Campaigners › Commanders
Sun Jian
Late Han general and father of Sun Ce and Sun Quan who entered Luoyang in the campaign against Dong Zhuo and was killed fighting Liu Biao
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Zi Wentai
- Roles
- Commanders
Sun Jian, courtesy name Wentai, came from Fuchun in Wu commandery. At seventeen, travelling with his father to Qiantang, he found pirates dividing loot on the shore, went ashore sword in hand and waved as if directing troops to surround them, and the pirates fled. He helped suppress Xu Chang's rising in Kuaiji in 172, was first onto the walls of Wan in the war against the Yellow Turbans, and after putting down Ou Xing became governor of Changsha and Marquis of Wucheng. In the eastern coalition against Dong Zhuo he joined Yuan Shu, routed Dong's army at Yangren, killing its commander Hua Xiong, and entered Luoyang, where he repaired the plundered Han tombs. In 191 (his official biography says 192) Yuan Shu sent him against Liu Biao; he beat Huang Zu between Fan and Deng and besieged Xiangyang, but was shot dead by Huang Zu's men at Mount Xian. His son Sun Quan, on becoming emperor, honoured him as Emperor Wulie.
Life and times
Dates 155 CE–191 CE (death by another account 192)