There have been more than 20 dynasties in Chinese history, and governance and chaos of these dynasties have varied. But if you want to choose darkest dynasty, it's still not easy, because in each dynasty there is relative stability and chaos. For example, first 100 years of Eastern Han Dynasty can be called an era of prosperity, but next 20 years are one of darkest eras in Chinese history. But there is a dynasty that is very different. From very beginning of its establishment, there was basically no prosperity, and it left no special historical achievements after its death. This dynasty is Jin Dynasty.

The reason why Jin Dynasty is considered darkest era in Chinese history is based on situation of time, policies of rulers, and living conditions of people. We often say that Song Dynasty is weak and incompetent, but economy and culture of Song Dynasty were developed and living conditions of people were relatively calm. The Jin Dynasty was not only weaker than Song Dynasty, but people's lives were in dire straits.

Sima Yang destroyed Suzhou in 280 and has ruled world ever since. The unified Jin dynasty began in 280. But by time of reunification, de facto rulers of Western Jin dynasty had reached third generation, and chaos began. After Sima Yang destroyed Wu, he was "lazy in politics and dabbled in banquets", and even sold out officials and nobles and indulged in female sex. He even issued a decree "Forbidden to marry in world" to have fun. Before he destroyed Wu, he had 5,000 concubines and maids in his harem, and after he destroyed Wu, he robbed 5,000 people from Sun Hao's harem in Luoyang. A harem of ten thousand people is truly unprecedented.

Sima Yang also did something stupid by turning history around and entrusting 27 children across country. These feudal states are divided into three classes: upper, middle and lower: upper state has largest territory and has an advanced army of 5000 people, second is China with 3000 warriors; After destruction of Wu, Sima Yan ordered disbandment of Jiazhou army, and armies of various kingdoms became main local military forces. This paved way for "Rise of Eight Kings".

In 290, Sima Yan died and mad Sima Zhong succeeded to throne as "Emperor of Jin Hui". The actual power is in hands of Yang Jun. Yang Jun is self-willed, does not accept good words, is a supporter of party throughout tree, alienated from clan. In second year, Empress Jian'an Fengmi ordered Sima Wei, King of Chu, to enter Beijing to kill Yang Jun, and then executed Sima Wei under pretense of killing Yang Jun. In 300, Jananfeng assassinated Crown Prince Sima Yu, sparking "Rebellion of Eight Kings". Hand-to-hand combat did not end until 306 AD. He Jiquan said in "History of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties": "After these disturbances, social economy was seriously damaged, people suffered a large number of casualties, and Western Jin ruling function has been paralyzed since then. >» The world after unification of Western Jin Dynasty The situation lasted only 20 years.

The "Rise of Eight Kings" provoked a social crisis, after which uprisings of refugees broke out throughout country. The Book of Jin says: "There are so many people who are hungry and hungry, and they trade with each other, hurrying and moving, innumerable." In 311, Xiongnu, Jie, and Han refugees jointly captured Luoyang, and Emperor Jin Huai was captured. In 316, Liu Yao broke through Chang'an again and captured Emperor Jin Ming, and Western Jin dynasty has perished ever since.

After Yongjia Rebellion, a large number of people migrated south. The Sima clan later established Eastern Jin dynasty in Jiangdong with support of northern nobility. The Eastern Jin Dynasty was also most incompetent dynasty in history. Within Eastern Jin dynasty, there were tensions between two main groups of Jiangnan natives and northern nobility, such that Eastern Jin dynasty could only settle in Jiangnan and "had no ambition for a Northern Expedition". The internal strife between two major factions gave rise to many civil wars, which will not be described one after other here.

At that time, more than 20 regimes arose in north of Yangtze River, known in history as "Sixteen Kingdoms". At that time, there were conditions in north for migration, most of them moved south to Jiangnan, some moved west to Liangzhou, and some moved east to western Liaoning.

Five random colors

Let's talk about burden of people of Jin Dynasty. Beginning in 263, Western Jin Dynasty abolished Cao Wei's land garrison system and instead introduced a land grab system. Under garrison system, common people had to turn in 70% or even 80% of their grain, and cruelty of exploitation was rated as worst in history. With land grab system, load on people is slightly reduced, but almost half of grain needs to be turned in. In addition, compared with self-cultivating farmers in Cao Wei period, amount of exploitation of land tenure system increased by one third or half. For comparison, during Han Dynasty, taxes were "one tax per thirty" and "one tax per fifteen".

Tax Standard of Land Tenure System

With this kind of exploitation during Jin Dynasty, a large number of farmers became dependents such as tribes, tenants and slaves. According to an analysis of Ge Jianxiong's History of Chinese Population, there were over 20 million dependent people during Three Kingdoms period, and there should be at least that number in Western Jin Dynasty. In other words, more than half of China's population at that time became slaves. At that time, tribunes and tenants had no right to personal freedom at all, and could be bought and sold at any time, and their masters could be killed at will. In fact, they were not much different from slaves.

Status of trilogy under Wei and Jin dynasties

During Jin Dynasty, upper class of Chinese society was slave-owning nobles. They own estates that cross fields, have private troops, and occupy a key position in imperial court. The entire Jin Dynasty adopted "nine-rank Zhongzheng system" in selection of officials, and this system was soon monopolized by nobility, so that " upper rank had no poor families, and lower rank had no weak families." families Powerful family >". At that time, lower class people had no chance to rise and social class was very tight-knit.

Nobles monopolize nobles and they live in luxury. He Zeng, a taifu of Western Jin Dynasty, spent tens of thousands of dollars daily on food and drink, and his son He Shao's daily food even reached $20,000. Shi Chong, governor of Jingzhou, made a fortune by robbing tourists and merchants, and even fought for wealth with Wang Kai from a group of foreign relatives. Minister Fu Xian pointed out in Shangshu that "the cost of extravagance is worse than natural disasters." Due to social corruption, from official circles to private sector, everyone is a mercenary. At that time, money was considered a god. Officials of Western Jin Dynasty "lived in an official position without official business and did not have courage to do anything," speaking of Xuanyuan, drunkenness, and indulgence.

People long for romantic and unrestrained style of scholars of Wei and Jin dynasties, but they don't know that such a romantic style is based on fact that ordinary people's lives are worse than death. Economically, they enjoy fruits of slave labor, and politically monopolize all rights. Of course, they can only talk about Xuanyuan and travel through mountains and rivers. When they are bored, they study calligraphy and painting, literary theory and metaphysics. heyday of Chinese culture. But behind this cultural pinnacle lies an extremely dark social abyss.