Sun Quan - Wu's King in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but Hardly a Romantic

Sun Quan (182-252 AD) grew up in one of China's most tumultuous eras, The Three Kingdoms period. At birth, no one expected anything of him or his family. Yet, this chaotic period, filled with rebellions, plagues, and civil war, offered his father the chance to catapult his family into the limelight.

For the first 18 years of Sun Quan's life, his father, and later his elder brother, dominated the battlefields. They attracted talented followers with their magnetic personalities, but both fought with reckless abandon and died at early ages.

This gave Sun Quan control over an increasingly influential realm at age 18. Unlike his father and elder brother, he lacked the talent for tactics or melee combat. Where he did excel though, was in the hiring of and delegating to talented individuals. His success and longevity enabled him to almost seize the emperor's throne, making the self-inflicted demise of him and his family all the more tragic.

In this supersized episode, you'll learn not just about Sun Quan, but about the Three Kingdoms period from its most unsung side. This era would later influence one of China's four great classical novels, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Luo Guanzhong. In modern times, this has led to dozens of video games like Dynasty Warriors and TV/Film adaptations like Red Cliff. And I'll cover all of that as well, because to understand Sun Quan's life, you'll need to understand the context surrounding it.

Want to read more about this episode's characters or aren't sure about their spelling? Here's a list of this episode's major characters (with my rough English phonetics as necessary):

Sun Leaders and Subordinates
Sun Quan (Sooh'in Chu'win) - our protagonist
Wentai AKA Sun Jian - Sun Quan's father
Lady Wu - Sun Quan's mother
Sun Ce (Sooh'in Tsuh) - Sun Quan's elder brother
Zhang Zhao (Jang Jao) - Sun Quan's Chief Clerk
Zhou Yu (J'oe You) - Sun Ce's BFF and Sun Quan's first lead general
Lu Su - Sun Quan's second lead general
Lü Meng - Sun Quan's third lead general
Lu Xun (Loo Shoon) -  Sun Quan's fourth lead general and eventual chancellor
Sun He (Sooh'in Huuh) - Sun Quan's third son

Rival Clans
Yuan Shu - loser warlord that Sun Jian and Sun Ce briefly served
Liu Bei (Lee'oh Bay) - Southwestern China warlord and ally/rival of Sun Quan
Guan Yu - Liu Bei's top general and China's best beard
Cao Cao (T'ao T'ao) - Northern China warlord and chief Sun Quan antagonist
Cao Pi (T'ao Pee) - Cao Cao's son
Sima Yi - Regent for Cao Cao's grandson

Credits
Host: C.J. Weiss
Music: Bobby Hall

Transcript

0:00

I'm CJ Weiss, and I'm not here to give you a history lesson. Instead, I'll spin a tale, exploring humanity's saga through pairs of individuals connected by the ends and beginnings of their lives. Each season, I'll start the first episode with a person born around the turn of the first century, covering their story and the influences that shaped them from the year of their birth to the year of their death. Each subsequent episode picks up right where the last one ended, with the birth of our next feature figure. Through the structure, we'll travel the globe and progress through time until near-present day to discover how we are all linked by history. Before I start, I want to apologize for the delay in getting this episode out. My goal when I started the podcast was to produce one episode each month. I budgeted a little extra time this episode because I knew this time period necessitated more details to properly convey the life of today's protagonist. What I didn't count on was enough content to fill over two hours. But believe me when I say, this was worth the wait. When we last left off, Lucilla, daughter of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and by far his best child, was executed on the orders of her brother, Emperor Commodus. Things are heading downhill for Rome as they're set to endure another 10 years of the worst emperor in their history. But the disorganized state that will tear at the fabric of Roman order that plenty the elders so adored are mere embers compared to the Inferno of Chaos set to engulf Eastern Asia. It is now 182 AD. Mahayana Buddhism has made its way from the stagnating Kushan Empire over to China's capital of Lu Yang, located deep in its heartlands. Dedicated scholars have begun transcribing the religion's teachings into Chinese. The religion had gained some legitimacy when the previous Emperor of China a few decades back started making offerings to Buddha, but it doesn't take off. Most who are interested in Buddhism cherry pick teachings to integrate with Taoism, Han China's premier source of spiritualism. What has taken off to the detriment of China's stability is the power of the UNIX. That same emperor of China who is moderately interested in Buddhism turned to UNIX early in his reign to curtail the powerful noble houses in an extremely shady assassination loving regent. Part of his thinking and trusting UNIX was since castrated men can't reproduce, they don't care about legacy and thus don't care about power. It's definitely a form of logic. That said, his trust in the UNIX works well enough for a time offsetting rival nobles, but it sets the stage for a few select uber powerful UNIX to begin running the show in 168 when a new emperor sends the throne at 12 years old. He's a capital W.E.A.K. weak emperor, though to be fair, he never had a chance. This leads to power struggles, corruption and destitution that sparks the yellow turban rebellion in 184, which then progresses to an outright civil war that will span almost a century. Tens of millions will die as both powerful and inept leaders vie for control, culminating in what we call China's Three Kingdoms era, a time period with more casualties than any civil war in history, with over 30 million deaths. In fact, it's the world's second most bloody war period, trailing only World War II. To put those casualties into historical context, between the time the yellow turban rebellion began in 184 and the Three Kingdoms Civil War ends in 280, China's share of the world population will plummet from 32% down to 18. Roman Parthia will also fight their civil wars during this same time span, so it's not like this drop is due to babies booming elsewhere. China's catastrophic civil war later formed the basis of the 800,000 word epic Chinese literary work, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, considered one of the country's four great classic novels. As the name implies, it's a romanticized, somewhat fantastical account of the historic civil war, written over a millennium after this time period. It's a tale of strategists, personalities, and feats of strength where great warriors can slay 100 men by their lonesome. In one such example, a man by the name of Wen Yang in 254 AD took 10 horseback riders and attacked an approaching army of 8,000. This general and its crack squad supposedly killed 100 men from the massively larger army via series of six charges halting their entire approach. Obviously this didn't happen, except maybe it did? Wen Yang and his troops were skilled combatants, roadhorses, and wielded the best weapon and armor money could buy. The approaching army consisted largely of peasants, wearing whatever they could find, groggily marching on foot after enduring a midnight raid moments before. And now they chased after an unknown force on foot. Wen Yang and Co could have swooped in like demons, using terrain to charge under cover of darkness and make them seem like a much greater threat. While those of you who play the video game Dynasty Warriors shouldn't come away thinking that slaying 100 people by your lonesome and broad daylight against well-trained soldiers is possible, it does mean that some of the seemingly improbable heroics of the novel could have happened given a less heroic and more realistic context. I'll keep to the facts, but the impact history had on the novel and the novel's successive impact on China's development is tied directly to its historical significance. To demonstrate this significance within Chinese culture, I'll provide a few comparison points. There have been at least 28 live-action film or TV shows produced around the book. This is slightly more than the likes of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Count of Monte Cristo, or the Phantom of the Opera, but far less than Shakespeare's heavyweights like Romeo and Juliet in its 100-plus adaptations. Of course, to actually compare apples to apples, we'd have to dissect the history of film in the west versus the east, as well as balance Romeo and Juliet's 22,000-word count with romance of the three kingdoms 800,000 words. We're not doing that, but now you've got some idea of where romance of the three kingdoms stands. If we include video games though, Shakespeare's cultural lead narrows. By my count, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the source for over twice as many video game adaptations as any other novel. Take all of that, as you will. With cultural context out of the way and the political stage set, let's get to today's protagonist. Well, almost. Sorry, there's a caveat. The father of our protagonist, Sun Chuan, is named Sun Jin. Sun Chuan. Sun Jin. I didn't realize how similar they sounded until recording quite a bit. So I went back and re-recorded the father's name as Wintai, all one word. This was his courtesy name, something given to a man upon reaching 20 years of age, and that those outside of his family used to politely address him. The naming convention of last name first name is far more common for historical purposes, but clarity wins out for the purposes of our story here. Speaking of, in 182 AD, we're on the cusp of this great war breaking wide open, and peace gradually reigns. That doesn't mean much for Sun Chuan as he enters the world as the second son of an undistinguished family. Unlike our previous four episodes leads, there's no guarantee of resources for a rich education or prominent lifestyle, but his father is doing his damnedest to change that. While Wintai, Sun Chuan's father, claims he's descended from Sun Su, there's no proof of that. The fact that he was working up facts was part of the fun in China at this time, but in reality, he likely grew up in the merchant class. In the decade prior to Sun Chuan's birth, Wintai spurned this mercantile lifestyle to pursue civil service, first joining his regional administration as a junior officer. From there, he makes his mark on the world, not in managing bureaucracy, but in fighting bandits and rebels. After he's given command of a local militia, he continually exceeds everyone's expectation, quelling opponents with ease. Turns out Wintai is a natural born leader with an aptitude for the art of war. Maybe there's something to the Sun Su ancestry of his. There's not, but hey, if it fits his narrative, it can only help his reputation. His reputation and growing responsibility nets him quite the catch of a wife. At 19 years old, he marries Lady Wu, a beautiful and charismatic young woman from a higher class family. It takes some convincing on Lady Wu's part to get her parents to agree, pointing to a willing marriage on both sides, presumably providing baby Sun Chuan a happy family to grow up in. This is an educated guess, as I can't tell you for sure how Lady Wu felt. If you couldn't tell by the lack of a first name, she gets lost in the male-dominated romance of the Three Kingdoms novel and the historical records informing it. She does pop in from time to time, but it's important to note her hidden but dominant role in influencing Sun Chuan's personality during his formative years. Even though Wen Tai usually brings his family with him to his various posts, his military escapades means he's rarely around the house. While it's normal in Confucian China for mothers to monopolize parenting tasks, it's not usually as one-sided as it is for a swoon-twin and his siblings. This doesn't exactly turn him into a mama's boy, but he does grow up with a strong attachment to Lady Wu. His dear old dad is helping out in his own way though. As a natural-born leader, his good impressions on the local populace wherever he works built him a small following of friends and supporters loyal to him ahead of the state. Many of these come from the Wu Commandery, a commander you can think of as a governmental jurisdiction somewhere between a county and a province. Wu Commandery's epicenter, in particular, lay roughly 80 miles southwest of modern-day Shanghai. If you pull up a map, this will look like central China. In the Han Empire though, these lands lay firmly in the southeast. Those of you who are familiar with the period will recognize Wu as one of the three titular kingdoms. And while we're getting ahead of ourselves, it's these lands between Wu Commandery and the Yangtze River that will form wind-ties-base of operations a few years from now. In 184 AD, Sun Quan is only two years old, and doesn't care about this territory or honestly much of anything beyond nap time. The Empire though has far bigger concerns. The previously mentioned Yellow Turban Rebellion breaks out. It's so important that it serves as the starting point for the romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. 360,000 peasants rise and revolt against the Han, and more later join the cause. For scale, this represents half percent of China's population at the time, but was in far greater density in its epicenter of northeast China. That said, there is an offshoot of this rebellion in Wu Commandery, and wind-ties called upon to lead a small force of his own. He'll fight all over the place from near the capital of Luoyang down to south-central China near modern-day Ching Sha. Before he departs, he and his wife take a moment for some adult time. Then he sends her and his two sons to the relatively peaceful lands near modern-day Hefei, 200-ish miles west of Wu Commandery. It is here where Sun Quan will grow up. After suppressing the initial thrust of the Yellow Turban Rebellion within a year, wind-ties come back to visit his family. He's greeted by Lady Wu, presenting to him his third child and third son. He pumps his fist, feeling pretty damn good about where his life is going. A little more romance ensues between the couple, and then he inspects his two older kids. Sun Quan is a healthy toddler, so he gets a loving pat on the head, and that's enough fathering until he's older. Wind-ties spends far more time with his eldest son, Sun Suh-suh, about ten years old. Like father, like son, describes the pair to a T. Wind-ties regales him with tales of military prowess. Stoking the fire of Sun Suh's inner boldness with the dramatic retellings of him charging headlong into battle, troops rallying behind the brave audacity of their commander. He also throws in details about a Taoist priest who led the Yellow Turban rebels. At the time of the rebellion, a plague likely smallpox had made its way to China via the Silk Road. This is the same plague that in 169 killed off the first husband of the protagonist from our last episode, Lucilla. Well, this priest had gained popularity in large part due to rumors of his ability to heal said plague using water talismans in prayer. It's all hogwash to the secular Confucian Wind-tie, and he points out to his son the trouble that these spiritualists cause. Never mind the fact that Confucianism is what got power-hungry eunuchs and nobles alike ruining life for commoners. Many peasants see Taoism as far more friendly to their cause. Confucian-tie hardly cares for such nuance, and when he speaks of this to his eldest son, his biased words come through loud and clear. I'm saying all of this because Sun-suh will effectively transition into the role of Man of the House soon. Sun-chun looks up to his eldest brother, and the two will form a bond that Sun-chun will never share with his other siblings. Lady Wu though favors a more well-rounded upbringing for her second son. Combined, the two will mold Sun-chun into a unique individual. Duty calls Wind-tie away from his family once again. To stamp out the remaining rebellion, a new commander is given control of the Western Imperial Army. He invites Wind-tie to his inner circle, reaffirming to him the righteousness of Confucianism. After all, its emphasis on meritocracy is working to his advantage. It continues benefiting him as he enhances his power base over the next few years. Sun-chun, meanwhile, graduates to some proper schooling. As his dad is now a marquee, he is presumably assigned a quality tutor to begin his instruction on the basics. Mathematics, astronomy, morality, and the beginnings of the Confucian classics. Lady Wu contributes where she can, but leaves the physical training to Sun-chun's brother. By the time Sun-chun turns 7 in 189 AD, he's moved again. This time to near modern day Changshao, which, if you start in Wuhan, is about a third of the way south to Hong Kong. Both this home and his previous one are moderately prosperous, so public education is likely. He interacts with a new batch of kids and his frequent moving forces him to adapt socially if he wants any friends. That's no problem for a little Sun-chun as he proves himself an affable companion to his peers. His new routine gives him exposure to just about everything, and it's through this lens that he starts to see the world. Though Sun-sah is happy to help his little bro man up, the two almost act as Yin and Yang. Sun-sah stands ever ready to dive into a fray to assert righteous dominance. Sun-chun, encountering that same fray, would observe his foes for weakness before gathering a posse to strike, if he