Original creator: Yu Shiliang
The third article in Lu Xun's series of articles, "Choice is greater than effort: Lu Xun chooses to cooperate with Sun Quan", said that Lu Xun, who is the unity of knowledge and action, chose to cooperate with Sun Quan and won Sun Quan's trust. He started from the history of the orders of the East and West Cao, and later served as the Tuntian Governor of Haichang (now Haining, Zhejiang), and the commander of Haichang County.
Lu Xun played a role in pacifying the rebellions of the Huiji bandit marshal Pan Lin and the Poyang thief Marshal You Tu, and was worshiped as the captain of Dingwei. After that, Sun Quan married his niece to Lu Xun, and appointed him as the right governor of the account, commanding the personal guard troops under Sun Quan's account, and awarded Lu Xun the halberd, so that he could supervise the three counties of Huiji, Poyang, and Danyang.
In the pacification of the Feizhan Rebellion, Lu Xun proposed to Sun Quan that "the strong are soldiers, and the winners make up for the households" (the strong people should be soldiers, and the weak people should go to Tuntian), and Lu Xun recruited more than 10,000 elite soldiers from among the rebels. The strong and strong Lu Xun led his army to garrison Wuhu (now Wuhu, Anhui). In terms of the number of soldiers in command, Lu Xun became one of the few generals in the Sun Wu group at that time.
However, Lu Xun only had the experience of participating in the war, and he suppressed the Shanyue rebellion in China three times, so it was impossible for Lu Xun to squeeze into the sequence of famous generals of the Sun Wu group. Lu Xun, who is well versed in the logic of power, understands that in order to get ahead in troubled times, you must always be ready to fight big wars and evil wars, so as to truly become famous.
As the saying goes, opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared, and they can only be seized when they come. In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei's general Guan Yu launched the Battle of Xiangfan. Although Guan Yu besieged Xiangyang and Fancheng, captured the ban, beheaded Pang De, and shocked Huaxia, he let Lu Xun see an opportunity to show his skills.
Lu Xun's vision is indeed extraordinary!
1. The background of Sun Quan's sneak attack on Guan Yu
Jingzhou has always been a battleground for soldiers because of its extraordinary geographical location. For Cao Cao in the north, if he wanted to lead a large army to conquer the south, he must first cross Jingzhou; for Liu Bei of the Shu Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang analyzed the situation in the world for Liu Bei, and put forward the strategic concept of "first taking Jingzhou, then taking Yizhou to achieve a strong momentum, and finally trying to take the Central Plains"; for Sun Quan of Jiangdong, Jingzhou is a place where soldiers must fight, and it has the natural danger of the Yangtze River, and if Jingzhou is controlled by Liu Bei, then the Jiangdong region will be directly threatened. For all the forces in the Three Kingdoms period, they all adhered to the strategic idea of "seizing Jingzhou first, and then chasing the Central Plains".
(1) Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou to negotiate with Sun Quan for Jingzhou. The closest Sun Quan came to possessing the whole territory of Jingzhou was when Zhou Yu defeated Cao Cao in the Battle of Chibi and captured Jiangling, however, Sun Quan at this time did not have the confidence to rely on Jiangdong alone to fight Cao Cao, he still agreed with Lu Su's proposal to unite with Liu Bei to deal with Cao Cao, for this reason, Sun Quan decided to lend Liu Bei the southern county south of the Yangtze River, including the strategic Jiangling. This is the famous "borrowing Jingzhou" in history, and "borrowing Jingzhou" has only five words in the history books: "Seek the capital to supervise Jingzhou." To be precise, Liu Bei is "borrowing Jiangling". So, why did Sun Quan think that he lent Liu Bei Jingzhou instead of Jiangling? Based on Sun Quan's position, Sun Quan's argument makes sense.
