Chapter 48 Chapter Forty-eighth Jiangnan turmoil

Due to the defeat of Fu Jian in the former Qin Dynasty in Feishui, the distribution of power in northern China has been greatly changed.Predicting the imminent chaos in the world, the descendants of Zhang Gui, who volunteered to become a border governor, established "Qianliang" in Liangzhou. It was a rare Han regime in the north, but it was destroyed by the former Qin Dynasty in the era of Zhang Tianxi in 376 AD. Among the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, the former Qin Dynasty was the most powerful regime, and it shared half of the country with the Eastern Jin Dynasty.However, after the Battle of Feishui, the national power of the former Qin Dynasty weakened rapidly, and caused great ripples in various places.

Although Murong Chui of the Xianbei family extended a warm hand to the defeated Fu Jian, he did not follow him back to Chang'an. "The people on the northern border will be shaken by the news of Wang Shi's defeat. In order to prevent them from being incited by others, I will stay here to appease them!" Murong Chui used this excuse to stay.He later became the ancestor of the "Housyan". At the beginning of the year when troops were dispatched to Feishui, in order to coerce the countries in the Western Regions, Fu Jian once sent an expeditionary force with Lu Guang as the general.Among the countries in the Western Regions at that time, the Cheshi Kingdom located in today's Dihua, and Shanshan, which is equivalent to Loulan, were all within the sphere of influence of the former Qin Dynasty.Lu Guang advanced from this place, and after conquering the Yanqi Kingdom, he went on to attack the Kucha Kingdom (now Kuqa).

Although Kucha resisted fiercely, Lu Guang had occupied its capital.The news of the lord Fu Jian's defeat in Feishui came at this time. ——In this way, I have only one way to stand on my own! Lu Guang tried to establish himself in Qiuci, because this is the most affluent place among the countries in the Western Regions.However, some objected to this.This person is Kumarajiva, the national teacher of the Kucha Kingdom, the Buddhist monk.Kumarajiva's father was an Indian nobleman, and his mother was the sister of King Kucha. He had studied in India and was a famous monk known as a genius.He intended to go to China with Lu Guang, so he didn't want Lu Guang to take root in Qiuci.

"Staying in Kucha is bad, but returning to the east is good." Kumarajiva said. In this era, it is common for Buddhist monks to predict good and bad luck. "In that case, I'll go back to the East!" Lu Guang then turned back and established a political stronghold in a place called Guzang near Wuwei, Gansu Province today.Later historians called Lu Guang's regime "Houliang". Lu Guang's Hou Liang can be regarded as a fairly large-scale regime.In addition, many weak regimes with dominance of only one city were established one after another.Fu Jian, who returned to Chang'an, could no longer maintain the situation in the former Qin Dynasty.

Yao Chang, the leader of the Qiang nationality (a branch of the Tibetan nationality), was a person who had been an official in the former Qin Dynasty and did not even dare to lift his head in front of Fu Jian. The seal of the country.The seal of Chuanguo is a jade seal that proves the identity of the lord of the world. Asking for this thing is tantamount to stating "I am the lord of the world". The seal of Chuanguo has a long history, and it was once lost during the war in the late Han Dynasty.When Yuan Shao and others rushed into the palace to kill the eunuchs, it was probably the Yuxi official eunuch who threw this thing into the well.Dong Zhuo, who then entered Luoyang, coerced Emperor Xian and forced the courtiers to move the capital to Chang'an.Dong Zhuo burned down the palace and buried the well in order not to miss the emperor and courtiers.Until later, when Sun Jian entered Luoyang to restore the palace, he accidentally discovered this jade seal.Therefore, the seal of Chuanguo may have been handed down to Wu of the Three Kingdoms, and it was donated when he surrendered to the Western Jin Dynasty.

There is no information on when the Chuanguo Seal fell into Fu Jian's hands.Probably it was confiscated when Zhao Liucong's army captured Luoyang and captured Emperor Huai and Queen Yang?This thing later fell into Fu Jian's hands. "Little Qiang from your generation dares to ask for the seal of passing on the country, it is arrogance to the extreme!" Fu Jian responded furiously: "I have returned the Imperial Seal to the Eastern Jin Dynasty!" Yao Chang mercilessly attacked the old master Fu Jian.Fu Jian, an idealist who insisted on treating all races equally, perished under the hands of the alien race he had favored in the past.

