Sima Yi (179 - September 7,
251) was a strategist, general, and politician of Cao Wei during the Three
Kingdoms era of China
. He
is perhaps best known for defending Cao Wei from
Zhuge Liang's
Northern Expeditions. His
success and subsequent rise in prominence paved the way for his
grandson
Sima Yan's foundation of the
Jin Dynasty, which would
eventually bring an end to the Three Kingdoms era. After the
founding of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yi was posthumously honored as
Emperor Xuan of Jin with the temple name of
Gaozu.
Early life
Sima Yi was one of eight brothers, all of whom were famous due to
their lineage. Each of them had a
Chinese style name ending with the
character Da (達). Because of this, the brothers were known
collectively as the "Eight
Da of Sima" (司馬八達). This was a
term of respect, as other groups of eight talented administrators
in
previous eras
had been referred to in this way.
His family resided in Luoyang
when
Dong Zhuo occupied the city, destroyed it,
and moved the capital to Chang'an
. Sima
Yi's elder brother,
Sima Lang led the
family to their ancestral home in the Wen district (温縣), and then,
correctly predicting that it would become a battlefield, moved them
again to Liyang (黎陽). In 194, as
Cao Cao did
battle with
Lü Bu, Sima Yi accompanied
his family back to Wen district.
Service under Cao Cao
Accounts on how Sima Yi joined the service of Cao Cao differ, but
he accepted his first position in Cao Cao's camp at the age of 30.
According to the
Book of Jin,
Sima Yi believed that the Han Dynasty would soon come to an end,
and felt no motivation to join Cao Cao's camp, which had already
taken control of the Han seat of government. He refused Cao Cao's
requests to serve, saying that he was suffering from a disease. Cao
Cao did not believe Sima Yi's excuse, and sent agents to check on
Sima Yi at night. Sima Yi, knowing this in advance, stayed in bed
all night and did not move. In 208, Cao Cao became
Imperial Chancellor and ordered Sima Yi
to serve him, saying "If he dallies, arrest him." Afraid of what
would happen if he refused, Sima Yi finally accepted the position
of Wenxueyuan (文学掾). However, according to
Weilüe,
Cao Hong,
Cao Cao's younger cousin, requested the presence of Sima Yi in
order to start a friendship with him, but the latter, not having a
very high opinion of Cao Hong, feigned illness by carrying a cane
in order to avoid meeting him. Cao Hong went to Cao Cao in anger
and told him what had happened, after which Cao Cao directly
requested the presence of Sima Yi. Only then did Sima Yi officially
enter Cao Cao's service.
In the Chancellor's service, he rose through the ranks of
Dongcaoyuan (東曹掾; in charge of bringing officials into service),
Zhubo (主簿; an administrative position), and Sima (司馬; position in
charge of aids and advisors). In 215, when Cao Cao defeated
Zhang Lu and forced him to surrender, Sima
Yi advised that Cao Cao continue to advance south into Yizhou,
since
Liu Bei had still not stabilized his
control of that area. However, Cao Cao did not listen to his
advice. Sima Yi was among other advisors who urged for the
implementation of the
tuntian system and for
Cao Cao to take the position of Prince of Wei.
Service under Cao Pi
Even before Cao Cao's death, Sima Yi was close to his successor,
Cao Pi. When Cao Pi was designated Crown
Prince of Wei in 216, Sima Yi was made his secretary. When Cao Cao
wavered on choosing between Cao Pi and his younger brother
Cao Zhi, Sima Yi was among those who backed Cao Pi
and helped him secure the succession. In this way, he became
greatly trusted by Cao Pi. After Cao Cao's death, and Cao Pi's
ascension to Emperor of Wei, Sima Yi was involved in Cao Zhi's
demotion and removal from politics.
In 225, Cao Pi advanced against
Sun Quan's
Wu, and entrusted Sima Yi with command
over the capital in his absence. He compared Sima Yi to
Xiao He, whose quiet contributions behind the battle
lines earned him much praise. Upon returning from the military
expedition, Cao Pi once again praised his servant, saying "As I did
battle in the East, you stayed in the capital and guarded our
kingdom against
Shu in the West. When I go
to battle in the West against Shu, I'll entrust you with defense
against Wu in the East." Sima Yi was soon given the post of Lushang
Shushi (録尚書事), which at that time held the same real power and
responsibilities as Imperial Chancellor. Sima Yi's position within
Wei was now all but unassailable.
