Emperor Huai of Jin

Emperor Huai of Jin (simplified Chinese: 晋怀帝; traditional Chinese: 晉懷帝; pinyin: Jìn Huái Dì; Wade–Giles: Chin Huai-ti; 284 – March 14, 313), personal name Sima Chi (司馬熾), courtesy name Fengdu (豐度), was an emperor of the Jin dynasty.

Emperor Huai was captured in July 311 (Disaster of Yongjia) and later executed in 313 under the order of Liu Cong, ruler of the Xiongnu state of Han-Zhao.

Emperor Huai was commonly regarded as an intelligent man, and he tried to institute reforms that he felt would allow the empire to recover from the ravages of the War of the Eight Princes and the subsequent Wu Hu and agrarian uprisings.

However, Sima Yue maintained a tight grip on power and would not allow the emperor to exercise much actual authority.

Sima Yue further disbanded the imperial guards and put his own personal forces in charge of protecting the emperor.

In late 309, he managed to fight off a joint attack by Liu Cong and Wang on Luoyang, but that victory was the exception to Han's inexorable advances.

Meanwhile, Sima Yue continued to alienate other generals and officials, and when Liu Kun (劉琨), the military commander of Bing (并州, roughly modern Shanxi) proposed to him the plan of an attack on the Han capital Pingyang (平陽, in modern Linfen, Shanxi) in conjunction with the powerful Xianbei chieftain Tuoba Yilu (拓拔漪盧) the Duke of Dai, Sima Yue was fearful of a backstabbing attack by some of these warlords and therefore did not accept Liu's plan.

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 (何倫), intended as much to monitor as to protect Emperor Huai.

The generals and officials in his army, instead of returning to Luoyang, headed east toward Sima Yue's principality of Donghai (roughly modern Linyi, Shandong) to bury him there.

Once, after inviting the duke to a feast, Liu Cong commented on a meeting they had while the former emperor was still the Prince of Yuzhang, leading to a notable colloquy.

The next day, Liu Cong gave one of his favorite concubines to the duke as a gift, creating her as the Duchess of Kuaiji.