Twenty-four years after Jian'an, after Guan Yu's Northern Expedition was in full swing and threatening Huaxia for several months, Sun Quan decided to send troops to attack Guan Yu. During Guan Yu's attack on Fancheng, Sun Quanjun captured the important town of Jiangling in Jingzhou. Guan Yu defeated the remnants of his army and defeated Maicheng, and was eventually captured and killed by Sun Quan's generals Pan Zhang and Zhu Ran.
Sun Quan had already taken Possession of Jiangling, and Guan Yu's wife was captured, and Guan Yu's army dispersed. Sun Quan dispatched a counterattack against Guan Yu and beheaded Guan Yu in Linfeng.
The most controversial part of Sun Quan's killing of Guan Yu was that Sun Quan actually killed Guan Yu, a princely general with such an identity and influence. In terms of identity, Guan Yu and Liu Bei were brothers and sisters, under one person in the Shu kingdom and above ten thousand people; in terms of influence, Jingzhou, which Guan Yu guarded, was the most complex hub area in the world in the last years of Jian'an, and was the only state that spanned the territory of the Three Kingdoms. Guan Yu's identity and influence not only played a pivotal role in the Shu Han regime, but also a key figure in the world's strife. Since such a general had been captured by Sun Quan, he could be imprisoned, but Sun Quan had to put Guan Yu to death. Sun Quan's choice is indeed worthy of scrutiny.
Not only is this controversial in later generations, but even the historical data of that year are more ambiguous. For example, the Book of Shu contains:
Sun Quan dispatched guan Yu to attack Guan Yu and capture Guan Yu and Ziping. Sun Quan wanted to live Guan Yu to oppose Liu and Cao, and left and right: "Wolves cannot be raised, and they will be harmed later." Cao Gong did not get rid of it immediately, but caused great trouble to himself, but discussed the migration of the capital. How can I be born now! "It is cut off."
The Book of Wu says:
Sun Quan dispatched Guan Yu to walk against him, and Guan Yu was cut off.
The two books are controversial about whether Guan Yu was killed immediately, and this controversy reflects Sun Quan's indecision about killing Guan Yu.
At the end of the last century, archaeologists found a Tomb of the Three Kingdoms near Ma'anshan in Anhui Province, and the owner of the tomb was Zhu Ran, who captured Guan Yu on the orders of Sun Quan. When archaeologists studied Zhu Ran's tomb, they came to a conclusion that was enough to subvert history. And the key to this subversion lies in Zhu Ran's identity.
Zhu Ran Tomb Museum
According to archaeologists, the burial chamber of Zhu Ran's tomb is roughly the same as that of the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, but there are still some subtle differences. For example, in the tombs from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, the "front chamber" basically has an "ear chamber", but the front chamber of Zhu Ran's tomb does not have an ear chamber; for example, the roof of Zhu Ran's tomb adopts a new style of "four-corner coupon-type dome", which is quite different from the common tomb roof form at that time. Zhu Ran's tomb, which distinguishes it from most of the characteristics of most tombs at that time, as well as many other unique features, all point to one conclusion, and the scholar Yang Hong believes that Zhu Ran's tomb led to a new form of tomb system with local characteristics and era characteristics in the Sun Wu period. The reason why Zhu Ran's tomb has such a leading ability is naturally closely related to Zhu Ran's identity.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Zhu Ran's original surname was Shi, and he later succeeded Zhu Zhi as his son. In the decades from Sun Quan's command of Jiangdong to Zhu Ran's death, Zhu Ran was distinguished in battle, wise and brilliant, and was an equal figure with Sun Quan's governors Lü Meng and Lu Xun. However, even if Zhu Ran had such a position in Sun Wu, it was far from the reason why he could kill Guan Yu, and the fundamental reason why Zhu Ran dared to kill Guan Yu with Pan Zhang was that he was Zhu Zhi's adopted son.
Zhu Ran is a literal seal, and his original surname is Shi. At the beginning, Zhu Zhi did not have a son, and Zhu Ran was thirteen years old, and he was a beggar to be an heir. Danyang County was ordered to summon Zhu Ran with sheep wine, Zhu Ran went to Wu, and Ce You congratulated him.
There were four major Hao clans in Jiangdong, led by Sun Quan: the Gu clan, the Lu clan, the Zhang clan, and the Zhu clan. Zhu Zhi is one of the representative figures of the Zhu clan of sun Wuhao. It is clearly recorded in the historical records that Sun Quan was able to sit firmly in Jiangdong, mainly relying on the four major hao clans.
Emperor Xian (Sun Quan) fought gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang.
And Zhu Ran is zhu zhi's adopted son, then Zhu Ran naturally became an important member of the Zhu clan of the Jiangdong Hao clan and was protected by the forces of the Jiangdong Hao clan. The energy of these Hao clans can be seen from the measures taken by the Western Jin Dynasty after destroying Wu. After the Western Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu, it did not dare to touch the interests of the local Hao clan, and the power of these Hao clans remained the same. This alone proves that the Hao clan at that time was the most important pillar force within the regime.
This is why Sun Quan dared to order Guan Yu to be killed, while Zhu Ran dared to follow Pan Zhang's orders. For Zhu Ran, whether he killed Guan Yu or not, he would not be killed. He did not kill Guan Yu, needless to say, even if he killed Guan Yu and angered Shu Han, or even if Shu Han swept away Sun Quan's Jiangshan, he did not dare to treat Zhu Ran as he did, let alone the Zhu family, or as he should be. For Sun Quan, he even dared to take Jingzhou, how could he not dare to kill Guan Yu? Although Guan Yu's influence was extremely great, judging from Sun Quan's firm determination to attack Jingzhou, Sun Quan was determined to turn his face to Liu Bei, and Sun Quan naturally knew that if he attacked Jingzhou, he would inevitably have a war with Liu Bei, and since Sun Quan was not afraid to fight with Liu Bei and kill Guan Yu, how could he be afraid.