[2]), courtesy name Wentai, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.

Sun Jian jumped on shore with a sabre in hand and pointed in different directions as if commanding a detachment of soldiers to surround the pirates.

Sun Jian joined the general Zhu Jun to quell the rebellion in Yu Province (covering roughly present-day southern Henan and northern Anhui).

The soldiers fought hard, forcing the rebels to retreat to Wan (宛; present-day Wancheng District, Nanyang, Henan).

Around this time, Bian Zhang and Han Sui colluded with the Qiang tribes and rebelled in Liang Province (涼州; present-day western Gansu).

After Dong Zhuo failed to put down the rebellion, the central government sent in his place the Minister of Works Zhang Wen, who invited Sun Jian along as an adviser.

Sun Jian defeated the rebel leaders Ou Xing (區星), Zhou Chao (周朝) and Guo Shi (郭石), and suppressed both rebellions.

Sun Jian also raised an army and joined Yuan Shu,[3] one of the leaders of the coalition at Luyang (魯陽; present-day Lushan County, Henan).

When Sun Jian moved out to Liangdong (梁東; east of present-day Linru County, Henan), he was outnumbered by Dong Zhuo's forces.

He took off the red felt scarf he had always been wearing and handed it to his trusted aide Zu Mao (祖茂), whom Dong Zhuo's soldiers then chased after while Sun Jian escaped.

Unable to shake off his pursuers, Zu Mao then dismounted, hung the scarf onto a half-burnt pillar, and hid himself in the tall grass nearby.

Sun Jian rode the hundred odd li from Yangren to Luyang overnight to see Yuan Shu, whereupon he told the latter, "I put myself in danger during battle, firstly to eliminate the villain (Dong Zhuo) for the Han Empire, and secondly to avenge the deaths of your family members.

The words put Yuan Shu to shame and he immediately ordered his men to continue delivering food supplies to Sun Jian's army.

Fearing Sun Jian, Dong Zhuo then sent his general Li Jue as an emissary to seek peace and propose a marriage to cement the alliance.

In late 190, his army was merely 90 li away from the capital when Dong Zhuo retreated west to Chang'an after ordering the destruction of Luoyang by fire.

Entering the ruins of Luoyang, Sun Jian ordered his men to reseal the tombs of Han emperors that were excavated by Dong Zhuo, after which he returned to Luyang.

It was said in the Book of Wu (吳書) by Wei Zhao that Sun Jian found one of the emperor's jade seals in a well south of Luoyang and kept it.

Later, when Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, he held Sun Jian's wife Lady Wu hostage in exchange for the seal.

In 191, Yuan Shu sent Sun Jian to attack Liu Biao, the Governor of Jing Province (荆州; covering present-day Hubei and Hunan).

The Record of Heroes (英雄記) by Wang Can, however, claims that Sun Jian died in 193 and that he was crushed to death by boulders while pursuing the enemy commander Lü Gong (呂公).

Sun Quan built on his brother's legacy and eventually established the state of Eastern Wu in 229, with himself as its founding emperor, during the Three Kingdoms period.

Sun Jian's biography in Sanguozhi recorded that he was sent by Yuan Shu to attack Jing province in the 3rd year of the Chuping era of Liu Xie's reign.

When he later launched a revenge attack upon Jing Provence, in accordance with the order of his senior, Yuan Shu, he was lured under a cliff where he was shot dead by arrows from the above.