The videos I watched became popular in ancient times

In the late Western Jin Dynasty, Wang Jun, the governor of Youzhou, was a figure that could not be avoided.

Compared with Liu Kun who fought alone, Wang Jun's image seems a little wretched, but no one can deny it.

He was a prominent figure of that era and had an important influence on the history of the late Jin Dynasty, even if it was a negative influence.

"The Western Jin Dynasty was an era of aristocratic families. Rather than being emperors, the Sima family was more like the martial arts leader of the aristocratic family alliance."

"As a result, those who stirred up trouble in the Western Jin Dynasty were all from aristocratic families, and the Wang family of Taiyuan was the best among them. Wang Jun was born into this big family."

"His great grandfather was Wang Rou, the General of the Central Army who protected the Xiongnu during the Eastern Han Dynasty, his grandfather was Wang Ji, the governor of Dongjun during the Cao Wei Dynasty, and his father, Wang Shen, was also a legendary figure."

"He started out as a secretary to Cao Shuang, who was in power at the time. After Cao Shuang was defeated, he assisted Cao Mao."

"To describe Wang Shen's character in a fashionable way, he is good at judging the situation."

"He took the initiative to sell out his boss Cao Mao to Sima Zhao, who reciprocated by making Wang Shen the Marquis of Anping. Although he gained benefits, his reputation was ruined and he was isolated in the officialdom."

"After being silent for a few years, he assisted Sima Yan in usurping the throne and establishing the Jin Dynasty. He became a new nobleman and was named General of the Cavalry by Sima Yan. His title was also promoted to Duke of a County."

"Wang Shen's career was flourishing, but perhaps because he had done too many bad things, he still had no son. Seeing that there was no one to inherit his huge business, he was very anxious, so he sent people to search for beautiful women everywhere."

"A little girl named Zhao was born in a poor family but was as beautiful as a flower. As soon as she entered the house, she was favored by Wang Shen. Unexpectedly, she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy. This was Wang Jun."

"But Wang Shen is obsessed with aristocrats. He has always looked down on the Zhao family, who are of humble origins, and he doesn't even look at Wang Jun."

"Man proposes, God disposes. Until the day Wang Shen died, he never gave birth to a second son."

"When Wang Jun was fifteen, Wang Shen died suddenly. Wang Jun was a lone seedling in a thousand hectares of land, and he had no competitors at all."

"With the witness of the elders of the clan, Wang Jun inherited the title of Duke of Wang Shen Boling in 266 AD, and became a member of the top aristocratic family of the Western Jin Dynasty."

"After I entered the government, I stayed in the capital Luoyang. When I was 39 years old, I got the opportunity to be transferred to Xudu and became a high-ranking official."

"At that time, the Eight Princes were fighting fiercely. In 299 AD, Jia Nanfeng, who had taken control of the government, deposed Sima Yi from the crown prince position and sent him to Xuchang."

"Wang Jun knew that his chance had come, so he made political investments like his father Wang Shen, and helped Jia Nanfeng do the dirty work and kill Sima Yi."

"Jia Nanfeng also returned the favor by promoting Wang Jun to the rank of General Ningbei and Governor of Qingzhou. A few days later, he was promoted to General Ningshuo and Commander-in-Chief of Youzhou's Military Affairs."

"The 47-year-old Wang Jun is in charge of the military and political affairs of Youzhou, and is a true lord."

"At that time, the Rebellion of the Eight Princes was in full swing, and Wang Jun, who came from a high-ranking family, had a very clear understanding of the situation for himself and the entire country."

"In order to stabilize the situation, he married one of his daughters to Duan Wuwuchen, the leader of the Duan clan Xianbei, and another daughter to Su Shuyan, the leader of the Wuhuan."

"Wang Jun used tactics to win over the Wuhuan people and the Duan clan Xianbei to become his lackeys."

Li Qingzhao: The Rebellion of the Eight Kings entered its white-hot stage. Sima Yong, King of Hejian, and Sima Ying, King of Chengdu, launched an attack on Sima Yi, King of Changsha, who was in power. The Sima family became a mess.

