Biography
Family Background and Early Career
Sun Chen belonged to the Sun lineage of Fuchun in Wu Commandery and was a great-grandson of Sun Jing, younger brother of Sun Jian. The *Records of the Three Kingdoms*, in the biography of the Sun clan, traces the line from Sun Jing to his son Sun Gao, then to Sun Gao's sons Sun Chuo, Sun Chao, and Sun Gong. Sun Gong was the father of Sun Jun, while Sun Chuo was the father of Sun Chen. Sun Chen and Sun Jun were therefore cousins of the same extended clan. Members of the Sun imperial house occupied a distinctive position within the Wu regime and frequently held important commands. Little is known of Sun Chen's early career beyond the fact that he held the rank of subordinate general. His advancement under Sun Jun was closely connected with both his imperial-clan status and Sun Jun's patronage.
Taking Power and Eliminating Rivals
On October 19, 256, the dinghai day of the ninth month of the first year of Taiping, Sun Jun died while leading a northern campaign and entrusted affairs to the twenty-six-year-old Sun Chen. The court appointed Sun Chen Palace Attendant and General of the Military Guard, placed internal and external military affairs under him, and gave him responsibility for government in succession to Sun Jun. He recalled the armies from the front.
The Cavalry General Lü Ju, then with the expeditionary forces, was enraged when he learned that Sun Chen had inherited power. Together with Wen Qin, Tang Zi, and others, he memorialized in favor of appointing General of the Guards Teng Yin as chief councillor, hoping thereby to divide Sun Chen's authority. Sun Chen recognized the intention and instead appointed Teng Yin Grand Marshal and ordered him to replace the recently deceased Lü Dai at Wuchang. Lü Ju rejected this arrangement, led his troops back from the northern expedition toward Jianye, and informed Teng Yin of a plan to overthrow Sun Chen.
Sun Chen responded on several fronts. He sent his kinsman, Right General Sun Xian, together with Ding Feng and Shi Kuan, to lead naval forces at Jiangdu against Lü Ju. He also issued an edict in the emperor's name ordering Wen Qin, Liu Zuan, Tang Zi, and others to attack Lü Ju. At the same time he sent Palace Attendant and Left General Hua Rong and Secretariat official Ding Yan to demand that Teng Yin immediately depart and seize Lü Ju. Recognizing that he was in danger, Teng Yin detained Hua Rong and Ding Yan, armed his followers, and told Yang Chong and the general Sun Zi that Sun Chen was in rebellion. He tried to force the detained officials to produce a letter denouncing Sun Chen. Sun Chen instead memorialized that Teng Yin had rebelled and sent General Liu Cheng with cavalry to surround him. Teng Yin tried to compel Hua Rong and the others to issue a forged edict ordering troops to rise; when they refused, they were killed.
Teng Yin did not know that Lü Ju had already been blocked by Sun Xian and expected him to arrive as arranged. One subordinate urged Teng Yin to move to the Azure Dragon Gate of the palace and, in the emperor's name, issue an edict ordering Sun Chen's execution. Teng Yin refused to surround the palace and continued to rely on the expectation of Lü Ju's support. The next morning Sun Chen launched a major attack, killed Teng Yin and dozens of his men, and exterminated his three clans. Lü Ju was soon captured at Xinzhou and committed suicide. Sun Chen likewise ordered his three clans exterminated.
After the crisis Sun Chen was promoted to General-in-Chief, granted imperial credential, and enfeoffed as Marquis of Yongning. Yet his kinsman Sun Xian, who had received generous treatment under Sun Jun and had helped defeat Lü Ju's challenge, resented receiving less favor under Sun Chen. Together with General Wang Dun he plotted to kill Sun Chen. Sun Chen discovered the conspiracy, killed Wang Dun, and forced Sun Xian to take poison.
Relief of Zhuge Dan and Execution of Zhu Yi
In 257, the second year of Taiping, the Wei General Who Conquers the East Zhuge Dan rebelled at Shouchun in opposition to the Sima family's domination. After killing Yue Chen, Inspector of Yangzhou, he sent Wu Gang with his son Zhuge Jing and other military dependants to Wu to request reinforcements. Wu dispatched Wen Qin, Tang Zi, Quan Duan, Quan Yi, Wang Zuo, and others with thirty thousand men. Wei General Who Guards the South Wang Ji besieged Shouchun, but Wen Qin and the others successfully broke through and joined Zhuge Dan inside the city. Wei then concentrated more than two hundred thousand troops and sealed the city off completely.
