Biography
Early Years and Entry into Office
Sima Yi was a native of Xiaojing Village, Wen County, Henei Commandery. His lineage traced to Zhongli, whose Zhou-era descendant Cheng Bofu, having quelled the rebellion of Xu under King Xuan of Zhou, was granted the office-title "Sima" as a surname; among his descendants was Sima Ang, King of Yin at the end of the Qin, whose offspring settled in Henei. Sima Yi's great-great-grandfather Sima Jun, great-grandfather Sima Liang, grandfather Sima Jun, and father Sima Fang served in office for generations; Sima Fang fathered eight sons, known as the "Eight Das of the Sima," Sima Yi being the second.
Sima Yi was clever from childhood, of grand strategy, broadly learned, and devoted to Confucian teaching. Because the Han court was controlled by the Cao clan, he at first declined the posts Cao Cao offered; in 208, when Cao Cao became chancellor, he forcibly recruited Sima Yi as Clerk of Literature, and Sima Yi gradually won Cao Cao's trust. After Cao Cao became King of Wei, Sima Yi was made Aide to the Heir Apparent to assist Cao Pi, helping him prevail in the contest for the succession.
Service as Regent
Dying, Cao Pi named Sima Yi, Cao Zhen, Chen Qun, and others as regents for Emperor Ming of Wei, Cao Rui, under whom Sima Yi rose through General Who Comforts the Army, Grand General, and Grand Commandant. In 227 (the first year of Taihe), Meng Da, Administrator of Xincheng, plotted to defect to Shu; Sima Yi marched day and night, reaching his city in eight days and taking it in sixteen, capturing and executing Meng Da. During Zhuge Liang's northern campaigns, Sima Yi twice successfully resisted the Shu armies with massed forces, holding fast and refusing battle until Zhuge Liang died at Wuzhang Plains and the Shu army withdrew. In 238 (the second year of Jingchu), Sima Yi campaigned far into Liaodong against Gongsun Yuan, stormed Xiangping, and pacified the region. He also repeatedly repelled attacks by Zhu Ran and Zhuge Ke and killed the Wu general Zhang Ba.
Sima Yi contributed importantly to the agrarian economy through military colonies (juntun) and irrigation works, and directed the building of city walls.
The Incident at the Gaoping Tombs
At Emperor Ming's death, the young emperor Cao Fang was entrusted to Sima Yi and Cao Shuang. After Cao Fang's accession, Cao Shuang sidelined Sima Yi, promoting him to the powerless post of Grand Tutor. In the first month of 249 (the tenth year of Zhengshi), Sima Yi seized the moment when Cao Shuang accompanied Cao Fang from Luoyang to sacrifice at the Gaoping Tombs: he rose in a coup, sealed the city gates, and took the arsenal; Cao Shuang gave up resistance, and Sima Yi then executed him and his partisans—He Yan, Ding Mi, and others—for treason, exterminating their three clans. From then on the military and political power of Cao Wei fell into the hands of the Sima clan, the event known in history as the Incident at the Gaoping Tombs. Later he suppressed the rebellion of the Grand Commandant Wang Ling in Huainan.
Death
On the wuyin day of the eighth month of the third year of Jiaping (September 7, 251), Sima Yi died of illness at Luoyang, aged seventy-three. He had declined a commandery-duke's fief and special ceremonial honors, and by testament directed burial at Shouyang Mountain without grave mound or burial goods. His posthumous name was Wenzhen, later changed to Wenxuan. His son Sima Zhao, enfeoffed King of Jin, posthumously titled him Xuanwang; his grandson Sima Yan, on becoming emperor, honored him posthumously as Emperor Xuan with the temple name Gaozu, his tomb called Gaoyuan.
His Lineage, Names and Early Years
The Jin shu, in the annals of Emperor Xuan, records that the Emperor Xuan was named Yi, his courtesy name Zhongda, a man of Xiaojingli in Wenxian of Henei, of the surname Sima; that his ancestors came from Chongli, son of the High Ancestor, who was the fire officer of the Xia, and held that office through Tang, Yu, Xia and Shang, becoming the minister of war under the Zhou; that afterwards Cheng Bolinfu, in the time of King Xuan of Zhou, by hereditary office pacified the land of Xu and was granted the official clan, and so took the surname; and that between Chu and Han Sima Ang was a general of Zhao and fought Qin with the lords, and when Qin fell was made King of Yin with his capital at Henei, the Han making the land a commandery so that his descendants settled there. Sima Yi had from youth extraordinary principle, was intelligent and of great design, broadly learned and widely informed, and devoted to Confucian teaching. Cao Cao, having just defeated Yuan Shao and needing men urgently, hearing that Sima Yi was very able, summoned him to office; and Sima Yi, learning of it, thought Cao Cao a eunuch's descendant and was unwilling to serve him, yet dared not refuse openly, and so pretended to suffer from the disease of the wind and be unable to move about, Cao Cao suspecting that he was putting him off, secretly sending men to watch him by night. In his early years there was also the matter of Hu Zhao's rescue: the Biographies of Eminent Scholars records that when the Emperor Xuan was a commoner he was on terms with Hu Zhao, and that Zhou Sheng and others of the same commandery plotted to kill him; and Hu Zhao, hearing of it, went on foot over the passes and met Zhou Sheng between Yao and Mian and stopped him, but Zhou Sheng would not yield; and Hu Zhao wept and pledged him in sincerity, and Zhou Sheng, moved by his righteousness, desisted; and Hu Zhao then cut a jujube tree with him and made a covenant before parting; and though Hu Zhao had thus secretly done the Emperor a good turn he never spoke of it and no one knew, his good faith being noted in his district.