struck it all. Now, Sun-chun is too young for such concerns, but this is where their personalities are heading. One's bravery is balanced by the other's caution, again like Yin and Yang. In fact, there's a legend that Lady Wu had a dream about each boy prior to birthing them. In one dream, a moon entered her body. In another, it was the Sun. Wen-tai decreed this portended greatness that his two boys captured the true essence of Yin and Yang. That said, this legend was written down 200 years later, and these dreams would have been seven years apart, and I'm sure Wen-tai was too busy warring to make such a comment, but its clear near-contemporary historians believed in the shared dichotomy of Sun-sah and Sun-chun. Finally, like Yin and Yang, the two continue to develop their inseparable bond. The 14-year-old Sun-sah finds worthwhile areas of common interest. These include archery, horsemanship, how to lead, and how to administrate territory effectively. Nothing complicated. Sun-chun is seven. The older brother lays the groundwork though, and he may think, what does a 14-year-old know about this? But like the two boys' fathers, Sun-sah is a natural-born leader. It's all smooth sailing for most of the year, but things start falling apart in the background of May of 189. The emperor dies, leaving behind his 13-year-old kid to take over, and this whole leaving kids to rule the realm thing finally bites China in the ass, as it inevitably does with every monarchy. The late emperor, feeling closer to his family than the eunuchs given the chaos that's in Gulftas country, names the boy's mother and uncle as regents. The imperial eunuchs feel their power slipping over the next several months and openly assassinate the uncle, who is not only regent but the grand marshal of the entire military. They unsuccessfully try to pin a traitor label on him, and all hell breaks loose. The eunuchs are executed by a different noble family, but that same noble family is forced to flee the capital when a man by the name of Dongduo takes advantage of the situation. Dongduo conveniently located just outside the capital with his army, marches on low Yang and seizes control. He deposes the 13-year-old and names the boy's 8-year-old brother as emperor because that's what usurpers do. In a villainous usurper, he is. If romance of the three kingdoms fans agree on nothing else, it's that this guy made scumbags look wholesome. He's a talented military commander, but as is cruel of a tyrant as it gets. He encourages the murdering, looting and raping of the capital's citizens and executes any high-ups who oppose him. When Tai had actually served as his equal in the western imperial army these past few years and had already built up a strong dislike for the man. So when a coalition forms against the usurper, he's ready to go to blows. He stops by his home first and it's the same old, same old. Embrace his wife, make love to her, catch up on the kids' developments. He'll take a few months to deliberate before gathering the family to tell everyone, pack your bags, we're moving again. Well, we're not. Y'all are. I'm off to save Confucian China. This pattern of coming and going is a tad comical by now, but nobody resents when Tai. He's fulfilling his duty to his family by raising their collective station and stabilizing China. Unlike Wang Meng from episode 1, he seems to have remained faithful to his wife, or at least didn't brazenly cheat on her. We can assume that when the couple reconvened for these moments, they did so with love, or at least mutual admiration. I doubt the same held true for Wang Meng and his spouse. We don't even have records of when Tai marrying concubines, and while it's likely that he did, based on it being common practice for manifestation, their omission from the records means he clearly valued Lady Wu over any other woman. But this means for a Sun Quan is his dad is giving him an ideal to strive for. One, that's at times at odds with his inherent personality. As the boy matures, his cautious disposition will take on an aggressive tent. In part, because this paternal ideal will stay frozen in time. When Wen Tai marches his army of almost 10,000 men north to join the coalition, it marks the last time he'll see his family. This only serves to enhance Sun Quan's idealistic view of his father, as anyone who fights with or against him are quick to point out how much of a terror he is on the battlefield. It's what will earn him the nickname, the Tiger of Zhang Dong, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. Zhang Dong, referring to the bigger area around where modern day Shanghai is and where the Wu Commandery was located. One nice perk of moving again is Sun Quan picks up another brother of sorts. After saying bye to dad, he and his family will relocate to today's Shao County, 40 miles northwest of Hefei. It's here that Sun Quan's older brother, Sun Se, will form a fraternal friendship with a teenager his age by the name of Zhou Yu, who will develop into arguably the greatest strategist of his generation. The Zhou family welcomes the Sun family with open arms, but the relatively remote lands means a greater reliance on private tutors. Zhou is a wealthy clan and Sun Quan's dad is a marquee now, so that's no problem. The net impact is a greater reliance on books rather than teachers, and so at about 9 years old Sun Quan embarks on a reading journey that will span into his teenage years. During this time he'll read Chinese texts like Classic of History, Classic of Poetry, the Ritual, the Zhou Chronicle, and Tale of States. Meanwhile, at his age I was reading a wrinkle in time. This is no insult to such a great book, but it's clearly meant for kids. And I don't think I need to go into detail about Sun Quan's summer reading list to suggest its intention for an adult audience. This move also means Sun Quan needs to make new friends again, and the environment here is different. Not in a bad way, just variant cultures like you might experience living in the east versus west of whichever country you reside in. All of these moves at such key developmental points in the boy's life will add up to his arguably greatest defining feature, a willingness and ability to hear out both sides of an argument. Up north, Wintai keeps winning battles, and Dongdro, the Venlis you surfer, is assassinated in early 192. You might think hey, the Coalition 1 in order is restored to the Han. After all, a clear familial link to the throne is alive and well. Except, that link is 11 years old, and everybody in the Coalition, who are really just a band of Warlords, are calculating how to use him as a figurehead to initiate their own dynastic reign. The Han Empire will not technically die off until 220, but any supposed rule was a name only from 189 on. For Wintai, the most significant impact of these Warlords calculating is getting caught in the middle of a brotherly feud between his lord, a man named Yun Shu, and Yun Shu's brother. Shortly after the Coalition 1, Wintai gets backstied by this brother over an argument that boils down to entitled dorks fighting over silver spoons. Now, there's no proof of what I'm about to say, but I'm sure at this point, Wintai's side turned to a second in command and said, OMG do we need to buy balloons because the clown parade just came to town. Now, when Wintai reconquers initially lost lands, he's killed in battle in 192 AD, perhaps felled by something as random as a stray arrow. Due to the respect he held, his body is honorably returned by the opposing forces to allow the Suen family a proper burial. Suen Suh takes over as the official man of the house at 17 years old. His alluring charisma pairs with a handsome face and in all ways he looks like a leader despite his age. Suen Chin at 10 becomes the heir, who is still maturing but already bearing his defining physical characteristics. A square jaw, largemouth, and bright eyes. Their father's legacy pressures his sons and they mentally respond in different ways. Suen Suh is eager, bold, and ready for revenge. He's the souped up clone of his dad and his temperament is validated by those around him. Basically a small force of maybe a few hundred most loyal to Wintai. Suen Chin by contrast is cautious, curious, and seeking his place in the world because other than bearing an overabundance of energy, he isn't like his brother or father. It's doubtful he ever considered the possibility of being heir before the title was thrust upon him. The family moves again following the Yangtze River East, landing them just north of the river's northmost point in eastern China. This places them in present day Yangzhou, about 60 miles northeast of Nanjing. It's closer to their hometown but not so close as to remove them from the action. Since all but the most loyal of Wintai's soldiers folded into Yangtze's army following the former's death, Suen Suh has to grassroots it for a bit. He continually builds his force up over the next year and once he's got something to work with, he goes to Yuan Shu, his father's lord, and pledges loyalty to him in 194. Unfortunately, Yuan Shu is a twat without an eye for talent so it takes a while before he assigns Suen Suh an important mission. Still, his loyalty is made clear, Suen Suh makes like his father in wisely orders Suen Chin, Lady Wu, and his siblings to flee to safety south of the river. I've stopped keeping track of how many times Suen Quan has moved but the order proves prescient. The man who helps them escape is arrested and prevents a similar fate for the Suen family. Suen Suh starts building a name for himself and Yuan Shu finally gives him a sweet gig with a hefty promotion if he succeeds. Suen Suh blows this ask out of the water but the smarmy Yuan Shu renegs on his promise, leaving Suen Suh fuming. Despite his boldness, he's not so foolish as to try anything. His personal army is a drop in the bucket compared to Yuan Shu's. Suen Quan, though, gets word of his brother's accomplishments. Inspiration and a realization for just how quickly life can change leads to him spending more time on martial pursuits. Again, he's not the lead from the front type so this means more time with the bow or other than sword and spear like his elder brother. It's here he starts to grow fond of hunting, his only real leisure time at this point. After all, Lady Wu won't have him ignoring his scholarly pursuits and I doubt he wants to. Fortunately, the Suen kids are, once again, blessed with deep wells of energy. Suen Quan gets more and more pumped about this whole war thing as his brother exhibits further successes, despite being given barely any resources by Yuan Shu. Through sheer magnetism, Suen Suh will make a habit over the next couple of years of taking a small army and growing it as he marches along to his destination. By 196 AD, Suen Suh's reconquered a bevy of territory, Yuan Shu and his lesser generals had lost while swelling his personal army to 20,000 strong, many of whom he recruited from former foes by offering them general amnesty. To consolidate his power base, Suen Suh promotes those he trusts to key positions. One of these is a man by the name of Zhang Zhao. He begins serving as Suen Suh's chief clerk sometime in the mid to late 190s, which is a role roughly equal to a US president's secretary of staff. He's a serious scholar and his loyalty doesn't come easy, so it's a big win for Suen Suh. To support both of these points, when the Han still existed as an independent entity, Zhang Zhao had been offered a high up civil service position. He turned it down in order to compile an essay on the ancient use of taboo names. If that doesn't say scholar, I don't know what does. And to further exemplify his relationship to Suen Suh and his general personality, Zhang Zhao started to get a lot of fan mail from scholars up north after he moved south. But the chief clerk didn't know what to do with all these letters. If he hides them from Suen Suh, will he think him a traitor? If he reveals them, will fellow courtiers think him boastful? Suen Suh discovers these letters on his own, stripping Zhang Zhao of the decision. His response? A big time LOL. He was boastful for Zhang Zhao, praising the heavens to have such a virtuous talent in his employ. Soon, Zhang Zhao is placed into direct contact with the now 14-year-old Suun Suen as the younger brother is officially brought into the fold. The Suen heir is named chief of a county, which may seem like nepotism but is a wise move for four reasons. 1. A county is small and a good way to give Suun Suen direct experience with rule. 2. Suun Suh is well aware of his mortality, given his ferocious fighter of a father died at 37 years old. He wants to reinforce to his followers that his brother is the go-to guy in a premature death situation, so that Suun Suen won't have to start at basically square one like he did. 3. Suun Suen has had a lot of time and interest to study everything. With the youth lacks in practical experience, he makes up for and worldly wisdom written by the country's greatest minds. Suun Suh genuinely values his younger brother's advice. 4. On that note, Suun Suen identifies talent and loyalty like a hawk does prey. This is probably in large part due to moving so frequently as a boy, exposing him to a wealth of different individuals during key formative years. 3. Suun Suh with his brother, chief clerk, and BFF Joe Yu, arguably this generation's greatest strategist, set to subjugating their old stomping grounds of woo commandry. 3. Administrators in the land fall like dominoes, but it's not what he does, but how he does it that's so impressive. 4. Okay, the what he does is also impressive. In a series of four conquests, Suun Suh wins with four different approaches, demonstrating he and his advisors versatility. One opposing administrator is betrayed by a man who served under wind tie and is eager to serve Suun Suh, basically giving him the keys to the city. A second falls for clever ambush set by Suun Suh. The third is diplomatically quelled by a well-chosen diplomat Suun Suun may have had a hand in. The fourth and final he wins through sheer dominance, but rather than execute the resistances leaders, he goes against common convention and spares them. We must give credit for this compassionate act to Lady Wu. She tempers the fiery personalities of her children just enough to make them think about the bigger picture before making any rash decisions. In short order, Wu Commandry, in a little extra, is brought firmly under Suun Suh's control. Once again, this is centered around 80 miles southwest of Shanghai today and gives him control of about 14,000 square miles of land. He gives Joe Yu leave to take control of his own county, neighboring Wu Commandry, granting him the freedom and mobility of his own army. Both these talented young men saw the writing on the wall with Yuan Shu and prepare for the next stage of China's growing civil war. Because Yuan Shu's war is going so well, note it wasn't outside of Suun Suh's efforts, he proclaims himself Emperor in 197. Suun Suh probably after discussing with Suun Suh, Zhang Zhao, Zhou Yu, Lady Wu, and a few others writes a letter to Yuan Shu imploring him to stay loyal to the Han. Yuan Shu disregards him because he's an entitled clown and announces his new Supreme Title. Suun Suh sees this refusal coming and quickly declares independence. Yuan Shu is an incompetent, egotistical ruler whose actions are in a front to confusion values. Adding to Suun Suh's dislike of his former ruler, Yuan Shu is tangentially citing with Taoists, which you may remember he's built a dislike for thanks to his dad. You see, Yuan Shu is buying into prophecies that one could read to suggest he's marked for greatness. Again, big ego. These prophecies are influenced by Taoist beliefs of going with the flow. With the Roman chaos, that flow demanded a new master, and Yuan Shu decided it must be him. Suun Suh disagrees with all of that. Suun Suh takes a less binary view of the situation. Yuan Shu is obviously a fool, but there are merits to Taoist philosophies that lean into going with the flow. According to him, neither Confucianism nor Taoism is the answer, but the proper balance of order and spirituality allows the teenage boy for now. In practical terms, he's just here to give his input and follow his adored brother's lead. The immediate aftermath of Suun Suh's independence puts him and his cadre in league with the big boys. He's now his own warlord among about 20 warlords, and make no mistake that whatever they call themselves, that's who these rulers truly are. It's here that the Suun family will begin its antagonistic relationship with Tao Tao, the political mastermind of the era. Tao Tao is the father of the boy who will eventually grow up to start the northern kingdom of Wei, and with Wu, that'll be two of our titular three kingdoms. At present, Tao Tao is holding the emperor hostage after capturing him during his failed escape attempt in 196. Since nabbing his prized possession, yes possession that's frankly what the boy was to everyone sadly, Tao Tao uses him to issue imperial proclamations that not so shockingly benefited him. When such proclamation comes to Suun Suh, recognizing him as the owner of the lands he already owns, demoting him from general to commandant, and stripping him of a loyal grand administrator of his and replacing him with somebody not at all loyal to Suun Suh. In fact, this grand new administrator was already making plans to betray Suun Suh by working with the remnants of the rebels he defeated. Suun Suh is not really that happy. With the help of his advisory council, probably mostly Jang Jao, he tactfully writes his response. First, he professes his loyalty to the