Translation of the Book of Jin (Sima Yi) Part II
Under the cut.
During Han's 6th year of Jian An, the prefecture elected him as an Accounts Inspector. The Wu emperor of Wei (i) was then Minister of Works, and summoned him when he heard of the emperor (ii)'s deeds. The emperor knew that the Han dynasty was on a decline (iii), and was unwilling to work under the Cao family, thus rejected the summons by claiming to be suffering from arthralgia (iv), and so could not move. When the Wu emperor ordered someone to check on the matter at night, and the emperor laid in bed motionless. Then the Wu emperor became chancellor, and he again summoned the emperor by giving him the post of Literary Inspector, while informing the messenger: "if he dallies (v), capture him." The emperor was frightened into accepting the post. Thus he came to accompany the prince (vi) on outings, becoming the Gentleman Attendant of the Palace Gates, before switching into a Gentleman Consultant, a staff within the Chancellor's Eastern section (vii), and then changing to Chancellor's Registrar.
While on a punitive expedition against Zhang Lu, he spoke thus to the Wu emperor: "Liu Bei had used trickery to defeat Liu Zhang, thus the people of Shu are not pacified, yet they have chosen to contend for the distant Jiangling, making this an opportunity not to be missed. If we display our military might at Hanzhong, Yi province will be shaken, then by pressing forth with our army, their force will be dissolved. In such a state, it will be easy to achieve our goals. Even the wise cannot turn back time, therefore we cannot afford to lose this opportunity." The Wu emperor said: "Man's bitterness lies in never being content - having obtained West Long (viii), you continue to lust after Shu!" Thus he did not follow the given advice. Soon after they returned from an expedition against Sun Quan, having won. When the army returned, Quan had a messenger declare his submission, offering to be a vassal, and to persuade them to accede to heaven's will (ix). The Wu emperor of Wei declared: "This boy intends for me to be cooked on the stove!" The reply was: "Han's fortunes has come to an end, your majesty holds nine portions out of the ten that comprise the world, which is good enough to handle matters. Quan declaring himself a vassal, indicates it is both heaven and man's will. Yu, Xia, Yin (x), Zhou dynasties are not formed by people who modestly declined, but who acceded to heaven-appointed lives."
When the Wei kingdom was established, the emperor became the prince's aide. Whenever discussing grand strategy, he always had remarkable tactics, and soon become heavily trusted by the prince - together with Chen Qun, Wu Zhi and Zhu Shuo, they are known as 'the four friends'.
(i) Referring to Cao Cao
(ii) Referring to Sima Yi
(iii) Direct translation of 汉运方微 is 'the Han's luck is on the wane', thus signifying the dynasty's decline.
(iv) A non-inflammatory version of arthritis
(v) 盘桓 pán huán can mean to hesitate, to linger, to circulate, or to revel in merriment.
(vi) Here referring to Cao Pi
(vii) Unlike the former post 黄门侍郎 and the latter post 主簿, 议郎 and 丞相东曹属 were seperated by an enumeration comma. This signifies that rather each being individual posts, the terms refer to an office Sima Yi held concurrently. 丞相东曹属 is not a specific office, but a term refering to a section of staff. Therefore, I translated 议郎 as a general office title ('Gentleman Consultant') which is within the 丞相东曹属 section.
(viii) In olden China right 右 refers to the West. Thus Jiangdong 江东 is also known as Jiangzuo 江左.
(ix) 'Heaven's will' here refers to persuading Cao Cao to declare himself emperor. There are problems with the situation presented here because the author seems to have skipped quite a sizeable amount of time (or misrepresented the situation). The last loss Sun Quan suffered to Cao Cao was in 215 (the Battle of Hefei), the last engagement they had with each other was in 217 (the Battle of Ruxu) where Cao Cao was forced to retreat, but Sun Quan only suggested Cao Cao take the throne in 219 (right after the Battle for Jing province).
(x) 殷 refers to the Shang 商 dynasty.
