Sun Ce
Sūn Cè ( Chinese 孫策 / 孙策 , IPA ( standard Chinese) [ su̯ən5 tsʰə51 ], W.-G. Sun Tse , majority name Bófú 伯符 , * 175 ; † May 5, 200 ) was a Chinese general and warlord towards the end of the Han- Dynasty on the eve of the Three Kingdoms period . His father was General Sun Jian , who served the warlord Yuan Shu . Three years after his father's death, Sun Ce also entered Yuan Shu's service, took command of his father's troops at the age of 18 and continued his campaigns. While Yuan Shu isolated himself more and more among the Chinese warlords, Sun Ce used his command for his own interests. He conquered the land at the mouth of the Yangtze and thus laid the foundation stone for the Wu empire , which was founded by his brother Sun Quan after his death .
Life
Childhood and youth
Sun Ce was born in Yandu (now Yancheng ) in 175 as the eldest son of General Sun Jian and his wife Wu . While his father fought the Yellow Turban rebels in his native Nanyang in 184 , his family stayed in Shouchun (now Shou County, Anhui Province ). The next year, Sun Jian was summoned to Liang Province, where he put down a riot. In 187 he became the grand administrator of Changsha and put down numerous uprisings there and in the neighboring commandant houses. When the warlord Dong Zhuo seized power at the imperial court in the unrest after the death of Emperor Ling (189) , Sun Jian joined the alliance against Dong Zhuo under the governor Yuan Shu . He drove the warlord in 191 from the capital Luoyang and then attacked provincial governor Liu Biao in Xiangyang, where he was ambushed and killed.
At that time, Sun Ce was staying with his mother and brothers Sun Quan , Sun Yi, and Sun Kuang in Shu District, the capital of Lujiang Headquarters in Yang Province (west of modern-day Lujiang , Anhui Province). Sun C's friend Zhou Yu , who belonged to a high-ranking noble family of the empire, also lived there. The Zhou family and Sun Jian's relatives went to Qu'a County (now Danyang , Jiangsu Province ), where Sun Jian's body was buried.
Sun Ce had a number of followers in his homeland since his youth: In addition to the Zhou family and the Wu family (his relatives on his mother's side), the refugee Lü Fan also joined him . In 193, Sun Ce went to Yuan Shu and offered his services. Yuan Shu turned it down for the time being because of his youth, and Sun Ce went to see his uncle Wu Jing , the grand administrator of the Danyang Headquarters. He also asked Yuan Shu to put his father's officers at his side: Yu He , Cheng Pu , Huang Gai, and Han Dang had fought alongside Sun Jian for a long time, but after his death they had not held any crucial military posts. Therefore, they showed greater loyalty to Sun Ce than did Yuan Shu. One might wonder why the officers did not see Wu Jing as the leader rather than the young Sun Ce. This is due on the one hand to the equal social position of the Sun and Wu families, and on the other hand to the fact that Wu Jing was only a younger brother-in-law of Sun Jian and not his son and legal heir.
Sun Ce's family was in a dangerous position after visiting Yuan Shu. She was under the supervision of officer Zhang Hong on the outskirts of Governor Tao Qian , who was threatened by Yuan Shu's withdrawal to Shouchun and wanted to eliminate his rival's supporters. So after his visit, Sun Ce sent Lü Fan to take the family to Qu'a. Lü Fan was captured and tortured by Tao Qian as a spy, but his soldiers were able to free him and carry out the assignment. In this way, Sun C's family and Lü Fan’s troop got safely to the southern bank of the Yangtze .
Service under Yuan Shu
Sun Ce's first military assignment under Yuan Shu was the conquest of the Danyang headquarters in 193. Together with his cousin Sun Ben and his uncle Wu Jing, Sun Ce drove out the administrator Zhou Xin, who was replaced by Wu Jing. In Danyang, Sun Ce found many followers in the months that followed and gained tactical experience in fighting bandits and barbaric tribes of the hill country. He is said to have commanded several hundred men, but was then defeated and almost killed by the tribal chief Zu Lang. After this setback, Sun Ce went back to his client Yuan Shu in Shouchun in the north, where he arrived in 194. Yuan Shu put Sun Ce in charge of his late father's troops, about a thousand men, including merited officers. However, Sun C's hope for his own domain was disappointed. Yuan Shu promised him the post of Grand Administrator of Jiujiang, but then gave it to his general Chen Ji ( 陳 玘 / 陈 玘 ). Sun Ce experienced a second disappointment when Lu Kang, the chief administrator of the Lujiang Headquarters, rose against Yuan Shu. The warlord again promised Sun Ce the post of Grand Administrator if he had defeated the rebel Lu Kang. After Sun Ce suppressed the uprising, Yuan Shu passed it over and appointed Liu Xun as the Grand Administrator of Lujiang.
