Biography
Family Background and Early Years
Sima Cuo came from a distinguished family of hereditary historians. According to the “Autobiographical Postface of the Grand Historian” in the *Records of the Grand Historian*, his ancestors were said to descend from Chong and Li in the age of Zhuanxu and for generations were responsible for affairs of Heaven and Earth. By the reign of King Xuan of Zhou, Chengbo Xiufu, also called Chengbo Linfu, lost his hereditary office and became associated with the Sima lineage, after which the family adopted Sima as its surname. At the end of the Western Zhou, members of the Sima clan left the Zhou court for Jin and later dispersed among Wey, Zhao, Qin, and other states. The branch that settled in Qin became Sima Cuo's ancestors. This family background may help explain the combination of strategic vision and practical style attributed to him.
Little is known of Sima Cuo's early life. He entered the historical record prominently in 316 BCE, the ninth year after King Huiwen's era change, during the court debate that determined Qin's strategic direction.
Advocacy of the Conquest of Shu
In 316 BCE, Ba and Shu were at war with each other, and both sent envoys to Qin asking for assistance. King Huiwen wanted to attack Shu, but he hesitated because the roads were difficult and because he feared Han might take advantage of Qin's absence. Sima Cuo and Zhang Yi then engaged in a major debate before the king.
Zhang Yi advocated first attacking Han, seizing the Zhou king, and using possession of the Son of Heaven to command the realm and achieve kingship. Sima Cuo rejected this proposal. He argued that attacking Han would cause the other states to unite against Qin, whereas conquering Shu would enlarge Qin's territory, acquire wealth to enrich the people and strengthen the army, and win submission without exhausting the population. It would also give Qin advantageous terrain from which to move downstream against Chu. He famously argued that “one who wishes to enrich the state must expand its territory; one who wishes to strengthen the army must enrich the people; and one who wishes to become king must broaden his virtue.” King Huiwen ultimately accepted Sima Cuo's proposal.
That autumn, Sima Cuo, Zhang Yi, Commandant Mo, and others led Qin forces along the Stone Cattle Road into Shu and fought the Shu army at Jiameng, present-day Guangyuan in Sichuan. The king of Shu was defeated, fled to Wuyang, in present-day Pengshan, Sichuan, and was killed by Qin forces. In the tenth month Qin destroyed Shu, reduced the Shu king's title to Marquis of Shu, and appointed Chen Zhuang as chancellor of Shu. After annexing Shu, Qin became richer and stronger and increasingly looked down upon neighboring states. Sima Cuo then took advantage of the situation to capture Ju and Ba and took the king of Ba back to Qin. Tradition holds that towers, city walls, gates, and buildings in Chengdu were constructed under his direction and that some survived into the Jin period.
Three Suppressions of Disorder in Shu
After Shu was initially conquered, unrest repeatedly broke out. In 311 BCE, Chen Zhuang, chancellor of Shu, killed the Marquis of Shu and submitted to Qin. In 310 BCE, the first year of King Wu of Qin, Chen Zhuang again rebelled against Qin. Sima Cuo was ordered to assist Gan Mao in suppressing the uprising and executed Chen Zhuang.
In 301 BCE, the sixth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Prince Hui, a Qin prince enfeoffed as Marquis of Shu, rebelled in Shu. Sima Cuo was ordered to campaign against him and executed Prince Hui, the Gentleman-of-the-Household, and twenty-seven others. The disorder in Shu was again suppressed. Sima Cuo's repeated campaigns were important to the consolidation of Qin control over Ba and Shu.
Campaigns against Wei and Territorial Expansion
After stabilizing Shu, Sima Cuo campaigned in the Central Plains and repeatedly won military successes. In 295 BCE, the twelfth year of King Zhaoxiang, he served as State Commandant and led an attack on Xiangcheng in Wei. In 291 BCE, the sixteenth year of King Zhaoxiang, he served as Left Geng and captured Zhi, south of present-day Jiyuan in Henan, from Wei and Deng, in present-day Dengzhou, Henan, from Han.
In 289 BCE, the eighteenth year of King Zhaoxiang, Sima Cuo, then serving as Guest Minister, joined Bai Qi, Great Liangzao, in attacking the Wei cities of Yuancheng and Heyong. After breaking the bridges and taking the two cities, they advanced to Zhi and captured sixty-one cities of various sizes. In 286 BCE, the twenty-first year of King Zhaoxiang, Sima Cuo led an attack into Wei's Henei region. Wei was heavily defeated and ceded Anyi to obtain peace; Qin then drove the inhabitants of the city back into Wei territory.
Campaign against Chu and Later Years
In 280 BCE, the twenty-seventh year of King Zhaoxiang, Sima Cuo was ordered to mobilize troops from Longxi and attack Chu from Shu. Qin defeated Chu, captured Qianzhong Commandery in what is now western Hunan and northeastern Guizhou, and forced Chu to cede territory north of the Han River and Shangyong, in present-day northwestern Hubei, to Qin. This partially realized his earlier strategic prediction that “once Shu is gained, Chu can be gained.”
Sima Cuo disappears from the historical record after this point, and the dates of his birth and death are unknown. His grandson Sima Jin served as a subordinate of Bai Qi and was later ordered to die together with Bai Qi. Sima Jin's grandson Sima Chang served as Qin's superintendent of iron; later descendants included Sima Qian, the famous historian of the Western Han.