In the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, people all over the country knew that Prince Sima Zhong was an idiot.
?Sima Zhong’s idiot is congenital, the kind of idiot who can be seen at a glance. He has not been able to walk normally since he was a child. When he was almost ten years old, he still couldn't speak clearly and couldn't tell the difference between rice and soybeans, let alone read and write.
?One thing is enough to illustrate the extent of Sima Zhong’s idiocy.
?One year there was a famine, the people were displaced, and people died of hunger on the roads. Naturally, a minister would mention this matter in the court. While the ministers were discussing how to solve the problem, Sima Zhong suddenly asked: If these people don't have food to eat, won't they eat meat porridge? The ministers were dumbfounded. For the pampered Sima Zhong, meat and rice were his daily staple foods. With his IQ, he couldn't figure out why he wouldn't eat meat if there was no rice.
?This reminds me of a childish joke. When my son was three years old, there was a drought in my hometown, so I educated my son: "We have to save water on a daily basis. In some places, children can no longer even drink water." My son asked me innocently: "They don't have water to drink, don't they know how to drink drinks?" My son's question naturally made me dumbfounded, but after all, my son is only three years old, and Sima Zhong was already a junior high school student when he asked this question. Age.
?Since Sima Zhong was so mentally retarded and couldn't take care of himself, how could he become the prince and finally the emperor? Didn't Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, have a smart son? The answer is of course no. Sima Yan had 25 princes in his lifetime. Except for Sima Zhong who was an idiot, his other IQs were normal.
?Then why did you choose Sima Zhong in the end? In fact, this is fate, the fate of the Western Jin Dynasty, the fate of Sima Yan, and the fate of Sima Zhong.
?First of all, although Sima Zhong was an idiot, he was born well. He was the legitimate second son of Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan, and Empress Yang. Their eldest son, Sima Gui, died early, so Sima Zhong became The eldest son, in that era of seniority, he was the first heir to the throne. Moreover, Sima Zhong was still young when he was established as the prince, at the age of 9. As an idiot, he spoke very little when he was 9 years old, but this was regarded by the ministers as an advantage of being quiet and reserved. In other words, when he was 9 years old, no one saw that he was an idiot, and even if he saw something abnormal, no one dared to question him.
?But as time passed, Sima Zhong began to grow up, and his intellectual defects that could not be concealed were exposed. People couldn't help but ask in their hearts: Will the prince be qualified to assume the throne of emperor in the future? Should the prince be replaced in time? Of course, due to the reasonable legality of Sima Zhong's first heir and the face of his mother, Queen Yang, the ministers only dared to mutter in their hearts and did not dare to raise it publicly. They joked and said that the emperor's son was an idiot. How many brains do you have? Not enough to cut.
?The first person to publicly raise questions was Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty (only he dared to make it public).
?Historical records: "The emperor thought that the prince could not bear the authority, so he kept secretly with his queen. The queen said: 'How can we move if we establish a direct descendant to be a leader but not a virtuous one?'" It can be seen that Sima Yan has begun to doubt himself. Does this son have the ability to rule the world anymore, so he quietly revealed to the queen his intention to replace the prince. But Empress Yang was very protective of Sima Zhong and said to her husband: "Since ancient times, the establishment of direct descendants has not established the virtuous. How can the old rules left by our ancestors be changed?" On the plus side, he also said good things for Sima Zhong: "The prince was just too playful when he was young and didn't make any progress. But who wasn't playful when he was young? After all, there are only a few people who have shown superhuman abilities when they were young. According to my concubine, the prince must be A late bloomer will definitely inherit the throne in the future." Sima Yan was also a soft-eared person, and as soon as the wind blew by the two daughters-in-law, he gave up the idea of ??changing the prince.
?But the courtiers were unwilling. If you let me hang out with a fool from now on, what else will it do besides proving that I am more stupid than the fool? So the ministers hope to replace the prince.
In the early years of Xianning (275), Sima Zhong reached the age of leaving the East Palace and began to contact ministers of foreign dynasties.
It is estimated that the scholars invited by Jia Nanfeng are all masters. The essays written in the answer papers are righteous and impassioned, which is called beautiful. Jia Nanfeng nodded as if he was very satisfied. But after the attendant Zhang Hong looked at it from the sidelines, he immediately reminded Jia Nanfeng: "The prince is ignorant and has no skills, and the government and the public know it. Now this article is written with extensive references and literary talent. I am afraid that the emperor will see at a glance that it was not written by the prince himself. Write, if the emperor blames me, I'm afraid my brain will be damaged. So, it's better to explain the problem clearly in plain language." Jia Nanfeng calmed down and thought about it, Zhang Hong was right! Fortunately, this paper was not handed in! It almost caused a disaster! So he said to Zhang Hong: "Here, you answer the question. If you succeed, you will be rich and powerful; if you fail, you will be beheaded." Zhang Hong was still a little clever. After he immediately explained the questions clearly in vernacular, he asked the prince to He copied a copy and gave it to Sima Yan.
?Sima Yan smiled from ear to ear after seeing the prince's answer sheet. He immediately summoned the prince's young master Wei Guan and gave the prince's answer sheet to Wei Guan to read. Wei Guan read the prince's answer. Although the words were simple and crude, he still explained all the questions clearly. He was very surprised and became extremely frightened. Because he made the loudest noise when he wanted to depose the prince. Now that I saw this answer sheet, I hurriedly said long live it, saying that I was blind before, and that I couldn't see Taishan. At this point, Sima Zhong was basically satisfied with the prince, and the trend of deposing and establishing the prince never appeared again.
?The consolidation of Sima Zhong’s position as prince also benefited from the fact that he had a very smart son, Sima Ju. Sima Yan liked Sima Ju very much and had the idea of ??passing the throne to Sima Ju. This would add a lot to the consolidation of Prince Sima Zhong's position. In order to pass the throne to Sima Ju in the future, Sima Yan's idea of ????changing the crown prince became increasingly weak.
?There is another theory in the future that Sima Ju is actually Sima Yan’s illegitimate son, so Sima Yan particularly likes Sima Ju. In order to cover up his own mistakes and pass the position to Sima Ju, he insisted on not replacing Sima Zhong.
?So, why is there talk of illegitimate children? This has to start with Sima Ju’s biological mother Xie Jiu. Xie has a delicate appearance, is beautiful and generous, and was selected by Sima Yan to be a talented person in the harem at a very young age. Sima Zhong was established as a prince when he was 9 years old. According to the system at that time, the court began to prepare a candidate for the crown prince for him. However, "Emperor Wu was concerned that the prince was still young and did not know about the curtain room." This meant that Sima Yan felt that Sima Zhong was still young and did not understand the affairs of men and women, so he decided to send a sexual enlightenment teacher to Sima Zhong. This teacher was Xie Shi. Xie stayed with Sima Zhong for one night and became pregnant. In the future, Jia Nanfeng, who was cruel and jealous, became the crown prince and killed the concubines in the East Palace at will, but he did not dare to touch the Xie family. Of course Xie also knew her situation, so she made a report and returned to Sima Yan, and gave birth to Sima Ju. The reason why Jia Nanfeng did not dare to touch Xie was also because of Sima Yan's protection. Sima Yan loved Sima Ju very much. One day a few years later, Sima Zhong went to the palace to visit his father. He saw a three or four-year-old child playing with his younger brothers. He was very cute, so he walked over and took the child's hand, giggling. Sima Yan saw his silly son's behavior from a distance, so he walked up to Sima Zhong and said to him: "This is your son." This story was recorded in the "Book of Jin" and aroused countless questions from later generations.