Sun Teng

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Sun Teng, courtesy name Longque, came from Shi'an County in Xianyang Commandery. His grandfather Sun Tong initially served the Juqu rulers of Northern Liang as Secretariat Drafter. After Northern Liang fell, Sun Tong submitted to Northern Wei and settled in the northern frontier region. After Sun Teng rose to wealth and rank, the Northern Wei court posthumously granted Sun Tong the offices of Bearer of Credentials, Palace Attendant, Commander of Military Affairs in Yong, Hua, Qi, and Bin provinces, General of Agile Cavalry, Minister of Education, Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, and Governor of Yong Province. Sun Teng's father Sun Ji was posthumously granted the offices of Bearer of Credentials, Palace Attendant, Commander of Military Affairs in Ji, Ding, Cang, Ying, and Yin provinces, Grand Commandant, Prefect of the Masters of Writing, and Governor of Ji Province.

As a young man, Sun Teng was plain and straightforward and understood administrative affairs. During the Zhengguang era of Northern Wei, from 520 to 525, the Six Garrisons Rebellion threw the north into turmoil. Sun Teng crossed frontier passes at great risk and reached Xiurong. When Erzhu Rong raised troops, Sun Teng followed him into Luoyang and, in due course, was promoted to Retinue Vice Director.

Following Gao Huan

Before long Sun Teng became chief clerk in Gao Huan's command headquarters and followed Gao Huan east against Xing Gao. When the army was encamped at Qi City, soldiers of Fuyi Garrison plotted a mutiny to kill their commanders. Sun Teng learned of the plan and hurried to report it to Gao Huan. The mutiny soon erupted, but because Gao Huan had prepared in advance the conspirators were captured. When the court appointed Gao Huan Governor of Jin Province, Sun Teng served as his chief clerk, received the additional title Rear General, and was enfeoffed as Earl of Shi'an County.

Gao Huan departed Jinyang, passed through Fukou, and reached Xiangyuan, with Erzhu Zhao pursuing from behind. Gao Huan and Erzhu Zhao held a banquet by the water and swore brotherhood, then each returned to his camp. Early the next morning Erzhu Zhao summoned Gao Huan again. Gao Huan wished to reassure him and intended to go, but before he mounted his horse Sun Teng pulled at his robe and urged him not to. Erzhu Zhao then cursed at Gao Huan from across the water and rode back to Jinyang, while Gao Huan led his troops eastward.

The Xindu Uprising and the Enthronement of Yuan Lang

When Gao Huan rose at Xindu, Sun Teng participated sincerely and often took part in planning major affairs. He argued that, because the court was cut off and could issue no orders to them, it would be better to establish someone provisionally as emperor, otherwise popular support would scatter. He repeatedly urged this course on Gao Huan, who accepted it, and Yuan Lang was enthroned. Sun Teng was appointed Palace Attendant and soon additionally made Bearer of Credentials, Grand Commander of Refugees from Six Provinces, and Northern Circuit Grand Administrator.

When Gao Huan advanced toward Ye, he initially left Duan Rong to guard Xindu. Duan Rong was soon reassigned to Zhongshan, and Sun Teng was left to defend Xindu. After Ye was captured, Sun Teng was appointed Governor of Xiang Province, re-enfeoffed as Duke of Xianyang Commandery, and given an increase in fief bringing the total to 1,300 households. He later entered court and served as Palace Attendant.

Dispute with Feng Longzhi

At the time, Princess Pingyuan, daughter of Yuan Yu, Prince of Jingzhao under Northern Wei, was widowed. Sun Teng wished to marry her but was rejected. Feng Longzhi, then a Palace Attendant, had no wife, and Princess Pingyuan wished to marry him. Sun Teng therefore became jealous of Feng Longzhi, and their conflict grew severe. Gao Huan memorialized Emperor Xiaojing asking that Sun Teng be removed from a court post and appointed to an external office, but Sun Teng was soon restored to his original position.

