Sun Ce



Sun Ce is a military general and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China and a hero in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Bio
Sun Ce was the eldest of six children of Sun Jian, a military general loyal to the emperor of the Han Dynasty. A few years after the death of Emperor Ling, the warlord Dong Zhuo usurped power, enthroning Emperor Xian, whom he would handle like a puppet. The regional warlords in eastern China then formed a coalition against Dong Zhuo. Sun Jian lent his service to Yuan Shu, one of the leaders of the coalition. The attempt to overthrow Dong Zhuo failed and China entered a series of bloody civil wars. The following year, Sun Jian was sent by Yuan Shu to attack Liu Biao, governor of Jingzhou, but ended up killed in an ambush.

Sun Ce brought his father's body to Qu'e for burial and calmed his mother before heading towards Danyang, where his uncle Wu Jing served as governor. There he assembled a small militia with a force of a few hundred. This small force was far from sufficient to establish its own independent force, Sun Ce went to visit Yuan Shu. Yuan formed a very favorable opinion of Sun Ce and often regretted not having a son like him. In addition, Yuan returned the former troops division of Sun Jian to Sun Ce.

Initially, Yuan Shu promised to name Sun Ce governor of Jiujiang but eventually gave the government to Chen Ji. Later, when the governor of Lujiang denied Yuan Shu a grain loan, he sent Sun Ce to attack him, promising Sun Ce to make him governor of Lujiang if he won. When Sun Ce did, however, Yuan Shu again retracted and named someone else in his place. The disappointed Sun Ce began to contemplate the possibility of leaving him.

Meanwhile, Liu Yao, who was by imperial decree the governor of Yangzhou, occupied Qu'e, since the regional headquarters Shouchun was occupied by Yuan Shu. He then forced Wu Jing to return to the west, crossing the Yangtze River to Liyang. However, Yuan Shu claimed to be the legitimate governor and sent Wu Jing and Sun Ce's elder cousin, Sun Ben, to attack Liu Yao. After proving incapable of breaching the defense for a year, Sun Ce asked to direct a force to help them.

Although Yuan Shu knew Sun Ce intended to leave, he believed that he would not be able to defeat Liu Yao. So he deployed young generals with only a thousand troops and a small cavalry force. Along with just over a hundred supporters, Sun Ce marched to Liyang, where he increased his strength to more than 5,000 men. He then launched an offensive across the Ian-tsé River and successfully occupied the strategic position of Niuzhu.

Two of Liu Yao's allies then came from the south from Pengcheng and Xiapi respectively to help him. Sun Ce chose to attack first one of them, Ze Rong, who had made a camp south of Moling.