He Yan
Meanwhile, throughout the course of the 240s, as new groups of intellectuals, largely headed by He Yan, an associate of Cao Shuang, were seeking to oppose traditional Confucian principles and do away with "pointless" formalities in society, Sima Yi became a leading representative of men from good families who sought to promote the traditional type of Confucian morality and restraint in both politics and society as a whole.