Everyone who has watched "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" knows: Lu Bu among people, red rabbit among horses!
In the entire ancient Chinese history, if the general's personal bravery is alone, I am afraid that no one can surpass Lu Bu. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were so many super-first-class generals. But in front of Lu Bu, he is still weaker.
Even top generals like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, when facing Lu Bu, they can only complain about Lu Bu's character, but they can't complain about Lu Bu's personal bravery. In the romance novel, after Lu Bu died, Guan Erye looked at everyone like 'inserting a label and selling his head'. But only for Lu Bu, it is estimated that Guan Erye does not have the confidence to say such things.
But it is precisely because Lu Bu is so capable of fighting that many people in later generations have a question about this.
Who did Lu Bu learn from when he was so capable of fighting? What kind of experience did Lu Bu have in his early years to be able to exercise such exaggerated martial arts?
This is a question that no one has been able to answer for thousands of years. Because there are very few records of Lu Bu in the official history. And whether it is the Book of the Later Han Dynasty or the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, basically only records Lü Bu's later experience. Regarding Lu Bu's early experience, these two official histories basically don't mention much.
Because there is no official historical record, we also have no way of knowing how Lu Bu's exaggerated combat power was trained? However, we can roughly determine Lu Bu's early experience through the official historical records of the same era.
If we look at the background of Lu Bu's early years, we will find that Lu Bu's incredible ability is likely to have been practiced since childhood. When he was a teenager, it is very likely that he witnessed the war between the Eastern Han Dynasty and Xianbei!
There is no record of Lü Bu's detailed birth year in the official history, but according to the research of later historians, there are roughly two possibilities for Lü Bu's birth time. One was born in 156 A.D. and the other was born in 159 A.D.
We don't know which of these two speculations is true. But apparently, Lü Bu should have been born between 150 and 160 AD, and this should be no problem.
At this time, the Han Dynasty was the reign of Emperor Huan of Han. At that time, the powerful minister Liang Ji was still alive, and the power of the Eastern Han Dynasty was still in the hands of the Liang family.
In addition to the historical line of the Liang family, at the same time as Lu Bu was born, another major event actually happened in history. Compared with the Liang family, the impact of this incident on Lu Bu is actually greater!
This matter is the rise of Xianbei!
If Lu Bu was born in 156 AD, then in the year Lu Bu was born, Xianbei on the northern grassland happened to be unified by Tanshi Huai for the first time!
In the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the biggest enemy in the north in the early period has always been the Xiongnu. However, after a hundred years of continuous attacks by the Eastern Han Dynasty, coupled with the suppression of the Western Han Dynasty, by the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu had already been defeated. At the same time, because of the defeat of the Xiongnu, there was a power vacuum in the northern steppe. So taking this opportunity, Xianbei rose.
For Lu Bu, the rise of Xianbei is actually far more influential on him than the Liang Ji family.
Because Lu Bu's hometown is in the area of Baotou in today's Inner Mongolia.
And at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, this place happened to be the battlefield at the forefront of the Eastern Han Dynasty's defense against the Xiongnu!
Therefore, after Lu Bu was born, it was just in time for the rise of Xianbei! At that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty happened to be in decline. After the fall of the Liang family and the assumption of power by Emperor Huan of Han, Emperor Huan of Han began to focus on Xiqiang in the west. For Xianbei in the north, it has always been on the defensive.
Therefore, in Lu Bu's childhood and youth, he felt that the world was that the Xianbei cavalry constantly harassed the border! Almost every year, his hometown would be harassed by the Xianbei and then robbed of a lot of property and people.
Then, around the time when Lu Bu was a teenager, Emperor Huan of Han died. After the death of Emperor Huan of Han, Emperor Ling of Han inherited the throne. Because of the instability of the Eastern Han Dynasty at that time, the border defense situation of the Eastern Han Dynasty was more relaxed, and the attacks of Xianbei became more frequent.
In this way, in 177 A.D., when Lü Bu was about twenty years old. Emperor Ling of Han finally made up his mind to use troops against Xianbei!
