Battle of Ningping

Between 23 April and 5 May, Shi Le pursued the funeral procession with his light cavalry, eventually catching up with them at Ningping city in Ku county (in modern day Luyi County, Henan). The Jin camp sent out the general Qian Duan with troops to oppose Shi, but Qian was killed and his army dispersed. Shi Le then sent his cavalry to surround the remainder of the Jin army and fire arrows at them. The Jin soldiers and officers were mowed down with nowhere to escape, and their bodies piled up atop one another. His general, Wang Zhang (the younger brother of Wang Mi) was even reported to have had the surviving soldiers burnt alive and their flesh consumed. In the end, Wang Yan, Sima Fan and many other nobles and officials were captured by Shi Le.^[3][4][1]

The prisoners were brought to Shi Le's tent for questioning in regards to the situation in Jin. When it was Wang Yan's turn, he explained the reasons for Jin's decline while refusing to take accountability. Shi Le enjoyed their conversations for the next several days, but their relationship turned sour after Wang Yan claimed that he never wanted to be an official and persuaded him to declare himself Emperor. Shi Le scolded him by saying, "Your fame extends over all the four seas, and since your youth you have occupied high positions... How can you claim to have taken no part in the affairs of the world? Indeed it is your fault that the empire is defeated and destroyed!"^[5][6]

Shi Le scheduled Wang Yan and the rest of the prisoners, including members of the Jin imperial family, for execution on the night of 5 May. That night, he instructed his men to push down a wall and crush the prisoners to death. He also broke open Sima Yue's coffin and burnt his body, declaring "This is the man who brought suffering to all under Heaven. In the name of justice for this world, I burn his bones as a message to Heaven and Earth."^[3]

When news of Sima Yue's death first reached Luoyang, He Lun and Li Yun abandoned Emperor Huai and fled east with Sima Pi, Lady Pei and the rest of his subordinates. Many of the inhabitants hastily went to join them, with fighting and looting breaking out within the city. However, their group only made it as far as Weicang (northwest of present-day Yanling County, Henan), where they were met with Shi Le who had just won at Ningping. They were defeated, and a further 48 princes of the imperial family were killed. He Lun and Li Yun escaped to Xiapi and Guangzong respectively; Lady Pei was initially captured, but she too eventually escaped and went to the Prince of Langya, Sima Rui at Jiankang.^[7]

With the destruction of the imperial army in the north, Luoyang was practically left desolate and defenseless. Gou Xi attempted to welcome Emperor Huai to his base at Cangyuan (in present-day Kaifeng, Henan), but the Emperor was set back by his officials who were reluctant to leave their homes behind. Meanwhile, Han forces elsewhere saw an opportunity to capture Luoyang once and for all, setting the stage for what would become known as the Disaster of Yongjia.^[8]

• Lü, Simian (1948), A History of Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties 两晋南北朝史, vol. 1, Shanghai: Kaiming Press
• de Crespigny, Rafe (1991), "The Three Kingdoms and Western Jin: a History of China in the Third Century AD - II", East Asian History, no. 2, Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University, pp. 143–165.
• Fang, Xuanling, Book of Jin (Jinshu).
• Sima, Guang (1084), Zizhi Tongjian.