Zhuge Ke Zhuge Ke ( 203 – 253 ) , Yuanxun , was a military general and regent of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period . He was the eldest son of Zhuge Jin , an official who served under Wu ' s founding emperor Sun Quan . After the death of Sun Quan , Zhuge Ke served as regent for Sun Quan ' s son and successor , Sun Liang , but the regency proved to be militarily disastrous due to Zhuge ' s overaggressiveness against Wu ' s rival state Cao Wei . In 253 , Zhuge Ke was killed , along with his family , in a coup d ' état . Career during Sun Quan ' s reign . After Wu ' s founding emperor Sun Quan created his son Sun Deng as crown prince in 221 , he set up a staff for the crown prince consisting of the sons of the key officials or other well - known young members of the administration . The four most prominent ones were Zhuge Ke , Zhang Xiu , Gu Tan and Chen Biao . Sun Deng treated them as friends , not as subordinates , and they grew up together and served as Sun Deng ' s advisors . When Sun Deng had his secretary Hu Zong ( 胡綜 ) write a commentary about his advisors in 229 , Hu wrote that Zhuge Ke was the most intelligent and skilful of his generation . While this was true , he also quickly developed a reputation for being reckless , a characteristic that both his father Zhuge Jin and his uncle Zhuge Liang repeatedly rebuked him about . On one occasion , Zhuge Jin observed , " This child will either bring great honor to my household or destroy it . " By 234 , Zhuge Ke was serving as a commander of the capital guards , and he submitted a plan to Sun Quan to suppress the indigenous Baiyue people of Danyang commandery ( in present - day Xuancheng , Anhui ) , who had not submitted to the Wu authorities and were pillaging the Han people — a plan that most senior officials , including Zhuge Jin , considered reckless and costly . Zhuge Ke , however , insisted that his plan would be successful , so Sun Quan commissioned him as the governor of Danyang and gave him full powers to implement his plan . Once he arrived , he requested the four neighbouring commanderies to seal their borders and did not combat the Yue ; then , when the rice became ready for harvest , he had the rice harvested quickly and then gathered up , away from the pillaging Yue . The Yue were starved into submission , and as soon as they submitted , he treated them with kindness . By 237 , Danyang was entirely under the Wu government ' s control and became a productive commandery for manpower and supplies . Sun Quan was impressed and granted Zhuge Ke the title of a marquess . In 243 , Zhuge Ke planned a major attack on the Wei - controlled garrison of Shouchun and he put his army in an attack posture . However , when the prominent Wei general Sima Yi arrived and prepared to attack Zhuge Ke , rather than allowing Zhuge to face the much more experienced Sima in battle , Sun Quan ordered that Zhuge withdraw . Still , among the people , Zhuge Ke became renowned for being willing to stand against Sima Yi . Lu Xun , however , became concerned about Zhuge Ke ' s recklessness and wrote him in rebuke . Knowing that he had to submit to the senior Lu Xun , Zhuge Ke wrote back and apologized . After Lu Xun ' s death in 245 , Sun Quan commissioned Zhuge Ke to take over Lu ' s key post at Wuchang ( in present - day Ezhou , Hubei ) . In 251 , as Sun Quan neared death , he sought a regent for his young son and heir , Sun Liang . His personal assistant Sun Jun recommended Zhuge Ke , and it was also the sentiment of the people that Zhuge was the most capable . Sun Quan was concerned about Zhuge Ke ' s arrogance and overly high opinion of himself , but at Sun Jun ' s urging commissioned him to be regent , summoning him back from Wuchang . As Zhuge Ke departed Wuchang , the senior general Lü Dai , knowing Zhuge ' s recklessness , told him , " What you will be doing is difficult . Before you do anything , think ten times . " Zhuge Ke , rather than showing his earlier submission to Lu Xun , responded irreverently to Lü Dai , " When Ji Wenzi ( 季文子 , a student of Confucius ) thought three times before acting , Confucius told him , ' Only think twice . ' Now you , sir , told me to think ten times . Is it not that you are calling me stupid ? " Lü Dai was unable to respond , and the people at the time thought that Lü did speak inappropriately , but later historians pointed to this incident as a sign of Zhuge Ke ' s ever growing arrogance and recklessness . Indeed , after Sun Quan named him regent and ordered that all important matters be decided by Zhuge Ke first ( except matters of life and death ) and made all other officials bow to Zhuge , Zhuge became even more arrogant . After Sun Quan ' s death in 252 , Sun Liang succeeded him , and Zhuge Ke served as regent , as Sun Quan willed . As regent to Sun Liang . Upon becoming regent , Zhuge Ke relaxed some of the strict laws that Sun Quan had put in place in his late reign and cut the tax rates . The people were happy , and wherever he went , there would be large crowds wanting to catch a glimpse of him . Later in 252 , Zhuge Ke rebuilt the Dongxing Dam ( 東興隄 , in present - day Chaohu , Anhui ) , which Sun Quan had initially built in 230 but which was destroyed in 241 , to create a reservoir near the Chao Lake , with the dual purpose of using it as a defence against potential Wei attacks and , with two castles built nearby , as forward attack mechanism for Wu ships . In response , Wei ' s regent Sima Shi made a major three - pronged attack against Wu , with the main forces attacking Dongxing Dam . Zhuge Ke and his general Ding Feng were able to catch Wei forces unprepared by pretending to be unprepared themselves , and then inflicted a major loss on the Wei forces , forcing their withdrawal . Encouraged by his success at Dongxing , Zhuge Ke prepared for a major attack against Wei — citing , as his reason , that Sima Shi ( then 45 ) was " young and inexperienced " . He carried out a plan he had for a while — to gather up nearly all service - eligible young men of Wu to make a major attack against Wei — despite opposition by a number of other officials . He further coordinated his attack with ally Shu Han ' s regent Jiang Wei . However , his strategy turned out to be faulty as he was initially targeting Shouchun but , on his way , changed his mind and attacked Hefei instead , despite the fact that Hefei ' s defences were strong and intended to withstand major Wu attacks . Zhuge Ke ' s forces became worn out by the long siege and suffered plagues , which Zhuge ignored . He eventually withdrew after Wei reinforcements arrived , but instead of returning to the capital Jianye and apologise for his erroneous strategies , he remained from the capital for some time and never apologised to the people for the heavy losses suffered . When Zhuge Ke eventually did return to Jianye , he further sternly tried to wipe out all dissent , punishing all those who disagreed with him . He further planned another attack against Wei , disregarding the recent heavy losses the people had suffered and their resentment . Sun Jun decided that he had to kill Zhuge Ke . He told Sun Liang that Zhuge Ke was planning to seize the throne , and he set up a trap at the imperial feast for Zhuge . ( How much the young emperor knew of Sun Jun ' s plans and whether he concurred is unclear ; traditional historians implied that Sun Liang knew and concurred , but he was just 10 years old at this point . ) During the middle of the feast , assassins that Sun Jun had arranged for killed Zhuge Ke , and Sun Jun ' s forces then wiped out the Zhuge clan . After the death of Sun Jun and his successor , his cousin Sun Chen , the emperor Sun Xiu , in 258 , reburied Zhuge Ke with honours , but when someone suggested that a monument be built for Zhuge , Sun Xiu refused — observing correctly that both the military losses and the reckless way in which he put his own life in danger showed that Zhuge was unworthy of a monument . Anecdotal stories or legends about Zhuge Ke . An anecdotal story regarding Zhuge Ke ' s fame during his childhood or adolescence involved a banquet . Among top Wu officials , a running joke was that Zhuge Jin ' s face resembled that of a donkey . To tease Zhuge Ke , Sun Quan brought in a donkey ; it bore a sign reading " Zhuge Ziyu " ( Ziyu being Zhuge Jin ' s style name ) . Sun Quan then turned to Zhuge Ke and told him to add any two characters that he wanted to the sign . Zhuge Ke added quickly " The donkey of " ( " zhi lü " , 之驢 ) and requested that the donkey be given to his father , and this quick wit impressed Sun Quan . At another banquet , Sun Quan asked Zhuge Ke , " Is your father superior , or is your uncle Zhuge Liang superior ? " Zhuge Ke quickly responded , " My father is . " When asked why , Zhuge Ke responded , " My father knows the right emperor to serve , while my uncle does not , and therefore my father is superior . " Sun Quan was impressed by the subtle flattery and told Zhuge Ke to offer wine to all the senior officials present ( considered a high honour for the junior officials ) . Upon reaching Zhang Zhao , Zhang refused the alcohol offered by Zhuge Ke , saying , " This is not the proper form for the ceremony of nourishing an elder . " After learning of his refusal , Sun Quan quite simply said to Zhuge Ke , " Get Zhang Zhao to drink for me . " Wine in hand , Zhuge Ke ventured back to Zhang Zhao ' s seat and said , " Long , long ago the great counsellor Jiang Ziya — at the age of 90 — grasped the signal banner , steadied the battle axe , and never once called himself ' old ' . On days of trial by arms , you are always in the rear ; on days of banqueting , you are always in the front . What do you mean , ' I have failed to nourish an elder ? ' " At a loss for words , Zhang Zhao consented and accepted the wine offered by Zhuge Ke . After this incident , Sun Quan prized Zhuge Ke more than ever and consequently made him the guide to his heir apparent , Sun Deng . On yet another occasion , a Shu ambassador arrived with a gift of horses for Sun Quan . Sun Quan knew that Zhuge Ke was a good rider , and summoned him with intent to award him one of the horses . When Zhuge Ke arrived , he immediately knelt and thanked Sun Quan for the gift . Sun Quan was surprised at how he knew what he was summoned for , and Zhuge Ke ' s response was , " Shu only serves as your imperial majesty ' s stable , and it is certain that the ambassador has offered a tribute of horses . " This remark deprecated Shu and flattered Sun Quan , and Sun was again impressed .