The Danger at Xiangfan and the Proposal to Bind Sun Quan
Sima Yi's strategical judgement appeared early in the affair of Xiangfan. At that time Guan Yu was besieging Fan, and Yu Jin with seven armies was utterly defeated, Hu Xiu and Fu Fang duly surrendering to Guan Yu, so that Cao Ren's position became very critical: Cao Ren held the city with several thousand men, and of the wall the unflooded part was no higher than a few planks; Guan Yu brought his boats up to the wall and invested it in several rings, so that the city was cut off from the outside and its grain nearly spent while relief had not come; and Cao Ren encouraged his officers and men and showed them his resolve to die, so that they were moved and none had a second mind. Afterwards Cao Cao was once minded to move the capital to avoid his edge, and Sima Yi asked to bind Sun Quan in order to deal with Guan Yu, and Sun Quan did indeed attack and kill Guan Yu afterwards, and the siege of Fan was raised. Sima Yi also argued that Xiangyang could not be abandoned: when Cao Ren was holding Xiangyang and someone asked that he be recalled to Wancheng, Sima Yi said that Sun Quan had just defeated Guan Yu, which was precisely the time when he wished to make friends with us, so that he would certainly not dare to invade; and that Xiangyang was the meeting point of land and water and the key ground for resisting the enemy, and could not be given up. His advice was in the end not taken, and Cao Ren burned and abandoned both Fancheng and Xiangyang, and Sun Quan did indeed not invade, at which the Emperor Wen of Wei felt regret.
The Defence Against Shu and Military Farming on the Frontier
After Cao Zhen's death the Emperor Ming of Wei, weighing the matter again and again, held that none but Sima Yi could settle the western front. Sima Yi was charged with the military and political affairs of the west and moved to Hanyang to face Zhuge Liang. Sima Yi knew well that Zhuge Liang thought deeply and that every movement had a plan, and held that he should not be pursued; and most of the Wei generals were dissatisfied with a long defensive strategy, mocking him for fearing the Shu army as a tiger. After the Shu army withdrew the Wei generals held that it would soon return and that grain should be moved at once and preparations hurried; but Sima Yi held that Shu was weak and of small strength and could not mount a great attack without three years' accumulation, and that therefore the garrison should not be strained but should continue the policy of military farming and frontier defence against a great Shu attack three years hence. And indeed, as Sima Yi had foreseen, it was not until the second year of Qinglong, that is 234, that Zhuge Liang launched his fifth northern campaign. His caution appears also in the matter of the wheat at Shanggui: in the fifth year of Taihe, that is 231, when Zhuge Liang attacked Tianshui, the wheat of the military farms at Shanggui had already grown, and some proposed to cut the standing wheat at Shanggui to take the enemy's food, but the Emperor Ming would not, sending troops repeatedly to strengthen the King Xuan's army and ordering the wheat to be protected; and Sima Yi held out against Zhuge Liang, owing his success in great part to the wheat of the military farms at Shanggui as military grain.
Facing the River with His Back to It and Holding Firm Without Fighting
In the second year of Qinglong Zhuge Liang led a hundred thousand Shu troops against the Wei River. The north bank of the Wei was rich farmland, and Sima Yi, so that the local people should not suffer the greater loss, boldly crossed the Wei and drew up his array with his back to the river facing the Shu army; and against the Shu army's weakness of coming from afar with difficulty in transporting grain he still took the strategy of holding firm without fighting, meaning to wear them out by the passage of time. The two armies held each other for long, and the Shu strength gradually failed, until Zhuge Liang died of illness brought on by toil in the army and the Shu generals could only withdraw slowly into Shu according to his dispositions before death; and the great fifth northern campaign was thus dragged down by Sima Yi. His reason for not moving appears also in his reading of his opponent: Sima Yi said that Zhuge Liang thought too much and decided too slowly and would surely first strengthen his ramparts to secure himself and only then reap the wheat, and that they could reach Shanggui by forced marches day and night within two days; and he accordingly ordered the army to march light and fast day and night, and Zhuge Liang, seeing the dust of the Wei army, led his troops away. Sima Yi said also that his own troops had marched day and night and were wearied, and that this was precisely the opportunity that a skilful commander covets; but Zhuge Liang did not dare to occupy the ground, and so lost the moment.
The Insult of Women's Dress and the Edict on Asking for Battle
In Zhuge Liang's last northern campaign his means of provoking Sima Yi to battle are recorded. In the second year of Qinglong, that is 234, Zhuge Liang launched his fifth northern campaign and sent troops to challenge, insult and provoke before the Wei camp; but though every device was used, Sima Yi's resolve did not move and he still held firm without fighting; and when the challenges availed nothing, Zhuge Liang in his urgency sent Sima Yi a set of women's garments as an insult, meaning that being so cautious and timid he deserved to be a woman and not a commander. Such an insult to the Wei commanders did indeed anger them, and they were furious and demanded battle; and Sima Yi, seeing that persuasion and orders would not restrain his generals' wish to fight, could only tell them that he would memorialise the court asking leave to fight, and would fight at once if the emperor allowed. So Sima Yi sent his memorial asking for battle to the Emperor Ming of Wei, and the emperor, knowing well Sima Yi's purpose, at once sent the commandant of the guards Xin Pi as his military adviser with an edict to the front, proclaiming that the emperor's order was to hold firm only and not to fight, and the generals' demand was quieted.
