The relationship between Li Su and Lü Bu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very interesting. The two were fellow villagers, both from Jiuyuan County, Wuyuan County, which is today's Baotou people in Inner Mongolia.
Li Su was Dong Zhuo's general when he appeared, and Lü Bu was the righteous son of Jingzhou Assassin Shi Dingyuan. Dong Zhuo's monopoly on power wanted to establish a new monarch, and Ding Yuan led Lü Bu to attack Dong Zhuo.
After several battles, Lü Bu xiaoyong and Dong Zhuo were defeated. Li Su, as Dong Zhuo's subordinate general, volunteered to persuade Lü Bu to surrender.
Li Su was a man with mediocre martial arts, but he was eloquent. He also gave generous gifts such as red rabbit horses and jewelry, and after some remarks, Lü Bu not only agreed to surrender Dong Zhuo, but also killed his righteous father Ding Yuan.
Dong Zhuo was overjoyed to get Lü Bu and rewarded Lü Bu heavily, but Li Su did not get any reward.
Li Su realized that he had done a great job but had not been rewarded, and there was unfairness in his heart.
Later, Wang Yun presented the mink cicada to Dong Zhuo, which divided the relationship between Lü Bu and Dong Zhuo. Lü Bu then came to persuade Li Su to join him in opposing Dong Zhuo. Although Lü Bu was generally eloquent, Li Su's heart was already uneven, and the two hit it off. Since then, Li Su has become Lü Bu's general.
To sum up, the relationship between the two is that Li Su first persuaded Lü Bu to surrender, and then Lü Bu was persuaded by Wang Yun to surrender, and Lü Bu in turn persuaded Li Su to surrender. After such a period of tossing, Li Su initially held a higher official position than Lü Bu, and after Lü Bu's surrender, both of them were Dong Zhuo's generals, and in the end Li Su became Lü Bu's generals.
This delicate relationship between the two made Li Su, as Lü Bu's subordinate general, most of them dissatisfied, and they would not respect Lü Bu very much in their daily lives.
Later, Li Dai, Guo Feng, Niu Fu, and others invaded Chang'an, and Lü Bu ordered Li Su to confront Niu Fu. Li Su won the initial battle, but he was carelessly robbed of the camp by Niu Fu, and most of the soldiers and horses were damaged.
Li Su returned with a gray face to report to Lü Bu, and Lü Bu was furious: "Ru He frustrated my sharpness!" Immediately, he ordered Li Su to be beheaded, and also hung Li Su's head at the military gate to show the public.
Lü Bu's reaction here is really too much, it is said that victory or defeat is a common thing for soldiers, not to mention that the two are still fellow villagers, so it is really unreasonable to behead and show the public after losing a battle.
Li Su should also be a talent with certain ability, but he persuaded Lü Bu to surrender and made a great contribution, but he could not get the reward of his superiors, and once he lost, he was immediately beheaded by his superiors. What can be explained is that Lü Bu is probably not used to Li Su usually, and this time he had the opportunity to get rid of Li Su.