#sun hao

[the-archlich]

The Two Emperors

In which I talk about the events of the years 264-268, when Sima Yan and Sun Hao established themselves.

Our first article will be about the first part of Sima Yan’s reign, since this is when a lot of factors that impacted the War of the Princes put down their roots. Some of this should be familiar to long-time readers, since we’ll be talking a bit about the wars between Jin and Wu and the efforts made by Sun Hao and Sima Yan to establish their personal authority.

We’ll begin our account in the…

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[jeanpascalmattei]

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106170379069349876855/posts/WaTh4Az4z89

[the-archlich]

That time Sun Hao tortured a man to death because he had the audacity to have a stroke.

Wu's Prefect of the Palace Secretariat, He Shao, suffered a stroke. He could no longer speak, and he left his office for several months. Sun Hao suspected that He Shao was faking his affliction, so he arrested He Shao, forced wine upon him, and had him interrogated more than a thousand times. He Shao perished without saying a word. Sun Hao then had his head cut off with a heated saw, and he exiled his family to Linhai. 

[fuyonggu]

ZZTJ Book 81 (280-288)

The conquest of Wu and the end of the Three Kingdoms; the fragile peace of the Taikang era.

[the-archlich]

Whenever Sun Hao held a banquet for his ministers, he always commanded them to become drunk. He also appointed ten of his Gentlemen of the Yellow Gate as Rectors; after each banquet was over, they would record the names of those who had committed errors or faults, anyone who had cast a disobedient glance or said a stray remark, or anyone who seemed to be hiding something. The greater of these offenders were lead out to execution, while the lesser offenders were registered as criminals. Some had their faces peeled off, and some had their eyes gouged out with chisels. Because of this, everyone became alienated from one another, and no one performed to their utmost.

[fuyonggu]

ZZTJ Book 80 (273-279)

The last years of Wu; rumblings on the border; the Conquest of Wu gets underway.

[the-archlich]

So Yuan Shu genuinely cared about that one lady who sadly got murdered by his concubines, right? Are there any other acts of kindness we know of for other traditional monsters like Dong Zhuo, Ma Chao, Zhang Fei or Gan Ning? Barring things like rescuing comrades, since you'd be expected to do so.

That story is a lot less sweet when you remember that Yuan Shu already had a wife and at least two kids.

There’s nothing similar for Dong Zhuo or those others, but there is something comparable from Sun Hao.

Sun Hao heard that Zhang Bu (who he recently killed) had a very attractive daughter. Sun Hao sought her out, but she insulted him, so he had her beaten to death. Sun Hao later learned that the woman had a sister, who war married to Feng Chun (a minor official). Zhang Bu had Feng Chun’s wife kidnapped and brought to the palace. He lavished her with gifts and adoration. She did not live for long, though and Sun Hao’s funeral for her was so lavish that rumors spread saying Sun Hao himself had died.

[the-archlich]

So Sun Hao killed Zhang Bu, beat his daughter to death, then kidnapped his other daughter? Was he insane?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s another excerpt from the Jiāngbiǎo Zhuàn:

[Sun] Hao further sent keepers of the Yellow Gates to travel throughout the provinces and commanderies and to rank and select girls from the households of military and civil officials. Those who were the offspring of ministers and officials with ranks of two thousand bushels of grain should yearly state their names. Those aged fifteen or sixteen were uniformly examined, and those who did not pass the examination were permitted to marry. The women in the inner apartments numbered over a thousand, but still the selection did not cease.

In other words: Sun Hao sent his men around the country to judge the daughters of his officials. When the daughter of an important official turned 15, she was examined. If she was deemed beautiful enough for the harem, she was sent to Sun Hao; otherwise she was allowed to marry as usual. Over 1,000 women were abducted in this manner.

Sun Hao was truly the worst of the worst. Not even Dong Zhuo was as bad as him.