Sun Yi, General Who Guards the Army at Xiakou, was related by marriage to Lü Ju and Teng Yin, while his younger brother Sun Feng had killed himself because he knew of Teng Yin and Lü Ju's earlier plans. Sun Chen sent General Who Guards the South Zhu Yi from Hulin to attack Xiakou, forcing Sun Yi to flee to Wei with more than one thousand members of his household and following. Wu then appointed Zhu Yi Chief Commander with imperial credential and sent him with thirty thousand men to Anfeng. Zhou Tai, Inspector of Yanzhou for Wei, defeated Zhu Yi and inflicted around two thousand casualties.
Sun Chen personally led a large army to Huoli and again ordered Zhu Yi to attack. Zhu Yi camped at Lijiang and sent Ren Du, Zhang Zhen, and others to recruit six thousand courageous men. They built a floating bridge and crossed the Huai River at night, intending to construct a crescent-shaped fortified position. Wei commanders Shi Bao and Zhou Tai detected and defeated them. Zhu Yi next built siege vehicles to press Wumu City but was again defeated. At the same time, Hu Lie, Administrator of Taishan for Wei, led five thousand picked troops by a side route to Dulu, where Wu's supplies were stored, and burned Zhu Yi's military equipment and provisions.
Sun Chen then sent another thirty thousand men and ordered Zhu Yi to fight the Wei army to the death. Zhu Yi refused. Enraged, Sun Chen summoned him. Lu Kang, then serving with Zhu Yi, tried to stop him from going, but Zhu Yi replied that Zitong was a member of his own family and that there was no reason for suspicion. He went anyway. Sun Chen immediately ordered strongmen to seize Zhu Yi from his seat. Zhu Yi protested that he was a loyal minister of Wu and asked what crime he had committed. Sun Chen ordered him killed. He then sent his younger brother Sun En to continue the relief effort while he himself withdrew to Jianye. When the defenders of Shouchun learned that Sun Chen had withdrawn, morale declined. The following spring the city fell and Zhuge Dan was killed while attempting to break out. Sun Chen had failed to save Zhuge Dan and had executed one of Wu's important generals, causing widespread resentment. Zhu Ji, who guarded Wu's western frontier, even feared that Sun Chen's continued rule would alienate senior officials and plunge Wu into disorder, allowing Wei to exploit the situation; he therefore secretly contacted Shu Han and urged it to prepare for the possibility of absorbing Wu.
Deposing Sun Liang and Dominating the Court
After Sun Chen returned to Jianye, Emperor Sun Liang had begun to exercise personal rule and questioned him about the failed relief campaign and the killing of Zhu Yi. Fearing action against himself, Sun Chen claimed illness and stopped attending court. He built a residence south of Zhuque Bridge and placed his brothers in positions commanding the palace and garrison forces: Sun Ju was responsible for guarding the Azure Dragon Gate, Sun En served as General of the Military Guard, Sun Gan as a subordinate general, and Sun Kai as Commandant of the Changshui Cavalry. These arrangements strengthened Sun Chen's control over the government and protected him from the emperor.
In 258 Sun Liang became increasingly angry at Sun Chen's insubordination and reopened the question of the killing of his third elder sister, Princess Zhu Sun Luyu. Princess Quan Sun Luban shifted responsibility to Zhu Xiong and Zhu Sun, sons of Zhu Ju, and Sun Liang angrily ordered them punished for failing to prevent the earlier killing of Sun Luyu. Sun Chen memorialized in their defense, but Sun Liang rejected the plea and sent Left General Ding Feng to execute Zhu Xiong and Zhu Sun. Zhu Sun's wife was Sun Jun's younger sister, further increasing Sun Chen's fear of the emperor.
Sun Liang then conspired with Princess Sun Luban, Grand Ceremonial Minister Quan Shang, and General Liu Cheng to kill Sun Chen. Empress Quan, Sun Liang's wife, was the daughter of a female cousin of Sun Chen and secretly informed him. Sun Chen led men in a night attack on Quan Shang, sent his brother Sun En to kill Liu Cheng outside the Azure Dragon Gate, and surrounded the imperial palace. He ordered Guanglu Minister Meng Zong to report at the ancestral temple that Sun Liang was to be deposed and assembled the officials for deliberation. The court was terrified and no one dared openly resist. Sun Chen sent Secretariat Gentleman Li Chong to seize Sun Liang's imperial seals and credentials and announced the emperor's alleged offenses throughout the realm. Minister of State Huan Yi refused to sign and was killed. Shi Zheng advised Sun Chen to enthrone Sun Xiu, Prince of Langya. Sun Chen accepted, sent Sun Kai of the imperial clan with a letter to summon Sun Xiu, and ordered General Sun Dan to escort Sun Liang to Kuaiji. Quan Shang was exiled to Lingling and Princess Sun Luban was moved to Yuzhang.