Service under Cao Rui
In 226, as Cao Pi lay on his deathbed, he entrusted his successor
Cao Rui to the care of Sima Yi,
Cao Zhen, and
Chen Qun.
When Cao Rui became Emperor of Wei, he trusted Sima Yi greatly and
appointed him Piaoqi General (骠骑大将军) and military commander of
Yuzhou and Jingzhou (督荊豫二州諸軍事) and was placed
on the border between Wei and Wu to defend against Sun Quan's
forces.
Battle of Xincheng
In 220, when
Meng Da surrendered to Wei and
Cao Pi entrusted him as Administrator of Xincheng. Sima Yi did not
trust him, and argued his case to Cao Pi, but his advice was not
taken. In 227, Meng Da began making overtures to Wu and Shu,
promising to turn against Wei when an opportunity presented itself.
He was very slow to move in response to Zhuge Liang's urgings,
however, and
Zhuge Liang attempted to
spur him into action by leaking Meng Da's rebellious intentions to
Shen Yi, the administrator of Weixing (魏興). When Meng Da learned
that his plans had been discovered, he began raising troops in
preparation for action.
Fearing quick action by Meng Da, Sima Yi sent him a letter saying
"Long ago, you surrendered to our kingdom, and we put you in charge
of the defense of our borders against Shu. The people of Shu are
foolish, and still hate you for not coming to
Guan Yu's assistance.
Kongming is the same, and he has been looking
for a way to destroy you. As you probably suspect, the news of your
rebellion is only his plot." Meng Da now believed that he was safe,
and did not rush his preparations. He believed that Sima Yi, posted
on the border of Wei and Wu, would require a month to go to Cao Rui
and request permission to raise troops, then to reach Xincheng.
However, Sima Yi was already on his way and reached Xincheng in 8
days, quickly defeating the unprepared Meng Da, who was killed in
the battle. This action contributed indirectly to the success at
the
Battle of Jieting and earned
Sima Yi much praise.
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions
When
Cao Zhen, who had been leading the
defense against Zhuge Liang's Northern expeditions died in 231,
Sima Yi took his position in command, and faced Zhuge Liang's
armies for the first time in battle. Sima Yi kept his armies safe
in fortifications, his strategy being to wait out the Shu armies
who had a very difficult time keeping their armies supplied with
provisions. He did not attempt to do battle with Zhuge Liang
whatsoever, and was mocked by his own subordinates, who claimed he
was the laughing stock of the world. Unable to resist doing battle
any longer, he allowed his generals to attack Shu's positions, but
they were badly defeated and suffered losses including 3000
soldiers, 5000 suits of iron armor, and 3000 crossbows. When Zhuge
Liang finally did retreat, Sima Yi ordered
Zhang He to pursue, who was ambushed and
killed.
The second battle between Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang was in 234. Cao
Rui again identified Shu's problem being keeping their army
supplied, and ordered Sima Yi to keep his armies fortified and wait
the enemy out. The two armies faced each other at
Wuzhang Plains. Although being
challenged many times by Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi did not send his
armies to attack. To provoke Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang sent women's
clothes to him, suggesting that he was a woman for not daring to
attack. The Wei officers were enraged by this, but Sima Yi would
not be provoked. To appease his officers, Sima Yi asked the Wei
Emperor Cao Rui for permission to engage the Shu forces. Cao Rui,
understanding the situation, sent his advisor Xin Pi to Sima Yi
telling the Wei forces to be patient. In an attempt to engage the
Wei forces, Zhuge Liang sent Sima Yi an emissary urging him to
battle. Sima Yi, however, would not discuss military matters with
the emissary, instead inquired about Zhuge Liang's tasks. The
emissary replied that Zhuge Liang personally manages matters both
big and small in the military, from military tactics to meals for
the night, but he consumes very little. Sima Yi then told an aide
that Zhuge Liang would not last long.
Following Zhuge Liang's death, the Shu forces quietly withdrew from
their camps while keeping Zhuge Liang's death a secret. Sima Yi,
convinced by the locals that Zhuge Liang had died, gave chase to
the retreating Shu forces. Jiang Wei then had Yang Yi turn around
and pretend to strike. Seeing this, Sima Yi feared that Zhuge Liang
only pretended he was dead to lure him out, and immediately
retreated. Word that Sima Yi fled from the already dead Zhuge Liang
spread, spawning a popular saying, "A dead Zhuge scares away a
living Zhongda" (死諸葛嚇走活仲達), referring to Sima Yi's courtesy name.
