Sun Lü 孫慮

Sun Lü, courtesy name Zizhi, was a younger brother of Sun Deng. From his youth he was quick-witted and clever and had talents and skills, and Sun Quan cherished and loved him. Records, Wu 14 §18

In the 3rd month of the 7th year of Huangwu (228), Sun Quan enfeoffed his son Sun Lü as Marquis of Jianchang. Records, Wu 2 §60Records, Wu 14 §18

In the 1st year of Huanglong (229), when Sun Quan made a tour east to Jianye, he left behind the Crown Prince and his other sons and summoned Lu Xun to assist the Crown Prince. At that time Sun Lü, Marquis of Jianchang, built a duck-fighting pen in front of the hall and displayed no small amount of petty ingenuity, and Lu Xun said with a stern face, 'My lord marquis ought to read the classics diligently and strive to renew and improve yourself; what use is there in doing this?' Sun Lü immediately had it torn down. Records, Wu 13 §32–33

Two years after his enfeoffment, the Chancellor Gu Yong and others memorialized that Sun Lü was intelligent and broadly accomplished by nature and that what he esteemed grew newer by the day, so that, by comparison with the precedent of the recent Han, his rank should be raised and he should be styled a prince; but Sun Quan did not permit it. Records, Wu 14 §18

After a long while, the Supervisor of the Imperial Secretariat Cun submitted a memorial saying that whenever emperors and kings arose they honored their closest kin to serve as a protective fence for the court, and that Sun Lü, Marquis of Jianchang, was by nature intelligent and quick-witted, with talents combining the civil and the military. He reported that, after deliberating with the Chancellor Gu Yong and others, all considered that Sun Lü should be made General-in-Chief Who Guards the Army and entrusted with a region, and Sun Quan approved this. Sun Lü received the tally, opened his own headquarters and was stationed at Banzhou. Records, Wu 14 §18–19

In the 3rd year of Huanglong (231), when Sun Lü, Marquis of Jianchang, became General-in-Chief Who Guards the Army and was stationed at Banzhou, Xue Zong was made his Chief Clerk, handling the various affairs outside and teaching him books within. When Sun Lü died, Xue Zong entered the court as acting Master of Writing of the Bureau of Banditry. In addition, Pan Jun's daughter was married to Sun Lü, Marquis of Jianchang. Records, Wu 8 §42Records, Wu 16 §7

Because Sun Lü was of the exalted status of an imperial son and still young, people far and near worried that he would not apply his mind to affairs. But once he took charge of affairs, he observed and followed the rules and respectfully accepted the words of his teachers and friends, surpassing everyone's expectations. He died in the 1st year of Jiahe (232), at the age of twenty; the Biography of the Lord of Wu says it was in the 1st month of spring that year. Since he had no son, his fief was abolished. Records, Wu 14 §20Records, Wu 2 §72

When Sun Lü died, Sun Quan reduced his meals on that account. His elder brother Sun Deng hurried day and night to Laixiang, announced his own arrival, and on seeing Sun Quan wept bitterly and remonstrated, saying that 'Sun Lü's lying ill and not rising again was fate,' and that he was anxious that, while the northern lands were not yet united, Sun Quan was cutting the meals of the Grand Provisioner beyond what the rites prescribed. Sun Quan accepted his words and increased his meals. Records, Wu 14 §5–6

In his assessment at the end of Records of Wu 14, Chen Shou said that Sun Lü and Sun He both had a disposition that loved goodness and cultivated themselves in accordance with the rules, but that one's life was short and he died early while the other did not die a natural death, which was lamentable. Records, Wu 14 §55