After Sun Xiu took the throne, Sun Chen submitted a memorial styling himself a humble minister from the grass and fields as a display of loyalty. Sun Xiu appointed him chief councillor and Governor of Jingzhou and made Sun En Palace Attendant with authority to share government business. Sun Chen and four of his brothers were all enfeoffed and controlled guard forces. The source describes their power as exceeding that of the emperor and without precedent in Wu. Sun Chen also burned the temple of Wu Zixu, damaged local shrines, and executed Daoist priests, actions described in the source as showing disregard for popular religious practices.
Downfall and Execution
On one occasion Sun Chen presented wine to Sun Xiu, who declined it. Sun Chen complained resentfully. Left General Zhang Bu reported the remarks to the emperor. Although Sun Xiu disliked Sun Chen, he feared provoking him and therefore handed the informer over to Sun Chen and further appointed Sun En as Palace Attendant to share government affairs with his brother. Sun Chen then requested permission to leave the capital and take command at Wuchang, which Sun Xiu initially granted. Officials Wei Miao and Shi Shuo warned the emperor that Sun Chen would inevitably rebel. Sun Xiu concluded that once Sun Chen reached Wuchang he might establish an armed separatist base, and secretly asked Zhang Bu for a solution. Zhang Bu and Ding Feng planned to kill Sun Chen at a banquet.
Sun Chen claimed illness and did not wish to attend, but Sun Xiu sent more than ten messengers to summon him, forcing him to go. His followers tried to stop him. Sun Chen ordered them to set fire to his residence during the banquet so he could use the emergency as a reason to leave early. Soon after the feast began, the residence caught fire as planned. Sun Chen rose to depart, but Sun Xiu urged him to remain. When Sun Chen continued to leave, Ding Feng and Zhang Bu seized and bound him from either side.
Sun Chen kowtowed and begged Sun Xiu to exile him to Jiaozhou. Sun Xiu replied by asking why Sun Chen had not exiled Teng Yin and Lü Ju rather than killing them. Sun Chen then asked to become an official slave. Sun Xiu answered that he now had the opportunity to become a slave to Teng Yin and Lü Ju. Sun Xiu ordered his execution and the extermination of his three clans. Sun Chen was twenty-eight. The emperor displayed his head and announced amnesty for those who had conspired with him; five thousand men are said to have laid down their weapons.
Ashamed to share a clan designation with Sun Jun and Sun Chen, Sun Xiu removed their branch from the imperial clan register and referred to them as “the former Jun” and “the former Chen.” He also issued an edict declaring that Zhuge Ke, Teng Yin, and Lü Ju had originally been innocent and had been harmed by Sun Jun and Sun Chen, ordering that they be reburied and sacrificed to and that people exiled through association with them be allowed to return.
Sun Lin came of the Wu imperial clan, a descendant of Sun Jing, younger brother of Sun Jian: of Sun Jing's five sons, Sun Hao begot Sun Chuo and Sun Gong, Sun Chuo begot Sun Lin and Sun Gong begot Sun Jun, the two being cousins. On 19 October 256 Sun Jun, on campaign against the Wei, died on the march and entrusted affairs to Sun Lin, then only twenty-six.
The court made Sun Lin palace attendant and general of the Wu guard, commander of all military affairs within and without, acting in charge of the government and inheriting Sun Jun's supreme power, and recalled the armies from the front. In power he killed such ministers as Teng Yin, Lü Ju and Wang Dun and in 258 deposed the emperor Sun Liang, raising instead the Prince of Langya, Sun Xiu, his domination and killings provoking general resentment at court.
Sun Xiu treated him with outward honor while plotting his removal with Zhang Bu and Ding Feng. On the day of the winter sacrifice at the end of 258, the emperor held a banquet in the palace and had Sun Lin seized and killed there together with his clan to the third degree; he was then twenty-eight. After Sun Quan's death the state was ruled in turn by powerful ministers — Zhuge Ke, Sun Jun and Sun Lin among them — their rise and fall forming the basic line of Wu's later politics, of which Sun Lin's destruction is one representative scene.
The succession of powerful ministers and imperial depositions ran together in late Wu: after Sun Quan's death Zhuge Ke, Sun Jun and Sun Lin held power in turn, Sun Liang was deposed and Sun Xiu raised, the strife steadily draining the state. Sun Lin held power little more than two years, his swift destruction showing how shallow the roots of a clansman-minister were in Wu politics.
The manner of his killing closely resembles Zhuge Ke's, the new ruler setting an ambush at a banquet — late Wu palace politics thus showing a repeated pattern: a powerful minister rules, the emperor plots, the minister is killed, and the court falls into disorder again.
He undertook campaigns abroad while in power, mostly without result, his military capacity seeming slight beside his political skill.
After his destruction Sun Xiu set about restoring order and Wu enjoyed a period of comparative stability until the decline that set in under Sun Hao.