Before the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei had no place to stand in Jingzhou, and in the battle of Dangyang, Liu Bei lost his armor and even his wife and children. Because Sun Quan took Liu Bei in, and Sun Quan defeated Cao Cao in the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei was able to breathe in Jingzhou. In addition, the reason why Liu Bei was able to obtain the four counties of Guiyang, Changsha, Wuling, and Lingling in the south of Jingzhou was also acquiesced by Sun Quan, similar to Sun Quan's agreement that Liu Bei temporarily occupied them.
Based on this, Liu Bei proposed to lend him the southern counties, including Jiangling, and originally agreed that Liu Bei would "temporarily" occupy the four counties of Jingnan, so Sun Quan believed that the land in "Jingzhou" occupied by Liu Bei was "lent" to Liu Bei by himself. This is also why many people don't understand why Liu Bei only borrowed "Jiangling", but became "borrowed Jingzhou".
Of course, at this time, Sun Quan still regarded Liu Bei as his ally. In the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), that is, the second year after the Battle of Chibi, "Jinmei is good", and Sun Quan took the initiative to marry his sister to Liu Bei. Liu Bei was 49 years old and Sun Quan was 28 years old, and his sister was of course younger.
The young Sun Quan thinks that since Liu Bei has become his brother-in-law, then he should be his own "horse boy", who would have thought that Liu Bei, who was recognized by Cao Cao as "the only hero in the world and Cao Er", would not eat this set at all. Instead, he used Sun Quan's strategy of "joining Liu to resist Cao" to secretly make himself bigger. Liu Bei borrowed the southern counties including Jiangling, plus the four counties of Jingnan, and Liu Bei occupied the majority of Jingzhou.
After that, Liu Bei successfully entered Shu in the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), and in the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214), he took Xichuan and occupied Yizhou. Liu Bei, who was originally the weakest of the Cao, Sun, and Liu families, has now surpassed Sun Quan in Jiangdong. Coupled with Liu Bei's occupation of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, for Sun Quan, Liu Bei, who occupied Yizhou and occupied most of Jingzhou, became his biggest threat.
Therefore, Sun Quan's group formed a consensus: since Liu Bei now owns Yizhou, Jingzhou should be returned to Jiangdong!
So, Sun Quan sent Zhuge Liang's eldest brother Zhuge Jin as an envoy to ask for Jingzhou, but Liu Bei prevaricated, saying that when I conquered Liangzhou, I would give you all the places in Jingzhou. Zhuge Jin didn't get Jingzhou back, so he had to come back and reply to Sun Quan with Liu Bei's statement, and Sun Quan was very angry when he heard it.
Sun Quan's anger was natural, because Yizhou was originally what he wanted, after Zhou Yu's death, before Liu Bei entered Yizhou, Sun Quan had sent Sun Yu, a Fenwei general, to lead troops into Xiakou and march west to Yizhou. Liu Bei hurriedly wrote to Sun Quan, saying that Liu Zhang was his fellow of the Han family, and if Sun Quan did not let Liu Zhang go, he Liu Bei would not ally with Sun Quan to fight against Cao Cao and the like. Sun Quan had no choice but to withdraw Sun Yu's troops, which were preparing to attack Yizhou. But after Sun Quan withdrew his troops to capture Yizhou, Liu Bei threw the words that persuaded Sun Quan out of the clouds, and he entered Yizhou himself.
But now it's good, Sun Quan not only didn't get Yizhou, but also lost Jingzhou, how can he not be angry? Sun Quan scolded Liu Bei for being "slippery."
(2) Liu Bei and Sun Quan should both look at the ownership of Jingzhou from the position and interests of the other party. If we have to consider the interests of others in everything, things will be much simpler! Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" exposes the laws of human nature. The law of human nature is self-interest, you can't control others, it is because you don't know how to be self-interested, you think about problems from the perspective of others, and integrate your own interests into the interests of others, then, others can't help but pay for you!
In fact, Liu Bei, who occupied Yizhou, may have been carried away by the victory, and he didn't think about the loss of Sun Quan at this time. Although Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a novel, the pain of "Sun Quan lost his wife and broke his soldiers" revealed in the book is real. Since it is impossible to ask you Liu Bei for Jingzhou, then Sun Quan has to use force to recapture Jingzhou, which originally belonged to him.
