Zhang Jie 張節

In Chapter 119 of the Romance, after Sima Zhao suffers a stroke, loses the power of speech and dies, Sima Yan takes the position of King of Jin that same day on the advice of He Zeng. When the funeral is over, Sima Yan summons Jia Chong and Pei Xiu to the palace and asks them why, if even Cao Pi succeeded to the line of Han, he himself should not succeed to the line of Wei. The two bow twice and urge him to follow the precedent of Cao Pi's succession to Han, build another Altar for Receiving the Abdication, and ascend the great throne. Romance, Ch. 119 §34–37

Greatly pleased, Sima Yan enters the palace the next day wearing a sword, and Cao Huan, the ruler of Wei, who has not held court for several days, hurriedly comes down from the imperial couch to greet him. Sima Yan asks by whose strength the realm of Wei was won, and when Cao Huan answers that it was all bestowed by the King of Jin's father and grandfather, Sima Yan says that His Majesty can neither discuss the Way in civil matters nor govern the state in martial ones, so why does he not hand it over to someone of talent and virtue to govern? Cao Huan is so shocked that his mouth seizes up and he cannot speak, and Zhang Jie, the Gentleman of the Yellow Gate standing nearby, shouts loudly, 'The King of Jin's words are wrong!' Romance, Ch. 119 §37–38

Zhang Jie protests that in former days the Martial Ancestor Emperor of Wei swept the east, wiped out the west, campaigned in the south and punished the north, and won this realm with no little effort, and that the present Son of Heaven is virtuous and guiltless, so for what reason should he hand it over to another? Sima Yan, enraged, replies that these altars of state were originally the altars of the Great Han, that Cao Cao held the Son of Heaven hostage to command the lords and usurped the house of Han, and that since his grandfather and father, three generations, supported Wei, it was in truth not the ability of the Cao clan but the strength of the Sima clan that won the realm. Romance, Ch. 119 §39

When Zhang Jie further says, 'Anyone who would carry this out is a traitor usurping the state!', Sima Yan, enraged, asks what is wrong with his taking revenge on behalf of the house of Han, and shouts at his guards to club Zhang Jie wildly to death below the hall. Cao Huan weeps and kneels to plead, and after Sima Yan goes down from the hall and leaves, Jia Chong tells Cao Huan that heaven's mandate is exhausted and that he should build an Altar for Receiving the Abdication following the precedent of Emperor Xian of Han and yield the imperial throne to the King of Jin. Romance, Ch. 119 §40

Cao Huan follows this advice and has Jia Chong build the Altar for Receiving the Abdication, and on the jiazi day of the 12th month he stands on the altar holding the Imperial Seal of State in his own hands and assembles the civil and military officials. At this point the Romance includes a poem by a later writer: 'Wei swallowed the house of Han, and Jin swallowed the Cao; heaven's mandate turns in a cycle that none can escape. Pitiable Zhang Jie, who died loyal to his state — how could a single fist hold back the height of Mount Tai?' Sima Yan succeeds to the line of Wei, names the state Great Jin and changes the era to the 1st year of Taishi, and the Romance records that Wei at last perished. Romance, Ch. 119 §41–42 · 45