When Sima Yi heard of such ridicule, he laughingly responded, "I
can do battle with the living, but not the dead."
Expedition against Gongsun Yuan
After
Guanqiu Jian had failed to defeat the
forces of Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong
, and Gongsun
Yuan had declared himself Prince of Yan, Cao Rui put Sima Yi in
charge of the next expedition against him. Sima Yi defeated
Gongsun Yuan twice on the field of battle, and forced him to
retreat to Xiangping (襄平), where he prepared for siege. Long rains
brought a temporary break from the fighting, but as soon as they
lifted, Sima Yi launched an all out attack. Gongsun Yuan and his
sons were killed while attempting to flee.
Service under Cao Fang and coup d'état
As Cao Rui lay on his deathbed, he had doubts about Sima Yi, and
initially planned to exclude him from the regency of his successor
Cao Fang. He wanted to entrust Cao Fang to
his uncle Cao Yu (曹宇), to serve as the lead regent, along with
Xiahou Xian (夏侯獻), Cao Shuang, Cao Zhao (曹肇), and Qin Lang (秦朗).
However, his trusted officials Liu Fang (劉放) and Sun Zi (孫資) were
unfriendly with Xiahou and Cao Zhao and were apprehensive about
their becoming regents, and managed to persuade him to make Cao
Shuang (with whom they were friendly) and Sima Yi (who was then
with his troops at Ji (汲縣, in modern Xinxiang, Henan, and to who
Liu Fang and Sun Zi were close to) regents instead. Cao Yu, Cao
Zhao, and Qin were excluded from the regency.
Initially, Cao Shuang and Sima Yi shared power, but Cao Shuang
quickly used a number of political maneuvers to honor Sima with
honorific titles including
Grand Tutor while stripping
his actual power. Cao Shuang then made all important decisions and
stopped consulting Sima. Quickly, Cao's associates, including Deng
Yang (鄧颺), Li Sheng (李勝), He Yan (何晏), and Ding Mi (丁謐), who were
known for their talents but lack of wisdom, all became powerful,
and they excluded other officials who would not associate with them
from positions of power. Sima was still given military authority
(including command in repelling a major Eastern Wu attack in 241),
but no real authority on governance.
In 244, Cao Shuang, who wanted to garner for himself a military
reputation as well, made a major attack against Shu Han's major
border city of Hanzhong (in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), without
careful logistics planning. The battles themselves were
inconclusive, but after Cao Wei forces ran out of food supplies,
Cao Shuang was forced to withdraw at great loss of life. Despite
his failure on the battlefield, however, Cao Shuang held onto power
firmly. In 247, Sima, upset at his actual powerlessness, claimed
that he was ill and retired from government service. Cao Shuang
sent Li Sheng to determine whether or not Sima Yi was truly ill,
and Sima Yi deceived him by acting senile in his presence.
In 249, Sima made his move. While Cao Fang and Cao Shuang were
outside the capital on an official visit to Cao Rui's tomb, Sima,
with support from a number of anti-Cao Shuang officials, claiming
to have an order from Empress Dowager Guo to do so, closed all city
gates of Luoyang and submitted a report to Cao Fang, accusing Cao
Shuang of dominating and corrupting the government and demanding
that Cao Shuang and his brothers be deposed. Cao Shuang was
stricken by panic and did not know how to react, and even though
his senior advisor Huan Fan recommended that he take Cao Fang to
the secondary capital Xuchang and then resist Sima with his troops,
Cao chose to surrender his troops and powers, under promise by Sima
that he would still be able to maintain his titles. However, Sima
soon reneged on the promise and had Cao Shuang and his associates,
as well as their clans, executed on charges of treason.
After Sima Yi's takeover, he carefully but inexorably removed
people who were actual or potential threats to his authority. Yet,
at the same time, he strived to distance himself from the patterns
followed by the man his actions seemed to mirror most - Cao Cao;
when Cao Fang offered him the nine bestowments, he strenuously
refused them, only accepting them after more than three offers. The
18-year-old Cao Fang left himself in a vulnerable position by going
so far as to grant one of his followers such influence; Sima,
however, had the support of the people by removing corruption and
inefficiency that characterized Cao Shuang's regency and promoting
a number of honest officials. He was offered the title of Imperial
Chancellor, but refused.
