Reading Historical Notes —— Crazy Emperor Sima Zhong (1)

In the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, people all over the country knew that Prince Sima Zhong was an idiot.

? Sima zhong's idiot is congenital, that is, the kind of idiot that can be seen at a glance. He has been unable to walk normally since he was a child, and he is still lisping when he is almost ten years old. He can't tell rice from soybeans, let alone read and write.

? One thing is enough to illustrate Sima Zhong's idiocy.

? One year there was a famine, people were displaced, and the roads were full of hunger. Above the imperial court, ministers will naturally mention this matter. When the ministers were discussing how to solve the problem, Sima Zhong suddenly asked: These people have no food and won't eat meat porridge? Ministers are in distress situation. For the pampered Sima Zhong, meat and rice are his staple foods every day. With his IQ, he can't figure out why he doesn't eat meat or eat.

? This reminds me of a childish joke. When my son was three years old, there was a drought in his hometown. I educated my son and said, "We should save water at ordinary times, and children in some places can't even drink water." My son naively asked me, "They don't have water to drink, don't they?" My son's question naturally made me laugh and cry, but my son was only three years old after all, and Sima Zhong was already a junior high school student when he asked this question.

? Since Sima Zhong is so retarded that he can't take care of himself, how did he become a prince and finally an emperor? Didn't the Jin Emperor Sima Yan have a clever son? The answer is of course no. There were 25 princes in Sima Yan's life. Except Sima Zhong, the IQ is normal.

? Then why did you choose Sima Zhong in the end? In fact, this is the fate, the fate of the Western Jin Dynasty, the fate of Sima Yan, and the fate of Sima Zhong.

? First of all, Sima Zhong is an idiot, but he comes from a good family. He is the second son of Jin Dynasty and Empress Yang. The eldest son Sima Gui died in his early years, so Sima Zhong became the eldest son. In that age of seniority, he was the first heir to the throne. Sima Zhong was still very young when he was made a prince, only 9 years old. As an idiot, he seldom spoke when he was 9 years old, which was considered by ministers as the advantage of being quiet and introverted. In other words, at the age of 9, no one saw that he was an idiot, and even if he was abnormal, no one dared to question him.

? But with the passage of time, Sima Zhong began to grow up, and his mental defects that could not be concealed were exposed. People can't help asking: will this prince be qualified for the throne of the son of heaven in the future? Should the prince be replaced in time? Of course, due to the orthodoxy of Sima Zhong's first heir and the face of his mother, Empress Yang, ministers only dare to whisper in their hearts, but dare not mention it publicly, joking that the emperor's son is an idiot, and you can't cut off enough heads.

? Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, was the first person to ask questions publicly (and only he dared to ask questions publicly).

? The history book says: "The prince could not bear to be unified and be close to the queen. Later, he said,' if you are long but not wise, how can you move if you set up your own position?' "As you can see, Sima Yan has begun to doubt whether his son has the ability to rule the world, so he quietly revealed to the queen that he wants to replace the prince. However, Empress Yang was very protective of Sima Zhong and said to her husband, "Since ancient times, the old rules left by our ancestors cannot be changed!" Another favorite, Zhao, also put in a good word for Sima Zhong because of the benefits of Queen Yang: "The prince was just playful when he was a child. Who didn't play when he was a child?" After all, there were only a few people who showed superhuman ability when he was a child. According to the courtiers, the prince must be a late bloomer and will surely inherit the great unification in the future. " Sima Yan also has a soft ear. When the wind blew near the pillows of the two daughters-in-law, they gave up the idea of replacing the prince.

? But the courtiers wouldn't. Let me hang out with a fool in the future, except to prove that I am more stupid than a fool. So ministers want to replace the prince.

? In the early years of Xianning (275), Sima Zhong reached the age of leaving the East Palace and began to contact the foreign minister. As the prince has more and more contacts with ministers, his doubts about whether he can govern the country are getting heavier and heavier. In the second year of Xianning (276), Emperor Wu of Jin fell ill, which was still very serious. The ruling and opposition parties once began to consider the transfer of supreme power. Most people prefer Sima Yan's younger brother, Sima You, King of Qi, and hope to replace Sima Yan with Sima You. Princess Qi is the eldest daughter of Jia Chong. At that time, He Nanyin said to Jia Chong, "Your two sons-in-law (Sima Zhong is also Jia Chong's son-in-law) are of equal blood, but they want you to take part in the establishment of the prince. Jia Chong was silent after hearing this. Sima Yan learned of this after his illness, and made the following treatment: Xia Houhe was transferred to Guangluxun (He Nanyin originally held the capital regime) to seize the military power in Jia Chong. This is a signal that the people support Sima Zhong. At that time, no one in the ruling and opposition dared to mention the establishment of Prince Geng.

? At this time, most ministers took the practice of preserving their sanity and turned a blind eye to the prince, but a few important ministers advised the emperor in their own way. Wei Guan, the hero who destroyed Shu, pretended to be drunk at another banquet and knelt in front of Sima Yan's bed and said, "I have something to say to the emperor." Sima Yan said, "What are you trying to say?" Wei Guan saw Sima Yan three times and hesitated. Finally, he pointed to Sima Yan's seat and said, "What a pity to sit here!" Sima Yan was very clever and immediately understood the implication of Wei Guan, so he made a mistake and replied, "It seems that you are really drunk." Wei Guan was silent from then on, and no longer talked about the prince.

