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景皇帝諱師,字子元,宣帝長子也。 雅有風彩,沈毅多大略。 少流美譽,與夏侯玄、何晏齊名。 晏常稱曰:「惟幾也能成天下之務,司馬子元是也。」 魏景初中,拜散騎常侍,累遷中護軍。 為選用之法,舉不越功,吏無私焉。 宣穆皇后崩,居喪以至孝聞。 宣帝之將誅曹爽,深謀秘策,獨與帝潛畫,文帝弗之知也。 將發夕乃告之,既而使人覘之,帝寢如常,而文帝不能安席。 晨會兵司馬門,鎮靜內外,置陣甚整。 宣帝曰:「此子竟可也。」 初,帝陰養死士三千,散在人間,至是一朝而集,眾莫知所出也。 事平,以功封長平鄉侯,食邑千戶,尋加衛將軍。 及宣帝薨,議者咸云「伊尹既卒,伊陟嗣事」,天子命帝以撫軍大將軍輔政。 魏嘉平四年春正月,遷大將軍,加侍中,持節、都督中外諸軍、錄尚書事。 命百官舉賢才,明少長,恤窮獨,理廢滯。 諸葛誕、毌丘儉、王昶、陳泰、胡遵都督四方,王基、州泰、鄧艾、石苞典州郡,盧毓、李豐裳選舉,傅嘏、虞松參計謀,鐘會、夏侯玄、王肅、陳本、孟康、趙酆、張緝預朝議,四海傾注,朝野肅然。 或有請改易制度者,帝曰:「'不識不知,順帝之則',詩人之美也。 三祖典制,所宜遵奉; 自非軍事,不得妄有改革。」
Emperor Jing, whose personal name was Shi and courtesy name Ziyuan, was the eldest son of Emperor Xuan of Jin. He carried himself with quiet distinction—steady, resolute, and possessed of a strategist’s breadth of mind. While still young he was widely praised, and his name stood alongside those of Xiahou Xuan and He Yan. He Yan used to say, "It takes someone who senses the moment before it turns to carry the weight of the realm—and that man is Sima Ziyuan." During Wei’s Jingchu years he received appointment as Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary and rose step by step to Central Protector of the Army. He set rules for appointments so that promotions matched real achievement, and his staff could not trade on personal connections. After Empress Dowager Xuanmu’s death, he kept mourning with such scrupulous grief that word of his filial piety spread everywhere. As Sima Yi readied the strike against Cao Shuang, he laid his plans in the deepest secrecy—working them out alone with Sima Shi—while Sima Zhao was kept entirely in the dark. Sima Yi waited until the night before the coup to inform his son; when he sent men to watch Sima Shi’s quarters, Shi slept soundly as on any other night, while Sima Zhao tossed and could not settle. At daybreak he drew up his forces at the Sima Gate, steadying the palace inside and out and arraying them with flawless discipline. Sima Yi said, "This boy will do after all." Earlier, Sima Shi had quietly kept three thousand devoted fighters dispersed through the capital; now they materialized overnight, and no one could guess where they had sprung from. After the coup succeeded he was rewarded with the village marquisate of Changping and a thousand-household fief, and before long was named General of the Guard as well. At Sima Yi’s death, court opinion echoed the old line—“When Yi Yin passed away, his son Yi Zhi carried on the task”—and the Wei emperor named Sima Shi General Who Stabilizes the Army and regent in the combined office of Great General. In the first month of spring, Wei’s fourth year of Jiaping, he advanced to Great General, was given the concurrent post of Palace Attendant, received the imperial baton, took overall command of central and frontier forces, and assumed control of the Secretariat. He instructed every office to put forward able men, to sort seniority fairly, to relieve the widowed and alone, and to clear the backlog of neglected business. Zhuge Dan, Guanqiu Jian, Wang Chang, Chen Tai, and Hu Zun held regional commands; Wang Ji, Zhou Tai, Deng Ai, and Shi Bao ran the provinces; Lu Yu and Li Feng handled personnel; Fu Gu and Yu Song shaped policy; Zhong Hui, Xiahou Xuan, Wang Su, Chen Ben, Meng Kang, Zhao Feng, and Zhang Ji sat in on the great councils. The empire’s eyes were fixed on that bench, and a hush fell over both palace and plain. When voices rose for sweeping institutional change, Sima Shi answered, "The Odes praise the ruler who does not meddle for show but simply follows the pattern Heaven set for the sage-kings. The precedents left by the three Wei founders are what we are bound to honor; and apart from what war demands, nothing should be changed on a whim."
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五年夏五月,吳太傅諸葛恪圍新城,朝議慮其分兵以寇淮泗,欲戍諸水口。 帝曰:「諸葛恪新得政于吳,欲徼一時之利,並兵合肥,以冀萬一,不暇復為青徐患也。 且水口非一,多戍則用兵眾,少戍則不足以禦寇。」 恪果並力合肥,卒如所度。 帝於是使鎮東將軍毌丘儉、揚州刺史文欽等距之。 儉、欽請戰,帝曰:「恪卷甲深入,投兵死地,其鋒未易當。 且新城小而固,攻之未可拔。」 遂命諸將高壘以弊之。 相持數月,恪攻城力屈,死傷太半。 帝乃敕欽督銳卒趨合榆,要其歸路,儉帥諸將以為後繼。 恪懼而遁,欽逆擊,大破之,斬首萬餘級。
In the fifth month of summer, the fifth year, Wu’s Grand Tutor Zhuge Ke laid siege to Xincheng. Ministers worried he would detach columns to strike the Huai–Si line and urged posting guards at every ford. Sima Shi replied: Zhuge Ke has just seized the helm in Wu; he wants a quick coup de main, so he is piling everything onto Hefei and gambling on a long shot. That leaves him no bandwidth to threaten Qingzhou or Xuzhou again. Besides, the crossings are many: garrison them all and you drain the army; garrison too few and you cannot hold the raiders off. Zhuge Ke did concentrate on Hefei, exactly as Sima Shi had foretold. Sima Shi therefore ordered General Who Guards the East Guanqiu Jian, Yangzhou Inspector Wen Qin, and others to block him. Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin begged leave to attack, but Sima Shi said, "Ke has marched deep with armor bundled for speed—his men are on ground where retreat is death. You do not blunt that kind of momentum head-on. Xincheng is a tight nut: storm it now and you will only bloody your hands." He told his commanders to entrench on high ground and let time do the work. The standoff lasted months; Ke hammered the walls until his army was spent, with casualties running past the halfway mark. Sima Shi then instructed Wen Qin to race picked troops to Heyu and cut Ke’s line of retreat, while Guanqiu Jian followed with the main body in support. Ke broke and ran; Wen Qin hit him on the withdrawal and shattered his army, taking more than ten thousand heads.
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正元元年春正月,天子與中書令李豐、後父光祿大夫張緝、黃門監蘇鑠、永甯署令樂敦、冗從僕射劉寶賢等謀乙太常夏侯玄代帝輔政。 帝密知之,使舍人王羨以車迎豐。 豐見迫,隨羨而至,帝數之。 豐知禍及,因肆惡言。 帝怒,遣勇士以刀鐶築殺之。 逮捕玄、緝等,皆夷三族。 三月,乃諷天子廢皇后張氏,因下詔曰:「奸臣李豐等靖譖庸回,陰構凶慝。 大將軍糾虔天刑,致之誅辟。 周勃之克呂氏,霍光之擒上官,曷以過之。 其增邑九千戶,並前四萬。」 帝讓不受。 天子以玄、緝之誅,深不自安。 而帝亦慮難作,潛謀廢立,乃密諷魏永甯太后。 秋九月甲戌,太后下令曰:「皇帝春秋已長,不親萬機,耽淫內寵,沈嫚女德,日近倡優,縱其醜虐,迎六宮家人留止內房,毀人倫之敘,亂男女之節。 又為群小所迫,將危社稷,不可承奉宗廟。」 帝召群臣會議,流涕曰:「太后令如是,諸君其如王室何?」 咸曰:「伊尹放太甲以甯殷,霍光廢昌邑以安漢,權定社稷,以清四海。 二代行之于古,明公當之於今,今日之事,惟命是從。」 帝曰:「諸君見望者重,安敢避之?」 乃與群公卿士共奏太后曰:「臣聞天子者,所以濟育群生,永安萬國。 皇帝春秋已長,未親萬機,日使小優郭懷、袁信等裸袒淫戲。 又於廣望觀下作遼東妖婦,道路行人莫不掩目。 清商令令狐景諫帝,帝燒鐵炙之。 太后遭合陽君喪,帝嬉樂自若。 清商丞龐熙諫帝,帝弗聽。 太后還北宮,殺張美人,帝甚恚望。 熙諫,帝怒,復以彈彈熙。 每文書入,帝不省視。 太后令帝在式乾殿講學,帝又不從。 不可以承天序。 臣請依漢霍光故事,收皇帝璽綬,以齊王歸籓。」 奏可,於是有司乙太牢策告宗廟,王就乘輿副車,群臣從至西掖門。 帝泣曰:「先臣受曆世殊遇,先帝臨崩,托以遣詔。 臣復忝重任,不能獻可替否。 群公卿士,遠翟舊典,為社稷深計,寧負聖躬,使宗廟血食。」 於是使使者持節衛送,舍河內之重門,誅郭懷、袁信等。 是日,與群臣議所立。 帝曰:「方今宇宙未清,二虜爭衡,四海之主,惟在賢哲。 彭城王據,太祖之子,以賢,則仁聖明允; 以年,則皇室之長。 天位至重,不得其才,不足以寧濟六合。」 乃興群公奏太后。 太后以彭城王先帝諸父,于昭穆之序為不次,則烈祖之世永無承嗣。 東海定王,明帝之弟,欲立其子高貴鄉公髦。 帝固爭不獲,乃從太后令,遣使迎高貴鄉公於元城而立之,改元曰正元。 天子受璽惰,舉趾高,帝聞而憂之。 及將大會,帝訓於天了曰:「夫聖王重始,正本敬初,古人所慎也。 明當大會,萬眾瞻穆穆之容,公卿聽玉振之音。 詩云:'示人不佻,是則是效。 '易曰:'出其言善,則千里之外應之'。 雖禮儀周備,猶宜加之以祗恪,以副四海顒顒式仰。」 癸巳,天子詔曰:「朕聞創業之君,必須股肱之臣; 守文之主,亦賴匡佐之輔。 是故文武以呂召彰受命之功,宣王倚山甫享中興之業。 大將軍世載明德,應期作輔。 遭天降險,帝室多難,齊王蒞政,不迪率典。 公履義執忠,以甯區夏,式是百辟,總齊庶事。 內摧寇虐,外靜奸宄,日昃憂勤,劬勞夙夜。 德聲光於上下,勳烈施于四方。 深惟大議,首建明策,權定社稷,援立朕躬,宗廟獲安,億兆慶賴。 伊摯之保乂殷邦,公旦之綏甯周室,蔑以尚焉。 朕甚嘉之。 夫德茂者位尊,庸大者祿厚,古今之通義也。 其登位相國,增邑九千,並前四萬戶; 進號大都督、假黃鉞,入朝不趨,奏事不名,劍履上殿; 賜錢五百萬,帛五千匹,以彰元勳。」 帝固辭相國。 又上書訓于天子曰:「荊山之璞雖美,不琢不成其寶; 顏冉之才雖茂,不學不弘其量。 仲尼有云:'予非生而知之者,好古敏以求之者也。 '仰觀黃軒五代之主,莫不有所稟則,顓頊受學於綠圖,高辛問道于柏招。 逮至周成,旦望作輔,故能離經辯志,安道樂業。 夫然,故君道明於上,兆庶順於下。 刑措之隆,實由於此。 宜遵先王下問之義,使講誦之業屢聞於聽,典謨之言日陳於側也。」 時天子頗修華飾,帝又諫曰:「履端初政,宜崇玄樸。」 並敬納焉。 十一月,有白氣經天。
