18 replies to this topic

[Yun]

The Western Jin essentially fell because of civil war. The various Jin princes were given substantial military forces and posts as provincial governors, and when the Empress Jia Nanfeng dominated her mentally disabled husband Sima Zhong (son of Sima Yan) and set about eliminating her rivals, these princes seized the opportunity to intervene in court politics. Eventually they were fighting one another in extremely bloody battles that reduced the military strength of the Jin considerably, in addition to wrecking an economy that was already suffering from drought and famine.

The Xiongnu, who had been resettled in the Shanxi area after surrendering to the Han and Wei, then took this chance to rebel in 304 and found their own state. Interestingly, this was called "Han" because the Xiongnu leader Liu Yuan claimed that earlier Xiongnu rulers had essentially been related to the Han imperial house by marriage (which is why his family name had changed from Luanti to Liu).

From their base in Shanxi, the Xiongnu Han state expanded outwards to threaten Luoyang. Liu Yuan died in 310 shortly after a failed assault on Luoyang, but was succeeded by his son Liu Cong (after a short succession struggle). In 311, Luoyang surrendered to Liu Cong's besieging army and the Jin emperor Sima Chi (brother of Sima Zhong who had died in 306) was captured. A Jin prince named Sima Ye fled west to Chang'an and established a new imperial court there, but also had to surrender in 316. Another prince, Sima Rui, was stationed in Nanjing and ascended the throne upon hearing that Sima Ye had been killed in captivity. This southern regime is known to history as the Eastern Jin, although Southern Jin would have been more appropriate.

I'll discuss the reasons why the Eastern Jin survived for another 100 years in a future post. Here, I'll first explain why the Xiongnu could overcome the Jin armies, besides the fact that the Jin armies were already weak in training and morale after losing tens of thousands of men in the civil war. The Xiongnu had preserved their skills in horse archery, and furthermore they now had better armour (including armour for their horses) than when they had previously fought the Han. The only Jin units who could counter this threat were the crossbowmen, but crossbow units had declined badly under the Jin and effectively ceased to exist after the civil war. Another factor in the superiority of the Xiongnu cavalry was the guerrila tactics of their best commander, Shi Le. Shi Le led his forces on raids all across Jin territory that deterred regional commanders from trying to reinforce Luoyang, cutting the capital off from outside support. In 311 he also sealed the fate of Luoyang when he intercepted and surrounded the last major Jin army. Showering the Jin troops with arrows, he caused them to panic and essentially trample one another to death.

Incidentally, Shi Le was a former slave, and not a Xiongnu. He was a Jie, which is probably either a Kushan or Soghdian from Central Asia. After the fall of Chang'an, he struck out on his own and founded his own state, which was eventually to destroy the Xiongnu state in 329 and dominate all of north China.

[General_Zhaoyun]

wow..Yun, after reading your thread.. I really clap for your very informative history info. I truly learn alot, although I'm somewhat confused by the so many kingdoms, historical figures during this period of fragmentation.

[Yun]

An interesting fact is that Liu Yuan claimed Liu Bei and Liu Shan of the Three Kingdoms as legitimate imperial ancestors of his "Han dynasty". It seems he was trying all means possible to attract support from the Han Chinese by appealing to their nostalgia for the glory of the Han, and by dismissing the Wei and Jin as illegitimate usurpers.

The name of the state was changed to Zhao (known as "Earlier Zhao" or "Former Zhao" in Chinese history to avoid confusion with the "Later Zhao" founded not long after by Shi Le) by Liu Yao, the fourth and last ruler of the Xiongnu dynasty. He became emperor after supressing a coup by one of the Xiongnu ministers that killed the previous emperor and most of the ruling house. He then moved the capital from Pingyang in Shanxi to Chang'an, and adopted "Zhao" as the new name of the state because he had previously been the Prince of Zhongshan, which corresponds to the area of the Warring State of Zhao.

Liu Yao was an intelligent and accomplished warrior, and he had led the army that took Chang'an in 317. Earlier, after the fall of Luoyang, he had taken Sima Zhong's second empress, Yang Xianrong, as his wife. The first empress, the ambitious Jia Nanfeng, had already been executed in 300 by one of the Jin princes, and Yang Xianrong herself was deposed, imprisoned, threatened with execution, and then reinstalled several times during the chaotic civil war that followed. After Sima Zhong's death, she lived in retirement until captured by the Xiongnu. Yang Xianrong is the only woman in Chinese history to have been an empress in two dynasties. She has been condemned as an immoral traitor by traditionalist Chinese historians, but clearly she herself was happy about the change in husband.

