Chapter 43 Chapter 43: The Setting Sun Shines on the Empire

What a vicious strategy this is.After a moment of silence, Sun Xiu moved her knees while sitting, and approached Zhao Wang and said, "Once the crown prince is no longer alive, the king is also qualified to inherit the throne!" Emperor Hui had no other heirs except the deposed crown prince. And once the queen is defeated, the queen's adopted son can't count at all.Therefore, King Zhao does have a chance! The Queen's attempt to use her adopted son as her successor would surely arouse the strong indignation of the royal family, because this move was tantamount to the Jia family seizing the Sima family's world.

In the first month of the first year of Yongkang (300 A.D.), Empress Jia confines the crown prince in Xuchang for fabricated reasons, and in March sends Cheng Shi, an imperial physician who is rumored to have an affair with the queen, to poison the crown prince.Because the crown prince refused to drink the poisonous medicine, the envoy named Sun Li killed the crown prince with a medicine pestle (a wooden stick used to crush medicinal materials). In April, Zhao Wang Sima Lun and Sun Xiu were determined to attack Empress Jia, and together with Qi Wang Sima Jiong raised troops.At this time, the king of Qi was a lieutenant in the Yi Military Academy.On Guisi day of that month, King Zhao forged an edict to open the palace gate.

Zhonggong (referring to the empress) and his henchmen killed the prince, and now the general of chariots (King Zhao) is abolished in the palace.You should obey orders, and those who do not obey will be punished by the three clans. This is the content of the forged edict. Empress Jia had no way to deal with this surprise attack, and was immediately abolished and reduced to common people. The Jia family and their party members were all killed. "The dog should be tied by the neck. It was my mistake to tie the tail..." This is what Empress Jia said when she was arrested. After the coup was successful, King Zhao took the position of prime minister, established the shogunate, and had more than ten thousand troops.However, King Zhao is also a mediocre talent. All the politics in the world are controlled by Zhongshuling Sun Xiu, and King Zhao is just a puppet manipulated by Sun Xiu.Soon, Empress Jia was given to death.Under Sun Xiu's manipulation, King Zhao moved towards the throne of emperor step by step.

—— Lun (King Zhao) should enter the West Palace quickly. At that time it was widely rumored that the oracle of this so-called late Emperor Xuan (Sima Zhongda) was given.In those days, people believed in such things as oracles.Compared with the crown prince living in the East Palace, the emperor has always lived in the West Palace. "Entering the West Palace" means the throne. In the first month of the second year of Yongkang (301 A.D.), King Zhao ascended the throne, and Emperor Hui was emptied, and he was honored as the "Supreme Emperor".Sun Xiu, the figure behind the scenes, concurrently held important positions such as Shizhong, Zhongshujian and Hussar General.

——Sun Xiu, the rebellious minister, caused the King of Zhao to misuse the country, and it is advisable to punish it together. Sima Jiong, the king of Qi in Xuchang, sent this message to the king of Chengdu, the king of Hejian, the king of Changsha (then the king of Changshan) and others.This is March.In the third month of leap, the allied forces of the kings besieged Luoyang, beheaded Sun Xiu, the culprit, captured Queen Zhao, and gave her death. The third king - Zhao Wang Sima Lun - thus disappeared. Yongjun Huidi ascended the throne of the emperor again, and Sima Jiong, king of Qi, served as the chief Sima and assisted the emperor.And wantonness seems to be the tradition of the Sima family. When the fortunes are bad, they are quite wise. Once they gain power, they will be immersed in the world of debauchery - and King Qi is no exception to this point.What's more, he also has the habit of building large-scale construction projects.He built his mansion to be exactly the same as the emperor's palace, and in doing so destroyed hundreds of public and private buildings.

"Can the Jin Dynasty stand up again?" In view of the wise style of King Qi's unfulfilling era, people who had expected him to see him after he became the great Sima gradually became disappointed.Then, he made the easy-to-manipulate Qinghe King Sima Qin the crown prince for the childless Huidi—an eight-year-old boy.In terms of blood relationship, the emperor's brothers Changsha King and Chengdu King are actually closer to the imperial lineage. Of course, these people are extremely dissatisfied with Qi Wang's domineering actions.And there are naturally many ambitious people around the kings.

The kings once again jointly besieged Luoyang and finally killed King Qi.King Sima Jiong of Qi became the fourth king to be erased. As if it had been planned in advance, the three kings of Changsha, Chengdu and Hejian who originally sent troops together began to fight each other.The cause of the strife was that Zhang Fang, a subordinate of the King of Hejian, instigated his master to attack the King of Changsha.After the war broke out, King Changsha's younger brother, King Chengdu, sided with his cousin King Hejian.There are as many as twenty-six brothers. In this situation, maybe the bond of flesh and blood is not very strong?

