preface
From 299 to 306 AD, the Western Jin Dynasty broke out the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, which lasted for sixteen years, and the kings of the Sima clan attacked each other, and for a time the lives were destroyed and the society was in turmoil.
The Xiongnu, Xianbei, Xianbei, Qiang, Qiang, and other ethnic minorities took advantage of the civil unrest in the Central Plains to invade the south on a large scale, plundering and brutally slaughtering the Han Chinese.
From 307 to 311, in order to escape the chaos of war, the northern warriors crossed the river to the south, and more than one million people moved to the Yangtze River Basin in the Central Plains, a considerable part of which were scholars and aristocrats.
At that time, Sima Rui, the king of Langya, with the support of wang dao and Wang Dun brothers of the Langya clan of the northern family, ascended the throne at Jiankang in 317 as emperor, which was established as the Emperor of Jinyuan, and the dynasty established was called the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty was the politics of the Mongol clan, the imperial power was derived from the clan group, especially in the early Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Langya Wang clan became the dominant force to ensure the operation of the Sima clan regime, so this period is also known as "the king and the horse share the world".
The origin of the Langya Wang clan
The Langya Wang clan was the most representative of the Central Plains at that time, living in Langya, Shandong during the four hundred years from the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, so it was named "Langya Wangshi" in the name of the county.
The founder of this lineage, Wang Ji, was a doctor during the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, and was famous for his honest officials and courage to speak out and advise, and the beginning of the Wang clan came from this.
By the time of Emperor Cheng of Han, Wang Ji's son Wang Jun (王君) was promoted to the rank of Imperial Grand Master, and in the last years of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Ji's grandson Wang Chong had become an official to the rank of Grand Sikong.
Although the Wang clan has become an extremely popular subject, the three generations of the Wang clan have always adhered to the sincere heart of loyalty and patriotism, strictly abided by the duties of the courtiers, and the name of the sage was widely circulated, and even Wang Chong was poisoned because he did not want to rely on Wang Mang.
Later, Wang Mang's new dynasty was overthrown in the wave of rebellious armies in Lulin Chimei, and after Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Chong's son Wang Zun was rewarded with loyalty and worshipped Taizhong Dafu.
From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Wang family continued the glory of its predecessors, serving as officials in the dynasty for generations, and the Wang family was based on loyalty and filial piety.
For example, during the Wei and Jin dynasties, Wang Xiang, who served as Sikong, Taiwei, and Taibao, served his stepmother Zhu Jixiao, and was the master of one of the twenty-four filial pieties in traditional culture, "Lying on ice and seeking carp".
His younger brother Wang Lan was the master of one of the "Twenty-Four Sorrows", the "Wang Lan Controversy". After the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, which represented the Class of The Gate Valve Clan, the status and prestige of the Langya Wang Clan stepped to a new level.
At this time, the Wang clan had gone through a glorious process of four hundred years, and the magic spell of "rich but not more than three generations" had been broken in the Wang clan for an unknown number of generations.
However, "the sky is unpredictable", the rebellion of the eight kings and the outbreak of the disaster of Yongjia made this century-old family encounter the challenge of survival for the first time.
However, just as the so-called "heroes of the times" have appeared in the family, the strongest "heir" Wang Dao in the family has appeared, and the Wang clan has become strong under his impetus, and the era of "kings and horses, sharing the world" has officially arrived.
Wang Dao: Zaifu who has been in charge of the government for twenty years and is worshipped by the emperor
In 276 AD, Wang Daohan was born with a golden spoon, and his grandfather was Wang Lan, one of the Twenty-Four Emperors, and his father, Wang Jiao, was an official to Sima Zhenjun.
When he was a teenager, Wang Dao showed a far greater amount of insight than his peers, and when he grew up, Wang Dao did not serve in the imperial court like his father, but was active in his hometown to make friends and became acquainted with Sima Rui, the king of Langya at that time.
That is, the later founding monarch of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Dao in his youth had a precise prediction of the situation at that time, that is, the Western Jin Dynasty would definitely be in chaos.
