Sun Ce

**Sun Ce**, courtesy or style name **Bofu**, posthumous name **Prince Huan of Changsha,** was a warlord at the end of the Han dynasty and the older brother of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of Eastern Wu.

Early Career

He was the son of Sun Jian, a general serving the warlord Yuan Shu in Eastern China.
Sun Jian died in battle against warlord Liu Biao in 191.
Sun Ce raised an army of his own, but not finding it sufficient, he offered his services to Yuan Shu and inherited his father's army.
He was sent to attack the governor of Lujiang, Yuan Shu promising to make him the new governor if he succeeded. Yuan Shu went back on his word when Sun Ce emerged victorious.
Another encounter Sun Ce had in his early career was with Zu Lang. Zu Lang was a leader of the Shanyue peoples, a group of 'barbarians' who lived by plundering the local Han population.
Sun Ce found himself nearly killed by Zu Lang in battle, but he was saved by the heroics of general Cheng Pu, who drove off the bandits accompanied by only one horseman.

Conquests in Jiangdong

Soon war broke out between Yuan Shu and another warlord: Liu Yao.
Sun Ce was sent against Liu Yao in 194.
Amongst other things, he captured Niuzhu, clashed with warlords Ze Rong and Xue Li, and duelled the enemy soldier Taishi Ci to a standstill. His general Zhu Zhi defeated warlord Xu Gong, who went to join Shanyue leader Yan Baihu.

In 196, he attacked the administrator of Kuaiji Wang Lang. He defeated Wang, who went to join Yan Baihu.

Yan Baihu formed an alliance with Chen Yu, the administrator of Wu, but Sun Ce's general Lu Fan was able to defeat Chen while Sun Ce defeated Yna Baihu and Wang Lang.

Campaign Against Yuan Shu

In c. 197, Yuan Shu declared himself Emperor of Zhong.

At around the same time, Sun Ce broke ties with him and established his own regime. He even joined the ensuing war waged by the Han government against Yuan Shu, attacking his former liege's ally the Shanyue leader Zu Lang. Sun Ce captured and recruited Zu Lang. He did the same to Taishi Ci, who had become a leader amongst the Shanyue peoples.

Taishi Ci helped him recruit followers of the now dead Liu Yao.

Later Campaigns

He went on to capture Lujiang its administrator Liu Xun after Yuan Shu's death. Liu Xun sought assistance from Liu Biao, who sent Huang She, the son of general Huang Zu, who had slain Sun Ce's father, against Sun Ce. Though his cousin and general Xu Kun was killed in the battle, Sun Ce slew Huang She and achieved victory.

Later, he defeated Huang Zu and assumed leadership over Yuzhang.

In the summer of 200, he defeated Huang Zu again. He returned home to deal with the administrator of Guangling, Chen Deng, who had allied with Yan Baihu. On the way he was attacked by three retainers of Xu Gong (who he had killed earlier) on a hunting trip. They shot him in the cheek before they were killed by Sun Ce's men.

Sun Ce's wound eventually broke open and he died days later.

There are many stories of how his wounds broke open.

He was succeeded by his younger brother Sun Quan.

In *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms*

In the historical fiction novel *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms,* Sun Ce appears as a character in the earlier chapters.

In the novel, he inherits the heirloom seal of the realm from his father Sun Jian (Sun Jian actually gave it to Yuan Shu in real life) and gives it to Yuan Shu in exchange for troops. He embarks on his conquests in chapter 15. A major plotline in the chapter is his recruiting Taishi Ci.

On his deathbed he says to consult Zhang Zhao on internal affairs and Zhou Yu on external ones.

This becomes important when Zhuge Liang is trying to convince Sun Quan to stand against Cao Cao.

## Sun Ce

### Occupation

General who Attacks Rebels, Administrator of Kuaiji