Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature
This article recounts how the Jin Dynasty conquered Eastern Wu and reunified China. After Sima Yan founded Jin, he waited patiently while Wu declined under tyrant Sun Hao. Using moral persuasion and clever naval tactics, Jin’s seven armies defeated Wu in 280 CE, ending the Three Kingdoms era.
Mencius said: “Bo Yi fled from the tyrant King Zhou and lived by the shores of the North Sea.Taigong (Jiang Ziya) also fled from Zhou and lived by the shores of the East Sea.”
Sun Ce’s execution of the revered Daoist healer Yu Ji is often remembered in Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a tale of supernatural retribution—but historically, it was a grave political miscalculation rooted in impulsiveness, insecurity, and a failure to understand soft power. Far from eliminating a threat, Sun Ce’s public killing of Yu…