According to the Jin Shu, Liu Yao once asked her how he compared with the men of the Sima imperial family. She replied that Sima Zhong was a retard who couldn't even protect his wife, his child and himself, much less a whole empire. Having grown up among aristocrats, she had thought that all men were like that. Only after meeting Liu Yao, she said, did she find out what a real man was. Yang Xianrong bore Liu Yao three sons and was actively involved in his policy decisions before she died around 322.

Unfortunately, Liu Yao squandered his abilities by becoming an alcoholic, and was finally captured and killed by Shi Le in 329 after fighting drunk on the battlefield. The Former Zhao, which had held the western half of north China, thus fell to the Later Zhao which held the eastern half.

[General_Zhaoyun]

The Western Jin essentially fell because of civil war. The various Jin princes were given substantial military forces and posts as provincial governors, and when the Empress Jia Nanfeng dominated her mentally disabled husband Sima Zhong (son of Sima Yan) and set about eliminating her rivals, these princes seized the opportunity to intervene in court politics. Eventually they were fighting one another in extremely bloody battles that reduced the military strength of the Jin considerably, in addition to wrecking an economy that was already suffering from drought and famine.

If I'm not wrong, there was a civil war called "8 Prince's Havoc" (八王之乱) which lasted for 20 years from 291 AD to 311 AD. Was this war referring to your above civil war? Were they really 8 princes fighting among themselves?

I read that the root of the causes of the 8 princes's civil war was that Emperor Jin WuDi (founder of western Jin dynasty) decided to give substantial military forces and posts to his relatives (altogether 28 princes) to be governors. The reason was that he wanted to consolidate and expand his family's rule and power over the empire. He feared that if he had not done so, his dynasty would be like Wei, where the Cao family's power was weak.

Initially, these princes (feudal lords) stayed in the capital and enjoyed the luxurious life. Only after Emperor Jin WuDi's order did they leave the capital to their own lands. However, when Emperor Jin Wudi decided to remove his military power of ZhouJun, the 8 princes decided to fight against each other for control of China, causing the civil war, because Emperor Jin Wudi did not have any other regional armies to dispatch. This caused a great havoc in China.

[Yun]

The so-called "War of the Eight Princes" is probably one of the most confusing civil wars in Chinese history. In actual fact, it only lasted from 301 to 306, and only involved six of the "eight princes". Traditional Chinese history assumes that the war started in 291 (when the first two princes among the eight were killed) because these eight princes shared the same chapter in the Jin Shu (History of the Jin Dynasty). That's a major misconception that should be corrected.

Neither did the civil war start with Sima Yan (Jin Wudi) - in fact, it started after his death in 290, and a main reason it started is because he was succeeded by his son Sima Zhong 司马衷 (Jin Huidi). Sima Zhong was at least very stupid, and probably mentally retarded. This gave his power-hungry empress Jia Nanfeng 贾南风 (the daughter of the scheming Jia Chong 贾充 who had helped the Sima family to usurp the throne) a perfect opportunity to control the imperial court by issuing edicts in the emperor's name.

In 291, Jia Nanfeng issued an edict against her main rival for power - Yang Jun 杨骏, the father of Sima Yan's empress Yang Zhi 杨芷 (and hence Jia Nanfeng's grandfather-in-law). Yang Jun and his family (actually several thousand people related to him) were massacred by soldiers led by the Prince of Chu 楚王 Sima Wei 司马玮, a younger brother of Sima Zhong.

However, Yang Jun's role in the imperial court was then taken over by Sima Zhong's grand-uncle (Sima Yan's uncle), the Prince of Runan 汝南王 Sima Liang 司马亮. Three months later, Jia Nanfeng issued another edict commanding Sima Wei to eliminate Sima Liang too. Immediately after Sima Liang was killed, Jia Nanfeng betrayed Sima Wei because she feared his popularity in the imperial court. She accused him of forging the imperial edicts, and had him executed. Sima Liang is traditionally considered the first of the Eight Princes, and Sima Wei is considered the second. But this is a mistake because what happened in 291 were political coups limited to the capital city of Luoyang, rather than a real civil war. For ten years after that, the empire was stable and at peace (except for rebellions by nomads along the border) despite the imperial court being dominated by Jia Nanfeng and her relatives.

How this changed in the years 301-306 will be the subject of my next post.

[Yun]

GZ is correct to say that Sima Yan gave military forces to many of the Jin imperial princes and ordered them to reside in their own fiefs, so as to provide support against any coup attempt by powerful ministers or generals in the capital (learning from his own success at usurping the throne from the Wei dynasty). Sima Yan also demobilised most of the armies of the provincial governors following the reunification of the empire in 280, such that the armies held by the princes became the main force in the Jin military.