The Beginning and End of His Charge on the Western Front
Sima Yi's charge on the western front came of the Emperor Ming's decision. After Cao Zhen's death the Emperor Ming, weighing the matter again and again, held that none but Sima Yi could settle it, and Sima Yi was accordingly charged with the military and political affairs of the west and moved to Hanyang to face Zhuge Liang, as has been told above. In Zhuge Liang's northern campaign of the second year of Qinglong the emperor again used Sima Yi against him, and his rule was to drive hard when there was profit and to keep his ranks when his opponent camped: when Zhuge Liang attacked, Sima Yi went to meet him at speed, and when Zhuge Liang camped, Sima Yi kept his ranks and waited; until Zhuge Liang, eating little and troubled by many affairs, was known by Sima Yi early to be in straits; and with the autumn wind at Wuzhangyuan Zhuge Liang died in the army and the Shu troops withdrew, so that nothing the Wei men did afterwards could mend it. The historical discussion therefore says of Sima Yi that he foretold death and life and that his merit was already sufficient, and that he knew early the bitterness of eating little and being troubled by many affairs, all of it spoken of his years of standoff with Zhuge Liang.
The Liaodong Campaign, I: The Plan and the Setting Out
In the first month of the second year of Jingchu, that is 238, the Emperor Ming of Wei recalled Sima Yi and ordered him to lead troops against Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong. The Emperor Ming summoned Sima Yi and ordered him to lead troops with the Wuhuan, Xianbei and Koguryo by sea and land on a distant expedition to Liaodong to destroy Gongsun Yuan; and Sima Yi, taking the order, mustered forty thousand troops and set out at once, the emperor escorting him in person to the Ximing Gate and ordering the governors and agricultural officers of the commanderies to go and pay their respects. The emperor asked Sima Yi what he reckoned Gongsun Yuan's course would be, and Sima Yi said that to abandon the city and flee was the best course, to resist our army by the Liao River the middle course, and to sit and hold Xiangping would make him a prisoner. The emperor asked which course Gongsun Yuan would take, and Sima Yi answered that only a wise man could rightly measure the strength of each; that to abandon the city beforehand was not in Gongsun Yuan's power, and that he would certainly think our lone expedition could not last, and would first resist at the Liao and then fall back on Xiangping, which was the middle and the worst course. The emperor asked how long the going and returning would take, and Sima Yi said a hundred days to go, a hundred to return, a hundred for the fighting and sixty for rest, and a year would be enough. As he set out his kinsmen and friends saw him off, and Sima Yi, moved, made a song: heaven and earth were opened, sun and moon shine again; meeting the occasion, I spend my strength in distant parts; I shall sweep the throng of filth and pass again by my old home; I shall clear ten thousand li and bring the eight wastes into order; my work done I shall return to old age, awaiting punishment at Wuyang. Sima Yi marched north by way of Guzhu and past the Jieshi rocks straight toward the Liao River.
The Liaodong Campaign, II: The Battle at Liaosui
Having reached Liaodong, Sima Yi had many banners set up on the south bank of the Liao to make a show and create the appearance of preparing to cross, drawing the enemy's main force toward him; while secretly he ferried his main force across by boat, approached the enemy camp and formed an encircling position. Gongsun Yuan duly sent several tens of thousands of foot and horse to hold Liaosui, building strong ramparts to hold, extending sixty or seventy li north and south to resist Sima Yi; and Sima Yi disposed a great force with many banners and advanced toward the south of Liaosui, and the enemy moved all his picked troops to the southern line to resist, whereupon Sima Yi secretly sent troops by boat across the Liao to the north of Liaosui, pressed close to the enemy's great camp, then sank the boats and burned the bridges, drew a long line of investment along the Liao, abandoned the enemy at Liaosui and turned toward Xiangping. His officers passed through and pressed on Xiangping; and the enemy commander Beiyan, seeing the Wei army suddenly appear behind him, indeed could not contain himself and attacked the Wei army of his own accord. Sima Yi seized the moment and loosed his troops in hard fighting, winning three victories in three battles and breaking the Liao army utterly. His argument on the campaign was that the ancients said that even an enemy with high ramparts and strong walls must still fight us, because we attack what he must relieve; that with the enemy's main force gathered here his lair was empty; and that if we went straight to Xiangping his officers and men would be anxious within and ask for battle out of fear for their lair, and their defeat would be certain. He told his generals also that he did not attack their ramparts precisely in order to draw them out to fight, and that the moment must not be lost. He therefore set his array in order and, passing the enemy's great camp at Liaosui, advanced on Xiangping; and the enemy, seeing the Wei army in his rear, did indeed send troops to intercept them, and Sima Yi, ordering his troops out to meet them, broke them utterly, winning three battles in succession, so that the enemy fell back on Xiangping and the Wei army advanced and invested it.
