In the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Sun Ce decided to go north to crusade against Cao Cao's forces, but at this moment, he encountered Xu Gong's assassins while traveling, was seriously injured and died.

There is also a record of Sun Ce's death because of Yu Ji.

【Xu Gong】

Xu Gong had a bad impact in the hearts of most people because of Sun Ce's death, and in fact he was indeed not a good person, he once tried to persecute his boss Sheng Xian, and also killed Zhou Zhou's brothers, he was not a benevolent and righteous person, and later Sun Ce let him go and Yan Baihu, but he secretly reported to the imperial court in an attempt to transfer Sun Ce out of Yangzhou.

Xu Gong is a friend of the famous man Xu Jing, when Xu Jing fled to Jiangdong to escape Dong Zhuo's rebellion, it was Xu Gong and others who took him in. Later, Yuan Shu entered Yangzhou and defeated the three Zhou brothers under Yuan Shao, one of whom was killed by Xu Gong on the way back to his hometown of Huiji.

At that time, Xu Gong's boss and the chief guard of Wu County was Sheng Xian, who originally served as the governor of Wu County, but later Sheng Xian left due to illness, and Xu Gong replaced him as the Taishou of Wu County, and the position of the governor of Wu County was given to Zhu Zhi.

Because Sheng Xian left office due to illness, Xu Gong began to persecute Sheng Xian in order to keep his position, and Gao Dai, a famous scholar in Wu County, couldn't stand it, so he helped Sheng Xian hide in the home of Xu Gong's subordinate Xu Zhao. In order to deal with Gao Dai, Xu Gong captured Gao Dai's mother, so as to lead Gao Dai to prepare to harm him. In the end, Gao Dai escaped with the help of his friends.

After that, Sun Ce went south and defeated Yangzhou Mu Liu Xuan. Xu Gong was also defeated in Youquan, and then took refuge with Yan Baihu, a bandit who was also in Wu County. Soon after, Yan Baihu was defeated by Sun Ce, and the two had to defect to Xu Zhao in Yuhang. Sun Ce said: "Xu Zhao is righteous to the old monarch (referring to Sheng Xian), sincere to his old friend (referring to Yan Baihu), and the ambition of this husband is also." Therefore, they did not continue to exterminate them.

However, Xu Gong did not give up, and was eventually killed by Sun Ce.

【Assassination of Sun Ce】

After Sun Ce killed the disgruntled Xu Gong, Xu Gong's youngest son fled with his disciples and lived in seclusion by the Yangtze River. Later, Sun Ce decided to lead the army north, and once Sun Ce went out alone, he suddenly met Xu Gong's doorman, who injured him, Sun Ce was seriously injured, and finally died.

According to the "Jiangbiao Biography" record, at that time, Guangling Taishou Chen Deng set up the governance office in Sheyang, he was the son of Chen Yu's elder brother, on the occasion of Sun Ce's expedition to the west, Chen Deng secretly sent a messenger, a ribbon seal to Yan Baihu's remnants, and conspiracy to make chaos, in order to repay the shame of Chen Yu's defeat. After Sun Ce returned, he prepared to crusade against Chen Deng again, and led his army to Dantu to wait for grain and grass. However, Sun Ce himself was very fond of hunting, so he took some of his subordinates out on a safari, because Sun Ce himself rode an elite horse, so his subordinates were left behind in the safari.

At the beginning, Xu Gong, the former Taishou of Wu County, presented the emperor to the Han Dynasty: "Sun Ce Xiaoxiong, similar to Xiang Ji, should be added to the noble favor and recalled to Jingyi." If it is edicted, it will have to be returned, and if it is put outside, it will be a disaster for the world. Tried to get Sun Ce to leave Jiangdong, but Xu Gong's recital was obtained by Sun Ce, so Sun Ce invited him, confronted him, and questioned Xu Gong, Xu Gong excused himself for not doing it, how could Sun Ce believe it, so let the warriors strangle him.

