Eastern Wu state general (188?241)
For other people named Sun Shao, see
Sun Shao
.
Sun Shao
|
---|
|
|
|
In office
?
(
?
)
?241
(
241
)
|
Monarch
| Sun Quan
|
---|
|
In office
229
(
229
)
??
(
?
)
|
Monarch
| Sun Quan
|
---|
|
In office
221
(
221
)
?229
(
229
)
|
Monarch
| Sun Quan
|
---|
|
|
Born
| 188
|
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Died
| 241 (aged 53)
|
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Relations
| See
Eastern Wu family trees
|
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Children
| - Sun Kai
- Sun Yue
- Sun Yi
- Sun Yi
- Sun Hui
|
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Occupation
| General
|
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Courtesy name
| Gongli (公禮)
|
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Peerage
| Marquis of Jiande (建德侯)
|
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Other name
| Yu Shao (?韶)
|
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|
Sun Shao
(188?241),
born
Yu Shao
,
courtesy name
Gongli
, was a military general of the state of
Eastern Wu
during the
Three Kingdoms
period of China.
Sun Ce
, a warlord who lived in the late
Eastern Han dynasty
, granted the family name "Sun" to Sun Shao but never adopted him as a son. Sun Shao's uncle was
Sun He
(
孫河
) ne Yu He (
?河
), who had been brought into the Sun clan by
Sun Jian
.
[2]
Sun Shao was described as a handsome man and was eight chi tall (approximately 184 cm).
Life
[
edit
]
In 204, the Grand Administrator of Danyang, Sun Jian's son
Sun Yi
was assassinated in
Wanling
by rebels still loyal to their former master
Sheng Xian
. Sun He discovered the culprits, but as one of the assassins, Gai Lan (
?覽
), held a high military post in the city, Sun He was unable to control the military and was killed as well. After the deaths of the assassins at the hands of Sun Yi's former subordinates Sun Gao (
孫高
) and Fu Ying (
傅?
), Sun Shao assumed control of Danyang
Commandery
's military forces.
[3]
The ruler of
Eastern Wu
,
Sun Quan
, tested Sun Shao's ability by feigning a night attack on his encampment, but found Sun Shao's men ready and his defences sound. The next day, Sun Quan rewarded the 16-year-old Sun Shao with the rank of colonel and control over the resources of Dantu (
丹徒
) and Qu'e (
曲阿
) counties, as well as formal control of the troops that had been under Sun He's command.
[4]
Prior to 220, Sun Shao was promoted to Lieutenant-General (
偏將軍
) and appointed as the Administrator of
Guangling Commandery
(roughly, the parts of modern
Jiangsu
and extreme eastern
Anhui
provinces which lie south of the
Huai River
and north of the
Yangtze
). In 221, when Sun Quan became the King of Wu, he promoted Sun Shao to General Who Spreads Might (
揚威將軍
), and granted the marquisate of Jiande in present-day
Hangzhou
.
[5]
In late 225,
Cao Wei
's emperor
Cao Pi
, in a continuing effort to make Sun Quan's crown prince
Sun Deng
a hostage at his court, advanced a huge army of over 100,000 troops through Sun Shao's territory in Guangling, with the intention of crossing the
Yangtze River
and marching to Wu's capital at
Jianye
. Unfortunately for him, the winter weather had made the river impassable with ice. Unable to get his boats safely into the river, Cao Pi withdrew in force.
[6]
According to Zhang Bo (
張勃
)'s
Record of Wu
(
吳錄
), during the withdrawal, Sun Shao ordered his subordinate officer Gao Shou (
高壽
) and others to take some 500 of their most valiant warriors and make a night raid on the Wei lines in an attempt to capture Cao Pi alive. Gao Shou and his troops managed to capture several carriages in Cao Pi's escort, but the man himself eluded them.
[7]
In 229, when Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor, Sun Shao was appointed General who Guards the North (
?北將軍
). Sometime after 230, he was granted the nominal governorship of
You Province
.
[8]
You Province comprised present-day
Beijing
,
Tianjin
, parts of northeast
Hebei
and western
Liaoning
. Far from Wu's northern frontier, the area never fell under their control; granting the title was merely a political statement of Sun Quan's assumed imperial power. In 234, during the
fourth Battle of Hefei
, Sun Shao and another general,
Zhang Cheng
, were tasked with leading a Wu army to attack Guangling and Huaiyin (
淮陰
). The episode ended in failure for Wu when Sun Quan's siege of Hefei was broken.
[9]
Sun Shao died of natural causes in 241.
Family
[
edit
]
Sun Shao's son, Sun Kai, served as Militant General-in-Chief for Eastern Wu, one of the highest military appointments in the palace, sharing with two others the command of the imperial guard.
[10]
He also served as Junior Overseer of the Capital and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Lincheng, in modern-day
Xingtai
,
Hebei
. In 276, Sun Kai was given the position of Cavalry General Garrisoning the Palace, but when bandits sneak-attacked the capital and killed emperor
Sun Hao
's younger brother Sun Qian (
孫謙
), Sun Kai came under heavy suspicion from Sun Hao of collaborating with the bandits. Terrified, he took his household and a hundred or so of his personal guard and defected to the
Jin dynasty
.
Emperor Wu of Jin
appointed him General of Chariots and Cavalry, a position similar to his appointment in Eastern Wu: one of three generals sharing command of the imperial guard.
[11]
[12]
Sun Kai was additionally enfeoffed as the Marquis of Danyang, a position which began to pay benefits following the
conquest of Wu by Jin
in 280.
[13]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 51, p. 1214.
- ^
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 51, pp. 1214?6.
- ^
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 51, p. 1216;
Generals of the South
, p. 231 (
chapter 4
Archived
2011-08-27 at the
Wayback Machine
)
- ^
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 51, p. 1216.
- ^
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 2, p. 85;
Zizhi Tongjian
, chapter 70, p. 2225 (year 225, entry 9);
Generals of the South
, p. 384 (
chapter 7
Archived
2011-06-08 at the
Wayback Machine
)
- ^
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 47, p. 1132 note 3.
- ^
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 51, p. 1216.
- ^
Zizhi Tongjian
, chapter 72, p. 2293 (year 234, entry 7).
- ^
Dictionary of Official Titles of Imperial China
, p. 574, entry 7835
- ^
Dictionary of Official Titles of Imperial China
, p. 120, entry 352
- ^
This is according to the main text of the
Records of the Three Kingdoms
. According to the
Introduction to the Peers of Jin
(晉諸公贊) by Fu Chang (傅暢) (d. 330), whence also Sun Kai's year of death, Sun Kai was appointed General Who Crosses the
Liao
(River), a much more active and frontier-oriented generalship. See
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 51, p. 1216, note 1.
- ^
Records of the Three Kingdoms
, chapter 51, p. 1216,
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