In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Qian frequently served as a diplomatic envoy.
Tips
history
刘表 rated him highly: in a letter urging 袁尚 to stop fighting his brother, he wrote that the feud pained him to the bone whenever he talked it over with General Liu and 孙公祐, naming the envoy alongside 刘备 himself.
mistakes
The character 乾 here is read Qián, not gān. 乾 was simplified to 干 (gān) when meaning 'dry', but retained as 乾 (qián) when meaning 'heaven; male principle', including in personal names like this one. Don't read this as 'Sūn Gān'.