Although both sides tried hard to win him over, Wang Jun decided to sit on the fence for the time being until the situation became clear.

After Sima Ying won, he appointed Sima Yan to replace Wang Kan as the governor of Youzhou. Sima Ying controlled the legal system, so Wang Jun had no reason to refuse.

As a result, after Sima Yan, who had brought Sima Ying's secret order to kill Wang Jun, arrived in Youzhou, he won over a Wuhuan leader named Shen Deng and conspired with Shen Deng to assassinate Wang Jun.

But Sima Yan was too inexperienced. No sooner had Shen Deng finished formulating the plan than Shen Deng reported it verbatim to Wang Jun.

Wang Jun was so furious that he was about to commit evil. He secretly assembled his troops and tried to capture Sima Yan.

In front of the three armies, Wang Jun beheaded Sima Yan as a sacrifice, and then swore to attack Sima Ying's old nest, Yecheng.

Wang Jun's 20,000-strong army advanced with great force and captured Ye City. Before Wang Jun arrived, Sima Ying had already fled to Luoyang with Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, and hid there.

After breaking the city, in order to reward the mercenaries of the Duan clan of the Xianbei and his own subordinates, Wang Jun launched a large-scale looting of Yecheng.

The soldiers of the Duan clan of the Xianbei were particularly keen on robbing young girls and wives, and the people of Yecheng hid their property and women in the walls and cellars.

When Wang Jun heard this, he was furious. You bunch of unruly people, is it so difficult for you to drive away Sima Ying, the big devil, and steal your women and daughters?
So he ordered that anyone who dared to hide treasures and women would be killed. As a result, more than 6,000 people in Yecheng were tied to stones by Wang Jun and thrown into the Yishui River to drown.

After this military action, Wang Jun became a notorious local lord and the target of many ambitious people in the world to win over.

As soon as he returned to Jicheng, envoys from various ambitious people arrived to win him over. He chose Sima Yue, King of Donghai, from among the various forces.

In the second year, that is, in 305, Sima Yue raised a large banner to attack Zhang Fang, who had kidnapped Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, to Chang'an, and rescue the emperor.

Wang Jun sent General Qi Hong with the Wuhuan cavalry as the vanguard of the entire army. Sima Yue's advance was very smooth along the way, and he successfully captured Chang'an. After the city was captured, the Wuhuan people massacred the city again.

Sima Yue, who brought Sima Zhong back to Luoyang, became the ultimate winner of the Rebellion of the Eight Kings.

In order to reward Wang Jun for his support, Sima Yue appointed Wang Jun as the General of the Cavalry, the Commander-in-Chief of the Dongyi and Hebei Military, the Governor of Youzhou, and incorporated the State of Yan into the fief of Duke Bo Ling. Wang Jun became a powerful vassal.

In 308 AD, Liu Yuan sent Shi Le and others to attack Jizhou. Jizhou was in bad luck as it was repeatedly fought over by several forces, and the people had little food left.

So Shi Le led his entire army north to Changshan County, intending to use it as a springboard to attack Youzhou, which had not been affected by the war. Wang Jun personally led Duan Wenyuan to defeat Shi Le.

At that time, the combat effectiveness of Shi Le's army was not enough to confront the Youzhou soldiers composed of Duan clan Xianbei, Wuhuan people and Youzhou Han people.

They had to burn their own food and supplies and cross the Yellow River overnight to enter Sili Prefecture, and then rushed all the way to the Jianghan Plain to find food.

Originally, Shi Le planned to stay in the Jianghan Plain and not leave, but as the temperature rose, Shi Le's army, which was composed of northern men, was tortured to the point of being dazed and more than half of them were killed or wounded.

As a last resort, Shi Le had to burn, kill and loot along the Jianghan Plain before fighting his way back to the north via Jiangxia and Xinye.

