Sun Quan

Young years

Sun Quan was born in 182 when his father, Sun Jian (it is believed that he was a descendant of the famous strategist Sun Tzu ), was a general of the Han Empire . When his father died in 191, he was taken by his older brother Sun Tse . When Sun Quan grew up, he participated in his brother’s campaign to conquer lands south of the Yangtze , and at the age of 14 he received an administrative position.

In 200, Sun Tse suddenly passed away; on his deathbed, knowing that his own son was still too small, transferred the title of Uskie Hou and power over the troops to 18-year-old Sun Quan. Sun Quan was so grieving over his brother that he could not do anything, but at the insistence of Zhang Zhao put on military clothes and toured the property of his late brother. Many of Sun Tse's former subordinates believed that Sun Quan was still too young and wanted to leave the service, but Zhao Zhao and Zhou Yu discerned hidden talents in him and decided to stay in his service; also came to him Zhang Hong , previously sent by Sun Tse to contact Cao Cao (at the request of Zhang Hun Cao Cao gave Sun Quan on behalf of the emperor Xian-di the title of "general conquering barbarians"). Sun Quan listened carefully to his mother's admonition, and began to rely on Zhang Zhao and Zhang Huna in civil matters, and on Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, and Lu Fan in the military. He also looked for other talented people whose advice could be trusted, and it was during this period that he made friends with Lu Su and Zhuge Jing .

Over the next few years, Sun Quan primarily tried to protect his possessions from potential rivals, but at the same time he tried to weaken the chief of Liu Biao 's subordinates, Huang Zu , who killed his father in an ambush. In 208, he was able to kill Huang Zu during the battle, and shortly afterwards, Liu Biao also died. Meanwhile, Cao Cao was preparing a large campaign to take control of both Liu Biao and Sun Quan.

Battle of Chibi

After the death of Liu Biao, the sons of Liu Qi and Liu Tsong began to fight among themselves for his inheritance. After the death of Huang Zu, Liu Qi inherited his post as manager of the Jiangxi region; Liu Tsong, who was younger, but who was favored by the second wife of the late Liu Biao (since he was married to her niece), after the death of his father, inherited his possession, which Liu Qi did not like. Fearing a war on two fronts (both against Cao Cao and against his brother), Liu Cong chose to submit to Cao Cao, contrary to the advice of Liu Biao's key ally, Liu Bei . Liu Bei, not wanting to submit to Cao Cao, fled south. Cao Cao rushed after him and crushed his strength, but Liu Bei himself managed to escape. Cao Cao conquered the bulk of the Han province of Jingzhou (荆州, occupied the territory of the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan ), and almost united the whole empire.

Sun Quan allied with Liu Qi and Liu Bei to counter Cao Cao. Cao Cao invited Sun Quan to submit, but he, relying on the advice of Zhou Yu and Lu Su, refused. In the ensuing river battle, Cao Cao's fleet was destroyed by fire, and the bulk of the troops trying to escape to land were killed.

Hard Union with Liu Bei

Immediately after the retreat of Cao Cao, Sun Quan captured the northern part of Jingzhou, and Liu Bei - the southern. Their union was sealed by the marriage of Liu Bei to the younger sister of Sun Quan. However, Zhou Yu suspected that Liu Bei was cherishing his own plans, and recommended placing him under house arrest, and mixing his troops with Sun Quan's troops. Sun Quan, believing that Liu Bei’s troops would raise an uprising in this case, refused. Sun Quan agreed with Zhou Yu’s offer to attack Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu (who controlled the southern part of modern Shaanxi province), but after the death of Zhou Yuyi in 210, these plans were abandoned. Sun Quan was able to conquer the rulers of possessions in the territories of the modern provinces of Guangdong , Guangxi and northern Vietnam , and incorporate these lands into their possessions. He then set aside the northern part of Jingzhou, Liu Bei, agreeing with him that the southern part would be enough to supply his own troops.

When Liu Bei captured Yizhou , he was able to supply his troops on his own, and Sun Quan sent Lu Su as ambassador, demanding the return of the lands of Jingzhou, but Liu Bei refused. Then Sun Quan sent with the troops of Lu Main and Lin Tong , and they were able to capture the areas of Changsha , Guiyang and Linlin , and Lu Su and Gan Ning advanced to Yiyang. Liu Bei personally led the troops to Gongan, sending Guan Yu to Yiyang. When a full-scale war was about to break out, Liu Bei was informed that Cao Cao was about to invade Hanzhong , and he decided to agree with Sun Quan on the division of possessions. Liu Bei asked for Linlin to return to him, agreeing to give Chang Quan and Guiyang to Sun Quan and draw the border along the Xiangjiang River . At the request of Liu Bei, Sun Quan inflicted a distracting blow on Cao Cao, but he almost got captured by the enemy.

In 219, Guan Yu went north and besieged Fancheng. Sun Quan, having old scores for Guan Yu, hit him in the rear. Kuan Yu was captured by Lu Man and executed, and the whole province of Jingzhou came under the rule of Sun Quan. Sun Quan formally submitted to Cao Cao and invited him to take the throne, but he refused.

