Zhang Bu

Zhang Bu is an adviser to Sun Xiu who helps bring down Sun Chen, the powerful minister who had come to dominate the Wu court. His role in the conspiracy is brief but decisive: with Sun Xiu and Ding Feng, he turns a festival invitation into the means to seize Sun Chen and end his rule.

Position at Sun Xiu’s Court

By the time Zhang Bu enters the account, Sun Chen has displaced the previous ruler, installed Sun Xiu against his wishes, and taken the office of prime minister. Sun Chen then moves toward seizing power outright. Faced with this threat, Sun Xiu turns to Zhang Bu for help and summons Ding Feng, a veteran commander. The account presents Zhang Bu as a participant in the ruler’s response to a political crisis, working alongside both the sovereign and an experienced military leader.

The Plot Against Sun Chen

The conspirators arrange to invite Sun Chen to a great festival and kill him there. Their plan exploits the appearance of a public celebration: Sun Chen accepts the invitation and sits beside Sun Xiu, apparently secure in his command of the palace guards. He has dismissed ominous signs in his household and boasts that his brothers control the guards, leaving no one able to challenge him.

When flames break out around the palace, Sun Chen mistakes them for a signal that something is wrong and rises. Zhang Bu then enters with thirty guards. In an instant, they seize Sun Chen. The contrast is central to Zhang Bu’s action: Sun Chen’s confidence rests on his control of the guards, but Zhang Bu arrives with an armed force that turns the festival into an ambush.

Sun Chen’s Fall and the Restoration of Authority

Captured, Sun Chen asks to be allowed to go into internal exile. Sun Xiu instead recalls the people Sun Chen had arbitrarily killed and orders his immediate execution. Zhang Bu’s intervention makes that judgment possible by placing Sun Chen in the ruler’s hands; the narrative does not describe Zhang Bu as issuing the order himself.

Sun Xiu’s victory has consequences beyond the palace. When the ruler of Shu hears of Sun Chen’s overthrow, he sends congratulations, and Sun Xiu dispatches an envoy in reply. Zhang Bu’s documented role ends with the seizure, but the episode marks a reversal in court power: Sun Chen’s attempt to take the throne is stopped, and Sun Xiu acts as the authority who determines his fate.

Narrative Role

The episode gives Zhang Bu significance through coordinated action rather than extended characterization. He is named as Sun Xiu’s adviser, helps devise the plot with the ruler and Ding Feng, and leads the thirty guards who seize Sun Chen at the crucial moment. The episode’s turning point rests on that precise use of force: a minister who claims that nobody can challenge him is caught within the court he believes he controls.