On the sixteenth day of the second month in the first year of Longhe, Huan Ji, courtesy name Huan Zhongdao, son of Grand Marshal Huan Wen, married Sima Daofu, Princess of Xin'an, daughter of Sima Yu, Prince of Kuaiji. Huan Wen held power among the great clans, while Sima Yu governed on behalf of the imperial house, making the relationship between the two families a delicate one. Only the day before, Sima Yu had supported Sun Chuo, Regular Mounted Attendant and Director of the National History Office, in opposing Huan Wen's proposal to move the capital. Today, however, he circulated among the congratulatory guests with a face full of smiles, chatting and laughing with Huan Wen's fourth brother, Huan Mi, who attended as an elder of the groom's family.
Huan Mi, courtesy name Muzi, had shown talent from a young age and stood apart from convention. Yet, for reasons unknown, he had always been at odds with his eldest brother, Huan Wen. Perhaps to temper him, Huan Wen had long held him down without employing him. Only at thirty had Huan Mi become Neishi of Xuancheng and General Who Assists the State. When Sima Xun, Governor of Liangzhou, occupied Shu and rebelled, Huan Mi earned military merit in the campaign against him, was promoted to Regular Mounted Attendant, and soon afterward became General of the Central Army-
The General of the Central Army was a high official of the third rank, commanding the guards both inside and outside the palace and ranking above the Minister of the Five Armies. Under the rule of the great clans, it was a post they were bound to contest. In the nearly fifty years since the Yongjia Southern Migration, only six men had held this crucial office: three from the Langya Wang Clan, two