Sima Ying Sima Ying ( 司馬穎 ) ( 279 – 306 ) , courtesy name Zhangdu ( 章度 ) , was a Jin Dynasty ( 265 - 420 ) imperial prince who served briefly as his brother Emperor Hui ' s regent and crown prince . He was the sixth of eight princes commonly associated with the War of the Eight Princes . His title was the Prince of Chengdu ( 成都王 ) , but he did not receive any posthumous names . Early career . Sima Ying was Emperor Wu of Jin ' s 16th son , by his concubine Consort Cheng . In 289 , Emperor Wu created him the Prince of Chengdu . After Emperor Wu died in 290 and Emperor Hui succeeded to the throne , Sima Ying remained in the capital Luoyang . However , after he once rebuked Jia Mi ( 賈謐 ) , the nephew of Emperor Hui ' s powerful wife Empress Jia Nanfeng , for disrespecting Emperor Hui ' s son Sima Yu the crown prince , Empress Jia sent Sima Ying away from the capital to take up the defense post for the important city of Yecheng ( 鄴城 , in modern Handan , Hebei ) . Sima Ying was handsome but not much more intelligent than his developmentally disabled brother Emperor Hui , but he developed a good reputation among officials and the people by being lenient , filial to his mother Princess Dowager Cheng , and listening to the advice of his capable advisor Lu Zhi ( 盧志 ) . After Empress Jia falsely accused Crown Prince Yu of crimes and deposed in 299 and then further murdered him in 300 , she was overthrown by Emperor Hui ' s granduncle Sima Lun the Prince of Zhao . Sima Lun then usurped the throne in 301 . Suspecting three key princes — Sima Ying , Sima Jiong the Prince of Qi ( Emperor Hui ' s cousin and the son of Emperor Hui ' s uncle , Prince You of Qi ) , and Sima Yong the Prince of Hejian ( the grandson of Emperor Hui ' s great - granduncle Sima Fu the Prince of Anping ) , each of whom had strong independent military commands — Sun sent his trusted subordinates to be their assistants . Prince Jiong refused and declared a rebellion to restore Emperor Hui . At Lu ' s suggestion , Sima Ying declared for the rebellion as well , and as Sima Jiong ' s forces were stuck in a stalemate against Sima Lun ' s troops , Sima Ying defeated the other wing of Sima Lun ' s forces , causing them to collapse . As Sima Jiong and Sima Ying ' s forces approached Luoyang . Sima Lun was captured by officials in Luoyang who declared for the rebellion as well , and forced to issue an edict returning the throne to Emperor Hui . He was then forced to commit suicide . The associates of Sima Lun were executed . After overthrowing Sima Lun . Some thought that a power balance that Emperor Wu had hoped for at his death might be restored , as Princes Jiong and Ying were each given regent titles ( and awarded the nine bestowments , in one rare case where the nine bestowments were not signs of an impending usurpation , although Prince Ying declined the bestowments ) , and many talented officials were promoted into important positions . However , the Princes Jiong and Ying were actually apprehensive of each other ' s power , and Prince Ying decided to yield the central government regency to Prince Jiong at the time and return to his defense post at Yecheng . When he bid farewell to Sima Jiong , he did not talk about politics at all but only about his mother ' s illness , and this brought further praise on his character , as did his subsequent acts to collect the bodies of soldiers who died in the war against Sima Lun to give them proper burials . In the capital , Sima Jiong became arrogant based on his accomplishments . He had his sons created princes , and ran the matters of the central government from his mansion , rarely visiting the emperor or attending the imperial meetings . He enlarged his mansion to be as large as the palace , and he entrusted matters to people who were close to him , and would not change his ways even when some of his more honest associates tried to change his behavior . When Emperor Hui ' s grandsons Sima Zang and Sima Shang ( 司馬尚 ) , successive crown princes , died in childhood , leaving Emperor Hui without male descendants by 302 , Sima Ying was considered the appropriate successor , but Sima Jiong chose to bypass him by recommending the seven - year - old Sima Qin ( 司馬覃 ) the Prince of Qinghe ( Emperor Hui ' s nephew and the son of his brother Sima Xia ( 司馬遐 ) ) as the crown prince , with intent to easily control the young Crown Prince Qin . Sima Jiong became suspicious of Sima Yong the Prince of Hejian — because Sima Yong had initially wanted to support Sima Lun , until he saw that Sima Lun ' s cause was hopeless . Sima Yong knew of Sima Jiong ' s suspicion , and started a conspiracy ; he invited Sima Ai the Prince of Changsha to overthrow Sima Jiong , believing that Sima Ai would fail ; his plan was then to , in conjunction with Sima Ying , start a war against Sima Jiong . Once they were victorious , he would depose Emperor Hui and make Sima Ying the emperor , and then serve as Sima Ying ' s prime minister . In winter 302 , Sima Yong declared his rebellion , and Sima Ying soon joined , despite opposition from his strategist Lu Zhi ( 盧志 ) . Hearing that Sima Ai was part of the conspiracy as well , Sima Jiong made a preemptive strike against Sima Ai , but Sima Ai was prepared and entered the palace to