"In the old days, kings and queens flew into the homes of ordinary people." The Wang family and the Xie family in the Jin Dynasty were famous families. In particular, the Wang family was even better and came to power earlier than the Xie family. When the Eastern Jin Dynasty was first established, there was a saying that "the king and his horse rule the world", which shows the prosperity of the Wang family. Most people know the most about Wang Xizhi, who was the best at writing. In fact, Wang Xizhi's official position was not the highest, but he was just a general of the right army, and belonged to a military region commander. Before him, Wang Dun and Wang Dao were the pillars of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The one with Sima The most influential person in the world is Wang Dun, and Wang Dao is Wang Dun's younger brother. It can be said that the two of them helped the Sima family establish the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and they are undoubtedly the founding prime ministers. In fact, the Wang family was already very powerful in the Western Jin Dynasty. Wang Yan and Wang Cheng may not be familiar to everyone. Wang Yan's daughter is the crown princess, a relative of the emperor. Wang Yan himself also holds the positions of Sikong and Situ, and his position is comparable to that of the three princes. Wang Yan was a man of great character, and he was also the leader of metaphysics in the early Jin Dynasty. You must know that metaphysics was the most prominent science in the Jin Dynasty. If you don't understand metaphysics, you will be uneducated, and you will not be able to join the mainstream. Because during the same period, the Wang family also produced a more famous figure - Wang Rong, one of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest". Although Wang Rong was not higher than Wang Yan in terms of official rank, he was not lower than him. "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" are even more skilled than Wang Yan. Even among the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove", although Wang Rong is not the best writer, he is the best official, similar to Shan Tao, but Wang Rong is younger.
So why the royal family of the Jin Dynasty is so famous can be seen from the brief list of a few representatives above. It requires literature, martial arts, and talents in all aspects! It is said that the fame of a family depends on three generations. In the Jin Dynasty, there were two major surnames: Langya King and Taiyuan King. Wang Yan, Wang Cheng, Wang Rong, Wang Dun, Wang Dao, and Wang Xizhi all belong to King Langya. Their ancestors were Wang Xiong during the period of Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi. Although Wang Xiong was not a great official and was the first-level governor of Youzhou, his role at that time was huge. He guarded the north gate of Wei State, blocked the eager Xianbei soldiers, and allowed Emperor Wen of Wei to fight Wu Shu without any worries. This shows Wang Xiong's great role.
The main representatives of King Taiyuan are Wang Chen and Wang Jun and his son. They were very powerful during the Western Jin Dynasty, but after the Eastern Jin Dynasty, King Taiyuan was not as powerful as King Langya. In the Cao Wei period before King Taiyuan, there was another clan named Wang, which was also a giant clan. The representative was Wang Can, one of the "Seven Sons of Jian'an", who was from Shanyang County. Wang Can was not only good at writing articles, but his poems and poems were the highest among the Seven Sons of Jian'an. , and was deeply loved by Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi. Of course, the official was not young, but his life span was not long, and he died of illness at the age of forty-one. Wang Can's descendants also gave birth to Wang Bi, a master of metaphysics. Wang Bi had a very high status in the philosophical world and could be said to be the founder of metaphysics!
These three branches are the most prominent ones in the Jin Dynasty. There are two flowers in bloom, one on each side. When later generations say Wang Xie, they still refer to King Langya. The capital of the Western Jin Dynasty was Luoyang. In the early Western Jin Dynasty, the Taiyuan king had greater influence. Of course, the Langya king, represented by Wang Rong, was not bad, but Wang Rong was delayed by his literary name and was not as practical as the Taiyuan kings Wang Shen and Wang Jun. In the later period of the Western Jin Dynasty, especially during the Eight Kings Rebellion in the later period of Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty, the court had been reshuffled many times, and gradually King Langya gained the absolute upper hand. The most famous among them was Wang Yan. Wang Yan (256-311) year), named Yifu. Wang Yan is famous for three things. One is about his daughter. Wang Yan's eldest queen, Jingfeng, was a famous beauty. However, Empress Jia betrothed this daughter to her nephew Jia Mi, while Wang Yan, who was less beautiful, gave her to his nephew Jia Mi. Huifeng was betrothed to the prince. The prince felt unbalanced and complained quite a bit. When Sima Yu was framed by Empress Jia. Wang Yan hurriedly petitioned to dissolve the marriage, thus breaking off the relationship with the prince. (The prince was escorted to Jinyong City in Xuchang under house arrest. Afterwards, he left a letter to his wife, describing in detail how he was framed by Empress Jia and entrusting Wang Huifeng to take good care of his son. Wang Yan was involved in this incident. , not only did he not speak a word of fairness to the prince, his son-in-law, but after the false letter framed by Empress Jia was revealed, he was afraid of implicating himself, so he quickly wrote to Emperor Hui, asking his daughter Wang Huifeng to divorce the prince. and sent her daughter home. However, Wang Huifeng was a chaste and upright woman. Liu Yao rewarded Wang Huifeng to his general Qiao Zhu, who wanted to rape her. Jian resisted and angrily shouted: "I am the daughter of Duke Taiwei and the concubine of the crown prince. I would rather die for justice than be humiliated by the barbarians!" The Qiao family was furious and killed Wang Huifeng in the "Book of Jin". Into "Biography of Women").
