Chapter 40 Chapter 40 Swaying Unity

Leaving aside Cao Wei for now, let's turn around and look at Shu Han.Shu after the death of Zhuge Kongming, the biggest problem is the lack of talents.Rather than saying that there is a lack of talents, it is better to say that the influence of Zhuge Kongming's existence is too great.And Liu Chan, who uses talents, is a mediocre and incompetent master. This person's mediocrity has even reached the point of stupidity. Because Shu is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is safe and sound; in fact, it occupies the most disadvantaged position among the Three Kingdoms.Zhuge Kongming also knew that unless Shu came out of Hanzhong and established strongholds in Shaanxi and Gansu, Shu would naturally perish.After the death of Kong Ming, Jiang Wei, the military leader of the Shu Kingdom, led many expeditions, but failed every time.Since the population is less than a million, it is impossible to organize a large-scale expeditionary force-this is the biggest reason for failure.

Failure makes people feel frustrated. People below the emperor who participate in state affairs are all in an impetuous atmosphere. Therefore, frequent friction or disputes often arise due to trivial matters, and problems continue to arise in people and things. Wei is waiting for the opportunity to ripen.Although they wanted to win Shu, they didn't want to pay the huge price of breaking through the danger of Shu Road.In addition, after the death of Emperor Ming, Cao Wei was in a transitional stage when the Sima family gradually took control of national sovereignty, so they did not pay much attention to foreign expeditions.

In the 20th year of Yanxi Shu (257 A.D.), Sikong (Deputy Prime Minister) Zhuge Dan of Wei was dissatisfied with Sima's arbitrariness. When he raised his troops in Shouchun, Jiang Wei, the general of Shu, marched from Luogu to Manshui. . Here's a great opportunity! ——Every time there was a dispute within the Wei State, the Shu State would be overjoyed. In fact, in the end, it was just joy in vain.Zhuge Dan, who raised his troops in May of this year, was quickly wiped out.After disputes, Sima's power became stronger in Wei State.Once the power is strong enough to look down on everything, the Sima clan no longer needs to worry about foreign expeditions. What they need may be to show their strength by going out.

The time has finally come. It happened in the fourth year of Wei Jingyuan (263 A.D.).It has been six years since the final blow of the anti-Sima campaign—Zhuge Dan raised his troops.After Sima Zhongda's death, his son Sima Shi once defeated Wu Qiujian and other anti-Sima troops, and now Sima Shi has also died of illness.The Sima family later took Sima Zhao, Sima Shi's younger brother, as commander in chief, and accepted Wei Zhi's abdication, and was busy establishing a new dynasty. After adulthood, Wei Emperor Cao Fang, who was extremely dissatisfied with Sima's tyranny, was deposed on the grounds of "dissolution", and then Cao Mao, the grandson of Cao Pi, who was thirteen years old at the time, took the throne.Cao Mao, who grew up, also hated Sima very much.In fact, this young emperor is a bloody man.

Sima Zhao's heart - everyone knows that he intends to usurp the throne of Wei, and I will never suffer humiliation like the first emperor!I am determined to fight him to the death! Emperor Cao Mao threw down the edict with this article, drew his sword and rushed out.At this time, Jia Chong, the Central Guard, just came in, and his retainer Cheng Ji immediately stopped the young emperor. "What should I do?" Cheng Ji asked Jia Chong. "Sima Gong raised you for today. Do you need to ask?" Jia Chong replied. Cheng Ji immediately stabbed the emperor to death with spear.

The empress dowager issued an order that "the emperor is guilty and deposed as a commoner".Needless to say, this was forced by Sima Zhao.Sima Zhao was thus spared the notoriety of killing the emperor, and it was the Chengji clan who were executed.Sima Yan, the son of Sima Zhao, then flattered Cao Huang, the fifteen-year-old son of Cao Yu, the king of Yan, and made him enthroned. This was the last emperor of the Wei Dynasty——Emperor Yuan. Three years passed in a blink of an eye, and Wei sent a large army to march west.It's not so much Wei, but Sima's army.It can be said that it was a demonstration for the establishment of a new Sima dynasty by sending an army to challenge Shu in this way.

Deng Ai, the general of Wei Guozheng West, led 30,000 elite troops to march towards Gansong.Gansong is located near Lintao, Gansu Province today, and is the westernmost end of the Great Wall built by Qin Shihuang.Zhuge Xu, governor of Yongzhou in Wei State, led more than 30,000 soldiers from Qishan to Wujie, posing as if he wanted to cut off the retreat of Jiang Wei's army in Shu State.In addition, Sili Xiaowei Zhonghui led an army of 100,000 to Hanzhong through Xiegu. On the way to the army, he once went to pay homage to Zhuge Kongming's tomb to win people's hearts. Shu was helpless against the attack of Wei's army.The Chengdu court held meetings for several days.