Because of this, the princes were increasingly assigned to garrison important cities far from their original fiefs. For example, in 291, Sima Wei and his brother Sima Yun 司马允, the Prince of Huainan 淮南王, had been recalled to the capital by Jia Nanfeng to use their troops in the coup against Yang Jun. They marched to Luoyang from their respective fiefs, Chu on the Yangzi River and Huainan on the Huai River. However, in 301, when the princes Sima Ying 司马颖 and Sima Jiong 司马冏 marched to Luoyang to intervene there, they were nowhere near their fiefs. Sima Ying, the Prince of Chengdu 成都王 (Sichuan), was garrisoning Ye 邺 in Hebei, while Sima Jiong, the Prince of Qi 齐王 (Shandong), was garrisoning Xuchang 许昌 in Henan. It was their proximity to the capital, rather than to their fiefs, that allowed these ambitious princes to intervene in the imperial court.

Here is a summary of the Civil War of the Princes:

300-301: Sima Lun in power
Sima Zhong had only one son, the Crown Prince Sima Yu 司马遹, and he had been borne by a concubine and not by Jia Nanfeng. Empress Jia and the Crown Prince became increasingly hostile towards each other as he grew older, until in 300 Jia Nanfeng finally used a conspiracy to frame Sima Yu for plotting treason and had him killed. The Prince of Zhao 赵王 Sima Lun 司马伦, who was then stationed in the capital, took this chance to rise up against Jia Nanfeng and imprison her (she was soon executed by poison). Sima Lun was a grand-uncle of Sima Zhong, and not in the line of succession. But in 301, he had himself enthroned as emperor in place of Sima Zhong, promoting Sima Zhong to the puppet position of "Retired Emperor" 太上皇.

In 300, Sima Yun 司马允 had already realised Sima Lun's ambitions and led a coup against him in Luoyang, but was defeated and killed. In 301, however, Sima Ying 司马颖 and Sima Jiong 司马冏 marched on Luoyang, successfully captured Sima Lun after some fierce battles, and killed him. Sima Zhong was restored to the throne.

302: Sima Jiong in power
Sima Ying was handsome and popular, but not very intelligent. He was another younger brother of Sima Zhong, and he felt that he had a better claim to be the next emperor than Sima Lun. But after Sima Ying returned to Ye, Sima Jiong (who was Sima Zhong's cousin, the nephew of Sima Yan) wanted to dominate the imperial court himself, so he appointed Sima Zhong's young nephew Sima Zhao 司马罩 as the Crown Prince.

Sima Jiong became the new power behind the throne in Luoyang, and a resentful Sima Ying decided to overthrow him. This time, Sima Ying was supported by his distant uncle Sima Yong 司马顒, who was garrisoning Chang'an as the Prince of Hejian 河间王, and also his brother the Prince of Changsha 长沙王 Sima Yi 司马乂 who was stationed in Luoyang. Before the armies of Sima Ying and Sima Yong reached Luoyang, Sima Yi took action and captured and killed Sima Jiong after three days of bloody street fighting in the city.

303-304: Sima Yi in power
The imperial court was now in the hands of Sima Yi. Sima Yi was a cautious and humble man who made great efforts to refer all policy matters to his brother Sima Ying in Ye. But Sima Ying, who had his eye ultimately on the throne, could not tolerate even Sima Yi as a potential rival. In 303, Sima Ying and Sima Yong marched on Luoyang to eliminate him, but were defeated by Sima Yi's troops in battle after battle and forced to lay siege to Luoyang over the winter. In the spring of 304, however, Sima Yi was betrayed by his distant uncle Sima Yue 司马越, the Prince of Donghai 东海王, who was stationed in Luoyang. Sima Yue arrested him and handed him over to Sima Yong's general Zhang Fang 张方, who then had him burned alive.

304:: Sima Ying in power
Sima Ying finally got his wish: Sima Zhao was removed as Crown Prince and the position was given to him as Huangtaidi 皇太弟. But he still insisted on staying in Ye because he felt insecure in Luoyang. Sima Yong also returned to Chang'an to deal with a rebellion by one of his subordinates. Now Sima Yue switched sides again, leading a coup in Luoyang to restore Sima Zhao as Crown Prince. Sima Yue had the emperor Sima Zhong personally "lead" an army with himself to attack Sima Ying, but they were badly defeated at Dangyin. Sima Zhong was captured and brought helpless to Ye, while Sima Yue fled back to his fief of Donghai in Shandong.

