Zhuge Ke - As Regent To Sun Liang

As Regent To Sun Liang

Upon becoming regent, Zhuge relaxed some of the strict laws that Sun Quan had put in place in his late reign and cut the tax rates. The people were happy, and wherever he went, there would be large crowds wanting to catch a glimpse of him.

Later in 252, Zhuge rebuilt the Dongxing Dam (東興隄, in present-day Chaohu, Anhui), which Sun Quan had initially built in 230 but which was destroyed in 241, to create a reservoir near the Chao Lake, with the dual purpose of using it as a defense against potential Cao Wei attacks and, with two castles built nearby, as forward attack mechanism for Eastern Wu ships. In response, Cao Wei's regent Sima Shi made a major three-pronged attack against Eastern Wu, with the main forces attacking Dongxing Dam. Zhuge and his general Ding Feng were able to catch Cao Wei forces unprepared by pretending to be unprepared themselves, and then inflicted a major loss on the Cao Wei forces, forcing their withdrawal.

Encouraged by his success at Dongxing, Zhuge prepared for a major attack against Cao Wei—citing, as his reason, that Sima Shi (then 45) was "young and inexperienced." He carried out a plan he had for a while—to gather up nearly all service-eligible young men of Eastern Wu to make a major attack against Cao Wei—despite opposition by a number of other officials. He further coordinated his attack with ally Shu Han's regent Jiang Wei. However, his strategy turned out to be faulty—as he was initially targeting Shouchun but, on his way, changed his mind and attacked Hefei instead, despite the fact that Hefei's defenses were strong and intended to withstand major Eastern Wu attacks. Zhuge's forces became worn out by the long-term siege and suffered plagues—which Zhuge ignored. He eventually withdrew after Cao Wei reinforcements arrived, but instead of returning to the capital Jianye and apologize for his erroneous strategies, he remained from the capital for some time and never apologized to the people for the heavy losses suffered.

When Zhuge eventually did return to Jianye, he further sternly tried to wipe out all dissent, punishing all those who disagreed with him. He further planned another attack against Cao Wei, disregarding the recent heavy losses the people had suffered and their resentment. Sun Jun decided that he had to kill Zhuge. He told Sun Liang that Zhuge was planning to seize the throne, and he set up a trap at the imperial feast for Zhuge. (How much the young emperor knew of Sun Jun's plans and whether he concurred is unclear; traditional historians implied that Sun Liang knew and concurred, but he was just 10 years old at this point.) During the middle of the feast, assassins that Sun Jun had arranged for killed Zhuge, and Sun Jun's forces then wiped out the Zhuge clan.

After the death of Sun Jun and his successor, his cousin Sun Chen, the emperor Sun Xiu, in 258, reburied Zhuge with honors, but when someone suggested that a monument be built for Zhuge, Sun Xiu refused—observing correctly that both the military losses and the reckless way in which he put his own life in danger showed that Zhuge was unworthy of a monument.