In the first month of spring, Zhengyuan year 1, the Wei emperor conspired with Palace Secretariat Director Li Feng, his father-in-law Zhang Ji of the Splendid Carriage rank, the eunuch overseer Su Shuo, Yue Dun of the Yongning office, Liu Baoxian as supernumerary coachman, and others to install Minister of Ceremonies Xiahou Xuan as regent in Sima Shi’s place. Sima Shi got wind of the plot and sent his houseman Wang Xian to fetch Li Feng in a carriage. Cornered, Li Feng rode back with Wang Xian, where Sima Shi confronted him with a litany of charges. Seeing the noose tighten, Li Feng answered with a torrent of abuse. Enraged, Sima Shi sent brawny guards who beat him to death with the pommels of their swords. Xiahou Xuan, Zhang Ji, and the rest were seized and executed along with their entire kin to the third degree. In the third month he induced the emperor to dismiss Empress Zhang and promulgated an edict declaring that Li Feng and his confederates had trafficked in slander and woven a secret web of treason. The Grand General, acting as Heaven’s scourge, brought them to the block. What Zhou Bo did to the house of Lü, what Huo Guang did to the Shangguans—this deed matches them and more. Let his appanage swell by nine thousand households, for a total of forty thousand with what he already holds. Sima Shi demurred and refused the grant. The execution of Xiahou Xuan and Zhang Ji left the young emperor inwardly terrified. Sima Shi for his part feared an explosion at court and began laying plans to replace the throne; he quietly sounded out Wei’s Empress Dowager of Yongning. On jiaxu in the ninth month of autumn the empress dowager proclaimed that the emperor is no longer a child, yet he ignores the business of state, wallows in palace favorites, and tramples womanly virtue; he haunts the company of actors, indulges their outrages, and brings kin from the harem to lodge in the inner apartments—wrecking human decency and turning the sexes upside down. Puppeteered by petty flatterers, he is steering the altars toward ruin and is unfit to tend the imperial shrines." Sima Shi then assembled the ministers. In tears he asked, "The Dowager has spoken; what are we to do for the house of Cao?" They answered in one voice: "Yi Yin banished Taijia to save the Shang altars; Huo Guang cast down the king of Changyi to steady the Han; both took the realm in hand until order returned to the world. Those two did it in the past; you must do it now. We await your word and will obey." Sima Shi said: You lay a heavy charge on me; how could I shrink from it? Thereupon he and the high ministers jointly memorialized the Dowager: "We have always been taught that the Son of Heaven exists to nurture the people and give lasting peace to every corner of the realm. The emperor is grown, yet he never touches state papers; day after day he sets petty buffoons like Guo Huai and Yuan Xin to strip off and perform obscene farces. Beneath the Guangwang Watchtower he staged the lewd "Liaodong hag" skits until wayfarers had to avert their faces. When Pure Music director Linghu Jing remonstrated, the emperor had iron heated white-hot and seared him with it. Even while the Dowager mourned the Prince of Heyang, the emperor caroused as if nothing had happened. Pure Music assistant Pang Xi’s pleas went unheeded. After the Dowager withdrew to the North Palace and executed Lady Zhang, the emperor nursed a bitter grudge. When Pang Xi spoke up again, the emperor flew into a rage and pelted him with a slingshot. Memorials piled up unread on his desk. The Dowager ordered him to study in the Shiqian Hall; he refused that as well. He cannot sustain the Mandate’s line of succession. We beg leave, on the model of Huo Guang of Han, to take back the imperial seals and send the Prince of Qi home to his fief." The Dowager approved. The proper offices sacrificed the grand ox, read the proclamation at the shrines, and had the king mount the secondary carriage of the imperial train while the ministers escorted him to the West Ye Gate. Sima Shi wept and said, "My forebears enjoyed extraordinary favor from the house of Wei; the late emperor, on his deathbed, bound us with his final charge. I have disgraced that trust by failing to speak plainly when policy went awry. You nobles, invoking old precedent and thinking only of the altars’ safety, would rather wrong the person of the emperor than let the ancestral shrines go cold. Envoys with batons escorted the deposed ruler to confinement beyond the inner gates of Henei, while Guo Huai, Yuan Xin, and their ilk were put to death. That same day he met his ministers to choose a successor. Sima Shi declared, "The realm is still unsettled, Wu and Shu strain against us, and whoever sits the throne must be worthy enough to master it. The Prince of Pengcheng, Cao Ju, is a son of Cao Cao: in talent he is humane, clear-sighted, and utterly dependable; in age he is the senior man of the blood royal. The throne is too heavy a burden for anyone who lacks his gifts; without him we cannot steady the world." With that he led the senior nobles to the Dowager with a joint memorial. She objected that Cao Ju, as an uncle of the reigning line, would break the proper zhao-mu order of the shrines and leave Emperor Ming’s line without heirs. She preferred the son of Prince Ding of the East Sea—Emperor Ming’s younger brother—namely Cao Mao, the Duke of Gaoguixiang. Sima Shi argued hard but lost the point; bowing to the Dowager, he sent to Yuancheng for Cao Mao, installed him as emperor, and proclaimed the new era name Zhengyuan. Once Cao Mao received the imperial seal he grew careless and walked with a swagger; Sima Shi heard of it and grew uneasy. On the eve of the great court gathering, Sima Shi admonished the emperor: "A true king weighs every beginning, sets the root straight, and treats the first step as sacred—so the classics warn. Tomorrow’s levee will put you before every eye—ten thousand pairs of eyes watching your bearing, every minister listening for the ring of true kingship in your voice. The Odes say, "Show the people no levity—that is the pattern they will follow." The Changes adds, "Speak a true word, and the realm answers from a thousand leagues away." Even with every rite rehearsed, you must layer on humble care, for the whole world is holding its breath toward you. On guisi the emperor issued an edict that they say the founder of a dynasty needs ministers who are his right arm and his thigh. A ruler who only keeps the ledger likewise depends on steady hands beside him. King Wen and King Wu shone because they had a Lü Wang and a Duke of Shao; King Xuan of Zhou rose from decline because he leaned on Zhong Shanfu. The Grand General comes from a line steeped in virtue; Heaven’s season set him at my side as helper. Heaven has tried the royal house again and again; the Prince of Qi held power yet would not walk the path the statutes mark out. You have walked in loyalty and justice, quieted the heartland, shown the hundred officials their pattern, and pulled every thread of government into order. Within the walls you broke the traitors’ grip; on the borders you stilled intrigue; you toiled past sunset and rose before dawn. Your virtue lights court and countryside alike; your merit reaches to the four seas. You weighed the gravest question, framed the clearest plan, steadied the altars in the crisis, and lifted me to the throne—so the shrines stand unshaken and the people have cause to rejoice. What Yi Yin did for the Shang, what the Duke of Zhou did for the Zhou—your deed stands beside theirs and is not found wanting. I honor you for it with all my heart. Great virtue wins high rank; great service wins rich reward—that has been the rule from antiquity to our day. Let him be named Chancellor of State, with nine thousand new households added to his fief, for a total of forty thousand including what he already holds; advance his style to Grand Commander, lend him the golden yue, let him enter court at an easy pace, memorialize without giving his name, and wear sword and shoes in the throne hall; and grant him five million cash and five thousand bolts of silk, that all may see how the founding merit is crowned." Sima Shi firmly declined the post of Chancellor. He sent another memorial coaching the throne: "The raw jade of Mount Jing is lovely, yet without the carver’s wheel it never becomes a gem; Yan Hui and Ran Boniu were gifted men, yet without learning their breadth of mind would never have opened. Confucius said plainly that he was not born wise—that he loved the old lore and pressed himself until understanding came. Look back to the five sage reigns from the Yellow Emperor: every one of them had teachers—Zhuanxu learned from the Green Chart, Gaoxin took counsel from Bai Zhao. Under King Cheng the Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Shao stood at his side, so the heir could move beyond rote text, fix his purpose, find peace in the Way, and take joy in ruling. That is how a clear standard shines from the throne and the common folk fall into step below. The age when punishments rust unused in the storehouse grows from nothing else. You should revive the ancient habit of learning from your ministers—let lectures ring often in your ears and let the language of the classics sit daily at your elbow. The young emperor was already drifting toward display; Sima Shi urged him again: the first months of a reign call for austerity, not glitter. The throne took his advice in good part. In the eleventh month a pale band of vapor cut the full span of the heavens.
