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However, the consequences of not becoming emperor now seemed more serious. The shareholders who followed the Sima family to seize the throne were all waiting to share the cake and wait for the new emperor to ascend the throne so that they could get promotions and salary increases. Therefore, Sima Yan had no choice but to ascend the throne.

However, the newly crowned Emperor Wu of Jin was very skillful. As soon as he ascended the throne, he learned from the experience of the demise of Cao Wei and appointed 27 princes of the Sima clan to hold military power, guard the four directions, and compete with the ministers of the aristocratic families.

In order to suppress the meritorious officials and return the court to his own one-man show, he came up with another brilliant idea - meritorious service. At this time, there were still some people in Wu State, and as long as he destroyed Wu State, he could suppress them with his meritorious service.

In 279 AD, he launched a war to destroy Wu. Almost 10 years earlier, Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, had been preparing to destroy Wu. He had sent General Yang Hu to Jingzhou and sent people to Yizhou to train the navy.

After several years of preparation, the Jin army was ready to go, waiting for the order to achieve success.

It stands to reason that facing the Jin army's eager eyes, the Eastern Wu should have immediately prepared for battle. However, the situation was exactly the opposite. The Eastern Wu soldiers were looking forward to the Jin army coming over day and night, hoping that the Jin army would come sooner than the Jin ministers.

After all, the Eastern Wu at that time could be said to be in a gloomy state. Sun Hao, the last emperor of Wu, was a typical king who lost his country. He maxed out his stored value card and spent all the money in the national treasury. His Eastern Wu could not pay the soldiers' wages at all. Without money, the soldiers were naturally unwilling to work for the Eastern Wu.

When the battle of destruction began, the 20 Jin troops were unstoppable and captured Jianye in more than four months.

In 280 AD, the Eastern Wu regime came to an end. After unifying the country, Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, no longer had to worry about his employees being disobedient. He had made great contributions and his throne was firmly established. Anyone who disobeyed was fired directly.

What lies before him now is people's livelihood. After hundreds of years of war, the people are extremely eager for peace, and Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, seized this opportunity.

He ordered the construction of canals to facilitate irrigation of farmland by the people. In addition, he issued a series of measures to encourage farming, which led to a rapid recovery of the economy of the Western Jin Dynasty. During the Taikang period of Emperor Wu of Jin, there was even a saying that "there are no limitless people in the world."

There is always a way to solve external problems, but an internal problem concerning the country's destiny was on the mind of Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, and that problem was the successor.

His eldest son died young, so his second son Sima Zhong was made crown prince at an early stage. However, Sima Zhong's IQ was not high enough, which made Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, worried about it.

He also thought about changing the crown prince. However, Crown Prince Sima Zhong's son Sima Yi was extremely smart. If he passed the throne to him, Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, would be able to die with a smile on his face.

However, if he wanted to pass the throne to his grandson Sima Yi, he had to let Sima Yi's father, Sima Zhong, his son with questionable IQ, ascend the throne. In desperation, Sima Yan made a decision: to promote the Yang family while conferring titles on the Sima clan princes. The Sima clan princes held heavy troops and could check and balance the court officials;

The power of the imperial relatives in the court can check and balance the Sima clan princes. The emperor only needs to balance the forces of both sides and make them work for his own benefit.

Sima Yan felt that there was nothing that could threaten the rule of the Western Jin Dynasty, and that it was time for him to let go and enjoy the happiness of being an emperor. He changed his previous frugality and began to advocate luxury, having fun every night in the harem of up to 10,000 people.

In 290 AD, Sima Yan passed away and his son Sima Zhong succeeded him as Emperor Hui of Jin. For Sima Yan, balancing the court officials was easy, but this was not the case for Sima Zhong.

An emperor with low IQ is simply unable to make powerful ministers check and balance each other, and can only be manipulated by them.