So Sun Quan directly dispatched troops. In the twentieth year of Jian'an (215), Sun Quan sent Lü Meng to lead 20,000 soldiers to capture the three counties of Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang, and ordered Lu Su to send 10,000 soldiers and horses to fight against Guan Yu in Baqiu. Lü Meng spread Changsha and Guiyang, and the two counties were attached to the wind, but Lingling was too guarded by Hao Pu to defend the city and did not surrender (later, under the design of Lü Meng, Hao Pu also surrendered to Eastern Wu). After Liu Bei heard this, seeing that the situation was critical, he hurriedly rushed from Shu County to the public security, and ordered Guan Yu to lead 30,000 troops to be stationed in Yiyang and Sun Quan to fight for the three counties.
Originally, the big war was imminent, but Cao Cao came to be a good man, or to stand in Cao Cao's position, let Liu Bei and Sun Quan fight by themselves, he took advantage of them to fight, hurried to take down other places, and then came back to clean up this pair of defeated allies. But the place where Cao Cao attacked was Hanzhong, which was the gateway to Yizhou, others were not panicking, but Liu Bei was very panicked. Liu Bei immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, so he hurriedly negotiated peace with Sun Quan.
After negotiation between Liu Bei and Sun Quan, the peace agreement was reached: in the Jingzhou area, except for the two counties in Cao Cao's hands (Nanyang and Xiangyang), Xiangshui was used as the dividing line to divide Jingzhou, that is, Jiangxia County, Changsha County, and Guiyang County all belonged to Eastern Wu, and the west of the three counties of Nanjun, Lingling, and Wuling all belonged to Liu Bei. In the end, Liu Bei lost the Jingnan region east of Xiangshui, but he exchanged it for peaceful coexistence with the Eastern Wu side, so that he could free up his hands to deal with Cao Cao, who attacked Hanzhong.
The reconciliation of Sun Liu Xiangshui this time, although Sun Quan got some benefits, but for Dongwu, who wanted to own the whole of Jingzhou, there was still a big distance. In other words, the contradiction between Sun Quan and Liu Bei did not end with this reconciliation, and perhaps a new war is brewing.
Second, it is necessary for Sun Quan to sneak attack Guan Yu
History is also fun at times. Lu Su, who advocated "Lianliu to resist Cao", died in the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217), and the person who took over Lu Su's class was Lü Meng, who opposed Lianliu to resist Cao. Lü Meng suggested that Sun Quan "it is better to take Yu, all according to the Yangtze River, and the situation will be better" (it is better to capture Guan Yu and completely control the Yangtze River, so that our situation will be more developed), and it can be seen that Eastern Wu aimed all its firepower at Shu Han and tried to seek the ambition of occupying the entire Yangtze River basin.
Lü Meng suggested that Sun Wu should transfer the Xuzhou area that attacked Cao Wei to the Jingzhou area where Guan Yu was defending, which was not just a "pinch of persimmons", but was determined by the situation at that time.
Lü Meng suggested that Sun Quan could sneak attack Guan Yu for four reasons:
First, Sun Quan went north to attack Cao Wei, which was not good for him. During the Sun Quan period, there were many large-scale attacks on Hefei ruled by Cao Wei, but they either failed miserably or returned in vain, and this was still under the condition that the naval army of Eastern Wu could provide some support from Chaohu to Weishui. If you fight further to the north, with the land combat capabilities of Eastern Wu, the outcome will definitely be more auspicious.
Second, taking a step back, even if Sun Quan could defeat Cao Wei's Xuzhou defenders, he couldn't. This is because the terrain of the Xuzhou region is a accessible land, and the elite cavalry gallops freely. The lord has won Xuzhou today, and Cao Cao will come to fight for it within ten days, even if he uses seventy or eighty thousand people to defend it, it is still worth worrying.
