In our previous video covering the Three Kingdoms period, we covered the conflict on the northern
frontier of Ancient China between the great warlords Cao Cao and Yuan Shao - culminating
in the decisive battle at Guandu in the year 200. Today we shall move the spotlight from
the northern lands and cast it upon the coastal southeast of China, where another fascinating
warlord – Sun Ce would instigate the rise of another of the Three Kingdoms of the Third
Century.
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Born in the year 175 at Yandu, Sun Ce was the eldest born son of Sun Jian - a general
of the crumbling Han Dynasty. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184 Sun Jian
was dispatched to assist in the war against the rebels. Six years later, he was also a
member of the assorted coalition of warlords who briefly united against the usurper general
Dong Zhuo, the campaign that would pave the way for the period of territorial fragmentation
that followed. During the conflict, Sun Jian had pledged his service and allegiance to
another more prominent warlord - Yuan Shu. During this time, Sun Ce met a member of this
clan who was known as Zhou Yu, and the two became inseparable friends.
With the threat of Dong Zhuo now out of the way, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu’s forces began
to jostle for influence and position. In this time, Sun Jian was sent by his patron to challenge
an ally of Yuan Shao - Liu Biao. In a battle on the mountain slopes near the city of Xiangyang
in 191, Sun Jian was killed by an arrow. Sun Ce, who was just 16 years old was now forced
to take his father’s place. At this point Yuan Shu’s fortunes seem to have begun a
steep decline - he was forced to abandon his attempts to conquer territory in Liu Biao’s
heartland in this Jing province. In 193 the holdings of Yuan Shu were invaded from the
north by Cao Cao and his armies. In a series of battles, Yuan Shu was defeated multiple
times and was consequently driven southeast, while most of his domain in the fertile Yellow
River region had been annexed. Despite this, he still controlled the largest army in the
southeast of China, and his losses compelled him to regroup in the Huai valley, with a
new base at Shouchun. The arrival of Yuan Shu and his command in
Shouchun, had brought an immediate change to Sun Ce’s situation. Having likely leveraged
his reputation as a promising youth and as the eldest son of Sun Jian, Sun Ce had begun
to collect a small following of his own. This included a man named Lu Fan, a refugee from
Runan who had brought a hundred retainers to server Sun Ce, and another man named Sun
He - one of Sun Jian’s former personal bodyguards and confidants. With this small entourage,
Sun Ce appeared before his father’s former patron in Shouchun in early 194. After outlining
his father’s dedication to Yuan Shu, he offered his services to this lord.
Yuan Shu was said to have been impressed and allocated the former followers of Sun Jian
to Sun Ce. Despite his misfortunes in the previous years, Yuan Shu had begun to annex
neighboring commanderies as soon as he arrived in Shouchun. As he brought Danyang under his
control, he sent Wu Jing and Sun Ben - relatives of Sun Ce, to the province as leading administrators.
Yuan Shu then encouraged the rising young man to join his relatives in that region,
probably as a means of getting the ambitious young man out of his way. For several months,
Sun Ce stayed in Danyang, gradually increasing the number of his followers and gaining crucial
military experience in petty warfare against local enemies, barbarians and bandits. After
suffering a defeat at the hands of a local chieftain named Zu Lang, Sun Ce travelled
to see Yuan Shao again, who transferred a further 1,000 troops to serve under him. In
addition, he was granted the flowery title of ‘Colonel Who Cherishes Righteousness’.
After conquering the treacherous commandery of a personal enemy - Lu Kang, in Yuan Shu’s
name, Sun Ce expected to be appointed to the post of Grand Administrator in that region,
as he was promised. However, Yuan Shu broke that vow and instead awarded the position
to another subordinate - Liu Xun. It is likely that at this point, Sun Ce became disillusioned
with his nominal patron. Nevertheless in 195, the burgeoning commander was sent to fight
against Liu Yao - a warlord in the south, who had been encroaching onto Yuan Shu’s
territory. He quickly crossed the Yangtze with 5,000
men and defeated a general named Zhang Ying at Dangli, before moving on a massive storage
depot at Niuzhu, where he plundered the supplies before proceeding to establish a camp. After
a few subsequent, but indecisive skirmishes with Liu Yao’s commanders, Sun Ce cleverly
outmaneuvered them and instead marched first on Moling to the north - modern Nanjing, and
then on Qu’a to the east, seizing both in a lightning campaign in early 196, making
the latter his new headquarters. In a politically savvy move, Sun Ce proclaimed to his conquered
counties that no reprisal would be taken on the soldiers who had fought for Liu Yao. Moreover,
any deserter who wished to fight in his victorious army would be welcomed heartily. Within a
few weeks, he had gained a stunning 20,000 footmen and over 1,000 cavalry. In recognition
of this success, Yuan Shu granted Sun Ce the title of ‘Acting General Who Destroys Criminals’.
