Biography
Family Background and Early Life
Sima Ye was born into the Western Jin imperial house. His grandfather was Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan; his biological father was Sima Yan, Prince Xiao of Wu; and his mother was a woman of the Xun clan of Yingchuan, daughter of Minister of Education Xun Xu. Sima Ye was initially adopted by his paternal uncle Sima Jian, Prince Xian of Qin, and succeeded to the title Prince of Qin. In 308, the second year of the Yongjia era, he was appointed Regular Mounted Attendant and General Who Pacifies the Army.
In 311, the fifth year of Yongjia, Former Zhao forces captured Luoyang and seized Emperor Huai of Jin. Sima Ye's biological father Sima Yan and his brothers were killed. Sima Ye himself fled to Mi County in Xingyang, where he encountered his maternal uncles Xun Fan and Xun Zu, and from Mi County they moved south toward the Xu-Ying region. Yan Ding, Inspector of Yuzhou, together with Wang Pi, formerly Chief Clerk to the General Who Pacifies the Army; Liu Chou, Chief Clerk to the Minister of Education; Li Xin, Gentleman of the Secretariat; Xun Fan; and others planned to escort Sima Ye back to Chang'an. Liu Chou and others rebelled on the way; Yan Ding pursued and killed Liu Chou, while Xun Fan and Xun Zu escaped. Yan Ding then took Sima Ye with him in an ox cart through Wan County toward Wuguan. They repeatedly encountered bandits; many soldiers deserted, and the party halted at Lantian. Yan Ding informed Jia Pi, Inspector of Yongzhou, who immediately sent provincial troops to receive and protect Sima Ye. After they reached Chang'an, General Who Assists the State Liang Zong also helped defend the city.
Establishing Himself at Chang'an and Becoming Emperor
In the ninth month of 312, the sixth year of Yongjia, Yan Ding and others proclaimed Sima Ye Crown Prince, erected an altar to sacrifice to Heaven, reestablished the ancestral temples and altars of state, and proclaimed a general amnesty. Jia Pi was granted the additional title General-in-Chief Who Conquers the West, while Sima Bao, Inspector of Qinzhou and Prince of Nanyang, was made Grand Marshal. Jia Pi was killed while campaigning against the rebel Zhang Lian. The assembled officials then selected Qu Yun, Administrator of Shiping, to concurrently serve as Inspector of Yongzhou and act as leader of the alliance.
On the first day of the fourth month of 313, the seventh year of Yongjia, Sima Ye learned that Emperor Huai had died and performed mourning sacrifices. On the twenty-seventh day of the fourth month, he ascended the throne, declared a general amnesty, and changed the era name to Jianxing, becoming Emperor Min of Jin. General of the Guards Liang Fen was appointed Minister of Education. Qu Yun, Inspector of Yongzhou, became Bearer of Credentials, General of the Guards, and Supervisor of the Affairs of the Secretariat. Suo Chen, Administrator of Jingzhao, became Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. On the eighteenth day of the fifth month, Sima Rui, General-in-Chief Who Guards the East and Prince of Langya, was appointed Attendant, Left Chancellor, and Commander-in-Chief of military affairs east of the Shan region. Grand Marshal Sima Bao, Prince of Nanyang, became Right Chancellor and Commander-in-Chief of military affairs west of the Shan region.
When Emperor Min took the throne, the Disaster of Yongjia had shattered the realm. Fewer than one hundred households remained in Chang'an. Buildings had collapsed and thorns covered the city. The court lacked carriages, horses, robes, and insignia, and officials had to write their titles on mulberry-wood tablets as markers of rank. The army was no larger than a single brigade; public and private households together possessed only four carts, equipment was scarce, and supplies could not be transported in. To secure the support of fortified local landholding forces in the Guanzhong region, the court granted general's titles to the leaders of walled settlements.
Besieged in Chang'an
In 315, the third year of Jianxing, Emperor Min repeatedly called on Chancellor Sima Bao to send troops. Sima Bao's advisers said: “When a viper bites the hand, a strong man cuts off the wrist so that the poison will not spread. The northern rebels are now vigorous; we should temporarily cut the routes through Long and watch how events develop.” Pei Shen, Gentleman of the Interior serving on the staff, replied: “The snake has already bitten the head. Can the head also be cut off?” Only then did Sima Bao appoint General Who Guards the Army Hu Song as vanguard commander and prepare to advance when the various forces had assembled, but the plan was never carried out. Qu Yun wished to escort Emperor Min to Sima Bao, but Suo Chen argued: “If Sima Bao obtains the Son of Heaven, he will certainly indulge his private ambitions.” The plan was therefore abandoned. Regions west of Chang'an ceased sending tribute or honoring the central court, and civil and military officials in the capital went hungry, surviving by gathering wild grain.
