Xuande's marriage to Lady Sun and escape from Wu

Xuande’s marriage to Lady Sun and escape from Wu is a marriage alliance conceived as a snare that becomes a genuine partnership and a perilous flight. Zhou Yu and Sun Quan intend to use a wedding invitation to bring Xuande south, hold him for the return of Jingzhou, and, if necessary, kill him; instead, Lady Sun accepts him as her husband, defies the forces sent to detain them, and leaves Wu with him. Kong Ming’s three prepared instructions and Zhao Zilong’s execution of them turn the escape into a sequence of reversals, while the marriage makes clear that the political plot cannot fully control the people it treats as instruments.

A Marriage Proposal Concealing a Political Trap

The plan begins with Zhou Yu’s proposal that Sun Quan’s sister marry Xuande. Zhou’s stated design is not to secure a lasting alliance: Xuande will be invited south for the wedding, captured, and held until Jingzhou is returned. If that leverage fails, Zhou proposes killing him. Lady Sun is thus introduced to the scheme as bait, while the disputed territory is its real prize. Sun Quan receives Zhou’s proposal through Lu Su, reacts angrily to Lu Su’s agreement to an arrangement involving Jingzhou, and then considers how to implement the secret plan. He sends Lü Fan to Xuande with a marriage proposal presented as a means of joining their families and armies against Cao Cao.

At the time, Xuande is grieving his wife’s death. He is discussing affairs with Kong Ming when Lü Fan arrives, and Kong Ming conceals himself behind a screen to listen, suspecting another of Zhou Yu’s plots. Lü Fan offers Sun Quan’s condolences and introduces the marriage possibility. He describes Lady Sun as a woman who thinks and acts like a man, says she wishes to marry a hero, and explains that her mother, Lady Wu, must be personally persuaded. The invitation therefore appears to require Xuande to travel south and meet the family before the match can proceed.

Kong Ming does not dismiss the danger, but says that he has consulted the Book of Changes and considers the reading auspicious. He advises Xuande to accept the invitation, assuring him that Zhou Yu can be outwitted. Xuande remains uneasy. Kong Ming says the plan has three stages and entrusts its execution to Zhao Zilong, giving him three small embroidered bags containing written instructions and directing him to use them in order. In late 209, Xuande sails for Nanxu with Zhao Zilong, Sun Qian, and five hundred soldiers, still apprehensive about the journey.

From Suspicion to Marriage

On reaching port, Zhao Zilong opens the first bag and orders the soldiers to follow his directions. He then escorts Xuande to pay respects to Elder Statesman Qiao, the father of the wives of Sun Quan and Zhou Yu. At the meeting, the party discusses the coming marriage and Lü Fan’s part in arranging it. This visit places Xuande in the family and social setting where the proposed match is to be judged, even as Kong Ming’s concealed instructions continue to govern his movements.

The deception becomes explicit when the queen mother’s involvement threatens Zhou Yu’s plan. Sun Quan explains that the marriage was only a pretext: the intention had been to hold Xuande until he surrendered Jingzhou, or kill him if he refused. Elder Statesman Qiao proposes a way out of the resulting crisis: Xuande should actually marry Lady Sun. Lady Wu insists on meeting him herself and says that if she approves, she will ensure the marriage proceeds. Sun Quan, constrained by his filial duty, agrees to arrange the meeting, though Lü Fan advises him to send Jia Hua ahead to Sweet Dew Temple with three hundred men in case Lady Wu rejects Xuande and he must be killed.

Xuande arrives at the temple wearing a light breastplate beneath his ceremonial clothes, and his attendants carry swords. He and his officers are accompanied by the five hundred soldiers. Lady Wu approves him immediately, and Elder Statesman Qiao praises his reputation for benevolence and virtue. When Lady Wu notices that armed men have been placed at the temple, she demands an explanation from her son. Xuande pleads for Jia Hua to be spared, preventing the threatened execution from turning the new marriage into an immediate rupture. Lady Wu then welcomes Xuande and his troop as guests until the wedding, which takes place a few days later.

Lady Sun’s character is conveyed through her armed female guards and her readiness to act, not merely through the diplomatic role assigned to her. When Xuande appears frightened by the weapons in her quarters, she hears of his reaction, laughs, and orders most of the weapons removed and her guards to put aside their swords. The account then marks the marriage as personal as well as political: Xuande and Lady Sun spend the night together. The alliance intended as a trick has become an actual marriage, though the threat behind its arrangements has not disappeared.

The Second Instruction and the Decision to Flee

The wedding does not lead to an immediate departure. Zhao Zilong and his men pass their time with sports, entertainment, and drinking, while month follows month and the year draws toward its end. Remembering Kong Ming’s directions, Zhao opens the second bag. Its message reports that Cao Cao is marching with five hundred thousand men to take Jingzhou and that Kong Ming calls Xuande back at once. The message supplies the occasion for leaving, but Xuande does not tell Lady Sun the real political circumstances. Instead, he presents his distress as regret that he has neglected his parents and failed to perform the proper sacrifices to his ancestors.