After Xu Gong's death, his disciples hid among the people, looking for an opportunity to avenge him. Three of them shot at Sun Ce's safari, when Sun Ce asked, "Who are you?" The three men replied, "We are soldiers of Han Dang, and we are shooting deer here." Sun Ce said: "I know all the soldiers of Handang, and I have never seen you." After saying that, he shot an arrow at one of them, and the man fell to the sound of the bowstring. The remaining two were very panicked, and immediately bent their bows and arrows and shot at Sun Ce. Sun Ce was in a hurry, and he didn't have time to dodge, and was hit by an arrow in the cheek. At this time, Hu from the back found Sun Ce from the cavalry and killed all the assassins.

According to the "Wu Calendar", after Sun Ce was injured, the doctor told him that the injury could be treated, but it should be well maintained, and there should be no strenuous activity or anger for 100 days. Sun Ce took the mirror to look at his face, and said to the left and right: "If your face is like this, how can you still make contributions!" "Rise up and roar, push a few roars, and the wound bursts. Died that night.

In the "Spring and Autumn Period of Kyushu", there is also a record of "hearing that Cao Gong went north to Liucheng, learned about the people in the south of the Yangtze River, called himself Da Sima, and attacked Xu in the north, relying on his bravery, and did not have equipment, so it was difficult", and there are similar records in "Fu Zi", but Cao Cao's northern expedition to Liucheng was after the decisive battle of Guandu, and this kind of record is obviously not true.

【Taoist Yu Ji】

Regarding the cause of Sun Ce's death, there is also a theory that he died because he killed the Taoist priest Yu Ji and was cursed.

Yu Ji may have been the author of the Taiping Sutra in history, that is, the founder of Zhang Jiao's Taiping Taoism.

There are records about Yu Ji in the "Jiangbiao Biography" and "Sou Shen Ji", "Jiangbiao Biography" records that Yu Ji made runic water to cure diseases, and his reputation in Jiangdong was very popular, which caused Sun Ce's dissatisfaction and took him into custody, and then Sun Ce's mother even personally interceded for him, Sun Ce thought that he was bewitched and should not be, and the generals under Sun Ce's command also interceded for him, and Sun Ce then executed Ji on the grounds of Zhang Jin's old death.

However, it does not match the time of his death when Zhang Jin was dead.

"Sou Shen Ji" recorded that Sun Ce was preparing to cross the river to attack Xuchang, and Yu Ji walked together, at that time there was a great drought, the waterway was blocked, so Sun Ce urged the soldiers to go early, but found that everyone went to find Yu Ji, Sun Ce was enraged, so he took Yu Ji into custody, and then asked Yu Ji to ask for rain, if successful, Sun Ce said that he would release Yu Ji, and if he failed, he would directly correct the law, and as a result, the heavy rain poured down, and the soldiers thought that Sun Ce would release Yu Ji, but Sun Ce did the opposite, and Yu Ji was executed, and his body was hidden by others, and after a nightand disappeared.

After that, every time Sun Ce sat alone, he felt that Yu Ji seemed to be around, and he was annoyed. The treatment of arrow wounds has just improved, and he leads the mirror to self-shine, and he sees Yu Ji standing in the mirror, and when he looks back, he does not see Yu Ji, and so on again and again. Sun Ce broke through the mirror, roared hard, and his wound burst and died.

Because the records about Yu Ji are too mysterious, the death of Sun Ce in the later text is mainly based on the assassination of Xu Gongmenke.

Of course, in addition to these, Sun Ce may also have been conspired by the Cao Wei group to get rid of it, Guo Jia may have participated in it even if Sun Ce would die when he was in Guandu, and Chen Deng, the Taishou of Guangling at that time, had enough motives to assassinate Sun Ce.

But in fact, the assassination is not terrible, those big people have basically been the target of assassination, but there are often only a handful of them who can succeed, Sun Ce will be seriously injured this time, and eventually die, the assassin's attack is only one aspect, and more importantly, Sun Ce's own defense is not done.

To put it mildly, Sun Ce's death in Huangquan was also self-inflicted.