In the eighth month of 316, the fourth year of Jianxing, Liu Yao of Former Zhao besieged Chang'an, cutting the city off from the outside. By the tenth month the famine had become severe: one dou of rice reportedly cost two taels of gold, cannibalism appeared, and more than half the population of Chang'an starved to death. The imperial granary contained several dozen cakes of fermentation starter used for brewing. Qu Yun crushed them and cooked them into porridge for Emperor Min, but before long even these were exhausted. Emperor Min wept and told Qu Yun that the situation had become desperate, there was no outside relief, and he ought to die for the state altars. Yet, thinking of the suffering of the soldiers, he believed they should preserve their lives before the city fell, perhaps sparing the people from massacre. He therefore ordered that a letter of surrender be sent at once to Former Zhao.
Surrender and Death
On the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 316, the fourth year of Jianxing, Emperor Min sent Attendant Song Chang to deliver a surrender document to Liu Yao. Sima Ye himself rode out in a sheep cart, removed his upper garments, held a jade bi in his mouth, and had attendants carry a coffin behind him as he left the city to surrender. His ministers cried out and wept, clinging to the carriage and grasping the emperor's hands, while Sima Ye himself was overcome with grief. Imperial Censor-in-Chief Ji Lang killed himself. Liu Yao burned the coffin, accepted the jade, and ordered Song Chang to accompany Emperor Min back into the palace.
On the seventeenth day of the eleventh month, Emperor Min was sent to Pingyang to live in captivity, with Qu Yun and other officials following him. Liu Cong, emperor of Former Zhao, granted Sima Ye the titles Grand Master for Splendid Happiness and Marquis of Huai'an. On the eighteenth, Liu Cong ascended the hall and Sima Ye was made to kneel and kowtow before him. Seeing this, Qu Yun prostrated himself and wept before taking his own life.
After Emperor Min's surrender, Liu Cong repeatedly humiliated him. In the tenth month of 317, the fifth year of Jianxing, Liu Cong went hunting and ordered Sima Ye to perform the duties of General of Chariots and Cavalry, dressed in military clothing and carrying a halberd at the front of the procession. Crowds gathered beside the road to watch; some elderly former subjects of Jin sobbed and wept, which greatly displeased Liu Cong. Later, at a banquet, Liu Cong had Sima Ye pour wine and wash wine cups; when Liu Cong went to the latrine, he made Sima Ye hold the privy cover. Jin officials nearby could not restrain their crying. Gentleman of the Department of State Affairs Xin Bin embraced Sima Ye and wept loudly and was killed by Liu Cong. On February 7, 318, the twentieth day of the twelfth month of the fifth year of Jianxing, Liu Cong had Emperor Min killed at Pingyang. He was eighteen.
Sima Ye was at first given in adoption to his uncle Sima Jian, Prince Xian of Qin, and inherited the title of Prince of Qin; in 308 he was made cavalier attendant in ordinary and general of the pacification army. After Luoyang fell he took refuge at Mixian in Xingyang, met his uncles by marriage Xun Fan and Xun Zu, and went south from Mixian toward Xuying. The governor of Yuzhou, Yan Ding, with Wang Pi, Liu Chou, Li Xin and the two Xun, planned to escort him back to Chang'an, but Liu Chou and the others revolted on the way and Yan Ding pursued and killed them, the Xun brothers barely escaping. Yan Ding then carried Sima Ye in an ox cart from Wan toward the Wu pass, meeting bandits repeatedly until his soldiers dispersed and he halted at Lantian. Informing the governor of Yongzhou, Jia Ya, of his plight, Jia at once sent provincial troops to escort him to Chang'an and detailed the general Liang Zong to help hold it. On 19 October 312 Yan Ding and the others raised Sima Ye as heir apparent, with sacrifice to heaven, ancestral temples and the altars of soil and grain, and a general amnesty; Jia Ya was made grand general of the western expedition and Sima Bao, Prince of Nanyang, grand marshal. When Jia Ya was killed campaigning against the bandit Zhang Lian, the assembly made the administrator of Shiping, Qu Yun, acting governor of Yongzhou and leader, with authority to appoint officials.
