"But there is a problem with this system, that is, Sima Yan only stipulates how much land you can have instead of giving you how much land you have. How come Sima Yan and the Western Jin government don't care about the land."
"There is also a very important aspect of the land occupation system. Officials of the first rank have the right to occupy fifty hectares of land, and each rank below has the right to occupy five hectares of land. Up to the ninth rank, they can occupy ten hectares of land. Nobles and bureaucrats can also cover their relatives, with more than nine tribes and less with three tribes. .”
Li Shimin: In the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, when there were fewer people and more land, the contradictions of this system were not obvious. But when there are more people, there will definitely be an impact.
Liu Che: Doesn’t this system further encourage the expansion of the noble gentry?
Qin Shihuang: These nobles can use this system to occupy more land and even begin to control economic privileges. Over time, it will be a big blow to the court.
Zhu Yuanzhang: What has happened now? Not only the land system, Sima Yan also granted many vassals during his reign! It’s not clear why the Eastern Han Dynasty was divided? Give the princes so many rights?
Qin Shihuang: That’s not right! The Sima family himself is also from a wealthy family, doesn't Sima Yan know this?
"Because the Western Jin Dynasty at that time followed Cao Wei's nine-level Zhongzheng system, but after Sima Yi came to power, he established Zhou Zhongzheng, which continued into the Western Jin Dynasty."
"On the surface, it seems that the state power has further returned the political rights of the people in the election to the court, which is conducive to cracking down on local gentry."
"But it also facilitated the wealthy noble families in power to expand their power. They controlled the local and even court official selection systems. This also made the wealthy noble families become stronger, which in turn threatened the emperor's authority."
"The Sima family is also from a wealthy family. How could Sima Yan not know this? When he ascended the throne, because of the talent selection system, these families could threaten the court. After he ascended the throne, his status was unstable and he had to rely on the talents of these families. Help can only raise the princes to compete with these aristocratic families, which is destined to cause another great chaos."
"The solid foundation laid by his ancestors and fathers allowed Sima Yan to finally reap the fruits of victory, but he did not have the courage to change the problems, so the Western Jin Dynasty became the most special one among the unified dynasties."
"But Sima Yan is also a capable person. At least these problems did not break out when he was alive. It's just that after his death, everything became uncontrollable, and Sima Yan was very dim in his later years."
"This brings us to another criticism of Sima Yan, which is the later period of his reign."
"The dignified emperor actually took the lead and started to indulge in extravagance. When the people below him saw it, they began to imitate it. As a result, villains took power and indulged in extravagance and waste, and the atmosphere gradually deteriorated."
"The ministers and nobles also compete for wealth. For example, if this minister's family spends 10,000 yuan on food every day, then another minister's family must have a four-cornered meal. If the food expense reaches 20,000 yuan a day, it must be better than someone else's. .”
"Sima Yan's uncle Wang Kai once competed with Shi Chong, the richest man at the time, to show off his wealth and boast about his splendor. It can be said that at the end of Sima Yan's reign, the entire Western Jin Dynasty was in an extremely morbid state."
Li Shimin: At that time, these aristocratic families were really wealthy.
Liu Bang: I really want to know how to win the title.
Shi Chong and Wang Kai competed for power. When Wang Kai's family was washing pots with rice and syrup, Shi Chong ordered candles to be used as firewood in his kitchen. "
"In order to show off, Wang Kai made purple silk barriers on both sides of the road in front of his house for forty miles. Shi Chong used more expensive colored satin to lay fifty miles of barriers."
"Emperor Jin Wu was afraid that his family would lose, so he gave Wang Kai a two-foot-tall coral tree collected in the palace. Shi Chong saw it and smashed the coral tree with iron Ruyi. Wang Kai was very angry, and Shi Chong Chong said: "It's not enough to hate me, I will return it to you now. "So he ordered people to take out all his coral trees. There were six or seven coral trees that were three or four feet high. Each one was larger than Wang Kai's coral tree."
"In the end, Shi Chong, the richest man, won and was called the "number one rich man."
Qin Shihuang: This is quite rich. It is better to eat and use than I am.
Li Longji: I don’t even have so many coral trees! I really envy!
"As for Sima Yan's lecherousness, I have to tell the story of "Looking for Good Luck on a Sheep's Cart"."
"He heard that the beauties in the south of the Yangtze River were different from those in the north. They were particularly delicate and charming, so he asked his ministers to select many beauties from the south of the Yangtze River to be his maids and concubines, and they indulged in lust regardless of morning or evening."
"There are many concubines in the harem, with nearly 10,000 beauties. Which concubine should be lucky to visit every night has become a very troublesome problem."
"So he came up with a way, which was to ride a sheep cart and let the sheep walk freely in the palace. He would favor his concubines wherever the sheep cart stopped."
"So a palace servant stuck bamboo branches on the door and sprinkled salt water on the ground. The sheep liked the taste of the salt water and stopped eating, so the sheep cart stopped at the entrance of her palace."
"Because of this story, later generations called the hope of being valued or favored by others "the sheep carriage looking for luck"."
Cao Cao: Is the country of Wei ruined by people like this?
Fusu: Indulging in female sex and excessive lewdness!
Zhao Kuangyin: This Sima Yan is very lustful. He once selected 5,000 virgins from middle-level and above officials and ordinary gentry families to serve him in the palace. How come such a mediocre person was not included in the second generation that Miss Zhang talked about? .
Liu Bang: It’s quite fun.
"The last controversial decision in Sima Yan's life was the arrangement of his posthumous affairs. The ability of his successor Sima Zhong was worrying, and the important ministers Yang Jun and Sima Liang who were preparing to leave the orphans also had various disagreements. These problems that could have been avoided by Sima Yan during his lifetime were eventually eliminated. Failure to handle it properly led to the outbreak of chaos.”
"Sima Yan was mediocre in his reign, but after his death, he did not deal with the matter of heirs, so his idiot son Sima Zhong, Emperor Hui of Jin, came to the throne, and the crown prince selected by Sima Yan."
Liu Xiu: Is this the idiot emperor?
Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, was the second son of Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, and the second emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty. He reigned from 290 to 307. Later generations called him "Emperor Hui of Jin". During his reign, there were internal fights, and the Eight Kings occurred. After the war, the Western Jin Dynasty declined.
"The Rebellion of the Eight Kings was a civil strife that occurred during the Western Jin Dynasty in China and was caused by the imperial family's struggle for central power. It was caused by Queen Jia Nanfeng's interference in political power."
"The "Eight Kings Rebellion" was one of the most serious royal civil strife in the history of the Flower Country. At that time, the social economy was severely damaged, which led to the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty and nearly three hundred years of turmoil, which later brought the northern part of the Central Plains into the Sixteen Kingdoms (Five Husties Chaos in China) period.”
"This Sima Zhong was born to Sima Yan's empress. To establish the crown prince's position, he must have established his direct descendants first. At that time, his brother from the same mother had died early, and his younger brother was too young. The second in line was Sima Zhong, who succeeded him as the crown prince. The position is reasonable."
