Wang Yan

Wang Yan

Wang Yan (256-311), a native of Linyi County, langye county (now Linyi City, Shandong Province), was a native of Yifu. At the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, he was an important minister, a leader of metaphysics, the grandson of Wang Xiong, the governor of Youzhou in the Wei Dynasty, the son of Wang Yi, the general of Pingbei, and the cousin of Wang Rong.

Wang Yan came from the Wang family of Langya. His appearance is bright and handsome, his demeanor is quiet and elegant, and he is good at Laozhuang theory. After entering the official career, he successively served as the Minister of Huangmen, zhonglingjun, shangshuling, shangshupushe, etc. Guangxi first year (307), promoted to Sikong. The next year, he served as situ again. Wang Yan was in a high position, but he didn't want to serve the country. In order to protect himself, he let his younger brother Wang Cheng and his younger brother Wang Dun serve as the governor of Jingzhou and Qingzhou respectively, which was despised by the people at that time. When Wang Mi attacked Luoyang, Wang Yan led the army to resist. After that, he was transferred to the post of Taiwei and shangshuling, and also led the Taifu military department.

In the fifth year of Yongjia (311), Sima Yue, king of the East China Sea, died. Wang Yanfeng returned to the East China Sea with his coffin. On the way, he was captured by shile, a Jieren. When Wang Yan talked with shile, he still shirked his responsibility and advised him to be emperor. Shile was furious and buried him alive with his old ministers in the Western Jin Dynasty. He was 56 years old.

Wang Yangong is good at calligraphy, especially Xingshu. Xuanhe Shupu has his work Zun Madame tie.

Life of the characters

Advocating metaphysics

Wang Yan, whose name is Yifu, was born in Linyi, Langya, and was born in the Wang family of Langxie in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. He has a clear and handsome appearance and a quiet and elegant demeanor. When he was a child, he visited Shantao. After seeing him, Shantao sighed for a long time. When Wang Yan left, Shan Tao watched him go far away and said to others with emotion: "I don't know which old woman gave birth to such a son! However, it is not necessarily this person who has wronged the common people all over the world. " (Note: according to Shi Shuo Xin Yu Shi Jian, Yang Hu commented on Wang Yan that "those who disturb the world must be like this."

Wang Yi, Wang Yan's father, was once a general of Pingbei. At that time, there were often official affairs that needed to be presented by envoys, but they were often unable to get a reply on time. When Wang Yan was 14 years old, he used to report the contents of the official documents to the minister pushe Yanghu. His words were very clear. At that time, Yanghu was very famous and highly respected, but Wang Yan did not have the look of inferiority and condescension in front of him. Everyone was very surprised and said that he was a genius. His cousin Yang Jun wants to marry his daughter to him, but Wang Yan is ashamed of it and pretends to be crazy. After hearing about Wang Yan's reputation, Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty, asked his cousin Wang Rong, "who can compare with Wang Yan?" Wang Rong said: "I don't see anyone who can compare with Yifu (Wang Yan), so I should seek it from the ancients."

In 273, Sima Yan ordered officials to recommend talents who could stabilize the frontier. At first, Wang Yan liked to talk about the lobbying skills of Lianheng Hezhong, so Lu Qin recommended him as the governor of Liaodong, but Wang Yan did not take office. From then on, he didn't talk about the world any more. All day long, he just chanted and talked about metaphysics. After Wang Yan's father died in Beiping County, his relatives and friends gave him a lot of funeral money. Many relatives and acquaintances borrowed money from him, and Wang Yan distributed the money to them. In a few years, the family's property was almost used up. In the case of no way, Wang Yan had to move to live in the countryside near the west of Luoyang.

Later, Wang Yan entered the official career, first as Prince Sheren, then as shangshulang, and later as Yuancheng county magistrate. All day long, he was still talking, but the county's big and small affairs were also straightened out. After that, he went back to the capital and served as the son of the prince and the servant of Huangmen.

unconventional ways of scholars

In the period of Zhengshi (240-249), he Yan, Wang Bi and others claimed to inherit Laozhuang and talk about metaphysics. This is the beginning of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties, which is called "Zhengshi metaphysics" by later generations. Wang Yan attached great importance to their views, but Pei he thought that this view was incorrect and wrote an article to satirize it. And Wang Yan is just like usual, and thinks Pei he is very talented and highly respected.

Wang Yan is brilliant, handsome, smart and sharp, just like a man of God. He often compares himself to Zi Gong. In addition, he has a great reputation and is admired by the world. He is proficient in metaphysics and talks about Laozi and Zhuangzi. No matter the senior officials in the imperial court or those in the opposition, they all admire him and call him the "one world dragon's gate". Wang Yan successively held important positions, and many young people who wanted to become officials did not follow his example. All the officials who were employed by the imperial court thought that he should be the leader of the gentry. However, he advocated ostentation and absurdity, and was approved by many people, so he became a common practice in the world.

Rise in official career

Later, Wang Yan successively served as the Marquis, leader and Minister of the northern army. His daughter is the concubine of Sima Hui, the crown prince of Huaihuai, who was framed by Empress Jia. Wang Yan gets into trouble, so he asks for the dissolution of the engagement.