Han, agreeing that Yuan Shui is a smuck. Then he lays out his argument that he deserves his title of general. Actions speak louder than words though, and before messenger rides out of his city gates, he surprise attacks Tao Tao's would-be grand administrator, easily quelling him. Tao Tao isn't really the kind of lord who's got your back, so Suun Suh's demonstration of force and apparent loyalty to the Han, who Tao Tao more or less controls, leads to him not only keeping the general title, but rising up to Marquis. And yeah, his dad was a Marquis too, the title should have been hereditary. Honestly, every title ever given for the next 80 years here will be stroking the egos of powerful men and really mean absolutely nothing. Some of my favorites include the general who displays might, general who calms the waves, general who guards the borders, general who upholds righteousness, and general of the gentleman of the household. Okay. Speaking of random titles, Suun Suh elevates Zhou Yu to protector of the army. This inherently means nothing, but under Suun Suh's rule, it marks his BFF as the general of generals. At first, jealousy strikes the hearts of Suun Suh's other officers, the less talented because not only was Zhou Yu an amazing strategist, he was damn handsome. And the talented ones begrudge their lower station on the pecking order. In a testament to his character, Zhou Yu took time with this latter group to ease tensions, always showing respect to capable commanders. And perhaps others too, but middling individuals rarely make history. Tensions eased the parodirected course between the years of 197 and 199 AD, pacifying their home territory and securing its frontier lands. A big difference in these campaigns versus the ones that initially netted him the Wu Commandary is that Suun Suh not only offers amnesty to enemy soldiers, but to many officers as well. Suun Suh is ever quick to point out that his brother bears a sixth sense for recognizing talented, loyal men. History suggests this ability belonged to both brothers, but it's likely a few of these men owe their lives to Suun Shun, whether they realize it or not. Unfortunately, Suun Suh's former master, Guan Shue dies. Not that he harbors any positive feelings for him, but the bulk of his force's coal esque along Suun Suh's borders under one of Yuan Shue's subordinates. Suun Suh doesn't want to get pinstered by two armies, so he lays a trap for this new ruler. This ruler lacks sufficient food supplies, so he marches on a commandry without any real leadership, but with grain supplies of plenty. Suun Suh encourages us, saying he'll help his new pal without needing any food in return. Suun Suh then sends one army to trap him and leads another with Zhou Yu against that ruler's home commandry, easily capturing the capital and taking his family hostage. He also takes hostage to the children of the late Yuan Shue, so that had to feel pretty good. The new ruler realizes he's been duped when he's easily defeated when trying to take the city because someone, uh, warned them, and then he attempts to retreat back home, only to be driven out of his lands completely by Suun Suh's first army. Suun Suh then turns his attention to his original target, Wang Zu. I'll let the Lord of Wu describe what happened in his own words. By reading an excerpt of a report, he later sent to Taotao. I wrote on a horse to order the battle lines, and I beat a fast drum to prepare our men for the fight. The officers and soldiers were roused to the effort, and their spirits were raised a thousand times. Their hearts were keen and their minds were determined, each vied with the other to carry out my orders. We crossed the rings of moats so fast it seemed we were flying, fire spread with a favorable wind and the soldiers charged through the smoke. Bose and crossbows shot together and the arrows poured down like rain. As the sun rose to the early morning, Wang Zu was broken and destroyed. Get down by sharp swords or burnt by the raging flames, no enemy was left alive before us, and only Wang Zu fled away. We captured his wife and his sons and daughters, seven people. We cut off more than 20,000 heads and another 10,000 fled to the river and were drowned. We captured more than 6,000 boats and treasure piled up like mountains. And now my favorite part. Basically all this is due to the far reaching influence of the spiritual military authority of your sage like government that I have been able to put forth my feeble efforts and punish the wrongdoers. Damn, what a badass. Parts were embellished for propaganda's sake of course. It's doubtful that literally one man escaped out of 30,000. But what he says generally tracks with history. Zuen says letter to the imperial court perfectly balances a humbleness and boastful pride, effectively saying he's willing to cooperate as long as you don't get in his way. Tal Tal's response quote that wolf cub it will be difficult to deal with him. Indeed, for the great victory gave Zuen's son near complete control of one of Han China's 13 provinces. For a quick visual, Han China owned about 50% of the land that modern China does today. And that land is concentrated in the modern day's central east and northeast regions. If you divide that up into 13 regions, Zun-sah controlled most of the southeast segment. At least the best parts of it. If it's not clear already, this dude is going places. Despite he and Tal Tal both feigning loyalty to the Han, their growing power puts each other on edge. The two clans resolved this with a few marriages between them. Nobody major involved, but it's enough to delay hostilities. Now, many brother heirs in such chaotic power-attempting situations have grown jealous in the face of such brightly burning stars. So if you're thinking Zuen-chuan might have started feeling this way around this time, you would be absolutely wrong. Zuen-chuan is still his brother's biggest fan and I'm sure both drunkenly celebrated with their officers in the immediate aftermath of this great victory. Once the party's over, the brothers and the advisory council get back to work. Lady Wu is mostly out of the picture at this point and mostly serves as morality police. This isn't anything against her so much as gender roles being what they are. Min-du military, min-du state, women-du family. That's how it is. For better or worse. First, Zhengzhou, the chief clerk, is now tasked with acting as regent for Zun-chuan. They've already known each other for a bit, but it's here the two form a key bond for when Zun-chuan succeeds Zun-suh. I mean, you didn't think the elder brother would last forever, did you? I've only spent so much time on him because he's integral to understanding Zun-chuan's place in the world. Second, they've returned to quelling internal rebellions and securing his borders. You're going to get sick of me saying that, but the Southlands are far more culturally heterogeneous than North and Central China. While the Sun's family rule of these lands is never in doubt, true peace rarely lasts. However, the most disruptive of these internal dissidents isn't a rebel, but a healer by the name of Ganji. He begins healing the sick using similar tricks that the yellow turban healer did 16 years ago. He cites sin as the root of their sickness and cleanses them by purifying water, burning incense and chanting Taoist prayers. Oh boy, a Taoist. Can you guess how this'll go? Zun-suh believes what he can see and feel and to ride superstitions. Ganji acts in opposition to this, spreading his influences more and more fall under his sway. Far from just commoners, pray with Ganji. Many of Zun-suh's officers also take the opportunity to, quote, cleanse their soul. This is a distraction at best and a competition for his authority at worst. Zun-suh orders Ganji arrested and issues his execution. Many attempt to dissuade him, including his mother, to no avail. There's no mention of how Zun-choyin felt, but I think his absence speaks volumes. He likely understands the rationale behind his brother's decision and it sets back whatever courtesy he currently affords Taoism. This is further supported by the fact it'll be quite a while before the quasi-religion pops up again in our story. Whatever loyalties Ganji had secured, it wasn't enough. Picture a sunny day that starts like any other when the priest is marched before a small crowd and forced to kneel. His executioner unshies his just sharpened blade and stands behind him. After the sudden and clean cut, he beheads the healer. Ganji's head is then hung in the market to silence potential doubters of his death, which I'm sure thrilled the vendors there. Ganji's biggest adherence still believed his spirit survived his body's death, but most start to move on. With this nuisance out of the way, Zun-suh and his army gets back to rebel hunting. They track down and kill a former administrator who had escaped during his initial pacification of the region. Zun-suh finally captures and kills him, but the act ultimately spells his demise. While waiting to resupply his army before continuing on, he goes out hunting. Dude was a master writer and he quickly outrode his personal guard. Unfortunately, this talent meant that when he ran into three retainers of the man he just murdered, he lacked the support needed to defeat them. The retainers lose their arrows and one strike Zun-suh in the jaw, inflicting a grievous wound. Incidentally, this is one of those moments that calls serious doubt to the idea from romance of the three kingdoms and dynasty warriors, that one man could fight several individuals much less a hundred and survive unscathed. Zun-suh was one of China's fiercest warriors, but the chaos of battle equalizes all. The apocryphal story of Zun-suh's return to camp is that his position said he could live if he rested a few months. But after looking in a mirror and witnessing how the wound had disfigured him, he decided he was better off dead. Talk about vanity. Another legend goes that when Zun-suh looked at this mirror while healing, he saw all the spirit of Ghanji and promptly died of shock. Okay. Whatever the truth, Zun-suh's final hours are nigh. On his deathbed he calls Zun-chun to his side. He certifies him as the successor, but in doing so, also relates to us each brother's strength. After recweathing on his brother the necessary regalia, Zun-suh tells him, to raise the forces of the Yangtze River, to decide opportunities between two battle lines, and to fight for supremacy in the empire, for that you are not my equal. To raise the worthy and grant office to able men, so that each gives all his efforts to hold the lands of the east, in that I am not equal to you. This influences why I believe Zun-chun influences older brothers' decisions of who to spare and who to recruit. Particular attention is called to this gift, and though Lady Wu doesn't get the credit she should for similar advice, it's clear that Zun-chun's talents lie not in tactics, but in delegation. It's worth noting that Zun-suh did have a son at this time, a boy of a few months. More prideful and foolish men have named such children heirs, only for their realm to fall into disarray. Who knows what would have happened in five or ten years, but I think in addition to demonstrating Zun-suh's wisdom, it also reinforces that the two brothers felt a strong kinship. Indeed, Zun-chun is inconsolable over the death of his brother. He finds it impossible to concentrate on affairs of state, mourning like he lost a brother. It takes Zhengzhou, his regent and the chief clerk, to snap Zun-chun out of it. He's finally convinced with the argument that Zun-suh would have wanted his younger brother to carry on his great work. Though only eighteen, Zun-chun has been groomed as heir for four years, directly working with his older brother. Oh, and Zun-suh was only seventeen when he rose to clan leader. Sure, there might be some growing pains with the new man in charge, but things have turned out pretty well for their side so far. Nobody puts up a fight over the succession, and Zun-chun will soon reward his followers' trust, as he finally takes center stage in our story. And I think that's a pretty good time for a break. I'll be right back. And back I am. Zun-chun immediately displays what his rule is all about, as the virtuous and talented gain his esteem over the sycophants and lazy. For instance, he frequently promotes one finance officer who's strict accounting restricts him from dipping into state funds for personal furlalities. A peer of this officer, however, lets Zun-chun do whatever he wanted, and Zun-chun would always pass over this man for advancement. All of Zun-suh's key civil officials pledge their loyalty to their new warlord, and the military does not veer from this course. Numerous capable commanders who had joined Zun-chun's brother, or even their father before him, solidify themselves with a pledge behind their new lord. One goes so far as to say, quote, all obey his orders. If Zun-chun attends to civil affairs, and we others act as the claws and teeth, then the land and people will aid and support us. Zun-chun's talents then are not celebrated by just scholars and civil servants, but by the military as well. He's 44 years old, making him one of the older members of the court, and he plays the part. Rare was it for any to see him not dressed with a solemn appearance or bearing a dignified pose. Perhaps not surprisingly, he will provide the voice of caution to counter bolder strokes proposed by the Zun generals. Speaking of the military, Zhengzhou's counterpart there is of course the legendary Zhou Yu, Zun-suz's childhood friend instilled the protector of the army. Ironically the two old friends rarely saw each other precisely because of Zhou Yu's capabilities and his loyalty to the cause. His placement found him defending vital regions for several years with full confidence that he would succeed in his appointment and say true to the cause. They had remained separated until Zun-suz called him back in 199. Luckily they got to share some great victories before Zun-suz untimely death. Zhou Yu rushed back to his funeral with his troops, leaving two of Zun-suz's cousins in charge of his region. That's right, friend goes in, relatives stay behind. Like their family, and then their family. I'm sure Vin Diesel's character from the fast and furious movies would be proud. Granted, the team needed to solidify Zun-suz's power base. Bringing the lead military commander and Zhou Yu together with the chief clerk and Zhengzhou served a vital role for stability. Also, Zhou Yu was technically family because he and Zun-suz had married a pair of sisters, making them brothers in law. But still Zhou Yu and Zun-suz were the kind of family you chose. By extension, that meant Zun-suz was also kin. The high-ups all meet together in what's roughly modern-day Jin-Jang, just south of the Yangtze River, and a short trip northeast of Nanjing. It offers both a springboard for military campaigns and a mean for defensive fallbacks. Not only is it important strategically, but it's also close to where both Wen Tai and Zun-suz were buried, and where Lady Wu will be interred as well. Loyalty secured, Zun-chun and his team get to work. The lead commanders, along with Zun-chun, begin inspecting military officers and their troops. Commanders who showcase disciplined units and well cared for gear form a bedrock of the mid-level military command. Undisciplined forces found themselves merged with their betters. During these lines, Zun-chun made himself available for personal audiences from his officers. Even much lower ranking subordinates enjoyed remarkable access to the young warlord. He seemed to care about their well-being and would intertwine personal talk with business. This created the obvious positive effect of increased loyalty, enhancing his reputation. Over time, this will attract talented individuals to Zun-chun's court, providing further youthful talent to go along with the great his elder brother and father had recruited. He's initially humble in these proceedings, stating he wished to work toward rebuilding the Han, rather than building his own independent state. I don't know that he's speaking honestly, but he's far more humble now than he will be in 20 years. Zun-chun and Tai-tao reaffirmed their alliance, though it's really more of a non-aggression pact. Zun-chun and Tai-tao would have defoured Zun-chun's lands if he could, but he's busy elsewhere, so instead he uses his imperial stamp machine to validate Zun-chun's ascension. Misjudging the way the wind's blowing, an administrator in a nearby province owned by the Zun family switches sides to Tai-tao. Except Tai-tao just certified Zun-chun and again he's too busy. Things do not go well for the turncoat. Not super relevant on its own, but Tai-tao will appoint a far more capable administrator to the region bordering the South's lands. This administrator fixes up a bandit problem and rebuilds the war-torn lands, which will turn Hefei from a frontiers' land into a proper town with proper defenses. Remember Hefei. Maybe even look it up on a map, because its existence will terrorize Zun-chun. It's technically a little farther north than today's Hefei, but it's close enough. In 200 AD, Zun-chun isn't considering the nascent town. When he takes up his brother's mantle, one of his first acts is likely to marry, on the recommendation from his mom. I say likely because specific details on any of his eventual tin wives and consorts are as rare as a heatwave in Antarctica. I'll slot in Zun-chun's interactions with them as logically as I can, but don't take its timing as gospel. His first marriage is one of convenience, ascertaining the loyalty of his wife's