One of the Four Nobles of Eastern Wei

Sun Teng was a trusted confidant of Gao Huan and served in his inner circle, sharing confidential affairs with Husi Chun and others. Husi Chun had already developed disloyal intentions, and relations between the two men were consistently strained. Sun Teng found himself under deep suspicion and sensed that disaster was approaching, so he secretly rode to Jinyang with a little more than ten horsemen. When Gao Huan led an army against Husi Chun, he left Sun Teng to act as Governor of Bing Province and later appointed him Vice Director of the Regional Administration for Ji, Xiang, Yin, Ding, Cang, Ying, You, and An provinces, acting Governor of Ji Province, and again acting Governor of Xiang Province.

In 534, the first year of the Tianping era, Eastern Wei was established. Sun Teng entered court as Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and presided over all major internal and external affairs. He was then promoted to Minister of Works and Prefect of the Masters of Writing. When Western Wei sent a commander to raid Southern Yan Province, the court ordered Sun Teng to serve as Southern Circuit Grand Administrator and command the generals sent against the enemy. Sun Teng was timid and lacked military authority and strategic ability; he was defeated and returned, after which he was reassigned as Minister of Education.

Sun Teng, Gao Yue, Gao Longzhi, and Sima Ziru were known collectively as the “Four Nobles.” At Ye they acted arbitrarily and unlawfully, with Sun Teng described as the worst offender. Gao Huan repeatedly rebuked and admonished him, but Sun Teng failed to restrain himself and was widely mocked by officials and society.

Searching for His Daughter and Loss of Office

When warfare first erupted on the northern frontier, Sun Teng lost a daughter. After he became wealthy and powerful, he sent people everywhere to search for her but found no trace, and he suspected that she had become someone else's slave. While serving as Minister of Education, whenever a slave petitioned to be recognized as a free commoner, Sun Teng approved the request without investigating whether it was true, hoping that by freeing more people he might find his own daughter among them. When Gao Huan entered court, someone reported this to him. Gao Huan became extremely angry and removed Sun Teng from the office of Minister of Education.

Later Years and Death

During the Wuding era, from 543 to 550, Sun Teng was sent on a mission to Qing Province to register households that had fled official registration. After returning to court, he was promoted to Grand Protector. In the fourth month of 548, the sixth year of Wuding, Sun Teng died at the age of sixty-eight. The court posthumously granted him the titles Bearer of Credentials, Commander of Military Affairs in five provinces including Ji and Ding, Governor of Ji Province, Grand Preceptor, Director of the Secretariat, and Supervisor of the Affairs of the Secretariat, with the posthumous title Wen.

In the early Tianbao era of Northern Qi, Emperor Wenxuan Gao Yang, citing Sun Teng's service in assisting the founding of the regime, ordered sacrifices to be made at his tomb. During the Huangjian era, from 560 to 561, Sun Teng was enshrined in the temple of Gao Huan, Emperor Gaozu of Northern Qi.

Major Activities

Founding Merit

Sun Teng was one of Gao Huan's most important early advisers. During the Xindu uprising, he strongly advocated enthroning Yuan Lang as emperor, stabilizing support by giving the army a political center. After Ye was captured, Sun Teng served as Governor of Xiang Province and guarded the strategic region. When Gao Huan moved against Husi Chun, Sun Teng acted as Governor of Bing Province and then as Vice Director of the Regional Administration for eight provinces, overseeing military and civil affairs in the rear. After Eastern Wei was established, he entered court as Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and presided over major internal and external affairs, becoming one of Gao Huan's core confidants at court.

Political Activities

Under Eastern Wei, Sun Teng successively served as Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, Minister of Works, Minister of Education, and Grand Protector, and ranked among the foremost of the “Four Nobles.” Early in the Tianping era, he led troops against Western Wei but returned after defeat attributed in the source to his timidity. During the Wuding era, he was sent to Qing Province to register fugitive households.

Travels and Movements

Sun Teng traveled from Xianyang to Xiurong in his early years to join Erzhu Rong and later followed Erzhu Rong into Luoyang. After Gao Huan raised troops, Sun Teng accompanied him from Jinyang through Fukou to Xiangyuan, then east to Xindu and on to the campaign that captured Ye. During Gao Huan's campaign against Husi Chun, Sun Teng successively acted in Bing, Ji, and Xiang provinces.

Relations with Contemporaries

Sun Teng's closest political relationship was with Gao Huan, whose confidant he became. He quarreled with Feng Longzhi over an attempt to marry Princess Pingyuan, and the two attacked one another politically. He shared confidential affairs with Husi Chun but became estranged when Husi Chun developed disloyal intentions. Together with Gao Yue, Gao Longzhi, and Sima Ziru, he was known as one of the “Four Nobles.”

Personal Relations

Family

• Grandfather: Sun Tong, Secretariat Drafter under Northern Liang; after entering Northern Wei he settled on the northern frontier and was posthumously granted Minister of Education and Governor of Yong Province
• Father: Sun Ji, posthumously granted Grand Commandant, Prefect of the Masters of Writing, and Governor of Ji Province
• Wife: Lady Yuan, of the Runan Yuan clan, mother of one daughter
• Wife: Lady Jia, a native of Wuwei; originally an adopted daughter of Cui Xiaofen, later Sun Teng's concubine; after Lady Yuan died she was elevated to principal wife and granted the title Lady of Danyang Commandery
• Son: Sun Fengzhen, who inherited the title Duke of Xianyang Commandery, rose to the rank of Kaifu Yitong Sansi, and died during the Wuping era
• Daughter: Lady Sun, born to Lady Yuan

Ruler–Subject Relations

• Gao Huan: Sun Teng attached himself to him early, participated in planning after the Xindu uprising, and enjoyed deep trust; Gao Huan removed him from the post of Minister of Education because of the affair involving his search for his daughter, but later employed him again
• Gao Yang: in the early Tianbao era ordered sacrifices at Sun Teng's tomb because of his founding merit
• Yuan Lang: enthroned largely at Sun Teng's strong urging

Conflicts

• Feng Longzhi: became an enemy over the attempted marriage to Princess Pingyuan; the two attacked one another politically
• Husi Chun: shared confidential affairs with Sun Teng but became estranged after Husi Chun developed disloyal intentions; Sun Teng fled to Jinyang after coming under suspicion

Colleagues

• Gao Yue, Gao Longzhi, Sima Ziru: together known with Sun Teng as the “Four Nobles”

Historical Assessment

Northern Qi / Contemporary

• Li Baiyao, author of the Book of Northern Qi: “Teng attached himself early to Gaozu and shared hardship and danger with him. He was diligent, forceful, respectful, and cautious, and was deeply trusted. After Gaozu placed him in the Wei court and entrusted him as a confidant, his ambitions and arrogance swelled. He determined grants and deprivations himself, sought bribes and wealth, and knew no limit.”
• The Book of Northern Qi also states: “At Ye, together with Gao Yue, Gao Longzhi, and Sima Ziru, he was known as one of the Four Nobles. They acted illegally and arbitrarily, and Teng was the worst of them.”
• Gao Huan “repeatedly reproached and admonished him, yet he never reformed,” illustrating, in the source's interpretation, the depth of his arrogance.

Tang Period

• Li Yanshou's History of the Northern Dynasties included Sun Teng in its biographies and broadly followed the assessment in the Book of Northern Qi, describing him as “plain and straightforward in youth and well versed in administrative affairs,” while also recording that “his nature was forceful and perceptive and he possessed tactical ability.”
• Tang historians generally presented Sun Teng as a figure of both merit and fault: diligent and useful early in his career, but arrogant and extravagant later.

Song and Yuan Periods

• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records Sun Teng's career without offering a dedicated assessment, but lists him together with Gao Yue, Gao Longzhi, and Sima Ziru as the “Four Nobles” who acted arbitrarily.
• In his annotations to the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, Hu Sansheng gave a favorable assessment of the episode in which Sun Teng pulled Gao Huan's robe to stop him from meeting Erzhu Zhao, regarding it as evidence of foresight.

Modern Period

• Lü Simian's History of the Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties mentions Sun Teng as one of Eastern Wei's powerful nobles and describes him as “arrogant and domineering.”
• Modern scholars commonly discuss Sun Teng as one of the Eastern Wei “Four Nobles” and often use him as an example when examining tensions between Xianbei military elites and Han Chinese aristocratic clans in the Northern Qi political order.