Around Yuan Shu's sphere of influence, the balance of power changed at that time. The warlord Cao Cao had defeated the aging governor Tao Qian in 194, took over his province of Xu and became Yuan Shu's immediate neighbor. However, he was not yet able to turn against him because he was troubled by a number of competitors: Lü Bu in the southeast, Guo Si and Li Jue in the southwest , Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao in the north . A new competitor, Liu Yao , appeared south of Yuan Shu . He came from the lower class of civil servants, was distantly related to the Han imperial family, and was appointed inspector of Yang Province by the central government in Chang'an in 194 . In order not to come into conflict with Yuan Shu, he went south of the Yangtze to Grand Administrator Wu Jing, from whom he was tolerated at his headquarters in Qu'a. Liu Yao gathered followers in the area and betrayed Wu Jing, whom he chased from Qu'a and from there conquered the entire Danyang headquarters. Wu Jing asked for help from Yuan Shu, who gave Wu Jing an army and appointed Zhou Yu's uncle, Zhou Shang from Lujiang, to be the Grand Administrator of Danyang. Wu Jing and Liu Yao met south of the Yangtze River, near what is now He County in Anhui , but none of them prevailed after months of fighting. Yuan Shu had lost control south of the Yangtze River, and Liu Yao was constantly raising new troops, posing a serious threat to Yuan Shu. The central government learned of his successes and by edict appointed him governor of Yang Province with the rank of general.
In 195, Sun Ce asked to help his uncle Wu Jing and cousin Sun Ben. Yuan Shu, who had nothing more to lose in the south, gave him a command and around 1,000 soldiers and 30–40 horsemen. In addition, there was Sun C's personal following and his charisma, with which he hired more warriors on his march. The 1,500 soldiers with whom he had left his employer Yuan Shu had grown to 5,000–6,000 men on his march to Shouchun. In the fighting, he did not stand behind his more experienced uncle Wu Jing, but took over the command himself. According to the sinologist Rafe de Crespigny , this was not only due to Sun C's quality as the heir to his famous father Sun Jian, but above all to his personal achievements and skills.
First independent campaigns
Liu Yao, against whom Wu Jing and Sun Ben were campaigning, had meanwhile won over some local governors, including the corrupt official Ze Rong . Together they formed a strong opposition to Yuan Shu and his armed forces, and Wu Jing had not yet made a breakthrough. The arrival of Sun Ces brought a turning point in the situation: the young officer crossed the river with the remaining boats and built a bridgehead, which became his starting point for the following campaigns. He soon pushed Ze Rong and his ally Xie Li back against the city of Moling. Ze Rong was trapped in his main camp, but an attack by his allies Fan Neng and Yu Mi forced Sun Ce to break off the siege. The two generals attacked Sun C's main camp, but the latter defeated them and took more than 1,000 prisoners.
Immediately after this victory, Sun Ce Ze Rong attacked again, but was wounded by an arrow during the siege and withdrew unable to fight. A defector told Ze Rong of Sun C's injury. Because Ze Rong believed his adversary dead, he set out in pursuit of his army. But Sun Ce lured him into a trap, and Ze Rong lost more than 1,000 men before withdrawing. He reinforced his defenses, and because of the difficult terrain, Sun Ce had no prospect of taking Ze Rong's camp by storm. So he bypassed him in an easterly direction and harassed not only Ze Rong but also Liu Yao. The two fled in a southwesterly direction upstream along the Yangtze River to the Yuzhang headquarters. Sun Ce has since taken Liu Yao's Qu'a headquarters and camped there in February 196. He had greatly increased his troops on the campaigns and was in a powerful position in the region. He issued an edict promising civil servants in the country impunity and fair wages if they would join him. He also stressed that he would not force anyone to change sides. This decree earned him 20,000 soldiers and more than 1,000 horsemen. In order to be able to observe his new officers, Sun Ce appointed his henchman Lü Fan to be the superintendent of the discipline. He also brought his family back to Qu'a and appointed his younger brother, Sun Quan, to be the administrator of the Yangxian area.
