Yang Jun (3rd century)
| This article is part of the War of the Eight Princes series. |
|
|---|---|
| Eight Princes | |
| Sima Liang | |
| Sima Wei | |
| Sima Lun | |
| Sima Jiong | |
| Sima Ai | |
| Sima Ying | |
| Sima Yong | |
| Sima Yue | |
| Other key figures | |
| Emperor Hui | |
| Emperor Huai | |
| Empress Yang Zhi | |
| Jia Nanfeng | |
| Yang Xianrong | |
| Sima Yu | |
| Yang Jun | |
| Wei Guan | |
| Zhang Hua |
Yang Jun (楊駿) (died 291), courtesy name Wenzhang (文長), was a Jin Dynasty (265-420) official during the reign of Emperor Wu and regent for Emperor Hui.
Yang Jun was from Huayin in Hongnong Commandery (弘農, roughly modern Sanmenxia, Henan). His niece Yang Yan was Emperor Wu's first wife and empress. As she neared death in 274, she feared that whoever would be empress next would endanger the crown prince status of her developmentally disabled son, Sima Zhong. She therefore asked Emperor Wu to marry her cousin, Yang Jun's daughter Yang Zhi. Emperor Wu agreed, and after her death later during the year, he married Yang Zhi in 276 and created her empress. Yang Jun, as the empress' father, became an increasingly important official in government, and became exceedingly arrogant. In Emperor Wu's later years, when he became obsessed with feasting and women, Yang Jun and his brothers Yang Yao (楊珧) and Yang Ji (楊濟) became effectively in power.
As Emperor Wu grew ill in 289, he considered whom to make regent. He considered both Yang Jun and his uncle Sima Liang the Prince of Ru'nan, the most respected of the imperial princes. As a result, Yang Jun became fearful of Sima Liang and had him posted to the key city of Xuchang. Several other imperial princes were also posted to other key cities in the empire. By 290, Emperor Wu resolved to let Yang and Sima Liang both be regents, but after he wrote his will, the will was seized by Yang Jun, who instead had another will promulgated in which Yang alone was named regent. Emperor Wu died soon thereafter. Crown Prince Zhong succeeded to the throne as Emperor Hui.
Yang Jun became Emperor Hui's regent, and became much criticized for spending his energy on making himself secure—including not attending Emperor Wu's burial. Fearful of Emperor Hui's ambitious wife Empress Jia Nanfeng, he ordered that imperial edicts be cosigned by his daughter, Empress Dowager Yang. Yang knew that he had made a lot of enemies, and tried to pacify them by giving widespread promotions, but those promotions only served to show his weakness. His associates, including his brother Yang Ji, tried to persuade him to alleviate the tension by inviting Sima Liang back to the capital Luoyang to serve as coregent, a move that Yang Jun repeatedly rebuffed.
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Wikipedia