? Shi Zhong and Gao are another minister who bravely proposed to establish a prince, but he is not as fancy as Wei Guan, and his method is very direct. He felt that Sima Zhong was an idiot, so he took advantage of his position (the waiter's job is the emperor's "escort", of course, he doesn't have to sleep with him) and said to Sima Yan: "It is a good thing that the prince has an ancient style; But the reality is complicated. I'm afraid this will not only be your majesty's family affairs in the future. " Upon hearing this, Sima Yan simply took a silent answer.

? However, ministers' admonitions influenced Sima Yan to some extent. He can ignore the opinions of ministers or take indirect measures to suppress them, but as the founding king of the Western Jin Dynasty, he must be responsible for the eternal inheritance of the Western Jin Dynasty. No one knows the actual situation of Sima Zhong better than his father. He decided to test the actual ability of the adult prince.

? Sima Yan's test method is very simple. He sent several confidant ministers to ask questions to see if the prince had the ability to inherit the unification. Thinking about Sima Yan is also very unreliable. The future of a dynasty depends on several ministers asking questions.

? The three ministers he chose were He Zhi, Xun Xu and Xun Yu. Sima Yan said to three people, "I think the prince has made great progress recently. You three should visit the prince together, talk about the world and see the prince's reaction. " The three men had to leave and come back after chatting with the prince. Xun Xu and Xun Yi said that the prince was wise as a letter, and there was no problem. Only He Jiao said: "The sacred quality is like the first ear!" "(Idiot is an idiot after all, there won't be any progress), took a white look at He Zhi and left angrily.

? However, more than words still had a certain impact on Sima Yan's life, and Sima Yan decided to personally test Sima Zhong. On one occasion, Sima Yan recruited all the officials and family members of the East Palace to his side, saying that they worked hard to serve the Prince on weekdays and invited everyone to dinner. Inviting people to dinner here, Sima Yan sealed a few thorny government affairs there and sent them to the Prince for handling. He thought, I have separated everyone around the prince. No one can help the prince now. The prince can only handle these difficult government affairs on his own. If handled well, it proves that the prince's ability is no problem. If it is not handled well, it proves that there is something wrong with the prince.

? Sima Zhong can't even tell the whole grains clearly, so how to deal with this difficult government affairs? I spent a long time on the "paper" sent by my father, and finally I had to hand in a blank sheet of paper. Just as he was about to hand over a blank sheet of paper, Crown Princess Jia Nanfeng arrived with a group of "gunmen" to flatter Sima Zhong. It is estimated that these scholars invited by Jia Nanfeng are all masters, and the articles written on the answer sheet are righteous and impassioned, which is a must. Jia Nanfeng saw also nodded, such as dao garlic, very satisfied. However, Zhang Hong, the attendant, immediately reminded Jia Nanfeng: "The ignorant prince is fearless, and everyone in the government and the public knows it. Now this article is rich in references and brilliant in literary talent. I'm afraid the emperor can see at a glance that the prince didn't write it himself. If the emperor blames me, I'm afraid I'll lose my head. In this case, it is better to explain the problem directly in vernacular. " Jia Nanfeng calm down and think, Zhang Hong is right! Fortunately, I didn't hand in this paper! Almost caused a disaster! So he said to Zhang Hong, "Come, you answer the paper. Success, wealth; Failed, cut your head. " Zhang Hong, who was clever, immediately made the question clear in vernacular, and asked the prince to copy it down and give it to Sima Yan.

? Sima Yan smiled from ear to ear after seeing the answer sheet of the Prince, and immediately invited the young Prince Wei Guan to show the answer sheet of the Prince to Wei Guan. Wei Guan saw the prince's answer. Although the language was crude and superficial, he made all the questions clear. He was surprised and even more terrified. Because he has the highest voice when he wants to abolish the prince. Now that I have seen this answer sheet, I am busy saying that I was blind before and I don't know Mount Tai. At this point, Sima Zhong was basically satisfied with the prince, and the trend of abolishing the prince never appeared again.

? Sima Zhong's position as a prince was consolidated because he had a very clever son, Sima Ju. Sima Yan likes Sima Orange very much and has the idea of passing the throne to Sima Orange, which adds a lot of color to the consolidation of Sima Zhong's position. In order to pass on the throne to Sima Ju in the future, Sima Yan's idea of replacing the prince is getting weaker and weaker.

? Later, there is a saying that Sima Orange is actually the illegitimate child of Sima Yan, so Sima Caiyan especially likes Sima Orange. In order to cover up his fault and pass the throne to Sima Ju, he always insisted on not replacing Sima Zhong.

? So, why are there illegitimate children? This has to start with Xie Jiu, the biological mother of Sima Orange. Xie was handsome, beautiful and generous, and was selected as a gifted scholar in the harem in his early years. When Sima Zhong was 9 years old, he was made a prince. According to the system at that time, the court began to prepare candidates for his crown princess. But "Emperor Wu is worried that the prince is still young and doesn't know about the curtain room." In other words, I think Sima Zhong is too young to understand men and women, so I decided to send a sex teacher to Sima Zhong, and this teacher is Xie. Xie and Sima Zhong stayed overnight and got pregnant. In the future, Jia Nanfeng, who was cruel and jealous, killed the concubines of the Eastern Palace at will after becoming a crown princess, but only dared to show gratitude. Of course, Xie also knows his own situation. I made a report, returned to Sima Yan and gave birth to Sima Orange. Jia Nanfeng didn't dare to thank, but also because of the protection. Sima Yan likes Sima Opera very much. One day a few years later, Sima Zhong went to the palace to visit his father. He saw a three-or four-year-old child playing with his younger brothers. He was very cute, so he went over and held the child's hand and giggled. Seeing the foolish son's behavior from a distance, Sima Yan walked up to Sima Zhong and said, "This is your son." This story was recorded in the Book of Jin, which also attracted countless questions from later generations.