Sun Quan



Sun Quan is Sun Jian's second son and his elder brother Sun Ce's successor. He is one of the main protagonists in the later parts of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Biography
Sun Quan spent his childhood in his hometown, Fuchun. Since his father, Sun Jian died in 191, he moved to city in the lower Yangtze. When his brother, Sun Ce established a state formed from several small areas around him. In 200, Sun Ce is died, Sun Quan inherited an area in the southeastern Yangtze. In his fairly secure and stable government, Sun Quan is assisted by several former Sun Ce officials, such as Zhou Yu, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, and Cheng Pu. For several years, Sun Quan was able to build a strong army with help the officers, his army was able to defeat Huang Zu, an officer from Liu Biao who ruled the middle of the Yangtze river.

In 207, Cao Cao led some 200,000 troops to rule the South as part of China's unification plan. On the one hand, Zhang Zhao as an adviser on domestic affairs Wu suggested to surrender, while on the other hand, Zhou Yu and Lu Su suggested to fight. Finally Sun Quan chose to carry the banner of war. Together with Liu Bei, who is a refugee in his country, Sun Quan combines the two greatest strategists, Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, assisted by Huang Gai, Kan Ze, and Pang Tong to destroy all Cao Cao's armies at the Battle of Chibi.

In 220, Cao Pi, son of Cao Cao, got the throne and proclaimed himself emperor of China; At the beginning, Sun served nominally as a vassal of Cao Wei with the newly created title of Prince of Wu, but later Cao Pi demanded that he send his son, Sun Deng, as a hostage to the capital of Cao Wei, Luoyang, and he refused. In 222, he declared himself independent, changing his name from that era. It was not until the year 229 that he officially declared himself as the emperor. Because of his ability to gather important and honorable men to his cause, Sun was able to delegate authority to able figures. This primary force helped him win the support of ordinary people and surround himself with competent generals.

After Sun Deng's death, two opposing factions that supported different potential successors slowly emerged. When Sun He succeeded Sun Deng in the crown, he was supported by Lu Xun and Zhuge Luo, while his rival Sun Ba was supported by Quan Cong and Zhi Bu and their clans. After a prolonged internal power struggle, numerous officials were executed, and Sun Quan severely resolved the conflict between the two factions by exiling Sun He and killing Sun Ba. Sun Quan died in 252, succeeded by his son, Sun Liang.