While Qin Shi Huang destroyed the Six Kingdoms and created a unified empire, he also set a model for future generations, and only those who did this step could be regarded as qualified emperors. However, both Qin Shi Huang and the State of Qin were black enough by historians that the later Han regimes rarely used "Qin" as their national name, but instead those princely states that were destroyed borrowed corpses to return their souls, often appeared on the stage of history.
There are still people who like Qin Shi Huang, and Jian Jian of the Southern and Northern Dynasties is one of them. The name didn't seem too loud and a bit familiar. If it is said that the battle of Shuishui, many people will suddenly realize, is Jian Jian not the big villain who was defeated? This is the sadness of Jian Jian, no one knows the merits of his life, and he lost once but became famous in history, I am too difficult!
His ancestor was the chief of Xirong in Gansu, and he was a neighbor of the Qin state. After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, Gong Jian's grandfather Gong Hong took advantage of the chaos to establish the "Qin" regime, hoping to unify the Central Plains and dominate the world like the Qin State of that year. History refers to this "Qin" as Former Qin.
The clans of Gong Hong belonged to the Huan clan, and they successively defected to Later Zhao and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. After growing in strength, he occupied Chang'an and proclaimed himself the King of Qin. In 352 AD, Gong Jian, the son of Gong Hong, was proclaimed emperor in Chang'an, with the name of the country great Qin and the beginning of the year, and if he did not pay attention to it, he thought that these words were Qin Shi Huang.
After Jian Jian's death, he was succeeded by his son Zhisheng. This was a cruel and murderous emperor, and the whole court was very dissatisfied with him. Some people advised Jian Jian to rebel and take his place. While Jian Jian was still hesitating, a palace maid sent news that the emperor wanted to get rid of Jian Jian tomorrow. Therefore, Jian Jian rushed into the palace with his soldiers and arrested the sleeping GongSheng, who was only then proclaimed emperor himself.
Although jian jian was born into a nomadic ethnic group, he loved the Han family scriptures and history articles, which were rare in the family. After he ascended the throne, he appointed a large number of Han courtiers, especially Wang Meng. The Guanzhong Plain was restored to its former prosperity, and an unprecedented new atmosphere appeared in the Former Qin regime.
Wang Meng, who was heavily used by Jian Jian, was a rare celebrity in the Southern and Northern Dynasties era, and was not only good at developing the economy and restoring people's livelihood, but also resolutely resisting the illegal acts of the magnates. Soon after taking office, he brought more than twenty nobles to justice, shocking the entire imperial court and making the decree unimpeded from then on.
With the efforts of the golden duo of Jian Jian and Wang Meng, Former Qin destroyed several separatist regimes and basically unified the north. The people of all nationalities are equal, their lives have also returned to their former stability, they have been given little to thin endowments, and agriculture, industry, and commerce have been greatly developed. This was a rare period of peace and prosperity in the Central Plains after the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty.
However, as an admirer of Qin Shi Huang, Jian Jian had a dream in his heart - to unify the world. For this idea of Jian Jian, Wang Meng's psychology is contradictory. On the one hand, he believed that the Eastern Jin Dynasty was corrupt and unable to shoulder the heavy responsibility of unification, and refused the invitation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty to invite him to serve. On the other hand, he actually did not want the Hu regime to accomplish the great cause of reunification.
Wang Meng always advised Jian Jian not to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and Jian Jian also respected his opinion, and this situation lasted until Wang Meng's death, and Jian Jian finally made up his mind to march south, in an attempt to restore the glory of Qin Shi Huang, and recruited an army of 700,000 to 800,000 to kill the Eastern Jin Dynasty in a mighty way.
The Battle of Shuishui is one of the most famous battles in ancient China, and the victors did not expect to win so easily, and the losers could not understand their own defeats. It is said that former Qin Zhijian was popular with the people, and the army was also powerful, but it had not really fought and failed.
If we must explore the reasons for the defeat, I am afraid that it has a lot to do with the Former Qin army itself, this army is a hodgepodge, all nationalities have it, some ambitious generals from the bottom of their hearts do not want Jian Jian to succeed, as soon as there is a wind and grass, they will flee with their own personnel and horses. They also spread the rhetoric of defeat to prevent them from being held accountable for escape.
Sure enough, once Shuishui was defeated, the Xianbei and other clans took the opportunity to rebel, and the Murong family was the first to regain the title of king. These were the ancestors of Murong Fu in Jiangnan, and after the Yan kingdom was destroyed, Jian Jian did not have the heart to kill them. The Murong family also participated in the Battle of Shuishui, and they knew best how much positive or negative force they had exerted.
His generosity led to his own demise, and Chang'an was conquered by Murong Shi, who fled to Mount Wujiang, where he was killed by his former general Yao Cang. Jian Jian was only 48 years old when he died, and the peaceful days in the Central Plains were also coming to an end.
Yao Cang later also called himself Emperor, believing that he had inherited the Former Qin regime, and the state name was still Qin, and the history was called Later Qin. This murderer not only killed Jian Jian, but also dug him out of the coffin afterwards, whipping and humiliating the corpse, and even he knew that he had done too much. It is said that Yao Chang often had nightmares after falling ill, dreaming that Jian Jian came to him to settle accounts.
Frightened and frightened, Yao Cang ran around the palace, and ordered his bodyguards to stab at the fantasy Jian Jian. While many people were blindly stabbing, he was still running wildly, and finally hit the tip of the spear. In this way, Yao Cang broke off his breath, and it was also considered that Jian Jian repaid this blood revenge for himself.
[References: Book of Jin, Northern History, Zizhi Tongjian]