Sima Yue's brother Sima Teng 司马腾, Duke of Dongying 东瀛公 and governor of Bingzhou 并州 (Shanxi), then allied with Wang Jun 王浚, the military commander of Youzhou 幽州 (the Beijing area), to launch his own attack on Sima Ying. Wang Jun's army included a large force of Wuhuan cavalry that terrified Sima Ying's army. Sima Ying's Xiongnu general Liu Yuan 刘渊 then "volunteered" to return to Bingzhou and recruit his Xiongnu compatriots to support Sima Ying with their cavalry. Sima Ying agreed, giving Liu Yuan the chance to found his own independent state of Han which was later to destroy the Western Jin dynasty itself.

Sima Ying's army was wiped out by Wang Jun and Sima Teng, and he fled to Luoyang with his distinguished "prisoner" Sima Zhong. Without his army, he was powerless to impose his will and had to agree when Zhang Fang recommended moving the entire imperial court to Sima Yong's power base in Chang'an. In Chang'an, Sima Ying was stripped of his Crown Prince title, and it was given instead to his unambitious and bookish brother Sima Chi 司马炽, the Prince of Yuzhang 预章王.

305-306: Sima Yong in power
Away from Ye, Sima Ying had been reduced to a non-entity, and now the true power behind the throne was Sima Yong. But Sima Yue now made a comeback in Shandong, raising a call to bring Sima Zhong back from his "captivity" in Chang'an. Sima Teng, Wang Jun and several other governors gave him their support, and Sima Yong sent Sima Ying to lead an army to reoccupy Luoyang and resist Sima Yue's forces. Badly outnumbered in Luoyang, Sima Ying soon tried to flee, but was captured and later forced to commit suicide.

In 306, Sima Yue's army fought its way westwards to Chang'an, thanks to its vanguard made up of Xianbei and Wuhuan cavalry contributed by Wang Jun. Sima Yong fled into the mountains, and the Xianbei and Wuhuan entered Chang'an and sacked it.

306-311: Sima Yue in power
Sima Zhong was brought back to Luoyang, only to die half a year later from "food poisoning" (probably a plot by Sima Yue) and be succeeded by Sima Chi. In Sima Chi's reign, Sima Yue remained the strongman controlling the imperial court until his death in 311, shortly before the fall of Luoyang to the Xiongnu.

Shortly after Sima Chi ascended the throne, Sima Yue issued an edict summoning Sima Yong (who had retaken Chang'an after Sima Yue's army left) to return to Luoyang for an appointment as Prime Minister. Sima Yong apparently believed he was being given a second chance, but when he was nearing the capital, Sima Yue sent a general to intercept him and strangle him to death in his carriage.

Out of Sima Yan's 25 sons, only Sima Chi and the Prince of Wu 吴王 Sima Yan 司马晏 (who was even more retarded than Sima Zhong) were left alive at the end of the War of the Princes. And another war against the Xiongnu, who had established themselves in Bingzhou, was only just beginning.

[General_Zhaoyun]

Thanks for your informative contribution Yun.. I'm learning alot of chinese history :P

(I guess, in the future, I'll create a sub-forum inside this forum and shift any quality and important and informative threads over there.)

[Ghost_of_Han]

Yun would you say that the "War of the Eight Kings" was the first real event in the Age of Fragmention?

[Yun]

As I've mentioned earlier, the "War of the Eight Princes" (not kings) is a misleading term, because the real civil war only began in 300 with the third of the eight princes, Sima Lun. The first two princes, Sima Liang and Sima Wei, were killed in 291 by small coups in the imperial court, directed by Empress Jia Nanfeng, that don't count as a war at all.

I do take the civil war triggered by Sima Lun's attempt to usurp the throne in 300 as the beginning of the Age of Fragmentation, because it was this civil war that made the Xiongnu rebellion of 304 possible. But one would also have to trace the causes of this civil war at least back to 290, the death of Sima Yan (Jin Wudi).

[Sephodwyrm]

I actually have the same surname as the notorious empress! Lol! My surname is known for 2 great evils: Jia Nanfeng and Jia Sidao...we both ruined entire dynasties...

Anyway, just to stay on the mainpoin, the empress Jia Nanfeng is one of the most notorious empresses in Chinese history. She was partly responsible for the downfall of the Jin dynasty. But one can also argue that she made use of clever adminstrators such as Zhang Hua but she also conspired to get rid of the crown prince. Zhang Hua stayed out of this affair and the crown prince was deposed then poisoned. When the enemies of the Jia clan finally killed the manipulative empress they killed Zhang Hua and his clan to the third level (Yi San Zu) as well. History gives Zhang Hua a pretty harsh judgment. Most historians agree that Zhang Hua was overly concerned with keeping his position and did not act on principle.

