Bamboo Scroll竹簡 Ep. 12 · The Fall of Wu / The River is One
At dawn a vast fleet of tower ships comes down the Yangtze out of a gorge under streaming banners, one vermilion flagship in the centre, 280 CE
Bamboo Scroll · Three Kingdoms · Episode 12

The Fall of Wu

The Yangtze, 280 CE — Seven years of ships, one river of iron, and a last emperor who came to the camp gate with his hands bound — in the spring of 280 the Yangtze carried an empire down to the sea, and the Three Kingdoms ended.
16 panels~6 min read free to readevery line sourced
Panel 01: Spring, 280 CE. Sixty years after the empire broke in three, towered ships came down the Yangtze out of the west — a fleet seven years in the building, built for this one river. At the end of it stood the last kingdom of the three, and its emperor was waiting. A Tang poet would later fix the moment in a single line: Wang Jun's towered ships go down from Yizhou.
Spring, 280 CE. Sixty years after the empire broke in three, towered ships came down the Yangtze out of the west — a fleet seven years in the building, built for this one river. At the end of it stood the last kingdom of the three, and its emperor was waiting. A Tang poet would later fix the moment in a single line: Wang Jun's towered ships go down from Yizhou.
Panel 02: The war was decided years before a single banner moved. At Xiangyang the southern commander Yang Hu held the Wu frontier with patience instead of raids, and asked the court for a fleet built upstream in Yi Province, where Wu could not reach. The man he named to build it was Wang Jun.
The war was decided years before a single banner moved. At Xiangyang the southern commander Yang Hu held the Wu frontier with patience instead of raids, and asked the court for a fleet built upstream in Yi Province, where Wu could not reach. The man he named to build it was Wang Jun.
Panel 03: For years the shipyards of Yi Province worked. The greatest vessels were linked hulls a hundred and twenty paces square, carrying two thousand men and more, with towers and parapets built upon them where a horse could be galloped. The shavings from the yards were thrown into the river until they covered the water and drifted east.
For years the shipyards of Yi Province worked. The greatest vessels were linked hulls a hundred and twenty paces square, carrying two thousand men and more, with towers and parapets built upon them where a horse could be galloped. The shavings from the yards were thrown into the river until they covered the water and drifted east.
Panel 04: Downstream at Jianping, the prefect Wu Yan pulled the shavings from the water and read them: Jin was building ships in Shu, and the attack would come from upstream. Strengthen Jianping, he said. Sun Hao did not listen.
Downstream at Jianping, the prefect Wu Yan pulled the shavings from the water and read them: Jin was building ships in Shu, and the attack would come from upstream. Strengthen Jianping, he said. Sun Hao did not listen.
Panel 05: The court that ignored Wu Yan had long stopped listening. Sun Hao, grandson of Wu's founder and its last emperor, had made his palace a place of flayed faces and gouged eyes; his ablest ministers were dead or silent. In 280 the river was held by a state that had already lost the will to hold it.
The court that ignored Wu Yan had long stopped listening. Sun Hao, grandson of Wu's founder and its last emperor, had made his palace a place of flayed faces and gouged eyes; his ablest ministers were dead or silent. In 280 the river was held by a state that had already lost the will to hold it.
Panel 06: At Luoyang the decision waited longer than the ships. Memorials urging the war piled up at a court where Jia Chong and others still counselled delay. One day Du Yu's memorial arrived while the emperor was at go with Zhang Hua. Zhang Hua pushed the board aside and folded his hands: Your Majesty is sage and martial, the state is rich and strong, Wu's ruler is licentious and cruel — strike now, and it is settled without labour. The emperor agreed.
At Luoyang the decision waited longer than the ships. Memorials urging the war piled up at a court where Jia Chong and others still counselled delay. One day Du Yu's memorial arrived while the emperor was at go with Zhang Hua. Zhang Hua pushed the board aside and folded his hands: Your Majesty is sage and martial, the state is rich and strong, Wu's ruler is licentious and cruel — strike now, and it is settled without labour. The emperor agreed.
Panel 07: In the eleventh month of 279 the edict for the great campaign went out, and the whole length of the river was attacked at once: Wang Zhou out of Tuzhong, Wang Hun out of Jiangxi, Wang Rong out of Wuchang, Hu Fen out of Xiakou, Du Yu out of Jiangling — and down the upper river from Ba and Shu, Wang Jun and Tang Bin with the fleet. The edict's own arithmetic puts the combined force at over two hundred thousand.
In the eleventh month of 279 the edict for the great campaign went out, and the whole length of the river was attacked at once: Wang Zhou out of Tuzhong, Wang Hun out of Jiangxi, Wang Rong out of Wuchang, Hu Fen out of Xiakou, Du Yu out of Jiangling — and down the upper river from Ba and Shu, Wang Jun and Tang Bin with the fleet. The edict's own arithmetic puts the combined force at over two hundred thousand.
Panel 08: Against the river itself Wu had set iron: chains stretched across it at the dangerous narrows, and beneath the water, spikes of iron a zhang and more in length, planted where the ships must pass. It was the one defence the river could not be outflanked in — and Wang Jun had spent seven years building its answer.
Against the river itself Wu had set iron: chains stretched across it at the dangerous narrows, and beneath the water, spikes of iron a zhang and more in length, planted where the ships must pass. It was the one defence the river could not be outflanked in — and Wang Jun had spent seven years building its answer.
