Lu Xun

Sun's submission to Cao Wei does not last long, however.

After Sun's forces, under the command of Lu Xun, defeat Liu Bei's forces in 222, Sun begins to distance himself from Cao Wei.

When Cao demands that Sun send his heir Sun Deng to Luoyang as hostage, Sun refuses and formal relations break down.

Cao personally leads an expedition against Sun, and in response, Sun declares independence from Cao Wei, establishing Eastern Wu.

By this time, having defeated Liu, Eastern Wu's forces enjoy high morale and effective leadership from Sun, Lu, and a number of other capable generals.

The Wu administration is known for its efficiency early in the reign of Sun Quan, who displays a knack for listening to correct advice and for delegating authorities to the proper individuals.

For example, he correctly trusts the faithful Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin, so much so that he makes a duplicate imperial seal and leaves it with Lu Xun; whenever he corresponds with Shu's emperor Liu Shan or regent Zhuge Liang, he delivers the letter to Lu Xun first (as Lu's post is near the Shu border), and then if, in Lu's opinion, changes are needed, Lu revises the letter and then restamps it with Sun's imperial seal.

Further, Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin are authorized to coordinate their actions with Shu without prior imperial approval.

Sun Quan treats his high level officials as friends and addresses them accordingly (with style names), and in accordance they dedicate all effort to Wu's preservation.

He also knows the proper roles for officials that he trusts; for example, in 225, when selecting a chancellor, while the key officials all respect Zhang Zhao greatly and want him to be chancellor, Sun Quan declines, reasoning that while he respects Zhang greatly, a chancellor needs to handle all affairs of state, and Zhang, while capable, has such strong opinions that he will surely be in conflict with Sun Quan and other officials at all times.

He also repeatedly promotes his official Lü Fan even though, while he was young, Lü Fan had informed on Quan to his father Sun Ce about his improper spending habits, understanding that Lü did so only out of loyalty to Sun Ce.

In 224 and 225, Cao Pi again makes attacks on Wu, but each time the Wu forces are able to repel Wei's with relative ease—so easily that Cao Pi makes the comment, "Heaven created the Yangtze to divide the north and south."

Sun Quan himself is, however, equally unsuccessful in efforts to make major attacks on Wei.

After Cao Pi's death in 226, for example, Sun Quan launches an attack on Wei's Jiangxia prefecture (in present-day Xiaogan, Hubei) but is forced to withdraw as soon as Wei reinforcements arrive.

The one major victory that Wu has over Wei during this period comes in 228, when, with Sun Quan's approval, his general Zhou Fang pretends to surrender to Wei after pretending to have been punished repeatedly by Sun Quan.

This gambit deceives the Wei general Cao Xiu, who leads a large army south to support Zhou Fang.

According to legend, Cao Xiu did not believe Zhou Fang at first.

Zhou Fang cut off his famous locks of hair to prove his "loyalty".

In any case, Zhou Fang knew the territory, so he started to lead Cao Xiu into a clearing, where Cao could set up camp.

However, before they left, Cao Xiu had been advised not to trust Zhou Fang by one of his advisers, Jia Kui.

Cao Xiu had not heeded his words; however, and had not only bought Zhou Fang's ploy, but removed Jia Kui from the campaign and decided to march with seventy thousand troops.

On the way to the designated camping area, Cao Xiu is ambushed as planned.

Unable to gain the upper hand in battle, he thus retreats to make camp at Shiting (present-day Qianshan County, Anhui).

However, the camp is disturbed in the middle of night, and the soldiers run away in disarray.

Many sets of armor and carts of supplies are abandoned.

Cao Xiu sends in a memorial acknowledging his fault.

Many of his men are killed.

When he looks around for Zhou Fang, Zhou is nowhere to be found; he now realizes knew he had been duped.

Too ashamed to turn back, and believing that he has more troops and supplies than the enemy, he chooses to engage Lu Xun's army.

Lu Xun personally leads the central force and orders Zhu Huan and Quan Cong to take the left and right flanks.

The three armies advance simultaneously, and decisively take on Cao Xiu's ambushing troops.

Following that, the Wu troops pursue the fleeing Cao army until they reach Jiashi, where they annihilate some ten thousand men and win over ten thousand spoils of war; in addition, all of the Wei army's equipment and weaponry are looted.

Lu Xun regroups his men; and when he passes by Wuchang, Sun Quan instructs his attendants to shield Lu Xun with his own canopy when entering and leaving the palace doors.

Sun Quan bestows upon Lu Xun as reward precious items of the finest grade, honors received by no one else in this era.

Cao Xiu had barely escaped the battlefield with his life; he will die a few months later of an ulcer on his back, even after having been pardoned by the Emperor of Wei, Cao Rui.

Jia Kui, who had come along with Cao Xiu, had helped Cao retreat from the ambush.

For this, Jia Kui is highly praised by Cao Rui himself, and given many promotions.

He will live the last years of his life in happiness.

Sun Quan declares himself emperor in 229, an act that almost damages the alliance with Shu, as many Shu officials see this as a sign of betrayal of the Han Dynasty—to which Shu claims to be the legitimate successor.

However, Zhuge Liang opposes ending the alliance and in fact confirms it with a formal treaty later this year, in which the two states pledge to support each other and divide Wei equally if they can conquer it.

Later this year, he moves his capital from Wuchang (in present-day Ezhou, Hubei) to …

…Jianye, leaving his crown prince Sun Deng, assisted by Lu Xun, in charge of the western empire.

The first sign of the deterioration of Sun Quan's reign occurs in 230, when he sends his generals Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi with a navy of ten thousand into the East China Sea to seek the legendary islands of Yizhou and Danzhou to seek to conquer them, despite the strenuous opposition of Lu Xun and Quan Cong.

The Wu navy is not able to locate Danzhou but locates Yizhou (Taiwan), and returns in 231 after capturing several thousand men—but only after eighty to ninety percent of the navy has died from illness.

Instead of seeing his own fault in this venture, Sun Quan simply executes Wei Wen and Zhuge Zhi.

Gongsun Yuan's repeated communication with and sales of horses to Eastern Wu angers Cao Rui, who in 232 orders his generals Tian Yu and Wang Xiong to attack Liaodong against the advice of Jiang Ji; the attacks are unsuccessful, although Tian is able to intercept the Eastern Wu horse-buying fleet and destroy it.

After the incident, although Gongsun formally maintains vassalage to Cao Wei, the relationship is damaged.

Sun Quan’s eldest son, Sun Deng, perhaps concerned about the apparent deterioration in the emperor’s judgment, leaves the western empire in Lu Xun's hands in 232 and returns to Jianye, where he will remain until his own death in 241.

In 232, Sun Quan has another misadventure involving his navy—as he sends his generals Zhou He and Pei Qian to the nominal Wei vassal Gongsun Yuan, in control of Liaodong prefecture (present-day central Liaoning), to purchase horses, against the advice of Yu Fan—and indeed, he exiles Yu Fan to the desolate Cangwu prefecture (roughly modern Wuzhou, Guangxi) as punishment.

Just as Yu Fan had predicted, however, the venture ends in failure—as Zhou He and Pei Qian, on their return, are intercepted by Wei forces and killed.

Regretting his actions, Sun Quan tries to recall Yu Fan back to Jianye, only to learn that Yu has died in exile.