Sun Quan
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| Wú Dàdì (吳大帝 / 吴大帝) | |
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| Family name : | Sūn (孫 / 孙) |
| First name : | Quán (權 / 权) |
| Major Age Name (Zi): | Zhòngmóu (仲謀 / 仲谋) |
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Posthumous title : (short) |
Dà (大) |
| Temple name : | Tàizǔ (太祖) |
| Reign: | 229 - 252 |
| Era names : | Huángwǔ (黃 武 / 黄 武) 222–229
Huánglóng (黃龍 / 黄龙) 229-231 Jiāhé (嘉禾) 232-238 Chìwū (赤 烏 / 赤 乌) 238-251 Taìyuán (太 元) 251-252 Shénfèng (神 鳳 / 神 凤) 252 |
Sūn Quán ( Chinese 孫權 / 孙权 , IPA ( standard Chinese) [ su̯ən5 tɕʰʏ̯ɛn35 ], W.-G. Sun Ch'üan ; majority name (Zi) Zhòngmóu ; * July 5, 182 ; † May 21, 252 ) was the founder of the Chinese Wu dynasty to the Three kingdoms period and one of the sons of General Sun Jian . After his father's death, Sun Quan accompanied his older brother Sun Ce on campaigns, while Sun Ce rose to warlord in southeastern China. After Sun C's death in 200, Sun Quan inherited this position and managed to further consolidate power and maintain it against attacks from the north. His victory in the Battle of Chibi (208) finally sealed the division of China for the next few decades.
In 221 was Sun Quan Cao Pi , the Emperor of the Wei Dynasty , the Duke of Wu appointed. He defeated his western rival Liu Bei in the battle of Xiaoting (222) and then turned against Cao Pi. In the battle of Shiting he also managed to defeat the emperor's army and declared himself emperor in 229. Numerous setbacks in foreign and domestic politics prevented Sun Quan from expanding the power of his empire further. In addition to a failed expedition to the East China Sea and the unsuccessful support for Wei's rival Gongsun Yuan , it was particularly his poor cooperation with the allied state Shu Han in the west that weakened his position externally. Internally, he was troubled by the inadequate control of the local governors and after the death of his designated heir to the throne, Sun Deng , a prince quarrel at court led to further difficulties.
The empire that Sun Quan left after his death at the age of seventy after 52 years of reign was not strong enough to hold its own against the threat of the Wei Dynasty. Power struggles between the regents of his successors, the generals and the empresses weakened the empire even more. It was finally conquered in 280 by Emperor Wu of Jin , who had ended the Wei Dynasty fifteen years earlier and founded the Jin Dynasty .
Life
Childhood and youth
According to the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Quan is said to have descended from General Sunzi . Later tradition assigns him the Sūn Island in the lower reaches of the Qiantang River as his place of birth. His parents were General Sun Jian and his wife Wu .
When Sun Quan was born on July 5, 182, his father Sun Jian served under Emperor Ling (156-189). After his death he served the warlord Yuan Shu (155-199) in the civil war and fell in an attack on the warlord Liu Biao (142-208) in 191. Sun Quan had three sisters and four brothers, one of whom was a concubine and three were from his mother Wu . Sun Ce (175–200) was the oldest and took command of his father. In vigorous campaigns he subjugated the southeastern regions of the empire, initially as a follower of Yuan Shu.
Sun Ce also strengthened his army through the contingents of relatives, such as his uncle Wu Jing , and deployed his relatives in key positions in the army and in civil administration: his cousins Sun Ben and Sun Fu, who were about the same age, were officers; Sun Quan was appointed in the year 196 to the civil administrator of Yangxian. Although the post was of more symbolic value, its award is seen as a token of Sun C's respect for his younger brother.
In the summer of 200, Sun Ce was fatally wounded while hunting and named Sun Quan as his successor in the presence of his advisors. In the Chronicles of the Three Realms , the following words of the dying Sun Ce to his brother, with which he presented him with his insignia, are handed down: “Arrange troops west of the Yang River, assess the chances of two battle fronts, fight for supremacy in the realm: In it you come you don't equal me Promote the worthy and appoint capable men to the offices, so that everyone does his best to keep the countries of the East: I'm not the same as you. "
As a warlord
Consolidation
The smooth transition from Sun Ce to Sun Quan is a clear sign that Sun Quan enjoyed the respect of his brother, the generals and the advisors at the time he came to power and was considered the closest successor. Thus the power of the Sun family could be inherited, while the realms of many other warlords sank into chaos at the death of their leader and came to a swift end.
Furthermore, there does not seem to have been an alternative to choosing Sun Quan. Sun Ce had a biological son, Sun Shao , who, however, was either unborn or an infant in the summer of 200 and was therefore out of the question for running a small, unstable territory. Sun Quan's biological brothers, Sun Yi and Sun Kuang , were younger than him and not as distinguished. The book of Wu (quoted in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms ) also tells of short-lived plans by a cousin of the Sun brothers, Sun Gao , to succeed him. He had taken part in Sun C's campaigns in 196 and was a general with his troops in the Kuaiji headquarters. He allegedly made arrangements to seize power with his troops, but like all governors and generals, received a message from Sun Quan to remain loyal to him. Sun Gao obeyed the commandment and gave up his plan. He seems to have died shortly afterwards, at least from then on there is no news about him.
The support of deserving officials was crucial to Sun Quan's authority at the very beginning of his reign. His main supporters were advisers Lü Fan , Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, as well as the well-deserved generals Cheng Pu and Zhou Yu . Most of the established generals in his entourage had only made a name for themselves under Sun Ce, only Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and Han Dang had already served Sun Jian. They all saw Sun Quan as his rightful successor and supported his successor. In historical sources, Cheng Pu is cited as the key person who cemented Sun Quan's authority in the province, while popular tradition attributes this role to the famous Zhou Yu.
