司马错 / Sima Cuo
司马错 / Sima Cuo appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》52丨 陈庄叛秦 端起碗吃饭放下碗骂娘 as the Qin strategist whose advice helps 秦惠文王 choose the 蜀国 campaign. The episode says 巴国 and Shu are fighting and both seek Qin’s help, creating an opening despite hard roads.
《资治通鉴·周纪》47丨燕王哙的理想主义 gives the debate itself. Against 张仪’s plan to attack 韩国 and threaten the Zhou royal center, Sima Cuo argues for taking Shu because it produces concrete land, wealth, people-support, and military strength while avoiding the diplomatic danger of appearing to seize the 九鼎 and coerce the 周王室.
The source uses Sima Cuo as the decision hinge before 秦国 acquires 巴蜀. His advice leads to a campaign that gives Qin a major southwestern base, but it also creates the later governance problem in which 陈庄 can rebel from inside conquered Shu.
《资治通鉴·周纪》66丨中国历史上哪些帝王是被活活饿死的（1） adds a later military-office notice. In 295 BCE, Sima Cuo appears as Qin’s guowei attacking 魏国 at a place rendered as Xiangcheng or Xiangcheng-like in the source summary. The page therefore now records him as more than the earlier Ba-Shu strategist: he remains part of Qin’s continuing eastern military pressure.
《资治通鉴·周纪》68丨惊叹宋康王荒淫无度的狗血历史（1） puts Sima Cuo with 白起 in Qin’s 289-288 BCE pressure on Wei. The episode says 秦昭襄王 sends them against 魏国 after Wei and Han have already ceded land, and they take dozens of cities. Here Sima Cuo functions as part of Qin’s relentless post-cession military machine, not only as the earlier Ba-Shu strategist.
《资治通鉴·周纪》77丨廉颇与蔺相如 史上最著名的一对“好基友” returns Sima Cuo to the southwest route. In the episode’s 280 BCE frame, 秦昭襄王 sends him with Longxi forces through 巴蜀 toward Chu’s Qianzhong region, an itinerary the host treats as unusually difficult because of distance, mountains, rivers, and plateau terrain. The source uses him to show that Qin’s power includes cross-regional logistics, not only famous commanders such as 白起.
Connections
- 秦惠文王 and 秦国 - ruler and state using his advice.
- 张仪, 韩国, 周王室, and 九鼎 - rejected eastern-symbolic alternative in Zhouji 47.
- 巴国, 蜀国, and 巴蜀 - campaign setting and strategic prize.
- 陈庄 and 蜀侯宁通 - later rebellion branch created by conquest governance.
- 受任地方长官割据风险 / Appointed Governor Secession Risk and Qin Frontier Buffer Management / 秦国后方边患管理 - concepts connected to the conquest aftermath.
- 魏国 and 秦国东进压力 - Zhouji 66 attack notice.
- 白起, 秦昭襄王, 魏国, and 抱薪救火式割地求和 - Zhouji 68 part 1 post-cession pressure on Wei.
- 秦昭襄王, 楚国, 黔中, and 白起 - Zhouji 77 southward campaign context.