control Emperor Hui . After a street battle , Sima Jiong ' s forces collapsed , and he was executed . Sima Ai became the effective regent , but in order to reduce opposition , he submitted all important matters to Sima Ying , still stationed at Yecheng . After Sima Jiong ' s death , Sima Ying became extremely arrogant as well , and trusted inappropriate persons , chief among whom was his servant Meng Jiu ( 孟玖 ) . Even though Sima Ai submitted all important matters to him , he still considered Sima Ai an interference to his control of government and wanted to eliminate him . At the same time , Sima Yong , who had hoped that if Sima Ying became emperor he could then be prime minister , persuaded Sima Ying to again join him against Sima Ai . They started military action against Sima Ai in fall of 303 , and while they had overwhelming force , their forces could not score a conclusive victory against Sima Ai . Sima Yong ' s forces were about to withdraw in spring 304 when Sima Yue the Prince of Donghai , the grandson of a great - granduncle of Emperor Hui , believing that Sima Ai could not win this war , arrested him and delivered him to Sima Yong ' s general Zhang Fang ( 張方 ) , who executed Sima Ai cruelly by burning him to death . Sima Ying became in effective control of the government , but continued to control it remotely from Yecheng . As regent and crown prince . Sima Ying soon ordered Emperor Hui ' s second wife , Empress Yang Xianrong , and his crown prince Sima Qin , deposed . Then , at Sima Yong ' s pre - arranged petition , Sima Ying was created the crown prince . He put people he trusted in charge of the defenses of Luoyang , while remotely controlling the government from Yecheng . Eventually , the officials in Luoyang tired of the situation , and they rose under Sima Yue ' s command in summer 304 . Sima Yue , with Emperor Hui accompanying him , then attacked Yecheng . Sima Ying , after some initial hesitation , battled Sima Yue ' s troops and defeated him , forcing him to flee and capturing Emperor Hui . He did not return Emperor Hui to Luoyang , but kept him at Yecheng . This gave Wang Jun ( 王浚 ) , the commander of the forces in You Province ( 幽州 , modern Beijing , Tianjin , and northern Hebei ) , with whom Sima Ying had prior disputes , an excuse to attack Sima Ying , and he did so , claiming that Sima Ying was improperly detaining Emperor Hui . Wang ' s forces were reinforced with ferocious Xianbei and Wuhuan soldiers , and Sima Ying ' s forces , in fear of their fighting abilities , collapsed , before they could be reinforced with Xiongnu forces under the command of Sima Ying ' s associate Liu Yuan . Sima Ying was forced to flee to Luoyang with Emperor Hui , now without troops to support him . ( Upon hearing Sima Ying ' s collapse , Liu Yuan , instead of coming to Sima Ying ' s aid , declared independence from Jin and styled himself the Prince of Han , claiming descent ( through a princess ) from Han Dynasty , thus creating Han Zhao . ) Once Sima Ying arrived in Luoyang , he found the troops of his ally Sima Yong there , commanded by Zhang Fang . Instead of continuing to support Sima Ying , however , Sima Yong turned his back on Sima Ying and had him removed from his crown prince position , instead creating another brother of Emperor Hui , Sima Chi the Prince of Yuzhang , crown prince . Sima Ying was demoted back to being the Prince of Chengdu . Soon , Zhang forced Emperor Hui , Crown Prince Chi , and Sima Ying to move from Luoyang to Chang ' an , safely under Sima Yong ' s control . After removal as crown prince . After Sima Ying was removed as crown prince , the people of Yecheng nevertheless missed the days when he was considered a capable governor , under Lu ' s guidance . In 305 , his former subordinates , the generals Gongshi Fan ( 公師藩 ) and Ji Sang ( 汲桑 ) therefore declared a rebellion , seeking to restore him . Sima Yong sent Sima Ying to try to pacify or suppress the rebellion , but while he was on the way to Yecheng , Sima Yue declared a rebellion with the ostensible goal of returning Emperor Hui to Luoyang , and Sima Ying was unable to progress to Yecheng ; he instead returned to Chang ' an . After Sima Yue defeated Sima Yong in 306 and welcomed Emperor Hui back to Luoyang , he put out an order for Sima Ying ' s arrest , and Sima Ying fled with his sons Sima Pu ( 司馬普 ) the Prince of Lujiang and Sima Kuo ( 司馬廓 ) the Prince of Zhongdu , attempting to flee to Gongshi , when he was intercepted by Feng Song ( 馮嵩 ) the governor of Dunqiu Commandery ( 頓丘 , roughly modern Puyang , Henan ) and taken to Yecheng . The defender of that city , Sima Xiao ( 司馬虓 ) the Prince of Fanyang , imprisoned Sima Ying but did not wish to kill him . However , when Sima Xiao died later that year , his secretary Liu Yu ( 劉輿 ) , worried that there were still many Sima Ying supporters in the city , forged an edict ordering Sima Ying to commit suicide . His two sons were also killed with him . After Ji captured Yecheng in 307 , he placed Sima Ying ' s casket on a wagon in his command train , and he would report all important decisions to Sima Ying ' s casket . After Ji was defeated in 308 , Sima Ying ' s casket was thrown in a well , and his formal associates took it out of the well and buried it .