In March 302, Hui Di's last direct grandson Sima Shang died.

Hui Di's son Sima Yu was victimized by the empress Jia, and his eldest grandson Sima Zang was victimized by Sima Lun. Now Sima Shang is dead again. It is no exaggeration to describe poor Hui Di as childless. He became a real loner, an emperor above ten thousand people, and ended up in such a situation.

There is no queen in Hui Di, but this brings a sense of crisis to Sima Yi, the king of Qi, because after Hui Di, Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, is most likely to take the second place.

Sima Yi, the king of Qi, is the second son of Sima You, the younger brother of Sima Yan, the old king of Qi. In his mind, Sima Shi's Jiangshan should not be sat by his uncle Sima Yan, but by his father Sima You. To be fair, his father Sima You, the old king of Qi, won a lot of popular support, but he was still far behind his uncle in politics.

Sima Ying is Sima Yan's sixteenth son. They are cousins. At first, Sima Lun, the prince of Zhao, abolished Jin Huidi and became emperor himself. Sima Yi took the lead in singing the sense of righteousness, joined hands with Sima Ying of Chengdu and Sima Yi of Hejian, and led a crusade against Sima Lun, which opened the prelude to the spread of the "Eight Kings Rebellion" from the court struggle to the chaos in the world.

On the credit for the crusade against Sima Lun, although Sima Tang was the leader, the first credit should belong to Sima Ying, who not only defeated Sima Lun's army, but also sent Zhao Xiang and Shi Chao to solve the siege of Sima Tang. Without Sima Ying, Sima Tang would have died long ago.

Sima Tang, who has a history of "being good at authoritarianism", is very strong and ambitious.

On the other hand, Sima Ying seems to be a bookworm, and he has fallen into the trap, because Sima Ying is really a person who doesn't know books. In order to show that he didn't care about court disputes, he left Beijing and returned to his hometown of Yecheng.

The situation is very favorable for Sima Yi to be emperor.

However, to abolish Hui Di himself as emperor, Sima Yi would not do so. From this point of view, Sima Yi is still very wise. That's why Sima Lun got himself killed. He didn't want to follow in Sima Lun's footsteps at once. When the time is right, he may do so, because the world should be his father's and his. However, his father's world was usurped by Sima Yan from the beginning.

Similarly, some people can succeed, such as Cao Cao, Sima Shi and Si Mazhao; And some people can only fail, such as Hou Jia, Sima Lun and others. In fact, there is no absolute right or wrong. It's always been like this, but it's just a matter of time, place and people, all in your own way.

Sima Tang thought, if you want to "hold the emperor to make the princes" for a long time, you must meet two conditions:

Article 1: The son of Sima Yan's direct descendant, let the world know that I didn't mean to rob him of Sima Yan's world;

Article 2: this son of heaven must control himself, and the time is uncertain;

According to these two conditions, he found one, that is, the eldest son of Sima Xia, the king of Qinghe, and Sima Qin, the eight-year-old king of Xiaoqing River.

Sima Xia, the thirteenth son of Sima Yan, participated in the killing of Sima Liang and Wei Guan when he was 19 years old. This action was completely a political conspiracy of Queen Jia. Sima Xia was young and vigorous, and led the army to capture Wei Guan alive and kill him on the spot. However, Sima Wei was soon killed by Queen Jia and beheaded, which was a great blow to the young Sima Xia. He saw the darkness of politics, and since then he has kept a low profile and kept away from people.

Among several direct descendants of Sima Yan, Sima Xia is probably the one who has the least contact with other brothers, and his son naturally has little contact with other descendants. This weak background is also an important reason why Sima Yan values it.

Sima Yi gave the emperor a form, and it was a form. Sure enough, Sima Qin was appointed as the Crown Prince, and Sima Yi was appointed as the Prince Taifu, among the three public offices.

Second, the popularity of the sun.

However, no one expected that Sima Yue, the little-known king of the East China Sea, appeared in the list of the three fairs and was appointed as Sikong. At the same time, he was promoted to the rank of Sangong and became a remarkable star.

Sima Yue was born to Sima Tai, the second son of Sima Yi's fourth brother, and Sima Xiang, the eldest son of Sima Tai, and his blood relationship with Sima Yan was sparse.

