Sima Shi 司馬師

In Chen Shou's main text Sima Shi's deeds appear from the 3rd year of Jiaping (251). On the wuyin day of the 7th month of that year, when the Grand Tutor Sima Xuanwang died, Sima Jingwang, then General of the Guards, became General-in-Chief Who Pacifies the Army and Intendant of the Affairs of the Imperial Secretariat, and on the guimao day of the first month of the following year he became General-in-Chief. His younger sister was the wife of Xun Yi, so the brothers Sima Jingwang and Sima Wenwang were on friendly terms with Xun Yi; they were also close friends of Chen Tai. Records, Wei 4 §33–34Records, Wei 10 §49Records, Wei 22 §55

When Sima Jingwang newly took charge of the government, Wang Ji wrote to him urging him to be cautious and diligent, and named Xu Yun, Fu Gu, Yuan Kan and Cui Zan as upright gentlemen with whom he could share the conduct of affairs. Jingwang accepted his advice. He also adopted many of Deng Ai's proposals, including gradually moving the Qiang and Hu out from among the people. Records, Wei 27 §59Records, Wei 28 §58

In the winter of the 4th year of Jiaping (252), the year he became General-in-Chief, an edict ordered Wang Chang, Hu Zun, Guanqiu Jian and others to attack Wu, but in the 12th month they were heavily defeated by Zhuge Ke at Dongguan and returned. The imperial annals do not record his name in this campaign. The following year, when Zhuge Ke besieged the New City of Hefei, failed to take it and withdrew, Deng Ai told Jingwang that since Zhuge Ke had mobilized the whole host of his state and been thwarted beneath a strong city, his downfall need only be awaited. Zhuge Ke did indeed return home and was put to death. Records, Wei 4 §34–35Records, Wei 28 §59–60

In the 2nd month of the 6th year of Jiaping (254), the Prefect of the Palace Secretariat (zhongshu ling) Li Feng, although he had long enjoyed the affection and favor of the General-in-Chief Sima Jingwang, was privately devoted to Xiahou Xuan. He colluded with Zhang Ji, the Empress's father, plotting to kill the General-in-Chief on the day a Noble Lady was to be invested and replace him with Xiahou Xuan. Li Feng drew in the eunuchs by telling them that the General-in-Chief was stern and resolute and had repeatedly spoken of their lawlessness in the palace. The General-in-Chief caught wind of the plot, invited Li Feng to see him, and killed him on the spot when he came unsuspecting. Records, Wei 9 §122–124

Xiahou Xuan, Zhang Ji and the others were handed over to the Commandant of Justice, and the Commandant of Justice Zhong Yu memorialized that, having plotted to coerce the Supreme One and to kill the chief minister on their own authority, they were guilty of great treason and depravity. Li Feng, Xiahou Xuan, Zhang Ji and the others all had their three sets of kin exterminated, and Xiahou Xuan's expression did not change even when he was beheaded at the Eastern Market. In the 3rd month Empress Zhang was deposed. Xu Yun, who earlier had received a forged edict naming Xiahou Xuan General-in-Chief but had burned it without presenting it to Sima Jingwang, was transferred to General Who Guards the North after the affair came to light; then, for distributing government property without authority, he was exiled to Lelang and died on the way. Records, Wei 9 §124–126 · 128Records, Wei 4 §43

In the autumn, in the 9th month of that year, the General-in-Chief Sima Jingwang, intending to depose the emperor, reported to the Empress Dowager. On the jiaxu day the Empress Dowager issued an order stating that the emperor Fang, though of full age, did not attend to government in person, indulged in women and summoned entertainers and actors for obscene amusements, and sent him back to his fief in Qi; he was then twenty-three. On the dingchou day the Empress Dowager ordered that Cao Mao, Duke of Gaogui Village, be made heir to Emperor Ming; Wang Su, escorting the imperial carriage, received him at Yuancheng, and Cao Mao ascended the throne on the gengyin day of the 10th month. Records, Wei 4 §44–49Records, Wei 13 §93

On the guisi day of the 10th month of the 1st year of Zhengyuan (254), the General-in-Chief Sima Jingwang was granted the Yellow Axe and the privileges of entering court without hastening his step, being announced without his personal name, and ascending the hall wearing his sword and shoes. That year, when a white vapor stretched across the sky, Jingwang asked Wang Su the reason, and Wang Su replied that it was the Banner of Chiyou and that there would be disorder in the southeast. Records, Wei 4 §53Records, Wei 13 §93

In the first month of the 2nd year of Zhengyuan (255), Guanqiu Jian, General Who Guards the East, and Wen Qin, Inspector of Yang Province, forged an edict of the Empress Dowager listing the General-in-Chief's crimes and rebelled. Some suggested that Jingwang should not go in person but send the Grand Commandant Sima Fu, but Fu Gu and Wang Su alone urged him to go himself. When Jingwang asked for a plan, Wang Su cited how Guan Yu's troops had collapsed overnight after losing their families to Sun Quan, and said that since the parents, wives and children of the soldiers of Huainan were all in the interior provinces, if he only hurried to block them they would crumble like a heap of earth. Jingwang set out on the wuyin day; Zhong Hui went with him in charge of confidential matters, and Sima Wenwang, General of the Guards, followed as the rear support of the main army. Records, Wei 28 §20–21 · 96Records, Wei 4 §54Records, Wei 21 §95Records, Wei 13 §93–95

The General-in-Chief led the armies of the capital and the provinces, sent Zhuge Dan with the troops of Yu Province from Anfeng Ford to threaten Shouchun, and had Hu Zun, General Who Campaigns in the East, cut off the enemy's line of retreat with the troops of Qing and Xu provinces. He himself was stationed at Ruyang, had the Army Supervisor Wang Ji lead the vanguard to occupy Nandun, and ordered all the armies to hold their walls firmly and not give battle. When Wang Ji, meeting him at Xuchang, said that the rebellion in Huainan was not what the officials and people wanted and that they would scatter like crumbling earth once the main army drew near, Jingwang said 'Good' and placed him at the front of the army. But when Wang Ji repeatedly asked to advance, Jingwang allowed him only as far as the Yin River, and would not permit him to go farther, wishing to wait for the armies to assemble. Wang Ji advanced on his own and occupied Nandun. Records, Wei 28 §22Records, Wei 27 §60–64

Since the families of the soldiers of Huainan were all in the north, men surrendered one after another. The General-in-Chief sent Deng Ai, Inspector of Yan Province, to Lejia to feign weakness and lure the enemy out, and soon followed in person. Wen Qin came at night to attack Deng Ai, but at dawn, seeing the great strength of the main army, he withdrew; the General-in-Chief loosed his swift cavalry in pursuit and routed him. The imperial annals record that Wen Qin was defeated at Lejia on the jihai day of the intercalary month. Wen Qin fled to Wu, and Guanqiu Jian, his host having collapsed, fled and was killed by a commoner under the Commandant of Anfeng Ford. Records, Wei 28 §23–24 · 62Records, Wei 4 §54

Afterwards Zhuge Dan became General-in-Chief Who Guards the East, and Sima Jingwang died at Xuchang. Chen Shou's main text records neither the cause of his death nor his age. When Jingwang died, Sima Wenwang took overall command of the Six Armies and, on the advice of Zhong Hui and Fu Gu, returned straight to Luoyang, becoming General-in-Chief and Intendant of the Affairs of the Imperial Secretariat on the dingsi day of the 2nd month. Records, Wei 4 §55Records, Wei 28 §96–97Records, Wei 21 §96

Chen Shou did not give a separate assessment of Sima Shi. The assessment in the Annals of the Three Young Emperors states that Emperor Ming, bound by private affection, handed the great patrimony to a small child and did not entrust affairs wholly to one man, so that in the end Cao Shuang was executed and the Prince of Qi was deposed from the throne. Records, Wei 4 §152