The Change at Gaopingling: Feigning Illness to Deceive Li Sheng
In the Zhengshi years Cao Shuang monopolised power, and Sima Yi therefore pleaded illness and took no part in government. Cao Shuang sent men to test the truth of it: Sima Yi had two slave girls attend him, and when he took his clothes they fell from his hand; and he raised his hand to his mouth and said he was thirsty and wanted water, and when the girls brought gruel he took the cup and drank, and the gruel ran out and wet his breast. Li Sheng, pitying him, wept and told him that the sovereign was young and the empire relied on the lord, yet all said his old illness had returned, and that he had not thought his body would come to this. Sima Yi slowly slowed his voice and made his breath come haltingly, saying that he was old and gravely ill and might die at any time; that Li Sheng was going to Bingzhou, which was near the Hu, and should manage his affairs well, for they would surely not meet again, and what was to be done? Li Sheng said that he was returning to his own prefecture and not to Bingzhou; and Sima Yi still feigned confusion, saying that he was indeed going to Bingzhou and should take good care of himself, speaking so disjointedly that it seemed raving. When Li Sheng said again that he was going to Jingzhou as its governor, Sima Yi seemed to understand a little and told him that being old and confused he had not heard him clearly; that now that Li Sheng was returning to his native place as governor, of high repute and great spirit, he should establish merit well; and that since they must now part, and he felt his strength daily failing and would certainly never see him again, he wished to force himself to set out a poor banquet to see him off, and at this parting of life and death to have his brothers Sima Shi and Sima Zhao make friends with him and not grow distant, to fulfil his own wish. And he wept as he spoke, and Li Sheng answered with a long sigh that he would certainly follow his charge and await the court's appointment. Li Sheng, taking his leave, met Cao Shuang and the others and told them that the grand tutor spoke disjointedly and could not hold his cup and took the south for the north, saying that he was going to Bingzhou, and that when he had answered that he was returning to Jingzhou and not Bingzhou and talked with him slowly, he understood only in his clearer moments that he was going to Jingzhou. Cao Shuang and the rest therefore relaxed their guard.
The Change at Gaopingling: The Memorial Against Cao Shuang and the Holding of Luoyang
In the first month of the tenth year of Zhengshi, that is 249, Sima Yi took the occasion of Cao Shuang and his brothers accompanying the emperor to pay their respects at the Gaoping tomb to raise the coup. His memorial to the Emperor of Wei said that the late emperor had ordered the emperor, the Prince of Qin and himself to ascend the imperial couch, and holding his hand had said that he was deeply mindful of what should come after; that now the general-in-chief Cao Shuang had turned his back on the late emperor's testament and corrupted and disordered the statutes of the state, imitating within the sovereign's equipage and monopolising all power without, placing his own confidants in every important office and driving out and dismissing the old palace guards, his partisans bound together and his root firm; that Cao Shuang grew daily more unrestrained and had made the eunuch Zhang Dang a ... by which they colluded and spied for the throne, so that all hearts in the empire were troubled and everyone feared; that the emperor was now as one lodged in the throne and how could this last; that this was not the meaning of the late emperor's ordering the emperor and himself to ascend the couch; that though he was old and infirm he dared not forget the late emperor's last words; that formerly Zhao Gao ran wild and the Qin fell, while the Lü and Huo families were destroyed early and the fortune of Han endured, which the emperor should take for a lesson and which was the hour for him to serve the state; that the ministers and great officers all held that Cao Shuang had designs against the sovereign and that his brothers should not command the palace guards, and that he had memorialised the empress dowager, whose order was to carry out his memorial; and that he had ordered the officers concerned and the eunuch director to dismiss Cao Shuang, Cao Xi and the others from their posts. The matter of Huan Fan leaving the city is also recorded: Si Fan was an officer whom Huan Fan had formerly recommended, and Huan Fan called to him and showed him the tablet in his hand, falsely saying that an edict summoned him and that he should open the gate at once; and when Si Fan wished to examine the edict Huan Fan cried out that he was not the officer he had formerly recommended, and how dared he; and Si Fan then opened the gate. When Huan Fan had left the city he turned and told Si Fan that the grand tutor was plotting rebellion and that he should come with him; and Si Fan, unable to keep up on foot, hid himself aside. Huan Fan went south to Cao Shuang and urged him and his brothers to serve the emperor in going to Xuchang and to summon the armies of the empire to their aid, and Cao Xi and his brother were silent and would not obey. Cao Shuang hesitated and Cao Xi too was silent; and Huan Fan told Cao Xi that the matter was now clear beyond doubt and what use was his reading; that their house was about to perish. The two were still silent; and Huan Fan said also that the separate camp Cao Xi commanded was south of the palace gate and that the office of the agricultural officer of Luoyang was outside the city, so that they could be summoned at any time; that to go now to Xuchang would take no more than half a night, and that the stores of Xuchang would suffice for arms and equipment, and that the only thing to fear was grain, and the seal of the grand minister of agriculture was in his hand. Cao Xi and his brother were still silent and would not obey. From midnight to the fifth watch Cao Shuang at last threw his sword on the ground and told the ministers who followed the emperor that he supposed the grand tutor's meaning was only to have him and his brother ...