The heartland of Sun Quan's at that time consisted of the command offices Danjang, Wu and Kuaiji (about today's province of Zhejiang ), each of which was administered by Zhu Zhi , Wu Jing and Sun Quan. The Lujiang headquarters, conquered by Sun Ce in 199, was under the governorship of a Li Shu who sought independence from his new master. He planned to join the chancellor and powerful warlord Cao Cao (155–220), who ruled northern China almost completely and controlled Emperor Xian . He had also confirmed Sun Ce, followed by Sun Quan, as commanders of Kuaiji. However, Sun Quan came before Li Shu and reported him to Cao Cao as a criminal. Li Shu was isolated and could not withstand Sun Quan's attack. He was beheaded and replaced by Sun He , an older stepbrother of Sun Quan.
Cao Cao responded by appointing Liu Fu as the inspector of Yang Province. This began with the expansion of the city of Hefei as a fortress and won the support of bandits and refugees in the area. Following the example of Cao Cao, he set up fortified farmers' colonies in the Liujiang headquarters and improved the irrigation system. Sun Quan was now struggling with unrest at the Danyang headquarters. There, Sun Yi, Wu Jing's successor, was murdered in 204 by his advisors, Gui Lan and Dai Yuan. Sun He, the new Grand Administrator of Lujiang, was charged with the investigation but was also a victim. The advisors took over the management of the command posts and sent embassies to Liu Fu with the aim of subordinating their area to Cao Cao. However, Gui Lan is said to have wooed the wife of his murdered master, who sought help from her brother-in-law Sun Gao. Sun Gao murdered Gui Lan and Dai Yuan and was rewarded by Sun Quan, who arrived a little later with his force. Sun Yu , Sun Gao's younger brother , became the new Grand Administrator of Danyang .
The biography of Lü Meng reports on Sun Quan's further personnel policy at the time: He inspected the young officers in order to pool their troops according to food and combat strength. In addition, he tried to gain the allegiance of deserving men. To him attracted Zhuge Jin (174-241) from Langye, brother of the famous Zhuge Liang ; Bu Zhi († 248) from Xiapi; Yan Jun from Pengcheng; and later Commander-in-Chief Lu Su (172-217) on the advice of Zhou Yu.
The war against Huang Zu
With his deployment base and position fortified, Sun Quan was able to resume his brother's plans to expand west and south. His first target was Huang Zu , who, as governor Liu Biao's general, guarded Jing Province (in what is now Jiangxi Province ) west of Danyang and sat in the neighboring Jiangxia headquarters. He was a hereditary enemy of the Sun family since the days of Sun Jian and posed a serious threat to Sun Quan. So the warlord came up with the plan to conquer the area. In addition to the military importance of this plan, revenge for the death of his father by Huang Zu also played a role.
In 203 Sun Quan took action against Huang Zus's positions on the lower Yangtze River . Although he was unable to bring about a decision, he severely damaged the enemy fleet, so that a counter-action by Huang Zus was prevented. In the next year or two, he sent his generals Cheng Pu and Taishi Ci to stabilize the Poyang region south of Huang Zus's sphere of influence. He operated from Jiaoqiu (present-day Nanchang ), while his reserve (under Sun He, later Sun Shao ) and the civil administration remained stationed in Dantu.
When the Poyang area was secured around 206, Sun Quan gave Zhou Yu the order to attack Jing Province and assured him that Grand Administrator Sun Yu from the Danyang Headquarters would assist him. First, Zhou Yu conquered the settlements of Mo and Bao, which lay on Lake Pengli and were cut off by swamps from Huang Zus headquarters in Xiakou (today's Wuhan ). After the victory, he increased his troops and defeated Huang Zus's force, whose leader Deng Long he captured and sent to Sun Quan.
The next year, Sun Quan led the campaign himself. He weakened Huang Zu's positions with looting trains and won many refugees from Jiangxia. In 208 he carried out the decisive attack on Huang Zus Headquarters and first defeated it by sea, then took the city by storm and killed Huang Zu while fleeing. With that, Sun Quan had doubled his territory and averted the danger in the west.
The battle of Chibi
Sun Quan's next and greatest challenge was inexorably approaching. Liu Biao's death in August 208 left a power vacuum in Jing Province that his son Liu Cong could not fill. He fell victim to Cao Cao's attack in September. The warlord had conquered all of northern China in the name of the emperor he controlled and was now turning to the south. Of all the warlords of the time, he had the largest deployment base, the strongest armed force, the highest authority and, most importantly, the largest crowd.
Sun Quan would not have stood alone against Cao Cao's attack, so he allied himself with Liu Bei (161-223). The general had served Liu Biao since 200 and held the fortress at Fancheng with his advisors Guan Yu , Zhang Fei, and Zhuge Liang . He enjoyed great esteem among his followers, since he invoked his descent from Han emperor Jing and had fought for the imperial family since the uprising of the Yellow Turban (184). After Liu Biao's death, he stayed out of the succession dispute, although there were also voices that wanted him to succeed him. However, Liu Bei realized that such a controversial position would be untenable in the face of an invasion by Cao Cao, and instead led the civilian population under the supervision of his army south of the crisis area. They were attacked by Cao Cao on the march and dispersed at the Battle of Changban , and only through Zhang Fei's defensive struggle was Liu Bei with the bulk of his army and family able to escape.
During this turmoil, Sun Quan ordered his adviser Lu Su to visit Liu Biao's successor and express his condolences to them. The purpose of the mission was to spy and contact Liu Bei. Before that, however, Lu Su learned of Liu Cong's unlikely successor and Liu Bei's flight. He intercepted the general immediately after the defeat of Changban and took him to Fankou on the Yangtze to set up camp there. He and Zhuge Liang returned to Sun Quan and reported back. Who played the most important role in the following deliberations, Zhuge Liang or Zhou Yu (who, according to most historical reports, was in Poyang at the time), is passed down differently by historians on both sides.
There were three alternatives for Sun Quan: he could give up his independence and submit to Cao Cao, concentrate his powers and lock himself up in his sphere of influence, or gather all sorts of allies around him and confront Cao Cao. His decision fell on the offensive made possible by Liu Bei's sizeable troops. He ordered Zhou Yu to camp with Lu Su and Cheng Pu on the south bank of the Yangtze and gave them 30,000 men. Liu Bei's troops were roughly the same number. They faced more than 220,000 Cao Cao soldiers, although Cao Cao himself spoke of 800,000.
