Novel scene
Sun Quan Submits to Wei and Receives the Nine Bestowments 孫權降魏受九錫
About this event
"Sun Quan Submits to Wei and Receives the Nine Bestowments" is the former scene of the title of Chapter 82 of the Romance, "Sun Quan Submits to Wei and Receives the Nine Bestowments; the First Sovereign Campaigns against Wu and Rewards the Six Armies." When Liu Bei reaches Baidicheng with a great army and rejects Zhuge Jin's offer of peace, Sun Quan sends Zhao Zi to declare himself a subject of Wei, and Cao Pi, overriding Liu Ye's objections, sends Xing Zhen to enfeoff Sun Quan as King of Wu and add the Nine Bestowments. Romance, Ch. 82 §1–5 · 8–15
In Chen Shou's text, the Annals of Emperor Wen in Records of Wei 2 record that in the 8th month, in autumn, of the 2nd year of Huangchu (221), when Sun Quan sent an envoy to present a memorial and returned Yu Jin and others, Cao Pi sent the Minister of Ceremonies Xing Zhen to appoint Sun Quan General-in-Chief and King of Wu and add the Nine Bestowments. The Biography of the Lord of Wu in Records of Wu 2, the biographies of Zhang Zhao and Zhuge Jin in Records of Wu 7, the biography of Xu Sheng in Records of Wu 10, and the biography of Liu Ye in Records of Wei 14 also record this affair. Records, Wei 2 §27Records, Wu 2 §32–40Records, Wu 7 §7 · 55–56Records, Wu 10 §84Records, Wei 14 §99–100
In the Romance
In Chapter 82 of the Romance, when Liu Bei reaches Baidicheng with a great army in the 8th month, in autumn, of the 1st year of Zhangwu (221), Sun Quan sends Zhuge Jin to propose returning Lady Sun and the generals who had surrendered, handing back Jing Province, and attacking Cao Pi together. Zhuge Jin argues that to leave alone Cao Pi, who had usurped the Han emperor, and attack Wu for the sake of a kinsman of a different surname would be to abandon the greater righteousness, but Liu Bei sends him back, saying that he cannot live under the same sky as the enemy who killed his brother. Zhang Zhao says that Zhuge Jin will go over to Shu, but Sun Quan trusts in their pledge, and Zhuge Jin returns. Romance, Ch. 82 §1–7
When Sun Quan says that the south of the river is in danger, the Palace Grand Master Zhao Zi volunteers to go to Wei with a memorial declaring Sun Quan a subject. At Xudu, when Cao Pi asks what kind of ruler the Marquis of Wu is, Zhao Zi cites, among other things, his perspicacity in taking in Lu Su, his discernment in promoting Lü Meng and his benevolence in not harming Yu Jin, and answers that with the Yangtze and the Han River for moats, Wu has nothing to fear from Wei. Cao Pi praises him for not disgracing his lord's commission as an envoy, and has Xing Zhen take a patent of appointment to enfeoff Sun Quan as King of Wu and add the Nine Bestowments. Romance, Ch. 82 §7–12
Liu Ye remonstrates that Sun Quan is submitting out of fear of the Shu army, that Wei should attack Wu while it has this opening, and that granting him a royal title would be like giving wings to a tiger. Cao Pi will not listen, saying that if Wu and Shu fight and one of them perishes, he need only destroy the one that remains. Romance, Ch. 82 §13–15
Gu Yong advises against accepting the Wei enfeoffment, but Sun Quan, saying that the Duke of Pei too had accepted enfeoffment from Xiang Yu, goes out of the city to receive it. When Xing Zhen does not get down from his carriage even on entering the gate, Zhang Zhao rebukes him into getting down, and Xu Sheng weeps aloud, saying that they have let their lord accept another's enfeoffment. Xing Zhen sighs that the generals and ministers of Jiangdong are not men who will long remain beneath others. Romance, Ch. 82 §16–18
Where the Romance differs
Zhuge Jin's peace mission: In Chapter 82 of the Romance, Zhuge Jin goes in person to Baidicheng, meets Liu Bei and asks for peace. In Zhuge Jin's biography in the Records, when the King of Wu sought peace, Zhuge Jin sent Liu Bei a letter asking him to weigh which was closer to him, Guan Yu or the late emperor, and which was greater, Jing Province or the whole realm. Romance, Ch. 82 §1–5Records, Wu 7 §55–56
Zhao Zi's mission: In Chapter 82 of the Romance, Zhao Zi goes with a memorial declaring Sun Quan a subject and secures his enfeoffment as King of Wu. The Biography of the Lord of Wu in the Records records that after Emperor Wen of Wei took the throne, Sun Quan declared himself a vassal and returned Yu Jin and others, and that in the year in which he received the patent of appointment in the 11th month, after Liu Bei had invaded, he sent the Commandant Zhao Zi to Wei. When the Wei emperor asked, "What kind of ruler is the King of Wu?" Zhao Zi answered in the same words as in the Romance. Romance, Ch. 82 §8–12Records, Wu 2 §32–33 · 39–40
Written by 3KDEX (not yet reviewed) — The tags at the end of each paragraph link to the exact passage in the Records volume or Romance chapter it is based on.