The succession struggle led to the emergence of two opposing factions from among Sun Quan's subjects. On one side, Lu Xun, Zhuge Ke, Gu Tan, Zhu Ju, Teng Yin, Shi Ji, Ding Mi (丁密) and Wu Can believed that Sun He was the rightful heir apparent so they supported him. On the other side, Bu Zhi, Lü Dai, Quan Cong and his second son Quan Jì, Lü Ju, Sun Hong (孫弘), Yang Zhu (楊笁), Wu An (吳安) and Sun Qi (孫奇) supported Sun Ba. During the succession struggle, the Quans found an opportunity to take revenge against Gu Cheng and Zhang Xiu. They accused Gu Cheng and Zhang Xiu of secretly collaborating with a staff officer to make false submissions about their contributions during the Battle of Quebei. As a result, Gu Cheng and Zhang Xiu were arrested and thrown into prison, while Gu Cheng's brother Gu Tan, a key supporter of Sun He, was implicated in the case because of his relationship with them. Sun Quan was reluctant to convict Zhang Xiu and the Gu brothers so he asked Gu Tan to publicly apologise for the mistake on behalf of his brother and Zhang Xiu, in the hope that his apology would appease the Quans. However, Gu Tan refused to apologise and insisted that they were innocent. When some officials called for Gu Tan's execution on the grounds of being disrespectful towards the emperor, Sun Quan refused to execute Gu Tan and instead exiled him, Gu Cheng and Zhang Xiu to the remote Jiao Province. Sun Quan eventually grew tired of the succession struggle and ended it in 250 by deposing Sun He and replacing him with Sun Liang, as well as forcing Sun Ba to commit suicide. A number of the officials involved in the succession struggle, including Quan Cong's second son Quan Jì, were executed, forced to commit suicide, demoted, removed from office, or exiled to distant commanderies. Before the succession struggle ended in 250, Quan Cong had already died either sometime between 22 February and 23 March 247 (according to Sun Quan's biography in the "Sanguozhi") or in the winter of 249 (according to the "Jiankang Shilu" and his biography in the "Sanguozhi") at the age of 52 (by East Asian age reckoning). In Rafe de Crespigny's "A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms 23-220 AD", Quan Cong's name is romanised as Quan Zong and his year of death is recorded as 247.