Sima Yue, courtesy name Yuanchao, formally Prince Xiaoxian of Donghai, was a Western Jin imperial prince and regent for Emperor Hui and Emperor Huai.
23 Facts About Sima Yue
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Sima Yue was the last of eight princes commonly associated with the War of the Eight Princes.
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Sima Yue soon died of illness, and without his leadership, Han forces annihilated the Jin imperial army before sacking the capital Luoyang and capturing Emperor Huai in the Disaster of Yongjia.
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Sima Yue was the eldest son of Sima Tai, who was a son of Sima Yi's brother Sima Kui, making Yue a second cousin of Jin's founding emperor Emperor Wu.
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Sima Yue's mother was a grand-daughter of the Wei official Yang Jun.
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Sima Yue's wife Lady Pei was a younger sister of Pei Dun, son of Pei Kang, elder brother of Pei Kai; Pei Kang was an ancestor of the historians Pei Songzhi and Pei Ziye.
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Sima Yue took part in Jia Nanfeng's coup against Emperor Hui's first regent Yang Jun, and was made a marquis, with a fiefdom of 5000 households.
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Sima Ying controlled the government remotely, with Sima Yue being one of the generals who stayed in Luoyang to execute Sima Ying's orders.
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Later in 304, Sima Yue led them in a rebellion against Sima Ying's forces, and he took Emperor Hui with him on the campaign.
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Subsequently Sima Yue Ying was defeated by Wang Jun, the commander of the forces of You Province and fled to Luoyang without his troops.
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The battles were initially largely indecisive, but in early 306, after Sima Yue had some minor victories over Sima Yong's forces, Sima Yong panicked and killed Zhang, seeking peace with Sima Yue.
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Sima Yue refused, and by later that year was able to force Sima Yong to abandon both Emperor Hui and Chang'an.
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Emperor Huai, in contrast with the developmentally disabled Emperor Hui, was intelligent and astute, and he sought to revive the war-ravaged empire, but Sima Yue maintained a tight grip on authority and would not allow the emperor much actual power.
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Sima Yue gave his younger brothers various titles and military appointments.
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Sima Yue strongly rejected attempts to have the emperor replaced with the teenage Sima Tan, Emperor Hui's nephew and initial Crown Prince after his direct male descendants had all died, perhaps intending to control an emperor with slightly more agency than the previous one.
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Sima Yue further disbanded the imperial guards and put his own personal forces in charge of protecting the emperor.
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Sima Teng was killed by rebels in Ye, while Mo, Lue and Rui were not as cooperative as Yue had expected them to be, being more interested in consolidating their own territories.
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Meanwhile, Sima Yue continued to alienate other generals and officials, and when Liu Kun, the military commander of Bing proposed to him the plan of an attack on the Han capital Pingyang in conjunction with the powerful Xianbei chieftain Tuoba Yilu the Duke of Dai, Sima Yue was fearful of backstabbing attack by some of these warlords and therefore unable to accept Liu's plan.
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Indeed, when Emperor Huai and Sima Yue sent out calls for the various governors to come to Luoyang's aid later that year, there were few responses.
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Sima Yue became uncertain of himself, and late in 310 left Luoyang with virtually all of the central government's remaining troops, along with a large number of officials, effectively stripping Luoyang and Emperor Huai bare of their defenses, except for a small detachment commanded by Sima Yue's subordinate He Lun, intended as much to monitor as to protect Emperor Huai.
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Sima Yue discovered this plan, but was unable to wage a campaign against Gou.
22.
Shi, declaring that Sima Yue had caused the empire much damage, burned Sima Yue's body.
23.
Sima Yue's sons were all captured and presumably killed by Shi.