73 Facts About Sun Quan

Sun Quan inherited control of the warlord regime established by his elder brother, Sun Ce, in 200.

Unlike his rivals Cao Cao and Liu Bei, Sun Quan was much younger and governed his state mostly separate of politics and ideology.

Sun Quan is sometimes portrayed as neutral considering he adopted a flexible foreign policy between his two rivals with the goal of pursuing the greatest interests for the country.

Sun Quan was born while his father Sun Jian served as the adjutant of Xiapi County.

When Sun Ce was assassinated by the retainers of Xu Gong in 200, the 18-year-old Sun Quan inherited the lands southeast of the Yangtze River from his brother.

Sun Quan's administration proved to be relatively stable in those early years as Sun Jian and Sun Ce's most senior officers, such as Zhou Yu, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, and Cheng Pu supported the succession.

At first Sun Quan nominally served as a Wei vassal with the Wei-created title of King of Wu, but after Cao Pi demanded that he send his son Sun Deng as a hostage to the Wei capital Luoyang and he refused.

When Sun He succeeded Sun Deng as the new crown prince, he was supported by Lu Xun and Zhuge Ke, while his rival Sun Ba was supported by Quan Cong and Bu Zhi and their clans.

Over a prolonged internal power struggle, numerous officials were executed, and Sun Quan harshly settled the conflict between the two factions by exiling Sun He and forcing Sun Ba to commit suicide.

Sun Quan enjoyed the longest reign among all the founders of the Three Kingdoms and was succeeded by his son, Sun Liang.

Sun Quan was known as a wise and outgoing man who was fond of making jokes and playing tricks.

The Records of the Three Kingdoms mentioned that Sun Quan Jian was a descendant of Sun Quan Wu, a militarist in the Spring and Autumn period and the author of The Art of War.

Sun Quan was born in 182, while his father Sun Jian was still a low-ranking official of the Han dynasty.

Sun Quan was the second son of Sun Jian and his wife Lady Wu; he had two younger full brothers, Sun Yi and Sun Kuang, and a younger full sister, whose identity is unrecorded.

In 184, two years after Sun Quan was born, the Yellow Turban Rebellion led by Zhang Jue broke out across the country.

Two years later, Sun Quan Ce decided to join Yuan Shu's army so he ordered Lu Fan to take his family members to his maternal uncle Wu Jing's home in Danyang.

Sun Quan felt worried that they would attack him further so he drove Wu Jing away from Danyang.

When Sun Quan Ce defeated Liu Yao in 195, he ordered Chen Bao to bring his family back to Danyang.

Sun Quan was made Yangxian County magistrate in 196, at the age of 14, and continued to rise through the ranks as his brother gave him more and more important tasks.

Sun Quan was loved by his brother Sun Ce, who said that he would put his men under Sun Quan's management in the future.

In 199, Sun Quan was promoted to the rank of Colonel and followed his brother to conquer Lujiang and Yuzhang.

In 200, Sun Quan Ce was mortally wounded in an assassination attempt while he was hunting.

Many of Sun Ce's subordinates thought that Sun Quan was too young to sustain Sun Ce's domain and wanted to leave.

Sun Quan wrote a letter to Cao Cao to state Li Shu's crime then headed his troops to defeat Li Shu and regain Lujiang.

Sun Quan listened carefully to his mother Lady Wu's encouraging words, and greatly trusted Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong with regard to civilian affairs and Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, and Lu Fan with regard to military matters.

Sun Quan sought out talented young men to serve as his personal advisors, and it was around this time that he befriended Lu Su and Zhuge Jin, who would later play prominent roles in his administration.

Sun Quan made war on Huang Zu twice in 203 and 207.

Sun Quan was well aware of Cao Cao's intentions, and he quickly entered into an alliance with Liu Bei and Liu Qi to prepare for an attack by Cao.

Sun Quan refused, under advice from Zhou Yu and Lu Su that Cao Cao would surely not tolerate him even if he surrendered.

Sun Quan put Zhou Yu in charge of his 30,000 men, largely stationed on naval ships, and Zhou set up a defensive position in conjunction with Liu Bei, whose army was stationed on land.

Immediately after Cao Cao withdrew, Sun Quan took over the northern half of Jing Province.

Sun Quan did agree to Zhou Yu's plans to consider attacking Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu to try to take over their territories, but after Zhou Yu died in 210, the plans were abandoned.

However, Sun Quan was able to persuade the warlords in Jiao Province to submit to him, and they became part of his domain.

Sun Quan then yielded parts of northern Jing Province to Liu Bei as well, agreeing with Liu that the south was insufficient to supply his troops.

Sun Quan constructed fortresses at Ruxu, since Lu Meng anticipated an invasion there from Cao Cao.

Sun Quan personally led the army there to resist Cao Cao and relied heavily on the fortresses Lu Meng built to give his soldiers strong positions from which to defend.

Sun Quan ordered people to play music on the ship and returned to his camp safely.

Ultimately, Lu Meng's defences held and Sun Quan wrote a letter to Cao Cao to warn that the spring rains would come a month later, Cao Cao had to take his advice and pull back.

Sun Quan followed Lu Meng's strategy and used the seasonal flooding to travel to the city by boat, which allowed them to attack unexpectedly.