Panel 09: The answer was carpentry and fire. Great rafts a hundred paces and more in square, manned with figures of straw, went ahead with strong swimmers; the sunken spikes caught in them and were dragged out of the channel. For the chains there were torches ten zhang long, drenched in sesame oil — lit against the iron until it melted and snapped, and the fleet passed on without pausing.
The answer was carpentry and fire. Great rafts a hundred paces and more in square, manned with figures of straw, went ahead with strong swimmers; the sunken spikes caught in them and were dragged out of the channel. For the chains there were torches ten zhang long, drenched in sesame oil — lit against the iron until it melted and snapped, and the fleet passed on without pausing.
Panel 10: In the first month of 280 the middle reach broke. Du Yu came against Jiangling, the key of the whole river; its commander Wu Yan feigned surrender and manned the walls, and Du Yu took the city by assault and killed him. Some generals counselled waiting; Du Yu answered with an image that outlived the war: our momentum is like splitting bamboo — after a few joints, the rest parts to the blade, and there is nothing left to resist.
In the first month of 280 the middle reach broke. Du Yu came against Jiangling, the key of the whole river; its commander Wu Yan feigned surrender and manned the walls, and Du Yu took the city by assault and killed him. Some generals counselled waiting; Du Yu answered with an image that outlived the war: our momentum is like splitting bamboo — after a few joints, the rest parts to the blade, and there is nothing left to resist.
Panel 11: One army still came out to meet them. Zhang Ti, Wu's chancellor, led the last field army — the sources give thirty thousand — across the river against Wang Hun, knowing the war was already lost. If we are defeated, he said, we die together with the altars of state, and there is nothing left to regret. At Banqiao the army was broken, and Zhang Ti died in the field.
One army still came out to meet them. Zhang Ti, Wu's chancellor, led the last field army — the sources give thirty thousand — across the river against Wang Hun, knowing the war was already lost. If we are defeated, he said, we die together with the altars of state, and there is nothing left to regret. At Banqiao the army was broken, and Zhang Ti died in the field.
Panel 12: At Jianye the last throw was made of words. Sun Hao asked for a plan and got none. Tao Jun asked to lead out what troops were left, and was given them; the army went out, and that night, without meeting an enemy, it had all fled away — a dynasty's last army, dissolved before battle.
At Jianye the last throw was made of words. Sun Hao asked for a plan and got none. Tao Jun asked to lead out what troops were left, and was given them; the army went out, and that night, without meeting an enemy, it had all fled away — a dynasty's last army, dissolved before battle.
Panel 13: On the renyin day of the third month Wang Jun's fleet reached Shitou, the river fortress of Jianye. The last emperor of Wu came to the army's gate with his hands bound and a coffin borne behind him — the posture of a man already condemned. Wang Jun had him unbound, burned the coffin, and received the surrender; sixty years of division ended with a gesture.
On the renyin day of the third month Wang Jun's fleet reached Shitou, the river fortress of Jianye. The last emperor of Wu came to the army's gate with his hands bound and a coffin borne behind him — the posture of a man already condemned. Wang Jun had him unbound, burned the coffin, and received the surrender; sixty years of division ended with a gesture.
Panel 14: Then the victors quarrelled over the victory. Wang Hun memorialised that Wang Jun had violated the edict and refused his command; Wang Jun answered with his own ledger of services — the chains, the cities, the surrendered emperor. The court never cleanly settled it; Fan Tong's advice to Wang Jun was colder and wiser: never speak of the pacification of Wu.
Then the victors quarrelled over the victory. Wang Hun memorialised that Wang Jun had violated the edict and refused his command; Wang Jun answered with his own ledger of services — the chains, the cities, the surrendered emperor. The court never cleanly settled it; Fan Tong's advice to Wang Jun was colder and wiser: never speak of the pacification of Wu.
Panel 15: At Luoyang, Sima Yan received the fallen emperor at a banquet, and said: I have kept this seat for you a long time. Sun Hao answered: Your servant too set up a seat in the south to await Your Majesty. When Jia Chong taunted him with the flayings and the gouged eyes, the last emperor of Wu answered again: that is the penalty for subjects who murder their lord or are false to him. Jia Chong had no answer.
At Luoyang, Sima Yan received the fallen emperor at a banquet, and said: I have kept this seat for you a long time. Sun Hao answered: Your servant too set up a seat in the south to await Your Majesty. When Jia Chong taunted him with the flayings and the gouged eyes, the last emperor of Wu answered again: that is the penalty for subjects who murder their lord or are false to him. Jia Chong had no answer.
Panel 16: The river was one again, from the gorges of Yi Province to the sea at Jianye — and with it, the age that had worn three names since 220. The Three Kingdoms did not end with a last battle; they ended with a burned coffin and a banquet. The unity lasted less than a generation: within a decade the house of Jin was tearing itself apart. The record keeps both — the ending, and what it cost.
The river was one again, from the gorges of Yi Province to the sea at Jianye — and with it, the age that had worn three names since 220. The Three Kingdoms did not end with a last battle; they ended with a burned coffin and a banquet. The unity lasted less than a generation: within a decade the house of Jin was tearing itself apart. The record keeps both — the ending, and what it cost.

