After the founding emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, Emperor Wu, passed away, his feeble-minded son Sima Zhong ascended the throne as Emperor Hui. Initially, Empress Dowager Yang wielded power with her father Yang Jun as regent, but soon Empress Jia Nanfeng conspired with Prince Sima Wei of Chu to kill Yang Jun, depose the Empress Dowager, and then had Prince Sima Liang of Runan and Prince Sima Wei of Chu serve as regents in turn—only for both to be executed by Empress Jia, leaving all court authority in her hands.
In 300 AD, Sima Lun, Prince of Zhao, who commanded the imperial guard, killed Empress Jia, declared himself Chancellor, and in January of the following year forced Emperor Hui of Jin to abdicate, seizing the throne and changing the reign title to Jianshi Year One.
After Emperor Sima Lun seized the throne, he lavishly rewarded officials to buy their loyalty, granting noble titles to thousands, including his relatives and allies: Liang Wang Rong as Chancellor, He Shao as Grand Tutor, Sun Xiu as Imperial Advisor, Yiyang Wang Sima Wei as Palace Secretary, and Zhang Lin as General of the Guard. The palace's gold and silver treasures were exhausted by his gifts, and the state's metal reserves couldn't keep up with casting seals for the newly ennobled.
What was worse, Sima Lun even granted official titles and noble ranks to the servants and attendants in his own mansion, making them high-ranking officials. At the morning court sessions, the palace was filled with officials wearing hats adorned with mink tails and golden cicada ornaments. Observing this spectacle, the people mocked, "When mink tails run short, dog tails are used to fill the gap." This saying meant that so many nobles had been created that there weren't enough mink tails for their hats, so dog tails had to be substituted instead.
Later, people shortened the phrase "not enough sable, use dog tails" into the idiom "a dog's tail replacing a sable," used to criticize excessive official titles or describe something inferior replacing something superior, creating an incongruous mismatch.
Source: *Book of Jin*, "Biography of Zhao Wang Lun"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "狗尾续貂" came to describe how something inferior replaces something superior, creating an incongruous mismatch.