When Sima Zhong first came to power, he staged a plot to kill someone with a borrowed knife. In the name of Emperor Hui of Jin, he ordered King of Chu Sima Wei to kill King of Runan Sima Liang. However, after King of Runan Sima Liang's death, Jia Nanfeng turned against her and refused to admit it. She quickly pinned the crime of forging an imperial edict to kill King of Runan Sima Liang on King of Chu Sima Wei, and thus forced King of Chu to leave.

After all the stumbling blocks on the road to power were removed one by one, Jia Nanfeng naturally began to control the government, promote her own confidants, and make the court her own place of power.

But there was another problem that kept her awake at night, and that was the crown prince Sima Yi. Sima Yi was not Jia Nanfeng's biological son, and his ascension to the throne would certainly threaten Jia Nanfeng's power, so getting rid of the crown prince was imminent for her.

In 299 AD, Jia Nanfeng falsely accused the crown prince and made him copy an imperial edict of treason. She then handed the edict to Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong. After reading it, Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, was furious and the crown prince was deposed.

Jia Nanfeng was able to defend against the crown prince, but she was not able to defend against the Sima clan princes who held a large number of troops. After all, in terms of the necessary conditions for seizing the throne, they all had the surname Sima and held a large number of troops. In terms of both name and strength, they were qualified enough to seize the Sima clan's kingdom.

Therefore, after the crown prince was deposed, Prince of Zhao Sima Lun took action. He replicated the tactics used by Jia Nanfeng. He first advised Jia Nanfeng to kill the crown prince. Then he toppled Jia Nanfeng on the charge of killing the crown prince and took power himself.

In 301 AD, the powerful King of Zhao, Sima Lun, promoted himself to a higher position, deposed Sima Zhong, the Emperor Hui of Jin, and proclaimed himself emperor. However, this move gave the other three Sima kings an opportunity to take advantage of it. Sima Jiong, the King of West, Sima Yong, the King of Hejian, and Sima Ying, the King of Chengdu, led their troops to attack Sima Lun.

Sima Lun was defeated and died, and the puppet emperor Sima Zhong was pushed to the throne and became a mascot. Logically, the Sima kings who held the power of the government should have stopped, but they were still unwilling to give up and continued to fight for the throne.

Years of war consumed the strength of the Western Jin Dynasty, which led to the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang taking the opportunity to rebel. During the chaos, problems also arose within the Western Jin Dynasty, and Liu Yuan, a Xiongnu, was one of them.

When the Rebellion of the Eight Kings was in full swing, Bingzhou Governor Sima Teng and General Wang Jun brought in the Xianbei people as external aid.

Upon seeing this, Liu Yuan, a subordinate of King Sima Ying of Chengdu, said that if he was allowed to be the Khan of the Xiongnu, he could also help Sima Ying recruit Xiongnu people as teammates. King Sima Ying of Chengdu agreed.

In 304 AD, Liu Yuan returned to Xiongnu, but he did not keep his promise. Instead, he proclaimed himself king and established the Han Kingdom, dealing a fatal blow to the Western Jin Dynasty. In 306 AD, the Rebellion of the Eight Kings finally came to an end, and Sima Yue, the King of Donghai, finally won and took control of the Western Jin Dynasty.

Four years later, Sima Zhong, Emperor Hui of Jin, was poisoned to death, and Sima Chi, Prince of Yuzhang, succeeded him as Emperor Huai of Jin. Although the emperor was replaced, the power was still in the hands of Sima Yue, Prince of Donghai, but Sima Yue's pride would not last long.

In 308 AD, Liu Yuan proclaimed himself emperor. Afterwards, he and Liu Cong, the second emperor of the Han Dynasty, continued to attack the Central Plains. At this time, the Western Jin Dynasty had long lost its fighting spirit.

In 311 AD, Shi Le and Liu Yao, generals under Liu Cong, led their troops to attack Luoyang, while the generals of the Western Jin Dynasty either sent troops to defend it symbolically or openly led their troops to flee. As a result, Luoyang was lost and Emperor Huai of Jin, Sima Chi, was captured.