In order to exert his ambitions and save the Wang clan, Wang Dao must rely on the Sima clan, he bet on Sima Rui and wholeheartedly assisted him, Sima Rui also trusted Wang Dao, and the two were close friends.
In 305, Sima Rui was appointed as the general of Andong, and Wang Dao was invited by him to serve as the general of Andong, and the 29-year-old Wang Dao officially entered the career and began his glorious life.
In 307, Sima Rui, at the suggestion of Wang Dao, left the town of Jianye (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), and Wang Dao's family followed him to the south, and the Langya Wang clan changed from a regional symbol to a political title.
After the southern crossing, in order to build a political power dominated by the northern warriors, Wang Dao began to carry out political layout.
The first step was to contact the former Eastern Wu Southern Shi clan and enlist the southern warrior leaders Gu Rong and He Xun into the Shi, so that the Wu Di Shi clan would be attached to the wind.
The second step is to take advantage of the chaotic situation to vigorously attract the northern warriors to go south, recruit talents, strengthen the influence of the northern warrior groups in the south, and balance the strength of the northern and northern warriors.
The third step is to combine the characteristics of the Jiangzuo area with a large population and abundant products, assist Sima Rui, exert great efforts to govern, exhort nongsang, be clean and do nothing, rest and recuperate, and after several years of governance, the Jiangzuo area presents a peaceful and prosperous scene.
Wang Dao was also more and more valued by Sima Rui, and the feelings between the two became increasingly deep, and the government and the public even called Wang Dao "Zhongfu".
In 318, Sima Rui took the throne as emperor and established the Eastern Jin Dynasty. As the founder of ZTE, Wang Dao also has the merit of supporting the establishment, and has also ushered in his own highlight moment.
He was appointed as the Grand General of the Hussars and the Third Division of Yi Tong, and then he was appointed as the Shuzhong (侍中), Sikong (司空), False Festival, Lu Shang Shu (錄尚書事), and Lingzhong Shu (中書監).
When receiving congratulations from hundreds of officials, Sima Rui repeatedly asked Wang Dao to sit on the imperial bed to receive congratulations, but Wang Dao maintained the usual modest style of the Wang clan and repeatedly refused to accept it.
In 319, Wang Dao served as the crown prince's eunuch, and at the same time, under his impetus, set up a historical official, which was the first time in China.
The so-called "bird full bow hiding rabbit dead dog cooking", Wang's prominence began to make Sima Rui feel a little threatened, coupled with the arrogance of Wang Dun, a general who was dissatisfied with Wang Dao's brother and the general who guarded the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Sima Rui decided to weaken Wang's power.
First of all, he promoted the ministers Liu Kui and Diao Xie, who were opposed to the Menmen, and alienated Wang Dao, and then appointed Dai Yuan of the Old Wu Clan of Eastern Wu as the general of Zhengxi, and Liu Kui as the general of Zhenbei stationed in Hefei and Huaiyin, nominally the Northern Expedition Shile, but in fact against Wang Dun.
But Wang Dao did not show any emotion, a calm look. However, as a mature politician, Wang Dao already has a plan.
On the one hand, he acquiesced to Wang Dunlai's "Qing Jun's side". In 322, Wang Dun raised an army from Wuchang on the grounds of opposing Liu Kui and Diao Xie and suing for Wang Dao, invaded Jiankang, killed Dai Yuan and Diao Xie, and Liu Kui fled to Shile, crushing the political forces opposed to the Wang clan in one fell swoop.
On the other hand, Wang Dao led more than twenty brothers and nephews in the clan to go to the Pavilion every day at dawn to wait for punishment for the crime. However, the clear-eyed people knew that this was just a show, and Sima Rui could only use this to go down the ladder and reconcile with Wang Dao.
In 323, Sima Rui died in grief, and sima shao, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, succeeded him, and Wang Dao assisted the government and became Situ.