talented relatives, and Zun-chun loses interest in her quickly. Within a year, he'll marry his cousin's daughter as his consort. Hey, it's not just the Romans who are into incest. Anyway, she so infatuates him that he demands his first wife to mote herself to a lesser consort. The first wife refuses is scorned to oblivion and mysteriously die shortly after. Zun-chun apparently hates the experience so much he'll never marry a proper wife again. It's all consorts and concubines from here on out. Even with his new consort slash second cousin, he often gets his jollies with randos or unknown to us concubines. It's a surprising twist for one who grew up with two loving parents. Now, personalities are complex beasts, so I don't want to generalize too much as to how Zun-chun ended up this way. But I do want to take a stab at it because that's what I do. The Zun males were all clearly loaded with testosterone. Zun-chun's dad and brother could get that out of their system by asserting their dominance on the battlefield, something he lacked the skill to do. Instead, he turned to the bedroom to prove his virility. Or who knows, maybe he was more of a mama's boy than history records indicate and nobody could live up to the virtuous lady Wu. Whatever the case, what Zun-chun does well is gather his advisors and listen to their advice. Let's consolidate our power. He wisely agrees, and between 200 and 203, they clean up bandits, track down rebels, rebuild their war-torn lands, etc. This comes to a brief halt in 202 when his mother dies, likely out of illness, back in Wu Commandry where Zun-chun had been born. Historical records don't indicate Zun-chun's reaction, which to me, coupled with his great relationship with his mom, suggest the death had been expected and had already mourned. This meant the cautious, compassionate whispers of Lady Wu had been fading for months or a year before ceasing completely. One less voice now tempered Zun-chun's growing ambitions and is one of the reasons why in 203 AD, he decides it's time to expand. He's 21 years old and wants to do the memory of his brother proud. Zhang Zhao cautions him against this rash action. He wishes for his lord to stay pat, committing to further pacifying his land and building up the infrastructure. This bit about infrastructure will prove remarkably prescient in 30 years. Arguments ensue between military officers and the chief clerk and the military wins out with two key points. One, certain neighboring areas are weak and won't leave forever. They should take advantage of it while they can. Two, if Zhang Zhao is not competent enough to hold down the fort in the capital during conquests, why exactly is he the chief of domestic affairs to begin with? Zhang Zhao isn't exactly wrong, but given the lack of cultural unity and Zun-chun's realm, the mild lack of instability isn't something that can be fixed easily. Territory gained via expansion will spread the population and military thin, but the resources gained offset this, not to mention depriving his enemies the ability to conquer those lands first. Despite his dissent, Zhang Zhao loses no standing in the eyes of Zun-chun. As I said, the young ruler exhibits a remarkable ability to hear out both sides, and I think he makes the right call here, at least from a warlord's strategic perspective. Via his military's council, he targets the southwest for expansion, around where modern day non-chang is and Poyang Lake are today, about 175 miles east of Changsha and 350 miles southwest of Shanghai. Fun fact, Poyang Lake wasn't a lake at this time. It will form about 200 years from now when a part of the Temperamental Yangtze River changes course. So yeah, to conquer the southwest territory, Zun-chun moves his army slightly northwest. Wait, what? There's a whole lot of rivers to the west and north, and across the mall, Zun-chun's got enemies. That means extending too far could lead to either a backdoor attack or supplies sent to help their foes via the river. Thus, he sets his site on the lands around modern day Wuhan. As an added bonus, the guy he attacks first is none other than Wang Zu, the man that directly led to the death of Zun-chun's father and supposedly the only person to escape Zun-suh in their battle a few years back. The army of Zun-chun wins the opening skirmish against Wang Zu. It's not nearly decisive as his brother's poetic victory, but it gets things rolling. Slowly. It takes five years of Zhou Yu and Zun-chun maneuvering, conquering outskirts, conscripting defeated soldiers and driving deeper into the heart of Wang Zu's lands before the son finally avenges his father. Wang Zu is killed in the storming of his capital, though Zun-chun isn't nearby to see it firsthand. Unlike his brother and father, he rarely leads directly in battle, instead delegating Zhou Yu to handle the vanguard of his forces. Without Kolmik Howard, though, he simply realizes where his talents lie and it is neither an engaging and violent melee combat nor embarking tactical maneuvers. And hey, you can't argue with the results. The young warlord secures a strategically significant and richly fertile commandery right along the Yangtze River with this victory. At the same time, Tao Tao marches down from the north, squeezing on the warlord that Wang Zu had served. By 2008, the two nominally allied North and South factions come to directly border each other, meaning we're about to drop all pretense of their friendship. From here, we're on a crash course to the most famed battle of the Three Kingdoms period, the Battle of Redcliffe. Centuries later, made into a two-part, four-plus-hour movie in 2008 that would break Chinese box office records set by Titanic. But first, we need to talk about Liu Bei, the founder of the Kingdom of Xu, our third kingdom when that all kicks off in a decade. He claims to descend from the Western Han emperors before Wang Meng ever dained to usurp a throne in our first episode. This claim is about as likely as Wintai claiming he descended from Sun Zu. Liu Bei is an interesting blend of ambitious warlord with which his first ability, and is basically the hero of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. In that story, his noble features get played up and his generic warlord qualities get played down. His fleeting loyalties are dismissed, while his honorable acts are accented. By the time Tao Tao moves south, Liu Bei has served no less than five different lords. He's currently on the run from the Northern ruler himself after a failed plot to assassinate him. Tao Tao's army met Liu Bei's small force while conquering those lands that now border Sun Quan and Liu Bei barely escapes with his life thanks to legendary performances from his top warriors. During his flight, he's intercepted by one Lu Su, a new addition made by Sun Quan on recommendation by Zhou Yu. Liu Su invites Liu Bei to take refuge within the commanderi Sun Quan just conquered that one from Wang Zu. Liu Bei accepts settling down in a town just outside of Wu Han. From there, discussion ensues between the two camps. Liu Bei's side wants to fight, but Sun Quan wavers. He would be accepting far more risk in this arrangement given his okay relationship with Tao Tao up to this point and his stronger power base compared to his new ally. This wavering doesn't last long. Shortly after Liu Bei sets up shop, Tao Tao sends a letter to Sun Quan and it a thinly veiled threat abolishes any chance of mutual accord between the two independent powers. Sun Quan then must consider three options. One, surrender to Tao Tao, probably negotiating an important role in his government, but forever losing any dreams of an independent state. Two, turtle up with a defensive strategy in hope for early wins that cause Tao Tao to lose interest. Three, take the fight to the invading army with the aid of Liu Bei and his remaining troops. Zhang Zhao, his chief clerk, advocates for surrender. Zhou Yu and Liu Su strongly support fighting back. Many other officers weigh in on one side or the other and it doesn't appear turtling in a defensive position garner much popularity. The decision is ultimately made when Zhou Yu guarantees that with some 20-50,000 men, depending on the source, he can defeat Tao Tao. With this guarantee, Zhou Yu puts forth many key points. The Northern army isn't accustomed to their southern marshes. They're tired from extensive and prolonged campaigning. Winter will make it hard to feed their army and they aren't skilled sailors, which matters because modern Wuhan is right next to a wide portion of the Yangtze River. Finally, anything besides a quick and decisive victory for Tao Tao will leave him overexposed to threats from the considerable western and northern extents of his territory. Sun Quan is not surprisingly convinced. For one, he wants to fight deep down. He's got his brother and father's memory to live up to and their aggressive legacies have been nibbling at his inherent caution, especially with his mom out of the picture for six years now. If his advisors had told him it was hopeless though, he wasn't so prideful as to overrule them. With Zhou Yu's declaration though, he felt quite confident. The man just does not lose. But timidity again displayed by Zhang Zhao. Sun Quan keeps the renowned scholar in his post. A weaker ruler here might have viewed Zhang Zhao's wish to surrender as treasonous, especially since China is run by testosterone-addled warlords by now. Sun Quan though sees his former regent as a logical dissenting opinion. While he often goes against his advice, Zhang Zhao performs admirably in maintaining relative stability at home, given the lack of focus there. I'll continue to harp on the diverse cultural groups in Southeast China at this time, and it's a testament to the chief clerk that no major rebellions last long enough to gain a foothold. That said, he clearly lacks the talent to see the big picture like Zhou Yu when it comes to the army. To emphasize the point the South's lead general made about the invaders' fatigue, Tao Tao's forces had just traveled from either his home base of modern Bose-Hao or his northern border, close to Beijing. For the 99.9% of you who have never heard of Bose-Hao, its latitude is approximate to the southern tip of Japan. These distances add up to a march between 400 and 1,000 miles. The shorter distance equates to an east-west journey across Poland, and the longer distance across from West France to East Germany. So, Zhou Yu's assumption that the invading army felt tired may have been underselling the situation. Thus, Suen Quan, younger but more mature now that he's 26, ceases all talk of surrender with a striking gesture. With his sword, he chops the desk before him, announcing anyone else discussing surrender will be dealt with in the same manner. Most took the hint, but one of his cousins secretly opened negotiations with Tao Tao. Despite their familial connection, Suen Quan stayed true to his word and ordered the execution of his cousin and his cousin's advisors after unearthing their plot. After all the public arguments concluded, Zhou Yu came in private conversation to Suen Quan to reassure his lord of the invading Tao Tao's weaker than it seemed position. Suen Quan fully buys in and the ruler gives his lead general full control of the army for the upcoming battle. That doesn't mean he lacks a backup plan though, and he orders Zhou Yu to retreat if things go poorly. In such a case, Suen Quan would participate in a potentially final battle. His mindset is clear then, maintain independence or die trying. In December of 2008, Zhou Yu sails along the Yangtze to join the Obai's force. The site of the famed Battle of Redcliffs takes place roughly 100 miles southwest of Wuhan. It's big, it's amazing, it's not as big as the movies and it's less amazing than the book. The romance of the three kingdoms dedicates eight whole chapters to the battle. However, much of what occurs is honestly just the two armies stalemating for a few days, maybe weeks. Ancient battles don't typically have these epic struggles portrayed in fiction. Usually the two sides fight until one side loses 10-20% of their army and then they'd rout. So, not much happens until Zhou Yu comes up with a brilliant plan and the stars align for Suen Quan. One of the southern officers, Spain's desertion. Tao Tao believes him, probably because he'd received several legitimate deserters over the past several months. This officer then sails with a small contingent of followers aboard 10-30 ships he's made very flammable, towards Tao Tao's much larger fleet of moored ships. About halfway before arriving, this officer and his men set fire to all of their boats and escape on small skiffs. Momentum and favorable winds, supposedly predicted by Liu Bei's chief strategist, speed the flaming balls of fury straight into a host of wooden ships. Smoke and fire throw the northern army into disarray and Zhou Yu strikes at the heart of his foes in this confusion. A hundred thousand men die in the carnage. Four ten thousand propaganda makes it hard to know and the answer is probably on the lower side. Or we can accept the higher numbers and assign credit for these deaths not to this cunning guys but to disease. Zhou Yu's prediction that the northerners' weary bodies could not withstand the south smashes had come true. An illness is responsible for at least half the opposing forces' casualties, regardless of what narrative you want to believe. Tao Tao retreats back to his capital way up north to reassess his long-term plans, but he hardly abandons the area. He leaves behind his cousin in a moderate fighting force just north of modern day Jing Zhou, 130 miles west of Wu Han. The alliance of Liu Bei and Suentuan has proven victorious and the two sides go their own way for now. Liu Bei makes his mark in the southwest while Suentuan sets his sights on controlling the Yangtze from Wu Han to Shanghai where it empties into the east China Sea. While the river is great for moving military supplies, it also benefits trade. Once Suentuan's army clears the surrounding lands, many ships in the Battle of Redcliffs are easily reconfigured into mercantile vessels. Well, the ones that didn't burn. Taking advantage of one of those rare moments where independence aren't rebelling too much in his home province, Suentuan, with confidence brimming, pushes out in every direction with mixed results. The good? His army takes key territory down south. Much of the hilly mountainous regions closer to modern Taiwan, he doesn't go for yet, but he does gobble up the most valuable territory north of modern Hong Kong and east of Vietnam. His further degrades cultural homogeneity, but the net result is positive in terms of troops, trade routes, prestige, and some farming land. Zhou Yu, with a few thousand men, teams up with Liu Bei and drives out Taotao's cousin from Jingzhou. After a brutal series of skirmishes, he secures a large part of the commander here north of the Yangtze River. The Bad? Suentuan experiences his first disastrous encounter with Hefei. Remember Hefei? As generals like Zhou Yu and Lu Su are busy elsewhere, he takes it upon himself to lead the bulk of his army against the new city. Their administrator had recently died and Suentuan's army outnumbered the defenders. It should have been a relatively easy win. For a month, heavy rainfall erodes the integrity of the city's walls while Suentuan lays a protracted siege with his superior numbers. Despite this, he fails to accomplish anything. Worse, he falls victim to trickery from the defenders that claim reinforcements are coming. Suentuan hastily abandons camp in mentally tallies Hefei I, Suentuan, zero. He does come home to some good news. The A4 mentioned military success out west. Oh, and a woman is pregnant with a son. Is the mother that consort slash second cousin he married in 201? Nope, it's some lowborn rando. Suentuan's favorite consort takes over role as the baby's mother and the original mom. I don't know vanishes. Whatever, we don't talk about her. Suentuan has a son, yay. Zhou Yu is like hey congrats, but can we get to business? Yes, things went well out west, but it's clear now Liu Bei is a keg waiting to blow. Zhou Yu suggests that Suentuan offer Liu Bei and his two sworn brothers important-ish titles in his empire and then spread them out. Basically split up the power trio and entertain them with gifts, girls and lavish palace life to prevent them causing trouble down the line. If this had had any chance of success, Suentuan might have tried it, but no way would the ambitious Liu Bei give up his current position and Suentuan knows it. On the opposite end of this, Liu Su recommends giving more territory to Liu Bei, basically lands west of Jingzhou that Zhou Yu had just conquered. On the three gorgeous dam today, it's an area considerably more fertile than Liu Bei's current holdings. The idea was to better supply them to fight Tao Tao and probably to attract Suentuan's territory slightly for management purposes. Suentuan listened as usual but didn't seriously consider this. Instead, the two independent sovereigns arrange a marriage. Liu Bei wed Suentuan's sister as his former wife. We don't know a lot about her except she was a force. Supposedly, a hundred armed female attendants followed her around and Liu Bei trembled for his very life every time he visited her. Don't get me wrong, Suentuan and Liu Bei aren't exactly friends, but their commonality in a jenwick foe puts them on tenable terms for now. After the marriage, the two officially recognize each other as their rightful sovereigns over their domains. With this alliance secured and Tao Tao proving too strong to move farther north against, Suentuan required a destabilized