Sun Ce

Portrait of Sun Ce from a Qing Dynasty edition of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Names

Simplified Chinese:

å™ç–

Traditional Chinese:

å«ç–

Pinyin:

SÅ«n CÃ¨

Wade-Giles:

Sun Tse

Zi:

Bofu (ä¼¯ç¬¦)

Other names:

Little Conqueror (å°éœ¸çŽ‹)

SÅ«n CÃ¨ (175 – 200) was a military general and warlord during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era in ancient China. He was the eldest of four sons of Sun Jian, who was killed in battle when SÅ«n CÃ¨ was only sixteen. SÅ«n CÃ¨ then broke away from his father's former overlord Yuan Shu and headed into Southeastern China to establish his own power base there. With the help of several capable men, including Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu, SÅ«n CÃ¨ managed to lay down the foundation of the later Eastern Wu, of which his younger brother Sun Quan eventually became the first emperor. After Sun Quan declared himself emperor, he posthumously honored SÅ«n CÃ¨ with the title Prince Huan of Changsha (é•·æ²™æ¡"çŽ‹, literally "the diligent prince").

In 200, when the rising warlord Cao Cao was away battling Yuan Shao in the decisive Battle of Guandu, SÅ«n CÃ¨ plotted to attack the capital and Cao Cao's base city Xuchang. However, he was assassinated before he could carry out the plan.

The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms describes SÅ«n CÃ¨ as handsome and full of laughter. He was also a generous and receptive man who could employ people according to their abilities. Thus his subjects were willing to risk their lives for him. One of them named Xu Gong (è¨±è²¢), in a letter to Emperor Xian, likened SÅ«n CÃ¨ to Xiang Yu, the renowned Qin Dynasty general. As Xiang Yu was often referred to as the Conqueror of Chu, SÅ«n CÃ¨ henceforth became known as the Little Conqueror in popular culture.

Life

Early life and career

Born in 175, SÅ«n CÃ¨ was the eldest among four sons of Sun Jian, a military general loyal to the emperor of the Han Dynasty. In 190, a year after Emperor Ling died, the warlord Dong Zhuo usurped power, placing in the throne the puppet Emperor Xian. Regional warlords in eastern China then formed a coalition against Dong Zhuo. Sun Jian rendered his service to Yuan Shu, one of the leaders of the coalition. The attempt to oust Dong Zhuo soon failed and China slid into a series of massive civil wars. In the next year, Sun Jian was sent by Yuan Shu to attack Liu Biao, governor of Jingzhou (è†å·ž, present day Hubei and Hunan), but he was killed in an ambush.

SÅ«n CÃ¨ brought his father's body to Qu'e (æ›²é˜¿, present day Situ Town, Jiangsu) for burial and settled his mother down before heading for Danyang (ä¸¹æ¥Š, present day Xuancheng, Anhui), where his uncle Wu Jing (å³æ™¯) was the governor. There he raised a small militia a few hundred in strength. This small force was far from sufficient for him to establish his own power so in 194 SÅ«n CÃ¨ went to Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu was very impressed with SÅ«n CÃ¨ and often lamented that he had no son like him. He also returned Sun Jian's former division of troops to SÅ«n CÃ¨.

Initially, Yuan Shu promised to appoint SÅ«n CÃ¨ the governor of Jiujiang but eventually gave the governorship to Chen Ji (é™³ç´€). Later, when Yuan Shu was denied a large loan of grains from the governor of Lujiang, he sent SÅ«n CÃ¨ to attack the latter, promising to make SÅ«n CÃ¨ the governor of Lujiang should he succeed. When SÅ«n CÃ¨ did, however, Yuan Shu again went back on his words and appointed someone else instead. The disappointed SÅ«n CÃ¨ then began to contemplate leaving.

Meanwhile, Liu Yao (åŠ‰ç¹‡), who was by imperial decree the governor of Yangzhou (æšå·ž, present day southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian), occupied Qu'e as the regional seat Shouchun (å£½æ˜¥, present day Shou County, Anhui) was already occupied by Yuan Shu. He then forced Wu Jing back west across the Yangtze River to Liyang (åŽ†é™½, present day He County, Anhui) However, Yuan Shu claimed to be the rightful governor and sent Wu Jing and SÅ«n CÃ¨'s elder cousin Sun Ben (å«è³) to attack Liu Yao. After they were unable to break down the defense for more than a year, SÅ«n CÃ¨ requested to lead a force to assist the effort.

A kingdom's beginning

Though Yuan Shu knew SÅ«n CÃ¨ intended to leave, he believed the latter would not be able to defeat Liu Yao. Thus he deployed the young general off with merely a thousand odd troops and a tiny cavalry force. Along with a few hundred more willing followers, SÅ«n CÃ¨ proceeded to Liyang, where he boosted his strength to more than 5,000. He then launched an offensive across the Yangtze River and successfully occupied the strategic position of Niuzhu (ç‰›æ¸š, present day Caishiji, southwest of Ma'anshan, Anhui) in 195.

