Chapter 41 Chapter 41: Overture to Chaos

The number of beauties in Jinwu Emperor Sima Yan's harem finally exceeded 10,000.With so many faces, of course it is impossible to recognize them one by one. "Which woman are you going to spend the night with?" Due to the large number of people, Emperor Wu had to worry about this matter every day.Being lazy, he came up with a solution that suited his personality: he wandered aimlessly in the harem in a cart pulled by sheep; since each concubine had his own room, he would decide where the sheep parked. Get off somewhere and enter this room. In order to win the favor of the emperor, the quick-witted concubine came up with the method of inserting bamboo leaves on the door of the room and spreading salt on the ground at the door of the room.Since bamboo leaves and salt are the sheep's favorite food, the car will definitely stop when it comes to this place.Restaurants, brothels and other places still have the habit of placing a pile of salt at the door of the store, which stems from this allusion.

In short, the long-cherished wish of the Chinese people to unify the divided country seems to have been achieved by Emperor Wu of Jin; however, it is self-evident how fragile the foundation of the unification accomplished by such figures as Emperor Wu is.People with insight can certainly see that the world will surely fall into an era of chaos soon. The "sages" at that time, represented by the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest, were actually masters of "self-protection" who knew how to survive in the chaotic era of factional struggle.Hiding in the bamboo forest means not having anything to do with politics.The so-called "clear talks" they talked about while drinking in the bamboo forest were actually super-vulgar philosophical theories.Buddhism, which spread throughout China during the Three Kingdoms period, has an excellent ideological system. Under its influence, Lao-Zhuang's thought also began to have richer connotations from this time.

Plainness does have a tendency to play on words, and when viewed from this point of view, it should be completely harmless to politicians.But since it is based on Laozi and Zhuangzi, it is naturally opposed to the teachings of Confucius and Mencius as a theoretical weapon in the government system. Therefore, the conclusion of the clear talk will inevitably become a criticism of the system. Even Ji Kang, one of the seven sages who knew how to protect himself best and even refused to be an official, could not escape Sima Zhao's murderous hands. ——Kang Shang is not a minister of the emperor, he is not an official of a prince, he is contemptuous of the world and arrogant...

It is said that this is the reason why Ji Kang was sentenced to death.Perhaps there are still unspoken inside stories, but even refusing to be an official was regarded as "arrogance" and became a reason for the death penalty. It can be seen that it was not easy for people at that time to protect their lives. Among the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Shan Tao and Wang Rong are the highest-ranking Situ (Prime Minister) from officials to ministers.During the Pingwu War (the crusade against Soochow), Wang Rong led the army as General Jianwei, and made great achievements in attacking Wuchang as mentioned above.For this achievement, he was granted the title of Marquis of Anfeng, and he was awarded 6,000 households in Shiyi and 6,000 bolts of silk.

This Wang Rong is famous for being stingy.It is somewhat surprising that one of the seven sages of the bamboo grove who enjoys talking is actually a miser.In fact, it is natural for them to spend less money with the goal of becoming an extraordinary person and against them who pay attention to clothes and decency.Even so, the extent of Wang Rong's stinginess is really staggering. It is said that Wang Rong, a usurer, used ivory chips (a kind of lottery, which is said to be the prototype of the abacus) to calculate interest as the greatest pleasure in his life.In addition, there are plum trees planted in Wang Rong's yard, and he makes money by selling plums. Before selling, he will drill holes in the plums he grows with an awl, so that those who buy plums cannot use the seeds after eating. Plant plum trees.Isn't this a ridiculously stingy miser?

One more thing: he once lent money to his married daughter, and before returning it, every time the daughter returned to her mother's house, he didn't give him a good face.He didn't smile until his daughter suddenly realized and paid off the debt quickly.These allusions are all recorded in the above, but there are other allusions in the book that are completely different from the aforementioned stingy style. Wang Rong's father, Wang Hun, was quite famous and once served as the head of Liangzhou.When his father passed away, those who had been benefactors to him in the nine prefectures of Xiazhou in the past jointly gave millions of offerings, but Wang Rong refused to accept any money.Isn't this inconsistent?

In fact, Wang Rong had his own ideas. —He is a miser who counts pennies.Such a person can never have a different mind! Once people think so, he can be politically harmless.It turns out that this is a technique of keeping a low profile. Wang Rong's prediction was indeed correct. Emperor Wu, who rode a sheep cart and hunted for pleasure, died in March of the first year of Taixi (290 A.D.).Crown Prince Sima Zhong ascended the throne and changed the Yuan to Yongxi.It is inappropriate to change the name of the Yuan Dynasty, which was changed only in the first month, and now it is changed.

