Su Jun Su Jun ( 蘇峻 ) ( died 328 ) was a Jin Dynasty ( 265 – 420 ) general , whose rebellion against Emperor Cheng ' s regent Yu Liang was initially successful , allowing him to take over the imperial government , but he was eventually defeated by Tao Kan and Wen Jiao ' s forces and killed in battle . The disturbance he created greatly weakened the Jin regime , which for decades did not have any ability to fight back against rival Later Zhao . Su Jun ' s father Su Mo ( 蘇模 ) was a prime minister of the Dukedom of Anle — the dukedom that was given to Liu Shan the last emperor of Shu Han and his descendants . Su himself was known for his intelligence when he was young . In the aftermaths of Han Zhao ' s capture of Emperor Huai , Su gathered a group of refugees on modern Shandong Peninsula and served as the leader of self - protection league . This eventually brought the attention of Cao Ni ( 曹嶷 ) - - a general with substantial forces in modern Shandong who frequently changed his allegiance between Han Zhao and Jin , and after Cao could not persuade Su to join him , he became determined to destroy Su . Su became fearful , and in 319 he took his group of refugees south to join the Jin imperial regime under Emperor Yuan , then located at Jiankang . Emperor Yuan was impressed at how Su kept his group of refugees together and how he had come a long distance to join him , and he made Su a commandery governor . He went through a succession of posts the next few years . In 324 , when the warlord Wang Dun ' s forces attacked Jiankang , with intent to overthrow Emperor Yuan ' s successor Emperor Ming , Emperor Ming summoned Su , among other generals posted on the northern border with Later Zhao , to come to his aid . When Su ' s forces ( and those of Liu Xia ( 劉遐 ) ) arrived in the capital late at night , Emperor Ming personally went to visit the forces . Su was instrumental in subsequently defeating Wang ' s forces , preserving Jin . After this success , Su was made the governor of Liyang Commandery ( 歷陽 , roughly modern Chaohu , Anhui ) . He became proud of his success and began to have greater ambition , and he received criminals and other unwanted people into his commandery , seeking to strengthen his own personal force . After Emperor Ming ' s death in 325 , his four - year - old son Emperor Cheng succeeded to the throne , and his maternal uncle Yu Liang became regent . Yu became apprehensive of Su and became convinced that he had to strip Su of his military post . In 327 , he announced that Su was being promoted to minister of agriculture — a post that did not involve any military commands . Su refused , and asked to be transferred to another commandery instead . Yu in turn refused and prepare for war . Su then declared a rebellion against Yu ' s regency , stating , in a famous quote : In other words , he would rather lose in battle and be executed , than to submit himself to what he thought was certain imprisonment . He allied himself with Zu Yue ( 祖約 ) the governor of Yu Province ( 豫州 , usually referring to modern eastern Henan , but by that point mostly confined to central Anhui ) , and headed for Jiankang . Yu was confident he could defeat Su — so much so that he declined emergency assistance from Wen Jiao , who was then the governor of Jiang Province ( 江州 , modern Jiangxi ) - - but instead Su won battle and battle and reached Jiankang quickly , capturing the city and forcing Yu to flee . Su ' s forces pillaged the capital , stripping both officials and commoners of their wealths and even their clothing , and even the servant girls of Empress Dowager Yu , Emperor Cheng ' s mother , were seized . Empress Dowager Yu , in distress , died . ( It is said that she was " humiliated " by Su , but the method of humiliation was not described . ) Su took over the imperial government and put his allies into high positions quickly . However , Yu Liang , Wen , and Tao Kan soon entered into an alliance and headed back east to Jiankang . Eastern commanderies also rose against Su , led by Chi Jian ( 郗鑒 ) . Despite these provincial forces having greater numbers , Su continued to defeat them in battle after battle , and even Wen and Tao , capable generals in their own right , became apprehensive . However , during one battle in late 328 , Su was hit by a spear and fell off his horse , and the provincial forces quickly beheaded him . His forces tried to coalesce behind his brother Su Yi ( 蘇逸 ) , but collapsed in early 329 .