Sun Ce's conquests in Jiangdong

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Sun Ce's conquests in Jiangdong
Part of the wars at the end of the Han dynasty
Date194199 CE
Location
Jiangnan region, China
Result Sun Ce victory; foundation laid for the state of Eastern Wu
Belligerents
Sun Ce Various warlords,
Shanyue
Commanders and leaders
Sun Ce
Zhou Yu
Wu Jing
Sun Ben
Sun Fu
Cheng Pu
Han Dang
Huang Gai
Zhou Tai
Ling Cao
Jiang Qin
Dong Xi
Chen Wu
Lü Meng
Zhang Zhao
Zhang Hong
Liu Yao
Yan Baihu
Xu Gong
Wang Lang
Lu Kang
Liu Xun
Yan Yu  
Huang Longluo  
Ze Rong  
Taishi Ci   White flag icon.svg

While Sun Ce was attacking the warlords in the Jiangdong region, Yuan Shu was making plans to become emperor. Despite having been in the Huai River region (in present-day Anhui) for years, Yuan Shu did not make any great achievements. Instead, he oppressed the people and disrupted agricultural production with his policies. Although he did not have a good record of successes in battles against rival warlords, he still insisted on becoming emperor against the advice of his followers.

When Sun Ce heard that Yuan Shu was about to declare himself emperor, he wrote a letter to warn Yuan Shu about the potential harms of committing treason. Yuan Shu ignored Sun Ce and hurriedly declared himself emperor and started a new Zhong dynasty around late 196 or early 197. Yuan Shu soon found himself a public enemy because he had committed treason against the reigning figurehead Emperor Xian by declaring himself emperor. Sun Ce officially broke ties with him. The Han central government, then under Cao Cao's control, issued imperial edicts to the warlords Lü Bu and Sun Ce and ordered them to lead their forces to eliminate Yuan Shu's regime. Yuan Shu sent an force south to attack Sun Ce, but it was defeated by his cousin Sun Fu at Liyang. Yuan Shu now send agents into the south to stir up rebellions against Sun Ce, and these caused some trouble for Sun Ce’s regime, taking some time to find and stop all of them.

Conquest of Lujiang

In the winter of 199, Han imperial forces defeated Yuan Shu and eliminated his Zhong dynasty. Yuan Shu himself died of illness while attempting to flee to northern to join his half-brother, Yuan Shao. Yuan Shu's former subordinates, Yang Hong (楊弘) and Zhang Xun (張勳), planned to surrender to Sun Ce, along with their followers and Yuan Shu's family. However, Liu Xun, the Administrator of Lujiang Commandery, attacked them, took them captive and looted their possessions. When Sun Ce heard about the incident, he pretended to ally with Liu Xun by sending Liu Xun expensive gifts and showering him with praises.

Sun Ce then sought help from Liu Xun in attacking Shangliao County (in present-day Jiangxi), which Liu Xun had already been eyeing for some time. Liu Xun's adviser Liu Ye attempted to dissuade him from attacking Shangliao County, but Liu Xun ignored him. After Liu Xun's army left, Sun Ce split his army into two groups to attack Lujiang Commandery: Sun Ben and Sun Fu led a contingent to Pengze County to cut off Liu Xun's return route; Sun Ce and Zhou Yu led 20,000 troops to assault Lujiang Commandery's capital, Wancheng (皖城; present-day Qianshan County, Anhui), conquered it quickly, and captured Liu Xun's family and subordinates and rescued Yuan Shu's family. Sun Ce then relocated the residents of Lujiang Commandery back to his territories across the Yangtze River. After leaving Li Shu (李術) behind with a garrison of soldiers to guard Lujiang Commandery, Sun Ce returned to join his cousins at Pengze County.

Liu Xun attempted to take Haihun by surprise but the people were forewarned about his attack and he was unsuccessful. When Liu Xun learnt of Sun Ce's attack on Wancheng, he wanted to head back but was cut off by Sun Ben's army at Pengze County and forced to head further west up the Yangtze River. Liu Xun then halted to fortify defensive positions near Mount Xisai, where he requested reinforcements from Liu Biao and Huang Zu. Huang Zu's son, Huang She (黃射), led 5,000 men and a fleet of ships from Jiangxia Commandery to help Liu Xun. Sun Ce defeated the combined forces and captured more than 2,000 enemy troops and 1,000 ships. Liu Xun fled north to join Cao Cao after his defeat. The battle against Huang Zu had been wildly successful for Sun Ce, and he had slain two of Liu Biao's officers while capturing many of Huang Zu's family members and followers. However, his cousin, Xu Kun, had died during the battle.

Conquest of Yuzhang

Following his victory, Sun Ce moved west to attack Jiangxia Commandery and defeated Huang Zu at Shaxian County (in present-day Wuhan, Hubei). Many enemy soldiers were either killed or drowned. Sun Ce also captured Huang Zu's family and obtained 6,000 vessels. He then turned south to attack Yuzhang Commandery (around present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi) and sent Yu Fan to persuade Hua Xin, the Administrator of Yuzhang Commandery, to surrender. After the elderly Hua Xin surrendered, Sun Ce treated him respectfully like an honoured guest.

Aftermath

In the summer of 200, Sun Ce led his army west to attack Huang Zu again. Chen Deng, the Administrator of Guangling Commandery, allied with Yan Baihu's remnants and attempted to launch a sneak attack on Wu Commandery. However, Sun Ce defeated Huang Zu and returned to deal with Chen Deng, but his army temporarily halted at Dantu County on the way back to await for supplies to arrive. In the meantime, Sun Ce went on a hunting trip with a few men, but the men fell behind as Sun Ce's horse moved faster than theirs. When Sun Ce was alone, he was ambushed by three former servants of Xu Gong, the Administrator of Wu Commandery, whom he killed earlier. He was hit in the cheek by an arrow fired by one of them before his men arrived and killed the assassins. Sun Ce eventually died from his wound days later.

Sun Ce's younger brother, Sun Quan, inherited and expanded his legacy based on the conquered territories in Jiangdong. Sun Quan later became the founding emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period.

Order of battle

Sun Ce's conquests in Jiangdong
Traditional Chinese 孫策平江東之戰
Simplified Chinese 孙策平江东之战
Literal meaningSun Ce's war of pacification in Jiangdong
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Sūn Cè Píng Jiāngdōng Zhī Zhàn

The campaign is featured as a playable stage in Koei's video game series Dynasty Warriors , in which it is also known as the Battle of Jiangdong. In 3 , by defeating Liu Yao before the other two warlords (Wang Lang and Yan Baihu), the player can force Taishi Ci to surrender. In 5 , Liu Yao retreats and Taishi Ci becomes the enemy commander. He joins Sun Ce's side after the player defeats him. In addition, a special event is included, in which Sun Quan is trapped inside one of the enemy forts and the player needs to save him. If the player is playing as Zhou Tai, a cutscene will be triggered, showing a conversation between Zhou Tai and a grateful Sun Quan.

References

  1. (前錯用陳紀,每恨本意不遂。今若得康,廬江真卿有也。) Sanguozhi vol. 46.
  2. (虎等群盜,非有大志,此成禽耳。) Sanguozhi vol. 46.