The new emperor, Emperor Hui, was a more stupid lord than his father, Emperor Wu.He was the one who said, "They can eat meat" when they heard that the poor had nothing to eat.The people were very disappointed with such an emperor, and Emperor Wu also thought that the crown prince was really worthless, so he once called his younger brother Sima You the "Emperor's younger brother" and wanted him to inherit the throne. ——But, he is very smart... He is the son of Emperor Hui.Although the son was poor, the grandson was very smart-as a result, Emperor Wu pinned his hopes on the grandson, so he did not abolish the crown prince.It can be said that Emperor Hui took the throne by relying on the shade of his son.

This incident brought great misfortune to the Jin Dynasty—because the "Eight Kings Rebellion" broke out immediately.This was a chaos in which the royal family of the Jin Dynasty fought against each other to the point of near extinction.The relationship between them is quite intricate, and for fear of being difficult for readers to understand, the list is listed below for reference.Readers may wish to cross out the names of those who were killed from the list one by one while reading the following. 1. Runan King Sima Liang: The fourth son of Emperor Jing (Sima Master), the cousin of Emperor Wu, and the uncle of Emperor Hui.

2. Sima Wei, King of Chu: Five sons of Emperor Wu, younger brother of Emperor Hui. 3. King Sima Lun of Zhao: The nine sons of Emperor Jing, the younger brother of King Runan. 4. Sima Jiong, King of Qi: The son of Sima You, King of Qi, who was once intended by Emperor Wu to inherit the throne. 5. Changsha King Sima Yi: Six sons of Emperor Wu. 6. Sima Ying, King of Chengdu: Sixteen sons of Emperor Wu. 7. Hejian King Sima Yong: The grandson of Sima Fu, the second brother of Emperor Xuan (Sima Zhongda). 8. Sima Yue, King of the East China Sea: Son of Sima Quan, younger brother of Emperor Xuan.

9. Sima Chi, King of Yuzhang: Twenty-five sons of Emperor Wu. Among them, Sima Chi later ascended the throne as Emperor Huai, and the other eight people are collectively called "Eight Kings". Things kicked off with a woman's struggle. Probably because of licentiousness, Emperor Wu died at the age of fifty-five.After Emperor Hui, Emperor Huai was the "twenty-fifth son". From this, we can know the degree of his licentiousness. Emperor Wu, who was bedridden, was always brooding over his useless son.One day he did not find an excellent assistant for this son, and he could not rest assured for a day. Finally, he decided to use Queen Yang's father Yang Jun and his cousin Runan Wang Sima Liang as assistants.Sima Liang is an elder in the royal family. But the Yang family tried to occupy the country.Yang Jun hid the edict summoning Runan King. "Hasn't the King of Runan arrived yet? The King of Runan..." Emperor Wu was still repeating this sentence when he was dying.The imperial edict has not been sent out, so of course it is impossible for King Runan to come.Yang Jun took control of the whole army as Taiwei (Minister of National Defense) and the governor. Since Emperor Wu was dead, Yang became the empress dowager.The empress dowager's relatives then took control of the real power in the world. The newly enthroned Emperor Hui's queen, Jia Shi, was quite dissatisfied with this. "The empress dowager has already retired, and the real power should be in the hands of the relatives of the current empress." Queen Jia thought so.Although she is a dark-skinned, short and ugly woman, she has superhuman execution ability, and she is a person who thinks about things and must implement them.What's more, her natal family is more powerful than the Yang family.Her father, Jia Chong, participated in the Pingwu War as a governor in the past and commanded the entire army. "If things go on like this, the Sima family will be usurped by the Yang family sooner or later. This is the time for the entire royal family to rise up!" Empress Jia encouraged King Runan, the elder of the royal family, but King Runan flinched and did not dare to take any action. "The old guy can't do it after all, let me appeal to the young and energetic kings!" Emperor Hui sent a secret envoy to Sima Wei, the fifth younger brother of Emperor Hui, king of Chu. In view of the fact that Wei died quickly because of neglecting the royal family, Jin treated the royal family particularly favorably. Therefore, the king of Chu had military strength as the governor of Jingzhou.The rest of the kings had much more real power than the kings of the Wei Dynasty.After receiving the secret envoy's visit, the king of Chu eagerly came to Luoyang.This twenty-one-year-old noble son, who is famous for his bravery, is also a cruel person by nature. The king of Chu, who entered the capital, began to kill Yang's faction. It was the first year after the death of Emperor Wu, and the Yang family had not yet ruled the world for twelve months. Empress Jia was thirty-five years old at this time, two years older than Emperor Hui.The heroic and thoughtless young king of Chu was completely won over by her. The Jia family should replace the Yang family to win the world.The queen's deceased father, Jia Chong, had no heirs, so he took the son born to the queen's sister as the "adopted grandson" as the heir, which was Jia Mi.In addition, Empress Jia's cousin Jia Mo and uncle Guo Zhang and the King of Chu, who took the lead in the coup, became the core cadres of the new regime. In order to avoid shaking the hearts of the people, the new regime urged the elder of the royal family, King Runan, to assume the new post of "Taizai" and assist the emperor together with Taibao Weiguan.Empress Jia thought that King Runan and Wei Guan were disturbing figures; King Runan, who became the Dazai, believed that as an elder of the royal family, his main task was to suppress the royal family who might be derailed. "That guy can't do it. With that person around, the resentment of all the people in the world will be concentrated on Sima. We must try to settle him. This is for the sake of Jin!" The "that guy" in the mouth of King Runan refers to King Chu.After entering Luoyang, the massacres of the Yang family were all arranged by the king of Chu.He not only kills without blinking an eye, but has reached the point of bloodthirsty.He seems to have murder as his greatest hobby. "Settled" means to deprive the king of Chu of his military power.As General Wei, King Runan intends to hand over the northern army commanded by King Chu to Pei Kai.Pei Kai, on the other hand, held back his words because he heard that the king of Chu was furious. Just like when he was preparing to punish the Yang family, King Runan backed down again this time, which shows that he is a very indecisive person.If the original plan was followed and the replacement was forced, maybe the King of Chu would be fine after being provoked for a while, but the King of Runan did not dare to be forceful, and wanted to use the second method instead: ——Drive the king of Chu away from Luoyang and make him the king of the far land... When he knew this, the king of Chu was furious again: "Damn it! Treat me like a thorn in my side again and again! My endurance is limited!" Empress Jia remained on the sidelines with a calm attitude, and she did not contact the subordinates of King Chu until she thought the time was right. Empress Jia's current thorns in the eyes are Runan Wang and Wei Guan.Wouldn't it be a dream to get rid of these two people with the hands of the King of Chu?Three months after the successful coup against the Yang clan, Empress Jia had the puppet Emperor Huidi write the following edict: Dazai (King of Runan) and Taibao (Wei Guan) are good at administering state affairs, but they are not.The king (referring to the king of Chu) should use the soldiers of the camps to remove the officials of the two. The eunuch sent this edict to the king of Chu. "This is great news!" Sima Wei, king of Chu, was overjoyed.At the same time, he was going to repeat to the emperor immediately, and the content of the repetition was: After receiving the emperor's order, he will immediately start to complete the task Yunyun.The content of the replay is formally recorded by the recorder. "This is absolutely not allowed. This is a secret edict. If it is repeated, it may reveal the secret. This matter must be kept secret." The eunuch said. The king of Chu was ordered to mobilize the army. On the one hand, he declared that the second lord had the intention of rebellion. Now, the king accepts the edict and goes to hunt down the rebels! Sima Liang and Wei Guan, kings of Runan, then became the souls of the king of Chu. "I can cut my heart open to show the world!" King Runan left this tragic line before his death. Upon hearing the news, Queen Jia showed a treacherous smile.Sure enough, the heroic king of Chu fell into her trap. ——The king of Chu used his edict to kill the pillar of the country! She then logically charged the twenty-one-year-old young royal family with this crime. At that time, the king of Chu should have persisted to the end and played it again.Once the replay will be officially recorded, it will not be charged with forging orders.Even if you know this key now, it is too late. Empress Jia used the King of Chu to kill the King of Runan, and used this to blame the King of Chu and kill him. What a vicious method!The "Runan King Sima Liang" and "Chu King Sima Wei" in the top list were thus erased.And that's just the prelude.After nearly ten years of gestation, the official chaos finally broke out.Needless to say, the eye of the typhoon is Queen Jia.