In late November or early December 208, Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu sailed up the Yangtze to meet with Liu Bei and his ally Liu Qi . The ensuing battle, known as the Battle of Chibi or Battle of the Red Rock, was won by Liu Bei and Sun Quan through their tactical advantages. Cao Cao's forces, tired from the long march and plagued by epidemics, camped on the north bank of the river, Liu Bei's army and Sun Quan's navy on the south. Since Cao Cao's soldiers were not used to fighting on water, unlike Sun Quan's soldiers, Cao Cao tried to compensate for this disadvantage. He took the advice of a supposed defector from Liu Bei's camp, Pang Tong , to moor his ships. This should limit the rocking on the crossing. This measure also made Cao Cao's fleet incapable of maneuvering, so that Sun Quan's general Huang Gai was able to set it on fire and completely burn it down using the south wind.
With this ruse, Cao Cao's superiority at the Red Rock (Chibi) was wiped out and he suffered a severe defeat. The division of China was sealed for the next few decades. Sun Quan granted Liu Bei rule over half of Jing Province so that he could conquer a power base from there. Nevertheless, Sun Quan toyed with the idea of one day usurping the province completely and thus increasing his sphere of influence.
Battle for Jing Province
After the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan had averted a dangerous threat and at the same time eliminated a power factor in his domain. Liu Qi died in 209, and Sun Quan took over his Jiangxia headquarters (of which Cheng Pu became the civil administrator). Liu Bei, who continued his alliance with Sun Quan, conquered Jing Province together with Zhou Yu, while Inspector Liu Fu further expanded his positions north of them. Sun Quan could not gain a foothold north of the Yangtze, just as Liu Fu did not cross the Yangtze. The land between the Yangtze and the Huai rivers became no man's land.
In the northwest, Sun Quan's side had some success. In coordination with Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu pushed Cao Cao's governor back and, after defeating Cao Ren's army in the Jiangling area, was able to build a bridgehead on the left bank of the Yangtze. The following year (210), Zhou Yu fell ill and died. His successor in the supreme command of the armed forces was Lu Su, who, however, could not stand out against Liu Bei's successes on the battlefield.
Liu Bei and Sun Quan were officially equal, but Sun Quan's position in the army and civil administration was stronger because of his authority, while Liu Bei was valued primarily by his own officers, advisers, and soldiers. To strengthen the bond, Sun Quan Liu Bei may have married his younger sister, Sun. In later adaptations it is called Sun Shangxiang (or Sun Ren), but in Shu's historical book it is mentioned without a name and only in a few places. A respectful visit by Liu Bei to Sun Quan's headquarters, which the latter did not return, is considered by scholars to be an early dramatic insertion.
Since there was no imminent danger from the north of Cao Cao, Sun Quan turned his attention to the nearest enemy in the west after the pacification of Jing Province. Liu Zhang had been governor of Yi Province since 194, but often had to suppress unrest among the population and his officers. His western neighbor Zhang Lu had established a Daoist state of God in his headquarters in Hanzhong and controlled important passports on the way to Sichuan. On his deathbed, Zhou Yu had urged Sun Quan to subdue Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu, but such a campaign would have strained Sun Quan's resources and expanded his empire too quickly. However, Sun Quan made all preparations for an invasion of Yi Province. He gave Lu Su command of the bulk of the armed forces (tens of thousands) to be stationed next to Liu Bei in Jing Province.
Liu Bei had already cast an eye on the Yi Province himself. After the Battle of Chibi, he came to an understanding with Liu Zhang and occupied the southern part of Jing Province with auxiliary troops from Yi Province. There he faced Sun Quan's invasion and refused the army entry. Sun Quan decided to call off the invasion for two reasons: A war against Liu Bei would have severely weakened his fighting power and also devastated the safe western border of Jing Province. In the north, however, the border issue was still unsolved, so Sun Quan shifted his initiative there. He shared Jing Province with Liu Bei, who started his great campaign against Liu Zhang from there.
In 210 Sun Quan also sent an inspector to Jiao Province, the southernmost province in what was then China with the capital Longbian (near today's Hanoi ). Their governor, Shi Xie , submitted to Sun Quan, but kept his post.
In the winter of 212-213, Cao Cao's and Sun Quan's fleets fought on the Yangtze River near Sun Quan's Ruxu fortress. The war ravaged the country, especially as both sides used scorched earth tactics and rural populations fled north and south. In the summer of 214, Sun Quan was finally able to record notable successes: his generals Lü Meng and Gan Ning had conquered Huan, the last city of Cao Cao south of his fortress Hefei . Lü Meng was rewarded with the post of civil administrator of Liujiang for his victory. Sun Quan now fully controlled the Yangtze with three fortresses in Xunyang, Ruxu and Jianye, and its northern border was secured. Cao Cao's sphere of influence ended in the Huai River Valley, and the city and fortress of Hefei was its outermost outpost. At least he was able to hold him back: Hefei's administrator, the decorated General Zhang Liao , was able to defend the city against Sun Quan's attacks. Sun Quan's attack in 215 ended in defeat after days of siege of the city.
With its western and northern borders stabilized, Sun Quan turned to the south. The Yang Province hill country escaped his control and made it difficult to monitor Shi Xie in Jiao Province. The smaller campaigns which Sun Ce had already undertaken and which Sun Quan's general He Qi 205-208 had continued, had brought the command offices of Yi and She under Sun Quan's rule. Many residents of the hill country remained independent not only of Sun Quan, but also of the old central government. In 216 Cao Cao instigated an uprising in Poyang (south of Danyang), which soon spread to Danyang. He Qi and Lu Xun subdued the rebels, killed their leader and took the surrendering soldiers into their ranks, several thousand.
That same year, Cao Cao gave another order to riot, this time to Fei Zhang at the Danyang Headquarters. Fei allied itself with the non-Chinese Min-Yue tribes and attacked Sun Quan's general Lu Xun, who quickly defeated him and subsequently crossed the borders of the Danyang, Wu and Kuaiji commanders and raised troops everywhere. After this unrest, the hill country was in Sun Quan's hands. To hold the land, he began a colonization program similar to that of Cao Cao: he moved the rural population to new settlements under tight control of his government.
Meanwhile, Liu Bei had conquered the power of the governor Liu Zhang from Jing Province and after his submission integrated his followers into their own ranks. He took over the stable state of his predecessor with a firm hand and made all preparations for a great campaign of conquest in the north. His strategist Zhuge Liang developed a plan with which he intended to quickly capture Cao Cao's capital Luoyang, starting from the capital Chengdu in the west and the fortress Jiangling in the east .
Sun Quan, on the other hand, had run into a stalemate with Cao Cao after his failure in front of Hefei. To ensure the stability of his northern border, he formally submitted to it and renewed the alliance that had united the Sun and Cao families until the Battle of Chibi. Sun Quan saw his opportunities primarily in the south and west. Liu Bei's rise in power feared for his share of Jing Province. Sun Quan's commander in chief there, Lu Su, had died in 217. The warlord appointed General Lü Meng as his successor, who took command of 10,000 men at the Lukou headquarters.
Liu Bei focused on the campaigns against Cao Cao and relied on Guan Yu's ability to hold Jing Province alone. In the spring of 219, Liu Bei Cao Cao defeated General Xiahou Yuan in the Battle of Mount Dingjun , and in the summer he had gained control of the Hanzhong border fortress. Cao Cao was forced to retire to Chang'an while Liu Bei proclaimed himself King of Hanzhong in the fall.
In the same year, Guan Yu began a campaign against Cao Cao's cousin Cao Ren, who was holding the Fan Fort north of the Han River. Even with the support of General Yu Jin , Cao Ren was unable to assert himself and after a losing battle retired to the fortress, where Guan Yu besieged him. Lü Meng did not use this opportunity to attack for two reasons: On the one hand, he hoped that Guan Yu would remove a powerful opponent in Cao Ren for him; on the other hand, he was ill and was represented by Lu Xun.
Cao Cao and Sun Quan appear to have been in contact about the military situation at the time. They agreed that Sun Quan's army must attack Guan Yu; sources disagree as to which of the two took up this idea first. In any case, at the beginning of December 219, Sun Quan ordered the attack, in which Jiang Qin led the fleet, Sun Jiao the reserve, and Lü Meng the main force. They took Guan Yu's eastern outpost by storm and quickly captured Jiangling City, where they looted Guan Yu's state treasure and captured his family. In order to win the population for himself, Lü Meng was extremely mild and had all wounded enemy soldiers cared for and cared for.
When Guan Yu found out about Lü Meng's operations, he broke off the siege on Fan Fortress and made a hurry to Jiangling without being followed by Cao Ren. Meanwhile, Lu Xun conquered several cities in the Yangtze Valley and cornered Guan Yu. A few weeks after the siege was broken, Guan Yu was encircled between the Yangtze and Han rivers in the Dangyang area and faced Jiang Qin in the east, Lü Meng in the south, Lu Xun in the west and Cao Ren in the north. Most of his men deserted, and he was captured and executed in a skirmish with Lü Meng's forces, along with his son Guan Ping . Sun Quan sent his head as a tribute to Cao Cao, and had the rest of the body buried in full honor.
It is not clear whether this outcome satisfied Sun Quan. The capture of his most deserving general would have discouraged Liu Bei, whereas Guan Yu's death incited him to go to war. Now Lü Meng (who soon fell ill and died again; Jiang Qin was also sick and died on the way back) and after him Lu Xun completed the bloodless conquest of Jing Province. Sun Quan proclaimed a tax cut for the province to relieve the disease-plagued population.
Duke of Wu
Cao Cao died in March 220, and his son Cao Pi inherited the title of Duke of Wei. That same year (December 11th) he forced the emperor to abdicate in his favor and established the Wei dynasty . This act marked the end of the thirty-plus year dissolution of the Han Dynasty and had a great impact. Sun Quan accepted the rather symbolic change of power, which did not affect him personally, with equanimity and continued to send tribute to Cao Pi. Liu Bei, on the other hand, saw himself as the rightful successor to the Han emperors, because he invoked extensive ancestry from the imperial family. That is why he declared himself emperor in his capital Chengdu on May 15, 221 , and his dynasty was named " Shu Han " (Han of Shu ) after his sphere of influence .
Since Guan Yu's death, Liu Bei has been gathering strength for a retaliatory strike against Sun Quan, who continued to reside in Jing Province and built a second capital Wuchang there in 221 (in the former city of E), which he walled until autumn of that year had attached and provided with its own command post. This enabled the course of the Yangtze to be controlled from the mouth of the Han River to Lake Pengli.
In the same year, Liu Bei set out on an expedition to Jing Province, the usefulness of which was doubted by many of his advisors and generals. First and foremost, Liu Bei was concerned with revenge for Guan Yu, only then with the recapture of Jing Province. At the same time, in the fall of 221, Sun Quan sent ambassadors to Cao Pi to strengthen their alliance. General Yu Jin, who was released from prison, was also at the embassy. This move was seen by some of Cao Pi's advisors as a sign of Sun Quan's weakness, and they suggested joining forces with Liu Bei and eliminating Sun Quan from the club. However, this plan was rejected: On the one hand, it was too risky because Sun Quan's military strength could keep up with that of Cao Pi, on the other hand, many advisors (and Cao Pi himself) considered it unseemly to betray a loyal ally in this way, to the Third, Cao Pi had to give his still very young rule validity and respect. So he sent Sun Quan's ambassador back to deliver the Nine Medals and the title of Duke of Wu to their master . In December the embassy arrived in Wuchang. Sun Quan had previously carried the title of Marquis of Nanchang , which he had assumed under the Han dynasty. With this higher title he achieved the neutrality of the state of Wei and accepted the new emperor as the rightful highest authority in the empire, at least officially.
