Cheng Ji

Cheng Ji’s decisive role comes at the violent end of Emperor Cao Mao’s attempt to resist Sima Zhao: when Jia Chong orders the emperor killed, Cheng Ji carries out the command. Sima Zhao later has Cheng Ji and his clan executed, a punishment that the narrative presents as a political cover for the powerful minister who gave the order.

Role in Cao Mao’s Confrontation

After learning that Sima Zhao intends to seize the throne, Emperor Cao Mao summons senior officials to seek help in overthrowing him. Wang Jing warns that the emperor’s small force cannot prevail against Sima Zhao, but Cao Mao leaves the palace with his sword and a procession of guards and servants. In the street, Jia Chong confronts the procession with Cheng Ji, Cheng Zu, and a much larger armed force.

Cao Mao asserts his imperial status and challenges the troops to say whether they intend to murder their rightful ruler. Jia Chong then turns to Cheng Ji and explains that Sima Zhao retained him for precisely this purpose. Asked whether the emperor should be killed or captured, Jia Chong orders that he be killed. Cheng Ji follows the order, fatally striking Cao Mao; the emperor’s guards flee, while Wang Jing protests and is seized.

Responsibility and Punishment

When Sima Zhao arrives, he feigns distress and later asks the court how the perpetrators should be punished. Chen Tai argues that Jia Chong should be killed as an apology to the country. Sima Zhao resists that proposal and instead singles out Cheng Ji as the traitor, ordering his execution and the destruction of his clan. Cheng Ji protests that he acted on orders conveyed through Jia Chong, but Sima Zhao has him silenced and publicly executed; Cheng Zu and the rest of their clan are also killed.

The punishment is therefore inseparable from the order that preceded it. Cheng Ji is made the visible culprit in a killing authorized by Sima Zhao and communicated by Jia Chong, while the person with the greatest political power escapes the same penalty.

Narrative Judgment

A poem following the killing states that Sima Zhao ordered Jia Chong to kill the emperor and that Cheng Ji and his clan paid for the crime, before emphasizing that the real criminal was known. The contrast makes Cheng Ji both the direct agent of the killing and the instrument through which responsibility is displaced. His execution closes the immediate account of the assassination, but the poem leaves the reader with a sharper accusation against Sima Zhao, who returns to power and selects Cao Huan as the next emperor.