It is known in history as the "Yongjia Rebellion."

In 313 AD, Emperor Huai of Jin, Sima Chi, was killed and Emperor Min of Jin, Sima Ye, succeeded him. He wanted to organize troops to counterattack, but the aristocratic families had become too powerful and the emperor was unable to command the counterattack, so the plan ended in failure.

In 316 AD, Chang'an was conquered by the Han State. The following year, the Western Jin Dynasty was completely destroyed.

[Understand the history of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in one breath Historical knowledge Eastern Jin Dynasty]

The Eastern Jin Dynasty was a regime that revolved around seizing the throne and conquering the north. From 317 to 420 AD, the Eastern Jin Dynasty experienced a 103-year journey of ups and downs.

Sima Rui, the founding emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was initially just an unknown figure. He was originally a member of the royal family of the Western Jin Dynasty.

He was not ranked among the many Sima Wangs in the Western Jin Dynasty, but he was quite good at making friends. Wang Dao of the Langya Wang Clan, the top noble family in the north, was his good friend. During the Eight Princes Rebellion, Sima Rui chose to protect himself.

In 307 AD, after the end of the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, he was transferred to Jianye on the advice of Wang Dao.

Jianye is located in the southern part of China. Therefore, in 317 AD, when Han and Zhao were destroyed and the northern part of the Western Jin Dynasty was devastated, Sima Rui, who was in the south, escaped the disaster. It was also in this year that a huge pie fell from the sky and hit Sima Rui.

Sima Shao, the Ming Emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, wrote an edict when his country was destroyed and he was captured. In the edict, he expressed his hope that Sima Rui could succeed him as emperor and, after becoming emperor, recapture the old capital Chang'an that had been occupied by Han Zhao.

After the book was published, Sima Rui was successfully promoted. With the support of the noble families, he became the successor, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty was established. In 318 AD, the captured Emperor Ming of Jin died, and Sima Rui officially became the emperor, known as Emperor Yuan of Jin.

Although he became the emperor, Sima Rui did not have the final say in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The real powerful ones were the aristocratic families headed by the Wang family of Langya.

At that time, there was a saying that "Wang and Ma share the world". The "Ma" here refers to the royal Sima family, and the "Wang" is the powerful Wang family.

After all, without the support of the aristocratic families, Sima Rui could not sit firmly on the throne. Therefore, although Sima Rui was the emperor, he had no right to challenge the aristocratic families, and he was very dissatisfied.

In order to change the status quo, he began to appoint trusted ministers such as Liu Wei and Diao Xie to check and balance the power of the aristocratic families headed by the Wang family of Langya.

The emperor was just a mascot sitting on the dragon throne, and the aristocratic families knew this very well. Gradually, they came up with an idea: since the aristocratic families could support the emperor, why couldn't they let their own people ascend the throne?

After the emperor appointed his confidants to check and balance them, they could no longer restrain their thoughts.

In 322 AD, Wang Dun of the Wang family of Langya took the lead in sending troops, under the banner of killing the treacherous minister Liu Kui, in pursuit of his dream of becoming emperor. Wang Dun was unstoppable all the way and captured the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jianye, and from then on he monopolized power.

In January 323 AD, Sima Rui, the Emperor Yuan of Jin, who had lost power, died of grief and anger. At this critical moment, his son Sima Shao ascended the throne and became Emperor Ming of Jin.

The death of the emperor was a good time to seize the throne. Wang Dun was planning to send troops, but he suddenly heard the news of his own death. It turned out that his cousin Wang Dao led the Langya Wang family to hold a funeral for him in advance.

The soldiers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty thought that Wang Dun was dead, and their morale was boosted. Wang Dun was furious and immediately started a rebellion. However, he did not expect that his subordinates were incompetent and he was defeated. Wang Dun, who was in poor health, could not bear it anymore and died first.

