Translation of the Book of Jin — by Fang Xuanling

Emperor Xuan's name was Yi, and his peers or subordinates could call him Zhongda, who lived in Xiaojingli, Wen County, Hanoi, with the surname Sima (司馬). His ancestor was a child named Chongli, the emperor Gao Yang of the early past, and zhu Rong, who became a Xia official, experienced the Tang Dynasty, the Yu Dynasty, the Xia Dynasty, and the Shang Dynasty, and passed on that official position from generation to generation. In the Zhou Dynasty, the Xia official was changed to an official with the name Sima (司馬). Among the descendants was a man named Cheng Baixiu's father, who, during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou, attacked and destroyed a Fang state named Xu by virtue of his hereditary official position, and the emperor gave their entire family the name Sima Clan, and their family took Sima as the surname for this reason. By the time of the Chu-Han rivalry, Sima Yang was then a general of the State of Zhao and joined the princes in their crusade against the Qin Dynasty. After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, Sima Yang was crowned King of Yin and built the capital in a place called Hanoi. The Han Dynasty changed Sima Yang's State of Yin into a county-level administrative unit of the Han Dynasty, and his descendants made it their home. When sima Yang was the eighth descendant, there was a general named Sima Jun, who could be called Shuping. One of Sima Jun's children named Sima Liang became the Taishou of the county named Yuzhang, and could be called Gongdu (公度). One of Sima Liang's children, Sima Jun, became the Taishou of Yingchuan Commandery and could be called Yuanyi. One of Sima Jun's children, Sima Fang, became Jing Zhaoyin and could be called Duke Jian. Sima Yi was the second eldest child of Sima Fang. When he was young, he did not play cards according to common sense, not only was he intelligent and sensible, but he also had a lot of big strategies in his belly, learned a lot of aspects, and his insight was quite good, and he respected Confucianism. At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were frequent wars in the world, and he often lamented that he had the heart to worry about the people of the world. Yang Jun, the Taishou of Nanyang County, was known for his knowledge of people and good appointments, and he met Sima Yi, who was not yet an adult at the time, and he regarded Sima Yi as an unusual figure. Cui Yan of Qinghe County, who was a Shangshu official at that time, had a good relationship with Sima Yi's elder brother Sima Lang, and also said to Sima Lang: "Your brother is wise and clear in his heart, especially wise and decisive, which is not something you can surpass."