Sun Ce's conquest of Wu Territory

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Sun Ce's conquest of Wu Territory
partof=the wars of the Three Kingdoms


caption=
date=194 –199
place=China
casus=
territory=
result=Sun Ce victorious
combatant1=Sun Ce
combatant2=
commander1=Sun Ce
Zhou Yu
Sun Ben
Sun Fu
commander2=Lu Kang
Taishi Ci
Wang Lang
Liu Xun
Yan Baihu
strength1=25,000
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=

Sun Ce's conquest of Wu Territory was a campaign Sun Ce led to conquer Wu Territory from 194 to 199 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms in China that laid the foundation of Eastern Wu. Sun Ce emerged victorious against various forces.

Battle of Lujiang: Sun Ce vs Lu Kang

In 194, Yuan Shu wanted to besiege Xuzhou and requested thirty thousand xie of rice from Lu Kang. Lu Kang refused and Yuan Shu was enraged. Sun Ce had paid a visit to Lu Kang but Lu Kang refused to see him, instead ordering a Master of Records to entertain him. For this, Sun Ce had an enmity for the man. Yuan Shu sent Sun Ce to besiege Lu Kang. Sun Ce besieged Lu Kang and took Lujiang commandery. Sun Ce gained the support of pirates such as Zhou Tai.

Battle of Shenting Range: Sun Ce vs Taishi Ci

In 195, Taishi Ci encounters Sun Ce. Sun Ce had thirteen riders of high caliber with him. Taishi Ci rode forward to fight them, and began dueling Sun Ce. Soon, rescue troops from both sides arrived, and they ceased fighting and returned. Taishi Ci went to a garrison at Jing, and many people came to his support, and soon Sun Ce personally came to conquer this place, and Taishi Ci was captured. When Sun Ce captured Taishi Ci, he immediately released him from his bonds and asked Taishi Ci to join him. Although reluctant at first, Taishi Ci eventually joined Sun Ce and agreed to help him realize his dreams.

Battle of Kuaiji: Sun Ce vs Wang Lang

In 196, Wang Lang was in power for several years, and it could not be expected that he would prove so easy to deal with as Xu Gong in Wu. As Sun Ce advanced, Wang Lang came forward to defend his territory on the line of the Qiantang estuary at the head of Hangzhou Bay. Sun Ce had taken the opportunity of his march through Wu commandery to call up support from his connections in that region, and his uncle Sun Jing, came to join him at Qiantang. Wang Lang's army was at the town of Guling, and though Sun Ce tried several times to force his way across, he had no success. Then, however, Sun Jing arranged to lead a detachment of the army a few kilometers south to a river crossing at Zhadu, returning north to take Wang Lang's forces in the rear. Sun Ce had the rest of his men light the usual number of camp-fires so that the enemy wouldn't realize any troops were missing, and he sent Sun Jing and his men off at night. Wang Lang was taken completely by surprise and Sun’s forces were established across the river.

At first, Wang Lang attempted to organize a retreat and regroup his men, and he sent his lieutenant Zhou Xin, to hold the line against Sun Ce's attack. But Sun Ce defeated and killed Zhou Xin, and Wang Lang abandoned the greater part of his territory and took to flight. He went by ship south along the coast to Dongye. Sun Ce considered that Wang Lang was sufficiently important to be worth pursuit, presumably because of the possibility that he might attempt a return once Sun Ce had gone back to Wu and Danyang, thus he followed Wang Lang, took the city of Dongye, and received his enemy's surrender. Shang Sheng, had supported Wang Lang when he came to the south, and although Wang Lang surrendered, Shang Sheng allied himself with some of the local people and continued to resist Sun Ce. When Sun Ce returned to the north he gave Han Yan soldiers to attack Shang Sheng. Han Yan, however, had no success, and he was soon replaced by He Qi. Shang Sheng then offered to surrender, but he was killed by his own allies, and it was some time before He Qi could win over groups of the local people, and take advantage of disagreements among his enemies in order to attack and finally defeat them. For several years to come, He Qi remained in charge of operations for the Sun family in this region of the far southeast, and he steadily extended their influence and power. Sun Ce made Kuaiji his base city.

Battle of Wan: Sun Ce conquers Liu Xun

In 199, Yang Hong and general Zhang Xun were planning to join Sun Ce with their followers. Liu Xun, of Lujiang, attacked them, took them captive and looted their possessions. Sun Ce heard this and pretended to befriend him. Liu Xun accepted Sun Ce's offers of alliance, and he led his army out of his commandery. After Liu Xun left, Sun Ce’s troops traveled by day and night to assault and seize Lujiang. Sun Ce divided his forces: Sun Ben and Sun Fu were sent to cut Liu Xun off from his base; and Sun Ce, with Zhou Yu, led the main army to seize Huan city. They captured Liu Xun's family, his personal attendants, and the wife and children of Yuan Shu. Sun Ce brought the majority of the people back to his own territory across the Yangzi, and he left Li Shu in command of a garrison at Huan city. He then returned to join his cousins at Pengze.

Liu Xun had attempted to take Haihun by surprise, but the people were forewarned and he gained no success. When he learned of Sun Ce's attack on his capital, he sought to return, but he was cut off by the army at Pengze and driven west up the Yangzi. He halted to prepare defensive positions near Xisai Mountain, and from there he asked Liu Biao and Huang Zu for help. Huang She, brought a fleet of five-thousand men to the support of Liu Xun, but Sun Ce defeated the allies and drove them back. Sun Ce captured two-thousand of Liu Xun's soldiers and more than a thousand ships, and Liu Xun abandoned the struggle and fled north with a handful of his remaining followers. Huang She went back to join his father.

Yan Baihu

In 199, Yan Baihu and others assembled more than ten thousand followers and encamped far and wide. Wu Jing and others planned to defeat Yan Baihu his confederates first and then to march on Huiqi. Lü Fan killed Yan Baihu's subordinate Chen Mu. Subsequently he led his troops across the Zhe River, occupied Huiqi, took Dongye and then attacked Guiji, Wang Lang assisted leader Yan Baihu and was defeated, he surrendered his city. Sun Ce defeated Yan Baihu and the others.

Modern references

This campaign appears in the series "Dynasty Warriors". In "Dynasty Warriors 3", by defeating Liu Yong, before the other two generals, the player could force Taishi Ci to submit. In "Dynasty Warriors 5", Liu Yong retreats and Taishi Ci becomes commander, and joins Wu afterwards. In "Dynasty Warriors 5", the player is also able to force many pirates and officers to defect and an event where Sun Quan in danger, and the player has to save him is added, but historically this event happened when the Shanyue rebels attacked.

ources

* [http://kongming.net/novel/battles/ 3 Kingdoms Battle Chronology]
* [http://kongming.net/novel/sgz/sunce.php Sanguozhi biography of Sun Ce]
* [http://kongming.net/novel/sgz/taishici.php Sanguozhi biography of Taishi Ci]
* [http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/decrespigny/gos_ch3.pdf "Generals of the South", Rafe de Crespigny] (pages 164-165, 180-181)