"When they arrived in Xuchang, they happened to run into Sima Yue and his 100,000 imperial guards who had escaped from Luoyang." "Shi Le sent out light cavalry to carry out simple harassment, but unexpectedly, Sima Yue had purged the weak middle-level imperial guards, so Shi Le's entire army rushed forward, and the last 100,000 imperial guards of the Western Jin Dynasty were easily wiped out."

"The one who had always wanted to gain a foothold in Hebei was Shi Le, who returned to Jizhou and successfully defeated and killed the governor Wang Bin."

"At this time, Liu Cong mobilized all his elite troops to gather in Luoyang. The troops of Liu Can, Liu Yao, Wang Mi, and Shi Le surrounded Luoyang and broke through it in one go. This was the famous Yongjia Rebellion."

"When Wang Jun, who was entrenched in Youzhou, heard that Luoyang had fallen and Shenzhou had sunk, he immediately led his army and marched south with all his strength."

"At this time, Wang Jun issued a military order, advocated the expedition, and sent the Protector Wang Chang, Zhongshan Governor Ruan Bao and others to lead the army, as well as Duan Ji Lu Juan, Duan Wenyang and Duan Modao to attack Shi Le in Xiangguo."

"Although Shi Le was defeated repeatedly, he still gritted his teeth and persisted, and finally defended the territory of Jizhou."

"He also devised a plan to capture Duan Motuo alive. Seeing this, the Duan tribe of the Xianbei had no choice but to seek peace. Duan Jilujuan even sent horses and gold and silver as gifts, and formed an alliance with Shi Le. Later, Shi Le appeased Duan Motuo."

"Not only was he appointed to an official post, but he was also sent back to Liaoxi, which greatly touched Duan Motuo and he gradually became alienated from Wang Jun."

"When Wang Jun saw that he had failed to defeat Shi Le, he sent Qi Hong to lead troops to attack Shi Le again. However, he was unlucky and suddenly a fog appeared halfway through the journey."

"It was pitch dark. When a strong wind blew away the fog, Qi Hong looked over and saw that it was Shi Le standing opposite him."

"It turned out that both armies lost their way in the fog and met by chance. Shi Le, who fought every day, reacted first, drew his knife and rushed forward, killing Qi Hong with one blow, and the entire Youzhou Bingji army was routed."

"Wang Jun wanted to organize an army to attack Shi Le again, but at this time, Shanggu, Daijun and Guangning were captured by Liu Kun."

"It turned out that while Wang Jun and Shi Le were fighting to the death, Liu Kun sent his clansman Liu Xifeng to secretly come to Zhongshan State. With a single call, the three counties of Dai, Shanggu, and Guangning immediately submitted to Liu Kun."

"Wang Jun stopped his attack on Shi Le and turned his horse around to attack Liu Kun's troops."

"In order to prevent Liu Kun from gaining a foothold, he actually allowed his troops to plunder. The people of Dai, Shanggu and Guangning were taken back to Liaoxi by the Xianbei people."

"Without the support of the masses, Liu Kun could not gain a foothold in Jizhou."

"After expelling Liu Kun's forces, Wang Jun prepared to deal with Shi Le with all his strength."

"So he sent General Zao Song to gather a large army by the Yishui River, and sent people to recruit the Duan clan Xianbei to gather together and attack Shi Le in Xiangguo together."

"Wang Jun and his subordinates were extremely cruel in their rule in Youzhou. They seized the people's fertile land, causing a large number of people to flee. They would rather be serfs for the brutal Xianbei than be common people under Wang Jun's rule."

"The leader of the Xianbei clan, Ji Lujuan, had disobeyed orders many times before, and was afraid that Wang Jun would chop off his head if he came this time, so he disobeyed orders and did not come."

"Wang Jun was furious, so he gave a large sum of money to Dai Wang Tuoba Yilu's son Youxian Wang Tuoba Rilusun to attack Duan Jilujuan, but was defeated by Duan's family."

"At that time, Liu Kun in Taiyuan was attacked by Liu Cong of Former Zhao. The nobles and common people under Liu Kun crossed the Taihang Mountains to join Wang Jun. Wang Jun felt that his army was strong again and he could stand up again."