Under the joint attack of his younger brother and cousin, Sima Ai, king of Changsha, became the fifth king to disappear.He died a terrible death, burned alive.Once the flesh and blood fight, it is more fierce than others. The reason for the result of this struggle is that Zhang Fang, a subordinate of King Hejian, has a tendency to abuse. So far, the sixteenth son of Emperor Wu Sima Yan—Chengdu Wang Sima Ying—became the "Emperor Taidi" and also served as the prime minister.Before that, the young Crown Prince Qinghe King who was not very close by blood had been deposed.The position of crown prince was vacant, and since Emperor Hui had no heir, in this case, the emperor's younger brother, the king of Chengdu, would inherit the throne in the future-everyone could see the fact.

When the king of Chengdu abolished the crown prince, he also abolished the queen Yang.After Empress Jia was killed, Yang was established as the queen.Yang's grandfather, Sun Qi, has a family relationship with Sun Xiu, the behind-the-scenes figure of King Zhao. It is through this relationship that Yang was able to be established as the queen.Since Sun Xiu, the backer in the background, had already been put to death, the abolition and establishment of the Yang family did not require any effort. But this Yang family has repeatedly appeared on the stage of history. The King of Chengdu was unwilling to stay in Luoyang, the capital, because he was also the emperor's younger brother and prime minister, but lived in Ye, his own territory.This is probably a lesson to remember that Zhao Wang and Qi Wang, who once held real power and were invincible in Luoyang, were attacked and fell down later?

However, Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, forgot to guard against herself with another more important thing: the tendency of the Sima clan to get carried away and proud as soon as they took power, and thus lose the hearts of the people.The King of Chengdu is exactly the same. After ascending to the throne of power, he often makes the people disappointed. Sima Yue, king of the East China Sea, and Sima Chi, king of Yuzhang, appeared on stage at this time. ——Down with the tyrannical King of Chengdu! They flattered Emperor Hui and raised the banner of attacking the King of Chengdu.The Yang family, which was abolished by the King of Chengdu, regained the throne of the queen at this time.As a result, the king of the East China Sea was defeated, and because of this, there was a wonderful situation where Emperor Hui was welcomed by the king of Chengdu.This is an era when strength surpasses everything, even if it is outside power, everyone is competing to borrow it.In other words, the Xianbei, Karasuma, and Huns and other ethnic groups successively participated in the struggle among the kings as mercenaries.At the beginning, they only obeyed the command to engage in combat missions, and then gradually awakened to their own strength, and they were no longer willing to be enslaved. This is a natural trend.

