Sun Ba

Life

Sun Ba was the fourth son of Sun Quan, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty and became the founding emperor of the Eastern Wu state in the Three Kingdoms period. His mother was Consort Xie (謝姬), a concubine of Sun Quan. He was enfeoffed as the Prince of Lu (魯王) in September 242.

Sometime in the 240s, Sun Ba became embroiled in a power struggle against his third brother, Sun He, the Crown Prince, because he wanted to seize the succession from him. In fact, it was Sun Quan himself who sowed the seeds of the conflict between his third and fourth sons. Although Sun Quan had already made Sun He the Crown Prince in 242, he also treated Sun Ba exceptionally well. After discussing among themselves, some officials strongly urged Sun Quan to ensure that Confucian rules of propriety were followed and upheld. For example, Sun He should be accorded greater honours and privileges as compared to Sun Ba because he, as the Crown Prince, was in a higher position compared to the other princes. However, Sun Quan failed to make a clear distinction between his sons, so the power struggle intensified over time as Sun He and Sun Ba started vying for their father's favour and attention.

When Sun Quan noticed that the rivalry between his sons had a polarising effect on his subjects, he forbade his sons from interacting with the outside world, and ordered them to focus on academic studies. The official Yang Dao (羊衜) wrote a memorial to Sun Quan, urging the emperor to lift the ban on his sons interacting with the outside world. He pointed out that both Sun He and Sun Ba held considerable prestige among the literati and scholar-officials, who were eager to meet the two princes, so they should be allowed to interact with the outside world. Yang Dao also explained to Sun Quan that isolating the two princes from the outside world might make people think that Eastern Wu was experiencing internal instability and allow rumours to breed and spread. Sun Quan probably heeded Yang Dao's advice.

Two opposing factions also emerged from among Sun Quan's subjects: On one side, Lu Xun, Zhuge Ke, Gu Tan, Zhu Ju, Teng Yin, Shi Ji, Ding Mi (丁密) and Wu Can believed that Sun He was the rightful heir apparent so they supported him. On the other side, Bu Zhi, Lü Dai, Quan Cong, Lü Ju, Sun Hong (孫弘), Quan Ji (全寄), Yang Zhu (楊笁), Wu An (吳安) and Sun Qi (孫奇) supported Sun Ba. Quan Ji and Yang Zhu, in particular, frequently spoke ill of Sun He in front of Sun Quan. As the power struggle intensified, Sun Quan grew tired of it and told Sun Jun that he was worried that the power struggle would end up in a civil war like the one between Yuan Shao's sons. He wanted to end the power struggle and designate a new heir apparent, so he started taking action against some of the officials involved: Wu Can was imprisoned and executed later; Gu Tan was exiled to Jiao Province; Yang Zhu was executed and his body dumped into the river; Quan Ji, Wu An and Sun Qi were executed.

In September or October 250, Sun Quan deposed Sun He from his position as Crown Prince and relocated him to Guzhang County (故鄣縣; northwest of present-day Anji County, Zhejiang). He also forced Sun Ba to commit suicide. In December 250 or January 251, Sun Quan designated his youngest son, Sun Liang, as the new Crown Prince to replace Sun He.