Chapter 8 99 Lu Meng Crossing the River in White Clothes

Sima Yi's analysis makes sense.Although Liu Bei and Sun Quan formed an alliance, there were great conflicts.When Lu Su was alive, he advocated reconciliation between Wu and Shu and dealt with Cao Cao together.Later, Lu Su died, and the general Lu Meng who succeeded him had a different view from Lu Su. Lu Meng was a famous general of the Eastern Wu.He has practiced martial arts well since he was a child, and made a lot of military exploits when he was young, and was highly regarded by Sun Quan. Once, Sun Quan said to Lu Meng: "Now you have heavy responsibilities, you should take time to read some books."

Lu Meng said: "There are so many things to do in the barracks, where is the time to study?" Sun Quan said with a smile: "I don't want you to be as proficient in classics as a doctor (official name), but I just want you to read more about the art of war and understand a little history. You say that there are many things, but you can't compare with me! I myself Having this experience and reading some art of war and history are very helpful to me. You might as well give it a try.” Lü Meng listened to Sun Quan's advice and read carefully whenever he had time. When Lu Su had just replaced Zhou Yu as a general, he passed by Lu Meng's residence to visit Lu Meng.At that time, Lu Su thought that Lu Meng was just a general with no great talents.This time, after talking with Lv Meng, he heard Lv Meng's lively discussion and insightful views, and he admired him very much, saying: "Your talent and courage now are very different from that of Amon under Wu (that is, in Wuzhong) back then."

Lu Meng said proudly: "For a person, if you don't see them for three days, you should treat them differently (the classical Chinese means "treat each other with new eyes"). You can't look at people with old eyes!" After Lu Meng succeeded Lu Su, he led his army to station in Lukou (in the southwest of Jiayu, Hubei today).He believed that Guan Yu had the ambition to annex Soochow, so he wrote to Sun Quan asking to send troops to deal with Guan Yu, saying: "Liu Bei, Guan Yu and his ministers are all capricious people, and they cannot be regarded as allies."

Sun Quan also felt that Guan Yu was arrogant.Sun Quan once sent someone to propose marriage to Guan Yu, hoping that Guan Yu would marry his daughter to his son.Guan Yu not only refused to agree, but insulted the envoy, which made Sun Quan very angry.This time, Sun Quan received Lu Meng's letter and felt that he had to get rid of Guan Yu. Just at this time, Cao Cao sent an envoy to contact him, asking him to attack Guan Yu.Sun Quan replied immediately, expressing his willingness to attack Guan Yu's rear. Guan Yu also heard that Lu Meng was powerful. Although he personally led an army to attack Fancheng, he did not relax his guard against Lu Meng who was behind him.

Lu Meng was often ill.This time, he pretended to be suffering from an old illness, and said that he was very ill.Sun Quan also officially issued an order to transfer Lu Meng back to recuperate. Another young Lu Xun was sent to replace Lu Meng. The news quickly spread to Fancheng.Guan Yu was secretly happy when he heard that Lu Meng was seriously ill and that Lu Xun was a young scholar. A few days later, Lu Xun sent someone from Lukou to visit Guan Yu. Guan Yu received the envoy, who presented letters and gifts.The general idea of ​​the letter is that, I heard that the general flooded the seven armies in Fancheng and was captured in prison. Who would not praise the general's majesty, far or near.This time Cao Cao failed, and we were happy to hear that.I am a scholar, very incompetent.In the future, I will have to rely on the general to take care of me!

Guan Yu read Lu Xun's letters and felt that Lu Xun's attitude was modest and honest, so he was relieved and transferred the people who had been guarding against Soochow to Fancheng one after another. Lu Xun reported the transfer of Guan Yu's troops to Sun Quan and Lu Meng at any time. At this time, Guan Yu accepted more than 100,000 surrendered soldiers from Yu Jin in Fancheng, and the supply of grain and grass was difficult, so he seized the grain stored in Xiangguan by Soochow. When Sun Quan learned that the rice in Xiangguan had been robbed, he appointed Lu Meng as the governor and ordered him to quickly attack Guan Yu's rear.

When Lu Meng arrived in Xunyang (now southwest of Huangmei, Hubei), he converted all the warships into merchant ships, and selected a group of elite soldiers to hide in the cabin.The soldiers rowing on the boat pretended to be merchants, and all wore the white clothes worn by merchants.In this way, column after column of merchant ships headed for the north bank. When they arrived at the north bank, the defending soldiers of the Shu army saw that they were all businessmen in white clothes, so they allowed them to park their boats by the river.Unexpectedly, at night, the soldiers in the cabin came out together, sneaked into the watchtower by the river, captured all the soldiers of the Shu army, and occupied the watchtower.

Lu Meng's army captured the North Bank without anyone knowing it, and marched into Gong'an.The generals of the Shu army who stayed at Gong'an and Jiangling were very dissatisfied with Guan Yu at first, but after Lu Meng persuaded him to surrender, they all surrendered. Lu Meng entered the city, sent people to condolences to the families of the soldiers of the Shu army, and ordered the soldiers of the Eastern Wu to strictly observe discipline and not to violate the common people.There was a soldier from the Eastern Wu Dynasty who was a fellow villager of Lu Meng. Because of the rain, he took a bamboo hat from a commoner's house to cover his armor.After Lu Meng found out, he believed that the soldier had violated the military order.Although he was a fellow countryman, he had to be punished for committing a military order, so he was killed.As a result, the entire army was shocked, and no one dared to violate the military order.

At this time, the reinforcements led by Xu Huang sent by Cao Cao had arrived at the front line near Fancheng.Xu Huang copied many copies of Sun Quan's letter promising Cao Cao to attack Guan Yu, and shot them into Guan Yu's camp.When Guan Yu learned that Lu Meng had attacked the rear and was in a dilemma, Xu Huang launched an attack and defeated Guan Yu, forcing Guan Yu to withdraw the siege of Fancheng. Guan Yu sent envoys to Jiangling to inquire about the situation.As soon as the envoy arrived in Jiangling, Lu Meng sent people to entertain him graciously, and also asked the envoy to visit the homes of the generals of the Shu army. These family members said that the people of Soochow treated them well.After the envoy returned to his military camp, the soldiers asked him about the situation at home, and he told the truth.Once everyone heard that the people of Soochow were good, they were unwilling to fight with Soochow again. Some soldiers even fled back to Jiangling secretly.

At this time, Guan Yu realized that he was too careless in his defense against Soochow, but it was too late.He had no choice but to take his troops and flee to Maicheng (now southeast of Dangyang, Hubei). Sun Quan marched into Maicheng and sent people to persuade Guan Yu to surrender.Guan Yu fled west with a dozen cavalry. Sun Quan had already sent troops to ambush on the trail, intercepted a dozen or so cavalrymen of Guan Yu, and captured Guan Yu alive.Knowing that Guan Yu refused to surrender, Sun Quan ordered him to be killed on the spot. Cao Cao believed that Sun Quan had made great contributions, so he named Sun Quan Marquis of Nanchang, and after Cao Pi ascended the throne and proclaimed himself Emperor, he was named King of Wu.