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{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Sima Ying<br>司馬穎
| birth_date   = 279
| death_date   = {{death year and age|306|279}}
| father       = [[Emperor Wu of Jin]]
| mother       = Lady Cheng
| succession   = Crown Prince of the [[Jin dynasty (266-420)|Jin dynasty]]
| reign        = 1 May 304<ref>''wu'shen'' day of the 3rd month of the 1st year of the ''Yong'xing'' era, per Emperor Hui's biography in ''Book of Jin'' and vol.85 of ''Zizhi Tongjian''</ref> - 4 February 305<ref>''ding'hai'' day of the 12th month of the 1st year of the ''Yong'xing'' era, per Emperor Hui's biography in ''Book of Jin'' and vol.85 of ''Zizhi Tongjian''</ref>
| reign-type   = Tenure
| succession1  = Prince of Chengdu (成都王)
| reign1       = 22 December 289 – {{circa}}December 306
| reign-type1  = Tenure
| predecessor  = [[Sima Tan (Jin dynasty)|Sima Tan]]
| successor    = [[Emperor Huai of Jin|Sima Chi]]
}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Sima (Chinese surname)|Sima]]|lang=Chinese}}
'''Sima Ying''' (司馬穎) (279<ref>Sima Ying's biography in ''Book of Jin'' indicated that he was 28 (by East Asian reckoning) when he died. (...命徽缢之，时年二十八。) ''Jin Shu'', vol.59. Thus by calculation, his birth year should be 279.</ref> – {{circa}}December 306<ref>Volume 86 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'' indicated that Sima Ying was forced to commit suicide in the 10th month of the 1st year of the ''Guang'xi'' era. The month corresponds to 22 Nov to 21 Dec 306 in the Julian calendar.</ref>), [[courtesy name]] '''Zhangdu''' (章度), was a [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Jin dynasty]] imperial prince who served briefly as his half-brother [[Emperor Hui of Jin]]'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 name]]s.

During Empress [[Jia Nanfeng|Jia Nanfeng's]] rule behind the throne, Sima Ying was assigned to guard the important city of [[Ye (Hebei)|Ye]] in [[Hebei]]. He formed a coalition with the Prince of Qi, [[Sima Jiong]] and the Prince of Hejian, [[Sima Yong]] to overthrow the usurper [[Sima Lun]] and restore Emperor Hui in 301. As the last of his half-brother's male descendants died, he developed ambitions to install himself as crown prince. He allied himself with Sima Yong to gain control of Emperor Hui from Sima Jiong and later the Prince of Changsha, [[Sima Ai]], eventually succeeding in 304. However, he was soon attacked by the Prince of Donghai, [[Sima Yue]] and his allies, forcing him to abandon his power base and seek refuge with Sima Yong. Under Sima Yong, he was stripped of his title as crown prince and reduced to a mere general. He attempted to flee back to Hebei in 306, but was captured and executed.

Despite his ambitions and ruthlessness towards his half-brothers, Emperor Hui and Sima Ai, he was also popular among the people of Hebei for his benevolent rule. After his death, the rebels, [[Gongshi Fan]] and [[Ji Sang]] rose up in Hebei against Sima Yue, using the pretext of avenging the late prince to win the support of the populace.

==Early career==
Sima Ying was [[Emperor Wu of Jin|Sima Yan]]'s 16th son, by his [[concubine]] Consort Cheng. On 22 December 289,<ref>''jiashen'' day of the 11th month of the 10th year of the ''Taikang'' era, per Sima Yan's biography in ''Book of Jin''</ref> Emperor Wu created him the Prince of Chengdu, with a fiefdom of 10000 households.<ref>(邑十万户.) ''Jin Shu'', vol.59</ref> After Emperor Wu died in May 290 and [[Emperor Hui of Jin|Emperor Hui]] succeeded to the throne, Sima Ying remained in the capital [[Luoyang]] as he was eleven at the time.  However, after he once rebuked [[Jia Mi]] ({{lang|zh|賈謐}}), a 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 [[Ye (Hebei)|Yecheng]] (鄴城, in modern [[Handan]], [[Hebei]]).<ref>According to Emperor Hui's biography in ''Jin Shu'' and vol.83 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'', Sima Ying was stationed at Ye in early 299.</ref>  Sima Ying was handsome but not much more intelligent than his [[developmental disability|developmentally disabled]] half-brother Emperor Hui. However, 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 (Jin dynasty)|Lu Zhi]].

After Empress Jia falsely accused Crown Prince Yu of crimes, deposed him on 6 February 300<ref>''ren'xu'' day of the 12th month of the 9th year of the ''Yuankang'' era, per Emperor Hui's biography in ''Book of Jin'' and vol.83 of ''Zizhi Tongjian''. This was also the last day of that year.</ref> and then later murdered him in April that year, she was overthrown by Emperor Hui's granduncle [[Sima Lun]], the Prince of Zhao in May. Sima Lun then usurped the throne in February 301. Suspecting three key princes—Sima Ying, [[Sima Jiong]] the Prince of Qi (Emperor Hui's cousin and a son of Emperor Hui's uncle, [[Sima You]]), and [[Sima Yong]] the Prince of Hejian (a grandson of Emperor Hui's great-granduncle [[Sima Fu]], Prince Xian 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 in June. The associates of Sima Lun were executed.