"The current strategy is to give the land of Shu to Wu to resist Wei's attack." Some people even put forward such self-defeating opinions. "Great Wei has the ability to swallow Wu, but Wu has no power to merge with Wei. The shame of being humiliated again is not comparable." Qiao Zhou, the doctor of Guanglu, used this as an excuse to advocate surrender to Wei.It means that after the Kingdom of Shu surrendered to Wu, it is still possible for Wu to become a minister to Wei.It is wiser to suffer only once than to experience the shame of surrender twice. Shu Han Emperor Liu Chan then surrendered to Wei.It was in October of the fourth year of Wei Jingyuan (AD 263), and it was also 29 years after Zhuge Kongming died in Wuzhangyuan.

Two years after the fall of the Shu Han, that is, in August of the second year of Wei Xianxi, Sima Zhao died.The successor has long been determined as his son Sima Yan.In December of the same year, Sima Yan accepted the abdication of Emperor Wei. When the 20-year-old Emperor Wei Yuan was moved to Ye as King Chenliu, everything followed the precedent of the abdication of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty in the early Wei Dynasty. The Wei Dynasty, in which Cao Pi received the throne from Emperor Xian, was only a short-lived dynasty for 46 years.The Jin Dynasty was born in Yan.Sima Yan was Emperor Wu of Jin.He pursued his father Sima Zhao with the title of Emperor Wendi, and his uncle Sima Shi and grandfather Sima Zhongda respectively pursued the posthumous titles of Emperor Jing and Emperor Xuan.

Why did the Wei Dynasty die short-lived?The newly established Jin Dynasty, of course, reviewed the reasons for the failure of the previous generation. Why can the Sima family rise up in Wei?The reason should be that there was no force in Cao Wei that could suppress the Sima family.Monitoring powerful ministers and suppressing their influence is usually performed by the royal family of the royal family, but Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei, drove his rival, his capable younger brother Cao Zhi, out of the court from the very beginning of the dynasty.The royal family was driven to the local area, with no power at all; not only that, but the "supervisor of the country" sent by the court to monitor the mission also gave a detailed report on their every move and every move.