The Military Farms of the Huai and Deng Ai's Proposal
Among the substantial measures of Sima Yi's later years the military farms of the north and south of the Huai were the chief. Deng Ai, after inspecting the ground, held that the region was fertile but had not enough water to bring out its full yield; that canals should be cut both to irrigate the fields and store up military grain on a large scale and to open a water route for the transport of grain and goods; and he accordingly wrote his Essay on the Ji River to set out his plan. His argument was that between Chen and Cai the land was low and fertile, and that some of the rice fields near Xuchang might be abolished and their water led eastward to irrigate the fields from Chen and Cai to Shouchun; and he proposed to station twenty thousand farm soldiers north of the Huai and thirty thousand south of it, with a system of twelve parts and one at rest, so that forty thousand could plough and guard together the year round; that where water was plentiful the yield was usually three times that of the west; and that after deducting the costs of the farms five million hu of grain could be saved each year as military reserve, so that in six or seven years thirty million hu could be stored along the Huai, enough for a hundred thousand troops for five years; and that with such a base an attack on Wu must succeed everywhere. Sima Yi adopted his proposal and carried it out.
The Making of the Farms and the Granaries of the North of the Huai
In the second year of Zhengshi, that is 241, when Sima Yi directed the war against Wu, he first took counsel with Deng Ai on establishing military farms north and south of the Huai; the next year Sima Yi memorialised for the cutting of the Guangcao Canal to lead the river into the Bian and irrigate the pools of the southeast, and the great farming north of the Huai began; and the year after, in the same region, he greatly extended the farms and garrisons, opening the two canals of Huaiyang and Baichi and repairing the pools north and south of the Ying to more than ten thousand qing, so that thereafter the granaries of the north of the Huai looked upon one another from Shouyang to the capital and the agricultural officers and farm soldiers were joined in one line. This followed upon the earlier military farms at Shanggui: in the fifth year of Taihe, 231, when Zhuge Liang attacked Tianshui, the wheat of the farms at Shanggui had grown, and some proposed to cut the standing wheat to take the enemy's food, but the Emperor Ming would not, sending troops to strengthen the King Xuan's army and ordering the wheat protected, and Sima Yi held out against Zhuge Liang owing much to that wheat for military grain; and even as late as the second year of Zhengyuan, 255, the general of the west Deng Ai practised the method of pit cultivation at Shanggui, taking the plough in his own hand before his officers and men. From Shanggui in the passes to the north and south of the Huai the policy of military farming and water works continued, and its beginning lay in the time when Sima Yi directed the armies of the west and the east, being the financial side of his policy of endurance and frontier defence.
The Honours After His Receiving the Charge and His Declining of Rank
The Jin shu, in the annals of Emperor Xuan, records that when the Prince of Qi came to the throne, Sima Yi was promoted to palace attendant, holder of the tally, commander of all the armies within and without and supervisor of the secretariat, with Cao Shuang each commanding three thousand troops and jointly holding the government, attending in turn in the palace and entering it with the imperial carriage; that Cao Shuang, wishing that memorials to the throne should first pass through himself, spoke to the emperor and had Sima Yi transferred to be grand marshal; that the court held that the successive grand marshals had one after another died in that office, and so made him grand tutor; that he entered the palace without hastening, was announced without being named and wore sword and shoes in the hall, as in the old case of Xiao He of Han; that his marriages, funerals and burials were supplied by the government; that his heir Sima Shi was made loose attendant and three of his sons and younger brothers marquises and four cavalry commandants; and that Sima Yi firmly declined the offices for his sons and brothers. Of his declining of rank there is also the following: that his fief was enlarged by four counties to eight in all with twenty thousand households, and that he was allowed to memorialise without giving his name; and Sima Yi memorialised declining, saying that he had personally received the late emperor's charge at his death, that his cares were heavy and his responsibility great; that by Heaven's majesty he had destroyed the wicked and rebellious, and that to escape guilt was more than he deserved and his merit was not worth speaking of; that moreover the three ducal offices were established by the sage rulers of antiquity and recorded in the ritual books, and that as for the chancellorship, the Han had continued that institution without further change; that the three dukes being now complete, to grant him besides the special favour of a chancellorship would violate the statutes of former dynasties, change the regular practice of sage rulers and follow the old system of Qin and Han; and that such a thing he should correct even in another, how much more in himself; and that unless he fought against it firmly, what would the empire say of him. He memorialised more than ten times declining, and the young emperor at last granted his request.
The Integrity of the Lady Xiahou Lingnü
Cao Shuang's destruction implicated his kin, and the matter of the lady Xiahou Lingnü is the most remembered. She took the occasion to steal into her chamber, cut off her own nose with a knife and lay down covered by the quilt; and when her mother called to her and she did not answer, and the quilt was lifted, the blood covered the mat. The whole household was in confusion and ran to look, and all who saw it were grieved and moved. Someone said to her that a man's life in the world was like a light speck of dust clinging to a weak blade of grass, and why should she toil and trouble herself to this degree; and that moreover the Cao house had been utterly destroyed, and for whom was she keeping her chastity? And the lady Xiahou Lingnü answered that she had heard that a man of benevolence does not change his principles with the rise and fall of another's house, nor a man of righteousness waver with the life and death of another; that while the Cao house flourished she had meant to guard the marriage to the end, and that now that the house had fallen how could she bear to forsake it; and that she would not do what beasts do. That in the ruin of Cao Shuang there should be one of his kin of such integrity sets against the cruelty with which Sima Yi destroyed Cao Shuang to the third degree, and later ages discussing the change at Gaopingling have often named the two together.