The threat to Sun Ce was not over. To the south of his sphere of influence, local families had formed a loose alliance under the leadership of a certain White Tiger Yan ; to the west, Liu Yao's follower Taishi Ci founded an alliance against the young conqueror. Sun Ce turned south first and conquered the area of Xu Gong , whose commander-in-chief Zhu Zhi was an old friend of the Sun family and who Sun Ce happily joined. Xu Gong was betrayed and fled to the mountains to see White Tiger Yan . In his letters of complaint to the court, he called Sun Ce the "little conqueror" ( 小霸王 ). Sun Ce ignored this opponent and immediately moved against the Kuaiji headquarters. He beat their grand administrator Wang Lang and chased him 500 kilometers to Dongye City. After their capture, Wang Lang surrendered, but his local allies rose against Sun Ce. To pacify them, Sun Ce installed a certain Han Yang as governor in southern Kuaiji and moved north himself. However, Han Yan was unsuccessful and was replaced by He Qi , who defeated the local rulers and increased the power of the Sun family in the following years. The former Grand Administrator Wang Lang was set free by Sun Ce and went north under the protection of Chancellor Cao Cao.
In the battles against the White Tiger that followed, Sun Ce dispersed the enemy troops, but their leaders were able to flee and regroup. At least Sun C's position was secure enough to reorganize the administration of the command posts. He reappointed his uncle Wu Jing as Grand Administrator of Danyang, and his cousins Sun Ben and Sun Fu were given equal positions.
Break with Yuan Shu
After the campaigns, Wu Jing and Sun Ben reported to their Mr. Yuan Shu in late 1966. He gave them new offices and wanted to use them on his campaigns against the western rival Liu Bei . In that year he had already made the plan to declare himself emperor of a new dynasty, although his position was not suitable. For this reason, Wu Jing and Sun Ben kept their distance from him and quickly went back to Sun Ce to avoid falling with Yuan Shu. Sun Ce sent his master a letter composed by his advisor, Zhang Hong, to dissuade him from his dangerous plan. Other generals protested against Yuan Shu's plans, but in the summer of 197 Shu declared himself emperor of a Zhong dynasty. On this occasion, Sun Ce finally broke off his relations with the self-proclaimed Emperor Yuan Shu.
In a short time it became clear that Sun Ce had taken the right step and Yuan Shu the wrong one: With Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, the self-proclaimed Emperor Yuan Shu had two overpowering opponents in the north, and the neighboring Lü Bu turned against him despite previous diplomatic relations removed from him and attacked him in Yang Province. At the same time, Cao Cao mobilized his force and drove Yuan Shu back across the Huai River by the end of the year.
Yuan Shu's power deteriorated as Sun Ce continued to gather allies in the south. The rest of the empire's warlords recognized his position and invited him to join an alliance against Yuan Shu. Cao Cao, who had controlled the young emperor Xian since 196 and tried to unite the empire in his name, appointed Sun Ce by edict as the imperial grand administrator of Kuaiji and as marquis of Wucheng, a title that his father Sun Jian had already held. Cao Cao's negotiator Wang Pu brought the edict to Sun Ce and also responded to his request for the rank of general.
Sun Ce now went to war against Yuan Shu on behalf of the emperor, while Cao Cao appointed a certain Chen Yu as the chief administrator of the Wu headquarters. Chen Yu came to an understanding with the White Tiger and tried to cut off Sun Ce from his territory and destroy it. However, Sun Ce learned of the conspiracy and turned against the rebels. When he won, he took 4,000 prisoners and with those reinforcements went against Yuan Shu again. Before that, however, he had to beat Liu Yao's general Taishi Ci, who had united the non-Han Chinese peoples of the western Danyang headquarters in an alliance against Sun Ce. They were in contact with Yuan Shu, who supported them against Sun Ce. However, Sun Ce was able to trap and capture Taishi Ci. He got him and his subordinates on his side and now had the best chance of fighting Yuan Shu.
