The Three Kingdoms was an era of the rise of heroes. Under the magnificent and magnificent situation, many heroes came one after another and etched the grand epic of wisdom, courage, loyalty and righteousness in history.
Once the curtain of history is lifted, there will be a time to end it. Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, dreamed at night that “the three horses would eat at the trough,” and this dream was like a precise prophecy that sealed the fate of Sima’s family. It took three generations from Sima Yi to Sima Yan to build the foundation of the Jin Dynasty, and the “three horses” replaced Cao Cao. The Sima family, as the end of the Three Kingdoms, left a significant mark in history. Emperor Taizong of the Great Tang Dynasty wrote a historical essay on Sima Yi for the “Book of Jin”, leaving a mirror for posterity.
Sima Yi, also known as Zhongda. In the ancient times of Tang Yao, Yu Shun, and Xia Shang, the ancestors of the Sima family were fire officials. During the Zhou dynasty, the father of Sima, Cheng Bohuo, was given an official name by the Zhou emperor as his family name because of his success in pacifying Xu Fang. After the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, Sima Yang was crowned King of Yin by Xiang Yu for his meritorious achievement in suppressing the Qin Dynasty, and the family settled in Hanoi. Therefore, the Sima family settled in Hanoi for generations. Sima Yi’s ancestors were important officials of the imperial court for generations.
Sima Yi’s father was Sima Fang, who served as the capital’s Yin. Sima Fang was very strict with his eight sons, and although they were all adults, they did not dare to enter, sit, or speak without their father’s permission. Due to the strict family culture, all of Sima Fang’s eight sons were outstanding and were called “Sima Bada”.
As a young man, Sima Yi was gifted with extraordinary talent, wisdom, and strategy. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the world was in great turmoil, and Sima Yi was often worried about the common people. Sima Yi’s learning and ability were recognized by the officials of his time, who treated him differently. At that time, Cui Yan, the then Minister of State, said to Sima Lang, “Your brother is wise and fair, strong-willed and handsome, beyond the common people, and you cannot surpass him in the future.
Assisting Cao Cao
When Cao Cao heard that Sima Yi was full of wisdom, he wanted to recruit him for an official position. When the Han dynasty was in decline, Sima Yi refused to be recruited by Cao Cao on the pretext that his legs were sick and he was bedridden. Cao Cao hired him again in the thirteenth year of his reign and gave an order to his emissary: “If he refuses again, he will be arrested. Fearing arrest, Sima Yi had no choice but to comply. Sima Yi and Cao Pi were able to learn from each other and discuss the strategies of the world together. From then on, Sima Yi rose to the top and was soon appointed as the chief accountant.
He advised Cao Cao to take advantage of Liu Bei’s capture of Liu Zhang and the capture of Jiangling to send troops to Hanzhong to deter Yizhou. This was the sage’s plan, not to defy the times and not to lose the moment. Cao Cao believed that people were suffering from inadequacy, and now that they had Long Right and wanted to occupy Shu, he did not adopt Sima Yi’s suggestion to raise an army to attack Shu.
Sima Yi followed Cao Cao to invade Wu and defeated Sun Quan, who sent a letter of surrender. Sun Quan sent a letter of surrender to Cao Cao, saying that the mandate of heaven was to return to Cao Cao, so he submitted a letter of surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao thought that Sun Quan was roasting him over the fire. Soon after, Sun Quan sent another letter to Cao Cao, saying that it was in accordance with the will of heaven and the hearts of the people that Sun Quan should offer his vassalage to Cao Cao. In ancient times, Yu, Xia, Yin, and Zhou won the world without humility for fear of going against the will of heaven.
Cao Cao said to his ministers: “I have served the Han Dynasty for many years, and although I have merits and benefits for all the people, how can I have any other extravagant dreams when my title is the king’s? If it were my destiny, I would be King Wen of Zhou.” Sima Yi said, “Since Sun Quan has agreed to submit to me today, the king can make him an official title and order him to fight against Liu Bei.” Cao Cao followed Sima’s words and made Sun Quan a Phyo-Cavalier General.
Even Sun fought against Liu
Sima Yi’s military genius was demonstrated by his ability to fight against Liu, capture Meng Da, and resist Shu’s northern expedition to conquer Liaodong. Under Sima Yi’s resistance, Zhuge Liang failed in his four northern expeditions.
After the founding of the State of Wei, Sima Yi was promoted to the position of a concubine son of the crown prince and was highly valued by Cao Pi, who always had strange strategies for deciding major issues. At that time, Sima Yi was known as one of the four friends of Chen Qun, Wu Qi, and Zhu Shale.
Sima Yi once admonished Cao Cao: “In the old days, when Ji Zi made a statement on how to run a country, he gave top priority to people’s livelihood and food. Nowadays, there are more than 200,000 people who do not do any farming, which is not a long-term strategy for governing the country.” Cao Cao took his advice and ordered the army and people to cultivate and defend the land, and the treasury was full of grain.
