In 318 AD, King of Jin Sima Rui became emperor in Jiankang (now Nanjing). When he founded the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he repeatedly asked General of the Cavalry Wang Dao to sit on the imperial bed with himself and accept congratulations from all officials together. Director Wang respectfully resigned, saying that dare not be .
As the founding emperor of the dynasty, I asked a minister to sit with him and receive congratulations. This is rare in in Chinese history.
Wang Dao (Portrait)
As for whether Sima Rui was sincere, we don’t know, but as far as the situation at that time, he had to do like that. Because Sima Rui's ability to ascend to the throne is closely related to Wang Dao's help and pay .
Wang Dao is from Langya (now Linyi, Shandong). was born in a high-ranking genius . He has been smart and wise since childhood. As he grows older and gains experience, Director Wang has become a visionary politician.
Wang Dao served as the military officer of Dongge Jiujiu and Donghai Wangwang Sima Yue . In 305, when the world was in chaos, Director Wang was invited to Sima Rui and began to do his best.
In fact, as early as a teenager, Director Wang met Sima Rui and met, and has a good relationship with each other.
307, as the dynasty of the Western Jin Dynasty became increasingly declining, the king of Langya Sima Rui was appointed as General Andong by Emperor Huai of Jin, and the military commander of Yangzhou and Jiangnan.
Langya Wang Sima Rui (stills)
After the situation in the Central Plains worsened, Sima Rui followed Director Wang's advice and changed his base from Xiapi to Jiankang, which is more conducive to career development. In 316, Emperor Min of Jin surrendered to the Han Dynasty, Liu Yao, and the Western Jin Dynasty was destroyed. As a result, the area of the Yangtze River , which was controlled by Sima Rui, became a new political center and a place for the belonging and gathering of famous northern scholars who were heading south.
Years, according to Wang Dao's plan, Sima Rui did not rush to rebuild the Jin Dynasty, but temporarily called King of Jin , looking at and seeing the general trend of the world, preparing for the emperor.
In order to allow Sima Rui to successfully rebuild the Jin Dynasty, Director Wang did a lot of work for Sima Rui.
Among them, the most important thing is that collects the gentry from the north as backbone and contacts the gentry from the south as auxiliary. This move is simpler to say but harder to do.
Because there are contradictions among the gentry from the north, among the northern gentry and the southern gentry . If these contradictions cannot be adjusted and they are in a relative equilibrium, it is impossible to revive the Sima Jin Dynasty.
gentry gatherings (portraits)
With the continuous arrival of northern aristocrats, Director Wang advised Sima Rui to select some outstanding people as officials, stabilize the northern celebrities who suffered wars with and lay the foundation for the reconstruction of the Jin regime.
However, many people among the northern aristocratic people who went south doubted Sima Rui's ability to rebuild the Jin Dynasty and were worried about his future.
Their worries and concerns are not without basis. Sima Rui belonged to the Shu clan in the Jin royal family and had always lacked talent and reputation.
Huan Yi ( Eastern Jin Huan Wen father) When he first arrived in Jiankang, he saw that Sima Rui was weak and lacked a grand atmosphere, so he sighed dejectedly: "I came here to avoid chaos in order to seek safety. Unexpectedly, the head of (Sima Rui) looks so bad. Alas, the future is uncertain!" After Wang Dao learned about it, he took the initiative to find Huan Yi and had a heart-to-heart talk with him. It not only explains Sima Rui's actual situation in at that time , but also depicts the bright future of .
After hearing this, Huan Yi felt that Director Wang was full of knowledge and was a master of governing the country. Only then did he feel at ease to work.
Huan Yi (Portrait)
In order to unite and unite the famous scholars from the north, Director Wang often gathered and talked with them.
Once, when Director Wang and some famous scholars from the north were having a party and banquet by the river, Zhou Yi, who was drunk, looked at the surging river water and said sadly: "The scenery is as beautiful, but , the Yellow River side was replaced by the Yangtze River! ." Others couldn't help but cry when they heard this.
Seeing this, Wang Dao immediately comforted them over and over again: "Everyone should not be discouraged, we must cheer up, do our best to assist the royal family, restore the lost territory of the Central Plains, and rebuild the Jin Dynasty! "
In this way, under the continuous comfort and guidance of Wang Dao, gradually stabilized .
However, it is not easy to establish a regime with the Central Plains gentry as the backbone in the old territory of Wu Kingdom .
When Sima Rui first arrived in Jiankang, Southern gentry ignored him . After more than half a year, no one came to pay his respects.
At this time, Director Wang discussed and decided with his confidant Wang Dun that he must try to increase Sima Rui's prestige in the Jiangnan region as soon as possible.
So, when Director Wang came in a local festival, asked Sima Rui to take the dragon chariot on a tour. Wang Dao, Wang Dun and some famous northern scholars all rode horses to hang around to highlight Sima Rui's nobility and dignity.
Southern gentry leader Gu Rong ( Sun Wu Prime Minister Gu Yong grandson) and others saw him, and was very surprised. followed, Gu Rong, He Xun (son of Sun Wu Zhongshuling He Shao ) and others appeared next to the road, and humbly met Sima Rui.
Gu Rong stone carving statue
After the tour, Director Wang said to Sima Rui: "Gu Rong and He Xun are both leaders of the southern aristocratic families. If they can take them for themselves, , the rest of the southern sects will naturally come to work and support you."
Sima Rui thought that Director Wang was very right and immediately asked him to go to to invite Gu Rong and He Xun to meet .
Gu and He met with Director Wang on the order of Sima Rui and personally invited them to meet Sima Rui on and met with Sima Rui . From then on, the southern aristocratic people gradually surrendered and became an organic part of the Eastern Jin regime.
In order to communicate with the southern aristocrats and win them over the new regime, Wang Dao sometimes spared no effort to to abandon his face.
There are some unwritten rules among the gentry, such as advocating speaking of Mandarin ( Luoyang dialect ). However, Wang Dao often gave up his official language and spoke Wu language to show his closeness to the southern gentry.
Therefore, some northern scholars said arrogantly and disdainfully: " Wang Dao has no special skills, he can only speak speechlessly. ." Wang Dao heard this and laughed it off.
Wang Dao once took the initiative to to ask for marriage to the southern scholar Lu Wan . Lu Wan said thank you: "There can't be big trees on the hill. vanilla and stinky grass cannot be put together. I can't set a precedent for incest."
touched Wang Dao, who was disappointed, not only did he not mind, but also continued to "swallow his anger" with .
Lu Wan (Portrait)
Northern gentry despises Wu Yu, but actually looks down on the southern gentry. The southern gentry refused to intermarry with the northern gentry, which was humble on the surface, but in fact it was despising the northern gentry.
Finally, with the unremitting efforts of Director Wang, Emperor Yuan of Jin Before Sima Rui officially became emperor, most of the gentry in the north and south recognized Sima Rui, and they were in a relatively balanced state.
So, in 318 AD, they jointly promoted Sima Rui to become the emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
For this reason, Mr. Fan Wenlan, the "new historiography master" of our country, said that Wang Dao was the actual creator of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Main references: "Book of Jin", "General History of China"