Campaigns against Huang Zu
Also in 199, Sun Ce learned of Liu Yao's death. He was succeeded by the civil administrator Hua Xin , whose authority, however, was insufficient to hold the headquarters together. Sun Ce sent the defected General Taishi Ci to investigate the situation and assess the chances of a peaceful takeover. Taishi Ci learned within a few weeks that the numerous subordinates of the civil administrator Hua Xin were at odds and posed no threat individually, and that the civil administrator Hua Xin did not lift a hand to create order. Sun Ce could turn to a far more threatening enemy, General Huang Zu . He controlled the central Yangtze on behalf of Governor Liu Biao and was responsible for the ambush that Sun C's father Sun Jian fell victim to in the winter of 191. Before Sun Ce could take care of his revenge and control of the central Yangtze, he had to secure his northern flank, which had become confused after Yuan Shu's death. Most of the usurper's dispersed troops were taken over by his governor Liu Xun, who years ago removed the post Yuan Shu had promised Sun Ce. However, he could not guarantee her care, so he contacted Hua Xin and his subordinates. But when they didn't donate, Liu Xun got ready to fight. Sun Ce had contact with him by letter and supported him with his troops. Liu Xun ignored all warnings of his advisors about an alliance with Sun Ce and took to the field against Hua Xin. After the victory, however, Sun Ce divided his armed forces: One part among his brothers Sun Ben and Sun Fu cut Liu Xun from his supply base, while Sun Ce and his friend Zhou Yu conquered the capital Huan. Her prisoners there included the families of Liu Xun and Yuan Shu, as well as the entire court of the fallen usurper.
When Liu Xun found himself surrounded by enemies, he turned to Liu Biao, provincial governor of Xiangyang, and his general Huang Zu for help. He received it in the form of a fleet of 5,000 men under the command of Huang Zus's eldest son, Huang She, who however defeated Sun Ce and drove them back to the mouth of the Han Jiang River . He took 2,000 prisoners and hijacked more than 1,000 ships. Liu Xun fled to Cao Cao while Sun Ce pursued the remnants of the fleet and attacked Huang Zus's headquarters at Shaxian (southwest of Wuhan ). On January 11, 200, he arrived at the enemy positions and later wrote a letter to the imperial court in which he praised his brilliant victory over the enemy general Huang Zu and also acknowledged the support of the central government as part of his success. The general could save nothing but bare life, and Sun Ce had Shaxian town and country in his hand. His writing not only profiled the young warlord as a decisive power factor in the south, it also portrayed Liu Biao as an enemy of the Han imperial family and thus legitimized his campaign in the eyes of the court. He also told the court the names of his officers and the offices for which he had designated them (Zhou Yu, Lü Fan, Cheng Pu, Sun Quan, Han Dang, Huang Gai). Chancellor Cao Cao's comment on reading this letter is recorded in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms : “This young wolf! It's difficult to get at. "
Sun C's last campaign
Enemy General Huang Zu was defeated, but by no means as completely as Sun Ce had portrayed. Before he could pursue him any further, however, he had to secure his flanks and back, so he sent messengers to Hua Xin to persuade him to submit to peaceful submission. At the same time, he had Zhou Yu and Sun Fu defeat governor Tong Zhi, and Taishi Ci stifled the uprising of civil servant Liu Pan (a nephew of Liu Biao) who started a guerrilla war in the hills between Liu Biao and Sun C's territory. Sun Ce did not have to worry about his border on the Yangtze, because Cao Cao was completely absorbed in his war against Yuan Shao. In addition, the Chancellor had linked himself to the warlord by marriage: he had married a niece of Sun C's younger brother Sun Kuang, and his son Cao Zhang had married Sun Ben's daughter. In addition, Cao Cao had the inspector of Yang Province nominate Sun C's next younger brother, Sun Quan, as a candidate for the Flowering Talent ; a more formal title that had become meaningless with the collapse of the Han government.
Sun C's campaign against Huang Zu was interrupted by an uprising behind him, despite careful preparations. The scattered supporters of the White Tiger Yan rose up at the instigation of the Chancellor-loyal Grand Administrator Chen Deng and devastated the Wu headquarters. Sun Ce went there in person and took officer Xu Gong prisoner within a few days. He sent word of this to the imperial court and had Xu Gong executed by strangling him. After this initial success, the warlord had his army camped at Dantu on the right bank of the Yangtze estuary. It was May 5th, 200. He wanted to wait a few days for supplies and in the meantime went hunting. In the forest he separated from his companions and was ambushed by the insurgents who had not yet been completely driven out. They shot arrows at Sun Ce and injured his jaw. Sun Ce's companions reached the rebels and killed them, then took Sun Ce back to the camp. There he succumbed to his wounds.
Various anecdotes, which have found their way into contemporary and later historical works, revolve around Sun C's death. Hu Chongs Wu li , a near (3rd century) independent source, tells that Sun Ce was prescribed strict rest for at least three months by his doctor. Sun Ce looked in the mirror and complained about his disfigurement: "How am I ever going to recruit troops with a face like that?" And he tore off his bandages, so that the wounds opened again. He died that same night. Others link Sun C's death to his murder of the Taoist magician Gan Ji (also "Yu Ji"). This story, involving the wizard's avenging spirit, is most dramatically portrayed in the story of the Three Kingdoms .
