Sun Ce
After losing control over Wu Commandery, Xu Gong felt bitter and harboured the intention of seizing it back from Sun Ce, so in 200 CE he wrote a letter to the warlord Cao Cao, who controlled the Han central government and the figurehead Emperor Xian. In the letter, Xu Gong noted that Sun Ce was very much like Xiang Yu, and he urged Cao Cao to summon Sun Ce to the imperial capital Xu (許; present-day Xuchang, Henan) in the name of the Emperor and keep him in the imperial capital lest he became a threat in the future. However, unluckily for Xu Gong, Sun Ce's men intercepted his messenger, found the letter and gave it to Sun Ce. Sun Ce then came to confront Xu Gong about the letter. When Xu Gong denied writing the letter, Sun Ce ordered his men to strangle Xu Gong to death. Some time later, within the same year, Xu Gong's former subordinates ambushed Sun Ce while he was out on a hunting trip and assassinated him.