But he is also a relative of the royal family. This person is not arrogant and extravagant, modest and prudent, has no shelf, is young, but has a great reputation. "The Book of Jin" uploaded: "There are few titles for emperors, and it is a teaching of China and foreign countries to be modest in clothes."

But by this time, Sima Yue was far from the center of power. His East China Sea kingdom only governs six counties, and the level is only a military attache who assists the general.

Sima Yue has the ability, but he has no chance, because he is too far away from Sima Yi's blood relationship. In China, consanguinity is an unattainable threshold. Mencius said, "If you are poor, you will be immune to it, and if you are rich, you will help the world." He is "poor", but his heart is eager to "reach".

Sima Tang gave him a chance, and from then on he had a place in Sima Yue on the historical stage.

Sima Tang's principle of forming a cabinet is: suppressing the Sima Yan school and vigorously activating the non-Sima Yan school.

Sima Yue has the ability to keep a low profile and stay away from the Sima Yan system. Nature is the best candidate for Sima Tang to form a cabinet.

Everything was arranged, Sima Revolution was successful, and Tong Can sat back and began to work.

In fact, Sima Tang's prestige in the ruling and opposition is at its peak at the moment. Sima Tang in people's minds is a defender who is not afraid of rape. Since he started fighting, the whole world has gathered to respond. Xuchang, where he is located, immediately became the revolutionary holy land that the people of the whole country yearned for, attracting people with lofty ideals from all over the country. They risked their lives and broke through many obstacles to Xuchang, which became the most romantic slogan of that period.

Sima Yi's rebel army was far away from Beijing, and the soldiers and civilians in Beijing rose up and overthrew the decadent Sima Lun regime in one fell swoop, welcoming Sima Yi to Beijing with joy.

After Sima Tang entered Beijing, the whole country rejoiced. People are singing and dancing. With longing for a better life and reverence for the great Sima Tang, they couldn't help shouting: "Turn over and don't forget Sima, thank you."

However, the current situation at home and abroad is not optimistic. After more than ten years of constant tossing, the national strength of the Jin Empire has been greatly damaged, agricultural production has been greatly damaged, and years of wars and natural disasters have made a mess.

Third, lose the hope of the world.

It didn't take long for everyone to wait, and soon Sima Tang's first policy was introduced. "Sima is really unusual and efficient." Everyone was surprised.

However, seeing this policy, everyone was dumbfounded. Sima Tong's first policy after he entered the highest authority turned out to be to build himself a villa.

Sima Tang has been living in his father's home since he entered Beijing. Now, he wants to expand it according to the system of Nishimiya Emperor.

For a time, as many as hundreds of official houses and private houses were demolished. As for how to compensate the relocated households, it is impossible to find out at present, but it is conceivable how many officials have benefited from it, how many bloody cases have occurred, and how many families have been destroyed.

After the first policy of building a large scale and exhausting the country's not rich treasury to expand villas for themselves was introduced, people never saw the follow-up policy again. What they saw was that Sima Tang indulged in debauchery, neglected state affairs, ignored organizational procedures and arbitrarily appointed cronies to the decision-making level. For a time, the work of various organs was once again in chaos.

At this time, ministers began to write to Sima Tang and make suggestions. Ministers dared to raise their own objections to Sima Qian, which was unimaginable at home and in Sima Lun's time. At the same time, it also shows that everyone still has hope for Sima Tang.

On the one hand, thanks to the political legacy left by his father Sima You. In the hearts of a group of elders, there is always a plot of Sima You; Secondly, thanks to Sima Tang's defending righteousness in Xuchang, people have a good wish in their hearts that a person who overthrew a corrupt regime will not be corrupt; Once again, Sima Tong came to power, which was indeed much looser than that of Hou Jia and Sima Lun. After home and during the period of Sima Lun, this situation improved obviously when Sima Tong was in power.

Shi Ji Shao reported to the emperor and Sima Yi respectively, asking the emperor to keep a sense of crisis at all times and not to forget the suffering of Sima Lun's persecution at the beginning; The report to Sima Tang is more direct. The accommodation conditions of the ancient emperors Tang, Yu, Xia and Yu were not very good, but they created a peaceful and prosperous era. You are facing such a difficult situation in the national economy today. Why are you in such a hurry to build your own house? It is better to consider the national economy and people's livelihood first, and then build villas when the country is rich.

