Sun Yu 孫瑜

Sun Yu's courtesy name was Zhongyi. His father Sun Jing was the youngest brother of Sun Jian; after Sun Ce pacified Kuaiji, Sun Jing did not take office but asked to stay behind and guard their home district, and when Sun Quan took charge of affairs he was promoted to Zhaoyi General of the Household and died at home. Sun Jing had five sons, and Sun Yu was one of them. Records, Wu 6 §2 · 4 · 6

Sun Yu first led troops as Gongyi Colonel. At this time many of the retainers and officers were men from Jiangxi, and Sun Yu, with an open mind, soothed and cared for them and won their hearts. In the 9th year of Jian'an (204), when Sun Quan's younger brother Sun Yi, the Administrator of Danyang, was killed by those around him, Sun Quan had his elder cousin Sun Yu replace Sun Yi. When Sun Yu concurrently took the post of Administrator of Danyang, people flocked to him until they numbered more than ten thousand, and he was given the additional title of General Who Pacifies the Distant. Records, Wu 6 §6Records, Wu 2 §8

In the 11th year of Jian'an (206) he attacked and crushed the two encampments of Ma and Bao together with Zhou Yu. The Biography of Zhou Yu records that Zhou Yu, supervising Sun Yu and others, attacked the two encampments, beheaded their chiefs and displayed the heads, captured more than ten thousand people, and then returned to stand guard. Records, Wu 6 §6Records, Wu 9 §8

Later he followed Sun Quan in resisting Lord Cao at Ruxu. When Sun Quan wanted to give battle, Sun Yu urged him to hold firm and act with caution, but Sun Quan did not listen, and the army indeed achieved nothing. Records, Wu 6 §6

He was transferred to General Who Displays Might while still holding the commandery, and moved his garrison from Liyang to Niuzhu. Sun Yu made Rao Zhu of Yong'an Chief of Xiang'an and Yan Lian of Wuxi Chief of Juchao and had them win over the two commanderies of Lujiang, and each of them gained people who came over in surrender. Records, Wu 6 §7

When Ma Pu of Jiyin proved devoted to learning and fond of antiquity, Sun Yu treated him with generous courtesy and had several hundred sons and younger brothers of the officers and clerks of the two offices go to study under him. In the end he established a school and personally attended its feasts and lectures. At this time the generals all concerned themselves only with military affairs, but Sun Yu loved the ancient classics, and even in the army the sound of his reading never ceased. Records, Wu 6 §7–8

In the Biography of Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu asked Sun Quan to let him advance with the General Who Displays Might to take Shu, then after taking Shu to annex Zhang Lu, and to leave the General Who Displays Might behind to hold that land firmly, and he received permission. But Zhou Yu, returning to Jiangling to prepare to set out, died of illness at Baqiu. Chen Shou's main text does not give the name of this General Who Displays Might, and the biography of Sun Yu does not record him setting out to attack Shu. Records, Wu 9 §21Records, Wu 6 §5–8

Sun Yu died in the 20th year of Jian'an (215) at the age of thirty-nine. He had five sons, of whom Sun Man rose to general and was enfeoffed as a marquis. When Huang Gai and his elder brother Sun Yu died, his younger brother Sun Jiao took over their troops. Records, Wu 6 §8 · 10

In the assessment of the Biographies of the Ruling House, Chen Shou said that the bond of kindness and duty among kin is a constant principle of past and present, and that he had recorded these various Suns in detail because some helped lay the first foundations of the state and some held and guarded the frontiers, proved fully equal to their duties and did not disgrace their honor. Records, Wu 6 §52