Among the reinforcements of the younger brother of the King of Donghai who attacked the King of Chengdu who was defending Ye, many of them were soldiers and horses from various tribes in the Northeast, such as Xianbei.It was because the King of Chengdu was attacked by this group of mixed troops that he abandoned Yecheng and entered Luoyang. However, the real ruler of Luoyang is the abusive Zhang Fang.Zhang Fang, who had become independent from the King of Hejian, was now the overlord of one side, and Luoyang was almost deserted under the plunder of him and his subordinate officers and soldiers.Therefore, Zhang Fang moved the capital to Chang'an with Emperor Hui, the emperor's younger brother, King Chengdu, and King Yuzhang. Both the emperor and the royal family had to listen to the command of this tyrannical Zhang Fangzhi.Zhang Fang once again abolished the Queen Yang who had just returned to her original position.In addition, he also abolished the position of the emperor's younger brother of the King of Chengdu, and changed Sima Chi, the twenty-fifth son of Emperor Wu of Yuzhang, as the emperor's younger brother.The purpose of doing this is to show one's strength. The King of Chengdu, who was deposed as the emperor's younger brother, left Chang'an and returned eastward.And plotting a comeback in the East.Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea who had previously fought against the king of Chengdu and was defeated, also raised his troops.In this case, the time entered the third year of Yongxing (306 AD). The eastern armies used "eliminate the traitors on the side of the emperor" as their slogan for raising troops.The villain on the side of the king, of course, refers to Zhang Fang who behaves like no one else in Chang'an. If Zhang Fang is killed, it should be enough to reconcile with Dongfang. Hejian Wang, who was extremely indignant at Zhang Fang's kindness and revenge, discussed with Bi Yuan, who also hated Zhang Fang, and decided to send an assassin, and successfully took Zhang Fang's head.The king of Hejian sent his head to the king of Donghai and proposed a reconciliation, but the king of Donghai refused to accept the proposal.The cause of raising troops to fight against the west is ready, and Chang'an is in a state of extreme chaos. Once a fight is started, there is absolutely no reason why the fight cannot be won-this is the wishful thinking of the king of the East China Sea. Under the command of General Qi Hong, the king of the East China Sea, most of them were Xianbei people. They crossed the pass, smashed the king's army on the banks of the Bashui River, and then entered Chang'an City.According to legend, the Xianbei soldiers under Qi Hong slaughtered more than 20,000 people in Chang'an.Sima Yong, king of Hejian, fled to Taibai Mountain. Qi Hong and others drove Emperor Hui back to Luoyang from Chang'an in a bullock cart.Arriving in Luoyang is already June 1st in the hot summer.The sheep queen, who had been deposed several times, returned to her original position.The government granted amnesty and changed the name to "Guangxi". In October, Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, was granted death. It was Liu Yu, a subordinate of the king of Donghai, who forged the imperial edict.Sima Ying was the sixth king to be killed. In November, Emperor Hui died of food poisoning at the age of forty-eight.After finally returning to Luoyang, he passed away in less than half a year.The emperor's younger brother, Yuzhang Wang Sima Chi, succeeded him as Emperor Huai. In December, Sima Yong, king of Hejian, was killed—the seventh king to disappear.Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea, originally suggested that the king of Hejian should take the position of Situ (equal with the prime minister), and the king of Hejian also had this intention.He fled to Taibai Mountain once, and he no longer wanted to live a life like a Shura field.He wanted to abandon his ambition and spend the rest of his life in peace.However, he was killed by his brother Sima Mo, king of Nanyang. Why did Sima Mo kill his brother?Because he thinks this elder brother is full of ambition.What King Hejian did in the past really made people think so.Although he declares that "I have completely abandoned my ambitions," the younger brother does not take him lightly. If the ambitious brother rebels again, the result will be the punishment of "killing the three clans".In other words, he will suffer because of his brother. — This is done for the sake of all relatives. Maybe Nanyang King used this as an excuse?He sent his men named Liang Chen to meet him in Xin'an County, where he killed his elder brother King Hejian and his three children. For the sake of his own safety, killing his brother and nephew-in fact, such things are commonplace in the Sima clan.Who would not despise such a dynasty? In fact, before the Eight Kings Rebellion reached its peak, some people felt disgusted with this dynasty.This person is called Zhang Gui. He made his way to the top in the central government and reached the position of regular servant of Sanqi, but he volunteered to be transferred to be the head of the border area-Liangzhou Governor (the head of Gansu Province).His friends were all amazed by this. "Liangzhou is a very remote place. There are Xianbei people in that place, and thieves are rampant. It is absolutely impossible to live a decent life in such a place! You should withdraw your application before it is too late!" Friends advised Zhang Gui one after another. "Could it be possible to live a decent life in this Luoyang? Just watch! The ugly struggle between people, like wild beasts fighting for food, will soon spread. At that time, no matter how cautious you are, you will not It is inevitable to be drawn into the vortex. Instead of this, it is better to go to the border. Isn't it safer?" Zhang Gui thought this in his heart, but he didn't say it out loud.Such an ominous prophecy, of course, cannot be spoken.He smiled and replied: "I have my own ideas. I have decided so." Zhang Gui took office in the first month of the second year of Yongkang (301 A.D.).That was when King Sima Lun of Zhao was disseminating the "Oracle".Zhang Gui then declared independence in Liangzhou.In fact, he was forced by the situation, because the Jin Dynasty centered on Luoyang was in turmoil, and the central decree could not reach the northwest border at all. When Zhang Gui's son succeeded him, he began to call himself the King of Liang and established a small local dynasty.Later, five small dynasties named after the Liang Dynasty appeared in this place, which were collectively called "Five Liangs".The dynasty founded by Zhang Gui's son was called "Qianliang" to distinguish it from the rest. Zhang Gui was not the only one who was disappointed with the Jin Dynasty.Even the leaders of the Southern Huns, who had maintained friendly relations with the Han regime in the Central Plains since the Han Dynasty, were greatly disappointed by the chaotic situation of the Jin Dynasty, so they severed friendly relations with it. Liu Yuan, who was born in the Shanyu family of the Southern Huns, is said to be a leader who is unmatched by the contemporary Han people in terms of knowledge.Liu Yuan, who is so talented, was stationed in Ye as a champion general under the command of Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu.Liu Yuan's son, Liu Cong, studied in Luoyang when he was young. ——Now the Sima family is fratricide, and the world is full of turmoil. The elders of the Huns believed that this was a good opportunity for independence.The Jin Dynasty was in a state of chaos, and the Xiongnu had Liu Yuan and Liu Cong, a pair of unborn leaders. How could such a good opportunity be missed? In October 304 AD, Liu Yuan broke with the King of Chengdu (that is, the Jin Dynasty) and became independent based on Zuoguo City.Zuoguo City is located near Lishi County, Shanxi Province today. Han——Liu Yuan took this as the title of the country. In the past, the emperors of the Han Dynasty made a brotherly alliance with the Xiongnu Shanyu.Liu Yuan attached great importance to this fate, so he decided on this country name.Liu Yuan took the throne of the Han Dynasty and named Yuanxi "Yuanxi".Everything about his governance follows the Han system.