Struggle of the Two Palaces 二宮之爭

When the Crown Prince Sun Deng died in the 4th year of Chiwu (241), Sun Quan made Sun He Crown Prince in the 1st month of the following year. Sun He was then nineteen, and was praised for his love of learning and his humility toward men of learning. The officials petitioned that an empress and four princes be established, but Sun Quan refused, saying that the realm was not yet at peace, and in the 8th month of that year he made Sun Ba Prince of Lu. Sun Ba's favor was high and exceptional, no different from Sun He's. Records, Wu 14 §14 · 22 · 36Records, Wu 2 §97–98

From the outset there were voices worried about the distinction between the two palaces. Shi Yi, Supervisor of the Imperial Secretariat, who also served as tutor to the Prince of Lu, disliked the two palaces being so closely matched and memorialized three or four times that the Prince of Lu should be sent to guard one of the regions and that the two palaces should be given distinct ranks. Gu Tan, Minister of Ceremonies, also memorialized, when the Prince of Lu received great favor and stood on a par with the Crown Prince, that the distinction between the legitimate heir and the secondary son be made clear, and because of this a rift opened between Sun Ba and Gu Tan. Records, Wu 17 §6–7Records, Wu 7 §42–44

When word reached Sun Quan that Sun He and Sun Ba were not on good terms, he cut off their contact with each other on the pretext of having them concentrate on their studies, reduced their guards and barred their guests. Yang Dao, Commissioner Supervising the Army, memorialized that since the two palaces had both cut off their guests, people near and far were alarmed, and urged that things be restored to how they were at first before accumulated suspicion turned into slander and spread even to other states. Records, Wu 14 §36–40

Once the two palaces stood side by side, officials at court and in the provinces sent their sons and younger brothers to serve them, and Lu Xun warned that since the two palaces were equal in power, factions would surely form. Quan Cong's son Quan Ji did indeed attach himself to the Prince of Lu and slander the Crown Prince. When the Crown Prince's position was shaken, Lu Xun memorialized three or four times that the Crown Prince was the rightful heir and should be as firm as a great rock, while the Prince of Lu was a vassal of a feudal state, and asked to come to the capital to speak in person, but was not permitted. Lu Xun's nephews Gu Tan, Gu Cheng and Yao Xin were banished for having closely followed the Crown Prince, and Wu Can, Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, died in prison for having exchanged letters with Lu Xun. When Sun Quan sent men again and again to rebuke him, Lu Xun died in indignation and grief. The Biography of the Lord of Wu records this in the 2nd month of the 8th year of Chiwu (245). Records, Wu 13 §54–56Records, Wu 12 §81Records, Wu 2 §103

The passage on Sun He records the rift between Lady Wang and Princess Quan, Sun Luban. When Sun Quan lay ill and Sun He went to sacrifice at the ancestral temple and stopped at the house of his consort's uncle Zhang Xiu, Princess Quan said that the Crown Prince was laying plans at his consort's family home and that Lady Wang had looked pleased at the sovereign's illness. Sun Quan was angered, Lady Wang died of worry, and Sun He's favor diminished. Sun Ba's covetous ambitions grew ever greater, and the slanders of Quan Ji, Wu An, Sun Qi, Yang Zhu and others arose day after day, so that Wu Can was executed and Gu Tan banished to Jiao Province. Records, Wu 14 §27–28 · 41

After wavering for many years, Sun Quan finally confined Sun He. Zhu Ju, General of Agile Cavalry, and Qu Huang, Supervisor of the Imperial Secretariat, led the generals and officials to the palace gates for days on end, their heads smeared with mud and their bodies bound, pleading for Sun He, but Sun Quan detested this. When Sun Quan sought to depose Sun He and set up Sun Liang, Chen Zheng and Chen Xiang remonstrated, citing how Duke Xian of Jin had killed Shensheng and set up Xiqi, whereupon Sun Quan had the two men's clans put to death and had Zhu Ju and Qu Huang given a hundred strokes of the rod. In the 8th month of the 13th year of Chiwu (250) Sun He was deposed and moved to Guzhang and Sun Ba was ordered to die; Quan Ji, Wu An, Sun Qi and others who had sided with Sun Ba were also executed, and Yang Zhu's body was thrown into the river. Those who remonstrated and were executed or banished numbered more than ten, and everyone thought them wronged. Zhu Ju was demoted to Assistant of Xindu Commandery and, on his way there, was ordered to die by an edict forged by Sun Hong, Prefect of the Palace Writers. In the 11th month Sun Quan made Sun Liang Crown Prince. Records, Wu 14 §28–29 · 41Records, Wu 2 §108–109Records, Wu 12 §86

The aftermath of the struggle lasted long. In the 1st month of the 2nd year of Taiyuan (252) Sun He became Prince of Nanyang and went to Changsha, and when Sun Quan died in the 4th month, Zhuge Ke, maternal uncle of Sun He's consort Lady Zhang, took power. After Zhuge Ke was executed, Sun Jun stripped Sun He of his seal and ribbon, moved him to Xindu and then ordered him to die, and his consort Lady Zhang also took her own life. Later, when Sun He's son Sun Hao took the throne, he recalled the old grudge between Sun He and Sun Ba and cut back the titles and fiefs of Sun Ba's two sons. Records, Wu 14 §30–31 · 43

In his assessment in the Biography of the Lord of Wu, Chen Shou said that Sun Quan was by nature full of suspicion and jealousy and quick to kill, and grew worse in his last years, until slanderous words cut off good conduct and his heirs were deposed and put to death, so that it could not be said that the later overthrow of the state did not stem from this. The assessment in the Biographies of the Five Sons of the Lord of Wu said that Sun Ba, as a secondary son who encroached on the legitimate heir, had himself taken the road to danger and ruin. Records, Wu 2 §115Records, Wu 14 §55