Lady Sun responds by proposing a way to honor that explanation and get away from the household. She says that, when they go to make the New Year sacrifices, she can say Xuande wishes to pay respects to his ancestors and that they will go to the river; from there, they can escape without being watched. On New Year’s Day in 210, she presents this account to Lady Wu, explaining that Xuande’s parents and ancestors are buried in Zhuo County and that his inability to visit has caused him grief. She asks leave for him to go to the river and pray facing north. The ritual gives the departure a family justification and lets the pair leave without openly declaring their intention to flee.

Lady Sun travels in her carriage while Xuande rides beside her; they meet Zhao Zilong and his men and hurry onward. Near the border with Chaisang, the dust of their pursuers appears behind them. Zhao offers to stay back as rearguard, but their route is blocked by Xu Sheng and Ding Feng, who have three thousand men. Zhou Yu has anticipated a plot and sent them to intercept the couple. With pursuit behind and a force ahead, the escape seems closed off. Zhao opens the third embroidered bag and gives its written instruction to Xuande, who goes to Lady Sun’s carriage.

Xuande tells Lady Sun that her brother’s marriage proposal began as a scheme by Zhou Yu and Sun Quan to seize Jingzhou, with his death as a possible alternative. He says he came because of her reputation, that he has fallen in love with her, and that the threat to Jingzhou gives him a reason to return. He then asks for her help against the troops closing around them, adding that he would rather die there than dishonor her kindness in coming with him. Lady Sun reacts with anger toward her brother and takes charge of the confrontation. What had been concealed from her is now the basis of her decision: she knows the marriage was used as bait, yet chooses to stand with Xuande.

Lady Sun’s Authority and the Escape from Wu

The officers blocking the road refuse to let the couple pass. Lady Sun rebukes them, challenging their fear of Zhou Yu and asserting that she can command authority over him as well. Her anger and status alter the immediate balance: the officers, cowed, agree to let her through. She then confronts another group of armed men, asking why they have weapons when the journey has been approved by her mother and brother and is presented as the fulfillment of ritual and filial duties. Her argument recasts the pursuit as an attack on a legitimate family journey and makes the armed escort answer for its presence.

A second force, commanded by Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai, rides up and asks whether the couple have been seen. The officers report that Xuande and Lady Sun passed earlier and explain that Lady Sun compelled them to let the pair go. Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai reveal that Sun Quan has given them a sword and a special commission to execute the couple; they are told that the fugitives are already well on their way. The account thereby makes the danger unmistakable: Lady Sun’s brother is no longer merely seeking leverage over Xuande but has authorized their deaths.

At the river, the fugitives find no boat to carry them to safety. Zhao remains confident that Kong Ming has anticipated the obstacle. As the pursuers draw near, twenty ships come downriver. Zhao recognizes them as the means of escape, and the group embarks, including the five hundred soldiers. Kong Ming is among the passengers, dressed like an ordinary Daoist. He says he planned the arrangements in advance and sends a message back to Zhou Yu against further seduction plots. The ships withdraw under fire, but reaching the water does not end the pursuit.

Zhou Yu arrives with his navy and follows the retreating vessels. Kong Ming urges the rowers onward, and the fugitives reach the north shore just ahead of the southern fleet. Xuande, Lady Sun, Zhao Zilong, Kong Ming, and their companions leave the ships and ride into the woods, with Zhou Yu close behind. At the point when capture again seems imminent, Guan Yu emerges with his men. His appearance is another of Kong Ming’s arrangements: Zhou Yu’s force turns back toward its boats and escapes. The crossing and the wooded route thus complete the flight through a final reversal, not by removing the pursuers but by making their pursuit unsafe.

Consequences and Significance

The episode ends with Xuande and Lady Sun escaping together, not with Sun Quan’s planned seizure of Xuande or the recovery of Jingzhou. Its outcome is produced by several kinds of authority working in sequence: Lady Wu’s approval makes the marriage real; Lady Sun’s standing within her family checks the officers on the road; Xuande’s appeal to her makes the concealed danger known; and Kong Ming’s instructions, carried out by Zhao Zilong and reinforced by Guan Yu, keep the flight from being cut off. No single tactic would account for the escape. The staged instructions, the claimed ancestral observance, the armed escort, the river ships, and the ambush in the woods each answer a different point of danger.

The marriage also changes the meaning of the original plot without making its political stakes vanish. Zhou Yu’s proposal treats Lady Sun as a means to control Xuande and Jingzhou, but the actual marriage gives her the power to reject her brother’s design and choose her husband’s side. Xuande, for his part, initially travels in distrust and later relies on Lady Sun after disclosing the trap. The episode’s reversals are therefore both strategic and relational: the bait becomes a partner, the marriage that was meant to immobilize Xuande becomes the occasion for his escape, and a carefully planned capture ends in the loss of Sun Quan’s intended leverage.