When Cao Cao passed away in 220, his son Cao Pei forced Emperor Xian-di to abdicate, and announced the founding of the new state of Cao Wei. Sun Quan did not immediately submit to him or declare independence, but decided to wait for the development of events, while Liu Bei in 221, considering himself the successor to the Han empire, proclaimed himself emperor of the kingdom of Shu . Immediately after ascending the throne, Liu Bei began to plan a campaign against Sun Quan, intending to avenge Guan Yu. Having not received an answer from Liu Bei to peace proposals, Sun Quan, to avoid a blow from two sides, declared himself a vassal of the Wei empire and received the title of Nanchang hou (南昌 侯) from Cao Pei. Liu Ye advised Cao Pei to abandon such a vassal and attack Sun Quan, and after defeating him, fall upon Shu, but Cao Pei rejected the offer.

In 222, General Sun Quan Lu Xun defeated Liu Bei's forces at the Battle of Xiaoting , after which Shu's kingdom no longer posed a threat to Sun Quan. After that, Cao Pei demanded that Sun Quan send his heir Sun Dan to Luoyang as a hostage. Sun Quan refused, and proclaimed independence, declaring himself the go-wan of Wu (吳國國 王). Cao Pei launched a major attack on Sun Quan, but after his defeat at the beginning of 223, it became clear that Wu would survive, especially when Liu Bei Zhuge Liang , former ruler of Liu Bei 's successor Liu Shan , renewed the alliance with Sun Quanem.

Ruler of the kingdom U

Thanks to the competent selection of advisers, the Wu administration worked very efficiently in the early years of Sun Quan's reign. In the years 224 and 225, Cao Pei tried to invade Wu , but his attacks were easily repelled. However, when, after the death of Cao Pei in 226, Sun Quan himself attempted to invade Wei, this attempt also ended in failure. However, in the same year he managed to conquer Jiaozhou Province (交 州, modern northern Vietnam ), where Shi Hui tried to declare independence; U suzerainty was recognized by states in the territories of modern southern Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia . In 229, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor, which nearly led to the severance of an alliance with the Shu kingdom, which considered itself the legitimate successor to the Han empire; however, Zhuge Liang persuaded officials to renew the alliance. Later that year, Sun Quan moved the capital from Wuchang to Jian, leaving the west of the empire under the control of his heir, Sun Teng.

However, then Sun Quan began to pursue misfortunes. In 230, he sent a large sea expedition in search of the legendary islands of Yizhou and Danzhou; when the expedition returned in 231, losing up to 90% of its personnel, Sun Quan executed executives. In 232, he sent Zhou He and Pei Qian to the Liaodong Peninsula, where he commanded nominally subordinate to the kingdom of Wei Gongsun Yuan to acquire horses, but on the way back they were intercepted by Wei and killed. The following year, Gunsun Yuan sent ambassadors with the message that he wanted to become a vassal. Sun Quan granted him the title of Yan prince and sent an army of 10,000 to attack Wei from the north, but when they arrived, Gunsun Yuan appropriated gifts and killed Sun ambassadors Quan took the troops to himself.

In 234, in coordination with the last of the northern campaigns of Zhuge Liang , Sun Quan personally led troops to the bordering Wei city of Hefei , while Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin attacked Xiangyang . However, the Wei generals correctly assessed the situation, and allowed Sun Quan to besiege Hefei, summing up his troops only when the besiegers began to run out of supplies, and forced them to retreat.

In the year 238, when Sima Yi attacked the Gunsun Yuan , Sun Quan, in spite of previous disagreements, intended to help the Gunsun Yuan, but Syma Yi acted very quickly, and Wu’s troops did not manage to do anything.

In 239, the Wei ruler Cao Rui died. Sun Quan decided to take advantage of this, and in 241 launched his last major attack on Wei, but he did not coordinate his actions with the kingdom of Shu, and the attack ended in failure.

In 241, the heir to the throne Sun Deng passed away. In 242, Sun Quan appointed Sun He to be the heir to the throne, but at the same time he brought his other son, Sun Ba, to himself. By the year 245, relations between Sun He and Sun Ba had seriously deteriorated, Sun Ba was constantly intriguing against Sun He, hoping to obtain the status of heir to the throne. As a result, in 250, Sun Quan forced Sun Ba to commit suicide, and Sun He lost the status of heir, and instead made him the heir to the throne of Sun Liang . In 252, Sun Quan passed away, and Sun Liang inherited the throne.

• Huangwu (黃 武 Huángwǔ) 222 - 229
• Huanglong (黃龍 Huánglóng) 229 - 231
• Jiahe (嘉禾 Jiāhé) 232 - 238
• Chiu (赤 烏 Chìwū) 238 - 251
• Taiyuan (太 元 Tàiyuán) 251 - 252
• Shenfeng (神 鳳 Shénfèng) 252

• The official biography of Sun Quan in " Sang-go-ji " ( Chinese )