Two of Liu Yao's allies then came south from Pengcheng and Xiapi respectively to aid him. SÅ«n CÃ¨ chose to first attack one of them, Ze Rong (ç¬®èž), who made camp south of Moling. After suffering initial defeat in the hands of the aggressor, Ze Rong fell back in defense and refused to engage in battle. SÅ«n CÃ¨ then marched further north and attacked Xue Li (è–›ç¦®) in Moling. Although Xue Li soon gave up the city and escaped, Liu Yao's subject Fan Neng (æ¨Šèƒ½) and others had regrouped their forces and launched a renewed attack on Niuzhu. Turning back, SÅ«n CÃ¨ defeated Fan Neng and secured Niuzhu. He then began a second offensive against Ze Rong. However, he was struck by a stray arrow in the thigh. Returning to Niuzhu, he sent out false words that he was killed in battle. The exalted Ze Rong then sent a force to attack. SÅ«n CÃ¨ led the enemies into an ambush and annihilated them. When Ze Rong heard that SÅ«n CÃ¨ was still alive, he further reinforced his defense works.

SÅ«n CÃ¨ then temporarily gave up attacking Ze Rong and focused his forces on Qu'e. After all the surrounding areas were taken over by SÅ«n CÃ¨, Liu Yao gave up the city and escaped south to Yuzhang (è±«ç« , present day Nanchang, Jiangxi), where he died shortly. As SÅ«n CÃ¨ implemented strict discipline among his troops, he won the instant support of the local people. He then pushed his force deeper into Yangzhou and conquered Guiji (æœƒç¨½, present day Shaoxing, Zhejiang), whose governor Wang Lang (çŽ‹éƒŽ) surrendered. SÅ«n CÃ¨ made Guiji his base city and struck out at the wandering army led by Yan Baihu (åš´ç™½è™Ž). Yan Baihu sent his younger brother Yan Yu (åš´è¼¿) to seek peace but SÅ«n CÃ¨ showed no mercy and personally slew the emissary. As Yan Yu was known among Yan Baihu's men as a fierce warrior, his death struck fear into their hearts and they were soon defeated. SÅ«n CÃ¨ then appointed his relatives and a trusted subject to govern Danyang and Yuzhang, from which he divided a new commandery named Luling (å»¬é™µ). His campaign, from the occupation of Niuzhu to the conquest of the entire region southeast of the Long River, took less than a year.

Late life

In 195, Yuan Shu declared himself the first emperor of the so-called Cheng Dynasty. In a letter to Yuan Shu, SÅ«n CÃ¨ denounced the move and broke ties with the former. In an effort to garner support from SÅ«n CÃ¨, the rising warlord Cao Cao then recommended him to be appointed General Who Suppresses Rebellions (è¨Žé€†å°‡è») and enfeoffed as Marquis of Wu (å³ä¾¯). SÅ«n CÃ¨ was supposed to inherit his father's title of Marquis of Wucheng but he had given it up to his younger brother Sun Kuang. In 199 Yuan Shu died of sickness along with his short-lived dynasty. His cousin Yuan Yin (è¢èƒ¤) feared Cao Cao and gave up Shouchun. Bringing along Yuan Shu's coffin and his former troops, he headed to Huancheng (çš–åŸŽ, present day Qianshan County, Anhui) to seek refuge under Liu Xun (åŠ‰å‹³). As Liu Xun had insufficent food supplies in his realm to support the additional troops, he led a force south to pillage Haihun (æµ·æ˜, east of present day Yongxiu County, Jiangxi).

SÅ«n CÃ¨ was en route to attack Huang Zu in Xiakou (å¤å£, present day Hankou, Wuhan, Hubei) when he received the news. He then turned back and captured the poorly defended Huancheng, taking over all of Yuan Shu's 30,000 former troops. Hearing that his base city had been taken, Liu Xun headed west and sought help from Huang Zu, who sent a 5,000-strong naval force to assist him. SÅ«n CÃ¨ pressed forward and defeated Liu Xun, who escaped north to Cao Cao. SÅ«n CÃ¨ annexed more than 2,000 former troops and 1,000 ships of his enemy and came upon Huang Zu. Despite reinforcements from Liu Biao, Huang Zu was utterly defeated.

The victorious SÅ«n CÃ¨ in 199 looked poised to take over the entire southern China. As he was threatened by rival Yuan Shao in the north and could not divide his attention, Cao Cao attempted to further reinforce the alliance with SÅ«n CÃ¨ by marrying his niece to SÅ«n CÃ¨'s youngest brother Sun Kuang (å«åŒ¡). SÅ«n CÃ¨ in turn agreed to marry Sun Ben's daughter to Cao Cao's son Cao Zhang.

