As emperor, Sun Xiu was known for being tolerant of differing opinions, as well as his studiousness. However, he did not appear to be a particularly capable emperor, either in military or domestic matters, and he entrusted most of the important affairs to
Zhang Bu and
Puyang Xing, neither of whom was particularly capable either. Both were also moderately corrupt. The government was therefore not efficient or effective. 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. Eventually, the project had to be abandoned when it became clear that it could not be completed. In the first year of his reign, a precursor to the
Nanking Imperial University was established, with
Wei Zhao being the first president. In 260, Sun Xiu, who had always been concerned about plots regarding his brother, deposed Emperor Sun Liang, acted after receiving false reports that Sun Liang had used witchcraft. 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). Sun Liang died en route to Houguan – with the popular belief being that he committed suicide, but with some historians believing that Sun Xiu poisoned him. 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: Historians largely believe that Xue Xu was not just referring to Shu, but rather using Shu's situation as an allegory to warn Sun Xiu that Wu was in a similar situation. Sun Xiu did not seem to have understood what Xue Xu meant. In 262, Sun Xiu instated his wife
Princess Zhu as the empress. He also designated his eldest son, Sun Wan, as the
crown prince. In 263, due to the corruption of the commandery governor Sun Xu (), the people of
Jiaozhi (交趾; present-day
Hanoi,
Vietnam)
rebelled, and they were joined by the people in the neighbouring Jiuzhen (九真; modern
Thanh Hóa, Vietnam) and Rinan (日南, modern
Quang Tri, Vietnam) commanderies. The rebels also sought military assistance from Wu's rival state, Wei. (Wei and its successor state, the
Jin dynasty, did provide assistance to the rebels. Besides, the rebellion was not suppressed until 271, some years well into the reign of Sun Xiu's successor,
Sun Hao.) In 263, when Wu's ally state
Shu came under attack by their rival state Wei, they sought assistance from Wu. Sun Xiu sent two separate armies – one to attack Shouchun (present-day
Shou County,
Anhui) and the other to attack
Hanzhong Commandery – to distract the Wei army and force them to withdraw from Shu. However, both armies never succeeded in their mission. The Shu emperor
Liu Shan surrendered to Wei later that year, thus bringing Shu's existence to an end. 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. In the summer of 264, Sun Xiu became ill and could not speak, but could still write, so he wrote an edict summoning Puyang Xing to the imperial palace, where he entrusted the crown prince Sun Wan to Puyang Xing. Sun Xiu died soon thereafter. Puyang Xing, however, did not follow Sun Xiu's dying wish and make Sun Wan the new emperor. Instead, after discussing with Zhang Bu, he decided to put an older and more mature emperor on the throne. (It is unknown how old Sun Wan was at the time of Sun Xiu's death, but since Sun Xiu was 29 when he died, it was most likely that Sun Wan was still a child then.) On the recommendation of
Wan Yu, Puyang Xing and Zhang Bu installed
Sun Hao, a son of
Sun He (crown prince during Sun Quan's reign), on the throne. A tomb located in
Dangtu County,
Anhui is assumed to belong to Sun Xiu and Lady Zhu. ==Family==