Season 1 · Episode 44 · 3 min read
Bloodshed in the Palace of Eastern Wu
After Zhuge Ke's fall, Eastern Wu did not regain order. Power passed through assassination, intimidation, and palace coups.
Zhuge Ke's death did not end Wu's crisis.
It proved that killing a regent had become possible.
Once that door opened, Eastern Wu's court entered a darker phase.
Sun Jun Takes Power
Sun Jun helped destroy Zhuge Ke and then took control of the government.
The emperor Sun Liang was still young. Real power belonged to the man who controlled the palace and army.
Sun Jun ruled harshly.
He removed rivals, suspected officials, and used imperial authority to settle factional struggles.
Wu still looked like a dynasty founded by the Sun family.
But within the palace, the emperor was increasingly trapped.
Sun Jun eventually died, but power did not return to Sun Liang.
It passed to another strongman from the Sun clan: Sun Chen.
Sun Chen Controls the Court
Sun Chen continued the pattern.
He placed his brothers and relatives in command, controlled military forces, and treated the emperor as a political instrument.
Sun Liang was growing older and understood what was happening.
He wanted to remove Sun Chen.
But a young emperor with limited control had to rely on secret plans, palace attendants, and uncertain allies. That made every move dangerous.
Sun Chen discovered the plot.
Instead of being removed, he removed the emperor.
Sun Liang was deposed and reduced in rank.
The ruler of Wu had changed not because the state chose a better sovereign, but because the regent could no longer tolerate him.
Sun Xiu Becomes Emperor
Sun Chen then brought Sun Xiu to the throne.
Sun Xiu was another son of Sun Quan. He was older and more cautious than Sun Liang, but he began under the same shadow.
Sun Chen expected obedience.
Sun Xiu understood that if Sun Chen remained alive, he would never truly rule.
He worked with trusted ministers, including Zhang Bu and Ding Feng, to plan a counterstroke.
The opportunity came during a court gathering.
Sun Chen was seized and killed.
His clan was punished, and his faction collapsed.
For the first time in years, an emperor of Wu had struck down the man who controlled him.
A Brief Recovery
Sun Xiu's reign brought some relief.
The worst palace terror eased. Capable ministers had more room to work. Wu still possessed the lower Yangzi, strong river defenses, and commanders who knew how to fight.
But the damage had not disappeared.
Years of succession conflict and regent violence had weakened trust in the court. The Sun family had repeatedly turned on itself. Officials had learned that survival mattered as much as service.
Meanwhile, Wei was changing even faster.
The Sima clan controlled the north. Shu was still alive, but its great regent was gone, and Jiang Wei's wars consumed strength.
Wu could not afford endless internal violence.
Yet the peace under Sun Xiu would not last long enough to restore the state.
The Court Remembers Blood
The palace killings after Zhuge Ke show how fragile Wu had become.
Its founders had once relied on local elites, river defenses, and the Sun family's military leadership.
Now the dynasty was spending its energy on who controlled a young emperor.
Sun Xiu survived Sun Chen.
But the habit of rule by fear had entered Wu's political life.
Next, the story returns to Shu after Zhuge Liang, where Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, and Jiang Wei try to hold together a state living under a dead man's shadow.