Sima Tang was amused, and Ji Shao was right, but being right doesn't mean being useful.

Ji Shao is the son of Ji Kang, the seven sages of bamboo forest. He was raised by Ji Kang's friend Dan Tao. He has a good personality, but his mind is full of nerds. He wanted to use sages to enlighten Sima Tang, a lean man who was hiding something, and laugh it off.

When Sima Tang met Ji Shao, he humbly bowed down and apologized to him, and greatly praised Ji Shao: "Duke Ji, I have read your opinion and said it very well. Criticism and self-criticism are our fine traditions. We must carry it forward, and please continue to give us more valuable opinions in the future. " Ji Shao was very excited. I didn't expect Fu to pay so much attention to himself, and he would correct his mistakes. This is really a great event, and the country is full of hope. Suddenly, his face was full of tears: "Xiaguan is not sensible and has collided with Fu. The country is really lucky to have such a mind. "

Sima Tang accepted the criticism and refused to change it. The villa was built correctly.

Nanyang founder wrote another letter to Sima Tong:

First, do not be prepared for danger in times of peace; Second, he is not generous enough to his imperial clan; Third, the rebellion against Te Li has not attracted enough attention; Fourth, do not care about the people; Five, do not reward meritorious personnel.

The second and fifth points were obviously shot by Sima Ying.

Sima Tang accepted the criticism and said sincerely, "Well said, but for your brother's guidance, I didn't know I had these mistakes."

Still accept criticism and resolutely do not change.

So both inside and outside the imperial court, from the joy of welcoming Sima Tang into Beijing to the disappointment now, they all thought of Sima Ying.

Sima Ying's strategy of retreating for progress soon produced results. As the government and people are more and more disappointed with Sima Yi, their admiration for Sima Yi is more and more endless. This person is also the blood of Sima Yan, the former emperor. At that time, everyone belonged to Sima Ying, and the voice of asking Sima Ying to return to Beijing to take the helm was turbulent.

These gossip more or less reached the ears of Sima Tang, but he disagreed.

Sun Hui was the first person to let him face up to this problem. He wrote to Sima Tang, who didn't preach like Ji Shao, but first affirmed his achievements: "Sima Xuchang made a decisive decision, and the heroes of the world gathered to respond, sharing weal and woe with the officers and men, and finally rejuvenating the royal family with weakness. This is what the wise Lord did. " Sima Tang is very happy. Changed the topic, but the following content is: "Fu now has his reputation, contribution, power and prestige, which can be said to be a very powerful minister, but he is too tall to be cold." Fu should not forget the danger of being in a high position, and understand that success, fame and retirement are all heavenly ways. Now that the power is in hand, he seems to be very comfortable, and he can be unrestrained and unrestrained. It was even worse than being besieged by the Sima Lun army in Yingchuan and Yangzhai. Therefore, in my humble opinion, Fu should return to Xuchang, his original place, and leave the administrative affairs to the king of Changsha and the king of Chengdu. "

Zhuang's old disciple talked a lot about Laozi's philosophy, and advised Sima Yi to learn from Washington on the other side of the ocean in a few years, retire quickly and hand over power to two elders, Sima Ying, the king of Changsha and Chengdu.

Sima Tang appreciated Sun Hui's courage and didn't blame him. He knew it was useless to kill him, and judging from the gossip he had got before, it was not just one or two people who held this view, but a group of people, but Sun Hui dared to say it. Therefore, Sima Tang only suppressed Sun Hui's report and made no reply.

But Sima Yi is also puzzled: Yang Jun, Hou Jia and Sima Lun have been in trouble for so many years. Have you seen what you said? Now I'm not as good as these two? I asked my confidant Cao Shu, "Why do these people want me to retire? Did I really do something wrong? " Cao Shu is also deeply worried about the current situation of Sima Tang: "I also think what they said has some truth. Think again, your majesty. Now you seem to be under one person and above ten thousand people, but in fact you are in danger. The tree in the forest is beautiful, and the wind will destroy it. How nice it would be for us to go back to Xuchang and live a quiet life. "

Cao Shu also felt the pressure from the outside world, and thought that the call for the outside government to belong to the king of Changsha and the king of Chengdu came from the tradition of defending Taoism. They are all sons of Sima Yan, and it is legitimate for them to be in charge of Sima Yan. But this meaning is not clear, they can only talk about some big things, I hope Sima Yan can understand.