The Affairs of His Household
Of Sima Yi's household there is also this in the histories: in his later years he favoured concubines besides Zhang Chunhua, and even Zhang Chunhua could hardly find occasion to see him; and when he lay ill in bed and Zhang Chunhua came to inquire after him, Sima Yi said that the old thing was a nuisance and what need was there for her to come out; and Zhang Chunhua, ashamed and resentful, refused to eat and wished to kill herself, and her several children too would not eat; and Sima Yi, alarmed, apologised, and she then ceased her fast; and Sima Yi, coming out, said to others that the old thing was not worth regretting but that he feared only for the hardship of his good sons. Small as this matter is, it shows the manner of his household and the weight he gave to the teaching of his sons; and afterwards Sima Shi and Sima Zhao rose in succession and the foundation of the Sima house was made, whence the saying that the foundation of the Jin emperors was all the legacy of Yi.
The Sequence of His Offices
Sima Yi's official career began under Cao Cao with a literary office, served four reigns and reached the three dukes. In Cao Cao's time he was summoned as a staff officer and passed through various posts, gradually dissolving Cao Cao's suspicion by his diligence in business; in Cao Pi's time he was a powerful supporter, the trust of Xuchang and the charge at Chonghua being recorded in the histories; in the Emperor Ming's time he held the military charge of the western front and held out against Zhuge Liang for years, and as grand commandant recommended men and directed military and state affairs; in the second year of Jingchu, that is 238, he was ordered on the distant expedition to Liaodong and on his return received the testamentary charge to assist the government together with the general-in-chief Cao Shuang; in the Zhengshi years he was promoted to palace attendant, holder of the tally, commander of all the armies within and without and supervisor of the secretariat, with Cao Shuang each commanding three thousand troops, attending in turn in the palace and entering with the imperial carriage; and when Cao Shuang wished memorials to pass first through himself he spoke to the emperor and had Sima Yi transferred to be grand marshal, but the court held that the successive grand marshals had died one after another in that office and made him grand tutor, entering the palace without hastening, announced without being named and wearing sword and shoes in the hall, as in the old case of Xiao He of Han. After the change at Gaopingling, for the merit of the memorial against Cao Shuang he was enfeoffed with four counties, making eight in all with twenty thousand households, and allowed to memorialise without giving his name; and Sima Yi memorialised declining the establishment of a chancellorship, more than ten times, and the young emperor granted his request.
The Jin After His Death and the Sima House Replacing Wei
After Sima Yi's death his sons and grandsons replaced Wei with Jin, and Sima Yi himself was posthumously honoured as emperor. The discussion in the Jin shu says that of old the High Ancestor, the Emperor Xuan, with heroic talent and great capacity, came to office in accordance with the times, at the very founding of the Wei ancestor's enterprise planned military and state affairs and repeatedly hit the mark with excellent counsels, and so served the carriage and exerted himself through three reigns; that his nature was deep and reserved as a citadel yet he could be broad and accommodating, and that he governed things by method and knew men and was good at selecting and promoting them, so that wise and foolish alike were won and high and low did their utmost; and that he drew Deng Ai from among the farm workers and Qu Tai from the ranks of service, entrusting them with civil and military affairs each according to his excellence, so that he could take Meng Da in the west, raise up the matter of Gongsun Yuan in the east, destroy Cao Shuang within and strike Wang Ling without, his divine strategy decided by himself alone, his campaigns successful in all four quarters, controlling the princes and holding the great power in his own hands, repeatedly holding off Zhuge Liang's disciplined troops and supporting the eastern front against the Wu who backed one another. The poem says also that Sima Yi was a man of Wei and followed the campaign against Zhang Lu; that when Bei contended for Jiangling he asked to take advantage of the Shu land; that his words were not followed yet his great purpose was seen; that when Guan Yu shook Fan and Wei wished to avoid Xu, Yi asked to bind Sun Quan and so Guan Yu was killed; that Meng Da, though he had surrendered, was still uncertain, and was taken in eight days, to the astonishment of all at his divine valour; that when Zhuge Liang came out at Qi, Yi was used against him; that when there was profit he drove hard and when the enemy camped he kept his ranks; that though women's dress was sent him he did not lightly stir; that from his eating little and being troubled with much he knew early his hardship; that with the autumn wind at Wuzhangyuan no successor could mend it; that he foretold death and life and his merit was already sufficient; that Gongsun Yuan rebelled in Liao and was as a fish in the cauldron; that he measured the days, attacked the empty place and broke him as easily as taking; and that the foundation of the later Jin emperors was all the legacy of Yi. After Sima Yi's death his son Sima Shi held the government of Wei, Sima Zhao destroyed Shu and was enfeoffed as Duke and then Prince of Jin, and Sima Yan replaced Wei and founded Jin, honouring Sima Yi posthumously as the High Ancestor, Emperor Xuan. Hence those who later discussed the turn from Wei to Jin always took the change at Gaopingling, brought about by Sima Yi's management, as its beginning.