[Yun]

I'm personally more sympathetic to Zhang Hua. He was a genius who rose from a humble background (an orphan herding sheep) to become the greatest statesman of his time. He wrote good poetry, and also probably the first encyclopedia in China (the Bowu Zhi). And he had no airs about him - he often tied his beard up with a string when receiving guests. He sincerely used his position to act as a patron to other talented men who were not receiving due recognition from the court, such as Lu Ji who was discriminated against for being from the south.

In 291, Zhang Hua urged Jia Nanfeng to turn on Sima Wei after he had slaughtered Sima Liang, because Sima Wei was likely to become another rival for power. This was treacherous and unjust, but its result was to bring nearly ten years of peace in the empire as Jia Nanfeng controlled the imperial court unchallenged.

Zhang Hua also tried to restrain Jia Nanfeng's excesses, such as her penchant for smuggling pretty boys into her palace. He wrote the "Exhortation on Virtuous Women in History" to urge her to emulate the virtuous empresses of past dynasties. But when some ministers wanted to plot to overthrow Jia Nanfeng, Zhang Hua was cautious and refused to help them - because of this, the plot failed.

When in 300 Jia Nanfeng falsified a treasonous letter to frame the Crown Prince Sima Yu, Zhang Hua was sceptical and warned against acting without further evidence. But when shown the expertly forged letter, he could not deny that it was the Crown Prince's handwriting, and had to go along with the deposition of the Crown Prince.

Sima Lun then launched a coup and eliminated Jia Nanfeng. His men confronted Zhang Hua and accused him of being complicit in the plot against the Crown Prince. Zhang Hua protested that he had done his best to press for a more thorough investigation of the letter. Sima Lun's men then asked, "Since you saw that it was no use, why didn't you resign?" Zhang Hua fell silent, seeing that no argument would make a difference on men intent on taking his life. It's one of the classic dialogues in Chinese politics, illustrating the fate of many honest ministers who just wanted to do the right thing.

Zhang Hua was killed along with his clan, and so was his equally conscientious colleague Pei Wei. As I've mentioned elsewhere, other victims of Sima Lun's vindictive purges included the poets Ouyang Jian and Pan Yue, and the richest man in Luoyang, Shi Chong.

[Ghost_of_Han]

- he often tied his beard up with a string when receiving guests

is this a showing of respect?

Yes, there is some justification in considering the Three Kingdoms to be part of the Age of Fragmentation, which would extend the period to 400 years, from the rise of Dong Zhuo in 189 to reunification by the Sui in 589. But by that same token, you could extend the Warring States to the beginning of the Han and the Age of Fragmentation to the beginning of the Tang, because unification under the Qin and Sui only lasted for about 20 years as well.

To me there is no Question, I believe that Three Kingdoms, should be considered part of the Age of disvion. When Wang Mang surpassed the throne for his short reign, no one really considers the Xin dynasty to be a real one. The real control of the Jin is to me no really that much longer, i think it should be considered as one.

[Yun]

Well, about tying up the beard - I originally believed it to be a casual and rather eccentric thing to do. But upon reading the Jin Shu more carefully I think it was more like a fashionable thing to do at the time. Lu Yun's biography states that Zhang Hua was rather vain and liked to tie up or braid his beard with a silk string (华为人多姿制，又好帛绳缠须). When Lu Yun 陆云 (grandson of Lu Xun 陆逊 and another famous poet and writer of the time), saw this for the first time, he burst out laughing and couldn't stop. But Lu Yun apparently was very prone to laughter. Once, when he was in mourning and wearing sackcloth, he saw his reflection in the water while boarding a boat. He laughed so hard that he fell into the water and had to be rescued.

Anyway, do revise my earlier statement about Zhang Hua having no airs in his dressing. He seems to have been rather a dandy after all.

[Sephodwyrm]

Another thing of note is that most of the famous and notorious rich men in Chinese history come from the Western Jin dynasty. Shi Chong is a very rich fellow, rich enough to beat the Emperor's uncle in fact in terms of wealth. But he is also a rather infamous person and treated his servants as objects and not as humans.

Another rich man He Zeng complained that nothing in his dinner was fit to eat (despite spending 10,000 copper coins on a single meal).

A famous official named Liu Yi harshly criticized such wasteful behavior of the Emperor Wu of Jin as well as many of the court officials. Unfortunately, no one really bothered to listen to him.

[Ghost_of_Han]

LOL i was just asking yun about him last night Sephodwyrm. Yun has a post about him in detail here Shi Chong.