Wang Yan’s second thing is "The Three Caves of a Cunning Rabbit".
Although Wang Yan shouldered the important task of prime minister, he did not seriously consider the governance of the country and only wanted to find ways to protect himself. Qingzhou and Jingzhou were both important military areas at that time, and their products were also very rich. Therefore, Wang Yan said to Sima Yue, King of the East China Sea: "The Central Plains is now in chaos. We should rely on responsible ministers from various places. Therefore, we should choose talents with both civil and military skills to serve as local governors." He made his younger brother Wang Cheng the governor of Jingzhou, and his younger brother Wang Dun as the governor of Jingzhou. Qingzhou governor. He also said to Wang Cheng and Wang Dun: "Jingzhou has the strength of the Yangtze River and the Han River, and Qingzhou has the danger of being backed by the sea. The two of you are guarding other places, and I stay in the capital, which can be called the Three Caves." At that time. Knowledgeable people despised him.
The third thing Wang Yan did was "Smartness cost Qing Qing his life". The Jin army was defeated by Shi Le's army. Shi Le asked the princes and ministers of the Western Jin Dynasty to come to meet him, and he asked Wang Yan about the old events of the Western Jin Dynasty. Wang Yan told him the reasons for the defeat of the Western Jin Dynasty and said that the responsibility was not on him. Shi Le admired him very much and talked with him for a long time. Wang Yan said that he did not like to participate in political affairs when he was young and wanted to avoid disasters, so he persuaded Shi Le to proclaim himself emperor. Shi Le said angrily: "Your reputation has spread all over the world, you hold a prominent position, and you were employed by the imperial court when you were young. Until your hair turns gray, how can you say that you don't participate in the political affairs of the imperial court? It is your crime to destroy the world." The men escorted him out. Shi Le said to his adviser Sun Chang: "I have traveled around the world for many years, and I have never seen such a person. Should I let him live?" Sun Chang said: "He is the third prince of the Western Jin Dynasty, and he will definitely not do anything for us. Try your best, what's the point?" Shi Le said: "Anyway, you can't harm him with a knife." So he ordered the soldiers to push down the wall and crush him to death. When Wang Yan was dying, he looked at others and said: "Alas! Even if we are not as good as the ancients, if we had not advocated pomp and circumstance and tried our best to help the world, we would not be where we are today." He died at the age of fifty-six.
