them were Kan Ze and Yan Jun. All these scholars were treated with great deference.
Some able warriors also joined his service, among whom were Lu Meng and Lu Xun. Thus Sun Quan obtained the assistance of many men of ability in both civil and military affairs, and all seemed to go well with him.
In the seventh year of Jian An, Cao Cao had annihilated Yuan Shao. Then he sent an envoy to see Sun Quan, ordering him to send his son to court to serve in the retinue of the Emperor. Sun Quan, however, hesitated whether he should comply with this request, and the matter was the subject of much discussion. His mother, Lady Wu, sent for Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao and asked them for their advice.
Zhang Zhao said, “Cao Cao’s intention is to keep your son in court as a hostage so that he can have a hold on us. But if we do not comply with this request he will very likely attack us and that will be disastrous.”
Zhou Yu said, “General, you are blessed with the heritage of your father and brother and have under your rule the vast population of six districts. You also possess a large army and ample supplies. Officers and soldiers are all ready to do your bidding. So why should you be compelled to send a hostage to any man? To send a hostage is to be forced into alliance with Cao Cao, and to carry out his behest, whatever they may be. Then you will be in his power. I think it would be better not to send your son there, but rather to wait and see how things develop and then design plans to counter them.”
“That is also my opinion,” said Lady Wu.
So Sun Quan dismissed the messenger and did not send his son. Cao Cao resented this and thereafter nourished a desire to destroy the Suns. However, at that time he was fully occupied with the war in the north so no expedition to the south had been sent.
Late in the eighth year of the reign of Jian An, Sun Quan led his army to attack Huang Zu and the two sides fought on the Yangtze River. Sun Quan was successful in several battles. Then one of his officers, Ling Cao, at the head of a fleet of light vessels, sailed up the river and broke into Xiakou but was killed by an arrow from one of the enemy officers called Gan Ning. His son, Ling Tong, then only fifteen years of age, fought desperately to retrieve his father’s corpse. Seeing that the war was going against him, Sun Quan turned back to his own territory.
Now Sun Quan’s younger brother, Sun Yi, was Prefect of Danyang. He was a hard man and given to drink and, in his cups, would order severe floggings of his men. Two of his officers, Gui Lan and Dai Yuan, hated him and intended to assassinate him. They took into their confidence a guard of the prefect’s, called Bian Hong, and the three plotted to kill their master. Shortly, there was a great assembly of officials at Danyang and the prefect prepared to give a big banquet to entertain them.
Sun Yi’s wife, Lady Xu, was skilled in divination and on the day of the great banquet she cast a most inauspicious lot. Therefore she begged her husband to stay away from the assembly. But he was obstinate and went anyway. The faithless guard followed his master out after the gathering dispersed in the evening and stabbed him to death. The two prime conspirators at once seized their accomplice on the charge of murdering the prefect and beheaded him in the market place. Then they went to Sun Yi’s residence, which they plundered. Gui Lan was taken with the beauty of the dead prefect’s wife and told her that as he had avenged the death of her husband she must go with him, or he would slay her. She pleaded that it was too soon after her husband’s demise to think of re-marriage but promised to be his after the mourning ceremony.
She thus obtained a respite, which she utilized to send secretly for two of her husband’s trusted officers, Sun Gao and Fu Ying. They came and she tearfully told her tale.
“My husband had great faith in you. Now Gui Lan and Dai Yuan have plotted his death, and
Some able warriors also joined his service, among whom were Lu Meng and Lu Xun. Thus Sun Quan obtained the assistance of many men of ability in both civil and military affairs, and all seemed to go well with him.
In the seventh year of Jian An, Cao Cao had annihilated Yuan Shao. Then he sent an envoy to see Sun Quan, ordering him to send his son to court to serve in the retinue of the Emperor. Sun Quan, however, hesitated whether he should comply with this request, and the matter was the subject of much discussion. His mother, Lady Wu, sent for Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao and asked them for their advice.
Zhang Zhao said, “Cao Cao’s intention is to keep your son in court as a hostage so that he can have a hold on us. But if we do not comply with this request he will very likely attack us and that will be disastrous.”
Zhou Yu said, “General, you are blessed with the heritage of your father and brother and have under your rule the vast population of six districts. You also possess a large army and ample supplies. Officers and soldiers are all ready to do your bidding. So why should you be compelled to send a hostage to any man? To send a hostage is to be forced into alliance with Cao Cao, and to carry out his behest, whatever they may be. Then you will be in his power. I think it would be better not to send your son there, but rather to wait and see how things develop and then design plans to counter them.”
“That is also my opinion,” said Lady Wu.
So Sun Quan dismissed the messenger and did not send his son. Cao Cao resented this and thereafter nourished a desire to destroy the Suns. However, at that time he was fully occupied with the war in the north so no expedition to the south had been sent.
Late in the eighth year of the reign of Jian An, Sun Quan led his army to attack Huang Zu and the two sides fought on the Yangtze River. Sun Quan was successful in several battles. Then one of his officers, Ling Cao, at the head of a fleet of light vessels, sailed up the river and broke into Xiakou but was killed by an arrow from one of the enemy officers called Gan Ning. His son, Ling Tong, then only fifteen years of age, fought desperately to retrieve his father’s corpse. Seeing that the war was going against him, Sun Quan turned back to his own territory.
Now Sun Quan’s younger brother, Sun Yi, was Prefect of Danyang. He was a hard man and given to drink and, in his cups, would order severe floggings of his men. Two of his officers, Gui Lan and Dai Yuan, hated him and intended to assassinate him. They took into their confidence a guard of the prefect’s, called Bian Hong, and the three plotted to kill their master. Shortly, there was a great assembly of officials at Danyang and the prefect prepared to give a big banquet to entertain them.
Sun Yi’s wife, Lady Xu, was skilled in divination and on the day of the great banquet she cast a most inauspicious lot. Therefore she begged her husband to stay away from the assembly. But he was obstinate and went anyway. The faithless guard followed his master out after the gathering dispersed in the evening and stabbed him to death. The two prime conspirators at once seized their accomplice on the charge of murdering the prefect and beheaded him in the market place. Then they went to Sun Yi’s residence, which they plundered. Gui Lan was taken with the beauty of the dead prefect’s wife and told her that as he had avenged the death of her husband she must go with him, or he would slay her. She pleaded that it was too soon after her husband’s demise to think of re-marriage but promised to be his after the mourning ceremony.
She thus obtained a respite, which she utilized to send secretly for two of her husband’s trusted officers, Sun Gao and Fu Ying. They came and she tearfully told her tale.
“My husband had great faith in you. Now Gui Lan and Dai Yuan have plotted his death, and
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