4
二年春正月,有彗星見於吳楚之分,西北竟天。 鎮東大將軍毌丘儉、揚州刺史文欽舉兵作亂,矯太后令移檄郡國,為壇盟於西門之外,各遣子四人質于吳以請救。 二月,儉、欽帥眾六萬,渡淮而西。 帝會公卿謀征討計,朝議多謂可遣諸將擊之,王肅及尚書傅嘏、中書侍郎鐘會勸帝自行。 戊午,帝統中軍步騎十餘萬以征之。 倍道兼行,召三方兵,大會于陳許之郊。 甲申,次於隱橋,儉將史招、李績相次來降。 儉、欽移入項城,帝遣荊州刺史王基進據南頓以逼儉。 帝深壁高壘,以待東軍之集。 諸將請進軍攻其城,帝曰:「諸君得其一,未知其二。 淮南將士本無反志。 且儉、欽欲蹈縱橫之跡,習儀秦之說,謂遠近必應。 而事起之日,淮北不從,史招、李績前後瓦解。 內乖外叛,自知必敗,困獸思鬥,速戰更合其志。 雖云必克,傷人亦多。 且儉等欺誑將士,詭變萬端,小與持久,詐情自露,此不戰而克之也。」 乃遣諸葛誕督豫州諸軍自安風向壽春,征東將軍胡遵督青、徐諸軍出譙宋之間,絕其歸路。 帝屯汝陽,遣競州刺史鄧艾督太山諸軍進屯樂嘉,示弱以誘之。 欽進軍將攻艾,帝潛軍銜枚,輕造樂嘉,與欽相遇。 欽子鴦,年十八,勇冠三軍,謂欽曰:「及其未定,請登城鼓噪,擊之可破也。」 既謀而行,三噪而欽不能應,鴦退,相與引而東。 帝謂諸將曰:「欽走矣。」 命發銳軍以追之。 諸將皆曰:「欽舊將,鴦少而銳,引軍內入,未有失利,必不走也。」 帝曰:「一鼓作氣,再而衰,三而竭。 鴦三鼓,欽不應,其勢已屈,不走何待?」 欽將遁,鴦曰:「不先折其勢,不得去也。」 乃與驍騎十餘摧鋒陷陣,所向皆披靡,遂引去。 帝遣左長史司馬璉督驍騎八千翼而追之,使將軍樂林等督步兵繼其後。 比至沙陽,頻陷欽陣,弩矢雨下,欽蒙盾而馳。 大破其軍。 眾皆投戈而降,欽父子與麾下走保項。 儉聞欽敗,棄眾宵遁淮南。 安風津都尉追儉,斬之,傳首京都。 欽遂奔吳,淮南平。
In the first month of spring, the second year, a comet blazed across the Wu–Chu sector of the sky from the northwest to the horizon. Guanqiu Jian, Grand General Who Guards the East, and Wen Qin, Yangzhou’s inspector, rose in revolt, forged a rescript in the Dowager’s name, sent manifestos across the commanderies, swore a blood oath on a platform west of the walls, and each sent four sons east as hostages to beg Wu for aid. In the second month they marched sixty thousand men across the Huai and drove west. Sima Shi called the high ministers to plan the campaign; most favored sending subordinate generals, but Wang Su, Fu Gu of the Secretariat, and Zhong Hui of the Palace Secretariat pressed him to take the field himself. On wuwu he led well over a hundred thousand central-army horse and foot against the rebels. He forced the march, called in contingents from three directions, and massed them on the Chen–Xu plain. On jiashen he encamped at Yinqiao, where Jian’s officers Shi Zhao and Li Ji surrendered in quick succession. When the rebels pulled into Xiangcheng, Sima Shi ordered Jingzhou Inspector Wang Ji to seize Nandun and pin Jian in place. He dug in behind high walls and waited for the eastern columns to assemble. His generals begged to storm Xiangcheng, but Sima Shi told them they had seen only half the problem. The Huainan rank and file never wanted this rebellion. Jian and Wen Qin fancy themselves wandering strategists in the mold of Su Qin and Zhang Yi; they expect the whole region to rise at their call. When the revolt broke, the north bank of the Huai refused to move, and Shi Zhao and Li Ji melted away in turn. Betrayed within and without, they know they are finished; like beasts at bay they will fight—and a hasty battle is exactly what they want. We might win a rush attack, but the butcher’s bill would be steep. Jian lies to his own troops and shifts his story by the hour; give him rope and his fraud will show—then we take him without a storm. He sent Zhuge Dan with the Yu columns from Anfeng toward Shouchun and Hu Zun with Qing–Xu forces through the Qiao–Song corridor to sever their retreat. Sima Shi camped at Ruyang and ordered Yanzhou Inspector Deng Ai to push the Taishan contingents forward to Lejia and feign weakness as bait. When Wen Qin advanced on Deng Ai, Sima Shi slipped an army forward with bits in the horses’ mouths, raced to Lejia, and met Wen Qin head-on. Wen Qin’s son Yang, eighteen and the fiercest man in the army, urged his father to strike before the enemy settled—mount the wall, beat the drums, raise the battle cry, and they could be broken. They put the plan in motion, but after three rounds of shouting Wen Qin never moved; Yang fell back, and father and son drew off toward the east. Sima Shi told his commanders that Wen Qin was running. He ordered the elite vanguard forward in pursuit. The generals objected that Wen Qin was a veteran, his son young and fierce, and that they had driven deep without a reverse—they would not simply bolt. Sima Shi answered that the first roll of the drum lifts an army’s heart, the second dulls it, and the third empties it. Yang beat the signal three times and his father never moved—their momentum is spent. If that is not flight in the making, what is? As Wen Qin prepared to slip away, Yang warned that unless they blunted the enemy charge they would not break free. He led a dozen picked horsemen in a spearhead charge that scattered every line before him, then broke off and withdrew. Sima Shi sent his left chief clerk Sima Lian with eight thousand horse to sweep around Wen Qin’s flank and told generals such as Yue Lin to bring the footsoldiers up behind. By Shayang they had torn through Wen Qin’s lines again and again; bolts fell like rain, and Wen Qin crouched under his shield and spurred on. They shattered his army. The men threw down their weapons and yielded; Wen Qin and his son raced with their remaining followers to the refuge of Xiang. Guanqiu Jian, hearing of Wen Qin’s rout, abandoned his army and fled south into Huainan by night. The commandant at Anfeng Ford ran him down, struck off his head, and sent it to Luoyang by post-horse. Wen Qin escaped into Wu, and the Huainan rebellion was over.
5
初,帝目有瘤疾,使醫割之。 鴦之來攻也,驚而目出。 懼六軍之恐,蒙之以被,痛甚,齧被敗而左右莫知焉。 閏月疾篤,使文帝總統諸軍。 辛亥,崩于許昌,時年四十八。 二月,帝之喪至自許昌,天子素服臨吊,詔曰:「公有濟世甯國之勳,克定禍亂之功,重之以死王事,宜加殊禮。 其令公卿議制。」 有司議以為忠安社稷,功濟宇內,宜依霍光故事,追加大司馬之號以冠大將軍,增邑五萬戶,諡曰武公。 文帝表讓曰:「臣亡父不敢受丞相相國九命之禮,亡兄不敢受相國之位,誠以太祖常所階曆也。 今諡與二祖同,必所祗懼。 昔蕭何、張良、霍光咸有匡佐之功,何諡文終,良諡文成,光諡宣成。。 必以文武為諡,請依何等就加。」 詔許之,諡曰忠武。 晉國既建,追尊曰景王。 武帝受禪,上尊號曰景皇帝,陵曰峻平,廟稱世宗。
Earlier, Sima Shi had suffered a growth on his eyelid and had had it lanced by a physician. When Wen Yang’s assault caught him unprepared, the wounded eyeball burst from its socket. Afraid the army would panic, he muffled his face in the bedclothes; the agony was so fierce that he chewed the quilt to rags, and none of his attendants realized what was happening. In the intercalary month his condition turned grave, and he handed overall command of the armies to Sima Zhao. He died at Xuchang on xinhai, aged forty-eight. In the second month the catafalque reached the capital from Xuchang. The emperor came in mourning white to mourn and issued an edict that he had saved the age and steadied the state, crushed rebellion, and laid down his life in the king’s service—he must be honored beyond the common rule. Let the high ministers frame the rites. The offices memorialized that his loyalty had steadied the altars and his service had embraced the realm; on Huo Guang’s precedent they asked to stack the posthumous title of Grand Marshal above that of Grand General, add fifty thousand households to his fief, and give the posthumous epithet Wu, meaning Martial. Sima Zhao declined in a memorial: his late father had refused the chancellor’s regalia and the nine gifts; his late brother had refused the title of minister of state—because those were the very stairs Cao Cao himself had climbed. To give him the same posthumous wording as the two Wei founders fills me with dread. Xiao He, Zhang Liang, and Huo Guang all earned the right to counsel the throne; they were remembered as Wenzhong, Wencheng, and Xuancheng respectively. If the court insists on pairing wen and wu in the temple name, let it follow Xiao He’s pattern and add only what fits. The emperor agreed, and the dead man was remembered as Zhongwu, Loyal and Martial. After the duchy of Jin was founded, he was posthumously raised to Prince Jing. When Sima Yan took the throne, Sima Shi was canonized as Emperor Jing, buried at Junping, and given the temple name Shizong.
6
文皇帝諱昭,字子上,景帝之母弟也。 魏景初二年,封新城鄉侯。 正始初,為洛陽典農中郎將。 值魏明奢侈之後,帝蠲除苛碎,不奪農時,百姓大悅。 轉散騎常侍。 大將軍曹爽之伐蜀也,以帝為征蜀將軍,副夏侯玄出駱谷,次於興勢。 蜀將王林夜襲帝營,帝堅臥不動。 林退,帝謂玄曰:「費禕以據險距守,進不獲戰,攻之不可,宜亟旋軍,以為後圖。」 爽等引旋,禕果馳兵趣三嶺,爭險乃得過。 遂還,拜議郎。 及誅曹爽,帥眾衛二宮,以功增邑千戶。 蜀將姜維之寇隴右也,征西將軍郭淮自長安距之。 進帝位安西將軍、持節,屯關中,為諸軍節度。 淮攻維別將句安於麹,久而不決。 帝乃進據長城,南趣駱谷以疑之。 維懼,退保南鄭,安軍絕援,帥眾來降。 轉安東將軍、持節,鎮許昌。 及大軍討王淩,帝督淮北諸軍事,帥師會于項。 增邑三百戶,假金印紫綬。 尋進號都督,統征東將軍胡遵、鎮東將軍諸葛誕伐吳,戰于東關。 二軍敗績,坐失侯。 蜀將姜維又寇隴右,揚聲欲攻狄道。 以帝行征西將軍,次長安。 雍州刺史陳泰欲先賊據狄道,帝曰:「姜維攻羌,收其質任,聚穀作邸閣訖,而復轉行至此,正欲了塞外諸羌,為後年之資耳。 若實向狄道,安肯宣露,令外人知? 今揚聲言出,此欲歸也。」 維果燒營而去。 會新平羌胡叛,帝擊破之,遂耀兵靈州,北虜震讋,叛者悉降。 以功復封新城鄉侯。 高貴鄉公之立也,以參定策,進封高都侯,增封二千戶。 毌丘儉、文欽之亂,大軍東征,帝兼中領軍,留鎮洛陽。 及景帝疾篤,帝自京都省疾,拜衛將軍。 景帝崩,天子命帝鎮許昌,尚書傅嘏帥六軍還京師。 帝用嘏及鐘會策,自帥軍而還。 至洛陽,進位大將軍加侍中,都督中外諸軍、錄尚書事,輔政,劍履上殿。 帝固辭不受。
Emperor Wen, personal name Zhao and courtesy name Zishang, was Sima Shi’s full younger brother. In Wei’s second year of Jingchu he received the village marquisate of Xincheng. Early in the Zhengshi era he was named Colonel Director of Agriculture for Luoyang. He took office after Emperor Ming’s spendthrift years, scraped away petty exactions, left farmers to their seasons, and the people were delighted. He was moved to Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary. When Cao Shuang marched against Shu, Sima Zhao was named General Who Conquers Shu and second-in-command to Xiahou Xuan through Luogu, encamping at Xingshi. When the Shu officer Wang Lin raided his camp by night, Sima Zhao stayed flat on his couch and never stirred. After Wang Lin fell back, Sima Zhao told Xiahou Xuan that Fei Yi held the narrows, that they could neither force a battle nor storm him, and that the army should wheel about at once and plan another day. Cao Shuang drew off; Fei Yi raced columns to the Three Ridges and only after a sharp fight for the heights did Wei’s army get through. On his return he was named Gentleman Consultant. When Cao Shuang fell, he commanded the troops that sealed both palaces and earned another thousand households for it. When Jiang Wei struck Longyou, Guo Huai, the western field commander, marched out from Chang’an to meet him. Sima Zhao was promoted to General Who Pacifies the West with baton and seal, stationed in Guanzhong as overall coordinator of the western armies. Guo Huai besieged Jiang Wei’s subordinate Gou An at Qu for months without breaking the stalemate. Sima Zhao pushed forward to Changcheng and feinted south toward Luogu Valley to pull Jiang Wei’s attention. Jiang Wei drew back to Nanzheng; Gou An, cut off from help, brought his command over to Wei. He rotated to General Who Pacifies the East with credentials and took charge at Xuchang. During the campaign against Wang Ling he directed all forces north of the Huai and brought his column to Xiang to join the main host. His fief grew by three hundred households and he received the gold seal on purple ribbon. Shortly afterward he took the area command, leading Hu Zun and Zhuge Dan in an eastern push against Wu that ended at Dongguan. Both columns were routed, and he lost his marquisate for the defeat. Jiang Wei struck Longyou again, proclaiming that his objective was Didao. Sima Zhao was given acting rank as General Who Conquers the West and encamped at Chang’an. Chen Tai of Yongzhou wanted to seize Didao first, but Sima Zhao argued that Jiang Wei was busy subduing the Qiang, taking hostages, and filling his granaries and depots, that he swung this way only to finish the frontier tribes and bank supplies for another year, and that he did not mean to storm Didao. If Didao were really his target, why advertise it to us? This noise about a march means he is pulling out. Jiang Wei torched his camp and withdrew, as Sima Zhao had predicted. When the Qiang and Hu of Xinping rose, he crushed them, paraded his strength at Lingzhou, and terrified the northern tribes until every rebel submitted. For that victory he was re-enfeoffed as marquis of Xincheng township. Because he helped set Cao Mao on the throne, he was promoted to Marquis of Gaodu with two thousand extra households. When Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin rose in the east, Sima Zhao stayed in Luoyang as concurrent Central Army Supervisor while the main host marched away. When Sima Shi lay dying, Sima Zhao hurried from the capital to his bedside and received appointment as General of the Guard. At Sima Shi’s death the emperor ordered Sima Zhao to hold Xuchang while Fu Gu of the Secretariat brought the six armies back to Luoyang. Heeding Fu Gu and Zhong Hui, he turned his own command about and marched on the capital. Once in Luoyang he rose to Great General with concurrent Palace Attendant, overall military command, control of the Secretariat, regency powers, and the right to wear sword and shoes in the throne hall. He declined repeatedly and would not take the posts.
7
甘露元年春正月,加大都督,奏事不名。 夏六月,進封高都公,地方七百里,加之九錫,假斧鉞,進號大都督,劍履上殿。 又固辭不受。 秋八月庚申,加假黃鉞,增封三縣。
In the first month of spring, the first year of Ganlu, he was raised to Grand Area Commander-in-Chief and allowed to memorialize without signing his name. In the sixth month of summer he was made Duke of Gaodu with a domain seven hundred li square, granted the nine insignia and the ritual axes, promoted to Grand Commander-in-Chief, and again allowed sword and shoes in the hall. Again he refused. On gengshen in the eighth month of autumn he received the yellow yue and three more counties were added to his fief.
8
二年夏五月辛未,鎮東大將軍諸葛誕殺揚州刺史樂綝,以淮南作亂,遣子靚為質于吳以請救。 議者請速伐之,帝曰:「誕以毌丘儉輕疾傾覆,今必外連吳寇,此為變大而遲。 吾當與四方同力,以全勝制之。」 乃表曰:「昔黥布叛逆,漢祖親征; 隗囂違戾,光武西伐; 烈祖明皇帝乘輿仍出:皆所以奮揚赫斯,震耀威武也。 陛下宜暫臨戎,使將士得憑天威。 今諸軍可五十萬,以眾擊寡,蔑不克矣。」 秋七月,奉天子及皇太后東征,徵兵青、徐、荊、豫,分取關中游軍,皆會淮北。 師次於項,假廷尉何楨節,使淮南,宣慰將士,申明逆順,示以誅賞。 甲戌,帝進軍丘頭。 吳使文欽、唐咨、全端、全懌等三萬餘人來救誕,諸將逆擊,不能禦。 將軍李廣臨敵不進,泰山太守常時稱疾不出,並斬之以徇。 八月,吳將硃異帥兵萬餘人,留輜重于都陸,輕兵至黎漿。 監軍石苞、袞州刺史州泰禦之,異退。 泰山太守胡烈以奇兵襲都陸,焚其糧運。 苞、泰復進擊異,大破之。 異之餘卒餒甚,食葛葉而遁,吳人殺異。 帝曰:「異不得至壽春,非其罪也,而吳人殺之,適以謝壽春而堅誕意,使其猶望救耳。 若其不爾,彼當突圍,決一旦之命。 或謂大軍不能久,省食減口,冀有他變。 料賊之情,不出此三者。 今當多方以亂之,備其越逸,此勝計也。」 因命合圍,分遣羸疾就穀淮北,稟軍士大豆,人三升。 欽聞之,果喜。 帝愈羸形以示之,多縱反間,揚言吳救方至。 誕等益寬恣食,俄而城中乏糧。 石苞、王基並請攻之,帝曰:「誕之逆謀,非一朝一夕也,聚糧完守,外結吳人,自謂足據淮南。 欽既同惡相濟,必不便走。 今若急攻之,損遊軍之力。 外寇卒至,表裏受敵,此危道也。 今三叛相聚於孤城之中,天其或者將使同戮。 吾當以長策縻之,但堅守三面。 若賊陸道而來,軍糧必少,吾以遊兵輕騎絕其轉輸,可不戰而破外賊。 外賊破,欽等必成擒矣。」 全懌母,孫權女也,得罪于吳,全端兄子禕及儀奉其母來奔。 儀兄靜時在壽春,用鐘會計,作禕、儀書以譎靜。 靜兄弟五人帥其眾來降,城中大駭。
On xinwei in the fifth month of summer, the second year, Zhuge Dan, Grand General Who Guards the East, murdered Yangzhou Inspector Yue Lin, rebelled in Huainan, and sent his son Zhuge Jing east as a hostage to beg Wu for troops. Counselors urged a swift strike, but Sima Zhao said, "Zhuge Dan watched Guanqiu Jian rush to ruin; he will league himself with Wu. That makes his revolt broad-based and slow to ripen. I will muster every quarter of the realm and grind him down with overwhelming force." He therefore memorialized the throne: "When Qing Bu rose against the Han, Gaozu took the field in person; when Wei Xiao defied the court, Guangwu marched west against him; and our own Emperor Ming rode out again and again—all to show the majesty of the throne and the edge of Wei arms. Your Majesty should join the host for a time, that every soldier may fight under Heaven’s own banner. We can put half a million in the field; mass against a handful cannot fail. In the seventh month of autumn he escorted the emperor and the empress dowager east, drafted men from Qing, Xu, Jing, and Yu, peeled mobile units from Guanzhong, and massed the whole host north of the Huai. The army halted at Xiang. He lent his baton to Commandant of Justice He Zhen and sent him through Huainan to hearten the troops, spell out loyalty and treason, and publish the price of each. On jiaxu he moved his headquarters forward to Qiutou. Wu threw thirty thousand men under Wen Qin, Tang Zi, Quan Duan, and Quan Yi to Zhuge Dan’s relief; Wei’s generals met them but could not hold the line. General Li Guang froze before the enemy; Taishan’s prefect Chang Shi pleaded sickness and stayed in his yamen—both were executed as a warning. In the eighth month Wu’s Zhu Yi brought ten thousand men, parked his supply train at Dulu, and pushed light troops up to Lijiang. Army Supervisor Shi Bao and Yanzhou Inspector Zhou Tai checked him, and Zhu Yi fell back. Taishan’s prefect Hu Lie slipped a column to Dulu, torched Zhu Yi’s grain carts, and cut his supply line. Shi Bao and Zhou Tai pressed the attack and shattered Zhu Yi’s command. His survivors starved until they chewed kudzu leaves on the retreat; Wu’s court then executed Zhu Yi for the defeat. Sima Zhao observed that Zhu Yi never reached Shouchun through no fault of his own, yet Wu executed him—an offering to placate Shouchun that only steels Zhuge Dan’s hope of relief. Otherwise they would have tried to cut their way out and hazard everything on one dawn. Some think we cannot keep this siege and ration their food and ours, waiting for fortune to turn. The enemy’s mind will move along one of those three tracks—no more. We should confuse them on every front and block any breakout—that is how we win. He ordered the ring closed, sent the sick and feeble to draw grain north of the Huai, and issued each soldier three sheng of beans. Wen Qin heard the news and crowed with delight. Sima Zhao played up his army’s hunger, sowed a net of false rumors, and let word spread that Wu’s relief fleet was almost here. Zhuge Dan’s men relaxed and ate their stores freely—then suddenly the granaries inside the walls ran dry. Shi Bao and Wang Ji begged leave to storm the walls, but Sima Zhao said, "Zhuge Dan did not hatch this plot overnight; he stocked grain, shored his defenses, and leagued with Wu because he believed he could hold the Huai basin. Wen Qin is tied to him in guilt; neither will slip away easily. A hasty assault would only waste our mobile columns. If Wu struck while we were entangled, we would be caught front and rear—that is the road to disaster. The three traitors are bottled in one town; Heaven may mean to destroy them in a single stroke. I will leash them with patience and seal three faces of the walls. If they march overland their baggage train will be thin; our flying columns can sever it and break the relief host without a pitched battle. Break the relief army and Wen Qin is ours for the taking." Quan Yi’s mother was a daughter of Sun Quan; out of favor in Wu, she was escorted to the Wei lines by two nephews of Quan Duan. Quan Jing was still in Shouchun with Zhuge Dan; Zhong Hui forged letters in the names of the defectors to bait him. Quan Jing and four brothers brought their followers over the wall, and panic swept the city.
