Sun Jian
Sūn Jiān (
155 –
191) was a military general and minor
warlord during the late
Eastern Han Dynasty and
Three Kingdoms era in ancient
China. He allied himself with
Yuan Shu in 190 when warlords from eastern China formed a coalition to oust
Dong Zhuo, a tyrannical warlord who held the puppet
Emperor Xian in his power. Although he controlled neither many troops nor much land, Sun Jian's personal bravery and resourcefulness were feared by Dong Zhuo, who placed him among
Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and
Liu Biao, the most influential men at that time. After the coalition disbanded in the next year, China fell into massive civil war. In 191, Sūn Jiān was killed in battle during an offensive campaign against Liu Biao.
Sūn Jiān was also the father of
Sun Quan, one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms era who eventually established the
Kingdom of Wu and declared himself its first
emperor in 222, whereupon Sūn Jiān was given the posthumous title of Emperor Wulie (武烈皇帝).
Early life and career
Born in the
Fuchun Prefecture of the
Wu Commandery (吳郡富春, present day
Fuyang,
Zhejiang), Sūn Jiān was said to be a descendant of the renowned military strategist
Sun Tzu, author of
The Art of War. He was a civil officer in his prefecture during his youth. When he was sixteen, Sūn Jiān travelled with his father to
Qiantang (錢", present day
Hanzhou, Zhejiang), where they came upon a band of pirates dividing up their spoils on land. Sūn Jiān jumped on shore with a sabre in hand and pointed in different directions as if he was commanding a detachment of soldiers to surround the pirates. Seeing this, the pirates were deceived and fled. Sūn Jiān pursued, and only after taking the head of a pirate did he return. His name henceforth spread.
In 184, the
Yellow Turban Rebellion led by
Zhang Jiao broke out across the country. Sūn Jiān joined the general
Zhu Jun to quell the rebellion in
Yuzhou (豫州, present day southern
Henan and norther
Anhui) area. The soldiers fought hard, forcing the rebels to retreat to
Wancheng (宛城, present day
Nanyang, Henan). Sūn Jiān placed himself in the forefront and climbed onto the city walls alone. The rest then swarmed in and defeated the rebels.
Around this time,
Bian Zhang (邊章) and
Han Sui colluded with the
Qiang tribes and rebelled in
Liangzhou (涼州, present day western
Gansu). After
Dong Zhuo failed to put down the rebellion, the central government sent in his place the Minister of Works
Zhang Wen (張溫), who invited Sūn Jiān along as an advisor. When Zhang Wen summoned Dong Zhuo to the encampment at
Chang'an, Dong Zhuo procrastinated and took a long time to arrive. When he did, he showed little respect for Zhang Wen. Sūn Jiān then advised Zhang Wen to execute Dong Zhuo, but Zhang Wen declined as Dong Zhuo held high reputation in the west.
Hearing that a mass army had arrived, the rebels promptly surrendered. When Zhang Wen and the rest returned to the capital
Luoyang, however, the court held that the army did not engage the enemy and thus no honor was accorded. Meanwhile, another local-scale rebellion broke out near
Changsha and the rebels besieged the city. Sūn Jiān was then made governor of Changsha. Within a month upon taking up office, Sūn Jiān had quelled the rebellion. Meanwhile, rebellions also broke out in the neighboring
commanderies of
Lingling (零陵, present day
Yongzhou, Hunan) and
Guiyang (桂陽). Both were put down by Sūn Jiān, who was then enfeoffed as Marquis of Wucheng (烏程侯).
Coalition against Dong Zhuo
In 189,
Emperor Ling died, leaving his young son in the care of regents
Empress Dowager He and General-in-Chief
He Jin. He Jin then summoned Dong Zhuo to lead troops into the capital to assist in a plot to eliminate the powerful
eunuch faction. Before Dong Zhuo arrived, however, He Jin was assassinated by the eunuchs and Luoyang fell into chaos following a clash between supporters of both sides. Dong Zhuo then seized military control of the capital and deposed the young emperor for the puppet
Emperor Xian. However, his tyrannical ways incurred the wrath of many and in the following year, warlords from eastern
China formed a coalition against him.
Sūn Jiān also raised an army with ten-thousands of troops and joined
Yuan Shu, one of the leaders of the coalition at
Luyang (魯陽, present day
Lushan County, Henan). Yuan Shu made Sūn Jiān the General Who Quells Rebels (破虜將軍) and governor of Yuzhou. Sūn Jiān then began training and preparing his troops at Luyang. A force sent by Dong Zhuo was so impressed with the strict discipline of Sūn Jiān's troops that they gave up the plan to attack Luyang. When Sūn Jiān moved out to
Liangdong (梁東, east of present day
Linru County, Henan), he was outnumbered by Dong Zhuo's forces. With several dozen horsemen, Sūn Jiān broke out of the encirclement. He took off the red felt scarf he had always been wearing and handed it to his trusted aide
Zu Mao (祖茂), whom Dong Zhuo's soldiers then chased after while Sūn Jiān escaped. Unable to shake off his pursuers, Zu Mao then dismounted, hanged the scarf onto a half-burnt pillar, and hid himself in the tall grasses nearby. The enemies surrounded the pillar and approached cautiously till they realized they had been fooled, whereupon they retreated. (In the
14th century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by
Luo Guanzhong, however, Zu Mao was killed by the enemy commander
Hua Xiong as he dashed out of his hideout to challenge the latter.)