defender to conquer more lands. As it so happens, one became available in late 209. The most southwest of China's 13 provinces had been run by an incompetent ruler for about 15 years that had finally wore out his welcome. Zhou Yu proposes to his lord he go out to conquer them, supplanting the current ruler with Suentuan himself. An ambitious plan that I have little doubt he would have succeeded in. The problem is Suentuan is stretched thin. He controls the say fraction of the province in between his and his potential targets. The province which he does hold effective control over consists of northern refugees, southern refugees, southern natives and non-Chinese, sometimes pejoratively referred to as hill people. And that's just the broad categorizations. Out of the three kingdoms that will form over a decade from now, Suentuan's domain is the least culturally homogenous. The point of all of this is holding a large, culturally disparate realm is hard enough without making it a non-contiguous, extra-large, culturally disparate realm. Zhou Yu swiftly counters this rebuttal. The people are so eager for a new lord and neither Liu Bei nor Tao Tao are in a position to fight for these lands. In essence, it's free money. With enough time, perhaps he could have convinced Suentuan. It's hard to say no to a man who has done so much for the Suent family. We'll never know though as Zhou Yu catches a mistri illness and dies in 210 at age 36. Best guess is a plague left over from all the sick men in Tao Tao's army. It had been just a little over a year since Red Cliffs and Zhou Yu had spent most of his time in these disease-prone lands. We're not 100% sure on the cause of death, but Suentuan sure as hell didn't care about the how. He just lost the best man in his empire, arguably the best in the whole country. So when Zhou Yu nominates Liu Su as his successor on his deathbed, Suentuan listens, but doesn't follow through completely. He assigns Liu Su into a prominent post but doesn't give him or anyone else overarching control of the army. Within a few months, perhaps a year, he comes around. Liu Su isn't promoted quite as high as Zhou Yu was, but he's given control of his predecessor's territory and commands as many troops as any other general. That's not Suentuan's only change of heart. Remember that territory around today is three gorgeous dam? On Liu Su's recommendation once again, Suentuan lets Liu Bay, quote, borrow the land. Whatever that means. The historical wording isn't clear. I guess he thought Liu Bay would just give it back after he'd built it up and shielded him from Tao Tao for several years? Uhh, okay. Suentuan also gives Liu Bay the all clear to go after the territory in the southwest. The one Zhou Yu wanted to conquer before dying abruptly. With hindsight, allowing Liu Bay to grow so boldly may mark one of Suentuan's greatest errors and Liu Su's worst advice. Suentuan certainly thought so, later remarking that this council singularly wiped out the best of Liu Su's recommendations. Suentuan, flip-flopping on his new right-hand man, fills in some details of his grand portrait. His talents lay in identifying intelligent, loyal individuals, but he lacked the capacity for a grand vision. He never displays the battle brilliance or singular focus like his brother and father. While all of this helps him survive, at age 28, he's already outlived his elder brother. It does curtail his ability as a warlord ruler. The truth is, future Suentuan may be overly harsh when he lambasts Liu Su for his advice. There's no doubt that Liu Bay posed a threat, and Southwest China was ripe for the taking. However, trying to leap over Liu Bay's territory in South-Sensual China risked over exerting his forces, as mentioned earlier. And while the area around today's three gorgeous dam is quite the prize, it's yet another area the thinly stretched Suentuan would have had to defend. It seems to me a strong diplomat could have arranged for an arrangement more in Suentuan's favor that didn't put him in a pickle. Perhaps swapping the area north of the three gorgeous dam with the area south of it where Liu Bay was currently based. The only other real alternative was to war with Liu Bay, and doing so would have likely won Tao Tao the war well before it started in 220. Oh yeah, LOL, this war hasn't even technically started yet. Historians are funny sometimes. The timeframe from 189 to 220 AD is typically referred to as the fall of the Han Dynasty, as if it hasn't fallen yet. Whatever, we know the truth, even if the areas titular three kingdoms haven't formed yet. Anyway, one of the problems may have been that a more complex diplomatic arrangement required a talented, uh, diplomat. Seems obvious. Here's the thing. This from this time emphasized rulers, generals, and administrators not deal-making diplomats. One reason for this is the impermanence of a diplomatic post. Rulers, generals, and administrators often stayed within close proximity to one another. This made loyalty easier to assess. By contrast, diplomats ate and slept under the roof of rival rulers and perhaps could fall under enemy sway. To stay away from one's home court was to invite suspicion. This will come as no surprise to readers of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Septorfuge, crafty ploys, and clever deceptions are praised countless times in the story, highlighting its prominence in Chinese statecraft at the time, and what grand or form of trickery is there, then treason. It's no wonder rulers mistrusted diplomats gone too long from their court. Whatever the case, Sun Chuan lends out his three gorgeous dam territory and sets three organizing his own province. After all, that's kind of the whole point for why he gave Liu Bei what he did. In 211 AD, he moves his capital 50 miles west to modern-day Nanjing. Its high ground above the Yangtze River Delta to its north makes for a more defensible position. The move also brings Sun Chuan closer to his northwestern borders with Tao Tao, allowing for significantly faster communication with the significantly tensor region. Finally, his army erected a bridgehead fortress in between Chao Lake, just south of Hafei, and the Yangtze River. At this time, a river named Ruchu flowed between the two bodies of water. Though it's now dried up, this channel marked a key position to begin Sun Chuan's attacks, as the river flowed into a wider segment of the Yangtze where he harbored his fleet. With his new home, Sun Chuan figures it's also time for a new wife. The woman raising his air kept telling him to keep it in his pants, and he didn't want to do that. He found a consort who didn't mind his sleeping around, and she not so shockingly remained his favorite for the rest of her life. The rationales are more complicated than that, as concubines, and thus sleeping around, was incredibly common for noblemen. But Sun Chuan likely frequently strayed from his harem, which a wife or top consort would have at least had some control over. And that he didn't listen to the opinions of his consorts, this effectively stripped them of the meager power they held. It also meant even less affection from the one man they were allowed to sleep with. All in all, the jealousy and dissatisfaction of Sun Chuan's consorts feels quite reasonable, and I hope that his new favorite at least enjoyed palace life because romance was clearly off the table. Shortly after moving capitals, Sun Chuan's alliance with Liu Bei shows its first sign of fraying. His sister, Liu Bei's fiery wife, steals Liu Bei's four-year-old heir and sets sail for her eastern home. She is caught by Liu Bei's officers and released after they gently take back the heir, who I should note is not her son. After this, the two's marriage effectively comes to an end. Despite Sun Chuan's later lamenting about giving up land to Liu Bei, the consolidation of his forces to within his core territory does pay off. In early 213, Tao Tao moves south to attack, and it blows up in the northern warlord space. The mobility of the southern naval force, their bridgehead fortress, and quick communications prove too much to overcome. Not only is Tao Tao unsuccessful, but when he abandons the area, people displaced by the war migrate south. Sun Chuan's approachable demeanor extends to his empire with his border administrators encouraging migration with open arms. This significantly helps the Sun clan's biggest problem, lack of people relative to the size of their domain. To provide perspective, estimates place the population of Sun Chuan's domain at 4 million people at this time. Tao Tao controlled two to three times the territory, but with seven times the population, making for a far denser realm. So migrants moving south really helps our protagonists. With more people to take up arms or plow fields and the bulk of Tao Tao's forces cleared from the area, Sun Chuan takes the advice of a general and counter-attacks in 214. Luckily, not against Hfei, but in the one area south of Lake Chao, he didn't control. His forces overrun the garrison in the span of an afternoon, which now gives him absolute control of the Yangtze River all the way from Wuhan to Shanghai as he'd wanted. The general who suggested the attack is made administrator of its commander, and I'll have a bit more to say on him in a bit. Sun Chuan follows this up by amending his mistake with Leo Bei four years ago and basically follows the diplomatic plan I'd laid out. Territory in the south central of China transfers to Sun Chuan. Not out of the goodness of Leo Bei's heart, but simply because he's busy building in roads in the southwest for a mostly peaceful takeover. He's making buddy buddy with the southwest's current ruler who thinks Leo Bei will save him from the consequences of his inept rule. One of that ruler's few loyal advisors remaining remarks on this. Quote, this is like a man sitting alone on a little hill and he calls out for a tiger to protect himself. Which is about how it goes is Leo Bei usurps his rule later in the year. Sun Chuan, seeing his pseudo-ally success, tells him it's time to return that quote, borrowed, commander-y. Except Leo Bei has made it a central point of his operations and his lead general, a man with a magnificent beard named Guan Yu, is stationed there. Leo Bei tries to placate Sun Chuan's agitation by saying once he takes just a little more territory, he'll return the other one. Yeah, right. Sun Chuan, seeing through the facade or simply jonesing for another conquest, marches his army to force the return and figures he'll take a couple extra commandaries for the trouble. He splits his army into one general leading a mobile force to slowly conquer the lands and then Lu Su controlling a stationary force to keep Leo Bei's top general occupied and not go after the mobile army. Two of Leo Bei's commandaries quickly surrender to Sun Chuan's large mobile army led by future lead military general Lu Meng, not related to Lu Su. He's been the south's unsung hero thus far and it's time he got his due. He's participated in the assault that killed Wang Zu, the Battle of Red Cliffs, and most recently laid out that very successful counterattack in 214 that made him an administrator. Sun Chuan has been cultivating this man's development for years. When Lu Meng began his tenure, his uncouth demeanor lacked finesse, yet one could not doubt his ambition and dedication. During those initial army inspections following Sun Su's death in 200, Lu Meng saved his ragged army unit from being merged out of existence by taking a loan to outfit them in fresh armor. This white lie demonstrated proper equipment maintenance, enhancing their image as a disciplined unit. These sorts of acts led Sun Chuan to see something special in the spirited man. Lu Meng initially demonstrated no interest in anything besides combat, but his lord convinced him to broaden his horizons with a classical education as he'd done. After all, if one of the most powerful men had the time and saw the value in reading, perhaps the idea held merit. The maturation of the young man, who is now 36, is now paying dividends. In addition to his mobile unit forcing the surrender of two commanders, he sneaks in a third with a clever ploy. As Laobey's army draws close to Lu Su's, Lu Meng is ordered to retreat and help defend. Before he leaves, the savage general puts his fancy rhetoric skills to the test. He convinces the grand administrator of this third capital that no help is on the way and it's best to surrender. Lu Meng takes the capital quickly, bloodlessly, and even admits to duping the administrator, an act that so impresses the man he permanently swaps sides to Sun Chuan. Tao Tao also inadvertently helps Sun Chuan at this stage by marching his army into the upper valley of the Han River. This is awfully close to that new province Laobey had sneakily overthrown the ruler of, so instead of fighting Sun Chuan, the two sides compromise. Sun Chuan gives back some land but pushes control of the Yangtze River 150 miles southwest of Wuhan to Dong Ting Lake. Flowing into that lake from the south is the Xiong River, which will mark the new borders between the sometimes allies, sometimes enemies. With this conflict resolved and the bulk of Tao Tao's army dancing with Laobey's to the northwest, Sun Chuan makes a plan for Hefei in 217, where he again leads the bulk of the army. They outnumber the defenders like 10 to 1, so it seems like a sure bet. But this is Sun Chuan and Hefei we're talking about. All it takes is a surprise sortie by the opposing general to send Sun Chuan fleeing. It's such a disaster that Hefei's general almost captures the southern warlord. Hefei 2, Sun Chuan 0. On the plus side for us, the enemy general leaves us a description of Sun Chuan, describing him as a skilled mount archer with a long body, short legs, and a purple beard. The purple beard bit emphasizes either a regal or otherness in appearance. He wasn't literally dying his beard. To add just Sun Chuan's characterization, Zhang Zhao highlighted his lord's growing boldness. He liked hunting tigers on horseback and continued doing so even after one almost reached his saddle. Though he'll never be a lead from the front type and really shouldn't lead armies at all. The success of his rule and his brother's legacy have forever altered this once cautious boy. Oh, one more thing. We know he's a selfish romantic partner, but in order following his defeat at Hefei, cements his view on women. When he attends the funeral of an officer lost in battle, he orders the man's favorite concubine to join him in death. Not great, man. Tao Tao succeeds in taking a bit of land against Liu Bei and following his general's absurd victory at Hefei tries a new tactic against his southern rival. A proxy war. He sends a seal and ribbon to symbolize legitimacy, and maybe some funds, to at least two rebel leaders and Sun Quan's domain fighting for independence. While the uprisings fail, they demonstrate that even though the Sun family isn't in danger of losing land from within, constant energy and effort must still be put forth to maintain order. On a larger scale, it gives us evidence that his appointed officials work with a high degree of autonomy. What works in one area may not work in another, and Sun Quan trusts talented individuals to handle these situations, however they think best, regardless of sometimes cruelty. It's another testament to his best attribute, constantly picking the right man for the job. Whatever discontent existed failed to provide a sufficient halt to the spread of Sun Quan's realm where minimal resistance existed. We'll see this later in our current year of 217, when the Lord of China's southern most province, a horizontal strip that borders the entirety of the South China Sea, since his eldest son is a hostage to Sun Quan to maintain his technical independence. But before Sun Quan can threaten that ruler's lands, he has to deal with Tao Tao. Though the uprisings have failed, the Northern Army marches straight for the heart of his realm. Storms wreak havoc on the Southerners Navy in the weeks leading up to their clash, and they're forced into an early retreat. Tao Tao's forces coalesce at the bridge fortress at Ruchu, the same place he was defeated in 213. The battle doesn't go any better for the Northern aggressor, but instead of retreating this time, he leaves his army nearby. This forces Sun Quan to the negotiating table. While he's nearly invincible in this defensive position with his full army, he can't do much of anything else with a large threat right at his doorstep. The southern warlord sort of surrenders in a white peace agreement. Nothing really happens except that he acknowledges Tao Tao's recent declaration as King of Way. This political negotiation basically squashes any legitimacy so that he's trying to save the Han Empire. Thus, the age of the three kingdoms is upon us. Though historians don't recognize it until the emperor is forced to officially abdicate his throne three years from now into the 2080. Accompanying Sun Quan's loss of face is the death of Lu Su, the warlord's right-hand man, Zhou Yu's hand-picked replacement, and one of his first personal hires dies at the age of 46. We don't know his cause of death, but I feel confident in blaming illness. Lu Su is honored to the nines at his funeral. We can assume Sun Quan was saddened, but that bitterness in his heart, over seeding territory to Liu Bei, probably tempers his grief. That and he needs to pick a replacement. Sun Quan's choices for Lu Su's replacement are telling of his character. The first man he picks is one with no military background nor any interest in their affairs. He's a scholar through and through, one of an honorable and amicable personality. Accutely aware of his own shortcomings, the scholar turns down the offer. Sun Quan is insistent though, for he wishes a well-read man of high moral character to rely on. The scholar, just to emphasize how little he should be around the military, intentionally falls off his horse in a clumsy showing while riding with his lord. Sun Quan is like I get the message. He then turns to the actual logical replacement, Liu Meng. With his impact on a smaller scale at Red Cliffs and vs Wang Zu, in a larger scale at everything good that's happened with Ruchu River, including his recommendation to build its bridgehead fortress, he is a far truer successor to Zhou Yu's legacy. He also administrates lands near both Liu Bei and Tao Tao, so he's quite vested in this conflict. Unfortunately, he doesn't last much longer, but he does go out strong. At first, he, Sun Quan, and the rest of the team continue stabilizing their lands, stirred up by Tao Tao, and pushing their influence ever southward, like with the aforementioned ruler of China's southernmost province giving up his son as a hostage. Meanwhile, the southerners wait for an opportunity to present itself up north. This comes in 219 when Liu Bei wins a solid victory against Tao Tao. This emboldens Liu Bei, and he calls up his best general, Guan Yu, from the territory adjacent to Sun Quan, to keep the pressure up. The general sails up the Han River, pushing farther north. His progress is slow at first, concerned with an attack at his rear by Sun Quan's forces. His scouts don't detect any movement though, and three key elements further lower his guard. 