Judging from the description of Lü Meng, an important general of Eastern Wu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it seems that Lü Meng did not have any outstanding strengths, but only made some conspiracies and tricks. Guan Yu ate his tricks before he was defeated and killed.
Because this novel has the idea of taking the surname Liu as the orthodox, and especially respects Guan Yu, it wrote such a scene after Guan Yu's death: Eastern Wu is holding a celebration conference, and Sun Quan toasts to Lü Meng. Lü Meng took the wine glass and was preparing to drink it, when he suddenly threw the wine glass to the ground, grabbed Sun Quan by the hand, and scolded loudly: "Blue-eyed child!" Yellow-bearded rats! Do you still recognize me? "The crowd will be horrified and will hurry to the rescue.
Lü Meng pushed Sun Quan down, strode forward, sat down on Sun Quan's seat, his eyebrows were upside down, his eyes were wide open, and said loudly: "Since I broke the Yellow Turban, I have been running the world for thirty years, and I have been killed by you with treacherous tactics, I can't eat your flesh, and I should chase after the soul of Lü Meng, a thief!" I am Han Shouting Hou Guan Gong is also. Sun Quan was stunned and hurriedly fell to the ground with the big and small generals. Only to see Lü Meng's seven tricks of blood burst out and die.
Of course, this scene is completely fabricated by the author of the novel, but it shows the author's love and hatred: he believes that Guan Yu died a very unjust death, and Sun Quan and Lü Meng's means of victory are not bright and just, so he uses this way of writing to vent His anger for Guan Yu.
In fact, Lü Meng's characteristics are not only that he will be clever in battle. He has many specialties and is another outstanding talent in Eastern Wu after Zhou Yu and Lu Su.
First of all, as a military general, he is very brave and good at war. When he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he secretly followed his brother-in-law to kill thieves, and when his brother-in-law found out, he was shocked and scolded him, but could not stop his action. When his mother learned of this, she was very angry and wanted to punish him. He said: "We are living in poverty now, it is difficult to live, and if I have done a good job in killing thieves, I can get rich." And don't go into the tiger's den, get the tiger? "Mother had no choice but to let him go.
When Sun Quan was in charge of Jiangdong affairs, Lü Meng was only a young general with few troops. Sun Quan was ready to take stock of the young generals and merge those small troops who had few soldiers and were not enough to meet. When Lü Meng heard the news, he secretly borrowed some money and bought big red clothes and leggings for his men. When Sun Quan came to inspect, Lü Meng's ranks of soldiers were neat and mighty, which made people amazed, and the practice was particularly energetic. Sun Quan was very happy to see him, and instead of cutting his men, he added more soldiers to him.
Because of Lü Meng's bravery in battle, he has made great achievements many times. Among the generals of the same period, he can be said to be the most outstanding in battle, and his role is often irreplaceable by others. For example, in the campaign against Huang Zu, Lü Meng played a key role. At that time, Huang Zu ordered the governor Chen to fight with a water army, and Lü Meng confronted him, fought the vanguard, and personally cut off Chen Yu's head to show the public. His generals took advantage of the victory to pursue and besieged the city where Huang Zu was stationed. When Huang Zu heard that Chen was killed, he was frightened, abandoned the city and fled, and was captured by the pursuing soldiers. Eastern Wu won a great victory. Sun Quan said in his discussion of merit: "The reason why this battle was successful was because Chen was captured first. Therefore, he identified Lü Meng as the first meritorious officer and promoted him to the rank of General Yokono Nakaro.
Lü Meng was not only brave in battle, but also, as historians commented, "brave and decisive", courageous and insightful, not just a warrior. In critical moments, he often has superior insights.
