Dynasties of ChinaEastern JinEastern Jin lineage
Ningkang · Taiyuan · Reign 372—396
Ren Xie An, Xie Xuan and others defeated the former Qin Dynasty with a small victory in the Battle of Feishui. In their later years, they indulged in wine and sex and collapsed.
Sima Yao, courtesy name Changming, was the third son of Emperor Jianwen. He was only eleven years old when he came to the throne in July 372. Empress Dowager Chu Suanzi came to the court, and was assisted by Huan Wen, Xie An, and Wang Tanzhi successively. Huan Wen died of illness in 373, and Xie An took charge of the government and stabilized the situation. In 376, Emperor Xiaowu took charge of the government, but still relied on Xie An as his guppy. During his reign, Xie Xuan, Xie An's nephew, formed Beifu soldiers, giving Eastern Jin a strong fighting force.
383 years ago, Qin Fu Jian led his army southward, and Xie An took control of Jiankang. Xie Shi and Xie Xuan led 80,000 Beifu soldiers to fight against him. After that, Xie Xuan went on a northern expedition and regained a large area of land south of the Yellow River. However, Emperor Xiaowu appointed his younger brother, Prince of HuijiSima Daozi, in order to prevent Xie's power. Xie An was forced to leave the town of Guangling and died of illness in 385. Emperor Xiaowu indulged in wine and debauchery in his later years and favored Zhang Gui. He collapsed in September 396 and was rumored to have been killed by Zhang Gui. He was thirty-five years old and was succeeded by Crown Prince Sima Dezong.
Emperor Xiaowu reigned for twenty-five years. In the early stage, he used Xie An and Xie Xuan to win the Battle of Feishui, which enabled Eastern Jin to survive the most dangerous moment and the country's power was high. However, he also suspected the Xie family, appointed his younger brother Sima Daozi, favored sycophants, indulged in drunkenness, and consumed the fruits of victory. He himself collapsed, and Emperor An who succeeded him was dull and incompetent. From this, Eastern Jin began to decline, and was eventually taken advantage of by Huan Xuan and Liu Yu.
Politicsascended the throne at a young age
Emperor Jianwen died of illness in July, and the eleven-year-old Crown Prince Sima Yao came to the throne. The next year, he changed his name to Ningkang. The Empress Dowager Chu Suanzi ruled as regent and Huan Wen entered the court, but Xie An, Wang Tanzhi and others resisted Huan Wen's usurpation of the throne.
PoliticsHuan Wen was blocked from entering the DPRK
When Huan Wen entered the court, it was said that troops ambush behind the tent, intending to kill Xie An and Wang Tanzhi. Wang Tanzhi was frightened, but Xie An was calm and composed, chanting poems and answering. Huan Wen finally did not dare to take action, and died of illness soon after. Eastern Jin thus avoided a crisis of usurping the throne.
PoliticsEmperor Xiaowu takes charge
In the first month of the first year of Taiyuan, Emperor Xiaowu came to power, and Empress Dowager Chu Suanzi returned to power. Xie An presided over the affairs of the court, and Huan Chong guarded Jingzhou. The two were in charge of internal and external affairs, and the situation in the Eastern Jin Dynasty gradually became stable.
EconomyAbandoned fields changed to taxed rice
In the second year of Taiyuan, the imperial court abolished the system of collecting rent from farmland that had been used for many years, and changed it to a tax of three dendrobiums per household for princes and below. Only those who served in the military were exempted. Later in 383, it increased to five stones per person, reflecting the need for taxation amid frequent wars.
MilitaryXie Xuan forms Beifu soldiers
Xie An recommended his nephew Xie Xuan to guard Guangling, and Xie Xuan recruited brave men among the refugees from the north to form the Beifu Army. This army was brave and good at fighting, and became the military foundation for the Battle of Feishui and the rise of Liu Yu in the future.
MilitaryThe loss of Xiangyang
In the former Qin Dynasty, Fu Pi and others attacked Xiangyang, and Zhu Xu defended it. His mother, Han, led her maidservants to build a new city in the northwest corner to defend it, which was called "Lady's City". Later, due to a traitor leaking military information, Xiangyang fell in 379.
Lasting legacyThe ancient city wall of Xiangyang is now a national key cultural relic protection unit. According to legend, Madame City in the northwest of the city commemorates the Han family's defense of the city.
CultureHui Yuan enters Mount Lu
The eminent monk Hui Yuan went south from Xiangyang, entered Lushan in about 381, and built Donglin Temple in 386. Since then, he has been giving lectures in the temple for a long time, advocating the belief in Amitabha Pure Land, and writing "The Theory of the Unrepentant Jing of Shamen". He is a pioneer of Pure Land Sect.
Lasting legacyDonglin Temple in Lushan Mountain still exists today and is revered as the ancestral temple of the Pure Land Sect of Chinese Buddhism.