However, Cao Shu failed to really answer Sima Tang's confusion and wanted to trace it back to orthodoxy. The establishment of Sima's regime was the abuse of the latter three ways. Should it be returned to the Cao family at this time, or should the Cao family return it to the Liu family?

Sima Tang's confusion is not whether it is orthodox, but how many benefits it has brought to the people or interest groups.

When Sima Tang was in power, compared with Yang Jun, Hou Jia and Sima Lun, his freedom of speech improved and his management was relatively loose. However, he neglected political affairs and indulged in debauchery. The Book of Jin said: "(It) indulged in debauchery and refused to go to court." The operation of the state machine has basically stagnated, and the citizens who have experienced wars and disasters have not been given the opportunity to cultivate themselves. The GDP has not increased but decreased, and the people have become increasingly poor.

Although Yang Jun, Houjia and Sima Lun were autocratic and corrupt, the state organs still operated, especially in the years when Houjia and Zhang Hua were in power, the GDP increased year by year.

Most importantly, Sima Tang did not unite interest groups well, and even those who followed him in the mountains and rivers were not rewarded. Instead, he squandered himself and offended interest groups, and his political career should come to an end.

Yang Jun, Hou Jia and Sima Lun's ability in this respect is incomparable to Sima Tang. They all promoted their own people, rewarded them vigorously, and never mistreated them. In the era of Yang Jun, a group of interest groups represented by "Sanyang" supported them. After the family, I have an extraordinary ability to know people. As long as she goes to find it, she will never be mistreated. As soon as Sima Lun came to power, he lavished rewards on his country, even at the expense of emptying the national treasury. All three people did not hesitate to let the corruption of interest groups be the condition of maintaining their own political power, and indeed achieved remarkable results in a certain period of time.

Sima Tang came to power without the support of any interest groups, which really failed.

Since the confusion has not been answered, it will naturally remain unchanged. Seeing that mud can't help the wall, men can't see the future and leave one after another. Hans Zhang resigned, and Gu Rong got drunk every day and turned a blind eye to the facts. Yu Zhou and his wife fled to the mountains to live in seclusion. At this time, Sima Yi's temper began to deteriorate.

In front of such people, smart enough people will hide far away, afraid of being bitten by this guy, and that will be a big loss. But Wang Bao, the main player, is determined to face the difficulties. Wang Bao's children's shoes are responsible for paperwork, and many documents of the country have to go through his hands. I usually watch too much, and my heart has been accumulating. Now I feel really bad, and I can't help but get it off my chest.

He wrote to Sima Tang: "Since Yang Jun, there has been no happy ending in the position of prime minister. This is due to the current situation. Your Fu has pacified the disaster and contributed to the peace and stability of the country. How can we repeat the mistakes of these people now? Now there are three kings supporting themselves besides Hejian, Chengdu and Xinye. You have made a great contribution, and you are in charge of the capital. You are already at the forefront, and you are in a dilemma. This is the last resort.

It should be said that Wang Bao's point of view is quite accurate, but the solution he proposed is quite bad. It is unwise to let the princes go to war, not to mention that Sima Yi and Sima Ying ruled the north and south. Sima Yi naturally refused, but he didn't take his question seriously.

It is not difficult to see the problem, and it is the level to put forward the correct solution to the problem.

Wang Bao put forward his own suggestion, which was completely in line with the organizational procedures, but the report somehow got into the hands of Wang Sima in Changsha through improper channels. When the king of Changsha saw Wang Bao's report and proposed to send the prince back to their respective countries, he suddenly flew into a rage and ran to Sima Tang's office and said angrily, "This guy obviously wants to alienate our brothers. In order to maintain the unity between our brothers, you'd better kill this man. " Sima Tong's head was suddenly short-circuited. He didn't investigate how Changsha Wang read Wang Bao's letter, nor did he think deeply about the significance of Changsha Wang's arrival. However, he lost his mind and killed Wang Bao.

After Wang Bao's death, people all over the world became completely indifferent.