In the first year of Yongkang (300 years), empress Jia was deposed, and the relevant departments impeached Wang Yan, saying: "Wang Yan wrote letters to situ and Sima long, the king of Liang, copied the letters sent to the crown prince himself to his concubine and Wang Yan, and stated the process of being framed. After reading, Liang Wang and others deeply felt that the words were very sincere and touching. As a minister, Wang Yan should discuss the responsibility. The crown prince was framed and convicted, but Wang Yan could not fight for justice, so he immediately asked for a divorce. After he got the letter written by the prince himself, he collected it and did not show it to the public. He only wanted to muddle along and avoid disaster. He had no integrity and loyalty. He had to be publicly condemned to encourage his integrity. He should be imprisoned for life. " Huidi agreed.

After taking power, simalun and sun Xiu, the king of Zhao, wantonly killed his courtiers. Sun Xiu was once a petty official in Langxie County, and asked the local celebrities to comment on him. Wang Yan didn't want to make a promise at first, but later he listened to Wang Rong's suggestion. After sun Xiu achieved his ambition, he took great care of Wang Rong and Wang Yan.

In the first year of Yongning (301), simalun usurped the throne, but Wang Yansu despised simalun. At this time, Wang Yan pretended to be crazy and killed his maidservant, so he was not allowed to take office. In the same year, after simalun was killed, Wang Yan was worshipped as Yin of Henan Province. He was transferred to minister of Henan Province, and then served as the commander of Zhongshu. At that time, Sima Fen, the king of Qi, had the credit of helping emperor Hui to restore his position. However, he was dictatorial and acted at will. When Gongqing saw him, they all bowed to him. Only Wang Yan bowed to him, so he offended Sima Fen and resigned. Later, he was appointed as the commander of the Chinese army by Wang Sima Ying of Chengdu. After several promotions, he served as a minister and concurrently took charge of the affairs of the Ministry of officials. Later, he served as the minister. In the first year of Guangxi (307), Wang Yansheng was appointed Sikong. He was also the second minister.

the wily hare has three holes to his burrow

Although Wang Yan took on the important task of prime minister, he did not seriously consider the governance of the country, but only tried to protect himself. He only considered how to make himself and his family survive for a long time in the complicated situation, so he carefully created a retreat for himself. Qingzhou and Jingzhou were both important military areas at that time, and their products were also very abundant. Therefore, Wang Yan said to Sima Yue, king of Donghai: "the central plains are in chaos now, so we should rely on the responsible ministers of various regions. Therefore, we should choose talents who are both civil and military to serve as local governors." Let the younger brother Wang Cheng be the governor of Jingzhou, and the younger brother Wang dun be the governor of Qingzhou. He 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. If you two stay outside, and I stay in the capital, I can be called the three caves. " He was despised by people of insight at that time.

Be pushed to death

In May 308, the second year of Yongjia, Liu Yuan's General Wang Mi attacked Luoyang. The imperial court ordered Wang Yan to fight against Wang Mi's army as a commander in chief. Wang Yan ordered former general Cao Wu and left guard General Wang Jing to attack the enemy, repel them and seize their supplies.

In the third year of Yongjia (309), Wang Yan was transferred to be a Taiwei and a minister. He was also granted the title of Marquis of Wuling, but he refused to accept it. At that time, Luoyang was becoming more and more dangerous and urgent. Most people wanted to move their capital to avoid disaster, but Wang Yan sold the ox cart to show his firmness and appease people.

In the fourth year of Yongjia (310), when Sima Yue attacked Gou Xi, Wang Yan served as Taifu's Military Secretary as Taiwei.

In March of the fifth year of Yongjia (311), Sima Yue passed away, and they all elected Wang Yan as marshal. Wang Yan thought that wars were frequent at that time, so he was afraid to take on the responsibilities. So he declined and said, "I didn't want to be an official when I was young, but after years, I was promoted to my present position. Today's event, how can I be a man without talent to be commander in chief? " So they served Sima Yue's coffin and buried him in Donghai state.

In April, Jin army was defeated by shile army. Shile asked the princes and ministers of the Western Jin Dynasty to meet him. He asked Wang Yan about the past events of the Western Jin Dynasty. Wang Yan told him the reasons for the failure of the Western Jin Dynasty, and said that the responsibility was not his own. Shiller appreciated him and talked with him for a long time. Wang Yan said that when he was young, he did not like to participate in political affairs and wanted to avoid disasters, so he persuaded shile to become emperor. Shiller said angrily, "you are famous all over the world. You are in an important position. When you were young, you were valued by the imperial court. How can you say that you did not participate in the political affairs of the imperial court? It's your sin to destroy the world. " Let his men take him out. Shiller said to his adviser Sun Chang, "I've been around the world for many years. I've never seen such a person before. Should I let him live?" Sun Chang said, "he is the third Duke of the Western Jin Dynasty. He will not do his best for us. What's the pity?" Shiller said: "in short, do not use the blade to harm him." So he ordered the soldiers to push down the wall in the middle of the night 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 do not advocate ostentatious and illusory life and try our best to help the world, we will not be as good as we are today. " He was 56 years old.

Several decades after Wang Yan died, he ascended the Central Plains during the northern expedition of Huanwen

Chinese PinYin : Wang Yan