Late Reign
In 394, Emperor Xiaowu honored his mother, Consort Li, as empress dowager.
By 395, the conflict between Emperor Xiaowu and Sima Daozi had flared into the open, but because of the intercession of Empress Dowager Li, Emperor Xiaowu did not remove his brother. After further mediation by Xu Miao (徐邈), the relationship between the brothers seemed to be restored.
By 396, Emperor Xiaowu was spending so much of his time in drinking and women that he was not seeing his officials on important matters of state on a regular basis. His favorite consort was the beautiful Consort Zhang. In late fall 396, at a feast, Emperor Xiaowu joked at her, who was then almost 30 years old, "Based on your age, you should yield your position. I want someone younger." She was very angered, but hid her emotions. That night, after Emperor Xiaowu again fell drunk, she ordered all the eunuchs away, bribing them with wine, and then ordered her servant girls to suffocate Emperor Xiaowu by putting a blanket over his face. She then further bribed many attendants and claimed that the emperor died suddenly in his sleep. Because Sima Dezong the crown prince was developmentally disabled, and Sima Daozi was foolish and unthinking, no one investigated the death of the emperor. The next day, Sima Dezong assumed the throne as Emperor An, with Sima Daozi as regent.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Xiaowu Of Jin
Famous quotes containing the words late and/or reign:
“With two sons born eighteen months apart, I operated mainly on automatic pilot through the ceaseless activity of their early childhood. I remember opening the refrigerator late one night and finding a roll of aluminum foil next to a pair of small red tennies. Certain that I was responsible for the refrigerated shoes, I quickly closed the door and ran upstairs to make sure I had put the babies in their cribs instead of the linen closet.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“We may be witnesses to a Biblical prophecy come true. “And there shall be destruction and darkness come upon creation, and the beasts shall reign over the earth.””
—Ted Sherdeman. Gordon Douglas. Dr. Medford (Edmund Gwenn)