The Conquest of Wu (晉滅吳) in 280 CE was the final campaign of the Three Kingdoms period. The Jin dynasty, which had replaced Cao Wei in 266, had already conquered Shu Han in 263. Eastern Wu was the last remaining independent state. Sima Yan (Emperor Wu of Jin) assembled a massive army and fleet to cross the Yangtze and complete reunification. Sun Hao, the last emperor of Wu, surrendered, ending the tripartite division that had lasted for over seventy years.
Background
After the fall of Shu in 263, the Sima family consolidated power within Cao Wei. In 266, Sima Yan forced Cao Huan to abdicate and established the Jin dynasty. With Shu eliminated, only Eastern Wu remained.
Eastern Wu under Sun Hao had declined significantly. Sun Hao’s reign was marked by tyranny, extravagance, and poor governance. His officials were corrupt, the military was weakened, and the population suffered. Though Wu still controlled the Yangtze River — a formidable natural barrier — its defences were hollow.
Sima Yan prepared for the conquest over several years. He appointed Du Yu as commander in the west and Wang Jun as admiral of the naval fleet. The strategy was to advance from multiple directions: land forces would cross the Yangtze at several points, while Wang Jun’s fleet — built in the former Shu territory — would sail downstream from the upper Yangtze.
The campaign
In late 279, Sima Yan ordered the invasion to begin. Jin forces advanced in multiple columns. Du Yu led the main land army from Xiangyang south toward Jiangling. Other forces attacked from Huainan and from the north. The Wu defences, poorly maintained and commanded by incompetent officials, began to crumble.
Wang Jun’s naval fleet sailed downstream from Yizhou (modern Sichuan). The fleet consisted of large warships — some reportedly capable of carrying 2,000 men — and swept away Wu river defences. Wu had stretched iron chains across the Yangtze at narrow points to block naval passage, but Wang Jun’s engineers burned the chains with torches soaked in oil and sesame oil, clearing the way.
By early 280, Jin forces had captured key cities along the Yangtze. Jiangling fell to Du Yu. Wuchang (武昌) was taken. The Jin armies advanced rapidly toward Jianye (modern Nanjing), the Wu capital.
Fall of Jianye
As Jin forces approached Jianye, Sun Hao’s court descended into panic. Some officials urged resistance; others advised surrender. Zhang Ti, the Wu prime minister, led a force to resist but was defeated and killed. General Shen Ying committed suicide rather than surrender.
With Jin troops at the gates and no hope of relief, Sun Hao surrendered in the third month of 280. He presented himself before Wang Jun — the first Jin commander to reach the capital — with his hands bound, carrying a coffin (a symbol of surrender and acceptance of death). Wang Jun received the surrender, removed Sun Hao’s bonds, and burned the coffin.
Reunification
With Sun Hao’s surrender, the Three Kingdoms period came to an end. The Han dynasty had fractured after the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184; the warlord era had followed; and Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu had divided China for decades. Now, under Sima Yan, China was once again under a single imperial regime.
Sima Yan enfeoffed Sun Hao as “Marquis of Guiming” (歸命侯), a title suggesting that he had submitted to destiny. Sun Hao was taken to Luoyang, where he lived out his remaining years in comfortable but monitored exile.
Aftermath
The reunification was short-lived. Within a decade, the War of the Eight Princes (291–306) tore the Jin dynasty apart. Northern and northwestern ethnic groups — Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang — took advantage of the chaos to establish their own states in the north. By 316, the Jin court had fled south to Jiankang (建康, modern Nanjing), and northern China entered the Sixteen Kingdoms period.
Nevertheless, the conquest of Wu in 280 marked the formal end of the Three Kingdoms. The tripartite division that had defined China for over seventy years — from the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 to the fall of Wu in 280 — was over. China was reunified, even if the peace proved fragile.
See also
- Sima Yan — Jin emperor who ordered the conquest
- Sun Hao — last emperor of Eastern Wu
- Du Yu — Jin commander
- Wang Jun — Jin admiral
- Fall of Shu — the earlier conquest that set the stage
- Jin dynasty — the dynasty that reunified China
- Eastern Wu — the conquered state
- War of the Eight Princes — the civil war that followed
References
- Chen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms (三国志), Wu 3; Jin 1
- Fang Xuanling et al., Book of Jin (晉書), vols. 2–3
- Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian (资治通鉴), vol. 80
- de Crespigny, Rafe. A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms