Emperor Sima Yan of the Jin Dynasty image).
In the eighth year of Xiankang, in 342 AD, the third emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yanlong, Emperor of Jin Cheng, drove the guests, went away, and died.
Throughout his life, the emperor lived under the coercion of the politics of his relatives, and he was depressed and never really grasped the power that belonged to the emperor.
For the emperor, this was undoubtedly a very pitiful life.
An emperor can undertake the great cause of reviving the dynasty, or he can bear the fate of the country's ruin, but he absolutely cannot accept the day when his power is stripped of by others.
The emperor is power.
If power is lost, then the emperor is no longer an emperor, but a puppet.
But there is no way, Sima Yan's fate seems to be doomed from the moment he ascends the throne.
ascended to the throne at the age of five, and was destined to let others help manage the government.
This person is the emperor's mother, Empress Dowager Yu.
As the Queen Mother, her identities are varied.
When she stepped into the palace and became the woman of the emperor (first emperor), she was the symbol of the times when she was the mother of the world and favored the six palaces.
The emperor loved her, cared for her, trusted her, and she was the only emotional sustenance for the emperor who was alone.
But she couldn't give herself to the emperor wholeheartedly, or to the Eastern Jin Dynasty royal family.
She has blood from her mother's family, and many of her choices determine the honor and disgrace of the entire Yu family.
And the sudden death of the former emperor made her step to the pinnacle of power in an instant.
Sima Yan is his biological son, so she has the power to control the dynasty and listen to the government.
But I think that as the empress dowager, on the surface she is the executor of the will of the temporary emperor, but in fact she is more like a mascot used to stabilize the dynasty.
Empress Dowager Yu is the master of the middle palace and a female streamer, and it is difficult for her to enter and exit the court freely and freely, so the responsibility she can bear may be more just responsible for educating the little emperor.
Empress Dowager Yu image).
Standardize the emperor's palace etiquette and urge the emperor to learn the norms of being an emperor.
In the eyes of most people, the emperor is an extremely easy and simple job.
As the master of the world, he has always been regarded as an absolutely free character by the people of Limin.
We often hear statements like this:
If I were the emperor, I would be what I was.
If I were the emperor, I would do whatever I wanted.
This is indeed a true portrayal of some emperors, at least those faint kings throughout the ages.
As a faint king, many of the thoughts of being an emperor will eventually turn into one goal, that is, pleasure.
Since you want to be happy, you must be expropriated and expropriated, and you must be poor and luxurious.
Of course, not all faint kings are like this.
Most of the good emperors have relatively similar qualities, but the characteristics of the mediocre emperors are very different.
For example, some faint gentlemen love pleasure, some like women, some like killing, and some faint gentlemen, they don't have any bloody or ** hobbies in their personalities, but they will be overly addicted to some personal hobbies, such as Huizong of the Song Dynasty who likes to engage in literature and art, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty likes to do some carpentry work.
Song Huizong (left) and Ming Wuzong (right).
These hobbies are understandable, but if you overindulge in them and do them all day long, it will affect the emperor's original work.
Yes, this is the most essential difference between the faint monarch and the bright monarch.
Mediocre monarchs often think that the emperor is a privilege, as long as they have this privilege, they can enjoy the supreme pleasure, and take a step back, even if they don't want to have fun, become an emperor, at least the biggest in the world, and can always do what they like.
In fact, the emperor did think about the same as they thought, but not exactly.
Because being an emperor is both a privilege and a responsibility.
In this way, some readers may not fully understand, so I can use a simpler analogy:
The emperor and all professions under the whole world are the same, it is one job.
Since it's a job, if you don't do it well, there's a good chance you'll mess up the job.
A person who has been fishing at work for a long time will inevitably be attacked by the whole company (dynasty).
Pleasure and pain always go hand in hand.
If being a mediocre person can make the emperor himself happy, then he will inevitably make the emperor feel miserable in the following days.
If it makes you happy, it will make you miserable.
Because when the emperor is happy, the pain is already brewing.
What's more critical is that if you want to be a Ming Jun, then the emperor's life will definitely not be very happy.
We all say that in the era of feudal monarchy, the emperor was the master of the world.
Since the emperor is the master, then he naturally has to be the master of the world.
Jin Dynasty) The Western Jin Dynasty is generally a unified regime, but the Eastern Jin Dynasty can only be regarded as a small dynasty in a corner of peace.
But even so, it is not too much to describe the entire empire with a vast territory and a fertile land.
There are thousands of prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of this dynasty, and there are more than 10,000 people who are employed in other places and all over Gyeonggi.
It was an extremely large and complex dynasty.
At sunrise, from the beginning of the early dynasty, the folds were one after another, and the important things were one after another, and the piles and piles, no matter how big or small, had to be solved by the emperor himself.
This is the most basic work indicator of an excellent emperor.
The so-called centralization of power, of course, means that power is concentrated in the hands of the emperor alone.
And the emperor who stayed in Jiankang City (the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty) all day could hardly understand what was happening in every piece of land he owned first-hand.
Then these twists and turns collected from all over the country, by the emperor one by one, have become the best embodiment of the emperor's centralization.
Working day after day, reviewing and receiving, handling political affairs, and meeting ministers, to a certain extent, will live the emperor's life.
Although, for most of the twists and turns, the emperor is one glance and ten lines, just a wave of the royal pen on the folds, and hastily write down the three words "know" even if it is perfunctory.
Now, do you still feel that the emperor is free?
If you still feel that the emperor does not have absolute freedom, but still has relative freedom, then you might as well read on.
Yes, there is nothing wrong with this thinking, those golden silk birds that are kept in cages, although they cannot fly, still have the right to flutter their wings.
But the emperor almost did not even have this right.
Emperor) The daily travel and curfew system of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was an extremely lenient type in all dynasties.
At the beginning of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, Gaozu Liu Bang did not allow more than three people to gather to drink.
Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered the people of the whole country to ban the consumption of pork.
But in this dynasty, the people are still quite comfortable and comfortable.
The people can eat bacon with peanuts in the winery shirtless, and drink wine and fist in groups.
Jiankang City is the royal capital, the social security is excellent, the road is not forgotten, the night is not closed, people often sing and dance, all night long.
But the emperor could not enjoy all this.
Food, clothing, shelter and transportation are restricted.
What the emperor wears is not up to him.
There are clothes for the upper court, clothes for banquets, sacrificial clothes for sacrifices, and of course you can't sleep naked, and there are also special pajamas.
Those royal dresses specially made for the emperor were stuffy, heavy and heavy, which was a manifestation of the emperor's identity, but over time, they became invisible shackles.
The emperor's various costumes).
It made the emperor feel breathless all the time.
And what the emperor eats, the emperor lives in **, and the emperor rests in **, in the etiquette norms set by the ancestors, there are more clear regulations.
The Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager in the middle palace, as well as the imperial historians and officials who are specially responsible for picketing the Son of Heaven, will remind the emperor all the time that you should eat something, you should live in **, and which concubine you should spend the night with.
And their very "considerate" and "meticulous" care and reminders are essentially telling the emperor:
You are the emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and you don't just represent yourself.
Therefore, for the sake of the prestige and dignity of a generation of emperors, the emperor can only live step by step.
Yes, no one will look at ordinary people, the world of ordinary people is only himself.
But the emperor's life is a lifetime of constant staring at by all the people of the world, the government and the opposition.
Even if the emperor is a social terrorist, he must accept this kind of gaze as if he was desperate.
Because the emperor is a Ming monarch.
Mingjun seems to have to live his life like this.
Now, back to the question at the beginning: Do you still think that the emperor is free?
Towards the end of the article, readers may find a problem.
The protagonist of this article is Sima Pi, the Emperor of Jin, but I don't seem to mention anything about the story of this emperor.
Jin Ai Emperor Sima Pi image).
There is indeed a reason for this, not that I have not mentioned a word, but the life of this emperor is so simple that it can be summed up in one paragraph.
This is a mediocre emperor who has been doing nothing all his life, likes Taoist magic, and loves to engage in alchemy practice, but he soon had problems with his body, and he couldn't afford to get sick and died.
In fact, it is not that the imperial deeds of Emperor Sima Pi are short and concise, and they are mediocre, and the emperors of the Eastern Jin Dynasty before him are almost ordinary.
Emperor Jin Yuan humbly retreated, and he was bullied by the ministers to the door and did not dare to fight back.
Although Emperor Jin Ming was young and promising, his life was too short, and he had the intention to kill thieves and was unable to return to heaven.
Emperor Jin Cheng ascended the throne at a young age and lived in the shadow of his relatives all his life.
Although Emperor Kang of Jin was nicknamed "Kang", he was obviously not a healthy emperor, and he received a bento after three years of reign, let alone any achievements.
Emperor Mu of the Jin Dynasty also lived in the complex power struggle of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and could not show the ambition of the emperor, was depressed, and died without illness.
Perhaps, this is the ultimate fate of the emperors of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
We always explain the king, the clear king.
But Mingjun is not instant noodles in a convenience store, and the shelves will be neatly placed.
Mingjun is actually very rare, just like a star suddenly twinkling in the boundless starry sky, which is hard to find.
The crumbling Eastern Jin Dynasty).
In this way, looking at the past dynasties, the fate of the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasty seems to be a little worse.
Even if there is a real Ming monarch coming, the country will not decay so badly.
Before the Mourning Emperor, the emperors were not very good, and after the Mourning Emperor, the emperors were only worse.
It seems that the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the last years, is coming.