Hua Rong 華融

In the 5th month of the 4th year of Chiwu (241), the Crown Prince Sun Deng died. Dying at the age of thirty-three, twenty-one years after being made heir, Sun Deng submitted a memorial in which he asked that the imperial son Sun He be set up as heir early, and assessed the officials around him one by one. Among them, he said that Fan Shen and Hua Rong 'have an unbending, valiant integrity and the bearing of the foremost men of the state.' Records, Wu 2 §95–96Records, Wu 14 §8–10

Sun Deng said that all these men were versed in the affairs of the time and well acquainted with the laws, kept faith and held firm to righteousness, and had resolves that could not be taken from them, so that they were fit to serve at court or to be entrusted with command. He added that they were all men whom Sun Quan had chosen and placed in his palace to work with him, and that because he knew their inner hearts thoroughly, he ventured to report on them. Records, Wu 14 §10–11

In the 9th month of the 1st year of Taiping (256), when Sun Jun died, his cousin Sun Chen, as Palace Attendant and General of the Martial Guard, took command of the armies within and without and took charge of the government of the court. Lü Ju, who had set out to attack Wei, was enraged when he heard of this, and together with the various area commanders submitted a memorial recommending Teng Yin as Chancellor. Sun Chen made Teng Yin Grand Marshal and had him garrison Wuchang in place of Lü Dai, and Lü Ju, leading his troops back, sent men to Teng Yin intending to depose Sun Chen together with him. Records, Wu 3 §12–13Records, Wu 19 §79

Hearing of this, Sun Chen sent troops to meet and attack Lü Ju at Jiangdu, and at the same time sent Hua Rong, Palace Attendant and General of the Left, and Ding Yan, Assistant of the Palace Secretariat, to Teng Yin to tell him to seize Lü Ju and to make him understand that he should leave quickly. Teng Yin, believing that disaster had come upon him, detained Hua Rong and Ding Yan, mustered his troops to defend himself, and pressed Hua Rong and the others to write a letter denouncing Sun Chen. Records, Wu 19 §80

Sun Chen would not listen, submitted a memorial declaring that Teng Yin had rebelled, and, promising the general Liu Cheng a noble title, had him swiftly surround and attack Teng Yin with infantry and cavalry. Teng Yin again tried to coerce Hua Rong and the others into forging an edict to raise troops. When Hua Rong and the others refused, Teng Yin had them all killed. Records, Wu 19 §81Records, Wu 3 §13

By daybreak Lü Ju had not come, and Sun Chen's troops gathered in force and killed Teng Yin and several dozen of his officers and men, exterminating Teng Yin's family to the third degree. The Biographies of the Three Successor Rulers record this in the winter, in the 10th month of the 1st year of Taiping. Records, Wu 19 §82Records, Wu 3 §13–14

The assessment in Records of Wu 14 only praises Sun Deng's virtue, and the assessment in Records of Wu 19 discusses only Zhuge Ke and Teng Yin; neither singles out Hua Rong. Records, Wu 14 §55Records, Wu 19 §108