Sima Shi

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Sima Shi bigraphy, stories - Cao Wei regent

Sima Shi : biography

208 – 255

Sima Shi (208–255), style name Ziyuan, was a military general and regent of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. In 249, he assisted his father Sima Yi in overthrowing the emperor Cao Fang’s regent Cao Shuang, allowing the Sima family to become paramount authority in the state, and he inherited his father’s authority after his father’s death in 251. He maintained a tight grip on the political scene and, when the emperor Cao Fang considered action against him in 254, he had Cao Fang deposed and replaced with his cousin Cao Mao. This tight grip eventually allowed him to, at the time of his death in 255, transition his power to his younger brother Sima Zhao, whose son Sima Yan eventually usurped the throne and established the Jin Dynasty.

After Sima Yan became emperor, he, recognizing Sima Shi’s role in his own imperial status, posthumously honored his uncle as the Emperor Jing of Jin (晉景帝), with the temple name Shizong (世宗).

Family

  • Father: Sima Yi
  • Mother: Zhang Chunhua
  • Spouses:
    • Lady Xiahou Hui, daughter of Xiahou Shang, bore five daughters, poisoned to death in 234, posthumously honoured as Empress Jinghuai
    • Lady Wu (吳氏), daughter of Wu Zhi, divorced in an unknown year
    • Yang Huiyu, sister of Yang Hu, died in 278
  • Children:
    • Five daughters
  • Foster children:
    • Sima You, nephew, Prince Xian of Qi, continued Sima Shi’s family line

As paramount authority

During Cao Fang’s reign

Sima Shi was a capable politician and administrator, but he also quickly wanted to prove his military reputation. In 252, he made a major attack against Eastern Wu, whose founding emperor Sun Quan had recently died and whose current emperor, Sun Liang, was under the regency of Zhuge Ke. Zhuge Ke was able to deal Sima Shi’s forces a major blow, but Sima Shi maintained himself well by making humble admissions of faults to the public and promoting the generals who tried to stop his campaign. In 253, after Sima Shi defeated Zhuge Ke in a major battle, his reputation was established, while Zhuge Ke’s own was undermined (due to Zhuge Ke’s failure to admit fault), and Zhuge soon fell while Sima’s power was affirmed.

In 254, Sima Shi made a violent move to consolidate his power, at Cao Fang’s expense. Cao Fang had endeared himself to the minister Li Feng (李豐), and there had been suspicious by Sima Shi that they were plotting against him. He summoned and interrogated Li Feng, and when Li refused to disclose his conversations with the emperor, Sima Shi beat him to death with a sword handle and then accused Li Feng and his friends Xiahou Xuan (夏侯玄) and Zhang Ji (張緝) of treason, and had them and their families executed. Cao Fang was further forced to depose of his wife Empress Zhang, who was Zhang Ji’s daughter. These moves further terrorized the officials into submission.

Cao Fang was very angry about the deaths of Li Feng and Zhang Ji, and later in 254, his associates submitted a plan to him—that when Sima Shi’s brother Sima Zhao would arrive at the palace for an official visit before heading to his defense post at Chang’an, to kill Sima Zhao and seize his troops, and then use those troops to attack Sima Shi. Cao Fang was apprehensive and paralyzed, and did not implement the plan, but news was still leaked to Sima Shi. Sima Shi then forced Cao Fang to step down, although Sima spared his life and gave him his old title of the Prince of Qi. When Sima Shi notified Cao Fang’s stepmother Empress Dowager Guo that he intended to make Cao Pi’s brother Cao Ju (曹據), the Prince of Pengcheng, emperor, however, she managed to persuade him that such a succession would be improper—that since Cao Ju was the uncle of her husband Cao Rui, such a succession would leave Cao Rui effectively sonless with no heir. Sima Shi was forced to agree with her, and he made, as she suggested, Cao Mao emperor instead. (Cao Mao, although 13 years old at the time, was known for his intelligence, and Empress Dowager Guo might have believed that he, alone of the princes and dukes, might have had a chance of counteracting the Simas.)