, the governor of Qingzhou, and occupied Guangling.Liu Yu sent Liu Yi to kill Diao Kui, the governor of Yuzhou, and occupy Liyang.Then spread it to various places and crusade against Huanxuan.Huanxuan sent Wu Fuzhi, the prefect of Dunqiu, and Huangfufu, the general of the right guard, to Jingkou to resist.At the beginning of March, Liu Yu rushed into the enemy's formation with a long knife in Jiang Chengqin, killed Wu Fuzhi, and went south to Luoluo Bridge, beheading Huangfufu.Huan Xuan heard that the two generals were unfavorable, so he sent Huan Qian and He Danzhi to garrison Dongling, and Bian Fanzhi to garrison Zhoushanxi, with a total of 20,000 soldiers.Liu Yu led his army to Fuzhou Shandong in the morning of the next day, and ordered the weak soldiers to climb the mountain and set up flags as suspicious soldiers, while the rest of the soldiers marched in parallel.The scouts sent back reported: "Liu Yu's army is everywhere. I don't know how many there are." , was killed by rebels on the way. A month later, Huan Qian, Huan Zhen and others gathered the remnants and captured Jiangling again. They mourned for Huan Xuan and were posthumously named "Emperor Wu Mourning". In the first month of the second year (AD 405), Liu Yi and others restored Jiangling, and Emperor Jin'an returned to Jian'an to restore his throne.At this point, the live drama of Huanxuan usurping the throne and proclaiming himself emperor came to an end.