Strategist of the state of Wei who held off 诸葛亮's northern campaigns. His coup of 249 put his family in power, and his grandson founded the Jin dynasty. In the 空城计 story he is the general Zhuge Liang bluffs.
When the Shu army turned on him after Zhuge Liang's death, he pulled back, and people mocked him with 死诸葛走生仲达, 'a dead Zhuge put a living Zhongda to flight'. His reply: he could foresee the living, not the dead.
culture
The 2017 drama 《军师联盟》 ('The Advisors Alliance') retold the Three Kingdoms from Sima Yi's perspective, reframing him from cunning antagonist to patient hero.
