Records of the Three Kingdoms
Sun Quan, courtesy name Zhongmou, was from Fuchun in Wu commandery, son of Sun Jian and younger brother of Sun Ce. After Sun Ce was assassinated, Sun Quan inherited Jiangdong young. Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu assisted him. Cao Cao made him a general and governor of Kuaiji.
In 208 Cao Cao wrote that he would hunt with the general in Wu. Zhang Zhao and others argued to surrender. Sun Quan chose to fight, named Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu the left and right commanders, joined Liu Bei, and defeated Cao Cao at Red Cliffs. After that he and Liu Bei were allies and rivals over Jing. In 219 Lü Meng took Nanjun, Guan Yu was killed, and the alliance broke. After Yiling, Sun Quan and the Shu of Zhuge Liang’s regency made peace again.
In 221 Cao Pi enfeoffed him as king of Wu. In 229 he took the imperial title and set the capital at Jianye. He held power longer than the years in which Cao Cao and Liu Bei were kings or emperors. Late in life the harem and the heir quarrelled. Lu Xun died under the pressure of that quarrel. Chen Shou says Sun Quan could bend, bear humiliation, and use talent and plans, with something of King Goujian in him, and he also blames the suspicion of the last years. Wu fell in 280, twenty-eight years after Sun Quan’s death.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In the novel Sun Quan often sits in court, hears Zhang Zhao argue for surrender and Zhou Yu for war, and cuts the desk with his sword. Green eyes and a purple beard are the looks the book gives him.
He offers Liu Bei a wife, and inside Zhou Yu’s plan he means to hold him. The Jing thread runs from Lu Su’s loan of the land to Lü Meng’s crossing in white. After the imperial title the novel speeds up and makes Sun Quan’s last years a passage toward Zhuge Ke, Sun Jun, and Sun Hao.
Reference: Wikipedia · Sun Quan