1. Sun Quan's army fails in a mild attack against the seemingly impregnable Hefei, making the score Hefei 3, Sun Quan 0. But it does portray a focus on Tao Tao. This was probably a faint, but hey, scoreboards don't lie. 2. Lumeng Falls Ill 3. Lumeng's regional replacement, who is relatively unknown, pins doe-eyed fan mail to Guan Yu. Guan Yu accepts the flattery, feels at ease with a seemingly weaker leader at his backside, and assesses Sun Quan's attack as legitimate. Thus, he feels secured his backside and fully commits against Tao Tao's forts. That is when Sun Quan and his new lead general make plans to attack their former allies. I should say here that the romanticized version and even the historical records suggest some wild backroom dealing between Tao Tao and Sun Quan. These seem incredibly doubtful, as it would have required Sun Quan to alert his enemy of his plans for absolutely no gain. It's not as if they worked together in the time that followed either. No, Sun Quan moves against Lao Bay because it's an easy territory grab, a rare opportunity, and he feels Lao Bay will move against him sooner or later. Better to be the backstabber than the backstabby. The initial assault though isn't fought with swords, but with words. Lu Meng returns to the front of the army, rising from bed still ill for a clutch performance like Michael Jordan with bad food poisoning in the 97 NBA Finals. Through diplomatic discourse, he convinces leaders of the two major garrisons left behind to swap sides. Guan Yu had apparently mistreated them, and they weren't about to fight against overwhelming odds just to buy him more time. Both the defensive garrison and the commander's capital fall with little to no blood spilled. Guan Yu races back. In that time, more men in the conquered capital find they prefer the new management. Lu Meng and Sun Quan employ the effective tactic of not being jerks, forbidding looting and general mistreatment of the inhabitants. They provide medicine to the sick and food to the hungry, buying up loyalty with acts of kindness. Everyone inside the capital is feeling pretty good, but that's not the actual end goal. When Guan Yu's army sets up camp, Lu Meng sends messengers to greet him. Lao Bay's top general is treated with respect and honor, and his soldiers are offered the opportunity to see their family and friends left behind. When these soldiers find their loved ones better off than before, some are inclined to switch sides. This diminishes Guan Yu's nearby allies, a wise strategic move by Sun Quan's side that is further reinforced when another of his general conquers a neighboring commander. Again, the former leaders in inhabitants are treated with respect and even offered gifts. Thus, they have little reason to answer Guan Yu's call for aid. Once he's properly isolated and his army diminished by deserters, Sun Quan demands Guan Yu's surrender. Lao Bay's top general rejects the notion, and in 220, Lu Meng attacks. As great of a warrior and commander as he is, Guan Yu has no hope. The battle is a mere formality, and he and his son die in the ensuing melee. It's a masterful, if somewhat dishonorable stroke. As I alluded to, though, Lu Meng's efforts exacerbated his illness. Sun Quan regularly visits his top man hoping for a recovery, but it's not meant to be. Lu Meng's death at 42 years old suggests that he isn't a big fan of Sun Quan's top military officers. The warlord's grief in the wake of Lu Meng's death is a smidge below that of Zhou Yu's loss, but more intense than Lu Su's. Once Sun Quan has mentally and emotionally recovered, he promotes Lu Meng's replacement. It's an easy choice as Lu Meng personally recommended the man, and he just played a big role in Guan Yu's defeat. His name is Lu Shun, and before you ask, no, he's not related to Lu Meng or Lu Su, and yes, if you're super fan of this period, all three loose are technically pronounced differently. One name even has an oom-lout, but there's zero chance I would have kept the pronunciation straight, so here we are. Anyway, Lu Shun, he's the one who'd written Guan Yu the do-eyed fan mail, and he's the one convincing neighboring garrisons to surrender after Guan Yu returned with his army. He's made protector general, general who guards the west, and a proper marquee. Seriously, these people love titles. After that settled, Sun Quan establishes a secondary capital in the lands he's just taken. There is no reason not to think Leo Bay is coming for him. The rival is basically honor-bound to avenge his friend and the backstabbing. It also likely impacts a rather important man 1100 years later, namely the author of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I will argue that it's this battle which leads to the author framing the book as he does. In the novel, Leo Bay is the clear protagonist. Several events are rewritten or made up entirely in order to portray him in a positive light throughout the entire story. Real Leo Bay has his pluses and minuses, like everyone else, but I think it's due to Sun Quan's attack on Guan Yu that the author chose to frame the story in the way he does. First, almost every piece of classical literature, regardless of its geographical origin, offers the reader a clear protagonist to root for. Only three warlords make it to the official Three Kingdoms Civil War, so if we're to choose a good guy, our choices are… Tao Tao, the obvious villain, given that he holds the Emperor hostage and is the most frequent aggressor during the fall of the Han. Sun Quan, our protagonist, who we might see as a good guy in a confusion since… His biggest personality flaws are his sexist attitude and brow-beating rebels and foreigners into submission. Not a big deal for the order-seeking dominant philosophy of the day. Leo Bay is not exactly loyal to his liege lords, but is disloyal in a way one can frame him as loyal to the Han, the rightful rulers of the realm. He's quite competent with some strong officers, including one of China's best all-in-one civil servant slash strategist, and he's able to twist on her in a way that nobody can outright call him a jerk. Either Sun Quan or Leo Bay could have ended up as romance of the Three Kingdoms hero, but I think it is highly likely that Sun Quan's betrayal of their long-standing alliance, while the villain Tao Tao still lives no less, swung the choice for the author. Adding further rationale to this is the Southern Warlord's responsibility for Guan Yu's death. For context, Guan Yu is revered as China's God of War. A 200-foot statue of him and his glorious beard were erected in 2016, weighing so much that the ground started to sink under its weight. The city demolished it in 2022, but it's a testament to its legacy and you should Google a picture of it. Now, obviously, the statue came well after the novel, and the man's mythological status is more influenced by the novel than history, but much of what Guan Yu is still true, best as we can tell. It's just exaggerated. Sun Quan also sucks up to Tao Tao in the aftermath, sending him Guan Yu's head, though he buries the body with honors. Including with this head are monetary tributes and the release of a high-ranking official of Tao Tao's that Guan Yu had imprisoned some years back. As Tao Tao is again the clear villain, Sun Quan's Tao Taoing in the immediate aftermath of his betrayal is why I am confident the book is framed the way it is. I am also confident that I could use a second break. I think I've already consumed like four gallons of water while recording this episode. And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming. While Liu Bei is not surprisingly itching for revenge, he's slowed down by two key officers deserting after a series of blame games of Guan Yu's death divides his court. This is significant because it speaks to a less united front. Similarly, Tao Tao has experienced his own desertions during his reign, and on top, survived several assassination attempts. Meanwhile, Sun Quan never experiences such chaos from his upper command. For whatever Sun Quan's flaws, it's clear that Sun says proclamation of his brother's talent with people held merit. He also outlives the first of his rivals as Tao Tao dies of old age at 65. In 220 AD, his son, Tao P, inherits the throne, which is stellar news for the south. His first move upon inheriting the throne is to force the emperor to abdicate. This requires him to mediate at home or risk outright rebellion over the very apparent usurpation. It's quite silly considering that infighting among his two rivals presents a golden opportunity, but suffice to say he is not his father's son. This allows Sun Quan's diplomats to buy time so his military can handle Liu Bei's revenge chore. This task requires a lot of trust given what I mentioned earlier with everyone suspecting treachery around every corner, but Sun Quan knows his men. The diplomats even get Tao P to bequeathed on Sun Quan, the title of King of Wu, for his apparent loyalty. They also definitely reject an offer to make Sun Quan's eldest son a marquee way up north, thereby making him a hostage. Liu Bei, meanwhile, has to make his kingdom the old fashioned way. In 221, in response to the Han's official demise, he founds the kingdom of Shu Han, or Shu for short. Thus, although the kingdom of Wu isn't technically an independent state yet, we can officially say the three kingdoms era has begun. So I'll frequently refer to Wei, Wu, and Shu from here on out. As the pronunciations of these are homophones with existing English words, I'll do my best to enunciate them. The alternative is to constantly say the kingdom of XYZ every time, and that's crazy. To commemorate Sun Quan's ascent to Vasil King, he throws a giant party. All his coolest subjects are invited to a spacious, high-ceiling banquet hall, to drink feast, drink revel, and drink some more. The Jovial Sun Quan personally pours wine for his officers, advisors, and his best underlings. He gets absolutely smashed in the process. Then this one officer, with the habit of being a smartass, lays down on the floor as if passed out when Sun Quan comes by. As soon as the king goes on to fill the bronze goblet of the next guy in line, this smart ass officer stands up sober as day. The Sun Quan is pissed. He draws his sword, ready to cut down the officer where he stands. Another officer makes a good point that the smartass officer might deserve death for his disrespect, but killing people while drunk sets a bad precedent. Sun Quan listens and takes it a step further, decreeing that his subjects disregard his orders when he's drunk. I love this whole tale. He humbly puts himself on the level of his closest subjects by serving them. It's easy to imagine this bearded man with energetic eyes reveling in his success, a success he clearly sees as inextricably tied to these men's valuable advice. And yeah, it's all men he really doesn't value female opinions at this point. Then, while drunk, he has the presence of mind to listen to his officer's good advice and proclaim his drunken mandates invalid. That doesn't mean he forgives and forgets. Not long after this incident, months or maybe years, Sun Quan exiles the smartass officer. His ability to hold a grudge is made ever clearer when his assent to king means he needs to choose a chancellor. This role is a bit weaker than a modern prime minister. More authority and autonomy than a chief clerk, the one I described as secretary of state, but still clearly requiring the king's consent for anything major. The obvious choice is, Jang Zhao, given the longevity of his service, his respect country wide and his current role as chief clerk. Sun Quan, however, chooses someone else. Unless someone isn't important, the longevity of his grudges is. The only reason Jang Zhao isn't chosen is because he advised that Sun Quan surrender to Tao Tao prior to the battle of Red Cliffs 12 years ago. Oh sure, Sun Quan contrives of another excuse, but the truth will come out in the following years. You may also recall how we felt that Lu Su's advice to let Liu Bei settle in the lands of South Central China in the immediate aftermath of Red Cliffs wiped out all of his good advice. Alongside his rising prominence, Sun Quan's ego is also on the rise, a historically common pairing. His resentment festers against those who once told him it couldn't be done as if we're a personal affront. While he's not so foolish as to actively punish those who gave him pacifistic advice and thus make counselors fear speaking their mind, his choice for promotions will make it clear that clever gambit are the key to his heart. Oh, and never doubting him. A year into his rainous king, promoting true believers and talented men sets up Wu for the pivotal stage of Liu Bei's revenge tour. In the second half of 221, the now king of Shu makes it down to his former lands with an imposing force. He personally leads the bulk of his army with reinforcements managed by his top strategist. They make easy inroads at first, taking outposts on the frontier, but the jaunt soon slows to a slog. All thanks to Sun Quan's latest hand-picked general, Liu Shun. While Liu Meng had recommended him, there is considerable pushback among Liu Shun's new subordinates. One general who had served from as far back as with Sun Quan's father and administrators of the land-spacing invasion, I have the new lead general with jealousy. On top of this, Liu Shun lays out a defensive strategy that is ever harder to maintain precisely because it is working so well. For all appearances, Liu Bei is seemingly dominating his opponent. Yes, the going is slow, but the gradual conquering of lands disheartens those without an eye for the grand vision, i.e. everyone but Liu Shun. Thus, it is quite the demonstration of his gravitas that he can maintain order when faced with such fierce opposition from within. That said, Loyalties to Sun Quan also deserves some credit. Back to Liu Shun's grand plan. He knew the importance of a place-name yeeling, which is just southeast of today's three gorgeous dam in central China. It's ten fortified garrisons lay at the eastern edge of a mountain range that is effectively the entry point into Sun Quan's domain from the west. Its fall would make containing Liu Bei that much harder. Thus, Liu Shun waits for the moment to strike because as Eminem once said in the internet loves to repeat, you only get one shot. It takes six to eight months of allowing Liu Bei to moseon up to yeeling's doorstep, setting up camps all around before Liu Shun acts. By then, his vanguard force, led by a distant relative of Sun Quan, is trapped in under siege. Requests for help are denied. Grumbling from subordinates over this denial must again be silenced by Liu Shun. He is frequently forced to remind them all that although their morale has suffered from losing lands, Liu Bei's army is no better off as they've stalemated in their advance. The opposition's battle fervor, fueled by revenge for Guan Yu, now runs on fumes as they struggle for a path beyond yeeling. Those familiar with ancient Roman history from their war with Carthage's Hannibal may recall a Roman leader by the name of Fabian who won battles by not fighting them, relying on attrition to do the bulk of the work for him. Fabian's successor thought him cowardly and led the Romans to their worst defeat in their thousand-year history at the Battle of Canny. Sometimes it pays to wait. Such is the case with Liu Shun. He finally acts in the summer heat of June 222 when he sends out a small force that's quickly beaten back. With hindsight, we can assume he intended this as a faint or a probe attack. Liu Bei, frustrated, calls the defenders cowards. Liu Shun isn't phased by these taunts. Days pass before he presents the finale of his grand plan. He unleashes his entire army from the garrisons with many men carrying piles of straw forward. While the bulk of his army postures for battle, straw carriers lay their goods near the wooden palisades protecting Liu Bei's camps. With a wave of the southern general's arm, fire arrows and or torches fly forward, igniting the kindling and setting the