Sima Yi

Sima Yi (179 – 7 September 251), courtesy name Zhongda, was a general and politician of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period. He is perhaps best known for defending Wei from Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions. His success and subsequent rise in prominence paved the way for his grandson Sima Yan's founding of the Jin dynasty, which would eventually bring an end to the Three Kingdoms era. In 265 after the Jin dynasty was established, Sima Yi was posthumously honoured as Emperor Xuan of Jin with the temple name of Gaozu.

Early life

Sima Yi was one of eight brothers, all of whom were famous due to their lineage. Each of them had a courtesy name ending with the character Da (達). Because of this, the brothers were known collectively as the "Eight Da of Sima" (司馬八達). This was a term of respect, as other groups of eight talented administrators in previous eras had been referred to in this way. His family resided in Luoyang when Dong Zhuo occupied the city, destroyed it, and moved the capital to Chang'an. Sima Yi's elder brother Sima Lang led the family to their ancestral home in Wen County (温縣; present-day Wen County, Henan), and then, correctly predicting that it would become a battlefield, moved them again to Liyang (黎陽; present-day Xun County, Hebi, Henan). In 194, as Cao Cao battled Lü Bu, Sima Yi accompanied his family back to Wen County.

War of the Eight Princes

The War of the Eight Princes, Rebellion of the Eight Kings or Rebellion of the Eight Princes (simplified Chinese: 八王之乱; traditional Chinese: 八王之亂; pinyin: bā wáng zhī luàn; Wade–Giles: pa wang chih luan) was a series of civil wars among kings/princes (Chinese: wáng 王) of the Chinese Jin dynasty from AD 291 to 306. The key point of contention in these conflicts was the regency over the developmentally disabled Emperor Hui of Jin. The term stems from biographies of eight princes collected in chapter 59 of the Book of Jin (Jinshu).

Technically, the term "War of the Eight Princes" is somewhat of a misnomer: rather than one continuous conflict, the War of the Eight Princes saw intervals of peace interposed with short and intense periods of internecine conflict. At no point in the whole conflict were all of the eight princes on one side of the fighting (as opposed to, for example, the Rebellion of the Seven States). The literal Chinese translation, Disorder of the Eight Princes, may be more appropriate in this regard.