The Tyrant of Eastern Wu

When Jin replaced Wei, Eastern Wu became the last surviving kingdom of the Three Kingdoms world.

It still had the Yangzi.

It still had armies.

It still had the memory of Sun Quan.

But under Sun Hao, Wu began to rot from the palace outward.

Sun Hao Takes the Throne

Sun Xiu died in 264, soon after Shu's fall.

His heir was young. Wu ministers feared that a child emperor might not survive the pressure from Jin and the unrest in the south.

Wan Yu recommended Sun Hao.

Sun Hao was the son of Sun He, the former crown prince who had been destroyed in Sun Quan's succession crisis. He had royal blood and seemed talented enough to rule.

At first, Sun Hao behaved well.

He opened granaries, reduced some palace burdens, and released unnecessary animals from imperial parks. People briefly hoped Wu had found a capable ruler.

Then his character changed, or perhaps became visible.

Killing the Men Who Raised Him

The first men to regret the choice were the officials who had helped raise him to the throne.

Zhang Bu and Puyang Xing complained that they had misjudged him.

Sun Hao heard of it.

He executed them and wiped out their clans.

The message was clear.

Service did not protect anyone. Past merit did not protect anyone. A careless word could become death.

From there, Sun Hao's violence expanded.

He killed envoys for praising the north. He killed the scholar Wang Fan after suspecting him of disrespect at a banquet. He punished officials with theatrical cruelty and humiliation.

The Wu court learned to fear the emperor's moods.

Palace Luxury and Forced Selection

Sun Hao also drained the state through luxury.

He moved the capital to Wuchang, forcing heavy transport against the current and burdening the people. Then he moved back, leaving exhaustion and resentment behind.

He built the Zhaoming Palace on a huge scale.

Officials were sent into the mountains to supervise timber cutting. Money and labor poured into palace construction while the state faced famine, frontier danger, and internal strain.

He filled the palace with women and ordered officials' daughters across the commanderies to be registered for selection.

Only those not chosen could marry.

Private family life was pulled into imperial appetite.

Ministers Fall

Wu still had good ministers.

Lu Kai, a relative of Lu Xun, dared to speak directly and warned Sun Hao against trusting men like He Ding.

Sun Hao disliked him, but Lu Kai's reputation made him difficult to kill while alive.

After Lu Kai died, his family suffered.

Other upright officials also fell.

Lou Xuan was exiled. He Shao was tortured and killed. Wei Zhao, the historian, offended Sun Hao by refusing to write Sun Hao's father as if he had been an emperor. He was eventually imprisoned and executed.

The court lost men who could still speak truth.

The flatterers remained closer.

Omens and Delusions

Sun Hao became obsessed with omens.

Rumors and prophecies told him that a ruler from the southeast would possess the empire. Instead of reading them as flattery, he treated them as destiny.

He once marched north in winter with the empress dowager, empress, palace women, and soldiers struggling through snow.

The army hated it.

Only when soldiers began whispering that they would defect if Jin appeared did Sun Hao turn back.

Later, more omens convinced him that he would enter Luoyang.

He did not repair government.

He dreamed of conquest while his own court decayed.

A State Ready to Fall

By the late 270s, Wu suffered famine and fear.

Officials were killed for failing to supply taxes. Others were killed for trying to relieve the people. At banquets, men watched their words because any drunken mistake could be recorded and punished.

Some were executed.

Some were mutilated.

The southern kingdom still existed on the map, but its will was weakening.

Jin's emperor Sima Yan was preparing in the north.

Sun Hao still believed heaven favored him.

Next, Jin sends armies and warships down the Yangzi, and the Three Kingdoms reach their final end.