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卷二 帝紀第二 世宗景帝 太祖文帝

Volume 2, Annals 2: Emperor Jing; Emperor Wen

Chapter 2 of 晉書 · Book of Jin
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1
使 ''
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."
2
使
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.
3
祿 使 使 殿 輿西 使 使使 使 ' ''' 祿 殿 ' ' 使
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
西 西 西 退 使
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
使 使
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
退 西 西 退 西 耀 殿
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
殿
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
西 輿耀 使 使 使 漿 退 使 便 使
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
使 西
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
使
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.
11
使 輿 使 輿 使
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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使
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
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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使 西 使簿 使西 使西 使使
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
西
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
西 西
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.
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西西 使使
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.
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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.
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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.
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西西 西 綿 使
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.
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西 西 使
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.
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使 便
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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