9
三年春正月壬寅,誕、欽等出攻長圍,諸軍逆擊,走之。 初,誕、欽內不相協,及至窮蹙,轉相疑貳。 會欽計事與誕忤,誕手刃殺欽。 欽子鴦攻誕,不克,逾城降。 以為將軍,封侯,使鴦巡城而呼。 帝見城上持弓者不發,謂諸將曰:「可攻矣!」 二月乙酉,攻而拔之,斬誕,夷三族。 吳將唐咨、孫彌、徐韶等帥其屬皆降,表加爵位,稟其餒疾。 或言吳兵必不為用,請坑之。 帝曰:「就令亡還,適見中國之弘耳。」 於是徙之三河。 夏四月,歸於京師,魏帝命改丘頭曰武丘,以旌武功。 五月,天子以并州之太原上党西河樂平新興雁門、司州之河東平陽八郡,地方七百里,封帝為晉公,加九錫,進位相國,晉國置官司焉。 九讓,乃止。 於是增邑萬戶,食三縣,諸子之無爵者皆封列侯。 秋七月,奏錄先世名臣元功大勳之子了,隨才敘用。
On renyin in the first month of spring, the third year, Zhuge Dan and Wen Qin sallied against the outer stockade; Wei’s lines threw them back in disorder. Dan and Qin had never trusted each other; under the press of the siege their alliance curdled into mutual suspicion. At a council Wen Qin crossed Zhuge Dan, who drew his sword and cut him down on the spot. Wen Yang struck at Dan, failed, and climbed the wall to surrender to Wei. Sima Zhao named him a general and a marquis and sent him along the parapet to shout defiance at the defenders. When he saw the archers on the battlements stand idle, he told his generals the moment had come to storm the walls! On yiyou in the second month the city fell; Zhuge Dan was executed and his kin to the third degree extirpated. Wu’s Tang Zi, Sun Mi, Xu Shao, and their commands yielded; Sima Zhao memorialized for titles for them and saw to the hungry and wounded. Some urged that Wu soldiers could never be trusted and should be buried alive. Sima Zhao replied that even if they drifted home to Wu, it would only advertise the breadth of the Middle Kingdom’s mercy. He resettled them in the Three Rivers region instead. In the fourth month of summer he returned to Luoyang, and the Wei emperor renamed Qiutou as Wuqiu to commemorate the victory. In the fifth month the emperor granted Sima Zhao eight commanderies—six from Bingzhou plus Hedong and Pingyang from Sizhou—seven hundred li square, raised him to Duke of Jin with the nine gifts and the chancellorship, and authorized a full Jin administration. He demurred nine times before the offer was withdrawn. As consolation his fief rose by ten thousand households across three counties, and every son without a title was made a full marquis. In the seventh month of autumn he memorialized to enroll the sons of past worthies and of families that had earned great merit at the founding, and to place them according to ability.
10
四年夏六月,分荊州置二都督,王基鎮新野,州泰鎮襄陽。 使石苞都督揚州,陳騫都督豫州,鐘毓都督徐州,宋鈞監青州諸軍事。
In the sixth month of summer, the fourth year, Jingzhou was split into two commands: Wang Ji took Xinye and Zhou Ta took Xiangyang. He named Shi Bao over Yangzhou, Chen Qian over Yuzhou, Zhong Yu over Xuzhou, and Song Jun to oversee Qingzhou.
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景元元年夏四月,天子復命帝爵秩如前,又讓不受。 天子既以帝三世宰輔,政非己出,情不能安,又慮廢辱,將臨軒召百僚而行放黜。 五月戊子夜,使冗從僕射李昭等發甲於陵雲台,召侍中王沈、散騎常侍王業、尚書王經,出懷中黃素詔示之,戒嚴俟旦。 沈、業馳告於帝,帝召護軍賈充等為之備。 天子知事泄,帥左右攻相府,稱有所討,敢有動者族誅。 相府兵將止不敢戰,賈充叱諸將曰:「公畜養汝輩,正為今日耳!」 太子舍人成濟抽戈犯蹕,刺之,刃出於背,天子崩于車中。 帝召百僚謀其故,僕射陳泰不至。 帝遣其舅荀顗輿致之,延于曲室,謂曰:「玄伯,天下其如我何?」 泰曰:「惟腰斬賈充,微以謝天下。」 帝曰:「卿更思其次。」 泰曰:「但見其上。 不見其次。」 於是歸罪成濟而斬之。 太后令曰:「昔漢昌邑王以罪發為庶人,此兒亦宜以庶人禮葬之,使外內咸知其所行也。」 殺尚書王經,貳於我也。 庚寅,帝奏曰:「故高貴鄉公帥從駕人兵,拔刃鳴鼓向臣所,臣懼兵刃相接,即敕將士不得有所傷害,違令者以軍法從事。 騎督成倅弟太子舍人濟入兵陣,傷公至隕。 臣聞人臣之節,有死無貳,事上之義,不敢逃難。 前者變故卒至,禍同發機,誠欲委身守死,惟命所裁。 然惟本謀,乃欲上危皇太后,傾覆宗廟。 臣忝當元輔,義在安國,即駱驛申敕,不得迫近輿輦。 而濟妄入陣間,以致大變,哀怛痛恨,五內摧裂。 濟幹國亂紀,罪不容誅,輒收濟家屬,付廷尉。」 太后從之,夷濟三族。 與公卿議,立燕王宇之子常道鄉公璜為帝。 六月,改元。 丙辰,天子進帝為相國,封晉公,增十郡,加九錫如初,群從子弟未侯者封亭侯,賜錢千萬,帛萬匹。 固讓,乃止。 冬十一月,吳吉陽督蕭慎以書詣鎮東將軍石苞偽降,求迎。 帝知其詐也,使苞外示迎之,而內為之備。
In the fourth month of summer, Jingyuan year 1, the emperor repeated the old offer of rank and stipend; Sima Zhao refused once more. Cao Mao saw three generations of Simas hold the real power; unable to bear a throne that was hollow, and fearing deposition, he prepared to call the high ministers to the front hall and strike first. On the night of wuzi in the fifth month he had Li Zhao and others arm the guards at Lingyun Terrace, summoned Wang Chen, Wang Ye, and Director Wang Jing, drew a yellow silk edict from his breast, showed it to them, and ordered martial law until dawn. Wang Chen and Wang Ye galloped to Sima Zhao with the news; he called Jia Chong and other guards to readiness. When Cao Mao saw the plot had leaked, he led his attendants against the chancellor’s palace, shouting a punitive purpose and threatening clan extinction on anyone who stirred. The chancellor’s guards hung back until Jia Chong roared at them that the regent had fed them all these years for exactly this hour! Cheng Ji, a cadet of the heir apparent’s household, drove his spear through the imperial train; the blade passed clean through Cao Mao’s back, and the emperor died in his chariot. Sima Zhao assembled the ministers to account for the killing, but Vice Director Chen Tai stayed away. He sent his uncle Xun Yi in a litter to fetch Chen Tai into a side room and asked, "Xuanbo, what is the realm going to say of me now?" Chen Tai answered, "Only cutting Jia Chong in two at the waist would begin to appease the empire." Sima Zhao said, "Think of something short of that." Chen Tai said he saw nothing beyond that measure. He could not name a lesser remedy. Sima Zhao pinned the deed on Cheng Ji and had him executed. The Dowager issued an order that when Han deposed the king of Changyi, he was buried as a commoner, and that this boy should be buried likewise, that court and countryside might know his crimes. Execute Director Wang Jing for disloyalty to me. On gengyin Sima Zhao memorialized that the late Duke of Gaoguixiang had led his escort with naked blades and beating drums against the chancellor’s residence; fearing a melee, he had ordered his men not to harm the sovereign and had threatened military law on anyone who disobeyed. Cavalry inspector Cheng Cui’s brother Cheng Ji, a cadet of the heir’s household, plunged into the ranks and mortally wounded the duke. A minister owes single-minded loyalty unto death and must not shrink from danger in serving his lord. When the crisis struck like a sprung trap, I was ready to lay down my life and await Heaven’s verdict. Yet the plot itself aimed to threaten the empress dowager and overturn the dynastic shrines. As chief minister my duty was to steady the state; I sent order after order that no one press the imperial carriages. Cheng Ji broke into the ranks on his own and brought on catastrophe; my grief and rage tear me apart within. Cheng Ji disturbed the state and broke every law; his crime exceeds death itself—I have seized his kin and remanded them to the Commandant of Justice. The Dowager approved, and Cheng Ji’s kin to the third degree were wiped out. With the high ministers he agreed to set Cao Huang, the Duke of Changdaoxiang and son of Prince Yu of Yan, on the throne. In the sixth month the era name was changed. On bingchen the emperor named Sima Zhao chancellor and Duke of Jin, added ten commanderies, renewed the nine gifts, made every cousin and nephew not yet titled a village marquis, and granted ten million cash and ten thousand bolts of silk. He declined until the court let the matter drop. In the eleventh winter month Wu’s Jiyang garrison commander Xiao Shen wrote to Shi Bao pretending to defect and asking for an escort. Sima Zhao saw the ruse and told Shi Bao to feign acceptance while laying a trap within.
