Near the end of his life, Sun Quan became erratic and increasingly controlled by his relatives, most notably his eldest daughter, Sun Luban, as his two eldest sons quarreled over succession. He declared himself Emperor of Wu in 229AD, building up his capitol of Jianye, making the lands south of the Yangtze self-sustaining economically, and fortifying the length of the Yangtze against any northern invasions. He successfully defended his borders from Cao Pi during the Great River Campaign and continued his project to pacify the southern hinterlands, which included the destruction of the Shi family. Sun Quan accepted the nominal suzeranity of Cao Cao for a few years, but formally quit the empire not long after Cao Cao’s death and succession by Cao Pi. Liu Bei attempted to retake the province, but was stopped at Xiaoting by Lu Xun in 222AD. Then, his general Lu Meng pulled off two masterstrokes, first capturing half of Jing with barely any bloodshed in 215AD, then capturing the other half of Jing and executing Guan Yu in 219AD. Despite failing in his northern strike against Hefei, his subordinates pacified the mostly non-Chinese lands of Guangdong further to the south and forced Shi Xie of Jiao Province to accept his suzerainty. Sun Quan maintained the alliance while continuing to strengthen his domain to resist invasions. The alliance was further soured when Liu Bei invaded Yi himself. Liu Bei then threatened to turn on him if he invaded Yi Province further to the west on account of it being the domain of his relative, Liu Zhang, which soured their alliance. However, the rewards were paltry, and while his armies slowly pushed Cao Cao out of central Jing, Liu Bei co-opted the scattered powers of southern Jing without a fight. Sun Quan then focused on going West, attacking Jing Province to claim its fertile land and extend his defenses. In the famous upset, Zhou Yu destroyed Cao Cao’s fleet and ended any chance of Wei crossing the Yangtze into Jiangdong. Despite the huge power gap, Sun Quan refused Cao Cao’s demand to surrender, negotiated an alliance with Liu Bei and Liu Qi, and sent Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu to stop Cao Cao at Chibi. He carefully built upon his brother’s conquests, gaining new subjects and further securing his hold on Jiangdong until Cao Cao began his southern advance in 208AD. While neither an administrative genius nor a good general, Sun Quan was known as a leader with a keen eye for talent and was excellent at gaining the loyalty and mediating between his subordinates. Due to Sun Ce’s children being too young, leadership of his fledgling state was given to Sun Quan. Bookish and reserved compared to his combative and headstrong brother, Sun Quan had little fame outside of scholarship until his brother was assassinated in 200AD. The second son of Sun Jian and Lady Wu, Sun Quan was born in 182AD, right before the start of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
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