Background
By the first year of Jian'an (196), Sun Ce had been operating across the Yangzi for several years. Drawing on the matrimonial ties his family had forged with local magnates such as Zhou Yu and on a portion of Yuan Shu's forces, he had steadily eliminated rivals such as Liu Yao and Yan Baihu in Jiang Dong. But Jiang Dong was no monolithic block — multiple forces were interwoven: local strongmen, sojourning scholars, and the Shanyue tribal peoples. Conquest by sheer force alone could not achieve stable governance; after eliminating Liu Yao, Sun Ce needed to bring over figures with genuine popular authority among Liu Yao's former troops, or else the network of old personal ties could turn against his newly established regime at any moment. Taishi Ci was precisely such a critical figure: a native of Donglai, he had already distinguished himself by breaking through the siege of Beihai to save Kong Rong, and he had then fought Sun Ce one-on-one at Shentingling to a draw — he was universally recognized in Jiang Dong military circles as a commander of rare talent.
Course of Events
According to the novel's account, rather than surrendering directly after Liu Yao's defeat, Taishi Ci withdrew to Jingxian and recruited more than two thousand mountain people, intending to regroup and strike back. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu devised a plan that exploited Taishi Ci's character: Chen Wu first crept over the walls in the dead of night in light clothing and set fires to throw the defenders into panic; only the east gate was left open as the sole escape route, drawing the engagement toward a pre-chosen site; and twenty-five li away in a reed marsh, trip-ropes for horses were laid in wait so that when Taishi Ci's exhausted men and horses stumbled into the trap, they were captured all at once. This operation was not aimed at simple annihilation — the paramount goal was "to capture Taishi Ci himself in one piece," and that point was of the highest importance.
Decision and Outcome
Sun Ce personally walked out of his camp to wave off his own soldiers, had Taishi Ci's bonds cut, draped his own embroidered robe over Taishi Ci's shoulders, and told him, "I know that Ziyi is a true man of valor," then used Liu Yao's misuse of talent as a conversational opening to redirect Taishi Ci's sense of obligation away from his former lord. He then gave what appeared to be a recklessly generous promise: he released Taishi Ci to return to his forces with an agreement to come back the following day. The significance of this gesture lay in the fact that it returned the decision of "whether to submit" entirely to Taishi Ci himself — this near-gamble of trust was at once a political test and a major display of respect for Taishi Ci's character. The next day, Taishi Ci returned as promised with more than a thousand of his troops, and "all in the Jiang Dong army admired Sun Ce's ability to read men".
Historical Impact
The consequences of this event extended far beyond a simple recruitment of a talented commander. First, Taishi Ci's joining Sun Ce meant that the core armed remnant of Liu Yao's former troops was absorbed intact — Sun Ce gained not only a formidable warrior but also the more than two thousand Shanyue fighters Taishi Ci brought with him, along with his network of connections in Danyang and Xuancheng; this was vital to Sun Ce's swift takeover of governance in that region. Second, Sun Ce's handling of Taishi Ci became the template for his subsequent winning over of other Jiang Dong strongmen — such as Zhou Tai, Chen Wu, and Dong Xi: exchanging personal charisma and the freedom to exercise authority for loyalty, rather than using force to suppress; this style of "recruitment as alliance" became the most important political asset of the early Sunwu regime. Third, Taishi Ci continued to serve Sun Quan after Sun Ce's death, becoming a pillar of the southern Jiang Dong defense against the Shanyue peoples and Liu Biao. He died of illness on the Danyang front in the eleventh year of Jian'an (206), deeply mourned by Sun Quan — this personal connection persisted throughout the entire early period of Jiang Dong's consolidation. In other words, capturing Taishi Ci at Jingxian was not simply "seizing a tiger general" — it was the model event by which Sun Ce completed the political integration of Jiang Dong.