Sun Liang 孫亮

Sun Liang, courtesy name Ziming, was the youngest son of Sun Quan. Sun Quan was advanced in years and Sun Liang was the youngest, so he paid him particular attention. According to the Biographies of the Consorts, his mother, Lady Pan, was from Gouzhang County in Kuaiji Commandery; she was in the weaving workshop when she caught Sun Quan's eye and entered the harem, and she gave birth to Sun Liang after dreaming that she received a dragon's head. Records, Wu 3 §2Records, Wu 5 §25

His elder sister Princess Quan (Sun Luban), uneasy because she had once slandered the Crown Prince Sun He and his mother, sought to win Sun Quan's favor and build ties in advance, and repeatedly urged that Quan Shang's daughter be taken as Sun Liang's consort. In the 13th year of Chiwu (250), when Sun He was deposed, Sun Quan made Sun Liang Crown Prince and took the Quan daughter as his consort. Records, Wu 3 §2Records, Wu 5 §28

In the summer of the 1st year of Taiyuan (251) his mother Lady Pan became empress. That winter, when Sun Quan fell ill and took to his bed, he made the General-in-Chief Zhuge Ke Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince and Teng Yin, Administrator of Kuaiji, Minister of Ceremonies, and both received an edict to assist the Crown Prince. In the 4th month of the following year (252), when Sun Quan died, Sun Liang assumed the imperial title, proclaimed a general amnesty and changed the era name. That year was the 4th year of Jiaping in Wei. In the intercalary month Zhuge Ke was made Grand Tutor, Teng Yin General of the Guards and Overseer of the Imperial Secretariat, and Lü Dai Grand Marshal. Records, Wu 3 §3–4

That winter Zhuge Ke built fortifications at Dongxing, and in the 12th month, when Zhuge Dan, Hu Zun and others of Wei surrounded them with 70,000 men, he advanced and inflicted a heavy defeat on them. In the 1st month of the following year (253) the Quan consort became empress. In the 3rd month Zhuge Ke attacked Wei and besieged Xincheng, but a great epidemic killed more than half his soldiers, and he returned in the 8th month. In the 10th month Sun Jun, plotting with Sun Liang, arranged a banquet, summoned Zhuge Ke and killed him in the palace hall. Sun Liang withdrew to the inner quarters after the wine had gone round several times. Sun Jun became Chancellor and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Fuchun. Records, Wu 3 §4–7Records, Wu 19 §48 · 52

While Sun Jun held power, in the 1st year of Wufeng (254) the Marquis of Wu, Sun Ying, and in the following year the general Sun Yi and others were discovered plotting to kill Sun Jun. In the Sun Yi affair, Princess Quan said that Princess Zhu (Sun Luyu) had been part of the plot, and Sun Jun unjustly put Princess Zhu to death. When Sun Jun died in the 9th month of the 1st year of Taiping (256), his cousin Sun Chen, as Palace Attendant and General of the Martial Guard, took command of the armies inside and outside the capital. Teng Yin, who opposed this, was defeated by Sun Chen and his whole clan exterminated, Lü Ju was captured, and Sun Chen became General-in-Chief. Records, Wu 3 §8 · 10 · 12–14Records, Wu 5 §32

In the 4th month of the 2nd year of Taiping (257), Sun Liang came to the main hall, proclaimed a general amnesty and began at last to take charge of the government in person. He repeatedly questioned and challenged the matters Sun Chen reported in memorials, and he selected more than 3,000 sons and younger brothers of soldiers aged from fifteen to eighteen, appointing as their commanders young and brave sons and younger brothers of the senior generals. Sun Liang said, 'I have founded this army because I wish to grow up together with them,' and he drilled them daily in the palace park. Records, Wu 3 §15

That year Sun Ji, the son of Sun Ba, who attended Sun Liang in the palace, secretly rode the imperial horses and was thrown into prison. When the Palace Attendant Diao Xuan said that by law it was a capital offense but asked Sun Liang to take pity on him since the Prince of Lu had died early, Sun Liang said that the law was something the whole realm upheld together and could not be bent for a relative, and told him to think of a way to release him. When Diao Xuan said that amnesties had a range they could extend to, Sun Liang proclaimed an amnesty within the palace and spared Sun Ji's offense. Records, Wu 14 §42–43

In the 5th month, when Zhuge Dan of Wei came over with Shouchun, Wen Qin, Tang Zi, Quan Duan and others went to his aid, and Sun Chen too stayed at Huoli, but he killed Zhu Yi and returned to Jianye. As Sun Liang questioned him more and more, Sun Chen grew afraid, stayed away from court on the pretext of illness, and put his younger brothers in charge of the palace guard and the various camps. Sun Liang looked into the reason for Princess Zhu's death and had Ding Feng kill the brothers Zhu Xiong and Zhu Sun, who had failed to restrain Sun Jun. Records, Wu 3 §16–17Records, Wu 19 §87Records, Wu 5 §32

In the 3rd year of Taiping (258), considering Sun Chen arbitrary and overbearing, Sun Liang plotted to kill him with Princess Sun Luban, the Minister of Ceremonies Quan Shang and the general Liu Cheng. But Sun Liang's consort, the daughter of Sun Chen's elder cousin, told Sun Chen of it. In the 9th month Sun Chen attacked Quan Shang by night, sent his younger brother Sun En to kill Liu Cheng outside the Canglong Gate, and surrounded the palace. He had the Superintendent of the Imperial Household Meng Zong (Meng Ren) report to the ancestral temple and deposed Sun Liang, making him Prince of Kuaiji; Sun Liang was then sixteen. Sun Chen had the Gentleman of the Palace Secretariat Li Chong seize the imperial seal and ribbons, and killed the Imperial Secretary Huan Yi, who refused to sign. Records, Wu 3 §18Records, Wu 19 §88–89

In the 3rd year of Yong'an (260), a rumor spread in Kuaiji Commandery that Sun Liang, Prince of Kuaiji, would return and become Son of Heaven again, and Sun Liang's palace women reported that he had had shamans pray and sacrifice and had spoken ill-omened words. Sun Liang was demoted to Marquis of Houguan and sent to his fief, but he killed himself on the way, and those escorting him were punished. The Biographies of the Consorts records that Lady Quan followed him and lived at Houguan. Records, Wu 3 §35Records, Wu 5 §29

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that Sun Liang was a child without worthy ministers to assist him, so his loss of the throne before the end was the inevitable course of events. He also wrote that Sun Xiu, by not letting the already deposed Sun Liang die a natural death, showed little brotherly loyalty. Records, Wu 3 §88