Chapter 11 Emperor Xuan of Jin Dynasty - Sima Yi
Sima Yi (179-251), courtesy name Zhongda, was born in Wen County, Hanoi (now west of Wen County, Henan).Born in a noble family, he is resourceful and resourceful.At the beginning, he was the master book of Cao Cao, and later he was the concubine of the prince, and he was trusted by Cao Pi.Emperor Wei Ming was a general at the time and led his army against the Shu Han many times.When Qi Wang Cao Fang succeeded to the throne, he and the royal family Cao Shuang were co-administered by the imperial edict.Shuang once deprived him of his military power, and Yi pretended to be sick at home, waiting for an opportunity to make a comeback. In 249, taking the opportunity of Cao Shuang to accompany the emperor to sweep the mausoleum, Cao Shuang was exempted from the post of general in the name of the empress dowager, and soon killed him.Since then, the Cao Wei regime has fallen into the hands of Sima.After Sima Yi's death, his nephew Sima Yan proclaimed himself emperor on behalf of Wei, established the Jin Dynasty, and pursued him as Emperor Xuan.
Shen Deqian of the Qing Dynasty included his "Yan Drinking Poems" in "The Source of Ancient Poems".There are ten volumes of anthology handed down.
The heavens and the earth are opened up, and the sun and the moon reappear.
① "Yan Drinking Song": In the second year of Jingchu (238) of Emperor Ming of the Wei Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms, Gongsunzhou in Liaodong rebelled against Wei. Emperor Cao Rui of Wei Ming sent Sima Yi to lead the army to crusade. His father is old and old, and he drinks with them.This song was made at that time. "Book of Jin" is only called "song" without title; it is called "Song of Jin Gaozu";
② Bi Li: Do your best.Yafang: far away.This sentence refers to being ordered to crusade against Liaodong. "Bili", one is "resignation".
③Together into the shortage: It means to rectify and govern all places. "Entering the wilderness" is still full of words.
④ Wuyang: At that time Sima Yi was granted the title of Marquis of Wuyang.Wuyang is located in the southeast of Wuyang, Henan today.The first book is "Wuyang", which is suspicious.
Sima Yi was a general of the Wei State in the Three Kingdoms, and he made many military exploits in the battles against Wu and Shu.Gongsun Yuan rebelled against Wei, and Emperor Wei Ming sent Sima Yi to lead the crusade.In this way, he gradually mastered the military power of Wei State and laid the foundation for his descendants Wei Jianjin.According to historical records, Sima Yi was "suspicious from the inside but lenient from the outside, with suspicion and many contingencies".Cao Cao had noticed his behavior and warned Cao Pi.But Cao Pi has always had a good relationship with Sima Yi.Later, when Cao Pi ascended the throne and even his son Cao Rui, he trusted Sima Yi more and used him as a general.This may be because most of Wei's veteran generals died at that time, and he was the only one who was strong enough to fight Zhuge Liang.But no matter what attitude Cao Pi and Cao Rui took towards him, the Wei State ruling group still had doubts about Sima Yi.At the same time, when Cao Rui was in power, the power was basically still in the hands of the royal family, so Sima Yi had to adopt certain "hidden" methods at that time.This poem expresses his state of mind at that time.
The first two sentences of this poem: "The heavens and the earth are opened up, the sun and the moon are shining again" refer to Cao Cao's leveling of the heroes, and Cao Pi's self-reliance on behalf of the Han Dynasty. The following four sentences of "Encounter Jihui" mean that he himself was appreciated by the court and was able to stretch his talents and go to a distant place to contribute to the emperor.This is a very proud thing.So it went on to say, "I will sweep away the filth and return to my hometown."In these two sentences, his ambition is actually somewhat revealed.Because the dignitaries later wrote poems to express their ambitions in their hometown, this is more or less compared with Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty.Because Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty once went to his hometown Peidi after he pacified the world, and wrote a song saying: "Wei Jia Hai Nei Xi returns to his hometown".The situation of Sima Yi now is of course different from Han Gaozu.He is just "sweeping the crowd", that is to say, this expedition has not yet been successful.However, as far as his subjective intention is concerned, he wants to "clear out thousands of miles, and always enter the wilderness."Once this goal is achieved, wouldn't it be the same as Han Gaozu's "Vega at home"?Having said that, doesn't his ambition come to life on paper?This tone was obviously inappropriate for Sima Yi's situation at the time.So he changed the subject and called himself "return to old age when you are done, and wait for the sin of Wuyang", which means that after you are done, you will retire and return home to live in his Wuyanghou's fief.The so-called "treating crimes" is of course a self-effacing word.This kind of tone is quite similar to the saying in "Laozi" that "retire after achieving fame, the way of heaven." The ancients often advocated that "success is not honored", but Sima Yi has already become "Marquis of Wuyang", so he retreated to his fief It is more suitable for his status to retire and no longer be an official.In this way, not only can avoid the court's suspicion of him, but also can show his "noble style".
Of course, the last two sentences of this poem are not sincere words.Judging from Sima Yi's behavior of eliminating dissidents and monopolizing power later on.It is quite different from these two sentences.Therefore, Zhong Xing, a man of the Ming Dynasty, commented on this poem: "The word 'treating crimes' is an old traitor's words that Meng De (Cao Cao) can't say." (Volume 8 of "The Return of Poetry") But it is not as hypocritical as Sima Yi's self-proclaimed "to be punished".
This poem has rarely been included in historical anthologies, perhaps because he has little emotion and only talks about meritorious deeds without any lyrical content.Therefore, Zhong Xing believes that his "a kind of insidious nature seems to be purely used to take the world, but the interests of articles, landscapes, friends, and boudoirs are not divided into his heart." (Ibid.) Zhong Xing also compared it with Cao Cao's poems, thinking that Cao Cao was "hot", while Sima Yi was "blindly cold".His so-called "hot" and "cold" refer to sincere feelings.In this poem, there is indeed only the cold intention of "taking the world", without any lyrical meaning.Therefore, it is not very popular with readers in the past.
However, although this poem lacks lyric meaning, it is not without its characteristics.This kind of cold language has never failed to express some of Sima Yi's character.In the poem, the two lines of "opening up the world" and "purging thousands of miles" are relatively broad-minded, showing Sima Yi's ambitious side.Therefore, Tan Yuanchun, a man of the Ming Dynasty, also said that the "meteorological genre" of this poem was not written by ordinary people, and it can be known at a glance.The ancients were dissatisfied with Sima Yi, probably because Jin replaced Wei as "usurping".In fact, there is really no need to criticize the right and wrong of dynastic changes and the so-called "division of monarch and ministers" by the ancients today.From this poem, some of Sima Yi's character can be seen to some extent, which is one reason why we can still study it today.