Third, through the integration of forces, Sun Wu was able to rely on his own strength to defend the Yangtze River, and no longer had to rely on Guan Yu's strength in Jingzhou, so it was no longer necessary to "join Liu to resist Cao". Lü Meng believed that he ordered the general to defend Nanjun, Pan Zhang to garrison the White Emperor City, and Jiang Qin to lead a mobile force of 10,000 people to move up and down the river to deal with the enemy everywhere. I am guarding the frontier of Xiangyang for the country, like this, what is there to worry about Cao Cao, and what is there to rely on Guan Yu?
Fourth, Shu Han will be a problem for Jiangdong's henchmen. Liu Bei and Guan Yujun and his ministers, relying on their deceptive methods, are capricious on many issues, and they cannot be regarded as confidants. Lu Meng believed, "The reason why it is inconvenient for Guan Yu to attack eastward now is because the Lord is a saint, and I and other generals are still there." If I don't try to get him when I'm strong, once my generation is gone, if I want to exert myself, will I still be able to succeed at that time?"
3. Although Guan Yu is a lion who only eats people, Lu Xun is a fox who can subdue lions
Sun Quan and Lü Meng did want to recapture Jingzhou from Guan Yu, but they were also afraid of Guan Yu's divine martial arts, so Sun Quan did not dare to openly attack Guan Yu. For this reason, Sun Quan and Lü Meng considered attacking Guan Yu and outwitting Jingzhou. For example, Sun Quan, the hunting dog, did not dare to bite Guan Yu, the lion, he thought that the fox in the animal world could fool the lion, and Lu Xun was such a fox.
Sun Quan wants to use fox means to achieve the goal of defeating the lion.
Sun Quan and Lu Meng used Lu Xun's fox, and their fox methods included the following 8 moves:
The first move, Lu Meng pretended to be friendly and paralyzed Guan Yu. When Lu Su died, Lü Meng replaced Lu Su as the governor, and when Lü Meng first arrived in Lukou, he redoubled his hospitality to Guan Yu, extended kindness, and formed a friendly relationship with Guan Yu. If Lu Meng redoubled his courtesy to Guan Yu, he would not arouse Guan Yu's suspicions, and would only think that this was a continuation of the Lusu alliance policy.
The second trick is that Lu Meng pretended to be sick to deceive Guan Yu. In July of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Guan Yu led his army north and besieged Xiangyang and Fancheng of Wei. Lü Meng immediately wrote to Sun Quan: "Guan Yu went north to attack Fancheng, but left many defenders in Jingzhou, must have been afraid that I would attack his rear. I was sick from time to time, so in the name of curing my illness, I could divide some soldiers to return to Jianye with me. When Guan Yu heard the news, he would withdraw the guards and leave for Xiangyang. At that time, our army took the waterway, went up the river by boat, and took advantage of his unpreparedness to attack his emptiness, then we could capture Nanjun and capture Guan Yu. ”
After Lü Meng wrote the letter, Lü Meng publicly declared that he was seriously ill, and Sun Quan publicly issued a document to summon Lü Meng back to Jianye for treatment. When Guan Yu heard the news that Lu Meng had left Lukou, he really fell for the trick and gradually transferred the garrison to Fancheng on the front line.
The third move, Lu Xun pretended to be his grandson, paralyzing Guan Yu. How Lu Xun participated in the sneak attack on Guan Yu planned by Lu Meng needs to start from Lu Xun taking the initiative to visit Lu Meng and presenting him with a plan to sneak attack Guan Yu. In the winter and October of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Lü Meng was summoned by Sun Quan to return to Jianye, passing through Wuhu, and Lu Xun, the right governor of the tent (Sun Quan's Janissary Commander), came to visit him, and said to Lü Meng: "Guan Yu is adjacent to your defense area, why did you leave far away, and you won't worry about it in the future?" Lü Meng said: "It is indeed as you said, but I am very sick." ”
Lu Xun continued: "Guan Yu is conceited and brave, bullying others, just beginning to achieve great achievements, he is arrogant, dedicated to attacking the north, does not suspect our army, does not hear that you are seriously ill, must be even more defenseless, if you are taken by surprise, you can capture him." When you meet your lord, you should plan for it. Lü Meng was shocked, but in order not to leak the military aircraft, he said: "Guan Yu has always been brave and good at fighting, it is difficult for us to be the enemy of him, besides, he has occupied Jingzhou, great kindness and faith, plus he has just begun to achieve military exploits, his courage and momentum are even more vigorous, and it is not easy to deal with." ”
Opportunities are everywhere, but there are eyes that can find it. Lu Xun offered advice to Lu Meng, and Lu Meng recommended Lu Xun to Sun Quan, which shows that opportunities are prepared for those who are prepared.
Lü Meng went to the capital Jianye to meet Sun Quan, Sun Quan asked who could command him in Lukou, Lü Meng strongly recommended Lu Xun, and said: "Lu Xun is far-sighted, has the ability to shoulder heavy responsibilities, depending on his bearing, after all, he can be of great use; If he is used, he should hide his edge on the outside, observe the situation inside, look for opportunities, and then attack the enemy, so that he can achieve victory. Sun Quan ordered Lu Xun to replace Lu Meng.
From the conversation between Lü Meng and Sun Quan, it is mentioned that "if you want to use him, you should ask him to hide his edge outside, observe the situation inside, look for opportunities, and then attack the enemy", it can be inferred that Lü Meng has reported to Sun Quan the content of Lu Xun's conversation when he visited him in Wuhu.
Sun Quan accepted Lü Meng's recommendation and appointed Lu Xun as a partial general and right governor to succeed Lü Meng. When Lu Xun came to Lukou, he immediately wrote a letter to Guan Yu on the front line of Fancheng. In the letter, Lu Xun expressed his admiration for him and said that he would never be an enemy of Guan Yu. Guan Yu became more and more careless. The content of Lu Xunxin's letter has the following four meanings:
The first is to praise Guan Yu, saying that the general's record this time is unprecedented, and even Han Xin can't compare; the second is to belittle himself. He said that he was originally a scholar and was not qualified for his post at all, and hoped that the general would give him more advice; third, he falsely congratulated us, saying that the victory of the Allied forces was extremely beneficial to us, and Jiangdong was all applauding; fourth, he pretended to remind Guan Yu that Cao Cao was cunning and cunning, and the general did not dare to take it lightly, but actually asked Guan Yu to transfer his troops to the front line (1).
Now Guan Yu was deceived. Because of this Lu Xun, who is not well-known, is still a "nerd". In Guan Yu's opinion, Sun Quan's side is indeed out of play, so there is no need to worry. So he began to gradually draw troops and transfer them to Fancheng.
The gorgeous language in Lu Xun's letter to Guan Yu also shows that "the language is gorgeous, and the heart must be sinister". The more flowery the language, the more it is to please. The more carefully orchestrated the rhetoric, the more far-reaching it will be.
As soon as Guan Yu sent troops, Lu Xun immediately reported to Sun Quan, stating the main points of the plan that could capture and destroy him, and Sun Quan also began to dispatch troops, while Guan Yu was completely kept in the dark. Guan Yu could not have imagined that Lu Meng, the gentle and modest "sick seedling" and "nerd" Lu Xun, were actually ruthless "wolf lambs"; the allies who were ostensibly applauding the battle of Fancheng were actually enemies sharpening their knives behind their backs. Of course, he could not have imagined that this former ally had colluded with his current enemy and was preparing to unite to take his head.
In August of that year, the Hanshui basin had a natural disaster of "overflowing of the Han River, harming the people" due to heavy rainfall. At that time, Guan Yu attacked by boat, captured Wei Jiang, and obtained tens of thousands of men and horses. Later, in the tenth month of the leap month, Guan Yu took away the rice stored in Xiangguan without authorization under the pretext of lack of food. When Sun Quan learned of this, he felt that the time was ripe, so he sent troops to attack Guan Yu.
The fourth move: Lu Meng crossed the river in white clothes and captured the Jiang Fang Shu army. Sun Quan appointed Lü Meng as the supreme commander of Sun Wu's sneak attack on Guan Yu's army, and Sun Jiao as Lu Xun's backup.
In November, Sun Quan went west to conquer Guan Yu, appointed Lü Meng as the front, led the army to conceal the front, entered Xunyang (now northeast of Guangji, Hubei), ambushed the elite soldiers in the camouflaged merchant ships, ordered the soldiers to wear white clothes, disguised as merchants, recruited the people to row oars, day and night, tracing the river and rushing straight to Jiangling, everything was carried out very concealed and secretive. The soldiers of the Shu army stationed in Jiangfang were deceived by the disguised Wu army, caught off guard, and all of them were captured, and the city of Jiangling was empty and fell into chaos.
The fifth trick lured Shiren and Elfang to outwit Jiangling and the public security. Lü Meng first asked Yu Yu, the former cavalry commander, to write a letter to induce the Shu general Shiren who was stationed in Gong'an (now north of Hubei Gong'an), and then asked Shiren to lead the Wu army to force down to defend Jiangling in Shunan County, Taishou Elfang. Elfang offered the city to welcome him, and Lü Meng led a large army into Jiangling, thus recapturing Jingzhou, which Shu had occupied for a long time. Guan Yu, who was just self-conscious, was unaware of Lu Meng's attack.
When Nanjun Taishou Elfang opened the city and surrendered, Lü Meng celebrated the surrender of Nanjun on the sand dunes, Yu Fu advised Lü Meng to be careful that there would be ambushes in the city, and only Elfang and Wu Jun were of the same mind in Jiangling City; others had ill intentions and advised Lü Meng to enter the city as soon as possible to control the city, Lü Meng suddenly woke up and controlled the important places in the city in time, so that the people who originally wanted to ambush did not have time to set up an ambush. At that time, there was indeed an ambush in the city, but because Lü Meng accepted Yu Tuo's advice, the ambush was unsuccessful.
The sixth move, Lu Meng, appeased the families of Guan Yu's subordinates and won the hearts of the people of Jingzhou. Lü Meng captured all the family members of Guan Yu's subordinates, comforted them, and ordered the army not to harass the people, and not to make any demands from the people's families.
At that time, Lü Meng had a sergeant under him, who, like Lü Meng, crossed from the south of Runan County, north of the Huai River. He took a hat from the people's house to cover the armor of the government. Lü Meng believes that although the armor is a public artifact, it is still a violation of the military order to take the people's hat without permission. Behead him with tears. So the army was so shocked that the road was not left behind.
Lü Meng also sent people to comfort the elderly in the morning and evening, caring about their lives and running out of supplies. If someone is sick, they are given medicine, and if they are hungry or cold, they are given food and clothing. The treasures in Guan Yu's treasury, Lu Meng did not take any of them, and sealed them all.
The seventh move, Lu Meng, warmly received the envoy sent by Guan Yu and divided the heart of Guan Yu's army. At that time, Guan Yu had been defeated by Xu Huang, and when he heard that Jiangling was lost, he panicked and hurriedly withdrew his troops and returned. On the way back to the army, he sent people to contact Lü Meng several times, and Lü Meng warmly received the messenger sent by Guan Yu, took him to the city to travel, and asked him to go to the soldiers' homes to offer condolences. When the envoy returned to Guan Yu's army, the soldiers learned that their families were not only safe and sound, but also received more preferential treatment than usual, so the army had no fighting spirit.
The eighth move, Sun Quan, cut off Guan Yu's retreat into Sichuan and captured Guan Yu's father and son alive. At this time, Sun Quan had already arrived in Jiangling first, and sent Lu Xun to capture Yiling and Zigui (now Zigui, Hubei), cutting off Guan Yu's retreat into Sichuan. Guan Yu asked for help from the Shu generals Liu Feng and Meng Da stationed in Shangyong, but was refused. Guan Yu was trapped in the predicament of losing ground and suffering from the enemy on his back, so he went west to Maicheng (now southeast of Dangyang, Hubei).
In December of that year, Guan Yu led more than ten horsemen to escape, all the way to Linfang, which was only one or twenty miles away from Yizhou, and was captured by the ambush of Ma Zhong, the general of Pan Zhang's department, and Guan Yu and his eldest son Guan Ping were killed in Linfang.
Sun Quan gave Guan Yu's head to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao buried Guan Yu's body Guan Yu with the gift of princes. In the epidemic of the year, Sun Quan was exempted from all taxes for the people of Jingzhou. Cao Cao petitioned to appoint Sun Quan as a hussar general, conferred the title of Fu Jie, concurrently served as the pastor of Jingzhou, and was named the Marquis of Nanchang. Sun Quan sent Liang Yu, the captain of the school, to pay tribute to the Han Emperor, and ordered Wang Dian to buy horses, and sent Zhu Guang, the Taishou of Lujiang, who had been captured earlier, back to the north.
Fourth, Lu Meng died of illness and Lu Xun was made a marquis
(1) Lu Meng died young. In the battle of Jiangling, Lü Meng made great contributions, and Sun Quan appointed him as the Taishou of Nanjun, the Marquis of Xiaoling, and gave him 100 million yuan and 500 catties of gold. Lu Meng repeatedly refused, refusing to accept money, but Sun Quan did not allow it. Before the knighthood was promulgated, Lü Meng fell ill. Lü Meng's illness worsened, and Sun Quan personally visited Lü Meng at the bedside and asked Lü Meng: "If you can't rise up to serve me again, who can take your place to guard Jiangling?" Lü Meng replied: "Zhu Ran is more than enough to be brave and keep his business, I think he can accept the appointment in my place." ”
At the end of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219) (early 220), Lü Meng died of illness at the age of forty-two.
(2) Lu Xun was listed as a famous general in Jiangdong. In this campaign, Lu Xun was recruited tens of thousands of Guan Yu troops, Sun Quan worshiped Lu Xun as the right protector, the general of Zhenxi, entered the Marquis of Lou, pacified Jingzhou, Sun Quan rewarded Lu Xun's merits, and let Yangzhou Mu Lu Fan recruit him to be a different driver, and raise Mao Cai, so that he could get the life of the state and show the honor he bestowed on him.
In October of the first year of Huang Chu (220 years), Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty and called him emperor, changed the Yuan Huang Chu, and in April of the following year (221), Liu Bei also proclaimed himself emperor in Shu. At the same time, Sun Quan moved to Hubei and changed his name to Wuchang. Lu Xun advocated the acceptance of the newly attached scholars in Jingzhou, and Sun Quan adopted his opinion.
As the saying goes, the weak can win the strong, the soft can overcome the strong, and the weak should pay attention to the accumulation, the quantity accumulates to a certain extent, and the quantitative change causes the qualitative change. As the 36th chapter of the Tao Te Ching says: If you want to be [xī], you will be solidified, if you want to be weak, you will be strong, if you want to abolish it, you will be solidified, and if you want to take it, you must fix it. Weakness is better than strength (2).
Lu Xun is well versed in the means of a fox that defeats weakness over strength.
(Written in Yeosu on Sunday, April 28, 2024)
Annotation:
(1) Yi Zhongtian, "The Three Kingdoms (II)", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, March 2007, first edition, p. 86.
(2) Translation: If you want to rein in it, you must first expand it, if you want to weaken it, you must strengthen it for the time being, if you want to abolish it, you must first conquer it, and if you want to take it, you must give it for the time being. This is the principle of knowing the subtle eye and reaping the remarkable effect, that is, the principle of the strength of the weak to overcome the strong.
(3) Except for the picture of the lion and the fox from the Internet, the other pictures are provided by the photographer Yu Yuan, thank you very much!