Fu Jian committed suicide together with Mrs. Zhang in Xinping Buddhist Temple in July 385 AD. Yao Chang then established the post-Qin regime and became the lord of Chang'an.The life span of Hou Qin was only thirty-three years. So far, the lifespan of the northern regimes is as follows: ·Qian Zhao (founded by Liu Yuan) for twenty-five years · Thirty-two years after Zhao (founded by Shi Le) · Qianyan (founded by Murong Hao) for thirty-three years ·The 26th year of Houyan (founded by Murong Chui) · Forty-three years in the former Qin Dynasty (founded by Fu Jian) Northern regimes are all so ephemeral.The above-mentioned Han regime "Qianliang" has been maintained for more than 70 years, which is the longest-lived record ("Dai", a regime that has always been only outside the Great Wall, is an exception).

In contrast, although the Eastern Jin regime in the south had many problems, it was not easy to last for more than a hundred years.In fact, the Eastern Jin Dynasty also encountered many crises, and the "Wang Dun Rebellion" is an example.After this incident, a man named Huan Wen raised his head, and because of the success of the Northern Expedition, Luoyang was regained for a time, and his power became extremely great. Later, Huan Wen attempted to obtain the Eastern Jin Dynasty by way of abdication.It was Wei who seized the post-Han world by way of abdication, and Wei in the Jin Dynasty also adopted the form of abdication.

Huan Wen's father was killed when he was fifteen, and he had to avenge his father's murder when he was eighteen, so he became famous.He is a great husband. Since he married Princess Nankang, the daughter of the Emperor Ming, he rose steadily and became the governor of Jingzhou.Jingzhou was the western barrier of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and an important place for national defense.In this place, he commanded the military of the four prefectures of Jingliang and concurrently served as General Anxi, thereby enriching his military strength. At that time, there was the "Cheng Han" regime of the Di people in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the leader was a man named Li Shi.Huan Wen was not afraid of the dangers of the Shu Road, and led a small number of elite troops to crusade.

Many people in the Jiankang (Nanjing) court were worried about the success or failure of this expedition. Only one courtier named Liu Tun said: "Huan Wen will definitely win, which can be seen from the way he gambles. Unless he is sure he will win, he will never bet. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the expedition. What needs to be worried is that after defeating Shu and Cheng Han Will he be domineering in the court?" In the third year of Emperor Mu Yonghe (347 A.D.), Huan Wen attacked Shu and became the Han Kingdom, and captured Li Shi.Emperor Mu was only four years old at this time, and his assistant was Sima Yu, the younger brother of Emperor Ming, the elder of the royal family.Emperor Mu is the grandson of Emperor Ming.

Sima Yu was worried that Huan Wen's power would be too powerful, and in order to check and balance, he appointed Yin Hao.Yin Hao took charge of the five prefectures' military affairs as the governor of Yangzhou, and took advantage of the chaos in the north after Zhao Shihu's death to launch the Northern Expedition. At first, Yin Hao's Northern Expedition went smoothly because he took advantage of the strength of Yao Xiang, the leader of the Qiang tribe.Yao Xiang was originally a general of Later Zhao, but Shi Hu returned to the Eastern Jin Dynasty after his death.Yin Hao had the help of Yao Xiang, who had a good understanding of the situation in the north, to achieve a certain degree of victory. However, Yin Hao not only restrained Yao Xiangduo, but also attempted to send assassins to assassinate him.Unexpectedly, the assassin revealed this matter to Yao Xiang instead.Yao Xiang then despaired of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and prepared to join the former Qin Dynasty.It turned out that when Fu Jian was defeated in the Battle of Feishui and returned to Chang'an, Yao Chang who asked Fu Jian to hand over the Seal of Chuanguo was Yao Xiang's younger brother. After Yao Xiang left, Yin Hao was naturally helpless.The success of the Northern Expedition was entirely due to the strength of the Yaoxiang Qiang Army.Since then, Yin Hao has no actual achievements to speak of. His Northern Expedition was originally carried out in a state of reluctance. Even Wang Xizhi, who is known as the sage of calligraphy, wrote to him: ——At this time, rather than going outward, it is more important to let the people rest internally. Huan Wen was the one who was most happy about Yin Hao's failure.Yin Hao is a pawn placed by the court to fight against Huan Wen.Now this pawn is useless.Huan Wen then reported Yin Hao's crimes and asked the court to dismiss him.The fact of Yin Hao's failure is clearly in front of his eyes, the court has no choice but to dismiss him, demote him to a commoner, and exile him to Xin'an.This is the tenth year of Yonghe (354 AD). Since then, all the power inside and outside the country in the Eastern Jin Dynasty has been controlled by Huan Wen. After Yin Hao lost power, Huan Wen revived the army of the Northern Expedition.However, he is quite self-aware of the strength of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Even if the North is recovered, the Eastern Jin Dynasty does not have the military and financial resources to rule at all. "If it's just for the purpose of ravaging, it can be done..." Huan Wen had this idea.If this is the purpose, other strategies and tactics should be used.So he led the army to attack near Chang'an, but instead of capturing Chang'an in one go, he suddenly changed direction, raided Luoyang, and temporarily occupied this place. Why did Huan Wen do this? ——The purpose is to win people's hearts. Since the old capital Luoyang was taken away by foreigners more than 40 years ago, the most ardent wish of the people of the Eastern Jin Dynasty is to recover the north.Those who accomplish this will surely become national heroes.After Huan Wen occupied Luoyang, he returned to Jingzhou triumphantly.He is already a well-known figure in the country.Soon, he entered the capital Jiankang and began to take charge of state affairs. Emperor Mu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty died when he was less than twenty years old, and his cousin Sima Pi (Emperor Ai) who succeeded him also died three years later.Sima Yi, the younger brother of Emperor Ai, came to the throne after this. Huan Wen had become the great Sima at this time. ——If a man can't live forever, he should be infamous for thousands of years. It is said that Huan Wen often had this sentence on his lips. If you want to become the master of the world in the form of abdication, you must first show your strength.What is the most powerful force? ——Those who can abolish the emperor, who can do this, are of course truly powerful people worthy of the name. Emperor Sima Yi was weak.Huan Wen spread rumors that the emperor had impotence. "Atrophy disease" refers to sexual impotence.Of course it is impossible for such an emperor to pass on the imperial line, but Sima Yi has three sons, how can this be explained? ——Those were the sons born by hiring his confidants Xianglong, Ji Hao, Zhu Lingbao and others as servants, and making them enter the palace to have intercourse with female officials such as Tian and Meng. After Huan Wen spread the rumor, he abolished Emperor Sima Yi.Afterwards, under his support, Sima Yu, the largest elder of the royal family who had assisted Emperor Mu for many years, ascended the throne as Emperor Jianwen.Although this person is over 50 years old and has been in state affairs for many years, he is criticized as "slow in doing things and not clear in his mind".It was because of this that Huan Wen made Sima Yu emperor—of course such a blunt talent would not be able to keep the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Emperor Jianwen fell ill shortly after he ascended the throne.Precisely because of his meek personality, he died the year after he ascended the throne, and did not make a decision on the abdication.The impatient Huan Wen intended to complete the great event of abdication during Emperor Jianwen's lifetime. ——The affairs of the country are appointed by Da Sima (referring to Huan Wen), just like Zhuge Wuhou and Prime Minister Wang. This is the words of Emperor Jianwen in his will.It only said "entrust the government of the state", but did not say "cease the throne to the emperor".Moreover, Zhuge Wuhou (Kong Ming) and Prime Minister Wang (Wang Dao) mentioned in the sentence were both in charge of state affairs as prime ministers, and neither of them took the throne.Sima Yao, the son of Emperor Jianwen, came to the throne as Emperor Xiaowu. Huan Wen gritted his teeth and regretted it. "Just wait and see! I will definitely ascend to the throne of the emperor with my own strength!" In any case, he is the one who holds the military power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in one hand.Due to the lack of decisiveness of the meek old man, the matter of abdication was delayed for a while, but this wish will surely come true one day. However, this wish never came true.Because the year after Emperor Jian Wen's death, Huan Wen himself also died. — This is the year 373 AD. Moreover, after Huan Wen's death, the Huan family had disputes over the issue of succession. It was not until Huan Wen's younger brother Huan Chong decided to let Wen's last son Xuan succeed to the throne and let him serve as an assistant.Although the power of the Huan family was thus preserved, the grand plan to ascend the throne of the emperor was set back many steps. During this period, it was Xie An, who was born in a famous family, who expanded his power extremely quickly.It was Xie An's nephew Xie Xuan who defeated Fu Jian of the former Qin Dynasty in the Battle of Feishui. Emperor Xiaowu reigned for twenty-four years, which is the longest record among the emperors of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.Although he ruled the world for the longest time, his performance was not good. Because he practiced extreme close minister politics, the palace became the world of sycophants. The most favored woman in the harem is a woman named Zhang Guiren, and all the female officials have to rely on Zhang Guiren's breath.One day, the drunk Emperor Xiaowu said to Zhang Guiren: "You are getting old, you should consider retiring and let a young man take over!" In fact, Emperor Xiaowu's words were a joke.However, Zhang Guiren didn't think so.She has lived in the harem for a long time, and her spirit has been deformed.For her, power is more important than life, once power is taken away, life is meaningless. As a result, Zhang Guiren ordered the maid to suffocate the emperor to death with a quilt.