Is “Trapped in Shangfang Valley but saved by heavy rain” true?
novel invention
Neither the Records of the Three Kingdoms nor the Book of Jin: Annals of Emperor Xuan records the incident of Sima Yi and his sons being trapped by fire in Shangfang Valley; this plot is a fabrication of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Sima Yi
In official histories, he is a far-sighted statesman and military strategist who laid the foundation for the Jin dynasty, while in novels he is often portrayed as a victim of Zhuge Liang's cunning.