Although Wang Dao's power was tilted toward the opposition, he was very principled, and when his brother Wang Dun wanted to seek power and usurp the throne, Wang Dao firmly stood in the position of the imperial family and resolutely counterattacked, and swept away Wang Dun's rebellion, so Wang Dao took the throne of Taibao and the position of Sikong continued to be retained.
In 325, Sima Shao fell ill and died, and the four-year-old Jincheng Emperor Sima Yan succeeded to the throne, and Wang Dao continued to assist the government as a minister of gu orders. At this time, Wang Dao was already the elder of the Three Dynasties, an extremely popular subject, and his prestige reached its peak.
The young Sima Yan had to bow down every time he saw Wang Dao, and even wrote the words "say with trepidation" on the edict to Wang Dao, and the edict drafted by Zhongshu Province was called "respectful questioning".
Due to Wang Dao's growing old age, every year on the first day of the first lunar month, when Wang entered the dynasty, Sima Yan would personally rise up to greet him and see Wang Dao's wife Cao Shu with his family.
In 338, Wang Dao promoted Taifu (太傅) and then paid homage to Xiang Xiang (丞相), and according to the Han Dynasty system, he directly deposed Situ Zhizhi and returned his authority to Xiang Xiang (丞相), whose position had been "shelved" for four hundred years from Emperor Wu of Han to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and finally returned to the throne again during the Wang Dao period.
In 339, at the age of sixty-three, Wang Dao died of illness, and Sima Yanju mourned for three days, and the funeral rites were similar to the example of Sima Huoguang of the Han Dynasty.
Wang Dun: A domineering courtier who dares to pull the emperor off his horse
Wang Dun was born in 266, a year older than Wang Dao, and unlike his modest and low-key brother, Wang Dun likes to talk and is good at judging characters.
Moreover, in terms of personal development, Wang Dun actively participated in the politics of the imperial court and was not as maverick as Wang Dao.
When Wang Dun grew up, he married Princess Xiangcheng, the daughter of Sima Yan, emperor of the Jin Dynasty, and served as the crown prince. After that, Wang Dun was involved in the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, first attaching himself to Sima Lun, and then switching to Sima Yuan, and after the restoration of Sima Zheng, the Emperor of Jin, Wang Dun was promoted to the post of Commander of the Scattered Horse, the General of the Left Guard, the Great Hongqi, and the Servant.
At this time, the Hu ethnic minorities in the north arose, with the intention of entering the Central Plains, Wang Dun judged the situation and crossed south with his brother Wang Dao, helping Sima Rui to gain a firm foothold in Jiangdong and gain the support of the Jiangdong Shi clan.
From 311 to 315, Wang Dun successively quelled the rebellion of Shi Huayi in Jiangzhou and suppressed the rebellion of bashu Duhan and other displaced people, thus consolidating Sima Rui's partial security regime.
In 318, Wang Dun was promoted to the rank of general, and he was appointed to serve Zhongzhong and Jiangzhou Mu, and the entire middle reaches of the Yangtze River were under his control, but soon the powerful Wang clan was suspected by Sima Rui.
In 322, Wang Dun raised an army at Wuchang and attacked Jiankang in the east in the name of the traitor liu kui. Sima Rui could bear it and said that he would personally lead a large army to fight a decisive battle with it, but Sima Rui really underestimated the strength of the Wang clan.
The Eastern Jin Dynasty itself was established with the support of the Mengmen Clan, and the Wang clan was not only the leader of the Shi clan, but also the protégés were all over the court, not to mention that Liu Kui, who was used by Sima Rui, did not have a large clan background, and once the Wang clan lost power, it would inevitably impact the political status of the Shi clan.
Therefore, at that time, most of the Door Valve clan had an ambiguous attitude toward Wang Dunqi, and Wen Zhao, who was born in the Wen clan of Taiyuan, even said that Wang Dun had a reason for the incident, which was not excessive.
Without the support of the Shi clan, Sima Rui could only order Liu Kui, Dai Yuan, and a few other forces to counterattack, and finally they all returned in defeat, Diao Xiefu and Liu Kui fled north, and all the "traitors" in the DPRK were eliminated, but Wang Dun still suppressed the territory with a large army.