Sun Ce was survived by a (possibly posthumous) son Sun Shao , an adopted son Yu Shao, and two (perhaps three) daughters. One married the official Gu Shao ( 顧 卲 / 顾 卲 ) and after his death Zhu Ji ( 朱 紀 / 朱 纪 ), the other the general Lu Xun . He was succeeded by his then 18-year-old brother Sun Quan. He declared himself emperor in 229 and posthumously appointed Sun Ce Prince Huan of Changsha ( 長沙 桓王 / 长沙 桓王 ).
Adaptation
Sun Ce is one of the characters from the collapse of the Han Dynasty who found their way into the classic novel The Story of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong (1330–1400). He is presented there as brave and unscrupulous, but also as very winning. The novel has received a lot of reception to this day, and Sun Ce also appears in the manga and anime adaptations and derivative video games. In Mitsuteru Yokoyama's manga Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi , which was produced as an anime by TV Tokyo from 1991 to 1992 , Sun Ce fights as an aspiring young hero alongside the three sworn brothers Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. The seiyū Shigeru Nakahara gave him his voice. In the 84-part television series Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1995), Sun Ce was played by Pu Cunxin .
In Peking Opera , Sun Ce usually plays the role of the tragic hero because of his untimely death.
Source studies
The most important source for the life of Sun Cee are the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou (233-297). The historian compiled the history books of the individual states and added his own views and experiences of the time. In addition to numerous individual biographies, family and regional histories, four contemporary works play a role in the history of the Wu dynasty: The official book of Wu , written by government officials, as well as the private Wu li and Wu lu and the fragmentary Jiangbiao zhuan , the short after 280 was compiled. The work was later edited and annotated by Pei Songzhi (372–451) using documents from the Imperial Archives. It is unusual for historians of his time to work with sources for his notes.
The Chronicles of the Three Realms tell the story from the perspective of the generals, so that military and political developments are in the foreground and the social, cultural and religious situation is viewed at most as a political factor. Modern work on the chronicles also has this approach.
literature
Source editions
- Bo Yang (Ed.): Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian. Modern Chinese Edition . Taipei 1982-1989
- * Rafe de Crespigny (Ed.): To Establish Peace: Being the Chronicle of the Later Han dynasty for the years 189 to 220 AD as recorded in Chapters 59 to 69 of the Zizhi tongjian of Sima Guang (= Faculty of Asian Studies monographs New Series. Volume 21). National Library of Australia, Canberra 1996, ISBN 0-7315-2526-4 (E-Text) .
Secondary literature
- Rafe de Crespigny : Generals of the South. The foundation and early history of the Three Kingdoms state of Wu ( Memento from April 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). National Library of Australia, Canberra 1990, ISBN 0-7315-0901-3 , ( Faculty of Asian Studies monographs NS 16)
- Franz Kuhn (translator): The three realms. Roman from ancient China . Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-458-32285-X , ( Insel-Taschenbuch 585)
Web links
- Family tree of the Sun family (English)
- Character profile of Sun Ce for the video game Dynasty Warriors (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ SGZ 46; Wu li 1, 1103 note 2 with reference to the Jiangbiao zhuan .
- ↑ Crespigny: Generals of the South, chap. 3, pp. 12-13
- ↑ Crespigny: Generals of the South, chap. 3, p. 15
- ↑ SGZ 46; Wu li 1, 1150 PC Note 1
- ↑ SGZ 56
- ↑ SGZ 49; Wu lu 4, 1189 PC Note 2
- ↑ Crespigny: Generals of the South, chap. 3, p. 36
- ↑ The letter is contained in SGZ 46 as a quote from the Wu lu .
- ↑ SGZ 6 / Wu shu 1, 1109 PC note 7
- ↑ Yu Xi: Zhi lin, in SGZ 46, Wu Shu 1, 1110 in the commentary by Pei Songzhi
- ↑ SGZ 46, Wu Shu 1, 1112, in Pei Songzhi's commentary, note 3
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sun Ce |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sūn Cè; Sūn Bófú; Huan, Prince of Changsha |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | chinese warlord |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 175 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yandu (now Yancheng ) |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 5th 200 |
| Place of death | Dantu |