Although he has the title of prince, he cannot get it if he wants to be a commoner. There is this record.It means: the title of prince is just a name, they would rather be free civilians (civilians), but they are not allowed.Since the royal family is under such thorough surveillance, it is natural that they are unwilling to work hard to maintain the dynasty. The biggest reason why the Sima Clan was able to run amok without hindrance was the meager power of the royal family.The Jin Dynasty of the Sima family attached great importance to this lesson, so they made the royal family kings of various places and granted them considerable real power.However, the result of overcorrection is that the power of the kings has become extremely powerful, and the foundation of the dynasty has also been shaken. There are as many as 27 members of the royal family who were named kings of various places by Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty.The original rule was that the king had to live in the capital, but more than ten years after the founding of the country, the king could return to his own territory to live, and he was able to appoint civil and military officials on his own.In addition, for the Huairou gentry, there are five titles of Duke, Marquis, Bo, Zi, and Nan. The actual grant of land to them is not just a title. Most of the founders of any dynasty had excellent talents and executive power, but the first emperor of the Jin Dynasty had more shortcomings than advantages.Because the actual founder of the dynasty is his father, uncle or grandfather, he is just the son of heaven under the "predecessors plant trees and future generations enjoy the shade". Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, lived a very dissolute and extravagant life.It is said that there are more than 10,000 maids in the harem of the Jin Dynasty, and the situation is as if all the virgins in the world entered the harem. "The harm of extravagance (meaning extravagance) is worse than natural disasters." This is a sentence in a book played by a man named Fu Xian.This shows how extravagant the lives of senior bureaucrats and nobles below the emperor are. One day, Emperor Wu came to the residence of a retainer named Wang Ji.When dining, Wang Ji used glassware and ordered hundreds of maids to serve.These maids are dressed in fine silk and satin clothes.Among the dishes, the steamed pig is particularly delicious. "This pork is so delicious, is there a secret to how it is made?" Emperor Wu asked. "My Majesty, this pig was raised with human milk." Wang Ji replied. It is said that when Emperor Wu heard this sentence, he was so disgusted that he couldn't eat anymore. It can be said that the future of the Jin Dynasty was covered with dark clouds at the beginning of its establishment. Now look at Wu in the southeast. One year after Sima Zhongda's death, Sun Quan, the great emperor of Wu, also died at the age of seventy-one.With his long life span, he naturally had many concubines.Mrs. Xie, Mrs. Xu, Mrs. Kun, Mrs. Bu, Mrs. Langya Wang, Mrs. Nanyang Wang, Mrs. Pan, etc. are listed in "Three Kingdoms·Wu Shu·Concubine Biography". Sun Quan is also good-natured, so the family turmoil has never stopped, planting countless causes of family disputes in the future. Since the eldest son, Sun Deng, who was originally designated as the crown prince, died earlier than his father, the dispute over the succession issue was once quite serious.Later, although the second son, Sun He, was changed to be the crown prince, Sun Quan deposed Sun He two years before his death, and replaced Sun Liang, who was only seven years old. Sun Liang was born to Mrs. Pan.Mrs. Pan was born in Kuaiji, and was favored by Sun Quan in his later years.Taking Liang as the crown prince was of course the result of Mrs. Pan's repeated begging.There were quite a few important ministers who advised against this, but Emperor Sun Quan probably became very stubborn due to his advanced age.The first hussar general Zhu Ju and the monk Shupu shot Qu Huang and was sentenced to 100 rods. Chen Zheng and Chen Xiang, who also made admonishment, were killed; after Yang Zhu was killed, his body was thrown into the river; Quanji, Wu An, Sun Qi, etc. were also killed one by one because they were regarded as the accomplices of Sun He, the former crown prince who was deposed. When Sun Quan was dying, Mrs. Pan asked someone to investigate the matter of Empress Lu.After the death of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, there was an era when Empress Lu held the real power in the world and ruled the court. "It's terrible! Mrs. Pan intends to become the second Empress Lu!" "How can that kind of woman become the Lord of Wu!" "If this is the case, isn't there no future for the Wu Kingdom? To get rid of her before that is to be loyal to the country!" "That's right!" As a result, the servants strangled Madam Pan to death while she was asleep. Before Sun Quan died, he entrusted the funeral to Zhuge Ke, who was the son of Zhuge Jin, Zhuge Kongming's brother.But after the death of the dictator Sun Quan, the pus of Wu burst out in one fell swoop.In the second year after Sun Quan's death, Zhuge Ke failed in his attempt to suppress the Sun family, but was killed by Sun Jun instead. Six years later, the 15-year-old young emperor Sun Liang conspired with the inner prince, Liu Cheng and others to kill the real power faction Sun Yu.Sun Yu is Sun Jun's cousin, and he is a person who manipulates the state affairs. If the young emperor wants to exert the power of the emperor, he must exclude the real power faction.As a result, the secrets were leaked, and Sun Liang was dragged down from the throne of the emperor instead and demoted to be the king of Kuaiji. ——Shaodi is sick and confused, and cannot be in a big position, inheriting the ancestral temple. This is the reason why Sun Liang was deposed.Later, Sun Xiu, the king of Langya, born to Mrs. Wang, was ushered in to the throne, and Sun Xi was beheaded in December of this year.Zhuge Ke, who was killed before, was rehabilitated, his reputation was restored, and he was reburied; in contrast, the coffin of the dead Sun Jun was dug out, cut and buried in the soil.The rule at that time was that the thickness of coffins varied according to different ranks.Cutting the coffin means lowering its rank. Sun Xiu, who was twenty-four years old when he came to the throne, died after six years in office.The successor was Sun Quan's second son, Sun He, the son of the abolished crown prince, Sun Hao.When Sun Hao first came to the throne, he was committed to the policy of people's welfare. He once made people think that the appearance of a wise king, but he soon revealed his feet. He turned out to be an extremely rough and arrogant person. At that time, the north was already in the era of the new dynasty.The Jin court was divided into the Wu faction who advocated "conquering Wu to unify the world" and the northern faction who advocated "attacking Wu in the south may be invaded by the northern Huns".As a result, the Wu faction became more and more powerful.That's because the state of Jin lost the hearts of the people when they knew that Emperor Wu Sun Hao's administration was brutal.Among the important officials of the state of Wu, the number of those who surrendered to the state of Jin due to despair of the emperor is increasing day by day. ——The result of the attack is sure to win! Public opinion in the state of Jin tended to discuss Wu's proposition. Yang Hu, a key figure of the Wu faction, believed that going downstream from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was the best way to attack.After preparations were made, an army of 300,000 troops invaded the State of Wu in the fifth year of Xianning in Jin Dynasty (279 A.D.).In March of the following year, Soochow was unable to resist and surrendered to Jin. Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion led to the division of the world, after a lapse of a hundred years, a unified situation was finally achieved.Yet how vacillating is this unity! Sun Hao, the deposed emperor of Wu, was conferred the title of Marquis of Guiming and died four years later.Liu Chan, the deposed emperor of Shu, died in Luoyang eight years after his surrender. Unification has been accomplished, with mixed belief. When Wu State surrendered, the first order issued by Jinwu Emperor Sima Yan was: "Jiangnan is famous for having many beauties, quickly select five thousand beauties and send them to my harem!"