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For the faction, see Sima Yue (faction)

Sima Yue is a Chinese name; the family name is Sima.


Sima Yue is a unique legendary Sentinel hero in Total War: Three Kingdoms. He leads his own faction, Sima Yue, in 291.


Description[]

Sima Yue is an efficient bureaucrat and shrewd powermonger who mastered the political game better than the other Princes.


General Information[]

Attributes[]

Main Article: Attributes (Total War: Three Kingdoms)

TW3K ICO expertise
Expertise
TW3K ICO resolve
Resolve
TW3K ICO cunning
Cunning
TW3K ICO instinct
Instinct
TW3K ICO authority
Authority
147 44 109 34 81
-33% construction cost (administered commandery)
+53 melee evasion
+9% general's health
+1k population growth (administered commandery)
+46% ammunition (own retinue)
+11 military supplies (own army)
+2% melee damage
-1% recruitment cost (this army)
+3 satisfaction (faction-wide, if leader, heir or advisor)
+3 unit morale (own retinue)


Background[]

Main Article: Background (Total War: Three Kingdoms)

Imperial Overseer


Traits[]

Main Article: Traits (Total War: Three Kingdoms)


Skills[]

Main Article: Skill (Total War: Three Kingdoms)

  • Precision
    • +8 expertise
    • +10% armour-piercing ranged damage (own army)
    • +10% ranged firing rate (when commanding)
  • Adamant Resolve
  • Zeal
    • +8 expertise
    • +10% armour-piercing melee damage (own army)
    • +40% melee attack rate
  • Intuition
    • +8 expertise
    • +25% chance of evading capture post-battle
    • +15% income from industry (administered commandery)


Abilities[]

Main Article: Ability (Total War: Three Kingdoms)

  • Unbreakable
    • Does not suffer any morale loss and will never rout.
  • Adamant Resolve (Active Buff)
    • Can use if:
      • Not on Elephant
    • +50% Melee Evasion
    • Range: 50m
    • Duration: 20s
    • Cooldown: 60s


Ancillaries[]

Main Article: Ancillary (Total War: Three Kingdoms)

  • Ancient Silver Sword
  • Sima Yue's Armour
    • Base Armour: 50
    • +17 expertise
    • +8 instinct
    • +30% ranged block chance
    • +5% melee attack rate
  • Grey Horse


Guanxi[]

Main Article: Guanxi


Biography[]

Sima Yue was a cousin of the founding Jin Emperor Sima Yan, better known as Emperor Wu. In the early 290s, Yue was made Prince of Donghai, though he also served in a multitude of positions in the capital of Luoyang. Sima Yue actually spent the majority of the War of the Eight Princes idle, only moving against Sima Ai, the then-regent of the Emperor Hui, in 304 AD. At this point, Sima Liang, Wei, Lun, and Jiong were already dead. After Jiong's death, Ai became regent and began clashing with Sima Ying and Yong.

Sima Yue, the Minister of Works for the Jin Dynasty at the time, and a figure ever present in the capital, perceived the ongoing rebellion as leaning towards the rebellious princes and decided to side with them. He arrested Sima Ai and delivered him to the infamously cruel General Zhang Fang under Sima Yong, who had Sima Ai burned to death. His decision was most likely a bid for peace, as Luoyang had been attacked multiple times at this point. By delivering Sima Ai to the rebels, he hoped for lasting peace in the capital. However, this was not to be.

Sima Ying then became the regent and named himself crown prince, with Yue remaining in Luoyang to serve as a general. As regent, Sima Ying decided to rule from his personal stronghold, not the capital. Yet, by ruling from a distance, he became detached from the situation on the ground in Luoyang leading to many government officials becoming disgruntled with Ying. Later that same year, Sima Yue seized the opportunity to rebel, capturing the capital. Sima Yong then seized control (read: kidnapped) of Emperor Hui and moved him to Chang'an. Sima Yong then imprisoned Ying, but when Yue began marching against him to restore the Emperor back to his place in Luoyang, he released Ying. The two formed an alliance that trumped Sima Yue's forces.

With desperate times calling for desperate measures, Sima Yue recruited thousands of "bandits' from the steppes north of China to fight for him as mercenaries. Now outnumbering Sima Yong, Yue offered peace by proposing to quite literally partition the Empire, yet Yong was talked out of it by Zhang Fang. When the war further turned against Sima Yong after the fall of his stronghold in Chang'an, he had Zhang Fang beheaded and sent his head to Sima Yue as a peace offering. This was too little, too late, as at this point the war was practically over with Sima Yue coming out on top. Sima Yong fled west, while Ying was found trying to flee north and forced to commit suicide.

With only two princes left, Emperor Hui was poisoned at Yue's orders and replaced by his brother, Sima Chi, who became Emperor Huai of Jin. Huai then summoned Sima Yong back to the capital, where he was to receive a ministerial position. Believing that he would be pardoned, Yong travelled back to Luoyang, only to be ambushed and killed by Yue's troops along the way. With Yong dead, Yue had come out as the sole survivor and victor of the War of the Eight Princes, despite being absent for most of it. He then died four years later amidst a wave of rebellions and nomadic invasions, as the barbarian mercenaries he had employed became well aware of how weak the Empire was at the time, and invaded it without impunity. Five years after Sima Yue's death, all of Northern and most of Central China, including Luoyang and Chang'an had fallen to the so-called Five Barbarians. The Jin Dynasty would survive for a little under a century longer as a rump state in southern China.

While Sima Yue had "won" the War of the Eight Princes, it was ultimately a war without winners. By relying on tens of thousands of foreign mercenaries, he had simultaneously saved the Jin Dynasty by using them to place the far more competent Emperor Huai safely on the throne, while also bringing about its eventual downfall. China would remain fractured all the way until the rise of the short-lived Sui Dynasty in 581 AD.


Gallery[]


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