In 249, the powerful general Wang Ling, who was in charge of the
key southeastern city of Shouchun (壽春, in modern Lu'an, Anhui)
began to plan a revolt against Sima's hold on power, in association
with Cao Biao (曹彪), the Prince of Chu and a son of Cao Cao (whom he
planned to replace Cao Fang with as emperor). In 251, Wang was
ready to carry out his plans when his associates Huang Hua (黃華) and
Yang Hong (楊弘) leaked the plan to Sima. Sima quickly advanced east
before Wang could be ready and promised to pardon him. Wang knew
that he was not ready to resist, so he submitted, but Sima again
reneged on his promise and forced Wang and Cao Biao to commit
suicide. Wang's clan and the clans of his associates were all
slaughtered.
Having secured his family's control of
Cao
Wei, Sima Yi died in 251, succeeded by his son
Sima Shi.
Legacy
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, the belief began to
shift from the popular ideal that Wei was the rightful successor to
the
Han toward a sympathetic view of Shu
Han. Before this change, Sima Yi was seen as a righteous figure in
the
Book of Jin and was
practically deified. Afterwards, Sima Yi began to be vilified; a
view which was epitomized in the classic novel
Romance of the Three
Kingdoms. In the novel, Sima Yi was portrayed as the
dedicated servant of Cao Cao, obsessed with his ideals even to the
point of honing his example of usurping power against a weak ruler
and using it to bring down Cao Cao's own descendants. In terms of
history, many of the accounts are either contradicted or simply do
not exist and were most likely borrowed from either the elements of
Luo Guanzhong's imagination or from
folk tales that had been passed down through the ages.
As Sima Yi's contributions toward Cao Wei are substantial, the
debate of his legacy lies within what motivated his actions. A
debate, that has continued to this day and will most likely never
be resolved, as to whether Sima Yi was acting in a benevolent way,
such as
Huo Guang did during the Han
Dynasty, or whether he was acting out of pure ambition, comparable
to
Wang Mang's short-lived
Xin Dynasty. However, he died only a few years
after forcibly regaining his power from Cao Shuang, leaving no
definitive answer to his intentions for future generations.
Legends
One legend about Sima Yi is that he could turn his head 180° around
on his neck to look backwards without turning his body. This
characteristic was called "the turning-back of the wolf" (狼顧)
supposedly based on the fact that wolves are cautious and aware of
everything going on around them as though they had eyes in the back
of their heads. It is said that Cao Cao heard this rumor and wanted
to test it for himself. According to the legend, he came up behind
Sima Yi and called out his name, and indeed his head did turn
completely around. According to the
Book of Jin, when Cao
Cao saw this he grew cautious of Sima Yi, saying "This man is
hiding great ambition". Cao Pi would later say of Sima Yi "This man
probably has no intention of ending his life as a mere
servant".
Modern references
Sima Yi appears in the
Dynasty
Warriors video game series by
Koei,
with his first appearance being
Dynasty Warriors 2. Sima Yi is
portrayed as cunning, ruthless and extremely arrogant, boasting
endlessly with each victory. Throughout the series, his main rival
has invariably been
Zhuge Liang, all the
way to the latter's death at the Wu Zhang Plains. In the Dynasty
Warriors series Sima Yi's goal is to become emperor, but only in
Dynasty Warriors 6 is he able to achieve it.
In the collectible card game
Magic
the Gathering there is a card named Sima Yi, Wei Field Marshal,
in the set.
Manhua
The Ravages of Time is
another fictionalized series of the Three Kingdoms with Sima Yi as
the central character.
Family
Wives
- Lady Zhang Chunhua (張春華) (d. 247),
later posthumously honored as Empress Xuanmu (宣穆皇后)
- Princess Fu (伏貴妃)
- Lady Zhang (張夫人)
- Lady Bai (柏夫人)
Direct descendants
Other family
- Ancestors
- Sima Xi (司馬錫) (distant ancestor)
- Sima Áng (司馬卬) (Prince of Qin (秦末殷王), 12th generation
ancestor)
- Sima Qian (司馬遷) (famous historian,
ancestor)
- Sima Jun (司馬鈞) (great-great-grandfather)
- Sima Liang (司馬量) (great grandfather)
- Sima Jun (司馬儁) (grandfather)
- Sima Fang (司馬防) (father)
- Brothers
- Sima Lang (司馬朗) (older brother)
- Sima Fu (司馬孚) (younger brother)
- Sima Kui (司馬馗) (younger brother)
- Sima Xun (司馬恂) (younger brother)
- Sima Jin (司馬進) (younger brother)
- Sima Tong (司馬通) (younger brother)
- Sima Min (司馬敏) (younger brother)
Notes
References
See also
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