His Art of War as It Squares with the Master Sun
Later writers have matched the articles of the Master Sun's art of war one by one with Sima Yi's conduct, their account being this: that Sima Yi, whose courtesy name was Zhongda, was a man of Wenxian in Henei, of extraordinary principle from youth, intelligent and of great design, broadly learned and widely informed, and devoted to Confucian teaching. The Master Sun says that the next best is to break the enemy's alliances, and Sima Yi had Sun Quan check Liu Bei from behind; the Master Sun says that the essence of war is speed, and Sima Yi reached the wall of Meng Da's city in eight days; the Master Sun says to shape others while remaining without form, and Sima Yi sent his land forces out from Wancheng while his fleet moved toward Xiakou; the Master Sun says to vary between dividing and concentrating, and Sima Yi did not divide his troops into van and rear; the Master Sun says to anger and so disturb him, and Sima Yi did not stir though the enemy provoked him with women's dress; the Master Sun says to know the day of battle, and Sima Yi said the Liaodong campaign would take a year and was right; the Master Sun says to attack what he must relieve, and Sima Yi abandoned the enemy and turned toward Xiangping; the Master Sun says that in war one has heard of a clumsy speed, and Sima Yi in attacking Meng Da did not weigh the dead and wounded against the race for grain; the Master Sun says to seem incapable when capable, and Sima Yi in attacking Gongsun Yuan would not take small profit, showing himself incapable; and the Master Sun says to shape the enemy and he will follow, and Sima Yi showed he must attack and the Wu army fled by night. Seen in these articles, the essentials of his art of war all answer to the military writings, and what made it possible was that he settled the plan first and held firm afterwards.
A Survey of His Military Achievements
Sima Yi's military achievements may be gathered under several heads: first, he took Meng Da in the west by a swift march that broke his city; second, he held off Zhuge Liang in the region of the passes, at Shanggui, Lucheng and Wuzhangyuan, wearing out his army by endurance and awaiting his end; third, he supported the eastern front against the Wu who backed one another, repeatedly holding off the armies of Wu; fourth, he pacified Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong, taking Xiangping by count of days; and fifth, he destroyed Cao Shuang within and struck Wang Ling without, settling the internal government of Wei. The history says that his divine strategy was decided by himself alone and his campaigns successful in all four quarters, and that he repeatedly held off Zhuge Liang's disciplined troops while supporting the eastern front against the Wu; all of it spoken of his defence and distant expeditions east and west. And in the Liaodong campaign, when the Emperor Ming asked how long the going and returning would take, he answered that a hundred days to go, a hundred to return, a hundred for the fighting and sixty for rest and a year would be enough; and he did return on time, which was the proof of his knowing the day of battle.
The Reality of His Standoff with Zhuge Liang
In the years in which Sima Yi held out against Zhuge Liang the reality of the fighting may be summarised thus: in the fifth year of Taihe, 231, when Zhuge Liang attacked Tianshui, the wheat of the farms at Shanggui had already grown, and some proposed to cut it to take the enemy's food, but the Emperor Ming would not, sending troops to strengthen Sima Yi's army and ordering the wheat protected, whereby Sima Yi held out against Zhuge Liang; and afterwards, following Zhuge Liang to Lucheng, Zhang He asked to detach surprise troops behind him and not to advance without daring to press, which Sima Yi would not hear, and on arriving he climbed the hill and dug in and would not fight, so that Jia Xu and Wei Ping asked for battle and there was even the taunt that he feared Shu as a tiger, at which Sima Yi was troubled while all his generals demanded battle. In the second year of Qinglong, 234, Zhuge Liang with a hundred thousand men pressed on the Wei River, and Sima Yi crossed the Wei and drew up with his back to it; and when Zhuge Liang sent troops to challenge and abuse him and sent him women's dress to provoke him, the Wei generals were angered and demanded battle, whereupon Sima Yi memorialised asking for battle and the Emperor Ming sent Xin Pi with an edict to stop him, allowing only to hold firm; and the two armies holding each other for long, the Shu strength gradually failed, and Zhuge Liang died in the army of illness brought on by toil, the Shu generals withdrawing slowly according to his dispositions. After his death Sima Yi entered the Shu camp a day later, examined the traces, took the books, maps and grain, and sighed that Zhuge Liang was indeed a genius of the world; and Xin Pi held it not yet certain, but Sima Yi said that what soldiers value is documents, secrets, troops and grain, and since all these had been abandoned, who could cast away his five viscera and live? The historical discussion says that he foretold death and life and his merit was already sufficient, and that from his eating little and being troubled with much he knew his hardship early, all referring to those years.
The Judgement on His Standoff with the Shu Army
Later writers on Sima Yi's standoff with Zhuge Liang say that to lead the strong troops of Qin and Yong and to wear out the enemy's army by not responding was not for nothing, since he sought a single complete victory; and that although when Zhuge Liang died the Shu army withdrew, Sima Yi did not pursue them to the end because he could not foresee Zhuge Liang's death, their soldiers were still fed and their army unchanged, and the roads of Shu were dangerous and suited to ambush, so that he suspected a feigned retreat to lure him. They say also that in commanding troops and meeting the unexpected with sudden change he was swift as a spirit and destroyed wherever he turned, so that even Duke Cao did not reach him. Such judgements come from later ages, yet what they rest on is the reality of Sima Yi's steadiness in not pursuing and his waiting in ease for a weary enemy.
