Sun Jian 孫堅

Sun Jian was a native of Fuchun in Wu Commandery, and Chen Shou wrote that he was probably a descendant of Sun Wu. In his youth he became a county clerk. At seventeen he was travelling by boat with his father to Qiantang when the pirate Hu Yu and others, having plundered the goods of merchants, were dividing them on the riverbank. Sun Jian took up a sword, went ashore and, pointing east and west with his hand, made as if he were deploying troops to surround the bandits. The bandits, thinking government soldiers had come to arrest them, abandoned the goods and scattered, and Sun Jian pursued them and came back with one head. This made his name known, and the commandery office made him Acting Commandant (jiawei, a provisional county commandant). Records, Wu 1 §2–4

In the 1st year of Xiping (172) the sorcerer-rebel Xu Chang of Kuaiji rose at Juzhang, styled himself Emperor Yangming and, together with his son Xu Shao, stirred up the counties, gathering followers by the ten thousand. As Commandery Major, Sun Jian recruited more than a thousand brave and bold men and crushed them together with the troops of the province and commandery. When the Inspector Zang Min reported his merit, an edict made him Assistant Magistrate of Yandu; some years later he was transferred to be Assistant Magistrate of Xuyi, and then of Xiapi. Records, Wu 1 §4–5

In the 1st year of Zhongping (184), when Zhang Jue's Yellow Turbans rose, the Han court sent Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to suppress them. When Zhu Jun memorialized requesting Sun Jian as his Assistant Army Major, Sun Jian gathered more than a thousand men, including young men of his home district, merchants and picked soldiers from the Huai and Si region. When the bandits of Runan and Yingchuan fled to hold Wancheng, Sun Jian personally took charge of one side, was first to scale the wall and enter, and inflicted a great defeat on them. Zhu Jun reported this, and Sun Jian was made Major of a Separate Command (biebu sima). Records, Wu 1 §6–7

In the 3rd year of Zhongping (186), when the Minister of Works Zhang Wen, as acting General of Chariots and Cavalry, set out west against Bian Zhang and Han Sui, he requested Sun Jian as his Military Adviser (canjunshi), and they were stationed at Chang'an. When Dong Zhuo, summoned by Zhang Wen with an edict, arrived only after a long delay and answered him disrespectfully, Sun Jian whispered to Zhang Wen, listing Dong Zhuo's three crimes, and urged him to behead Dong Zhuo under military law, but Zhang Wen, saying that Dong Zhuo had great prestige between Longxi and Shu, could not bring himself to do it. After Bian Zhang and Han Sui surrendered and the army returned, all who heard of these words sighed. Sun Jian was made a Consultant (yilang). Records, Wu 1 §8–11

When the Changsha bandit Ou Xing, calling himself a general, besieged towns with more than ten thousand men, the court made Sun Jian Administrator of Changsha. Sun Jian personally led his officers and men and defeated Ou Xing and the others in little more than a month, and when Zhou Chao and Guo Shi rose in response in Lingling and Guiyang, he crossed the border to pursue and attack them too, so that the three commanderies were quieted. The Han court recorded his merits before and after and enfeoffed him as Marquis of Wucheng. Records, Wu 1 §11–12

When Emperor Ling died and Dong Zhuo seized control of the government, the provinces and commanderies raised loyalist troops, and Sun Jian also raised an army. On the way he killed Wang Rui, Inspector of Jing Province, who had always treated him rudely, and by the time he reached Nanyang his host numbered several tens of thousands. When Zhang Zi, Administrator of Nanyang, failed to provide military supplies, Sun Jian, as Zhang Zi came to return his hospitality at a banquet, beheaded him at the gate of the camp for the crime of delaying the loyalist army. Records, Wu 1 §13–14

When he met Yuan Shu at Luyang, Yuan Shu memorialized making Sun Jian acting General Who Smashes the Caitiffs (polu jiangjun) and concurrently Inspector of Yu Province. While Sun Jian was holding a farewell banquet outside the walls of Luyang for his Chief Clerk Gongqiu Cheng, several tens of light horsemen, the vanguard of the tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry sent by Dong Zhuo, suddenly arrived. Sun Jian went on passing the wine and chatting while ordering his retainers to put their ranks in order, and when more horsemen came, he calmly ended the banquet and led everyone into the city. Seeing how orderly Sun Jian's troops were, Dong Zhuo's soldiers did not dare to attack the city and withdrew. Records, Wu 1 §15–16

When Sun Jian, stationed east of Liang, came under heavy attack from Dong Zhuo's army, he put the red woolen headcloth he always wore on his close commander Zu Mao and broke out of the encirclement with several tens of horsemen. While Dong Zhuo's cavalry chased Zu Mao, Sun Jian escaped by a side road, and Zu Mao placed the headcloth on a burnt pillar among the graves and hid in the grass. Sun Jian gathered his soldiers again, fought at Yangren and inflicted a great defeat on Dong Zhuo's army, beheading its Area Commander Hua Xiong and others and displaying their heads. Records, Wu 1 §16–17

At this time someone sowed discord between Sun Jian and Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu, growing suspicious, did not send provisions. Sun Jian galloped by night to Luyang, more than a hundred li away, and, drawing on the ground as he spoke, argued that he risked his life without regard for himself in order to punish the rebels for the state above and to avenge the private enmity of the general's family below, and that he himself had no blood feud with Dong Zhuo. Yuan Shu, greatly embarrassed, sent provisions at once. Records, Wu 1 §18

Dong Zhuo, fearing Sun Jian's valor, sent Li Jue and others to seek peace and a marriage alliance, saying that if Sun Jian listed those of his sons and younger kinsmen fit to serve as inspectors or administrators, he would appoint them. Sun Jian refused, saying that if he could not exterminate Dong Zhuo's three sets of kin and display them to all within the four seas, he would not close his eyes even in death, and advanced to Dagu, ninety li from Luoyang. When Dong Zhuo moved the capital west into Guanzhong and burned Luoyang, Sun Jian entered Luoyang, repaired the imperial tombs, filled in the places Dong Zhuo had dug up, and returned to Luyang. Records, Wu 1 §19–20

In the 3rd year of Chuping (192) Yuan Shu had Sun Jian campaign in Jing Province against Liu Biao. He defeated Huang Zu, sent by Liu Biao, between Fan and Deng, crossed the Han River and besieged Xiangyang, but while riding alone past Mount Xian he was killed by an arrow shot by Huang Zu's soldiers. The Biography of Liu Biao records that Sun Jian was killed by a stray arrow and his army was defeated, so that Yuan Shu never overcame Liu Biao. His elder brother's son Sun Ben led the officers and men to join Yuan Shu. Records, Wu 1 §21Records, Wei 6 §83

Sun Jian had four sons born of his wife, Lady Wu: Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Yi and Sun Kuang. After Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor, he gave Sun Jian the posthumous title Emperor Wulie. Records, Wu 5 §2Records, Wu 1 §22

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that Sun Jian was brave, resolute, upright and steadfast and raised himself from a lonely and humble station, and that in leading Zhang Wen to kill Dong Zhuo and in filling and closing the imperial tombs he showed a loyal and heroic spirit. But he wrote that he and Sun Ce were both rash and hasty, so that they lost their lives and came to failure. Records, Wu 1 §41