Sun Ce

Sun Ce or Sun Tse (孫策; pinyin: Sūn Cè; 175 – 200 AD), style name Bofu (伯符), was born in Fuchun County of southern China in AD 175. He was the eldest son of the Han general Sun Jian and the oldest of eight children, including Sun Quan. During his childhood, he became good friends with the young Zhou Yu while Sun Jian was fighting Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu as part of a coalition force. He was known as the 'Little Conqueror' for his incredible exploits of conquest, and often was compared to the legendary Xiang Yu of old.

Sun Ce was a great weapons master, trained in the martial arts from a young age. He mastered the sword, the spear and the hand spear, among others. His first battle was as the advance guard in Sun Jian's campaign against Liu Biao. Sun Ce, however, would be forced to retreat when Liu Biao's officers, Lu Gong and Huang Zu, lured Sun Jian into an ambush and killed him. Lu Gong died in the melee and Huang Zu was captured by Huang Gai and Cheng Pu, but he was traded for Sun Jian's corpse.

Sun Ce's cousin, Sun Ben, took charge of most of Sun Jian's forces and went to Guangling. Sun Ce, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and some others went to Chang Sha and then to serve Yuan Shu. While under Yuan Shu, Sun Ce fought the forces of Liu Yao, Xu Gong, and others, but was passed over for promotion by Yuan Shu. Zhou Yu and Sun Ben both came to serve Sun Ce. His officer, Zhu Zhi, convinced him to use the Imperial Seal, which Sun Jian had found in Luo Yang and taken home, to declare independence from Yuan Shu. Sun Ce did so, receiving many troops in exchange for the Seal. Sun Ce was joined by Liu Yao's former officer, Taishi Ci, with whom Sun Ce had duelled many times.

In AD 197, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu married the two Qiaos, respectively referred to as Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao. Da Qiao bore Sun Ce at least one daughter, and Sun Ce adopted a son - Sun Shao. Sun Ce also had a posthumous son, also named Sun Shao.

Xu Gong, whom Sun Ce had subjugated, intended to warn Cao Cao in the north that Sun Ce would plan an attack. Sun Ce's forces intercepted the letter, and Sun Ce had Xu Gong executed. Xu Gong's retainers, however, would later ambush Sun Ce with poisoned arrows. Sun Ce and Cheng Pu fought off the would-be assassins, but Sun Ce's wounds were severe. In AD 200, after fighting off his injuries for months, Sun Ce succumbed to his wounds and died. His brother, Sun Quan, inherited his title, as Sun Shao (adopted) was not old enough. Sun Ce's conquests laid the foundation for what would become Sun Quan's Wu empire.

Note: In the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Ce sealed his own fate when he had a wandering Taoist sage named Yu Ji executed, believing the elderly mystic was bewitching the people with sorcerous trickery. The vengeful spirit of the unjustly slain Yu Ji haunted Sun Ce's dreams thereafter, and eventually cursed him to death for his crime.

Sun Ce was succeeded by his brothers, Sun Quan, Sun Hu (adopted), Sun Yi, Sun Kuang, and Sun Lang, as well as three sisters, one of whom is known as Sun Shang Xiang. Sun Ce's daughter married Lu Xun and bore two sons, one of whom was the famed Lu Kang, who was Wu's last hope (not the Lu Kang mentioned previously). Sun Shao bore three sons, the youngest of whom was Sun Yi and tried to aid Shu in the war against Wei. The biological Sun Shao bore one son named Sun Feng who was executed by Sun Hao due to his extraordinary talent and popularity.

Sun Ce had four uncles - Sun Jing, Sun Qiang (who had died early), Xu Zhen (who had also died early), and Wu Jing. Sun Jing served Sun Quan after Sun Ce's death; Wu Jing retired.ja:孫策 zh:孙策