The Young Lord Who Founded the Jiangdong Domain
Sun Quan’s elder brother and the true founder of the Jiangdong base. After his father Sun Jian fell in battle, he pawned the imperial seal to borrow troops from Yuan Shu and, in a few short years, swept across the six commanderies of Jiangdong — fierce, decisive, and swift, earning the name "the Little Conqueror." But at twenty-six he died of an assassin’s wound, entrusting the domain to his brother Sun Quan with the finest of self-assessments: "in leading the host of Jiangdong to decide the moment between two battle lines and contend with the realm, you are not my equal; but in raising the worthy and employing the able, each to his utmost, to hold Jiangdong, I am not yours."
Sun Ce pawned the imperial seal his father Sun Jian had left him to borrow three thousand troops from Yuan Shu, and from there began his conquest of Jiangdong. In a few short years he defeated the local powers of Liu Yao, Wang Lang, Yan Baihu and others, taking the commanderies of Wu, Kuaiji, and more, and laying the foundation of the Sun regime. So swift was he that even his enemies called him a "mad dog" — that is, too fierce to withstand.
Fierce but rash, Sun Ce loved to ride out hunting alone. On one such hunt he was ambushed by assassins, gravely wounded in the face by an arrow, and soon died of the poison, aged only twenty-six. On his deathbed he handed his seal to his brother Sun Quan, with the charge: "for matters within, consult Zhang Zhao; for matters without, consult Zhou Yu" — and so the Jiangdong domain passed through a hasty but successful transfer of power.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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