In this year, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty divided his troops into three routes, dispatched tens of thousands of elite cavalry, and killed the depths of the grassland at the same time. But in the end, this war ended in the crushing defeat of the Eastern Han Dynasty! Tens of thousands of elite cavalry only escaped back with only a few dozen of them!
And all this is what Lu Bu experienced personally before he became an adult.
Because there is no record in the history books, we don't know whether Lu Bu participated in this war in his early years. However, inferred from the time and the relevant policies of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Lü Bu must have participated in the war against the Xianbei attack.
And this kind of living environment undoubtedly made Lu Bu extremely familiar with the war environment since he was a child, and later gradually practiced an exaggerated martial arts!
Therefore, although we don't know, who taught Lu Bu's martial arts. But obviously, the living environment of his youth definitely had a great impact on him.
However, after Lu Bu gradually grew up, the wars on the border of the Eastern Han Dynasty gradually decreased.
This is not because the Eastern Han Dynasty sent troops to defeat Xianbei. It's because the political strongman of Xianbei at that time, Tanshi Huai, died of illness. After the death of Tanshi Huai, Xianbei quickly split internally, and naturally there was no time to attack the Eastern Han Dynasty border.
But at this time, Lu Bu has already developed excellent skills because of the perennial war.
After that, Lu Bu began to rely on his skillful bow and horse skills, as well as his personal bravery, and gradually entered the official career. Then a few years later, in the area where Lu Bu was located, there was a real power captain. It was this person who completely changed Lu Bu's life.
This person's name is Ding Yuan!
Ding Yuan in history was also a fierce general in his early years. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he relied on his military exploits to rise to the level of cavalry captain step by step, and was ordered to garrison in the north of Bingzhou.
It was during this period that Ding Yuan began to recruit soldiers in the local area, wanting to recruit some young people who could fight. In the process, Ding Yuan found three young people who were particularly capable of fighting. One of them is Lu Bu.
And the other two, one is called Zhang Liao, and the other is called Zhang Yang.
In this way, after being discovered by Ding Yuan, Lu Bu was quickly promoted and became Ding Yuan's henchman.
At the same time, Ding Yuan himself is also working hard. On the side of the capital, Ding Yuan did not know how to contact Jian Shuo, the eunuch in the palace, who was the most trusted eunuch of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, and was even given a lot of military power by Emperor Ling of Han. When Emperor Ling of Han was alive, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were once his subordinates.
At that time, Ding Yuan let one of his most important subordinates, Zhang Yang, take part of his army to the capital to accept the management of Jian Shuo.
However, shortly thereafter, in the struggle in the capital, Jian Shuo lost to He Jin and was directly killed by He Jin. And after Jian Shuo was killed, Ding Yuan had no backer. Judging from all indications, Ding Yuan should have chosen to take refuge with He Jin at that time. At this time, he had an army under his command, which happened to be what He Jin needed the most, so He Jin quickly accepted him.
And after that, it is the main plot of the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
On the side of the capital, in order to fight for power, He Jin followed Yuan Shao's advice and began to transfer troops from the local area into Beijing. At that time, among the armies that He Jin transferred to the capital, there were two most important ones. One is the army led by Dong Zhuo, and the other is the army led by Ding Yuan.
In this way, because of He Jin's conscription, Ding Yuan took Lu Bu and the army under his command to officially enter Beijing.
And after Ding Yuan entered Beijing, it didn't take long for Dong Zhuo to quietly contact Lu Bu. There is no record in the history books of how Dong Zhuo persuaded Lu Bu or how he bought Lu Bu. But in the end, Lu Bu obviously fell to Dong Zhuo, and helped Dong Zhuo assassinate Ding Yuan!
After Ding Yuan's death, Lu Bu helped Dong Zhuo and annexed all the troops under Ding Yuan's command. And Lu Bu himself, who was later accepted by Dong Zhuo as his adopted son, not only became the number one general under Dong Zhuo, but also began to protect Dong Zhuo closely.
This is the story of Lu Bu's early years.