After regrouping his troops, Sūn Jiān pressed forward against the capital and engaged in battle against Dong Zhuo's forces at
Yangren (陽人, northwest of Linru County). He scored a brilliant victory and killed the enemy commander-in-chief Hua Xiong in battle. (In the
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Hua Xiong was said to be killed by
Guan Yu.) At this time, someone told Yuan Shu that if Sūn Jiān defeated Dong Zhuo and took over the capital, he would not be controllable anymore. The doubtful Yuan Shu then ceased the food supply to Sūn Jiān. Sūn Jiān rode the hundred odd
li from Yangren to Luyang in the night to see Yuan Shu, whereupon he said to the latter, "I put myself to danger in battle, first to remove the rebel (Dong Zhuo) for the country and second to avenge the deaths of your kinsmen (Yuan Shu's uncle was killed by Dong Zhuo). I have no personal grudge against Dong Zhuo. Yet you could believe slanderous talks and suspect me!" The words put Yuan Shu to shame and he immediately ordered the food supply to be delivered.
Fearing Sūn Jiān, Dong Zhuo then sent his general
Li Jue as an emissary to seek peace and propose a marriage to cement the alliance. However, Sūn Jiān rejected the proposals with harsh words and carried on his campaign towards Luoyang. In late 190, his force was merely ninety
li away from the capital when Dong Zhuo retreated west to
Chang'an after burning Luoyang to the ground. Entering Luoyang, Sūn Jiān ordered his men to reseal the tombs of former emperors that were excavated by Dong Zhuo, after which he returned to Luyang. It was said in the
Book of Wu (吳書) by
Wei Yao (韋曜) that Sūn Jiān found one of the emperor's jade seals in a well south of Luoyang and kept it. Later, when Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, he held Sūn Jiān's wife
Lady Wu hostage in exchange for the seal.
Late life
In 191, Yuan Shu sent Sūn Jiān to attack
Liu Biao in
Jingzhou (荆州, present day
Hubei and
Hunan). The defense force led by Liu Biao's subject
Huang Zu (黃祖) was defeated by Sūn Jiān, who pursued the enemy across the
Han River to
Xiangyang. During a solo ride on the
Xian Hill (峴山), Sūn Jiān was ambushed by Huang Zhu's troops, who shot him to death with arrows. (The
Record of Heroes (英雄記) by
Wang Can claimed that Sūn Jiān died in 193 and that he was crushed to death by boulders instead of killed by arrows while pursuing the enemy commander
Lü Gong (呂公).) His nephew
Sun Ben (孫賁) collected his troops and returned to Yuan Shu, who then made Sun Ben the governor of Yuzhou.
Sūn Jiān was buried in
Qu'e (曲阿, present day
Situ Town,
Jiangsu). He was survived by five sons:
Sun Ce,
Sun Quan,
Sun Yi,
Sun Kuang and
Sun Lang. His legacy was first inherited by the first-born Sun Ce, who unfortunately died early at twenty-four. Sun Ce was then succeeded by his younger brother Sun Quan, who eventually established the
Kingdom of Wu and declared himself its first emperor in 222. Sun Jian was then given the posthumous title of Emperor Wulie (武烈皇帝).Sun Jian also had a daughter:Sun Shang Xiang.She later married Liu Bei after the death of her father.
In the
Dynasty Warriors series Sun Jian is shown as a brave, persistent warrior, albeit occasionally cocky. Dynasty Warriors 5 brings this up as he makes constant reference to his appellation as the Tiger of Jiang Dong. Sun Jian is armed with a sword in his appearances in Dynasty Warriors, and his style consists of fast slashes with decent coverage most of the time and a Musou attack with a distinctive sliding horizontal slash at the end. When played, Sun Jian has the same number of stages as his contemporaries (namely
Liu Bei and
Cao Cao), but when other characters of Wu are played, he will die in battle. His death differs depending on which Dynasty Warriors game it occurs in. In Dynasty Warriors 3 he is stoned to death, in Dynasty Warriors 4 he is isolated within a castle and killed in an ambush, and in Dynasty Warriors 5 he is wounded by an arrow and perishes after fleeing the field.
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Three Kingdoms*
Personages of the Three KingdomsChronicles of the Three KingdomsRomance of the Three Kingdoms*
Translation of the biography of Sun Jian in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms at Kongming's Archives
