晋武帝立嗣问题辨析

An Analysis of Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty’s Pointing Heir

晋武帝明知惠帝“不慧”,还要立他为嗣。这是因为一旦废长立幼,武帝当年和司马攸争夺储位并最终获胜就缺乏正当性,而且也失去强迫司马攸离京之藩的理论依据。为了弥补太子智力上的不足,所以择选太子妃就成了泰始年间的一件大事。围绕选太子妃西晋朝廷展开了激烈的党争。晋惠帝所行之事,以及语言、思维都十分正常,并无异于常人的智障行为,更不是一个智力有严重缺陷的白痴。但让他当一国之君,治理庞大的帝国就完全不合格了。晋武帝之所以不废太子,还因为他对皇孙司马遹寄予厚望,认为他能成为一代明君。

Knowing that Emperor Hui his eldest living son was“unintelligent”,Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty still pointed him as heir.This was because if he pointed a younger son,Emperor Wu’s own getting the throne through competition with his younger brother Sima You would lose legitimacy.And forcing Sima You to leave the capital for his fiefdom would be unjustified.In order to make up for the crown prince’s lack of intelligence,selection of a wise wife for him became a major event in the Taishi period,around which fierce struggles arose.Emperor Hui’s words,deeds and thoughts were none other than normal.He was not a retarded idiot.Yet ruling a huge empire would obviously be too much for him.The reason why Emperor Wu let him stay as the crown prince was because he had high expectations for his grandson Sima Yu,thinking the latter would be a wise emperor.