Du Yu (222-285) was the Senior General Who Attacks the South and Marquis of Fengle in Western Jin. Du Yu was recommended to Emperor Sima Yan by general Yang Hu as the general who should lead the conquest of Wu in 280 AD, and Du Yu successfully defeated Wu in a year-long campaign, ending the age of the Three Kingdoms.
Biography[]
Du Yu was born in 222 AD in Duling, Yong Province, then a part of Cao Wei (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi, China). Du Yu married a daughter of Wei's strategist, Sima Yi, and he became a commander of Wei troops under General Zhong Hui during the conquest of Shu in 263 AD.
Afterwards, he became one of the trusted generals under Governor of Xiangyang Yang Hu, who recommended him as the new Western Jin commander-in-chief while on his deathbead in 277 AD. Du Yu appointed Viceroy of Yi Province Wang Jun as General of the Uplifting Dragon and made him the naval commander for the planned conquest of Wu in 280 AD. In November 278 AD he took over military affairs in Jing Province after Yang Hu's death, and he was promoted to General Who Conquers the South. Wang Jun, Du Yu, and Zhang Hua were the only supporters of the plan to invade Eastern Wu in 280 AD, while many others objected. Nevertheless, Du Yu was given command of 200,000 Jin troops and was sent to command the invasion of Eastern Wu.
Du Yu and Hu Fen were sent to conquer all of the Wu strongholds to the west of Xiakou, and he conquered Jiangling from Wu, slaying its commander Wu Yan. He also captured Lingling at the end of the campaign, and soon after, Wu surrendered. He was the one to receive Sun Hao's surrender, in the form of a chained and shirtless Sun Hao being escorted to Luoyang with the imperial carriage (which he could not ride in, as he was now a prisoner) and submitting to Jin. Wu was conquered, and the Western Jin dynasty united the land.