Sima Rui had no choice but to ask Wang Dun for peace, and Wang Dun wanted to continue the march and take his place, but because Wang Dao opposed it, he could only give up.
In the end, Wang Dun replaced Wang Dao's position and became the chancellor, the governor of the Chinese and foreign militaries, the Lu Shang Shu shi, and the Jiangzhou Mu, at this point, the power of the imperial government was returned to Wang Dun, and Sima Rui was completely emptied.
However, Wang Dun returned to Wuchang after this and remotely controlled the government, and Sima Rui died of depression the following year.
With the expansion of Wang Dun's power, the idea of taking Sima Shi's place instead once again manifested himself, and he even wanted to depose the newly succeeded Sima Shao in the name of filial piety.
It may be that his behavior was too excessive, and even Wen Yu and other ministers who supported him strongly opposed it, and in the end Wang Dun failed to succeed.
In 323, Wang Dun led a large army to garrison Yuhu, led Yangzhou Mu by himself, directly controlled the Gyeonggi region, and prepared a public rebellion.
This time, even Wang Dao could not see it, and directly led the army to personally attack Wang Dun and make a political cut with Wang Dun.
At this time, wang Dun was seriously ill, and in order to eliminate the fear of wang dun by the generals, Wang Dao and Sima Shao agreed to declare that Wang Dun was dead, and Wang Dao led the sons of the clan to mourn for him.
The generals of the Jin army believed wang Dun's "death news" true, morale was greatly boosted, and wang Dun was greatly defeated by Wang Dun's rebels, Wang Dun was furious and wanted to personally supervise the battle, but due to illness and fatigue, he could not make the trip, and finally died in a serious illness and resentment, at the age of fifty-nine.
After the news of Wang Dun's death spread, the rebel army collapsed. Compared with the solemnity of Wang Dao's death, Wang Dun was much more miserable, and after his death, Sima Shao ordered people to lift up Wang Dun's corpse, burn his clothes and crown, behead the corpse in a kneeling posture, and then hang his head in the south of the city for public display.
From "the king and the horse, the world together" to fade out of the center of power
The Langya Wang clan arose in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, developed in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and reached its peak in the early Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Sima Rui's journey from Dongdu to ascension to the throne mainly relied on the strong support of the Wang family Wang Dao and the Wang Dun brothers.
During this period, Wang Dao Wang Dun was inside and outside, and Wang Dao was in charge of the imperial government, leading the southern and northern warrior clans, and the government decrees were issued. Wang Dun was in charge of the military power, conquest everywhere, sitting in Jingzhou, and controlling Jiankang.
The sons of the Wang clan occupied various important positions in the dynasty, and the Wang clan of Langya and the Sima royal family were evenly matched, and the people at that time called it "the king and the horse, the world together".
With the death of Wang Dao and the rise of the Xie clan of Chen County, led by Xie An, the Wang clan began to weaken and gradually faded out of the center of power.
However, the status and fame of the Wang family in the dynasty is irreplaceable by other families, and only the Xie family can be named with it, and it is collectively known as Wang Xie by posterity.
By the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Wang clan of Langya was obviously more prestigious than powerful, and the descendants of the Wang family turned from politics to literature, exerting an important influence on ethics, national classics, and literature and art.
For example, Wang Jian in the Qi Liang period was a generation of Confucian masters, And Wang Rong and Wang Ji were all well-known poets at that time, as well as Wang Xizhi, the great calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, whom we are familiar with.
In the Sui and Tang dynasties, with the rise of the imperial examination system and the Anshi Rebellion, the era of the Gate Valve Clan was brought to an end, and the glory of the Langya Wang Clan no longer existed.
Although the Wang family produced four prime ministers in the Tang Dynasty, including Wang Fangqing, Wang Rui, Wang Jie, and Wang Zhuo, compared with the Langya Wang family of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was already a drop in the ocean, and after seven hundred years of vicissitudes, the Langya Wang family finally became a star in the historical sky.