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二年秋八月甲寅,天子使太尉高柔授帝相國印綬,司空鄭沖致晉公茅土九錫,固辭。
On jiayin in the eighth month of autumn, the second year, Gao Rou brought the chancellor’s seal and Zheng Chong the fief-map and nine gifts; Sima Zhao refused them again.
13
三年夏四月,肅慎來獻楛矢、石砮、弓甲、貂皮等,天子命歸於大將軍府。
In the fourth month of summer, the third year, Sushen envoys brought birch arrows, stone heads, arms, and sable skins; the emperor directed the tribute to the grand general’s residence.
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四年春二月丁丑,天子復命帝如前,又固讓。 三月,詔大將軍府增置司馬一人,從事中郎二人,舍人十人。 夏,帝將伐蜀,乃謀眾曰:「自定壽春已來,息役六年,治兵繕甲,以擬二虜。 略計取吳,作戰船,通水道,當用千餘萬功,此十萬人百數十日事也。 又南土下濕,必生疾疫。 今宜先取蜀,三年之後,在巴蜀順流之勢,水陸並進,此滅虞定虢,吞韓並魏之勢也。 計蜀戰士九萬,居守成都及備他郡不下四萬,然則餘眾不過五萬。 今絆姜維於遝中,使不得東顧,直指駱穀,出其空虛之地,以襲漢中。 彼若嬰城守險,兵勢必散,首尾離絕。 舉大眾以屠城,散銳卒以略野,劍閣不暇守險,關頭不能自存。 以劉禪之暗,而邊城外破,士女內震,其亡可知也。」 征西將軍鄧艾以為未有釁,屢陳異議。 帝患之,使主簿師纂為艾司馬以喻之,艾乃奉命。 於是征四方之兵十八萬,使鄧艾自狄道攻姜維於遝中,雍州刺史諸葛緒自祁山軍于武街,絕維歸路,鎮西將軍鐘會帥前將軍李輔、征蜀護軍胡烈等自駱穀襲漢中。 秋八月,軍發洛陽,大賚將士,陳師誓眾。 將軍鄧敦謂蜀未可討,帝斬以徇。 九月,又使天水太守王頎攻維營,隴西太守牽弘邀其前,金城太守楊頎趣甘松。 鐘會分為二隊,入自斜谷,使李輔圍王含于樂城,又使步將易愷攻蔣斌于漢城。 會直指陽安,護軍胡烈攻陷關城。 姜維聞之,引還,王頎追敗維于強川。 維與張翼、廖化合軍守劍閣,鐘會攻之。 冬十月,天子以諸侯獻捷交至,乃申前命曰:
On dingchou in the second month of spring, the fourth year, the emperor repeated the old honors; Sima Zhao refused again. In the third month an edict added one major, two retainers, and ten gentlemen to the grand general’s staff. That summer, as he readied the Shu expedition, he told his council, "Six years have passed since Shouchun fell—six years we have spent forging arms to meet Wu and Shu. A Wu campaign—building hulls and dredging channels—would swallow ten million man-days; a hundred thousand laborers would need months on end. The southern marshes breed sickness; an army would wilt there. Better to take Shu first; three years later, riding the Yangzi current from Ba and Shu, we can move by water and land together—the old stratagem of swallowing the neighbor to fatten the conqueror. Shu lists ninety thousand troops, but forty thousand must hold Chengdu and the outlying commanderies—no more than fifty thousand can meet us in the field. Pin Jiang Wei in Taozhong so he cannot shift east, then drive straight through Luogu into the empty heart of Hanzhong. If they hug the walls and cling to the defiles, their strength will splinter and van detach from van. Mass the army to storm the towns, send flying columns to scour the open country, and Jiange will have no time to hold the narrows while the Guan passes collapse on their own. Liu Shan is a dull tool; once the frontier cracks and panic seizes the capital, his fall is a foregone conclusion." Deng Ai, the western commander, argued there was no opening yet and kept filing objections. Annoyed by Deng Ai’s foot-dragging, Sima Zhao made his chief clerk Shi Zuan Deng’s deputy to talk sense into him; Deng then accepted the order. He raised a hundred and eighty thousand men from every quarter: Deng Ai moved from Didao against Jiang Wei in Taozhong; Yongzhou Inspector Zhuge Xu marched from Qishan to Wujie to sever Jiang Wei’s retreat; Zhong Hui, General Who Guards the West, led Li Fu, Hu Lie, and the rest through Luogu against Hanzhong. In the eighth month of autumn the host left Luoyang after rich gifts to the ranks, a full review, and oaths to the army. General Deng Dun said Shu was not ripe for attack; Sima Zhao struck off his head as a warning. In the ninth month he sent Tianshui’s Wang Qi against Jiang Wei’s camp, Longxi’s Qian Hong to block his van, and Jincheng’s Yang Qi toward Gansong. Zhong Hui split his force, entered by Xie Valley, set Li Fu to invest Wang Han at Lecheng, and sent Yi Kai against Jiang Bin at Hancheng. Zhong Hui drove straight on Yang’an while Protector Hu Lie stormed the pass fort. Jiang Wei wheeled about; Wang Qi ran him down at Qiangchuan and broke his column. Jiang Wei joined Zhang Yi and Liao Hua to hold Jiange; Zhong Hui laid siege. In the tenth winter month, as victory dispatches from the lords piled in, the emperor renewed his earlier charge, saying:
15
朕以寡德,獲承天序,嗣我祖宗之洪烈。 遭家多難,不明於訓。 曩者奸逆屢興,方寇內侮,大懼淪喪四海,以墮三祖之弘業。 惟公經德履哲,明允廣深,迪宣武文,世作保傅,以輔乂皇家。 櫛風沐雨,周旋征伐,劬勞王室,二十有餘載。 毗翼前人,乃斷大政,克厭不端,維安社稷。 暨儉、欽之亂,公綏援有眾,分命興師,統紀有方,用緝寧淮浦。 其後巴蜀屢侵,西土不靖,公奇畫指授,制勝千里。 是以段谷之戰,乘釁大捷,斬將搴旗,效首萬計。 孫峻猾夏,致寇徐方,戎車首路,威靈先邁,黃鉞未啟,鯨鯢竄跡。 孫壹構隙,自相疑阻,幽鑒遠照,奇策洞微,遠人歸命,作籓南夏,爰授銳卒,畢力戎行。 暨諸葛誕,滔天作逆,稱兵揚楚,欽、咨逋罪,同惡相濟,帥其蝥賊,以入壽春,憑阻淮山,敢距王命。 公躬擐甲胄,龔行在罰,玄謀廟算,遵養時晦。 奇兵震擊,而硃異摧破; 神變應機,而全琮稽服; 取亂攻昧,而高墉不守。 兼九伐之弘略,究五兵之正度,用能戰不窮武,而大敵殲潰; 旗不再麾,而元憝授首。 收勍吳之雋臣,系亡命之逋虜。 交臂屈膝,委命下吏,俘馘十萬積屍成京。 雪宗廟之滯恥,拯兆庶之艱難。 掃平區域,信威吳會,遂戢干戈,靖我疆土,天地鬼神,罔不獲乂。 乃者王室之難,變起蕭牆,賴公之靈,弘濟艱險。 宗廟危而獲安,社稷墜而復寧。 忠格皇天,功濟六合。 是用疇咨古訓,稽諸典籍,命公崇位相國,加於群後,啟土參墟,封以晉域。 所以方軌齊魯,翰屏帝室。 而公遠蹈謙損,深履沖讓,固辭策命,至於八九。 朕重違讓德,抑禮虧制,以彰公志,於今四載。 上闕在昔建侯之典,下違兆庶具瞻之望。
We, though lacking in virtue, have received the Mandate and carry forward the great enterprise of our forebears. The house has suffered repeated trials, and We have not been equal to the lessons of rule. Traitors rose again and again while enemies pressed inward; We feared the realm would slip away and the magnificent work of the three founders come to nothing. You embody virtue and wisdom, clear-sighted and steadfast, carrying forward the civil and martial legacy; generation on generation your house has been tutor and bulwark to the throne. Through wind and rain you have marched and fought for the royal house more than twenty years. You stood beside Our predecessors, settled the great affairs of state, crushed every irregularity, and steadied the altars. When Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin rose, you calmed the armies, issued orders to march, kept discipline, and brought quiet again to the banks of the Huai. When Ba and Shu raided again and again and the west would not stay still, your stratagems directed the hosts and won victories a thousand leagues away. Hence at Duangu you seized the opening, won a crushing victory, struck down generals and hauled off their banners, and piled counted heads by the myriad. When Sun Jun troubled the heartland and raided Xu province, your host moved first and dread went before it; the golden yue had not yet been raised and the great beasts of Wu were already in flight. When Sun Yi’s faction turned on itself in mutual suspicion, your far-sighted plans split their counsels; distant peoples pledged allegiance and became a screen for the south, and you armed picked columns to finish the work in the field. Then Zhuge Dan rose in monstrous revolt, called arms along the Yangzi and Huai, drew Wen Qin and Tang Zi into his guilt, marched his rabble into Shouchun, and behind the Huai ranges defied the royal command. You girded on mail yourself and led the punitive host; deep counsel from the temple and patience while Heaven’s hour was still dark. A sudden blow shattered Zhu Yi’s army; timely shifts of plan brought Quan Cong to humble submission; you struck a foe in chaos and twilight until his high walls could not stand. You wielded the grand strategy of the nine campaigns and the full measure of the five arms, so that battle did not drain the army yet the great foe was wiped out; the standard scarcely had to wave again before the arch-traitor lost his head. You took Wu’s able ministers captive and roped up every runaway. They crossed arms, bent the knee, and threw themselves on your mercy; the slain and captive ran past a hundred thousand until corpses heaped like a hill. You washed away the lingering shame of the shrines and lifted the people out of mortal danger. You swept the land clear, carried awe to the Wu region, then put the weapons away and stilled Our borders until Heaven, earth, and the shades alike knew peace. When calamity struck within the palace screen, it was your guiding hand that carried the throne through the peril. The shrines tottered yet stood; the altars swayed yet steadied again. Your loyalty reaches to Heaven; your service braces the whole world. We have weighed the ancient precedents and the classics: We name you chancellor, set you above the other lords, and open the land of Sanxu as the state of Jin. Thus you stand beside the great fiefs of Qi and Lu as a shield for the throne. Yet you have pressed humility to the utmost, refusing the patent of investiture eight or nine times running. We have long bent the rites to honor your modesty—four years now—yet the realm still lacks the fief your virtue deserves. Above, We fail the ancient model of enfeoffing merit; below, We frustrate the people’s universal expectation.
