In the first year of the Western Jin Dynasty (280), the news of the surrender of the Eastern Wu Emperor Sun Hao reached Luoyang, and the courtiers called Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jin, he Shangshou. But one man, who said he was ill and did not attend, shed tears in his eyes to the south and said:
In the past, the rebel (referring to Sun Ce) weakly crowned a lieutenant to start a business, and in the future, the lord (referring to Sun Hao) lifted Jiangnan and abandoned it, and the Zongmiao Mountain Mausoleum was used as a ruin. Leisurely heavens, who is this!
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This person's name was Sun Xiu, and he was Sun Jian's great-grandson and Sun Quan's nephew. Sun Xiuyuan was a member of the Eastern Wu clan, but he became a traitor to Eastern Wu and defected to the Western Jin Dynasty. Since he had already betrayed Eastern Wu, why did Sun Xiu still act very sad after receiving the news of Eastern Wu's demise? It turned out that Sun Xiu was not willing to be a traitor, and there were special reasons why he turned to the Western Jin Dynasty, so what was going on?
Let's first talk about Sun Xiu's origin. Sun Jian had five sons, namely Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Yi, Sun Kuang, and Sun Lang. Among them, the fourth son, Sun Kuang, married the Cao family and gave birth to a son named Sun Tai, who was later promoted to Changshui Lieutenant. In 234, Sun Tai followed his uncle Sun Quan on a campaign against the new city of Hefei, and was killed by an arrow during the battle. Sun Tai had a son before he died, and he was Sun Xiu. That is to say, Sun Xiu is a descendant of Sun Kuang's lineage.
Sun Xiu was both a disciple of the clan and a descendant of the "martyrs", so his official fortunes in Eastern Wu were not bad, and he held the position of former general and governor of Xiakou, holding the army in his hands. In addition, Sun Xiu is also quite famous and has a good reputation. However, Sun Xiu caused dissatisfaction among one person, he was Sun Hao, the Emperor of Eastern Wu! In 264, Sun Xiu fell ill and died, and the chancellor did not proclaim the crown prince on the throne, but instead put Sun Quan's grandson, Sun He's grandson Sun Hao, to the throne.
Sun Hao's position was not right, and he was worried that the clan members would threaten his throne, so he promoted and appointed some officials of low birth, and at the same time brutally attacked the members of the clan, such as Sun Quan's son Sun Fen, and Sun Xiu's two sons were killed by Sun Hao. Sun Quan's clan was almost killed, and Sun Hao targeted the descendants of Sun Quan's brothers, and Sun Xiu, who was "the closest relative in the public office and held the army outside", became a thorn in Sun Hao's eye!
In the second year of Eastern Wu Jianheng (270), Sun Hao sent his close associate He Ding to lead 5,000 people to Xiakou, saying that they were going hunting. At that time, even the people knew Sun Hao's intentions, "Youyan Xiu should see the picture." Under these circumstances, Sun Xiu had three choices: first, to sit still; second, to raise the flag to rebel; and third, to defect to the Western Jin Dynasty. In the end, Sun Xiu chose the third way, taking advantage of the night."
Hundreds of wives and soldiers were promoted
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Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jinwu, was very happy and gave Sun Xiu a very high treatment, "taking Xiu as a general on horseback, Yi Tongsansi, and sealing the duke of huihui". In fact, Sima Yan did this in order to "attract the Wu people" by honoring Eastern Wu and surrendering to the clan. Later, Emperor Wu of Jin also married his aunt to Sun Xiu. After eastern Wu learned of Sun Xiu's defection, Sun Hao ordered Sun Xiu to be expelled from the royal household and "posthumously changed Xiu's surname to Yue Li".
In 280, Eastern Wu fell, so there was the scene at the beginning of the article, Sun Xiu was forced to descend to Jin, he felt sorry for Sun Hao for losing Jiangshan, and the feelings of the homeland were born. After people learned of this incident, no one blamed Sun Xiu, but instead praised his behavior, "the beauty of the imperial court." With the demise of Eastern Wu, Sun Xiu and others lost their role and were demoted to the rank of General Fubo. Twenty years later, Sun Xiu fell ill and died, and was posthumously awarded the title of General of the Hussars and kaifu Yi Tongsansi by the Western Jin Dynasty.
Resources:
1. Romance of the Three Kingdoms; 2. Book of Jin