Later that year, after his younger brother Sun Liang became emperor, the regent Zhuge Ke did not want the princes to be based near the important military bases along the Yangtze River, so he moved Sun Xiu to Danyang Commandery (丹陽郡; in present-day Xuancheng, Anhui).
Sun Liang then issued an order relocating him to Kuaiji Commandery (around present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang).
So he requested permission to go to Wuchang (武昌; present-day Ezhou, Hubei) and oversee the defences at the border.
Sun Chen got wind of the plot, but still attended the feast where he was captured by Zhang Bu and Ding Feng's soldiers.
For example, in 260, with Puyang Xing's support, a costly project was started to create an artificial lake known as the Puli Lake near present-day Xuancheng, Anhui for irrigation purposes, even though many officials believed the project to be too costly and without any guarantee of success.
In the first year of his reign, a precursor to the Nanking Imperial University was established, with Wei Zhao being the first president.
He had Sun Liang demoted from the status of Prince of Kuaiji to Marquis of Houguan and sent him to his marquisate (in present-day Fuzhou, Fujian).
The Wu official Xue Xu, who visited Wu's ally state Shu Han in 261, provided a description of Shu to Sun Xiu upon his return as follows:[5] The emperor is incompetent and does not know his errors; his subordinates just try to get by without causing trouble for themselves.
I have heard of a story of swallows and sparrows making nests on top of mansions and being content, believing that it was the safest place, not realising that the haystack and the support beams were on fire and that disaster was about to come.
When Sun Xiu heard that some former Shu commanderies were at a loss on what to do after Liu Shan's surrender, he sent his troops in an attempt to conquer them for Wu.
However, Luo Xian, a former Shu general stationed at Badong Commandery (巴東郡; around the present-day Three Gorges Dam), managed to hold his ground against the Wu invasion and eventually surrendered to Wei.
A tomb located in Dangtu County, Anhui is assumed to belong to Sun Xiu and Lady Zhu.