Sun Quan, founder of the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period, inherited the legacy of his father Sun Jian and elder brother Sun Ce. By recruiting talented individuals, he governed Eastern Wu to great prosperity. His civil advisors included strategists like Zhang Zhao and Gu Yong, while his military commanders boasted warriors such as Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu, making him one of the primary forces capable of rivaling Cao Cao.
In 208 AD, Cao Cao boasted his 200,000 troops as a million-strong army and marched south. Liu Biao's son Liu Cong surrendered without a fight, so Cao Cao pressed toward the Yangtze, threatening Sun Quan into submission.
Facing the dire situation, Sun Quan heeded Lu Su and Zhou Yu's counsel, making the wise decision to ally with Liu Bei against Cao Cao's forces. He appointed Zhou Yu as Grand Commander and Lu Su as Chief Military Advisor, sending their army to the Red Cliffs region to confront the enemy.
With support from Liu Bei's forces, the allied Sun-Liu army used a fire attack to defeat Cao Cao's troops, securing victory at the Battle of Red Cliffs.
After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Sun Quan's position grew stronger. When Liu Bei conquered Western Sichuan, the three kingdoms stood like a tripod's three legs. With advisors like Lu Su, Sun Quan maintained a long alliance with Liu Bei, keeping this tripartite balance for an extended period.
Later, tensions between Sun Quan and Liu Bei over the return of Jing Province escalated. Sun Quan employed Lü Meng's strategy of "crossing the river in plain clothes," launching a surprise attack that seized Jing Province from Guan Yu's garrison. Guan Yu, defeated, fled to Maicheng but was tragically killed. Liu Bei raised an army to avenge Guan Yu and attacked Eastern Wu. Sun Quan, shrewd and decisive, boldly appointed the young general Lu Xun as Grand Commander. Lu Xun set fire to Liu Bei's seven-hundred-li-long camp, crushing his forces in a devastating defeat.
Throughout Sun Quan's decades-long reign, his talent for employing people, fondness for strategy, and decisiveness led to Wu's economic prosperity and the people's well-being, earning him the reputation of a highly capable emperor. Even Cao Cao once exclaimed with great admiration, "A son should be like Sun Zhongmou!"
By the Jin Dynasty, the writer Lu Ji wrote "On the Fall of States," summarizing the rise and fall of Eastern Wu, praising Sun Quan for "seeking out talent, consulting widely, and being resourceful and decisive in judgment." This assessment was quite accurate.
Later, the idiom "Good at Planning and Decisive" also became "Resourceful and Decisive," used to describe someone who is both wise and good at making judgments.
Source: Lu Ji (Jin Dynasty), *Essay on the Fall of Kingdoms*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "好谋善断" came to describe how someone is both wise and good at making judgments.