Editing Sima Zhao (section)

==Career up to 255==
===Incident at Gaoping Tombs===
{{main|Incident at the Gaoping Tombs}}
Sima Zhao's involvement in [[Incident at Gaoping Tombs|his father's coup d'état]] against the regent [[Cao Shuang]] in 249 is unclear.  According to the ''[[Book of Jin]]'', he was not told about the plan, hatched by his father and his older brother, until the last minute—a view disagreed with by other historians, who assert that he was intimately involved in the planning. Regardless, in the aftermath of the successful coup his father became the paramount political authority in Wei, and he himself received an addition of 1,000 households to his [[fief]] and became important in status. In 251, when his father suppressed the failed rebellion of [[Wang Ling (Cao Wei)|Wang Ling]], Sima Zhao served as deputy commander, and was rewarded with the addition of 300 households to his fief and a Marquis post for his young son, [[Sima You]]. During the next few years, he was involved in commanding forces in repelling invasions by Shu's commander of the armed forces, [[Jiang Wei]].

===Battle of Dongxing===
{{main|Battle of Dongxing}}
In 253, Wei forces headed by Sima Zhao marched east to confront Wu, who had been overstepping their boundaries by building upon a lake and arming it with men on land which belonged to Wei. The Wei officers, feeling secure in their position and with their superior numbers, grew arrogant and allowed themselves to become drunk, and so were quickly overwhelmed by the Wu forces led by [[Ding Feng (general)|Ding Feng]] and [[Lü Ju]], forcing the Wei forces to flee and retreat. After the loss at the [[Battle of Dongxing]], Sima Zhao asked his Marshal Wang Yi in private who was responsible for the failure of the battle, to which Wang Yi responded: "Responsibility lies with the army commander." Sima Zhao retorted: "The Marshal means to make me shoulder the blame?" Thereafter he had Wang Yi executed. [[Sima Shi]], the Wei regent and Sima Zhao's older brother, received memorials from ministers asking that [[Wang Chang (Three Kingdoms)|Wang Chang]], [[Guanqiu Jian]], Hu Zun, and all the others who were a part of the campaign to be demoted for their failure, however, Sima Shi stated that: "It is because I did not listen to Gongxiu [Zhuge Dan] that we have come to this plight. In this I am culpable; how can the generals be at fault?"<ref><br>{{quote|Wang Chang and Guanqiu Jian, learning that the eastern army had been defeated, set fire to their respective camps and fled. At Court, it was proposed to demote the generals concerned. The da jiangjun Sima Shi said, "It is because I did not listen to Gongxiu that we have come to this plight. In this I am culpable; how can the generals be at fault?" 
Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Achilles Fang.}}</ref> He therefore promoted the generals who partook in the battle, while demoting Sima Zhao by removing his enfeoffment.<ref><br>{{quote|And he absolved them all. At that time, Sima Shi's younger brother, the andong jiangjun, Sima Zhao was Superintendent of the Army (chien-chun); he only deprived Sima Zhao of his enfeoffment. He appointed Zhuge Dan (zhennan jiangjun) and Commander-in-chief (dudu) of Yuzhou and Guanqiu Jian (zhennan jiangjun) and Commander-in-chief of Yangzhou.
Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Achilles Fang.}}</ref>

===Succeeding Sima Shi===
In 254, while Sima Zhao was at the capital [[Luoyang]], advisors to the Wei emperor, [[Cao Fang]], suggested that the emperor surprise Sima Zhao and kill him to seize his troops, and then use those troops against Sima Shi. Cao Fang, apprehensive, did not act on the suggestion, but the plot was still discovered, and Sima Zhao assisted his brother in deposing the emperor and replacing him with Cao Mao.  In the aftermath of the removal of the emperor, the generals [[Guanqiu Jian]] and [[Wen Qin]] rebelled in 255 but were defeated by Sima Shi.

Sima Shi, however, had a serious eye illness that was aggravated by the campaign, and he died less than a month later; on 23 March.<ref><br>{{quote|The wei jiangjun Sima Zhao went from Luoyang to inquire after Sima Shi's health. Sima Shi ordered him to take command of all the forces. On the day xinhai (March 23), Sima Shi died at Xuchang.
Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Achilles Fang.}}</ref> At that time, Sima Zhao was with his brother at [[Xuchang]]. The 14-year-old emperor Cao Mao made an effort to regain imperial power. He issued an edict which, under the rationale that Sima Shi had just quelled Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin's rebellion and that the southeastern empire was still not completely pacified, ordered Sima Zhao to remain at Xuchang and that Sima Shi's assistant [[Fu Jia]] return to Luoyang with the main troops. Under Fu Jia and [[Zhong Hui]]'s advice, however, Sima Zhao returned to Luoyang anyway against edict,<ref><br>{{quote|The zhongshu shilang, Zhong Hui, had been in the suite of Sima Shi, taking charge of confidential matters. The Emperor, in a personal edict, commanded the shangshu Fu Jia (傅嘏) that, the southeast having recently been conquered, the wei jiangjun Sima Zhao was to station himself for the time being at Xuchang, to serve as internal and external support, and Fu Jia should return with the various troops. Zhong Hui consulted Fu Jia and had Fu Jia send up a memorial to the throne that they were starting together with Sima Zhao. They returned and encamped south of the Luoshui
Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Achilles Fang.}}</ref> and was able to maintain control of the government.<ref><br>{{quote|Second month. On the day tingsi (march 29), the Emperor appointed Sima Zhao to be da jiangjun and lu shangshu shi.
Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Achilles Fang.}}</ref> Indeed, from that point on, he did not let Cao Mao or [[Empress Guo (Cao Rui's wife)|Empress Dowager Guo]] out of his control.