When it comes to important figures in Eastern Wu, perhaps the so-called "Four Yingjie of Eastern Wu" or "Twelve Tigers of Jiangdong" are more famous. However, this article is a small editor to introduce a very high-status, but easy to be overlooked character - Lü Fan. He was once appointed by Sun Quan as the Grand Sima and his status was actually higher than that of Lu Xun. Lü Fan's son Lü Zhao was also one of Sun Quan's chosen ministers. The following small editor will briefly talk about the character of Lü Fan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > Lü Fan followed Sun Ce to start a business</h1>
Sun Quan took over the Jiangdong clique in the fifth year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (that is, in 200 AD), and there were many old ministers who followed Sun Ce to start a business, and Lü Fan was one of them, and from the time of Sun Ce, Lü Fan was also a relatively high-ranking figure.
Lü Fan was originally a native of Runan, Yuzhou, but later took refuge in Shouchun, Jiujiang, Yangzhou, and met Sun Ce. Lü Fan took his own soldiers and guests to attach himself to Sun Ce. At this time, Sun Ce had not yet started a business, and still belonged to Yuan Shu's subordinates, and Lü Fan, Sun He and others had been following Sun Ce. Later, Sun Ce attacked Lujiang on the orders of Yuan Shu, crossed the river to attack Jiangdong, and attacked Chen Yu, Zu Lang, Tai Shi Ci, Huang Zu and other forces after breaking away from Yuan Shu, and Lü Fan participated.
It is worth noting that Sun Ce once defeated Huang Zu, and in the upper table of the Eastern Han Dynasty court controlled by Cao Cao, Lü Fan's identity was guiyang Taishouxing's conquest of Zhonglang, second only to Zhou Yu, and higher than Cheng Pu, Sun Quan, Han Dang, Huang Gai and others. It can be seen that Lü Fan's position in the Jiangdong Clique during Sun Ce's period cannot be underestimated.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > Lü Fan continued to assist Sun Quan</h1>
In the fifth year of Jian'an, Sun Ce was assassinated by Xu Gongmenke, and Lü Fan was in Poyang at the time, returning to Wu County (where the Jiangdong clique was once the political and military center) to mourn. Zhou Yu also returned to Wu County to mourn at that time, but he only led the soldiers to the funeral. From the records in the historical materials, it is impossible to judge Zhou Yu's motives for leading the soldiers to the funeral, and it is even difficult to judge the color of this historical material. However, at least from the result point of view, Zhou Yu was given the power to jointly assist Zhang Zhao (Sun Ce only made Zhang Zhao an auxiliary minister before his death, and did not mention Zhou Yu). Lü Fan, who was second in rank to Zhou Yu, did not receive such treatment.
Although Lü Fan's status was not as good as Zhou Yu's, and his performance was even worse than Zhou Yu's, it was not inaction. Jiangdong Group has a big enemy, that is, the Huang Zu mentioned above. When Sun Quan personally conquered Huang Zu, Lü Fan did not get the opportunity to establish a meritorious career from the army, but stayed in Wu County with Zhang Zhao. In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (that is, in 208 AD), Huang Zu was destroyed, and Cao Cao led a large army to the south, and the "Battle of Chibi" broke out with Sun Liu's combined army. The most prominent figures in the "Battle of Chibi" were of course Zhou Yu and Huang Gai, but Lü Fan was also involved, and after the war, he was worshipped as the general of Pei and led Peng Ze Taishou (at that time, most of the figures in the Jiangdong clique were partial generals).
For a long time after the "Battle of Chibi", Lü Fan did not get the opportunity to perform. But he is still an important figure in the Jiangdong Group. In order to consolidate the alliance, Sun Quan married his sister Sun Shi to Liu Bei, who went to Jingkou (the second political and military center of the Jiangdong clique) to meet Sun Quan. Both Lü Fan and Zhou Yu proposed to Sun Quan a plan to take advantage of the opportunity to detain Liu Bei, but this was not adopted by Sun Quan.