The second important figure in King Langya is Wang Dun, the "king and horse, ruling the world". Wang Dun (266-324), whose courtesy name was Chuzhong, was positioned by later generations as a general, prime minister, and powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. I won’t copy his resume here. The official words are big and empty, and sometimes they may not be credible. I would rather excerpt a few scandals from Shishuo Xinyu to get a glimpse of Guan Bao. One is the banquet held by Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty. The guests were all seated with high-ranking officials. They were all singing or dancing. Only Wang Dun was not good at singing and dancing, but he was brave when he was young. Wang Dun was not shy. The drums were beating in the palace, and everyone looked calm. The second story is that both Wang Dun and Director Wang attended the banquet of King Kai of Jin Dynasty. King Kai of Jin Dynasty was a very rich man, and he liked to compete with rich people. He was particularly showy and asked beautiful women to toast. If anyone refused to drink, the beautiful woman would die. Wang Dun allowed The beauty persuaded him not to drink, and in the end, three beauties were killed. However, Wang Dun was not moved at all and still looked calm. Although Director Wang never drank alcohol, he had to drink in such a scene. As a result, Director Wang was drunk, but Wang Dun refused to drink! The third story is that after Wang Dun rebelled, his health failed, and he was ready to take care of his affairs. However, Wang Dun had no biological son, so he adopted a son of his brother Wang Han, named Wang Ying. Previously, although Wang Dun did not take the Eastern Jin Dynasty seriously, it was not that simple to win the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Wang Dun said to his subordinate Qian Feng: Extraordinary people can do extraordinary things. Wang Ying is young and cannot be a big deal. I After death, it is better to liberate the people, release troops, return to the court, and preserve the family, which is the best policy; to retreat to Wuchang, collect troops and defend yourself, and pay tribute when necessary, is the middle policy; the worst policy is to continue to rebel, and the fish will die and the net will be broken. However, Qian Feng and others believed that they could not retreat halfway. Maybe by conquering Jiankang, they could become emperor! So as soon as Wang Dun dies, he can continue the troubled times with his step-son who can't do anything. In the final result, Wang Dun died, the army was defeated, his stepson was killed, and Wang Dun's body was slaughtered. It can be said that his reputation was ruined!
Later generations have different opinions on whether Wang Dun will die if he does not commit suicide. It is generally believed that Wang Dun has the intention to usurp the throne. But the modern man Lu Simian believes that Wang Dun’s character harmed him, “Dun was a man who was arrogant and ruthless to overshadow the crippled thieves. The crippled thieves dared to do injustice, but the ruthless ones refused to serve others.… Dunzhi and the emperor had no relationship. I don’t think so, but I don’t mean to covet the throne.” But no matter what, Wang Dun’s behavior was really out of character. Wang Dun's killing of Wang Cheng is equally puzzling.
Wang Cheng is Wang Yan's biological brother and Wang Dun's clan brother. Wang Yan was kind to Wang Dun and made Wang Dun the governor of Qingzhou early. At the same time, Wang Cheng was also promoted to the governor of Jingzhou. Wang Cheng and Wang Dun were from the same family. Both were entrusted by Wang Yan, and they should have worked together, but for some reason Wang Dun and Wang Cheng just didn't like each other. It was said that there was no deep hatred, but on the way to take office, Wang Cheng deliberately turned to Wang Dun's property to take a look. He looked at Wang Dun, but unexpectedly Wang Dun arrested Wang Cheng and killed him. ("Shishuo Xinyu·Gui Proverb No. 10") At that time, Wang Dun was in Jiangzhou, and he was in charge of Yuzhang, and Cheng passed Yidun. Chengsu had a great reputation, and he came from Dunyou, and everyone admired him. He was also brave and powerful, and had a good reputation. Cheng was afraid of Dun, and Cheng still insulted Dun with his old intentions. Dun Yi was angry and asked Cheng to stay, but Yin wanted to kill him. There were twenty Jue people on Cheng's left and right, armed with iron horse whips as guards, and Cheng tried to catch the jade pillow. He was on guard, so Dun didn't succeed. Later, Dun gave Cheng and others wine, and they all got drunk. He got out of bed and asked Cheng, "Why are you communicating with Du Tao?" Cheng said, "It can be verified by yourself." "When Dun wanted to enter, he used his hands to guide Dun's clothes and cut off his belt. Then he climbed up to Liang and scolded Dun, saying: "If you act like this, disaster will come." Dun ordered Lu Rong, a powerful soldier, to kill him. The body was carried back to his home. When Liu Kun heard about Cheng's death, he sighed: "Cheng took it from himself." After Dunping, Cheng's former official, Lang Huanzhi, wrote a petition to Cheng Cheng and asked him to give him a posthumous title. His posthumous title was Xian. The eldest son Zhan died early. The second son Hui was Sima of the Right Army.)
Another important figure in the Langya King of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was Wang Dao. Wang Dao (276-339), whose courtesy name was Maohong, and his nicknames were Chilong and Along. A native of Linyi County, Langya County (now Linyi City, Shandong Province). A politician and calligrapher during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he served as an official in the three dynasties of Jin Yuan, Ming and Cheng. He was one of the founders of the Eastern Jin regime.