battlefield ablaze. We can assume from Liu Shun's patience that fair winds blew in the direction of the aggressors, perhaps on dry land right for an inferno, because that's precisely what happens. As fire spreads through Liu Bei's camps, his men divide into chaotic arrangements. Liu Shun then orders his men to strike, and on every front it's either a massacre or a rout. An opposing general's unit even crosses the border into the kingdom of Wei, hoping to find sanctuary. Kishu officers are killed or taken hostage, but Liu Bei manages to retreat. It's possible at this point that Liu Shun could have captured Liu Bei. Certainly, if his army caught up, they would have won easily. But remember that the land west of Yiling is mountainous and thus not easy to traverse. This would have slowed down supplies and stretched them into a dangerous position. As Yiling lay situated near the borders of Wei, Shu and Wu states, an opportunistic Wei general could have taken advantage to wreak havoc on Liu Shun's backside. Liu Bei, though, was thoroughly defeated, and at 61 years old, he didn't have much fight left. He would in fact die just a year later in 223. Liu Shun's decision not to follow, yet again failed to elicit popular support among his officers, and yet again proved a prudent course of action. After the war between Wu and Shu ends much faster than Tao P expected, he again requests Sun Quan to send his heir up north. He'll be a marquee, it'll be great, he says. Sun Quan's like, nah, I see you traitor. Tao P insists. After another rejection, he puts his offer out there more forcefully and marches his army south. At this point it's clear there's no middle ground. Sun Quan formally breaks away from Wei and proclaims himself an independent king. Then in another showcase of Wu's excellent assortment of diplomats in messaging, they reform their alliance with Shu. This means in the span of a few years, Wu backstabbed their long time, Shu ally, managed to keep away from attacking them the one time their capital along the Yangtze was exposed, never gave up any major concessions in doing so, and then, after securing all their new lands, they went back to their political arrangements as if nothing had happened. I've said before that diplomats often go unheralded, and there's not much I can do about that except give them a collective congratulations because I don't have many names to call out. The only one I can personally applaud is Liu Shun himself, who took over managing the Shu relationship in the wake of his victory. We do also have to give credit to us Sun Quan, who handpicked all the right people for the job. With help from his advisors, he formulated the strategy and the men on the front lines executed it to perfection. With his rise to independent king, Sun Quan starts a new strange habit, marrying and impregnating a new consort every couple years with exactly one son before tucking the woman out of sight. I mentioned before that he'll marry nine different consorts after his first wife and take in who knows how many concubines, but it won't be until almost the end of his reign before he recognizes any of them as legitimate queens or impresses. It's also likely that most if not all of these consorts were concubines as it was common practice for a king to raise a concubine to consort after impregnating them. Back to Talpis attack. There's not much to say except it fails, once again proving his northern armies are inferior sailors and can't handle the marshy terrain. They withdraw and a back and forth between the two sides begins. Sun Quan doesn't push back too hard, there's no reason to believe he can take the fight northward and mostly tighties up his defenses. Talpis goes full try hard over the next four years, attacking multiple spots with various approaches failing all the while until he dies in 226 at age 39. Whoa, what? 226? That was fast. Yep, it feels weird that for a while so much happened every year and now four years pass in the blink of an eye. Good stories arise from change though and little changes in this span. Talpis death, dare I say it, changes that. His successor is his son, likely adopted, who's 22 and young enough that Sun Quan decides to try his luck against the new regime. It's a bit amusing given Sun Quan was younger than that when he took over and things worked out just fine but exceptionalism is a thing and history does suggest ruler changes present a good time to attack in the ancient world. The thing is, northern decisions are now made by the new rulers regent, Sima Yi. I'm mentioning his name and not the name of the actual ruler because frankly that's who you need to know. He's already been helping way, run things and is proving himself to be Talpis equal in all ways, strategy, ambition and political acumen. Liu Shun turns to the kingdom of Shu, the relationship he's been nurturing for years and the two reformlize their alliance. Shu will attack from the west, Wu will attack from the south. One guy on the way frontier will turn traitor and maybe the three combined forces can make some headway. They don't. Sima Yi's decisive action nips out the traitor before he can cause any real damage. He arranges defenses appropriately and relies on smartly appointed generals to repel the invaders. This sets the stage for a true stalemate with armies unable to advance because they can't find a tactical advantage. Only trickery can shake things up and shake things up, Sun Quan does. In a time where traitors on frontier borders are not uncommon, he, Liu Shun and his advisors devise a plan to abuse this mindset. They arrange for the grand administrator of Poyang, around Poyang Lake today, to pretend to switch sides with an invitation to Wei to assist him in a decisive sneak attack. Poyang Commandery is just south of the Yangtze River and lives smack dab in the middle of Wu kingdom, making it a juicy prize. If Wei captured these lands, they could bypass the northern marshes and march with flexibility around Wu's interior territories, which it should be noted are quite fertile lands and food is always nice to have to sustain an army. The excited Sima Yi believes the false traitor and splits his forces into three armies for a joint assault. One of these armies heads for Poyang, traveling deep into enemy lands. Liu Shun leads a surprise attack against him, setting out to annihilate the invader. He doesn't quite succeed due to the quick reaction of the general of a second Wei army, but the strategy is a resounding success. The Wei army routes so fiercely, they're forced to leave behind much of their weapons, armor, and supplies. Liu Shun follows them to north of Wu Han, near the Dabi mountain range, stopping there to officially extend Wu's borders. Speaking of, let's assess Wu's territory. To picture their practical borders in all but name here in 228, draw a line from Hanoi, Vietnam, north easterly to about 80 miles north of Wu Han. Then draw another line straight east to Shanghai, but include all territory south of the Yangtze along the way. If you did this properly and happen to be looking at a map right now, the city of Hafe will stick out like a sore thumb. Because of course it does. So Antoine is no doubt itching to turn his attention there once again, but he learns from Liu Shun's patience and bites his time. It's not as if he doesn't have anything to keep him busy. He's culturally heterogeneous territory is due for a spring cleaning. A new officer is appointed and he quickly stamps out the 10,000 so-called bandits, proving that one, Sun Quan still got the magic touch when it comes to hiring, and two, he doesn't care about the natives of the land. You see, these treacherous bandits and rebels are almost certainly former natives of these lands that he's displaced over the years. They're simply trying to fight back against an ever-encroaching threat, similar to Native Americans retaliating against the United States' western expanse in the 19th century, albeit on a much different scale. History's propaganda machines have been known to gradually morph such victims into vile rogues before, and that's likely the case here. Only further emphasizing my supposition, the same officer who stamped out the, quote, the bandits, not so secretly, enacts a major regime shift in China's southernmost province. This is the one that borders the South China Sea, ruled by the man who had sent Sun Quan his son as a permanent guest slash hostage to maintain his technical independence. Well, that man died in 226, and it's time for the pretenses to end. By rights, the lands should go to one of his sons, but Sun Quan and his southern officer agree that a change is in order. Armies march south to intimidate the sun and would be heir. He chooses to resist, but it doesn't last long. One of this heir's cousins, under encouragement from Sun Quan's officer, convinces him to surrender when the armies are set to clash, which he may have regretted. Sooner did the heir and all of his brothers, sans the hostage living up north, balance surrender, than does Sun Quan's southern officer order their execution. Their heads were sent to Sun Quan, and if you think he'd admonish the due-plicitous action, you haven't been paying attention. He rewards the officer with a marquee title and enjoys expanding his territory from down to northern Vietnam in all but name, to down to northern Vietnam in all official capacity. Over the next three years, Sun Quan firmly establishes his hold over three of the Han Empire's 13th provinces, and there's really not much else to do but look to assign from the heavens for guidance. His diviners of course find this with some sightings involving various colors and mythical beasts that he uses as an indication that the universe wants him to reign over China. In 229 AD, he announces he is not merely a king of his territory, but emperor of the whole country. Cool. While owning three of 13 provinces is impressive, he's not even halfway there. This announcement is a little premature, but so was Waze and Shoe's, so can you blame him? Well, you can the little. To the outside world, Wei is running the show, evidenced by them negotiating Silk Road trade deals with the Kushans to the west, and Sima Yi provides a stabilizing hand to its incompetent rulers. This only solidifies Wei as the target of Ayer though. With Arsonan Quan's imperial proclamation, he comes to terms with Shoe to continue their joint assault on Wei, with a goal of divvying up their territory evenly between the two allies. What this plan means for a unified China is a discussion for another day. Sun Quan passes over Zhang Zhao, yet again for the role of Chancellor, but this time he openly decrees his Ayer over the man's advice to surrender to Tao Tao at Red Cliffs. Time it appears does not heal all wounds. Still, he gives Zhang Zhao a fancy symbolic general title and sets him up with some quite valuable lands, so he at least remembers the good he's done too. The former chief clerk decides it's best at this point to retire from direct service, and he lives out his remaining years as a scholar. As Arsonan Quan firmly holds on to grudges, he also values loyalty. Whatever negative impact on this falling out between ruler and chief advisor had on the Wu officers morale was countered by a generous enrichment to Zhang Zhao for never wavering in his honest support. I imagine this fit most people find. Do great things and get promoted, or do mostly good things and still make bank if you don't get too greedy. Like for instance, Lu Xun. After Sun Quan named himself Emperor, he moves his base of operations from present day Wuhan back to Nanjing, leaving Lu Xun in control of the lands he vacated. This leaves his chief general in charge of not just the regional commander, but basically the western third of the kingdom. However, cruel, sexist and oppressive to natives, Sun Quan may be. As a warlord, you can't argue with his results. He commands the loyalty of dozens of China's most capable officers and always seems to always handpick the right person for the job. He's more than triple the lands his brother left him from about 6% of Han China to 25%. Impressive as that is, all the easy pickings are picked clean. He now faces the same problem as an established corporation 10 years after their IPO. How do you keep up with rapid, unsustainable growth? I said this like an hour ago so I doubt you remember, but Zheng Zhao, back when he held Sun Quan's full respect, still wasn't listened to when he suggested to the then 19 year old ruler that he should start building up his realm's infrastructure shortly after he took up his brother's mantle. Now at 45 years old in 229, he'll start paying for his younger self's mistakes. All his funds and focus have been put into military conquest and pacification rather than building an agricultural powerhouse in his very fertile lands that could rival his northern way neighbor. In addition to providing the means for an extended offensive military campaign, it would have helped draw cometers to his lands interested in a better life. Again, population is a problem for Wu. Lu Xun and others tried to tell Sun Quan that it's better late than never to start building infrastructure, healing the lands, and improving public education for his nation's future. Lu Xun highlights his pitch with a message, apt for even modern times. Quote, there has never been a case where the people are wealthy, but the state is weak, nor a situation where the people are weak, but the state is powerful. Or more succinctly, a powerful state requires empowered people. The wannabe emperor, though, rather than trying to correct his decades old error by looking inward does the opposite. From here, his addiction to conquest will lead to a slew of disasters indicating that Sun Quan's best days are behind him. In 230, he invades the island of Taiwan, or tries. Thousands of his soldiers die at sea during the crossing, and the ones who return come back with maybe half their number in captives, proclaiming some weak control over the island. And a strong control wouldn't have been worth much given Taiwan's undeveloped lands at this time. For the mission's failure, Sun Quan executes the two men in charge, and we start to see his proclamation as emperor in a new light. He truly believes he holds the mandate of heaven, and where wise counsel once swayed him towards wise action, now a firm belief in divine right guides his hand. Those who fail him then are no longer an extension of his own failings, but a sacrilegious stain on his rule. I have no doubt that in 229, when he declared himself emperor, that he firmly believed he would reunite the lands. What better way then to show that won't happen than with yet another assault on Hafei in 231. Sun Quan tries another sneaky fake traitor trick, but it gets snuffed out and he's forced to retreat. Hafei for Sun Quan zero. Up through 233, he pours resources into solidifying his presence in northern Vietnam. Expanding his borders there felt good, I guess, but outside of modern Hanoi, the lands provided as meager of a benefit as Taiwan. His efforts merely stripped him of resources he could have used to fight way or build up internal infrastructure. It was literally worse than doing nothing. Also in 233, an officer is exiled when he speaks out against Sun Quan's plan to send money and troops in exchange for horses and an alliance from a rebellious warlord in far northeast China. This exiled officer would die in desolate lands for speaking his mind, an act that would have filled a younger Sun Quan with shame. However, the exiled officer's advice proves poignant when the rebellious warlord commandeers both the money and troops without giving anything in return. When the chief advisor for Laobey's son dies in 234, Sun Quan can't take advantage because he is too busy planning to assault Hafei again and woo loses again with Sun Quan at the army's head again. Hafei, Sun Quan zero. In 236, he finally attempts to unify his kingdom through non-military means by minting national coins, except it's rushed and ill-conceived. He copies our old pal Wang Meng's trick of decreting nonsensical values, marking his coins is worth 500 times the value of Han coins. Theoretically, this inflation gave the state lots of money, but its assigned value is so detached from reality, its use quickly falls out of favor. This results in increased regional barter economies, meaning Sun Quan can't easily tax his subjects, meaning he too must rely on bartering to trade with foreign entities. Not a great way to build legitimacy with the outside world. All the while, it's clear that rebels and natives of various lands under his technical domain still aren't pacified. More campaigns in the middle of this decade are required to put down yet more rebellions. At some point, it has to be clear he's bit off more than he can chew in rapidly extending his borders. He does finally pull back in 238, apologizing to his advisors and retainers for his poor judgment this decade. If you think we're returning to this one, Quan of old though, you are sorely mistaken. When the universe spat in his face, shortly after he'd believed he'd bent it to his will, it strikes at his confidence and starts to drive him a little baddy. While it's good he starts listening to his advisors again, his diminished confidence twists his once decisive leadership into floundering and decision. Sure, Sun Quan is willing to hear everyone out, but making a decision, he's honestly not sure what's right anymore. His executions and exiles have also turned Wu into a less desirable place for up and coming military commanders, so he's not breeding the young talent that's kept him going for so long. That said, there is one thing going right in Wu. Higher