Conquest of Wu by Jin 晉滅吳之戰

At every banquet Sun Hao made his officials drink themselves senseless, and had ten Gentlemen of the Yellow Gate, to whom no wine was given, look for faults and report them, punishing offenses great and small. Though his harem numbered several thousand, he never stopped selecting more, and palace women who displeased him were killed and their bodies sent away on the water; sometimes he flayed people's faces or gouged out their eyes. His favorite, Cen Hun, loved to launch building works and corvée labor. Chen Shou writes that for this reason high and low were estranged and no one would exert himself for Sun Hao. Records, Wu 3 §79–80

In the winter of the 3rd year of Tianji (279), Jin sent the Grand General Who Guards the East Sima Zhou toward Tuzhong (涂中), the General Who Pacifies the East Wang Hun and the Inspector of Yang Province Zhou Jun (周浚) toward Niuzhu, the General Who Establishes Might Wang Rong toward Wuchang, the General Who Pacifies the South Hu Fen toward Xiakou, and the General Who Guards the South Du Yu toward Jiangling, and had the General Who Soars Like a Dragon Wang Jun and the General Who Broadens Martial Might Tang Bin sail east down the river. The Grand Commandant Jia Chong, as Grand Commander, took station at the center of all the forces, weighing what the situation required. Tao Jun, who was going by the western road to put down Guo Ma's Rebellion, heard at Wuchang that the northern armies had come out in force, and halted and did not advance. Records, Wu 3 §78

In the spring of the 4th year of Tianji (280), wherever Wang Jun and Tang Bin went, resistance crumbled like a landslide and shattered like tiles, and no one stood in their way. Du Yu beheaded Wu Yan, Area Commander of Jiangling, and Wang Hun beheaded the Chancellor Zhang Ti, the Administrator of Danyang Shen Ying and others. The Biography of Lu Xun says that Lu Kang's son Lu Yan was killed by a detached force of Wang Jun on the renxu day of the 2nd month and that his younger brother Lu Jing was killed the next day, and records that Wang Jun's victories wherever he came down the river turned out just as Lu Kang had feared. Records, Wu 3 §81Records, Wu 13 §88–89

On the bingyin day of the 3rd month, several hundred of the close attendants in the palace kowtowed and begged that Cen Hun be killed, and Sun Hao, frightened and confused, complied. On the wuchen day Tao Jun, back from Wuchang, said that with large ships and twenty thousand soldiers he could easily defeat the small Shu boats, so troops were gathered and he was given the insignia of command, but on the night before the day set for departure the troops all ran away. Records, Wu 3 §82–83

As Wang Jun was about to arrive down the river and Sima Zhou and Wang Hun were also approaching the border, Sun Hao, following the plan of the Superintendent of the Imperial Household Xue Ying and the Prefect of the Palace Secretariat Hu Chong and others, sent envoys separately to present letters of surrender to the three men. The account of Xue Ying records that Xue Ying composed this letter. On the renshen day Wang Jun arrived first, received Sun Hao's surrender, untied his bonds, burned his coffin and invited him to meet, while Sima Zhou, on the grounds that Sun Hao had sent his seal and ribbon to him, sent envoys to escort Sun Hao. Records, Wu 3 §83–85Records, Wu 8 §61

Sun Hao was moved west with his whole family. By an edict on the jiashen day of the 4th month he received the title Marquis Who Returned to Allegiance along with clothing, carriages, thirty qing of fields, five thousand hu of grain a year and more, and on the dinghai day of the 5th month of the 1st year of Taikang (280) he arrived at Luoyang. His heir apparent Sun Jin became a General of the Household, and those of his sons who had been princes became Gentlemen of the Palace; Sun Hao died at Luoyang in the 5th year of Taikang. Records, Wu 3 §85–86

In his assessment Chen Shou said that Sun Hao was savage and obstinate, executing those who remonstrated loyally, employing slanderers and flatterers, and treating his people cruelly, so that he ought to have been cut in two at the waist and neck in apology to the people; that he instead received an edict sparing his life and even the favor of the title Marquis Who Returned to Allegiance was an excessively generous grace. Records, Wu 3 §89–90