The Four Periods of His Life
Sima Yi's life may be seen in four periods. First, the period of serving the Cao house: from Cao Cao's summons through the reigns of Cao Pi and Cao Rui he rose from a staff office to the charge of assisting the government, dissolving his sovereign's suspicion by diligence and reserve and gaining weight by the acceptance of his counsels; his feigning the disease of the wind to evade a summons and his redoubled diligence in business when men watched him by night belong to this period. Second, the period of the western front: after Cao Zhen's death he was charged with the west and held out against Zhuge Liang in Hanzhong, at Shanggui, Lucheng and Wuzhangyuan, wearing out his army by endurance and awaiting his end behind strong walls; in which period fell also the taunt that he feared Shu as a tiger, the insult of the women's dress and the edict forbidding battle. Third, the period of the Liaodong expedition: in the second year of Jingchu he took forty thousand men against Gongsun Yuan, took Xiangping by count of days and, on the day of his return, received the testamentary charge to assist the government, the greatest turn in his life. Fourth, the period of seizing power: in the Zhengshi years he pleaded illness and took no part in government, deceived Li Sheng by feigned sickness, and at Gaopingling in one stroke gathered the power of Wei into his hands, afterwards destroying Cao Shuang's party and putting down Wang Ling's rebellion, whereby the foundation of the Sima house's replacement of Wei was laid. In the first three periods he kept the duty of a subject and won fame by merit; in the last he shifted the fortune of Wei, and hence later ages have praised and blamed him differently.
The Forming of His Power
That Sima Yi could accomplish what he did was bound up with the forming of his power: first, he bound the generals to himself by military merit and frontier commands, as Deng Ai and Qu Tai were both raised by him; second, he bound the court officials by marriages and the friendships of colleagues, being on good terms with Jiang Ji and esteeming Xun Yu; third, he distributed high offices among his sons and brothers, making his heir Sima Shi a loose attendant and his sons marquises and cavalry commandants, which he firmly declined but in the end accepted; and fourth, he appealed to his district and his house, the Sima of Henei being a family of learning whose forebears' standing and whose wife's kin were the means of his advancement. Hence at the change at Gaopingling he could shut the city gates, memorialise the empress dowager and have the government of Luoyang levy the people to guard a residence, none of it the work of a single day.
His Death and Burial
Sima Yi died in the third year of Jiaping of Wei, that is 251, not long after putting down Wang Ling's rebellion, at the age of seventy-three. His words at death have often been set beside those of Cao Cao by later critics for comparison: some say that men now name Cao Cao and Sima Yi together, but that if one looks at Sima Yi's words at death, Yi differs from Cao; that the things Cao did were done by Yi's sons while Yi himself never dared in his lifetime do what Cao did; that Cao's hostility toward the former ruler was a wish to remove the worthy of the imperial clan while Yi's plot against Cao Shuang merely killed the unworthy of the imperial clan; and that as for killing an empress, harming an imperial heir, usurping the imperial title and receiving the nine bestowals, these are seen in Cao but not in Yi, so that the gentleman has words of indulgence for Yi. This argument, resting on his never daring in his lifetime to do Cao's deeds and on his not being seen in them, is spoken of Sima Yi's death and of his conduct while living; and as for his burial, it was at Shouyang Mountain by the He. Afterwards his sons and grandsons received the abdication and founded Jin, honouring him posthumously as the High Ancestor, Emperor Xuan, so that his original station as a minister of Wei was the starting point of his whole life.
The Date of the Change at Gaopingling and His Age
The change at Gaopingling took place in the first month of the tenth year of Zhengshi of Wei, that is 249, when Cao Shuang and his brothers accompanied the emperor to pay their respects at the tomb of the Emperor Ming, and Sima Yi took the occasion to shut the gates of Luoyang and raise the coup; it was eleven years after he had received the testamentary charge to assist the government, and only two years before his death in the third year of Jiaping, that is 251. Born in the second year of Guanghe of Han, that is 179, he was then seventy-one; and reckoning his service from the reign of Cao Cao, he served four reigns of Wei, whence the history says that he served the carriage and exerted himself through three reigns. To take power at seventy and die two years later is why later ages, discussing the change at Gaopingling, have often dwelt on the nearness of age and event.
His Years and His Heirs
Sima Yi died in the third year of Jiaping of Wei, that is 251, at the age of seventy-three; his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao in turn carried on his work and held the government of Wei, and his grandson Sima Yan received the abdication and founded Jin, honouring him posthumously as the High Ancestor, Emperor Xuan. That a great minister of Wei should open the imperial line of Jin made his own life the epitome of the turn from Wei to Jin.
An Outline of His Life
Sima Yi, whose courtesy name was Zhongda, was a native of Wenxian in Henei and was born in the second year of Guanghe of Emperor Ling of Han. Of an old official family, he had from youth an uncommon integrity. In the Jian'an period Cao Cao summoned him to be a literary clerk, and he served Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Rui in three reigns; he aided Cao Pi's establishment as heir apparent and urged him to diligence in learning. Under Emperor Ming of Wei he commanded the armies of Jing and Yu, defeated the host of Sun Quan and captured and beheaded Meng Da; in the Qinglong years he held Zhuge Liang at the Wei River and would not come out, so that the Shu army ran out of grain and withdrew; in the early Jingchu years he put down Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong. When Emperor Ming died he shared the testamentary charge with Cao Shuang over the young lord Cao Fang; in the tenth year of Zhengshi he brought about the change at the Gaoping tomb, put Cao Shuang and his faction to death, and grasped the whole authority of the court; he died in the third year of Jiaping at seventy-three. His grandson Sima Yan supplanted Wei and founded Jin, and he was honoured posthumously as Emperor Xuan with the temple name Gaozu.