Liu Bei had started his march in the summer and gathered his forces on the eastern border by December. In the Chronicles of the Three Realms his army is numbered with 40,000 men, but the sinologist Rafe de Crespigny assumes half. Sun Quan's force, which was under the command of Pan Zhang in Zigui , was probably about the same size. She had received reinforcements from some of Liu Bei's deserters, who, although they did not influence the balance of power, had a great moral effect, because the deserters had murdered General Zhang Fei. With the first attack in December 221, Liu Bei destroyed Sun Quan's outpost and pushed Pan Zhang back. The city of Zigui fell, and Liu Bei's spies sought to turn the neighboring tribes of the Wuling Mountains against Sun Quan (unsuccessfully, and officer Ma Liang was later killed by them). This reacted by sending General Lu Xun out with an army of 50,000 men. Lu Xun set up his camp on the north bank of the Yangtze River in Yiling District (near today's Yichang ) and prepared for battle. In March 222, Liu Bei arrived with the main force, which the sixty-year-old himself led. While he was sending his general Huang Quan with some of the troops against Lu Xun, he himself moved on against the city of Yidao on the southern bank of the Yangtze. It was not easy for Lu Xun to assert himself against his subordinate officers in his camp. He adopted a defensive attrition tactic and held out against Huang Quan's siege in the camp despite his generals urging him to come to the aid of the city of Yidao. In the end, Liu Bei revealed a naked flank in the Xiaoting area, which Lu Xun took advantage of and defeated Liu Bei in the Battle of Xiaoting . Huang Quan was cut off and fled north to submit to Cao Pi with his troops.
Liu Bei's army had disbanded and fled to Shu. Liu Bei himself narrowly escaped capture and withdrew to Bodi. His general Zhao Yun defended the border against Sun Quan with the reserve army. The two sides agreed a truce, and Sun Quan turned to his northern neighbor. He was able to break his loose alliance with the Wei Dynasty all the more easily since he had not yet sent any hostages to Luoyang. When Sun Quan was awarded the title, Cao Pi had requested that his eldest son, Sun Deng , then a child of twelve, come to Luoyang as marquis and general. In a letter of apology, Sun Quan had used the youth and alleged poor health of Sun Deng to refuse. Other embassies from the emperor returned to Luoyang with no results, and in the fall of 222 Cao Pi demanded that Sun Deng travel north immediately as a hostage. However, Sun Quan did not even receive his ambassadors, thus providing the emperor with a reason for war. In the ninth month, Cao Pi sent three armies to the Yangtze River: one under Cao Zhen and Xiahou Shang attacked near Jiangling, one under Cao Ren near Ruxu and one under Cao Xiu near Dongkou (near Liyang). To avoid an armed conflict, Sun Quan made an offer to the emperor in early November: He agreed to move to Jiaozhi Province and marry Sun Deng to a daughter of the Cao family . However, Cao Pi refused to agree and requested that Sun Deng be brought to him as a hostage that same day. Sun Quan responded by fortifying his fortresses on the Yangtze and making a formal declaration of independence against Wei, increasing his title of duke to that of king of Wu. He chose Huángwǔ ( 黃 武 / 黄 武 - "yellow war") as the government motto . In January 223, Sun Quan reestablished his old defensive alliance with Liu Bei by means of an embassy and was able to turn to the Yangtze front with a strengthened morale.
There Cao Xiu's army was defeated by the fleet under the command of Lü Fan, in the fortress of Ruxu the commander Zhu Huan survived the siege of Cao Ren, who retreated northwards after a failed expedition against the river island of Zhongzhou. Jiangling's Nan Headquarters, on the other hand, was in a comparatively weak position because it had not been in Sun Quan's hands for long and their defensive positions had been weakened from the fighting with Liu Bei. Cao Zhen's and Xiahou Shanghai's advances prompted Cao Pi to move his residence to Wancheng, Nanyang County . During the winter and spring, Sun Quan's Grand Administrator Zhu Ran was besieged at Jiangling Headquarters. The Wei troops had cut their supply lines and did not withdraw until after a six-month siege an epidemic broke out in the camp. Cao Pi did not order any further attacks on this region in the next few years because his father's army in the local swamps (208) had already been attacked by diseases. Instead, he focused on the lower Yangtze.
Liu Bei died in April 223. He appointed his chancellor Zhuge Liang as regent for his inexperienced successor, Liu Shan . Zhuge Liang consolidated the state until winter of the year and continued the defensive alliance with Sun Quan, who entrusted Lu Xun with affairs on the western border of the empire. In the summer, Sun Quan's general He Qi succeeded in a push against the Wei outpost of Qichun, and the northern border remained quiet for a year until Cao Pi rearmed the Lower Yangtze in the fall of 224. He led a large fleet down the Huai River to reach Sun Quan's border at a possible weak point between the forts of Ruxu and Liyang and prepare for an invasion. Despite the poorly developed border fortifications, Sun Quan's officer Xu Sheng was able to confuse the Wei fleet by creating the impression of strong fortifications through new dams and earth walls. The Wu fleet arrived after a few days and Cao Pi withdrew with his army to Xuchang without a fight. In the spring of 225 Cao Pi began building a canal, and in the winter it went with more than 100,000 men via the city of Qiao to Guangling . Sun Quan was waiting for him, but again the battle never came because a severe onset of winter forced Cao Pi's fleet to retreat. The next year, Cao Pi fell ill and died in preparation for another campaign against Sun Quan. He was succeeded by his son Cao Rui .
Sun Quan also achieved success in the south of his empire. Governor Shi Xie died of old age in 226, and Sun Quan divided Jiao Province without giving any of Shi Xie's sons any administration. Inspector Lü Dai put down their rebellion, who wiped out the Shi family and cemented Sun Quan's rule in the south of the empire. In the fall of 226, Sun Quan attacked Wei Jiangxia Headquarters while his officer Zhuge Jin was moving to Xiangyang. There he was defeated by Wei General Sima Yi , while Sun Quan's siege of Jiangxia had no effect. An expedition to the east was repulsed by Cao Zhen. In the winter of 227/228 the states of Shu and Wu coordinated their operations against Wei for the first time: Zhuge Liang caused his spy Meng Da , who served Cao Rui as the chief administrator of Xincheng, to revolt against Wei. However, that uprising was crushed by Sima Yi unexpectedly quickly, and Meng Da was killed. Sun Quan, who was moving north at the same time as his army, turned back. In the years that followed, Zhuge Liang's military operations were concentrated in the areas around Hanzhong, Chang'an and southern Liang Province. This relieved the northern border of Wu, and Sun Quan was able to inflict a serious defeat on Wei general Cao Xiu in the fall of 228 at the Battle of Shiting .
