a foothold in Jiangnan and there are many things you still need to do. You should treat men of talent with respect, pardon them for their minor mistakes and honour them for their contributions. Officer Wei has been performing his duties faithfully. If you kill him today, tomorrow others will rebel against you. I don't wish to see a tragedy occur, so I'll throw myself into this well." Sun Ce was shocked and he immediately released Wei Teng. Life during Sun Quan's administration Sun Ce was assassinated in 200 CE by the servants of Xu Gong, a commandery administrator whom he killed earlier. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Sun Quan, who was still young when he took over the reins of power. Lady Wu rendered much assistance to Sun Quan in administering political and military affairs. Around 202, the warlord Cao Cao, who controlled the Han central government, demanded that Sun Quan send one of his sons to the imperial capital Xu (許; present-day Xuchang, Henan) as a hostage so as to secure Sun's allegiance towards him. When Sun Quan gathered his subjects to discuss the issue, they could not arrive at a conclusion. Personally, Sun Quan was not in favour of yielding to Cao Cao's demand, so he had another meeting with only his mother and Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu advised Sun Quan against sending a hostage while Lady Wu endorsed Zhou's suggestion and asked her son to treat Zhou like an elder brother. Sun Quan heeded their advice. Before her death in 202, Lady Wu summoned Zhang Zhao, Dong Xi and others and instructed them to help Sun Quan in governing the territories in Jiangnan. She was buried at Gaoling (高陵; believed to be somewhere in present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu). In 229, when Sun Quan declared himself Emperor and established the state of Eastern Wu, he granted his mother the posthumous title "Empress Wulie" (). In Romance of the Three Kingdoms In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lady Wu had a fictional younger sister who also married Sun Jian. The elder Lady Wu was the mother of Sun Ce and Sun Quan while the younger one bore Lady Sun and Sun Lang. The younger Lady Wu was also known as "Wu Guotai" (吳國太; literally "Elder Lady Wu of the State"). Wu Guotai lived longer than her sister because she played a significant role