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| Sima Xin 司馬欣 | |
|---|---|
| King of Sai 塞王 | |
| Tenure | 206 BC |
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | 204 BC Sishui Town,Xingyang,Henan |
Sima Xin (died 204 BC) was a Chinese military general of theQin dynasty. Between 209 and 208 BC, when uprisings against the Qin dynasty broke out, Sima Xin, along withZhang Han andDong Yi, led Qin forces into battle against the various rebel groups and defeated some of them. However, they lost to rebel forces led byXiang Yu in 207 BC at theBattle of Julu and were forced to surrender. After the rebels overthrew the Qin dynasty in 206 BC, China was divided into theEighteen Kingdoms and the three surrendered Qin generals were made kings – Zhang Han as the King of Yong, Sima Xin as the King of Sai, and Dong Yi as the King of Di. Their three kingdoms were collectively known as theThree Qins since they occupied theGuanzhong region, the heartland of theQin state during theWarring States period. In 205 BC,Liu Bang, the King ofHan, invaded Zhang Han's kingdom and defeated Zhang Han in battle. Sima Xin and Dong Yi initially surrendered to Liu Bang, but defected to Xiang Yu after theBattle of Pengcheng. In 204 BC, Sima Xin and Dong Yi joined Xiang Yu's subordinateCao Jiu in fighting Liu Bang's forces during theBattle of Chenggao, but they were defeated and all three of them committed suicide.
Sima Xin started his career as a prison officer inYueyang County (in present-dayXi'an,Shaanxi) during the Qin dynasty. WhenXiang Liang was arrested after getting into trouble with the law, he askedCao Jiu (曹咎), then serving as a prison officer in Qi County (蘄縣; present-daySuzhou, Anhui), to help him write to Sima Xin. With Sima Xin's help, Xiang Liang was pardoned and released.
In 209 BC, theDazexiang uprising broke out under the leadership ofChen Sheng andWu Guang and sparked off a series of rebellions against the Qin dynasty throughout China. The rebel groups claimed to be restoring the formersix states which wereconquered between 230 and 221 BC by theQin state, the precursor of the Qin dynasty. Zhou Wen (周文), one of Chen Sheng's deputies, managed to lead a vanguard force that came close toXianyang, the Qin capital, alarming the emperorQin Er Shi, who called for a meeting with his subjects to discuss how to counter the rebels.Zhang Han, then holding the position ofMinister Steward (少府), suggested to the emperor to grant amnesty to the convicts serving as labourers at theMausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, and recruit them to serve in the Qin army. The emperor approved Zhang Han's proposal and appointed him as a general, putting him in charge of leading Qin forces to fight the rebels. Zhang Han defeated and drove back Zhou Wen, who committed suicide. The emperor then sent Sima Xin, then holding the position of Chief Clerk (長史), andDong Yi, then holding the position of Commandant (都尉), to serve as Zhang Han's deputies.
The Qin forces under Zhang Han's command continued to advance eastward and destroyed Chen Sheng's rebel group. Zhang Han then led his troops to attack theWei rebel group, defeating them along with their reinforcements from theQi rebel group. After that, Zhang Han moved on to attackTian Rong (田榮), the leader of the Qi rebel group, prompting Tian Rong to seek help fromXiang Liang, who by then had become the leader of theChu rebel group. Zhang Han then engaged Xiang Liang at the Battle of Dingtao; Xiang Liang was defeated and killed in battle.
In 207 BC, when Zhang Han attacked and besieged theZhao rebel group at Julu, the Zhao leaderZhao Xie (趙歇) sought help from the Chu rebel group.King Huai II, the nominal leader of the Chu rebel group, sent Xiang Liang's nephew,Xiang Yu, to assist their fellow rebels. Xiang Yu defeated Zhang Han at theBattle of Julu despite being heavily outnumbered. When Zhang Han sent Sima Xin to request reinforcements fromXianyang, the emperor refused to send aid after being deceived byZhao Gao. Sima Xin escaped from Zhao Gao's assassins on his return journey and reported to Zhang Han that the Qin government had fallen under Zhao Gao's control. Zhang Han, along with his deputies and 200,000 troops, ultimately surrendered to Xiang Yu.
After the fall of the Qin dynasty in 206 BC, Xiang Yu divided the former Qin Empire into theEighteen Kingdoms. Zhang Han, Sima Xin and Dong Yi were made the rulers of three of the Eighteen Kingdoms. The three kingdoms were known as theThree Qins because they occupied the lands of the former Qin state in theGuanzhong region. Later that year, the forces ofLiu Bang, the King ofHan, invaded Guanzhong and captured Zhang Han's kingdom in a surprise attack. Sima Xin and Dong Yi then surrendered to Liu Bang.
In 205 BC during theChu–Han Contention, after Liu Bang was defeated by Xiang Yu at theBattle of Pengcheng, Sima Xin and Dong Yi defected to Xiang Yu's side. The following year, Sima Xin and Dong Yi joinedCao Jiu (曹咎), who was serving under Xiang Yu, in resisting an attack by Liu Bang's forces during theBattle of Chenggao. Liu Bang managed to lure Xiang Yu's forces into an ambush near theSi River and defeated them. Sima Xin, Dong Yi and Cao Jiu committed suicide after their defeat. TheBook of Han recorded that Liu Bang had Sima Xin's head cut off and suspended on a pole inYueyang County to punish Sima Xin for betraying him and defecting to Xiang Yu.[1]
| Chinese royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by None | King of Sai 206 BC | Succeeded by None |
| International | |
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| National | |
