Chapter 10 101 Luxun Burning Company

The news of Cao Pi proclaiming himself emperor spread to the Shu Han, and there were rumors that Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty had been killed by Cao Pi.Liu Bei, the king of Hanzhong, really held a funeral for Emperor Xian.The ministers believed that since Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty had died, Liu Bei was a descendant of the Han royal family and should take over the throne.In 221 A.D., the King of Hanzhong officially assumed the throne in Chengdu, namely Emperor Han Zhaolie.Because the area he ruled was in Shu (now Sichuan, most of Yunnan, all of Guizhou, part of Shaanxi and Gansu), it was called Shu Han or Shu in history.

Liu Bei has always been very saddened by the fact that Soochow occupied Jingzhou and Guan Yu was killed.After he ascended the throne, the first important thing was to attack Soochow and avenge his shame. General Zhao Yun said that it was Cao Pi who usurped the throne, not Sun Quan.If Cao Wei can be eliminated, Soochow will naturally succumb, and Cao Wei should not be let go to fight Soochow. Other ministers also advised a lot, but Liu Bei couldn't listen to what he said.He left Zhuge Liang in Chengdu to assist Prince Liu Chan, and personally led the army to conquer Soochow.While preparing to send troops, Liu Bei notified Zhang Fei to join forces in Jiangzhou (now Chongqing, Sichuan).Before Liu Bei sent troops, Zhang Fei's generals rebelled, killed Zhang Fei and defected to Soochow.Liu Bei lost two strong generals in a row, greatly weakening his strength, but he was eager for revenge, and there was no room for calm consideration.

When the alarm came to Soochow, Sun Quan heard that Liu Bei's attack was very powerful, and he was a little afraid. He sent someone to ask Liu Bei for peace, but Liu Bei refused. Within a few days, the Shu Han troops had captured Wu County (north of Wuzhong County, Sichuan today) and fought all the way to Zigui (in the west of Hubei Province, Ziyin zi).Sun Quan knew that there was no hope for peace, so he appointed Lu Xun as the governor and led 50,000 troops to resist. Within a few months of Liu Bei's dispatch of troops, he captured five or six hundred miles of Soochow's land.He started from Zigui, eager to continue marching eastward.Huang Quan, an officer with the army, stopped him and said: "The people of Dongwu have always been brave in war. Don't underestimate them. Our navy goes down the river. It is easy to advance, but it is difficult to retreat. Let me be the vanguard and go ahead. Open the way, and His Majesty will respond from behind. This is safer."

Liu Bei was so anxious that he would not listen to Huang Quan's words.He asked Huang Quan to guard Jiangbei and guard against Wei soldiers; he led his main force along the south bank of the Yangtze River, over mountains and mountains, and marched to Xiaoting (northwest of Yidu, Hubei today, xiaoyin xiao). Seeing that the Shu army was making progress and pressing every step of the way, the generals of the Eastern Wu were all gearing up and wanted to fight the Shu army.But the governor Lu Xun disagreed. Lu Xun said: "This time Liu Bei led the army to march eastward, with strong morale and strong combat effectiveness. Besides, they are in the upper reaches, occupying dangerous places, so it is not easy for us to break through them. If we fight head-on with them, if we lose, we will lose our troops. This is no small matter. We still have to accumulate strength and consider strategies. After a long time, they are tired, and we will look for opportunities to attack."

Some of the generals under Lu Xun were veterans under Sun Ce, and some were nobles of the Sun family. They were not convinced by Sun Quan's young scholar Lu Xun as the governor.Now I heard that Lu Xun disagreed with them to fight, thinking that Lu Xun was timid and afraid of fighting, he was even more dissatisfied, and secretly resented. The Shu army set up dozens of large camps along the road from Wu County to Yiling (now east of Yichang, Hubei), and used trees to weave fences to connect the large camps into one piece, with a length of 700 miles.Liu Bei thought that this was like setting up a net, and he could wipe out the Soochow people just by waiting for them to attack.

But Lu Xun remained on hold.From January to June of this year (AD 222), the two sides held a stalemate for half a year. Liu Bei was impatient to wait, so he sent general Wu Ban with thousands of people down from the mountain, camped on the flat ground, and challenged Wu Bing.The general of Soochow couldn't bear his temper and demanded to attack immediately. Lu Xun smiled and said, "I have observed the terrain. Although there are few Shu soldiers camped on the flat ground, there must be ambushes in the surrounding valleys. They yell loudly to lure us to fight. We cannot be fooled by them."

The soldiers still didn't believe it.After a few days, Liu Bei saw that the Eastern Wu soldiers refused to fight, and knowing that Lu Xun had seen through his strategy, he withdrew the eight thousand Shu troops who had been ambushing from the valley one after another.Only then did the soldiers of Soochow know that Lu Xun was right. One day, Lu Xun suddenly summoned his soldiers and announced that he would attack the Shu army.The soldiers said: "If we want to fight Liu Bei, it's time to do it. Now let him come in for five or six hundred miles, and let him occupy the main gateways. It will not be beneficial for us to fight there."

Lu Xun explained to them: "When Liu Bei first came, the morale was high, and we could not win easily. Now, they have stayed here for so many days, and they have not been able to take advantage. The soldiers are already very tired. We will fight It's time to win." He sent a small number of troops to attack a battalion of the Shu army first. As soon as he approached the wooden fence of the Shu camp, the Shu soldiers rushed out from the left and right sides to fight; then, soldiers from several nearby company battalions also came out to reinforce.The Soochow soldiers couldn't resist, so they retreated quickly, and lost a lot of troops.

The generals complained about Lu Xun, and Lu Xun said, "This is me trying to test their reality. Now I have a way to break the Shu camp. " That night, Lu Xun ordered the soldiers to each bring a bunch of thatch and kindling, and lay in ambush in the dense forest on the south bank in advance, and only waited for the third watch before heading straight to the river and setting fire to the camp. At the third watch, the four generals of Eastern Wu led tens of thousands of soldiers, rushed to the Shu camp, lit torches with thatch, and set fire to the wooden fence of the Shu camp.That night, the wind was very strong, and the camps of the Shu army were all connected together. When one camp was set on fire, the nearby camps also burned together.More than 40 camps of Liu Bei were defeated in one fell swoop.

When Liu Bei found out that the fire was starting, he was unable to resist.Under the protection of Shu soldiers, Liu Bei finally broke out of the fire net and fled to Ma'anshan. Lu Xun ordered Wu troops from all walks of life to surround Ma'anshan and launch a fierce attack. The tens of thousands of Shu troops left on Ma'anshan were all defeated at once, and countless casualties were lost.Fighting until night, Liu Bei led the remnants of the defeated generals, broke through and fled.Wu Jun found out and chased after him closely.Thanks to the post stations along the way, they blocked the leftover luggage and armor on the main road of the mountain pass, blocking the pursuers of Soochow, so Liu Bei escaped to Baidi City (on Baidi Mountain in Fengjie County, Sichuan Province).

In this battle, the Shu army was almost wiped out, and all ships, equipment and military supplies were captured by the Wu army.In history, this war was called "Battle of Xiaoting", also known as "Battle of Yiling". After Liu Bei failed, he regretted and hated again, saying: "I was defeated by Lu Xun, isn't it God's will?" A year later, he fell ill in Yong'an (now Fengjie, Sichuan).