Sun Quan then sent Lu Meng and Ling Tong to lead 20,000 men to attack southern Jing Province and they succeeded in capturing Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling commanderies.

Liu Bei asked Sun Quan to give him back Lingling Commandery and create a diversion for Cao Cao by attacking Hefei; in return, Liu Bei ceded Changsha and Guiyang commanderies to Sun Quan, setting the new border along the Xiang River.

Sun Quan personally led 70,000 men to defend the city, though he left actual command of the battle to Lu Meng.

Sun Quan had no military options, so he settled on a diplomatic solution.

In 217, Sun Quan allied with Cao Cao, recognising him as the legitimate representative of the Han central government.

Sun Quan was permitted to continue to rule independently but was now officially one of Cao Cao's subordinates.

Sun Quan did not immediately submit to Wei or declare independence after Cao Pi's enthronement, but took a wait-and-see attitude; by contrast, in early 221, Liu Bei declared himself emperor, establishing the state of Shu Han.

Later that year, when Cao Pi demanded that Sun Quan send his crown prince Sun Deng to the Wei capital Luoyang as a hostage, Sun Quan refused and declared independence, thus establishing Eastern Wu as an independent state.

Sun Quan treated his high-level officials as friends and addressed them accordingly, and in accordance they dedicated all effort to Wu's preservation.

Sun Quan repeatedly promoted his official Lu Fan even though, while Sun Quan was young, Lu Fan had informed Sun Ce about his improper spending habits.

Sun Quan understood that Lu did so only out of loyalty to Sun Ce.

Sun Quan requested that he provide him with a report on his native country and its people.

Sun Quan walked into the trap set by Zhou Fang and Lu Xun and suffered major losses, but was saved from total annihilation by Jia Kui.

Later that year, Sun Quan moved his capital from Wuchang to Jianye, leaving his crown prince Sun Deng, assisted by Lu Xun, in charge of the western parts of Eastern Wu.

The next year Sun Quan would have yet another misadventure in his dealings with Gongsun Yuan, as Gongsun sent messengers to him, offering to be his subject.

Sun Quan was ecstatic, and appointed Gongsun Yuan the Prince of Yan and granted him the nine bestowments, and further sent a detachment of 10,000 men by sea north to assist Gongsun Yuan in his campaign against Wei, against the advice of nearly every single one of his high-level officials, particularly Zhang Zhao.

Once that happened, the enraged Sun Quan wanted to personally head north with a fleet to attack Gongsun Yuan, and initially, not even Lu Xun's opposition was able to stop him, although he eventually calmed down and did not follow through.

For example, in 235, when, as a sign of contempt, Wei's emperor Cao Rui offered horses to him in exchange for pearls, jade, and tortoise shells, Sun Quan ignored the implicit insult and made the exchange, reasoning that his empire needed horses much more than pearls, jade or tortoise shells.

In 234, in coordination with Zhuge Liang's final northern expedition against Wei, Sun Quan personally led a major attack against Wei's border city Hefei, while having Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin attack Xiangyang, with the strategy of trying to attract Wei relief forces and then attacking them.

However, as Sima Yi was able to conquer Gongsun Yuan quickly, Sun Quan never launched the major attack that he considered if Sima got stuck in a stalemate with Gongsun.

In 242, he appointed his son Sun Quan He, born to Consort Wang, crown prince.

Sun Quan cut off Sun Sun Quan and Sun Ba's access to the officials who supported them in hopes of receiving future favours, but this could not stop Sun Ba's machinations.

Indeed, when Lu Xun tried to intervene to protect Sun He, Sun Ba falsely accused him of many crimes, and Sun Quan became provoked so much that he repeatedly rebuked Lu Xun, causing him to die in frustration.

In 250, fed up with Sun Ba's constant attacks against Sun He, Sun Quan carried out an inexplicable combination of actions.

Sun Quan forced Sun Ba to commit suicide, while deposing Sun Sun Quan, and instead creating his youngest son, Sun Liang, crown prince to replace Sun He.

Many other officials who opposed the move, as well as officials who had supported Sun Quan Ba, were executed.

Around this time, Sun Quan had his generals destroy a number of levees near the border with Wei, creating large areas of flooding, in order to obstruct potential attacks from Wei.

Sun Quan realised that he was getting very old and, at Sun Jun's recommendation, commissioned Zhuge Jin's son Zhuge Ke as the future regent for Sun Liang, even though he correctly had misgivings about how Zhuge Ke was arrogant and had overly high opinions of his own abilities.

In 252, as Sun Quan neared death, Empress Pan was murdered, but how she was murdered remains a controversy.

On 252, Sun Quan died at the age of 70, and Sun Liang succeeded him.

Sun Quan initially believed in Taoism and communicated frequently with Taoist priests such as Ge Xuan, Yao Guang, and Jie Xiang.

However, in 247, when Kang Senghui, a Buddhist monk from Jiaozhi, arrived in the state of Wu, Sun Quan had a conversation with him and ultimately chose to convert to Buddhism.

Sun Quan appears as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series.

Sun Quan is a playable character in Total War: Three Kingdoms as part of the Sun family faction.