After these demonstrations of power, Sun Quan was able to take a step that his ministers had advised him to take since the victory over Liu Bei: on June 23, 229, he declared himself emperor of the Wu dynasty and chose Huánglóng as the government motto ( 黃龍 / 黄龙 - "yellow dragon"). His previous name Huángwǔ had already included the color yellow, which was associated with imperial rule; compare the government motto of the emperor Cao Pi: Huángchū ( 黃 初 / 黄 初 - "yellow beginning"). The Chinese dragon is a sublime, imperious entity and was understood in imperial China as an attribute of the emperor. Sun Quan's government motto was extremely programmatic and shows his self-image as the rightful successor to the vacant imperial throne of the Han dynasty.
Emperor of Wu
Even after assuming the imperial title, Sun Quan's state was shaped by the time of the warlords: the military ensured the administration of the empire, and the generals managed their areas of responsibility with remarkable self-determination. It is to be seen as a great achievement of Sun Quan that he was able to maintain order and power under such circumstances. Politics at the imperial court was determined by power struggles between influential people and clans, mainly because military offices were inherited, while their holders were regularly redefined during the Han period.
Sun Quan's greatest merit in establishing an independent state south of the Yangtze was the development of the south, which made significant progress over the next few decades through the separation from the government in Luoyang. There, Chinese culture gradually ousted the indigenous tribes.
Imperial Administration
Sun Quan had set up a government as early as 221 after assuming the title of duke. It was organized in a similar way to the Han administration, and was headed by a chancellor. This post was held first by a certain Sun Shao, after his death (225) the Minister Gu Yong . Only the names and titles of the lower ranks of court officials have survived, while nothing is known about their working methods. Sun Quan appears to have installed only six of the nine ministries that existed under the Han Dynasty. Apparently, not all offices were filled at all times, and they were rather awards for politically relevant people.
The administration of the empire was largely the responsibility of the governors and generals, of whom Lu Xun held the highest command. He was commissioned by Sun Quan in September 229 with the supervision of Jing Province and the region around Yuzhang, the western half of the empire. Wu's troops accumulated in Jing Province: In addition to Lu Xun, Generals Bu Zhi, Zhu Ran and Pan Zhang were stationed here with their armies. Zhuge Jin camped in Jiangling. The east of the empire was controlled by Sun Quan's forces in Jianye and those in Danyang, Kuaiji, Wu and Ruxu Fortress. The north bank of the Yangtze was guarded by Zhu Huan, who had taken Zhou Tai's command. He died in 228 and was replaced by the veteran Lü Fan. Sun Quan later oversaw the north bank of the Yangtze River directly from the capital, Jianye. All in all, his state was not a bureaucratic construct like the Han Empire, but a permanent war principality. The rival neighboring states of Shu Han and Wei were structured similarly, and the three empires had to prove themselves time and again in war.
Social and Economic Development
Sun Quan's Wu dynasty ruled a feudal state. The Sun family is historically considered to be little more than the leadership of a group of noble families with common interests. At least Sun Jian managed to get capable officers to his side by sheer authority, not family ties. Sun Ce was not looking for nobles for his campaigns, but for fearless, skillful warriors. Even in Sun Quan's time, the representatives of the North and South were not selected according to their ancestry or family affiliation, but according to their abilities. While Sun Ce and Sun Quan had steadily expanded their rule in southern China with their expansion since the 190s, expansion had stagnated since the 220s. There were enough countries to be conquered in the south, but Wu's resources were only sufficient to maintain independence and defend against rival states. However, Sun Quan's system of government became more rigid over time, mainly because the post of a deceased was passed on to his son (as was the case with Sun Jian and his successors). His followers consisted of both natives from the area south of the Yangtze estuary (Danyang, Kuaiji, Wu) and emigrants from the north. In the early years of his rule the most important positions in the empire were occupied by representatives of both strata, towards the end of his rule those officials and generals whose families had been settled in the south long before the end of the Han dynasty became increasingly dominant. The last representatives of the north disappeared in the 250s: the minister and regent Zhuge Ke , son of Zhuge Jin, was murdered in 253, the Supreme Minister Teng Yin was killed in 258. The four families Gu, Lu, Yu and Wei were particularly successful in the provinces. The power of the state was impaired by the increasing regionalization of the economy in the interests of local noble families.
The Han Dynasty currency fell victim to severe inflation during the 2nd century, and a half-hearted reform by Chancellor Dong Zhuo finished it off. In the whole empire people had therefore switched to bartering. Cao Pi had introduced grain and rice as the official currency in the north in 221, and bartering played a decisive role in the north of the empire even after the reintroduction of copper money, especially in rural areas. In 236, Sun Quan tried to introduce a coin currency with a state monopoly on copper and the prohibition of private coinage by noble families, but was unsuccessful and gave up the project in 246. The government could not benefit from domestic trade and lost an important source of income.
The advantage of this economic situation was that the countries south of the Yangtze no longer had to pay taxes to the government in the central plane and thus developed their own prosperity that had never been seen before in the south. The wealth of the south eventually surpassed that of the north in the decades and centuries that followed. Nonetheless, the underdeveloped south of the empire was opened up by its military commanders in chief, who were primarily concerned with their personal profit, through ruthless colonization at the expense of the indigenous tribes of the Han Chinese population.