Compared with Wang Dun, Director Wang is particularly tolerant and very popular. When Director Wang helped Sima Rui establish the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the southern wealthy families such as the Zhou family paid little attention to the Yankees and were very disapproving of Sima Rui, King of Langya, proclaiming himself emperor. It can be said that they were not convinced at all. It was Director Wang who personally stood up for Sima Rui and gave Sima Rui the opportunity to Only with the dignity and dignity of Director Wang personally lobbying did the southern clan accept the imperial extension of the Sima family.
Wang Dun always thinks highly of himself and others, and Director Wang likes to be courteous to virtuous corporals. Director Wang, who became Prime Minister, would have banquets from time to time, and it would be no problem to set up dozens of tables with hundreds of tables. The people who came to sit down at the banquet would definitely be of different grades. Prime Minister Wang Dao may not all be familiar with each other, but Director Wang But he always greets everyone personally. Whether they are locals or outsiders, southerners or northerners, Central Plains people or Indians, Director Wang personally greets them all. (Shishuo Xinyu·Political Affairs): "Prime Minister Wang paid a visit to Yangzhou, and hundreds of guests came to greet him, and everyone had something to say. Only a guest from Linhai whose surname was Ren and several Hu people were not agreed upon. Gong Yin also visited Ren Bian said: "When you leave, there will be no one left in Linhai." Ren Daxi said, "Lan Chao, Lan Chao" as he passed by.")
< p> Director Wang has another famous allusion: "I didn't kill Boren, but Boren died because of me." ("Book of Jin·Biography Thirty-Nine" records: At the beginning, when Dunzhi raised his troops, Liu Wei persuaded the emperor to eliminate all the kings, Sikong led his group to plead guilty to Yique, and when Yi (characterized by Boren) was about to enter, he led Hu Yi. He said: "Bo Ren, I am tired of you!" After meeting the emperor, he said that he was loyal and even asked for help. The emperor accepted his words, so he was still drunk at the door. Hu Yi. Yi didn't say anything. He said to his left and right, "Kill all the thieves and slaves this year and take the golden seal like a big bucket tied to the elbow." After Dun had achieved his goal, he asked his guide: "Zhou Yi and Dai Ruosi should be sent to the third division, so there is no doubt about it." The guide said, "If they are not in the third division, what should I do?" He didn't answer. Dun said: "If you don't, I will punish you." The director was speechless. He told his disciples: "Although I did not kill Boren, Boren died by me. In the netherworld, I have lost such a good friend!")This means that Wang Dun killed Zhou Wei, but before Wang Dun repeatedly consulted Director Wang for his opinion, but Director Wang remained silent, resulting in Zhou Wei's murder. The reason was that Director Wang suspected that Zhou Wei had not helped him at the critical moment, so Director Wang just stood aside and watched. After Zhou Yi died, he realized that he had been wronged. So Director Wang repented! But this kind of thing will never happen to Wang Dun. Wang Dun never needs a reason to offend people, but Director Wang always turns enemies into friends!
Wang Dao passed away in the sixty-fourth year of his life. Emperor Cheng mourned in the court and sent envoys to posthumously honor him as "Wen Wen". The funeral specifications are the same as those of Huo Guang and Sima Fu, who were the most famous officials in the Zhongxing Dynasty in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
It is true that politicians have their reputations and reputations. Wang Dao was too moderate in his administration. Lu Simian believed that the sluggish power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was caused by the prevailing atmosphere at that time, and Wang Dao was actually the leader of this atmosphere.
After the death of Director Wang, talents from the Wang family in Langya still emerged in endlessly. Among them, Director Wang’s grandson Wang Xun was particularly outstanding. However, his political achievements were far inferior to those of Wang Dun and Director Wang, and he was basically regarded as Xie An. The Xie family represented went above and beyond. But the Wang family has many masters in calligraphy. Even the aforementioned Wang Yan, Wang Rong, Wang Dun, and Wang Dao are all first-class calligraphers, not to mention the following Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, who are the ancestors of calligraphy. Until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Wang's calligraphy was the best. The descendants of the Wang family are even more talented!