16
惟公嚴虔王度,闡濟大猷,敦尚純樸,省繇節用,務穡勸分,九野康乂。 耆叟荷崇養之德,鰥寡蒙矜恤之施,仁風興於中夏,流澤布於遐荒。 是以東夷西戎,南蠻北狄,狂狡貪悍,世為寇讎者,皆感義懷惠,款塞內附,或委命納貢,或求置官司。 九服之外,絕域之氓,曠世所希至者,咸浮海來享,鼓舞王德,前後至者八百七十餘萬口。 海隅幽裔,無思不服; 雖西旅遠貢,越裳九譯,義無以逾。 維翼朕躬,下匡萬國,思靖殊方,寧濟八極。 以庸蜀未賓,蠻荊作猾,潛謀獨斷,整軍經武。 簡練將帥,授以成策,始踐賊境,應時摧陷。 狂狡奔北,首尾震潰,禽其戎帥,屠其城邑。 巴漢震疊,江源雲徹,地平天成,誠在斯舉。 公有濟六合之勳,加以茂德,實總百揆,允厘庶政。 敦五品以崇仁,恢六典以敷訓。 而靖恭夙夜,勞謙昧旦,雖尚父之左右文武,周公之勤勞王家,罔以加焉。
You uphold the royal statutes, open great policy, prize simplicity, cut levies and waste, urge farming and fair shares, until the nine provinces thrive in peace. The aged enjoy your care, the lone and widowed your pity; a humane wind stirs in the heartland and your bounty reaches the farthest marches. East and west, north and south, tribes long our foes now feel your justice and kindness; they crowd the passes with tribute or beg for offices under the throne. Beyond the nine circuits, peoples no envoy had reached for ages sail the seas to pay homage; in all, more than eight million seven hundred thousand souls have come. Even the hidden corners of the coast bend the knee without prompting; not since the Western Hosts or the nine-tongued envoys of Yuechang has fealty run deeper. You brace Our person and steady every kingdom, seeking peace in strange lands and calm to the ends of the earth. Because Shu and Jing still withhold allegiance, you laid secret plans, mustered the host, and set the army in order. You picked and trained the commanders, gave them the finished plan, and the moment they set foot in enemy ground the foe collapsed. The enemy broke and ran; van and rear alike shattered; you took their generals and stormed their towns. Ba and Han trembled, the river’s source opened like parting clouds; earth and Heaven align—and the deed is yours. You have saved the realm and added brilliant virtue; you truly hold every rein of state and set all affairs straight. You nurture the five relationships toward humanity and spread the six statutes as the model for all. Yet you rise in still reverence before dawn, humble in every task—not even the Grand Duke’s pairing of civil and martial, nor the Duke of Zhou’s zeal for the house, surpasses you.
17
昔先王選建明德,光啟諸侯,體國經野,方制五等。 所以籓翼王畿,垂祚百世也。 故齊魯之封,于周為弘,山川土田,邦畿七百,官司典策,制殊群後。 惠襄之難,桓文以翼戴之勞,猶受錫命之禮,咸用光疇大德,作范於後。 惟公功邁於前烈,而賞闕於舊式,百辟於邑,人神同恨焉,豈可以公謙沖而久淹弘典哉? 今以并州之太原上党西河樂平新興雁門、司州之河東平陽弘農、雍州之馮翊凡十郡,南至於華,北至於陘,東至於壺口,西逾於河,提封之數,方七百里,皆晉之故壤,唐叔受之,世作盟主,實紀綱諸夏,用率舊職。 爰胙茲土,封公為晉公。 命使持節、兼司徒、司隸校尉陔即授印綬策書,金獸符第一至第五,竹使符第一至第十。 錫茲玄土,苴以白茅,建爾國家,以永籓魏室。
The ancient kings chose men of bright virtue, opened fiefs for the lords, mapped state and wilderness, and fixed the five orders of nobility. Thus they shielded the royal domain and laid up fortune for a hundred generations. The grants to Qi and Lu were the greatest of Zhou: seven hundred li of hills, streams, and fields, with statutes and offices that set them apart from every other fief. When Huan and Wen saved the house of Zhou, they too received the nine gifts, that their great merit might shine as a pattern for posterity. Your deeds outshine the old exemplars, yet the old scale of reward has been withheld; lords and spirits alike chafe—can We forever hide the great statutes behind your modesty? We now grant ten commanderies—six of Bingzhou plus Hedong, Pingyang, Hongnong, and Fengyi—from Mount Hua in the south to Xing in the north, from Hukou in the east to the great River in the west, seven hundred li square: the ancient domain of Jin where Tang Shu once ruled as covenant lord of the Xia states. Take again that old charge. We therefore invest this soil and name you Duke of Jin. We send a credential bearer, concurrent Minister of Education and metropolitan commandant, to hand you seal, ribbon, patent, gold beast tallies one through five, and bamboo tallies one through ten. We grant you this black earth bound with white rushes; found your state and be a lasting shield for Wei.
18
昔在周召,並以公侯,入作保傅。 其在近代,酂侯蕭何,實以相國,光尹漢朝。 隨時之制,禮亦宜之。 今進公位為相國,加綠綟綬。 又加公九錫,其敬聽後命。 以公思弘大猷,崇正典禮,儀刑作範,旁訓四方,是用錫公大輅、戎輅各一,玄牡二駟。 公道和陰陽,敬授人時,嗇夫反本,農殖維豐,是用錫公袞冕之服,赤舄副焉。 公光敷顯德,惠下以和,敬信思順,庶尹允諧,是用錫公軒懸之樂、六佾之舞。 公鎮靖宇宙,翼播聲教,海外懷服,荒裔款附,殊方馳義,諸夏順軌,是用錫公硃戶以居。 公簡賢料材,營求俊逸,爰升多士,置彼周行,是用錫公納陛以登。 公嚴恭寅畏,底平四國,式遏寇虐,苛厲不作,是用錫公武賁之士三百人。 公明慎用刑,簡恤大中,章厥天威,以糾不虔,是用錫公鈇鉞各一。 公爰整六軍,典司征伐,犯命淩正,乃維誅殛,是用錫公彤弓一、彤矢百,玈弓十、玈矢千。 公饗祀蒸蒸,孝思維則,篤誠之至,通於神明,是用錫公秬鬯一卣,圭瓚副焉。 晉國置官司以下,率由舊式。
Of old the dukes of Zhou and Shao entered court as dukes and marquises to serve as regents. In later ages Marquis Xiao He as chancellor lit the Han court with his rule. Rites shift with the times, and this grant fits the hour. We now advance you to chancellor and add the green-and-black ribbon of that office. We add the nine gifts; hear now the items that follow. Because you widen great policy, uphold the rites, and set the pattern for the four quarters, We grant you the state chariot and the war chariot, each with a team of four black stallions. Because you harmonize Yin and Yang, set the calendar, and send farmers back to the soil until the harvests run rich, We grant the sacral robes and crown with the red court shoes. Because your virtue shines abroad and every office moves in harmony, We grant you the graded bells and the six rows of dancers. Because you still the world and carry civilization to the seas, until distant lands submit, We grant vermilion lacquer for your gates. Because you choose the able and set them in the king’s highway, We grant the inner stair by which you mount the hall. Because you awe the four quarters and stop cruelty without harshness, We grant three hundred picked guards of the martial escort. Because you use punishments with care and display Heaven’s awe against the impious, We grant the execution axe and the ceremonial yue. Because you command the six hosts and strike down every violator of the king’s command, We grant the red bow with a hundred arrows and ten black bows with a thousand shafts. Because your ancestral rites rise in steam and your filial heart moves the spirits, We grant a jar of dark ale with the jade libation spoon. The offices of the state of Jin shall follow the old forms.
19
往欽哉! 祗服朕命,弘敷訓典,光澤庶方,永終爾明德,丕顯餘一人之休命。
Go—and be reverent! Accept Our charge, spread the teaching, bring light to every quarter, let your bright virtue endure, and magnify this sovereign’s gracious word.