==After overthrowing Sima Lun==
[[File:Uprising of the Three Princes.png|thumb|300x300px|Uprising of the Three Princes, 301 AD.]]
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 had 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 (and sons of Sima Yu) Sima Zang and Sima Shang ({{lang|zh-hant|司馬尚}}), successive crown princes, died in childhood, leaving Emperor Hui without male descendants by May 302, Sima Ying was considered the appropriate successor, but Sima Jiong chose to bypass him by recommending the seven-year-old [[Sima Tan (Jin dynasty)|Sima Tan]],<ref>The character "覃" has multiple pronunciations: "qín", "tán", "yǎn" and "xún".</ref> the Prince of Qinghe (Emperor Hui's nephew and a son of his half-brother Sima Xia ({{lang|zh-hant|司馬遐}})) as the crown prince on 6 July,<ref>([太安元年]五月...癸卯，以清河王遐子覃为皇太子，...) ''Jin Shu'', vol.04</ref> with intent to easily control the young Crown Prince Tan.

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 start a war against Sima Jiong in conjunction with Sima Ying.  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 Lu Zhi.  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 in January 303. 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 ({{lang|zh|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 Sima Tai (司馬泰; 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]] ({{lang|zh-hant|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, [[Yang Xianrong]], and his crown prince Sima Tan, 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 20 August 304.<ref>([永兴元年]秋，七月，....己亥，越奉帝北征。以越为大都督。....越檄召四方兵，赴者云集，比至安阳，众十馀万，邺中震恐。) ''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol.85</ref>  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. On 18 September, he executed [[Sima Yao (Sixuan)|Sima Yao]], as Yao had suggested surrendering when Yue was attacking Yecheng.<ref>(颖会群僚问计，东安王繇曰：“天子亲征，宜释甲缟素出迎请罪。”颖不从，.......太弟颖怨东安王繇前议，[永兴元年]八月，戊辰，收繇，杀之。) ''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol.85.</ref>

This gave [[Wang Jun (Pengzu)|Wang Jun]] ({{lang|zh|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 (Han Zhao)|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 the [[Han dynasty]], thus creating [[Han-Zhao]].) In late 304, [[Li Xiong]] occupied Sima Ying's fiefdom of Chengdu, and declared himself Prince of Chengdu.

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 half-brother of Emperor Hui, [[Emperor Huai of Jin|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 ({{lang|zh|公師藩}}) and [[Ji Sang]] 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 ({{lang|zh-hant|司馬普}}) the Prince of Lujiang and Sima Kuo ({{lang|zh-hant|司馬廓}}) the Prince of Zhongdu, attempting to flee to Gongshi, when he was intercepted by Feng Song ({{lang|zh-hant|馮嵩}}) the governor of Dunqiu Commandery (頓丘, roughly modern [[Puyang]], [[Henan]]) and taken to Yecheng.  The defender of that city, [[Sima Xiao]] ({{lang|zh-hant|司馬虓}}) the Prince of Fanyang (a cousin of Sima Yue and his brothers [[Sima Teng]], [[Sima Lue]] and [[Sima Mo]]<ref>Sima Xiao, Sima Yue and Yue's brothers were grandsons of Sima Kui, brother of [[Sima Yi]] (per vol.37 of ''Book of Jin'').</ref>), imprisoned Sima Ying but did not wish to kill him.  However, when Sima Xiao died later that year,<ref>Both Emperor Hui's biography in ''Book of Jin'' and vol.86 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'' recorded that Sima Xiao died before Sima Ying in the same month (10th month of the 1st year of the ''Guang'xi'' era).</ref> his secretary Liu Yu ({{lang|zh-hant|劉輿}}; brother of [[Liu Kun (Jin dynasty)|Liu Kun]]<ref>''Jin Shu'', vol.62</ref>), worried that there were still many of Sima Ying's 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 on 11 January 308, Sima Ying's casket was thrown in a well, and his former associates took it out of the well and buried it.<ref>([永嘉元年]十二月，戊寅，乞活田甄、田兰、薄盛等起兵，为新蔡王腾报仇，斩汲桑於乐陵。弃成都王颖棺於故井中，颖故臣收葬之。) ''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol.86</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
* [[Fang Xuanling|Fang, Xuanling]]. ''[[Book of Jin]]'' (''Jin Shu'').
*[[Sima Guang|Sima, Guang]]. ''Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance'' (''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'')
{{War of the Eight Princes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sima, Ying}}
[[Category:279 births]]
[[Category:306 deaths]]
[[Category:Jin dynasty (266–420) generals]]
[[Category:Jin dynasty (266–420) imperial princes]]
[[Category:Jin dynasty (266–420) regents]]
[[Category:People executed by the Jin dynasty (266–420)]]
[[Category:Forced suicides of Chinese people]]
[[Category:4th-century executions]]
[[Category:Executed people from Henan]]
[[Category:Generals from Henan]]
[[Category:Chinese crown princes who never acceded]]
[[Category:4th-century regents]]