When Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty showed signs of being unable to control their clans, these relatives immediately turned against each other. However, the fact is that Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty successfully reduced vassals and strengthen

In the emperor's "threat" book, blood-related relatives are ranked highest, because they have the same inheritance rights as himself. If he is not strong enough, it will be difficult to keep the throne. As the founding emperors of a dynasty, Han Gaozu Liu Bang and Jin Wu Emperor Sima Yan both hoped to consolidate their rule by enfeoffing princes and kings with the same surname. When Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty showed their fatigue in controlling their clans, these relatives immediately turned against each other. However, the fact is that Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty successfully reduced the vassal and strengthened the centralization of power, and Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty was unable to resist. There was great chaos in the Central Plains. Why were the two endings so different?

1. The vassal barrier, laying the foundation for disaster

Conferring clan members as local princes and kings was a helpless move by the emperor. Even the founders of the country, such as Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, still needed to win over and trust people to control the place for themselves. , to protect the royal family. After successively wiping out the princes and queens with different surnames, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty enfeoffed nine more descendants of the Liu clan as princes and kings in their old land. . As a representative of the gentry usurping power, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty was deeply aware of the threat of these clans. In order to consolidate the power of the Sima family and prevent the story of his "abdication" from happening again, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty successively enfeoffed twenty-seven kings with the same surname and allowed them to own Their own army can even intervene in central affairs.

Both Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty only saw the advantages of the local powerful factions, but ignored how terrible human ambitions and desires are. Especially when disaster comes from the central government, the local princes have fair and just reasons to intervene. First of all, in the selection of successors, the successors Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty were difficult to achieve success, which gave Empress Lu and Empress Jia the opportunity to take charge of politics. Secondly, the princes and kings have great power in the feudal country. By monopolizing military and political power, they actually pose a huge threat to the central government. Especially when the central government has a fight or issues policies that are unfavorable to them, these princes and kings can Marching towards the central government in the name of "Qing Jun Side", suppressing the rebellion is also the best opportunity to seize the throne of the emperor.

2. Interfering in politics and taking power, and the clan members are overthrown

After the deaths of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, the forces in the central government controlled by them rose up one after another. Under the high pressure of Empress Lu, the princes and princes of the Liu family were either deposed or died, and the ministers who were loyal to Liu They either died or fled, and she even violated the oath made by Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty that "anyone with a surname of Liu would not be king" and wantonly enfeoffed Zhu Lu as king. Although Emperor Wu of Jin's daughter-in-law Jia Nanfeng 's path to the throne was not as smooth as Empress Lu's, she still got her wish and became a queen who was good at politics and power. Because of the weakness and incompetence of Emperor Hui of Jin, Jia Nanfeng successively eliminated the queen mother and prince who were threats to him, as well as King Runan Sima Liang and King Chu Sima Wei who helped him seize the throne, thus completing his monopoly.

Just when Empress Lu and Empress Jia were taking part in politics in a big way, the Liu clan and the Sima clan kings were not idle either, waiting for the opportunity to make a comeback. After Empress Lu's death, Qi Ai Liu Xiang, Zhu Xuhou Liu Zhang, Dongmu Hou Liu Xingju contacted ministers Guan Ying , Zhou Bo rebelled against Lu, and welcomed the acting king Liu Heng as the emperor. , namely Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty. Liu Xiang, Liu Zhang, and Liu Xingju were all sons of Liu Fei, the eldest son of Han Emperor Gaozu. Although they were all heroes of the clan who eradicated the Lu family, they did not get any benefits. They either died of illness one after another in anger, or they rebelled due to dissatisfaction. The beginning of clan rebellion. The performance of Jia Nanfeng's political career was the same as that of Empress Lu. First, she eliminated all her biggest enemies, and then supported her relatives as her party members. However, after killing the only son of Emperor Hui of Jin, this unscrupulous woman also met her end: King Zhao Sima Lun, King Sima of Liang Sima Wei, and King of Qi Sima Jiong joined forces to abolish and impose death.

3. The same clan can kill each other, with different endings

When the emperor is no longer aloof, the blood-related clansmen will inevitably fight for this position.When Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty first came to power, he faced the rebellion of Jibei King Liu Xingju and Huainan King Liu Chang. During the Han Jing Emperor's reign, minister Chao Cuo's policy of reducing vassals intensified the conflicts between the emperor and the kings. King Wu Liu Bi Fearing that he would lose power, he united with the six kings of Chu Liu Wu , Zhao Wang Liu Sui, Jinan King Liu Biguang, Zichuan King Liu Xian, Jiaoxi King Liu Ang, and Jiaodong King Liu Xiongqu to openly rebel. The princes and kings of Sima were not soft-hearted in killing their fellow clan members, and compared to the Liu family, they were even worse. Sima Lun, Sima Ji, Sima Yi, Sima Ying, Sima Yong came to power one after another and all died at the hands of blood relatives. Sima Yue became the final winner of the Eight Kings Rebellion .

In the third year of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty (154 BC), King Wu Liu Bi raised an army and launched a rebellion on the grounds of "asking Chao Cuo to be punished". After beheading Chao Cuo and seeing that the rebels did not retreat, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty recognized the reality. At the cost of a bloody battle in Liang Guo, Zhou Yafu defeated the Wu and Chu coalition forces. After the leader of the thief was executed, the King of Jiaodong, Zichuan, Jinan, Zhao, and Jibei were executed, committed suicide, or moved away. Western Han DynastyThe central government won absolute victory and confirmed its absolute authority. After that, the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty went further and further on the road of reducing vassal vassals, and the kings gradually became the "mascots" of the county.

However, the Western Jin was not so lucky. The Sima kings had too many careerists. After executing Jian Nanfeng, Sima Lun put Emperor Hui of Jin under house arrest and proclaimed himself emperor, attracting the attention of Qi King Sima Jiong, Hejian King Sima Yong and Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, joined forces to execute him. However, Sima Jiong, who was the first to restore Emperor Hui of Jin, was so proud of his achievements that it triggered a new round of strife among the vassals. Sima Yi, the king of Changsha, attacked Sima Jiong and was able to monopolize power. The loyal and patriotic Sima Yi did not have a good ending. Sima Yue, the king of East China Sea, showed his favor to Sima Yong and killed Sima Yi. Then Sima Yong, Sima Yue, and Sima Ying continued to fight. The Western Jin Dynasty was also riddled with holes in the backs of the clan kings. It lost its land due to the invasion of foreign tribes and had no chance to unify its homeland.

Compared with Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty, Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty was much luckier. He had the foundation of his father, Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, to reduce vassal vassals, he had famous generals like Zhou Yafu who judged the times, he had the desperate resistance of his younger brother Liang Wang and Liu Wu, and he had Manchuria. The civil and military officials of the court were loyal to the country and had the support of the people all over the country. This was also the main reason why the Western Han Dynasty The Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms could be quickly put down. However, Emperor Hui of Jin had ugly and arrogant wives, all of whom were wanted by the vassals to replace them, and even he himself was a "fool". Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty withstood the pressure, so Han Zuo continued; Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty was unable to do anything, and the Western Jin Dynasty perished at his hands.