education has been feasting. Somewhat because of Sun Quan's failings. Two of his first men like Zhang Jao are pushed out of military decisions, but as long as they don't talk matters of state, Sun Quan is happy to let them be. Less time to advise caution isn't good for disastrous military campaigns, but it does leave more time for learning and hypothesizing. Whereas literary scholars have flocked to Shu and Wei, Wu now serves as China's forefront for mathematical and astronomical pursuits. Culture and liberal thought flourishes as a result. This climate leads to a visit from our friends to Episodes Back, the My Hyena Buddhists. They've had some success in Wei, but the powers that B had sought to merge Buddhist tenets with existing Confucian and Taoist philosophies. Wu, meanwhile, gives them the freedom to stand on their own. Foreign texts are allowed to be translated as a package rather than piecemealed out for convenient insights. This is quite the change of heart from Sun Quan's brother and father, both of whom had disdain spiritual beliefs like Taoism in favor of Confucianism's rigid tenets. As usual, actions speak louder than words, defining our person of interest. As a scholar himself once upon a time, Sun Quan felt open to the idea humans still hadn't figured out the universe. He's also maintained his penchant for hearing both sides. Even though he might hold a grudge to the losing side later, he's all ears at first. He's also looking to stamp Wu's mark on the world and Buddhism, or one of the Taoist branches, could be the next big thing. His personal legacy then comes into play, something he's no doubt considering during the tumultuous decade of the 230s. Sun Quan turned 50 in 232, and by then he's already outlived almost everyone who matters in the early and mid stages of China's bloody civil war. I mean, he's on his fourth general and spoiler alert, he'll outlive him too. So there's a bit of exceptionalism in his mind, but he's not completely detached from reality, not yet. After all, he eventually admits his mistakes when it's clear his single-minded pursuits have spelled disaster. This retraction in the late 230s forces him to face an obvious truth. His end is coming. Spiritualists give him the means to leave his mark on the world, but also provide a direction for him personally, or rather for his soul. It's a pursuit he's been inching towards, and his lack of military success over ten years has started to eat away at his confidence. This weakened confidence gets further pummeled with a one-two punch in 241 AD. First with a failed assault against Wei, and second with the death of his son and heir. He directs, but doesn't lead the assault on Wei via a four-pronged attack. One notable absence from this force is Lu Shun, who is still plenty respected and still clearly the cream of the military crop in Wu. His absence then is telling of the situation. He's still governing the province that borders Shu on its western side and Wei to its north. These lands would serve as the entry point for a backdoor attack against Wu's capital. If Sun Quan is too worried about that backdoor, it strongly suggests that in Wu and Shu's on-again-off-again relationship, they are currently off. Further evidence comes from one of Sun Quan's advisors, who proposes they coordinate the offensive of 241 with the Shu attack from the west. This proposal is denied and given its strategic sense, I can only imagine that it points to a frayed relationship between these two kingdoms. While the four-pronged assault is given all the resources Sun Quan can afford, it's beyond clear that it's not enough if he has to worry about his western borders. All of the early gains from this sudden attack are quickly wiped out by counter maneuvers from Wei. The hunted soon become the hunters, with Wei generals pursuing two of Wu's four armies to a bittersweet conclusion for the northerners. Wu is driven off and thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, die. However, Wei's casualties total nearly as high and they're unable to make any permanent gains. This military campaign pretty much defines the next 20 years of the conflict. From 238 to 263, it is a bloody, bloody stalemate. Millions upon millions of men, women and children will die of battle, disease and starvation, bringing us just one horseman short of a good old fashioned apocalypse. Believe me though, the average person in China, whether Chinese or not, found this timeline plenty apocalyptic. Months after Wu's disastrous campaign, the universe decides to pile it on for Sun Quan. He outlives another one with his air dying at 32 years old. Given that Sun Quan is almost 60 and the average life expectancy seems closer to 40, you have to figure he rolled an 18 on constitution. And if you don't know what that means, please read up on Dungeons and Dragons. Sun Quan, prior to his heir's death, had taken particular care to surround his son, with scholars and men of good moral character, breeding personal loyalty of talented individuals so that his son would carry on his legacy in much the same manner. How the king of Wu reacted in the immediate aftermath of his son's death is undocumented, but I have a hard time imagining he didn't grieve for days on end, his appetite all but erased. Not only was his son dutiful to his parents, he had worked directly with Liu Shun for several years out west in the late two twenties and early two thirties, building a relationship with and learning from this world class general. So when Sun Quan's son on his deathbed tells his father to continue cultivating spiritual dialogues in the empire, he does just that. Taoism still reigns supreme when it comes to spirituality, but my hyena Buddhists are given further room to breathe. This open climate is great for science, culture and religion, but in terms of statehood and ten years of disaster, Sun Quan didn't have an answer to his son's death. Sure, he had other sons, but none had proven themselves worthwhile successors. Well, actually that's not true at all. Like Sun Quan had done with his firstborn son, he'd orchestrated a strong moral and classical education for his thirdborn and now eldest living son at seventeen. His son, named Sun Hah, had turned out great. He's intelligent, exhibits a strong work ethic and manages his temper way better than his dad. His affable personality earns him the respect of both court officials and his peers. If a prince has any peers. As a glimpse at this teen's character, when Sun Quan wrote off on one of his military campaigns, Sun Hah could not sleep, for he felt so worried about his father's exposed and dangerous position. Along with demonstrating love for his dad, Sun Hah also inherited his fondness for horse riding and archery, along with his penchant for moderating different viewpoints. He'd once told two of Sun Quan's quarreling officials, quote, it's hard to find competent employees in both civil and military sectors. If everyone starts attacking each other over trivial and petty disputes, then how can we expect to have prosperity? Pretty mature for a seventeen year old. Sun Hah's view on gambling is also telling. To him, gambling served no purpose. It required energy and time and at the end of it, the participants gained nothing. It's not to say he abhorred fun. Drinking with comrades, playing musical instruments, reading and archery all brought joy. Alongside improving oneself or building kinship. These are the activities a virtuous individual should indulge in. Yet he didn't preach this like an overbearing know-it-all. Instead, when Sun Hah comes across his subordinate's gambling, he invites them to discuss with him its merit and flaws. Whatever your opinion is on gambling, all of this adds up to the type of ruler most people would like on the throne. It's a testament to the younger Sun Quan's foresight that he'd helped develop not one, but two fantastic successors. Something we can't say about the founders of the Shu and Wei kingdoms. Unfortunately for Wu, elderly Sun Quan is in charge now. He does name his now eldest son Crown Prince, except he feels bad so he promotes Sun Hah's younger half-brother also to Prince. A little confusing with Crown Prince vs. Prince, but the royal court could sort things out. That is if Sun Quan hadn't instructed both sons to live in the same palace, wear the same princely clothes and order everyone to treat them the same way. Good grief. Faxionalism quickly divides the court, with those especially power-hungry supporting Sun Hah's brother. We don't know much about this brother except his ambition allowed these leeches to attach themselves to his rising star. This stews for a couple of years, and people start to notice that while Sun Quan is listening to both sides, he's having a hard time separating loyal voices from corrupt schemers. Not liking the obvious divide in his court, Sun Quan does a smart move in early 244, and finally promotes Lu Xun to the rank of Chancellor. Lu Xun uses his influence to side with Sun Hah, sending letters to the King of Wu that he needs to be a good Confucian and stick to the plan. The eldest and rightful heir has proven himself gifted and commands the respect of the court. It must be made clear to all that he is next in line for the throne. For this sage advice, Sun Quan publicly reprimands his new Chancellor and later exiles the man's nephews. All Lu Xun can do is write more letters as he's still stationed in that vital realm which borders Wu's greatest threats. His request to plead his case face to face are flat out rejected. Sun Quan simply can't bear to demote his other son, and by now his court is infested with whispers in his ear that he shouldn't have to. Both sons are worthy, they say. It'll work itself out. The dismissive interchange between Sun Quan and one of his most loyal and talented subordinates leads to Lu Xun's health quickly deteriorating and he dies in 245, seemingly from a stress addled illness. Anyone worth a damn in court would have seen this severe reaction to Lu Xun's well-intentioned and intelligent advice is a sign of the end. Their honest and capable men once flocked to Sun Quan, now such assets stripped out like from a sieve. Political slander rises, sometimes justified usually not, and leads to exiles and executions that drive all but the most loyal and most self-serving away. This factionalism is then set on an irreparable course by the scheming of Sun Huz's half-sister who hates him and hates his mom even more. As we're well aware by now Sun Quan rarely displays any respect for his sexual partners. He buys into his daughter's constant slander of Sun Huz's mother, who would die in the disfavor of the slowly unraveling ruler. Oh, and this was his favorite concert at the time. Can you imagine how he treated the others? This disfavor transfers to Sun Huz and those who see the potential and his brother to usurp the throne grow bolder in their arguments supporting him. By now Sun Quan really has no idea what to do. He's lost possibly a bit senile and lacks both the competence and confidence to rule effectively like he did for the first 30 years on the job. He's still fond of Sun Huz, still doesn't see the other son plotting and really just wants them to work things out. Except the relationship between the two brothers continues to suffer as their father stands idly by. Needing a break from the chaos of the courts, the fear of making another bad choice, and the inevitability of death's slowly tightening grip, Sun Quan converts to Buddhism in 247. Inspired by indecision, he seeks the wisdom of the Buddha now that many of his teachings have been translated into Chinese. Inner peace and Mahayana Buddhism's pacifistic teachings can only do so much though. After nine years of a court clawing at each other's throats, after meager attempts to regain order with a few trivial exiles and executions, he finally snaps into 50 AD. He deposes Sun Hah, even though there's no evidence he'd done anything wrong, and casts him to elsewhere in the kingdom. The younger half-brother gets it far worse. Sun Quan forces him to commit suicide, always a good sign. This leads to the 68-year-old man naming his 7-year-old son as his successor. Those who told Sun Quan that his insane plan was insane were rewarded with execution. The decision ultimately shatters what little is left of this husk of a man. His family is broken, and he seems to be waiting for nature to simply take its course. But his body remains healthy and whole while his mind suffers under the repeated blows of stress and insecurity, and full-blown paranoia sets in. The worst result of this comes when he orders his generals to destroy a number of levees near the border with Wei, flooding his own lands to make it harder for Wei to attack, something they hadn't done successfully against Sun Quan like ever. Or else can we say this fear originated except his own deteriorated mind. And so, when he does die in 252, it is not with a bang like his elder brother and father, but with a whimper. For a few moments in the months before, he sees his some semblance of clarity as is often the case. In these moments, he laments how he had mistreated Lu Shun and many others, perhaps even his consorts. After all, as his favorite wives died off over the years, he often posthumously assigned them the titles of Empress. Regret weighed heavy on Sun Quan's shoulders while he lived, and while he died, there's no reason to think he felt that weight lifted. Regret though, cannot save a kingdom, and his absolute refusal to clearly and publicly identify Sun Hae as his heir doomed everything he, his brother, and his father had worked for. We can debate the second biggest blood there of Sun Quan's rule, Hae, but this is hands-down number one. It will take 12 years of assassinations and political machinations to solidify the next ruler who wins kind of by default, and his rule goes as well as you'd expect from this rigging endorsement. The kingdom manages to hold on for a time largely due to Shoe making for an easier first target for Hae, and the autonomous local fiefdoms Sun Quan had put into place. Ultimately, though, in 280 Wu will fall. Not to the arch-rival Hae kingdom, but to Hae's successor, the kingdom of Jin, ending the three kingdoms civil war. What had started with Sima Yi's regency decades ago will result in his grandson taking control of the North in 266, ending Wei and raising up Jin. After all the bloody carnage wrought by the kingdoms of Shoe, Wei, and Wu, and the warlords preceding them, it's poetic that the winning family started as a relative nobody when this whole thing began. And while Wintai, father of Sun Quan, would have liked to see his descendants win it all, you've got to think he's got respect for the clan who did. While Sun Quan might have been a subpar ruler for ten years and outright terrible for his final ten, he did leave a noteworthy legacy in his ultimate defeat. His relative unification of southern China would give the Han Chinese a homey retreat when in the early 4th century, northern China will come under the rule of various fringe ethnicities, including descendants of those Xiong-new Stepnomad's prevalent and Wang Wang's day from this season's first episode. For an idea of the organizational structure he ushered in during his reign, the number of counties in the kingdom of Wu more than doubled from when Sun Quan took the throne. Mathematic flourished during his reign, and the southern capital matched the splendor of the old pre-Civil War capital by the time of his death. He also helped Buddhism gain a foothold in China. I won't give him that much credit as the first Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese before Sun Quan's birth. He's no Kanishka the Great when it comes to the religion, but he certainly helped things along. Sun Quan ultimately ended up as a victim of his own success, and some three kingdoms aficionados, especially book-only fans, may argue I give him too much credit. Crossing the Yangtze River was an absolute nightmare to aggressors, no matter who ruled the south, and this gave him room to grow. But he firmly gripped the reigns of rule as an 18 year old, and threw a lot of great picks for subordinates and a little backstabbing. He grew his domain from half a province in China to three full provinces. He positioned his heir to keep the good fight up, but when that heir died, he forgot to confirm the next one in line. So stupid. 1800 years later, I'm almost bitter on behalf of his subjects. So let's get away from ruling. Let's go deeper into Sun Quan's obsession in his last few years. That of spirituality. Buddhism is gaining ground in China, but Taoism is still top dog. That same religion, the yellow turban rebel leader practiced in 184, supposedly healing people through spiritual means. Wei Wautuan, not related to the kingdom of Wei, is born in 252 AD. Her path to historical significance begins as a follower of Taoism. Now following religion isn't worth much of note. Starting one though, that's worthy of a linked by history podcast episode. Wei Wautuan was the founder of the Shang-Ching sect of Taoism. We'll get into what that all means in the next episode, but for now, I'll leave you with one simple fact. You can count the number of women to found religions on one hand. While I don't have almost three hours worth of content on her, I do have a story to tell. Talk to y'all next time. If you liked this episode and want to hear more, the best thing you can do is rate the podcast wherever you're listening to it, then follow me to listen to future episodes. With your help, we'll turn history from a series of forgettable names, dates, and events into memorable stories that tell the saga of humanity on a truly personal level.