Expeditions and campaigns
Sun Quan's foreign policy as Emperor of Wu began with a severe setback: he sent his generals Wei Wun ( 衛 溫 / 卫 温 ) and Zhuge Zhi ( 諸葛 直 / 诸葛 直 ) out into the East China Sea with a fleet of 10,000 sailors to help out the legendary To discover the islands of Yizhou ( 夷 洲 ) and Danzhou ( 亶 洲 ), which are identified with the Ryūkyū Islands and the main islands of Japan , respectively. Only after a year did the fleet return from the Yizhou Islands with numerous prisoners, but almost 90% of the crew had perished from epidemics. Sun Quan had the generals executed for their failure, even though Lu Xun had previously advised against the expedition.
In the years that followed, Sun Quan sought an understanding with the governor and warlord Gongsun Yuan , who ruled today's northern Korea. He was officially a subject of the Wei dynasty, but his family had maintained autonomous control of their territory even in the third generation. Gongsun Yuan prepared a revolt against Wei Emperor Cao Rui in 231, and Sun Quan sent two generals to him, Zhou He ( 周 賀 / 周 贺 ) and Pei Qian ( 裴 濳 ), to buy horses and im To provide a return train with provisions. However, the generals were overtaken and defeated by Wei troops on their way back. But even after this failure, Sun Quan did not give up his direction. The following year, Gongsun Yuan sent ambassadors to convey his submission. Sun Quan responded by awarding Gongsun Yuan the Nine Badges of Honor and sent him 10,000 men (against the advice of Zhang Zhao) under military officials Zhang Mi ( 張 彌 / 张 弥 ) and Xu Yan ( 許 晏 / 许, ) were murdered by Gongsun after their arrival. Lu Xun struggled to dissuade the emperor from undertaking a punitive expedition through enemy territory to Gongsun. As a result of his setbacks, Sun Quan personally apologized to Zhang Zhao. He also chose a new government motto, Jiāhé ( 嘉禾 - "extraordinary grain of special growth, in essence : omen for time of rich yields")
In 234, Sun Quan finally launched an attack on the Wei Empire, coordinated with Shu strategists Zhuge Liang. He attacked the city and fortress of Hefei again and dispatched Zhuge Jin and Lu Xun against the city of Xiangyang at the same time. Zhuge Liang moved over the Xiagu Pass to the central plain, but was repulsed there by Wei General Sima Yi and died before the last battle after a brief, serious illness. In the east, the Wu armies besieged the cities of Hefei and Xiangyang in vain, until Cao Rui personally arrived in Hefei with reinforcements and forced Sun Quan to retreat. Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin also withdrew to avoid getting between Sima Yi and Cao Rui.
Gongsun Yuan finally rose in 237, and Sun Quan considered using the situation to attack Wei unless Sima Yi quickly put down the uprising. As early as the next year, however, Sima Yi defeated and killed the warlord, and Sun Quan abandoned his plans. A last major attack on Hefei in 241 brought no change in the situation.
Domestic politics
Sun Quan's greatest concern in domestic politics was a prince's dispute that broke out after the early death of Crown Prince Sun Deng (241). In 242 he had named his son Sun He crown prince, but the younger Sun Ba , like his brother a son of concubine Wang, was not satisfied with that. A clique formed at court that supported his successor, while at the same time others sided with the Crown Prince. The few powerful at court who wanted to mediate between the camps quickly got caught between the fronts. In the 240s many generals and politicians fell victim to the succession dispute, including General Lu Xun, who had become Chancellor of the empire in 244. It was not until very late in the year 250 that Sun Quan managed to strike free. He forced Sun Ba to commit suicide, heralded a new era of Taìyuán ( 太 元 ) and replaced the Crown Prince with his underage son, Sun Liang . His mother, the concubine Pan , he elevated to empress the following year. Shortly afterwards, he regretted his actions against Sun He, who had done little in the dispute, and wanted to reinstate him, but his daughter Sun Dahu and Minister Sun Jun dissuaded him from thinking. They were already planning control of the minor heir to the throne after the death of his elderly father.
Apart from this dispute, only news of Sun Quan's policy of religion has come to us about Sun Quan's domestic policy. It was evidently characterized by tolerance. In addition to the Confucian state religion of the Han dynasty, he also tolerated Daoist groups and the gradual spread of Buddhism. China had been in contact with Buddhism since Emperor Wu (2nd century BC), which also slowly emerged in China from the 1st century AD and was also present in the sphere of influence of the Wu dynasty in the 2nd century. The Buddhist centers were Danyang, where the community founded by Liu Ying flourished under the protégé of General Ze Rong (161–197), and Jiaozhi in the south, where Buddhism penetrated from India. The head of the local community, Kang Senghui, gained the emperor's trust and so strengthened Buddhism that his followers were not persecuted even under Sun Quan's last successor, Sun Hao , whose government had a cruel reputation.
death
As Sun Quan's death drew near in 252, his wife, Empress Pan , was murdered under unexplained circumstances. Chinese historians believe that it was an intrigue of vengeful servants or power-hungry officials (according to Hu Sansheng ). Sun Quan's health was completely shattered. He proclaimed his last government motto Shénfèng ( 神 鳳 / 神 凤 - "divine phoenix"). On May 21 (26th day in the 4th month according to the Chinese calendar) of the same year, Sun Quan died at the age of 69 and was buried in his ancestral temple at Jianye, south of the later mausoleum of Emperor Hongwu (1328-1398). His Crown Prince Sun Liang succeeded him and gave his father the posthumous title of Great Emperor of Wu ( 東 吳大帝 / 东 吴大帝 ) and the temple name Supreme Ancestor ( 太祖 ).
Offspring
- Wife Xu - 徐 夫人 (daughter of Xu Kun):
- Sun Deng ( 孫 登 / 孙 登 , 209–241)
-
unknown:
- Sun Lü ( 孫 慮 / 孙 虑 , 213–232)
- Sun Dahu ( 孫大虎 / 孙大虎 ,?)