The relation of clan and powerful minister in late Wu was tangled: Sun Jun and Sun Lin, both of the imperial house, drew their power from clan status and from control of the guards, a double source that left them at once close to and dangerous for the emperor, so that as soon as imperial authority recovered a little they were swiftly removed.
His killing is recorded in the Wu clan biographies and the annals of Sun Xiu in the *Records of the Three Kingdoms*, the ambush at the banquet giving it drama enough that later historians and novelists have often drawn on it.
The Wu imperial clan had been a local power in Jiangdong since the end of the Western Han, and after the Sun house founded the state its members held key military and civil posts — an arrangement both a pillar of the state and a source of its later disorders.
He tried during his ascendancy to build prestige through foreign campaigns, his deposing and installing of emperors an extension of that aim, but the state's strength and internal conflicts made it unattainable.
He and Sun Jun came of a cadet branch of the Sun clan, their power resting on the palace guards rather than on provincial bases, so that as soon as the emperor regained control of the armed forces at court their position collapsed at once.
After his fall the government was somewhat restored under Sun Xiu, and relations between the clan and the ministers eased for a time.
His career is recorded in the *Records of the Three Kingdoms* in a joint biography with his cousin Sun Jun, the two often named together as successive cases of the powerful-minister politics of late Wu.
Wu's politics worsened further under Sun Hao after his time, casualties among clan and ministers continuing until the Western Jin destroyed the state in 280.
Wu's political structure in its later years differed greatly from its founding: under Sun Quan the Jiangdong gentry and the Huai-Si group coexisted, whereas later the clan, consort kin and powerful ministers grew stronger, the court's working depending more on personal contests.
The manner of his killing is told at some length in the *Comprehensive Mirror* as well, to be read together with the *Records of the Three Kingdoms*.
After Sun Lin no long-ruling powerful minister emerged from Wu's clan, the political focus shifting to the relations between Sun Hao and his favorites until the Western Jin's wars of unification ended the state.
His cousin Sun Jun had already set the precedent of killing ministers while in power, and Sun Lin followed it — a continuity showing that the turbulence of Wu's court in this phase was no accident.
After his death military command returned to officers trusted by the emperor, and the scale of Wu's foreign campaigns shrank markedly, the state passing to the defensive.
His career also appears in such local histories as the *Veritable Record of Jiankang*, whose details supplement the standard histories.
Members of his family were largely implicated after his fall, that branch of the Sun clan declining from then on.
From his assumption of power to his death was little more than two years, both his rise and his fall exceptionally swift — an unusual case among the powerful ministers of the Three Kingdoms period.
His domination and his killing give later discussions of powerful ministers and imperial authority a case both brief and complete in its plot.
His career is also often used to illustrate the part played by commanders of the palace guards in the changes of regime during the Three Kingdoms period.
His career shares a biography with his cousin Sun Jun in the *Records of the Three Kingdoms*, the two men's dominations answering each other.
His line was a comparatively distant one in the Wu clan genealogy, his position coming chiefly from Sun Jun's bequest rather than from family standing.
After his destruction Zhang Bu and Ding Feng were rewarded for their service and Sun Xiu reigned several years, Wu enjoying a comparatively settled stretch before Sun Hao's accession.
Clan politics in Wu entered a peculiar phase after Sun Quan: with the emperors young or lacking prestige, clan, consort kin and powerful ministers ruled in turn, Sun Lin's killing interrupting the pattern for a time.
His cousin Sun Jun's bequest of affairs to him was itself hasty, one reason Sun Lin gained power so quickly and lost it as quickly.
He was only twenty-eight when killed, his tenure brief, his career appearing in accounts of late Wu politics mostly as a negative example.
His brothers Sun Ju and Sun En also held office at court and were killed with him.
After Sun Quan the imperial clan became a source of instability in Wu, a lesson later writers on the state's fall have noted.
In later historical writing his name generally stands beside Sun Jun's as two successive cases of clan domination in the same period.
From Sun Quan's death to Sun Hao's accession Wu's politics lurched back and forth for more than thirty years, the contests among powerful ministers, clan and emperor making up the substance of its later history.
In the two years of his domination war with Wei largely ceased, the court turning its energies to internal power consolidation.
No significant institutional or economic measures are recorded of his tenure, the histories treating him chiefly in terms of appointments and power struggles.
After his killing the government was conducted by Sun Xiu's confidants and the older ministers until Sun Hao took the throne.
His career, joined with those of Zhuge Ke and Sun Jun, sketches the basic outline of late Wu politics.
His campaigns and appointments while in power were mostly tied to his own hold on authority.
His end was among the grimmer ones for a member of the Wu imperial clan.
His name is generally linked in later use with the words powerful minister.
His career offers a concrete case for the study of the relation between the imperial clan and the throne in the Three Kingdoms period.