In this episode

The people who carried this year. The sources disagree about almost everything else.

Portrait of Wang Jun
Wang Jun王濬
206–285 CE
Governor of Yi Province who spent seven years building the great fleet, melted the river's iron chains with torches of sesame oil, and sailed into Shitou to receive the last emperor's surrender.
Portrait of Sima Yan
Sima Yan司馬炎
236–290 CE
Grandson of Sima Yi. Took the throne from Wei in 265 as first emperor of Jin, decided on Wu at the go board, and received Sun Hao's surrender at Luoyang.
Portrait of Sun Hao
Sun Hao孫皓
242–284 CE
Grandson of Sun Quan and last emperor of Wu. Ruled with flayed faces and gouged eyes; met the invasion with a surrender, and died the Marquis of Guiming at Luoyang.
Portrait of Du Yu
Du Yu杜預
222–285 CE
Grand general of the south who took Jiangling and said the war would open like split bamboo. A soldier with a scholar's library — the age called him the Armory.

Myth Check

The novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a masterpiece — and not a source. Where its famous scenes depart from the histories, we leave them out of the story and put them here.

The story you may know

The novel opens with 'empires long divided must unite, long united must divide' — and closes the fall of Wu as destiny's tidy moral arc, the last page of one clean story.

What the sources say

The record shows a planned conquest: seven years of shipbuilding, six columns of over two hundred thousand men, and a Jin court divided over whether to launch at all — all aimed at a state that had already lost the will of its own officials. And the unity was not the moral the novel implies: within a decade the house of Jin was at war with itself, and the peace of 280 did not last a generation.

Jin shu, ch. 3; Zizhi Tongjian, scroll 81
The story you may know

Wu fell in one great last battle on the river, with its emperor dying in the fight.

What the sources say

The last field army was destroyed at Banqiao in the third month; Tao Jun's relief force melted away in the night without striking a blow; and Sun Hao came to the army's gate with his hands bound and a coffin, was sent to Luoyang as the Marquis of Guiming, and died there in 284. The end was a surrender, not a last stand.

Sanguozhi, Wu shu 3; Zizhi Tongjian, scroll 81
The story you may know

Wang Jun's fleet fought its way down the whole river and won the war alone.

What the sources say

The invasion was six columns: Du Yu took Jiangling by assault and momentum in the first month, Wang Hun destroyed Zhang Ti's field army at Banqiao, and the fleet broke the middle-river defences in the second month and reached Shitou after the defending army had ceased to exist. The victory was a system, not a flotilla.

Jin shu, ch. 3, ch. 34, ch. 42
The story you may know

The exchange at the surrender banquet — Sima Yan's 'I have kept this seat for you a long time' and Sun Hao's 'your servant too set up a seat in the south to await Your Majesty' — is the novelist's flourish to give the fallen tyrant one last spark of face.

What the sources say

It is in the record: the Zizhi Tongjian keeps the whole banquet, including Jia Chong's taunt about the flaying and eye-gouging and Sun Hao's answer that such is the penalty for subjects who murder their lord. The novel needed to invent nothing here; the histories had kept it all along.

Zizhi Tongjian, scroll 81

Sources

Every caption and quotation in this episode traces to one of these. Where scholars disagree, the panel says so.

Next

Before this: Episode 11 · The Gate and the Trackless Road (Chengdu, 263 CE). Or meet the cast, or read the chronology of the age.