Did Sima Yan finally destroy his country just because he chose the wrong prince?

There are many emperors with mental retardation in history, such as Hehe in Shu.

But they are not really stupid. Liu Chan is happy because he is the king of national subjugation, and life and death are in the hands of Si Mazhao. If he doesn't pretend that his IQ is in arrears, he probably won't live long. The most typical counterexample is Li Yu, the famous queen of Southern Tang Dynasty. He didn't feel happy, but also wrote some words to express his feelings for the country's grief, and was finally poisoned in prison.

As for Li Chen, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he was a typical pig to eat tiger. After he was still the emperor, he completely changed his face, and his literary martial arts was quite successful, which opened up the situation of "ruling the big" and was called "Little Taizong".

Of course, there are emperors. It's really stupid. One of the most famous is Sima Zhong, the Emperor of Jinhui. He said a very famous sentence:

"Why not eat minced meat?"

It is said that there was a famine one year and people were starving everywhere. When officials at the bottom reported the disaster, Sima Zhong asked, since the people have no food, why don't they eat broth?

This sentence makes the servants in general laugh and cry. How can people eat broth when they can't even afford to eat rice?

Obviously, this is the best proof that Sima Zhong is really mentally retarded.

For Sima Zhong, Wang Fuzhi's evaluation is very good:

"The stupidity of Huidi is unparalleled in ancient and modern times, and the country is dead."

It's true. The Western Jin Dynasty did die because of him.

Because of Sima Zhong's stupidity, he could not control the imperial court. At that time, the power of the Western Jin Dynasty was in the hands of Queen Jia Nanfeng and Qiu Yangjun. At that time, Queen Jia Nanfeng and Yang Jun fought for power and profit, eventually bringing down Yang Jun and destroying his three clans. However, Jia Nanfeng did not monopolize power because of this. At that time, the affairs of state were controlled by Sima Liang, King of Runan. In order to fight for power, Jia Nanfeng led Sima Yi, the king of Chu, to get rid of it.

Since then, Jia Nanfeng has been out of control. Blinded by power, she abolished the prince Sima Yu who was not born to her and killed him. In the end, it aroused public anger, and Sima Lun, the prince of Zhao, took the opportunity to kill Jia Nanfeng and regain control of the state affairs. Then Sima Lun proclaimed himself emperor, but the kings refused, and they fought.

This is the famous kinship struggle in history-the Eight Kings Rebellion.

The Eight Kings Rebellion greatly wasted the national strength of the Western Jin Dynasty and gave the Hu people who moved northward a few opportunities. Finally, the Western Jin Dynasty was conquered by Liu Yuan, a Hun.

Therefore, the Western Jin Dynasty became one of the famous short-lived dynasties in the history of China. This country has only existed for 5 1 year since Sima Yan took the gift money for Wei.

To sum up, Sima Zhong, the Emperor of Jinhui, was not the direct cause of the demise of the Western Jin Dynasty, but he was also involved.

Of course, this can't be blamed on Sima Zhong. He is just a fool. These things are beyond his control. The culprit should be his father, Emperor Sima Yan. If he hadn't enfeoffed the kings and given them a lot of real power, there wouldn't have been a chaotic situation of scuffle among the kings, and the Western Jin Dynasty wouldn't have been so weak that even the conference semifinals attached to him couldn't beat him.

More crucially, Sima Zhong was the emperor personally selected by Sima Yan, not established by a powerful minister. If Sima Zhong had not been elected, the court of the Western Jin Dynasty would probably not have fallen into such uncontrollable chaos. At least Jia Nanfeng can't be a queen or play politics.

It is worth mentioning that Sima Zhong is not the only son of Sima Yan. There are only 18 sons recorded in historical records, among which Sima Wei, Wala, Sima Ying, the king of Chu, all participated in the Eight Kings Rebellion. I can't say that these sons are all excellent, but they are definitely better than fools like Sima Zhong.

So what does Sima Yan think? There are so many normal sons who don't choose, but they have to choose a mentally retarded one?

First of all, it must be because of the eldest son inheritance system.

The system of direct inheritance of eldest son is a common method to choose heirs in ancient China, that is, the eldest son born to his wife is the first heir. At that time, Sima Zhong was born to Yang Yan, the queen of Wu Yuan, and he was serious. Of course, he is not the eldest son. He also has a brother Sima Gui. But Sima Gui died early, so Sima Zhong was the eldest son.

Therefore, the establishment of Sima Zhong is in line with the rules.

Of course, it is not impossible to change. After all, Sima Zhong is a fool. However, Sima Yan had other concerns, so he insisted on the eldest son inheritance system.

If Sima Yan did not choose Sima Zhong, but made someone else a prince, this changed the principle, that is to say, the eldest son can also be emperor. It's not as simple as changing a son as an heir here. It's probably a pulse change.

This is about Sima Yan's grandfather Sima Yi. Sima Yi has two outstanding sons, the eldest son Sima Shi and the second son Si Mazhao.

After Sima Yi's death, he handed over his possessions to Sima Shi, who had no children and raised Si Mazhao's second son, Sima You, as his own son. Sima Shi did not live long and died early. At this time, Sima Jia is at a critical moment.

Sima You, who was only eight years old, obviously couldn't take on a big post, so Si Mazhao inherited the career of Sima Shi and carried the banner of Sima Shi. It is agreed that he will transfer it to Sima You in the future. But after Si Mazhao's death, his hand-picked successor was Sima Yan.

Because Sima You was still young at that time, although he was eighteen years old at this time, Sima's family had to stand on its own feet in Cao at this time. Of course, the bigger the better. Sima Yan is thirty years old. What's more, Sima Yan is the eldest son, and it is somewhat unreasonable for him to visit his younger brother Sima You. For Sima Zhao, although Sima You is his own, he is nominally the son of Sima Shi. If he were the emperor, he would worship Sima Shi instead of Si Mazhao.

In short, the throne was once again taken away by Sima You.

So, this time after Sima Yan's death, if the eldest son didn't inherit the throne, then the direction of public opinion will definitely fall on Sima You who passed the throne twice, which is obviously what Sima Yan doesn't want to see.

As a result, our own pulse is out of touch with the throne.

Of course, Sima, you didn't live long. He didn't live his brother Sima Yan, and he died before Sima Yan.

Then the problem comes again. Without Sima You's concerns, why did Sima Yan still choose to abolish Prince Sima Zhong and set up another portal?

This has to mention a key word in the history of China feudal dynasty-consorts.

Sima Zhong was supported by Hong Nong Yang, the most powerful consort in the Western Jin Dynasty. This family is a very powerful gentry, and it has its own name, Yang Zhen, this Han Taiwei, who is called "Confucius in Kansai". In the Han dynasty, he was a famous family, with four generations of ancestors and three fairs, which made him famous all over the world. During the Three Kingdoms period at the end of Han Dynasty, he was the leader of the gentry class, which is why Yang Xiugan was so proud of Cao Cao. Later Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, the mother of Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty and Wu Zetian, and Yang Yuhuan, one of the four beauties, is said to be Hongnong Yang. Of course, whether it is true or not is another matter, and it is not excluded that it is a slap in the face.

In the Western Jin Dynasty, Yang Yan, the daughter of the Yang family, became the queen, and Yang Jiacheng was the first consort family in the Western Jin Dynasty. Yang Jun, the husband of the country, and his younger brothers Yang Huan and Yang Jiquan are in the ruling and opposition parties. They are called Sanyang. Its family power was enough to influence the national luck of the Western Jin Dynasty.

After Sima Gui's death, Sima Zhong was the only son of Yang Yan, Queen of Wu Yuan, and the only representative of Yang's family in the royal family. Their opinions are issues that Sima Yan must consider. If Sima Zhong is chosen, Yang's family will definitely regard him as their own family, which will help him stabilize the court. If you choose someone else, then Yang's family will probably go to the opposite side of Sima's family because of power, and it will be another bloody battle.

Of course, besides the Yang family, there is also the Jia family represented by Jia Nanfeng. At that time, Jia Nanfeng's father, Jia Chong, was the top scholar in officialdom, a confidant of Si Mazhao, the founding father of the Western Jin Dynasty, and an important official in the early Western Jin Dynasty.

Jia's daughter Jia Nanfeng was Sima Zhong's first wife, so Jia naturally supported Sima Zhong.

Therefore, even if Sima Yan intends to abolish the prince, Sima Zhong can still keep the position of the prince under the protection of the queen.

In addition, although Sima Zhong himself is a fool, he gave birth to a good son named Sima Yi. He is extremely smart and young, but he has vision and thoughts that ordinary adults can't reach.

Once, a fire broke out in the palace, and Sima Yan climbed up the palace wall to see the fire. Only five-year-old Sima Yu took Sima Yan to a dark place and said:

"The curtain night is in a hurry, so it is better to be prepared and not to see people."

It means that you shouldn't stand in the light in such a hurry, lest someone take advantage of the chaos to do something.

Sima Yan likes this grandson very much and thinks he is like his grandfather Sima Yi.

Tasting the prince said that the prince was like Xuan Di, which made him famous all over the world.

At that time, a fortune teller said that Guangling had the spirit of a king, and Sima Yan immediately named Sima Yu the king of Guangling. Sima Yan hopes that his son will live shorter and longer, so that his grandson can grow up quickly and inherit the throne.

Since then, Sima Yan, who has passed down the idea from generation to generation, has completely put down the plan of abolishing the Prince.

However, people are not as good as heaven, and Sima Yan didn't live long after all, nor did he wait for his grandson to grow up. More interestingly, this grandson, who had high hopes from Sima Yan, did not sit on the throne although he became a prince. The prince who was deposed for offending Queen Jia Nanfeng was persecuted by him. That's not all. Jia Nanfeng didn't let Sima Yi go after he was abolished in order to put out weeds.

It is precisely because Jia Nanfeng killed the prince that he gave the prince of Zhao Sima Lun an excuse. Launch a mutiny, kill Jia Nanfeng, control the state affairs, and push the Eight Kings Rebellion to a climax again.

Because of the Eight Kings Rebellion, the Western Jin Dynasty quickly perished, and the period of "Five Wild Flowers" officially kicked off. The Central Plains became a paradise for the Hu people, a hell for the Han people, and the darkest moment for the Chinese nation came. That period of history was not its heyday, which we can understand.

During that period, the whole north became Luo Cha's purgatory, and human civilization was swept away, as if it were back to ancient times, with no distinction between man and beast.

Of course, from the objective perspective of history, we also call it "great national integration." But from the subjective point of view of the Chinese nation, it is indeed dark, unbearable to look back on, and even less commendable.