After Wang Dun's death, the rebels were no match for the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In 324 AD, the rebellion was finally put down.

Emperor Ming of Jin, Sima Shao, was indeed a wise ruler as his name suggests. Not only was he able to recognize and tolerate people, he was also able to lead troops into battle personally. However, as an emperor he had a fatal flaw: he died too young.

In 325 AD, Emperor Ming of Jin died at the age of 27, leaving behind a vast empire to his 4-year-old son Sima Yan. The young age of the emperor gave opportunities to the aristocratic families and relatives of the emperor's wife. Wang Dao and Yu Liang, the uncle of Emperor Cheng of Jin, took control of the power of assisting the government.

Yu Liang was bent on helping the royal family suppress the aristocratic families, but he was totally unqualified in terms of his abilities. He constantly suspected the court officials, and eventually betrayed generals Su Jun and Zu Yue who held large armies.

In 327 AD, the two of them started a rebellion. Although the rebellion was suppressed, the situation of the Eastern Jin Dynasty became increasingly precarious. Because of the rebellion, Yu Liang's situation in the court became increasingly difficult, and he was finally ordered to serve as Yuzhou.

In 339 AD, Wang Dao died of illness, and Yu Liang passed away the following year. Logically, the story of the foreign relatives should have come to an end, but things were not that simple. After Yu Liang's death, power fell into the hands of his younger brothers Yu Bing and Yu Yi.

In 342 AD, Emperor Cheng of Jin, Sima Yan, passed away. Logically, his son should have succeeded to the throne, but if that were the case, Empress Dowager Yu should have been promoted to Grand Empress Dowager, and their relatives should have handed over power to the new empress dowager's family in order to make way for the wise.

In order not to give up their power, the brothers Yu Bing and Yu Yi took an extreme measure and made Sima Yue, another son of Empress Dowager Yu, the emperor, who was called Emperor Kang of Jin. However, Emperor Kang of Jin did not escape Huan Wen's murderous hands.

In 342 AD, after Emperor Cheng of Jin Sima Yan passed away, Emperor Kang of Jin Sima Yue succeeded to the throne.

However, Emperor Kang of Jin could not escape the clutches of Huan Wen. In 369 AD, Huan Wen was at the forefront of the Northern Expedition. He originally wanted to achieve some merit in this Northern Expedition, and then have the emperor abdicate with justification. However, he did not expect that he would return in defeat.

In 372 AD, Huan Wen deposed the Jin emperor Sima Yi on the grounds that he was infertile and established Sima Yu as Emperor Jianwen.

Huan Wen was a man of considerable ability and ambition. What he wanted was not to be a high-ranking official, but to not be a high-ranking official and to sit on the throne and become emperor. Therefore, as soon as the opportunity came, Huan Wen immediately seized it.

He quickly took control of Jingzhou within a year, and then planned to recover the lost territories during the Western Jin Dynasty and kick out the emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty based on his achievements.

In 347 AD, Huan Wen pacified Cheng Han and became a powerful and meritorious official with the final say. However, his achievements aroused fear from both the court and the public. No one wanted Huan Wen to make achievements that would threaten the royal power of the Sima family and their own voice in the court.

Therefore, after 349 AD, when the Zhao warlord Shi Hu passed away, Zhao was in chaos, and the Eastern Jin court rejected Huan Wen's request for a northern expedition. In 356 AD, Huan Wen defeated the Qiang leader Yao Xiang and recovered Luoyang. From then on, Huan Wen was unstoppable.

In 361 AD, Emperor Mu of Jin, Sima Dan, passed away and was succeeded by Emperor Ai of Jin, Sima Pi. Seeing that Huan Wen was in power and the struggle among the aristocratic families was becoming increasingly fierce, the newly appointed Emperor Ai of Jin chose to turn a blind eye. He became obsessed with cultivating immortals and taking elixirs. Once, he even took medicine and was poisoned, and could no longer handle the affairs of state.