- Sun Xiaohu ( 孫小虎 / 孙小虎 ,? –255)
- Wife Wang - 王 夫人 (daughter of Wang Lujius):
- Sun He ( 孫 和 / 孙 和 , 223-253)
- Sun Ba ( 孫 霸 / 孙 霸 , 228–250)
- Wife Yuan - 袁 夫人 :
- Sun Fen ( 孫 奮 / 孙 奋 ,? –270)
- Wife Wang - 王 夫人 :
- Sun Xiu ( 孫 休 / 孙 休 , 235–264)
-
Empress Pan ( 潘 皇后 ,? –252)
- Sun Liang ( 孫 亮 / 孙 亮 , 243–260)
Source studies
The most important source for the life of Sun Quans are the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms of Chen Shou (233-297), who served as an officer in the Shu Han until 263 and who later compiled the historical annals of the individual states as a historian under the Jin Dynasty Put down views and experiences about the time of the three kingdoms in writing. 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 Jiangbiao zhuan , which shortly after 280 was compiled. The work was later edited by Pei Songzhi (372–451) using documents from the Imperial Archives. It is unusual for historians of his time that he always used sources for his comments.
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.
reception
In the classic novel
The Three Kingdoms Period, especially their emergence at the end of the Han Dynasty, is portrayed in a 14th-century novel entitled The Story of the Three Kingdoms , which is traditionally ascribed to Luo Guanzhong . As a historical novel, it describes prominent personalities of this time in a romantic way, such as the cunning villain Cao Cao, the loyal and generous Liu Bei, the daring Sun Ce and the proud and brave Sun Quan. The novel forms the basis for a broad reception in modern popular culture: Based on the example of the story of the Three Kingdoms , a manga series entitled Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sanguokushi was published from 1971 to 1986 , which was also published as an anime from 1991-1992. The Seiyū Nobuo Tobita gave Sun Quan his voice in it. Since the 1980s, numerous video games have also been produced that deal with the era of the Three Kingdoms and the rise of the warlords and that are mostly set in the action or strategy genre. There was also a live-action version of the novel, produced by China Central Television in 1995 as a series in 84 episodes. It ranged from the oath in the fig garden (184 AD) to the unification of the empire by Jin (280).
The Chinese film Red Cliff ( 赤壁 ) by director John Woo , which was released on DVD in Germany in 2009, has a crucial place in Sun Quan's career on the subject. The warlord is portrayed by Chang Chen .
Legends
The Buddhist tradition also integrates Sun Quan into the spread of Buddhism in southern China. The head of the Buddhist communities in Jiaozhi, Kang Senghui, is said to have been appointed to Sun Quan in 247 to tell him about the Buddha. Kang told of the Sarira , the relics of the great Buddha, which are in thousands of temples in India. Sun Quan doubts his sincerity and orders him to get a sarira and gives him seven days. When Kang appeared before the emperor empty-handed after the deadline, he was persuaded to spend another seven days. But again, Kang cannot show a Sarira after the ultimatum has expired . He is threatened with execution by Sun Quan but obtained a final seven-day period. On the evening of the last day, when Kang is ready to die for his belief, the Sarira appears in a jug . He brings it to the emperor and explains to him the indestructibility of the Sarira . Sun Quan is impressed and orders the construction of a pagoda for Kang's community, the first Buddhist sacred building in China.
The ephemerality of the Sun Quans dynasty is explained by an orally handed down and late-established legend: Sun Quan's grandfather, who is called Sun Zhong (this name is not historically attested), lives as a melon farmer on an island in the Qiantang River . One day he received the oracle from one of the Eight Immortals that one of his descendants would rule all of China if he walked a hundred paces and planted a melon there. But Sun Zhong is impatient and plants the melon after just thirty paces. Sun Quan rules over a third of China, and his descendants are overthrown less than thirty years after his death. Another version of this legend reports that Sun Zhong (or Sun Jian) was given the choice by one of the Eight Immortals, whether his descendants would be emperors for a few generations or generals for many generations. He chose the former.
Individual evidence
- ↑ SGZ 46; Wu li 1, 1109.
- ↑ SGZ 51, Wu Shu 6, 1205.
- ↑ SGZ 51; Wu Shu 6, 1215 PC note 2.
- ↑ in: SGZ 54; Wu Shu 9, 1273
- ↑ so SGZ 5; Book of Shu 5, 915.
- ↑ so SGZ 54; Wu Shu 9, 1169
- ^ Karl W. Eikenberry, The campaigns of Cao Cao. Military Review 74.8: 56-64. (1994)
- ↑ SGZ 47 / Wu Shu 2, 1118, note 3
- ↑ SGZ 34. Book of Shu 4, 879. SGZ 36. Book of Shu 7, 949
- ^ Arlington and Acton, Chinese Plays , 230-251
- ↑ Generals of the South , Chapter 5, p. 16
- ↑ SGZ 36 / book by Shu 6, 942 note 3, quoted in Wu li
- ↑ Biography of Liu Ye , SGZ 14, 446 f.
- ↑ Crespigny, Generals of the South, Chapter 7, p. 6, note 17
- ↑ SGZ 52 / Wu Shu 7, 1232
- ↑ This channel cannot yet be located: Crespigny, Generals of the South, Chapter 7, p. 15.
- ^ Crespigny, Generals of the South, Chapter 7, p. 15.
- ^ Crespigny, Generals of the South, Chapter 7, p. 24.
- ↑ Extensive bibliography for this section in Crespigny: Generals of the South, Chapter 8, p. 34.
- ↑ Ancient Cultivation Stories: Kang Seng Hui. In: Clearharmony.net , July 7, 2012.
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) .
- Jon Bartlett (Translator): The Biography of Sun Quan in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms , December 2004.
Secondary literature
- Rafe de Crespigny : A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2007, pp. 772-774.
- 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 kingdoms: novel 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)
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| nominally Ming of Wei |
Emperor of China (Southwest) 229–252 |
Sun Liang |
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| none |
Emperor of the Wu Dynasty 229–252 |
Sun Liang |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sun, Quan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | There, Emperor of Wu; Sun, Zhongmou; Wu Taizu |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | first emperor of the Wu dynasty |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th July 182 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | China |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 21, 252 |
| Place of death | Jianye (now Nanjing) |