In the later period of chibi's resistance to Cao, Zhou Yu led his troops to confront Cao Ren, and Cao Ren divided his troops to besiege Ganning in Yiling, and Ganning was in a critical condition and asked for help. All the generals under Zhou Yu thought that the troops were too small to be rescued. Only Lü Meng said to Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu, "I suggest leaving Ling Tong, and I will go with you to relieve the siege of Yiling, which will not take too much time." I guarantee that the public performance (i.e. Ling Tong) can be kept here for ten days. ”
He also suggested to Zhou Yu that another three hundred men be sent to block the dangerous road with firewood, so that the enemy's horses could be obtained. Zhou Yu took his advice and led his troops to Yiling to fight, killing half of the enemy on the same day. The remaining enemies fled by night, encountering a dangerous road blocked by firewood, and in order to escape, they had to abandon their horses and go away. The Eastern Wu soldiers who had long been ambushed there did get three hundred horses and carried them back by boat. Therefore, the Eastern Wu army was greatly encouraged, crossed the river and litun, the situation on both sides was reversed, and Eastern Wu counterattacked and attacked. Cao Ren retreated. Eastern Wu occupied Nan County, Fuding Jingzhou. Here Lumont's suggestions play a key role.
Later, Sun Quan fought against Cao Cao in the Huainan area, and Lü Meng repeatedly made strange plans, especially suggesting that the water outlet be used as a dock to resist the enemy's attack. Sun Quan's generals all objected to this suggestion, saying: "What is the use of going ashore to shoot thieves and launch into the water into the ship? Lü Meng replied: "Weapons are advantageous and blunt, it is impossible to win a battle, in case the enemy infantry and cavalry attack, and we are too late to retreat to the water's edge, how can we get on the ship?" ”
Sun Quan listened to the opinions of both sides, weighed them repeatedly, and finally made a decision to say that Lü Meng's opinion was good. So I docked it in the whiskers. After the completion of the WushuWu, it played a great role, so that Cao Cao's many attacks could not be successful, and finally only retreated. Lü Meng's suggestion played a key role here, of course, this also requires Sun Quan to recognize the great value of Lü Meng's suggestion, to understand the great value of Lü Meng, an outstanding talent, and Sun Quan is obviously knowledgeable.
Sun Quan's personal leadership of the conquest of the city of Anhui defended by the Cao army was also an important battle. Sun Quan asked the generals for advice. The generals suggested building earthen hills and adding siege equipment to attack. Only Lu Meng raised a different opinion. He said: "It will take many days to succeed in purchasing siege equipment and building earthen mountains, when the enemy in Anhui City is ready for defense, and the enemy from outside reinforcements will also arrive, so the siege is bound to fail." And our side is riding on the rainy river rising, if the stay is too long, the rising river water will recede, the way back will be difficult, I think that will be dangerous. In my opinion, the city of Anhui is not too strong, with the current sharpness of our three armies, attacking together from all sides, it will not take more than an hour to break through it, and then ride back by the rising river, this is the way to total victory. ”
Sun Quan again chose Lü Meng's suggestion. Lü Meng recommended Gan Ning as the governor of the siege, and the battle was in front, and Lü Meng supplemented him with elite forces. The battle began at dawn, when Lü Meng personally beat the war drums, and the soldiers all jumped upwards, and the ending was as Lü Meng expected, and he attacked the city in about an hour. The reinforcements of the State of Wei arrived at Jiashi, and heard that the city of Anhui had been destroyed, and only retreated. It can be said that this battle is the first achievement.
Shortly thereafter, Lü Meng returned to his fiefdom to seek yang. In less than a year, there was another rebellion in the Luling area, and the generals surrounded and suppressed them to no avail. Sun Quan couldn't help but sigh and said, "A few hundred eagles are not worth a big eagle!" So he ordered Lü Meng to go to the requisition. Lü Meng went to Luling, beheaded the people who were the leaders of the rebellion, released the rest of the people, let them become ordinary people again, and quelled the turmoil there. From this point of view, compared with Sun Quan's other generals, Lü Meng really had superior talent.
[This article is excerpted from the article "The Real Lü Meng in History" (published in Wuhan Literature and History Materials, No. 5, 2003, by Huang Zhongjing) ]
Sun Quan's generosity and savings: A Miscellaneous History of the Three Kingdoms