Wang Yangming: So Wang Jun pretended to find a crown prince and promoted himself and his subordinates.

Wang Jun proclaimed himself the Minister of the Chancellery, and appointed Zao Song and Pei Xian as the Chancellors. He made his son live in the royal palace, hold the imperial seal, and lead the army to protect the Xiongnu. He also appointed his wife's uncle Cui Bi as the Colonel of the Eastern Yi.

Then he divided the city into three major war zones and appointed commanders of Silizhou, Bingzhou, Jizhou, Yanzhou and Qingzhou. He was not in a hurry to send troops, but he appointed the officials first.

When Sima You, who was playing the game of proclaiming himself king in Youzhou, was dissatisfied with Wang Jun's transfer of him, he sent someone to secretly contact Shi Le, preparing to destroy Wang Jun in one fell swoop.

Shi Le combined all the intelligence and developed a strategy of feigning surrender based on Wang Jun's personality traits.

So he sent someone to meet Wang Jun with treasures and a letter of surrender with particularly humble words. Wang Jun, who had always regarded the Hu people as fools, was unexpectedly moved by Shi Le's humble letter of surrender and took the initiative to invite Shi Le to meet him in Youzhou.

In 314, while Shi Le was leading his army northward, he sent someone to deliver a letter to Wang Jun, urging him to ascend the throne and become emperor as soon as possible.

After receiving this letter, Wang Jun became even more proud. He ignored the advice of his subordinates and allowed Shi Le's army to reach his base camp, Jicheng, and arrive at the city of Jicheng unimpeded.

Shi Le immediately led his entire army to attack the city. Wang Jun was caught off guard and was instantly defeated in Ji City by Shi Le. Shi Le's army, which was already starving, then started a massacre in the city.

When Wang Jun was captured by Shi Le's subordinates and brought to see Shi Le, he was furious when he entered the tent. It turned out that Shi Le was hugging Wang Jun's wives and drinking with them.

Wang Jun was so angry that he started to curse Shi Le and even greeted all of Shi Le's ancestors for eighteen generations.

Shi Le also climbed up from the bottom of society, and was an expert at quarreling.

He jumped directly in front of Wang Jun and started a series of verbal gymnastics. The 40-year-old Shi Le scolded the 62-year-old Wang Jun so much that he rolled his eyes.

Shi Le gathered more than 10,000 elite soldiers under Wang Jun and chopped off their heads.

They packed up all of Wang Jun's belongings, burned down the palace built by Wang Jun, then returned to Xiangguo with the entire army, chopped off Wang Jun's head and sent it to Emperor Liu Cong.

No matter what you do, it is very important to follow the kingly way and the right path. Wang Jun's Youzhou was surrounded by Tuoba Xianbei in the north, Duan Xianbei, Yuwen Xianbei, Murong Xianbei in the east, and Liu Yuan in the west. There were mixed Hu and Han people living inside, and it was located in a place where wars were fought on all sides, so there was a danger of overthrow every day.

When he first arrived in Youzhou, he made friends with various Hu tribes and used the iron cavalry of Xianbei and Wuhuan. Under the complicated situation of the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, Wang Jun was able to gain the greatest benefit. This method was understandable and could be considered clever.

However, after he gained the advantage, if he could treat Youzhou as his base camp and manage it hard, and turn Youzhou into a peaceful paradise, Wang Jun at that time had the strength to do so.

At that time, Jizhou, Bingzhou and Silizhou had been through war for a long time and many people had suffered. The people of the three states would probably bring their elderly and children to seek refuge with Wang Jun, and Wang Jun would do his best to resettle them, just like the Murong family did, even if they had to be resettled as serfs on farms.

I am afraid that by then we will have strong troops at home and strong support outside, and with the Sima family in power, we can advance to Hebei and retreat to protect ourselves.

But he chose to do the evil things and ended up losing his head.

Wang Jun was not born in a humble family and had always possessed outstanding talents, but he did not achieve success until he was in his sixties or seventies.

From this we can see that to be successful, sometimes you need not only your own ability, but also luck. (End of this chapter)