The governor of Wu Commandery (å³éƒ¡, south of present day Suzhou, Jiangsu) Xu Gong (è¨±è²¢) then wrote to Emperor Xian, recommending the emperor to summon SÅ«n CÃ¨ to the capital as he deemed SÅ«n CÃ¨ to be a hero comparable to Xiang Yu and too dangerous to be allowed to occupy a territory. However, the letter was intercepted by an official loyal to SÅ«n CÃ¨, who then had Xu Gong executed. Xu Gong's former servants then kept a low profile and waited for chance to revenge.

In the year 200 Cao Cao engaged in the decisive Battle of Guandu with Yuan Shao along the shores of the Yellow River, leaving the capital and his base city Xuchang poorly guarded. SÅ«n CÃ¨ then plotted to attack Xuchang under the banner of rescuing Emperor Xian, who was a figurehead held under Cao Cao's control. Preparations were underway for the military excursion when SÅ«n CÃ¨ ran into three former servants of Xu Gong during a solo hunting trip. One of them managed to plant an arrow into SÅ«n CÃ¨'s cheek before SÅ«n CÃ¨'s men arrived and slew the assassins.

The physician told SÅ«n CÃ¨ to rest still for a hundred days to allow the wound to heal, but SÅ«n CÃ¨ looked into the mirror one day and, seeing his scar, became so enraged that he slammed his table. The large movement caused the wound to break and he died in the same night. Although he was survived by one son, SÅ«n CÃ¨ passed his legacy to his younger brother Sun Quan. When Sun Quan declared himself the first emperor of the Kingdom of Wu in 222, he bestowed upon SÅ«n CÃ¨ the posthumous title of King Huan of Changsha (é•·æ²™æ¡"çŽ‹).

SÅ«n CÃ¨ was succeeded by a posthumous son, Sun Shao, as well as at least three daughters, married to Zhu Ji, Gu Shao, and Lu Xun respectively. Sun Shao bore one son, Sun Feng, who was executed by Sun Hao for alleged treason due to his popularity.

Dispute over cause of death

Sun Sheng (å«ç››) in his Exposition on Disparities and Similarities (ç•°åŒè©•) discounted the theory that SÅ«n CÃ¨ made plans to attack Xuchang. He believed that although SÅ«n CÃ¨ was a rising power, he was threatened in the west by Huang Zu, who was defeated but not eliminated, in the north by Chen Deng (é™³ç™»), governor of Guangling (å»£é™µ, present day Yangzhou, Jiangsu), and in the south by indigenous tribes yet to be assimilated. These prevented SÅ«n CÃ¨ from striking far out at Xuchang and moving the emperor to southeastern China. He further argued that SÅ«n CÃ¨ died in the fourth month of 200, before the Battle of Guandu even took place.

The annotator of the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms Pei Songzhi (è£´æ¾ä¹‹) rebutted Sun Sheng, arguing that Huang Zu was newly broken and had yet to recollect his forces while the indigenous tribes were scattered and not much of a threat. Pei Songzhi believed that the first objective of SÅ«n CÃ¨'s planned northward excursion was to attack Chen Deng, which would provide a platform for capturing Xuchang. On the other hand, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had been engaging in skirmishes and small-scale battles before SÅ«n CÃ¨'s death. Thus there was in fact no discrepancy in timing.

SÅ«n CÃ¨ about to kill the priest Yu Ji as depicted in the 84-episode TV serial Romance of the Three Kingdoms

A historically implausible legend regarding SÅ«n CÃ¨'s death involves a popular Taoist priest of his time named Gan Ji (å¹²å‰), whom he regarded as a sorcerer. Despite petitions from his subjects and his own mother, SÅ«n CÃ¨ ordered Gan Ji's execution. According to In Search of the Supernatural (æœç¥žè¨˜) by Gan Bao (å¹²ç«‡), a compilation largely based on legends and hearsay, SÅ«n CÃ¨ began to see apparitions of Gan Ji ever since the execution of the latter. After he was injured by assassins, SÅ«n CÃ¨ was told by the physician to rest still to allow the wound to heal. However, he looked into the mirror one day and saw Gan Ji's face, whereupon he let out a cry and slammed the mirror. His wound broke and he died shortly. This version was adopted and further dramatized by Luo Guanzhong in his historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which Gan Ji's name was taken to be "Yu Ji". The Chinese characters for "Gan" (å¹²) and "Yu" (äºŽ) in this case look very similar. It is believed that Luo Guanzhong made an error when referring to historical texts.

Miscellaneous

SÅ«n CÃ¨ married Elder Qiao, daughter of Qiao Xuan and elder sister of Younger Qiao, who married SÅ«n CÃ¨'s trusted aide Zhou Yu. The two sisters were famed for their beauty.

The character Sonsaku Hakufu in Ikki Tousen is supposedly based on the historical figure SÅ«n CÃ¨ (her surname's characters being identical to those of SÅ«n CÃ¨). Her guardian, Shuuyu Koukin, bears the same name and personality as Zhou Yu.

Sun Ce: Encyclopedia BETA

Contents

Sun Ce

Life

Early life and career

A kingdom's beginning

Late life

Dispute over cause of death

Miscellaneous

Dynasty Warriors

Notes

References

See also

External links