Sima Ying

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Sima Ying (* 279 ; † 306 ) was a Chinese prince of the Western Jin Dynasty . He was the sixth of the eight princes who fought against each other for power in ancient China in the War of the Eight Princes .

origin

Sima Ying was a younger son of the first Emperor of Jin, Jin Wudi and Prince of Chengdu.

Role in the War of the Eight Princes

During the civil war, Sima Ying supported the two princes Sima Yong and Sima Ai in their rebellion against the imperial regent Sima Jiong . Sima Ai defeated Sima Jiong's army in 302, killed him and was thus able to become regent for the emperor. However, since Sima Yong was not satisfied with Sima Ai's gained position of power and had hoped for more from the rebellion for himself, he instigated Sima Ying to rebel against Sima Ai with him. An attempt to diplomatically divide the empire between the two conflicting parties failed due to Sima Ai's refusal. During the fighting, Sima Ai was betrayed by soldiers and officers of his army and handed over to the enemy General Zhang Fang . He had Sima Ai burned alive to prevent his followers from freeing him again. After the victory over Sima Ai, power first fell to Sima Ying, as he had a large army and, as the emperor's brother, also had more legitimacy than Sima Yong. In the end, however, Sima Ying did not succeed in stabilizing the empire permanently. This resulted in a number of revolts by governors and non-Chinese groups. Sima Ying's power quickly declined thereafter. This created a power vacuum in the capital, Luoyang . Sima Yong then sent a force of 20,000 men under the command of Zhang Fang to capture them, which he succeeded in doing. Sima Yong had thus deposed Sima Ying as regent, but his reign was not to last long either. In 305 Sima Yue , the last of the eight princes, rose against him. Sima Yue defeated Sima Yong in 306 and killed him a little later. Sima Ying was caught on the run that same year, initially held prisoner and then executed by imperial edict.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer: Military aspects of the War of the Eight Princes 300-307. In: Nicola di Cosmo (ed.): Military Culture in Imperial China. Cambridge et al. a. 2009, p. 114.
  2. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer, p. 127.
  3. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer, p. 128.
  4. ↑ Ibid.
  5. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer, p. 130.
  6. ^ Yates / Sawyer 2009, p. 135
  7. ^ Yates / Sawyer 2009, p. 134.
personal data
SURNAME Sima Ying
BRIEF DESCRIPTION chinese prince of the western jin dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH 279
DATE OF DEATH 306