General Guan Yu of Shu besieged Cao Ren at Fancheng, and Yu Ban and his seven troops were flooded. Emperor Xian built the capital of Xuchang, but Cao Cao, thinking it was close to the enemy’s territory, wanted to move the capital to Hebei. Sima Yi argued that the flooding of Yu was not a defeat or a loss to the country, and that to move the capital would be a sign of weakness to the enemy and would make the people along the Huai and Han rivers very uneasy. He proposed to unite with Sun Quan to fight against Liu Bei and thus lift the siege of Fan City. Cao Cao acted accordingly, and Sun Quan sent his general Lu Meng to attack Gongan and captured Guan Yu.
The Calming of Liaodong
In the fifth year of Qinglong (237), Gong Sun Yuan, the governor of Liaodong, rebelled against Wei and made himself King of Yan. Emperor Ming of Wei sent Sima Yi with 40,000 soldiers to conquer him. At that time, a long, white, spike-shaped star appeared in the sky and fell in a northeasterly direction into the Liangshui River, shaking and terrifying the people of Xiangping City. Sima Yi ordered the construction of building carts, hooks and ladders, and other siege equipment. More than a month later, the Wei army attacked Xianping City day and night, and Gongsun Yuan was defeated and killed in Liang Shui, the exact spot where the long star fell.
Before he rebelled against Wei, Gongsun Yuan usurped his uncle Gongsun Gong’s position and imprisoned him. General Leng Zhi, Jia Fan and others admonished him, but Gongsun Yuan did not listen and killed them directly. Sima Yi freed Gongsun Gong, had his tomb built for Lenzhi and others, and appointed their heirs as officials.
As soon as Sima Yi arrived at Xianping, he saw in a dream the unusual face of the emperor. After Sima Yi suppressed Gongsun Yuan, the emperor issued five successive edicts ordering him to return to the capital. In his edict, the emperor said that Sima Yi could open the palace gates to see the emperor when he arrived at the capital. Sima Yi was so shocked that he galloped over four hundred miles in one night to return to Kyoto. On his deathbed, Emperor Ming of Wei entrusted him with the funeral arrangements, and he breathed his last without regret. Thereafter, Sima Yi and the general Cao Shuang assisted the young lord.
In 249, at the age of 70, Sima Yi mutinied and destroyed Cao Shuang’s family while he was accompanying Cao Fang to visit his grave in Luoyang. Thereafter, Cao Wei’s power fell to the Sima family. In the third year of Jiaping (251), Sima Yi executed Cao Cao Cao’s son, Cao Biao, and put to death Cao Biao, Wang Ling, and Ling Hu’s three clans. In his later years, Sima Yi carried out a massacre, thus laying the foundation for the Jin dynasty.
Emperor Taizong himself wrote a history of the Jin dynasty
During the Great Tang Dynasty, Fan Xuanling, Chu Suiliang and others compiled the Book of Jin, and Emperor Taizong wrote the historical essay on Sima Yi. He said that Sima Yi was a man of great military and literary ability, generous and tolerant; that he was fearful of oversights in his quest for virtuous men; and that he made the best use of the talents of others. Sima Yi was able to destroy Gongsun Yuan within a hundred days and capture Meng Da within ten days, and was considered to be an invincible strategist. However, Emperor Taizong questioned why Sima Yi, who was so shrewd in Liaodong and Shangyong, became so timid and lacked the will to fight on seeing Zhuge Liang. It should be noted that Wei’s army in Guanzhong was much braver than Shu’s. Emperor Ming of Wei waited until he died to enter the capital.
Emperor Ming of Wei waited patiently for him to meet him in the palace, and Sima Yi accepted the emperor’s dying wish but did not repay him with his life. Before Emperor Wei’s tomb was dried up, Sima Yi put Cao Shuang to death, and then Cao Biao was executed to destroy his whole family. Emperor Taizong questioned why Sima Yi’s loyalty to the emperor was not followed by chaos. Do faithful ministers do this? Sima Yi, who had a long history of keeping a low profile and plotting for the future, disguised his cunning as loyalty and sought peace in times of danger.
In Emperor Taizong’s view, it was easy to succeed if one was obedient to the laws of heaven, but difficult to succeed if one was untimely. What is more, Sima Yi had not yet completed the foundations of the Jin dynasty and was already threatening Wei, which was still a state. Even if Sima Yi were to show mercy to all beings at once, the heavens would not yet be open for him to take the throne, and he would face great obstacles. Although Sima Yi’s descendants became emperors, Sima Yi himself was only a subject in his life. Emperor Taizong of Tang had a particularly sharp analysis of Sima Yi’s character.
An old saying goes, “Three years of good deeds and virtue are known to very few people; one day of evil deeds and the world will know. This is true. No wonder when the Ming Emperor of Eastern Jin heard about his ancestor’s replacement of Cao Wei, he was ashamed of Sima Yi’s false pretense. Later, Zhao Shile told us that Sima Yi bullied Cao Cao’s widows and orphans in order to build his empire. Although he was able to conceal his deceit for a while, he was eventually laughed at for his deceit and pretense.
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