[a] He started his career under the warlord Sun Quan, who controlled the territories in the Jiangdong region in the late Eastern Han dynasty, and was appointed as the Chief (長) of Yuyao County (餘姚縣) during this time.
Later on, Sun Quan appointed him as a Colonel (校尉) to lead 2,000 troops to find the people who had scattered earlier to avoid the plague.
[5] In 222, Zhu Huan succeeded Zhou Tai as the area commander of the fortress at Ruxu (濡須), a strategic location at the border along the Yangtze River between Eastern Wu and its rival state Cao Wei.
[6] Cao Ren purposefully leaked the news that he would attack Xianxi (羨溪) with the intention of diverting the defenders' attention away from Ruxu fortress.
"[8] Zhu Huan then ordered his subordinates to hide the flags and drums to generate an illusion they were weak, so as to lure Cao Ren to attack.
Zhu Huan sent Yan Gui (嚴圭) to Zhongzhou to lay traps there, while he led the remaining troops out to battle Cao Tai.
Chang Diao and Wang Shuang fell into an ambush and attempted to retreat, but their ships had been captured by the Wu forces so they could not head back.
Outside Ruxu fortress, Zhu Huan repelled Cao Tai's attack and managed to infiltrate the enemy and burn down their camps.
[9] In recognition of Zhu Huan's achievements in the battle, Sun Quan promoted him to General of Uplifting Martial Might (奮武將軍), granted him the title "Marquis of Jiaxing" (嘉興侯), and appointed him as the nominal Chancellor of Pengcheng Commandery.
Zhu Huan once proposed to Lu Xun that they could easily capture the enemy general Cao Xiu by blocking the latter's retreat route with only 10,000 troops under his command.