20
公卿將校皆詣府喻旨,帝以禮辭讓。 司空鄭沖率群官勸進曰:「伏見嘉命顯至,竊聞明公固讓,沖等眷眷,實有愚心。 以為聖王作制,百代同風,褒德賞功,有自來矣。 昔伊尹,有莘氏之媵臣耳,一佐成湯,遂荷阿衡之號。 周公藉已成之勢,據既安之業,光宅曲阜,奄有龜蒙。 呂尚,磻溪之漁者也,一朝指麾,乃封營丘。 自是以來,功薄而賞厚者,不可勝數,然賢哲之士,猶以為美談。 況自先相國以來,世有明德,翼輔魏室,以綏天下,朝無秕政,人無謗言。 前者明公西征靈州,北臨沙漠,榆中以西,望風震服,羌戎來馳,回首內向,東誅叛逆,全軍獨克。 禽闔閭之將,虜輕銳之卒以萬萬計,威加南海,名懾三越,宇內康寧,苛慝不作。 是以時俗畏懷,東夷獻舞。 故聖上覽乃昔以來禮典舊章,開國光宅,顯茲太原。 明公宜承奉聖旨,受茲介福,允當天人。 元功盛勳,光光如彼; 國土嘉祚,巍巍如此。 內外協同,靡愆靡違。 由斯征伐,則可朝服濟江,掃除吳會,西塞江源,望祀岷山。 回戈弭節,以麾天下,遠無不服,邇無不肅。 令大魏之德,光于唐虞; 明公盛勳,超于桓文。 然後臨滄海而謝支伯,登箕山而揖許由,豈不盛乎! 至公至平,誰與為鄰,何必勤勤小讓也哉。」 帝乃受命。 十一月,鄧艾帥萬餘人自陰平逾絕險至江由,破蜀將諸葛瞻於綿竹,斬瞻,傳首。 進軍雒縣,劉禪降。 天子命晉公以相國總百揆,於是上節傳,去侍中、大都督、錄尚書之號焉。 表鄧艾為太尉,鐘會為司徒。 會潛謀叛逆,因密使譖艾。
The high ministers and commanders crowded his gate with the edict; he declined again by formal courtesy. Zheng Chong led the officials in a memorial of urging that the gracious command had come yet they heard the lord refuse, and that they could not rest for worry. The sage kings set precedent for every age: to honor merit is the way of antiquity itself. Yi Yin began as a mere attendant of Youxin; one service to Tang won him the name Ah Heng. The Duke of Zhou took power already won and a realm already calm, then made Qufu his seat and held Gui and Meng. Lü Shang was a fisherman by Pan Creek; one morning’s command won him Yingqiu. Since then thin merit has often drawn rich reward—yet wise men still praise those tales. From your grandfather the chancellor onward, each generation has aided Wei with shining virtue until the court is clean of chaff and the people free of slander. You marched west to Lingzhou and north to the sands; west of Yuzhong every tribe trembled into submission; Qiang and Rong wheeled their horses toward the throne; in the east you cut down rebels alone and whole. You took Wu’s generals and tens of thousands of their best troops, spread terror to the Southern Sea and the three Yues, and brought peace so that cruelty died away. The age stands in awe; even the eastern Yi send dancers to your court. Therefore the sage Son of Heaven has weighed the old statutes and opened a bright fief for you at Taiyuan. You should accept the imperial word, take this great blessing, and satisfy both Heaven and the people. Your founding merit shines so bright; the fief and fortune offered you stand so high. Within and without all move as one, without fault or breach. With that you may cross the Yangzi in court dress, sweep Wu clean, seal the river’s upper course, and offer the rite on Mount Min. Then lay by spear and still the reins to command the realm until the far submit and the near stand in awe. Great Wei’s virtue will outshine Tang and Yu; and your merit will rise above Huan and Wen. Then you might stand by the eastern sea as kings of old did before worthy recluses, or climb Mount Ji to salute Xu You—what could be more glorious! You have reached perfect equity—none can stand beside you—so why cling to these small courtesies of refusal? Sima Zhao then accepted. In the eleventh month Deng Ai took ten thousand men over the sheer track from Yinping to Jiangyou, crushed Zhuge Zhan at Mianzhu, struck off his head, and sent it east by post. He pushed on to Luo county, and Liu Shan yielded. The emperor named the Duke of Jin chancellor with full authority over the government; Sima Zhao thereupon returned his batons and dropped the concurrent titles of Palace Attendant, Grand Commander-in-Chief, and overseer of the Secretariat. He recommended Deng Ai for Grand Commandant and Zhong Hui for Minister of Education. Zhong Hui plotted revolt in secret and sent agents to traduce Deng Ai.
21
咸熙元年春正月,檻車征艾。 乙丑,帝奉天子西征,次於長安。 是時魏諸王侯悉在鄴城,命從事中郎山濤行軍司事,鎮於鄴,遣護軍賈充持節、督諸軍,據漢中。 鐘會遂反於蜀,監軍衛瓘、右將軍胡烈攻會,斬之。 初,會之伐蜀也,西曹屬邵悌言於帝曰:「鐘會難信,不可令行。」 帝笑曰:「取蜀如指掌,而眾人皆言不可,唯會與吾意同。 滅蜀之後,中國將士,人自思歸,蜀之遺黎,猶懷震恐,縱有異志,無能為也。」 卒如所量。 丙辰,帝至自長安。 三月己卯,進帝爵為王,增封並前二十郡。 夏五月癸未,天子追加舞陽宣文侯為晉宣王,舞陽忠武侯為晉景王。 秋七月,帝奏司空荀顗定禮儀,中護軍賈充正法律,尚書僕射裴秀議官制,太保鄭沖總而裁焉。 始建五等爵。 冬十月丁亥,奏遣吳人相國參軍徐劭、散騎常侍水曹屬孫彧使吳,喻孫皓以平蜀之事,致馬錦等物,以示威懷。 丙午,天子命中撫軍新昌鄉侯炎為晉世子。
In the first month of spring, Xianxi year 1, Deng Ai was summoned back in a prison cart. On yichou he escorted the emperor west and encamped at Chang’an. With every Wei prince gathered at Yecheng, he put Shan Tao in charge of rear-area command there and sent Jia Chong with baton to oversee the armies holding Hanzhong. Zhong Hui rose in Shu; Wei Guan and Hu Lie struck him down and took his head. When Zhong Hui first marched on Shu, Shao Ti of the Western Bureau had warned Sima Zhao that Zhong Hui was not to be trusted and must not be given independent command. Sima Zhao had only smiled and said, "Shu will fall as easily as reading one’s palm, though everyone else doubted—only Zhong Hui shared my view. After Shu fell, every northern soldier would pine for home and the Shu populace would still quake with fear—even if someone harbored treason, he could do nothing with it." Events proved him exactly right. On bingchen he returned from Chang’an to the capital. On jimao in the third month he was raised from duke to king with twenty commanderies in all, old grants and new. On guiwei in the fifth month of summer the emperor posthumously raised Sima Yi to Prince Xuan of Jin and Sima Shi to Prince Jing of Jin. In the seventh month of autumn he charged Xun Yi with the rites, Jia Chong with the laws, Pei Xiu with the bureaucracy, and Zheng Chong as coordinator over all. He began the institution of the five orders of nobility. On dinghai in the tenth winter month he memorialized to send Xu Shao and Sun Yu—Wu natives in his service—to Wu with horses and brocade, to tell Sun Hao of Shu’s fall and to blend threat with kindness. On bingwu the emperor named Sima Yan, the Central Stabilizing General and Marquis of Xinchang township, heir to the duchy of Jin.
22
二年春二月甲辰,朐縣獻靈龜,歸於相府。 夏四月,孫皓使紀陟來聘,且獻方物。 五月,天子命帝冕十有二旒,建天子旌旗,出警入蹕,乘金根車,駕六馬,備五時副車,置旄頭雲罕,樂舞八佾,設鐘虡宮懸,位在燕王上。 進王妃為王后,世子為太子,王女王孫爵命之號皆如帝者之儀。 諸禁網煩苛及法式不便於時者,帝皆奏除之。 晉國置御史大夫、侍中、常侍、尚書、中領軍、衛將軍官。
On jiachen in the second month of spring, the second year, Qu county sent up a sacred tortoise to the chancellor’s residence. In the fourth month of summer Sun Hao sent Ji Zhi on a goodwill embassy with tribute. In the fifth month the emperor granted him the twelve-tassel crown, imperial banners, cleared roads for his comings and goings, the gold-wheeled carriage drawn by six horses, five seasonal escort chariots, yak-tail and cloud banners, eight rows of dancers, bell-chimes in the palace style, and precedence above the Prince of Yan. His consort became queen, his heir crown prince, and the titles for his daughters and grandsons matched those of the imperial house. He memorialized to repeal every harsh prohibition and obsolete statute that burdened the times. The state of Jin was given a full set of offices—censor-in-chief, attendants, secretariat directors, central army supervisor, and general of the guard.
23
秋八月辛卯,帝崩於露寢,時年五十五。 九月癸酉,葬崇陽陵,諡曰文王。 武帝受禪,追尊號曰文皇帝,廟稱太祖。
He died in the open hall on xinmao in the eighth month of autumn, aged fifty-five. On guiyou in the ninth month he was buried at Chongyang Mausoleum with the posthumous title Wen, the Cultured King. When Sima Yan took the throne, Sima Zhao was posthumously raised to Emperor Wen with the temple name Taizu.
24
史臣曰:世宗以睿略創基,太祖以雄才成務。 事殷之跡空存,翦商之志彌遠,三分天下,功業在焉。 及逾劍銷氛,浮淮靜亂,桐宮胥怨,或所不堪。 若乃體以名臣,格之端揆,周公流連於此歲,魏武得意於茲日。 軒懸之樂,大啟南陽,師摯之圖,於焉北面。 壯矣哉,包舉天人者也! 為帝之主,不亦難乎。
The historians write: Emperor Shi founded the enterprise with cunning strategy, and Emperor Tai completed it with heroic force. The mask of serving the house of Cao grew ever thinner while the will to supplant it burned brighter; they split the realm three ways, and there lay their achievement. They crossed the Sword Gates to end the fog of war, rode the Huai to crush revolt—yet the bitterness of the Tong-palace depositions was more than some could stomach. Set beside the great ministers of old and the chief arbiters of policy, their course recalls the Duke of Zhou’s long season of care and the day Cao Cao seized his own triumph. The graded bells of state sounded from Nanyang, and the royal musicians turned their registers toward the northern court. Magnificent—they took Heaven and humanity both in their grasp! Small wonder that holding the title of emperor proved no easy thing.
25
贊曰:世宗繼文,邦權未分。 三千之士,其從如雲。 世祖無外,靈關靜氛。 反雖討賊,終為弑君。
The encomium reads: Emperor Shi followed the cultured king, while the power of the state still hung undivided. Three thousand retainers followed them like clouds. When Emperor Wu Sima Yan came, no foe stood beyond the pale and the sacred passes fell still. Though they struck in the name of punishing traitors, in the end they slew their king.