In the fourth month of 313 Sima Ye mourned for Emperor Huai and on the twenty-seventh day took the throne with a general amnesty and the era name Jianxing, becoming Emperor Min. He made Liang Fen minister of education, Qu Yun commissioner with the tally, general of the guards and director of the Secretariat, and Suo Chen, administrator of Jingzhao, right vice director of the Secretariat; in the fifth month he made Sima Rui, the Prince of Langya, palace attendant, left chancellor and grand commander of military affairs east of Shaanxi, and Sima Bao, Prince of Nanyang, right chancellor and grand commander west of Shaanxi. The realm was then breaking apart in the Yongjia disorders; Chang'an had fewer than a hundred households, thorn bushes grew in the streets, the granary held only a few dozen cakes of leaven, and his forces amounted to a single brigade, so that every chief of a fortified camp was given a general's title to hold the support of the Guanzhong landowners.
In 315 the emperor repeatedly called on the chancellor Sima Bao for troops, and those about Sima Bao argued from the proverb that when a viper bites the hand a brave man cuts off the wrist, urging him to close the Long road and await events; the master of attendants Pei Shen retorted that when the snake has bitten the head, the head cannot be cut off. Sima Bao then sent the general Hu Song as vanguard, but when Qu Yun wished to take the emperor to Sima Bao, Suo Chen stopped him, saying that with the Son of Heaven in hand Sima Bao would gratify his private ambition; thereafter the region west of Chang'an sent the court no tribute, and the officials starved, living on gathered wild grain. In the eighth month of 316 Liu Yao pressed on Chang'an and cut it off. In the tenth month famine was extreme, a peck of rice bringing two ounces of gold, men eating one another, more than half the population dead, and the leaven in the granary exhausted. The emperor, weeping, told Qu Yun that with no relief from without he ought to die for the altars of state, but that he would take the chance, while the city still stood, to surrender and perhaps spare the people slaughter; he had the letter of submission sent at once.
On 11 November 316 Emperor Min sent the palace attendant Song Chang with the letter to Liu Yao, and riding an ox cart, stripped to the waist, the jade disc in his mouth and a coffin carried behind him, came out to surrender; the ministers wailed and clung to his carriage and he himself was overcome with grief, while the assistant censor-in-chief Ji Lang took his own life. Liu Yao burned the coffin, accepted the jade and had Song Chang escort the emperor back to the palace. On the seventeenth day he was taken to Pingyang with Qu Yun and the officials, and the Han-Zhao emperor Liu Cong gave him the titles of grand master of the palace and Marquis of Huai'an; the next day, when Liu Cong held court, the emperor knocked his head on the ground before him and Qu Yun, prostrate and weeping, killed himself. Liu Cong humiliated him in every way: in the tenth month of 317, hunting abroad, he made Emperor Min in military dress with a lance clear the road ahead, and the common people and old adherents of Jin who saw it wept; at banquets he made him pour wine and wash cups, and at the privy hold the lid, while the Jin ministers present sobbed aloud, the secretary Xin Bin who embraced him in tears being killed by Liu Cong. On 20 December 317 (7 February 318) Liu Cong had Emperor Min put to death at Pingyang at the age of eighteen.
The *Book of Jin* records that he was given in adoption to his uncle Sima Jian, Prince Xian of Qin, and inherited the title of Prince of Qin, and that Chang'an then had fewer than a hundred households with thorn bushes growing in the streets — concrete testimony to the state of Guanzhong after the Yongjia disorders. His death marks the formal end of the Western Jin; thereafter Sima Rui took the throne at Jiankang and the Eastern Jin began, while the north entered the wars of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Guanzhong being contested in turn by Liu Yao, Shi Le and others.
After his capture most of the Western Jin clan and gentry had already crossed south, and Sima Rui in the east first took the title King of Jin on receiving word of Emperor Min's death and then the imperial title the next year, so that the founding of the Eastern Jin begins with that death.
Emperor Min reigned only four years, throughout which Chang'an suffered from failing supplies and a government whose writ barely reached beyond Guanzhong.