Despite the defeat of Liu Yao, many small factions in the hills and the countryside
had used the fighting as an opportunity to re-establish themselves, among them, a local
tribal leader known as White Tiger Yan and a former officer of Liu Yao Taishi Ci. In
the second half of 196 Sun Ce attacked and defeated both them, consolidating his rule
over the region. Back to the north, Yuan Shu made a fatal mistake
in the summer of 197 and proclaimed himself Emperor of a newly found Zhong dynasty. Almost
all combatants in this long civil war claimed to be fighting for the restoration of the
Han dynasty so such a declaration was tantamount to becoming an outlaw and it gave Sun Ce the
justification to break all allegiance with him. Two great warlords in the north, Cao
Cao and Lu Bu now attacked Yuan Shu’s territory and drove the warlord south of the Huai river,
diminishing his holdings and his power greatly. At this point, Imperial decree signed by Emperor
Xian, who was influenced by Cao Cao, ordered Sun Ce to join the alliance against Yuan Shu.
Meanwhile, another Imperial edict suspiciously appointed Chen Yu - an associate of Cao Cao,
to administer the Wu Commandery. Instead of cooperating with Sun Ce, Chen Yu began to
plot with the White Tiger Yan and other various rebel groups in Sun Ce’s territory to act
as agents against him. When he found out that Sun Ce marched south and took a bloody toll
on the White Tiger Yan. At the same time, he sent an army under general Lu Fan to annihilate
the forces of Chen Yu, which he promptly did. Quickly realizing he was better off assisting
the young man, Cao Cao had the Emperor bestow upon Sun Ce the title of Marquis of Wu. Rather
than weakening and restraining Sun Ce, Cao Cao’s scheming had only confirmed him in
all of his territorial acquisitions - the commanderies of Wu, Kuaiji and the eastern
half of Danyang. Further seeking to expand his holdings, Sun Ce pushed west up the Yangtze
and defeated and captured Zu Lang and Liu Yao’s old general - Taishi Ci. At this point,
it would have been understandable for these skilled and threatening figures to be executed,
but Sun Ce showed his political acumen and instead showed them respect and mercy. In
the future, they would become some of Sun Ce’s most capable officers. This proved
to be a useful act, as Liu Yao had passed away late in 198. As Taishi Ci was his former
subordinate, Sun Ce ordered him to venture vest, perform reconnaissance on the late warlord’s
territories, and to persuade his former allies to Sun Ce’s side. He went off with a small
party and returned a few weeks later, reporting that only anarchy, neglect and division was
present in the current governance of the area. Consequently, it was decided by Sun Ce that
he would conquer Yuzhang the following year. As the army of Sun Ce prepared to again move
west up the Yangtze river in early 199, the young leader discovered that Yuan Shu had
finally passed away. Liu Xun - the man to whom Yuan Shu had granted Sun Ce’s promised
commandery, had inherited many of his troops and his court. Eager to gain revenge against
this old rival, Sun Ce resorted to a clever trick of diplomacy. He pretended to be friendly
to Liu Xun and urged to the new administrator attack the wealthy city of Shangliao, which
was outside of his province. Fooled by Sun Ce’s friendliness, he did so - and an army
under Sun Ben and Sun Fu subsequently cut Liu Xun’s lines of communication, supply
and retreat back to his own region. Meanwhile, Sun Ce himself commanded a force which advanced,
besieged and seized Huan City - capital of the Lujiang commandery. When the naive Liu
Xun learned of the disaster his foolishness had brought to him, he fled to a man named
Huang Zu to ask for assistance - the man who had killed Sun Jian so many years before at
Xiangyang. Huang Zu’s son brought 5,000 extra troops and a fleet of ships down the
Yangtze to support Liu Xun, but the allies were defeated anyway. 2,000 men were captured
by Sun Ce’s army and many ships along with them. After this second humiliating defeat,
Liu Xun fled north to the court of Cao Cao, while Sun Ce assaulted Huang Zu’s own headquarters
at Shaxian. Proclaiming that he would gain justice for his father’s death, Sun Ce proceeded
to win a great victory in the last month of 199. When knowledge of this reached Cao Cao
via a letter sent by Sun Ce himself, he was reported to have said “That wolf cub, it
will be difficult to deal with him!” Though he gained victory over all of these
enemies in the west, Sun Ce could not go any further up the Yangtze. He then retreated
back to the area of the Pengli Lake in order to ease the stresses of supply and communication.
Pivoting south, Sun Ce now prepared to invade Yuzhang and Luling. Not much detail of these
campaigns survive, however Yuzhang was annexed. As he departed home in the late Spring of
200AD, Sun Ce had risen from obscurity to command the most powerful army in Southern
China, and perhaps one of the most powerful in the empire.
These developments were also a relief to Sun Ce, as the White Tiger Yan once again rebelled
in his home province of Wu, encouraged by Xu Gong - the former governor of Wu Commandery
who had escaped to the White Tiger Yan. Xu Gong was quickly captured and strangled to
death, while his followers were scattered to the countryside. As Sun Ce was a good horseman
and hunter, he often outsped many of his entourage when searching for his scattered foes. During
one of these expeditions, Sun Ce became separated from his friends. Unfortunately, it was at
this moment that he encountered three of Xu Gong’s former soldiers, who loosed three
arrows at him - two of them missed their mark but the last struck him in the jaw. Sun Ce
was brought back to camp with this serious wound and was incredibly upset about it, despite
the doctor’s promise that he would be fine if he rested and stayed quiet - as the wound
was on his mouth. That night - the 5th of May 200AD, Sun Ce’s wounds broke open and
he passed away. He was 25 years old, and his conquests had laid the foundation for the
Second of the Three Kingdoms - Eastern Wu.
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