MilitaryBattle of Feishui
Fu Jian personally led an army of millions to the south, Xie An took command of Jiankang, and Xie Shi and Xie Xuan led 80,000 Beifu soldiers to fight. In November, the Jin army defeated the large number at Feishui with a small number, and the Qin army was defeated. "The wind roared and the cranes roared, and the grass and trees were all soldiers."
Lasting legacyThe battlefield area now belongs to Bagong Mountain in Shouxian County, Anhui Province. Idioms such as "every tree and grass are all soldiers", "the wind roars and the cranes roar", and "throwing a whip to cut off the flow" all come from this war.
MilitaryXie Xuan Northern Expedition
After the Feishui War, Xie Xuan took advantage of the situation to make the Northern Expedition, regaining Yan, Qing, Si, Yu and other prefectures, and advanced to the north of the Yellow River. However, Emperor Xiaowu was suspicious of the Xie family and transferred Xie Anbei to Guangling. In 385, Xie Xuan also returned to the town due to illness, and the Northern Expedition was suspended.
MilitaryThe North is divided again
After the collapse of the former Qin, Murong Chui restored the country and called it Yan (Later Yan). Yao Chang proclaimed himself Later Qin and killed Fu Jian in 385. Tuoba Gui reestablished Dai in 386 and changed the country's name to Wei. Lu Guang took Liangzhou and established himself. The north has entered a new stage of fighting among various ethnic groups.
PeopleXie An passed away
Xie An asked himself to leave the town of Guangling under the suspicion of Emperor Xiaowu. Soon he fell ill and returned to Jiankang. He died in August of the same year at the age of sixty-six. The imperial court posthumously awarded Taifu the posthumous title Wenjing. Afterwards, although the Xie family flourished, the power of the court gradually passed into the hands of Sima Daozi.
PoliticsTaoist dictatorship
After Xie An's death, Emperor Xiaowu appointed his younger brother, Prince of HuijiSima Daozi, as the Minister of Records. Daozi favored Wang Guobao and others, and the government was deteriorating. Emperor Xiaowu indulged in drinking in his later years, and suspicion gradually grew between the brothers.
PeopleTao Yuanming became an official
Tao Yuanming, who was nearly 30 years old, was appointed as Jiangzhou Jijiujiu because of his poor family. He could not bear the official position and soon resigned. After that, he served as an official and retired several times until he resigned from Peng Zeling in 405 and returned to farming for the rest of his life.
PoliticsCollapse
In September, Emperor Xiaowu died violently after drinking in the Qingshu Palace. According to the "Book of Jin", the reason was that he joked about deposing Zhang Gui while drunk, and Zhang Gui ordered the palace officials to muffle him to death that night. People at the time were suspicious, but the court did not investigate, and Crown Prince Sima Dezong came to the throne.
Born in the Xie family of Chen County, he lived in seclusion in Dongshan, Kuaiji in his early years. He became an official in his forties before he became an official. This is where the phrase "come back from the mountain" comes from. He has presided over the government for many years, and was in charge of Jiankang during the Battle of Feishui. He was playing chess with guests when the news of the victory came.
The nephew of Xie An, he guarded Guangling in 377 and recruited refugees to form the Beifu army. During the Battle of Feishui, he served as the commander-in-chief of the vanguard. After defeating the former Qin Dynasty, he took advantage of the victory in the Northern Expedition to recover Yan, Qing, Si, Yu and other states.
The younger brother of Xie An, he served as the commander-in-chief of the expedition during the Battle of Feishui, and unified the command of the Jin army's frontline operations. After the war, he was granted the title of Duke of Nankang for his merits.
Huan Wen's younger brother, he took charge of the Huan family's forces after Wen's death. He gave up Yangzhou and transferred the town to Jingzhou, and cooperated with Xie An to maintain the government. On the eve of the Battle of Feishui, he sent 3,000 troops to aid Jiankang, but Xie An declined; he died of illness in 384.
Emperor Xiaowu has the same mother and brother. After Xie An's death, he recorded affairs as a minister and specialized in government affairs. He indulged in extravagant drinking and doted on sycophants, which provoked Wang Gong and others to raise armies, and the government became increasingly chaotic. He was killed by Huan Xuan in 403.
The Di people became independent in 357, and used Wang Meng to unify the north. In 383, he launched a large-scale southern expedition and was defeated miserably in Feishui. The former Qin Dynasty collapsed and he was killed by Yao Chang two years later.
Yanmen Tower was a disciple of Dao'an. In about 381, he went south to Mount Lu and built Donglin Temple. It is said that he formed the White Lotus Society with famous people. The author of "The Theory of Samana Buking Jingzhe" advocated that Buddhism is independent of the royal power.
He guarded Xiangyang and fought against the former Qin Dynasty. After the fall of Xiangyang, he was captured and served in the former Qin Dynasty. During the Battle of Feishui, he shouted "Qin Army is defeated" from behind the Jin army's formation, causing the Qin army's formation to be in chaos and achieving extraordinary feats.