Subsequently, Liu Bei Jiaolong entered the sea and developed rapidly. By the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (i.e., 219 CE), the conflict between Sun Quan and Liu Bei was already very intense, but it was covered up by a fragile Xiangshui alliance. While Guan Yu was northernly attacking Xiangyang and Fancheng, Sun Quan decided to sneak into Jingzhou. In the "Battle of Jingzhou", the most prominent figures were Lü Meng and Lu Xun, and Lü Fan still did not have the opportunity to make meritorious achievements on the battlefield. However, after Sun Quan set the capital Wuchang (the third political and military center of Eastern Wu in order to cope with the needs of the war with Liu Bei), Lü Fan led Danyang Taishou to sit in Jianye, and was also a figure that Sun Quan trusted and relied on.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > Lü Fan against the Cao Wei army</h1>
As can be seen from the above content, although Lü Fan's status has always been not low, and he is also very trusted and valued, he rarely gets the opportunity to command an important battle like Zhou Yu, Lü Meng, and Lu Xun, and even Cheng Pu, Sun Jiao, Huang Gai and others are inferior. This should also be one of the reasons why Lü Fan is very easily overlooked. In the first year of Huangwu of Eastern Wu and the third year of the Huang Dynasty of Cao Wei (that is, in 222 AD), Lü Fan finally waited for an opportunity to stand alone.
In order to cope with the war with Liu Bei, Sun Quan took a low posture and declared himself a vassal to Cao Wei. However, he did not agree to the request to send the prince and grandson to the hostage. After the Battle of Yiling, Sun Quan's attitude towards Cao Pi became more contemptuous. This led to threats and retaliation from Cao Pi. Cao Pi launched three large armies to attack Gangneung, Fusu, and Dongkou respectively. This can almost be said to be an all-out war between Cao Wei and Eastern Wu. Among them, Lü Fan was the main general of Eastern Wu on the Jingkou side, and the governors Xu Sheng, Quan Chun, Sun Shao and other troops resisted the attacks of Cao Xiu, Zhang Liao, Zang Ba, and others.
Although in the war of Cao Pi's three roads against Wu, Dongkou was only one of the battlefields. However, Lü Fan's war with Cao Xiu still had considerable scale and significance. In this war, Lü Fan, as the main general of Dongkou (and later in the jingkou war), did not behave particularly impressively, at least according to historical records. However, the result was still a successful blockade of the incoming enemy, and the Eastern Wu army and the Cao Wei army had a mutual victory or defeat (from the data point of view, it seems that Cao Wei was a little better).
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="15" > Lü Fan's death and Lü's auxiliary government</h1>
During Cao Pi's three-way war against Wu, Lü Fan was moved to former general, false festival, and waited until Cao Wei retired to lead Yangzhou Mu. It is worth noting that at that time, Lü Fan, Bu Qi, Zhuge Jin, and He Qi were the former, right, left, and rear generals, respectively, and Lu Xun's identity was only that of an auxiliary general; by the seventh year of Huang Wu (that is, in 228 AD), Lü Fan was worshipped as the Grand Sima (大司馬). Unfortunately, before the yin silk arrived, Lü Fan fell ill and died.
By the following year, in the first year of Huanglong (i.e., 229 AD), Sun Quan was officially proclaimed emperor, and Lu Xun was moved to the position of Shangda general, most likely lower than Lü Fan's Grand Sima (司馬). Although the level of official position does not determine the weight, it should be obvious that Lü Fan's popularity does not match his position in Eastern Wu.
Lü Fan had a high status in Eastern Wu and also participated in large-scale wars such as Cao Pi's Three Roads Against Wu. His son Lü Zhao was also a very important figure. Lü Fan's military resume may be richer than Lü Fan's, but this article does not elaborate on it. Just a little introduction to this character.
Sun Quan was seriously ill in his later years, and with his youngest son Sun Liang as his crown prince, he arranged five auxiliary ministers, of which Lü Zhao was one of them, and the other four were Zhuge Ke, Sun Hong, Sun Jun, and Teng Yin. Among them, Zhuge Ke's status is the highest. After Sun Quan's death, there was an infighting between the five auxiliary ministers, and Sun Hong was the first to withdraw; then Zhuge Ke also withdrew, leaving only Sun Jun, Teng Yin, and Lü Zhao, headed by Sun Jun.
Sun Jun sent Lü Zhao, Wen Qin, Liu Lu, Zhu Yi, Tang Zhi, and others to carry out the Northern Expedition, and Sun Jun went to Lü Zhao's camp to travel, but when he returned, he suddenly fell seriously ill and entrusted the power to his cousin Sun Qi. This move caused dissatisfaction among Lü Zhao and Teng Yin. The two men decided to unite against Sun Qiang, but ultimately failed. Sun Qiang co-opted Wen Qin and others to deal with Lü Zhao. In desperation, Lü Zhu committed suicide because he was unwilling to surrender to Cao Wei. Teng Yin lost Lü Zhao's military support and was eliminated by Sun Qiang.
Reference: "Three Kingdoms"