Chapter 33 (33) Crossing the River in White Clothes

Guan Yu's careless loss of Jingzhou has been regretted by later generations for many years.On Guan Yu, there were legends of "warming wine and killing Huaxiong" and "passing five passes and killing six generals", so why did Guan Yu lose so badly this time?What happened in the middle?What did Sun Quan and Cao Cao do behind the scenes to cause Guan Yu's defeat?Professor Yi Zhongtian of Xiamen University will give you a wonderful taste of the Three Kingdoms - Crossing the River in White Clothes. In the last program, Mr. Yi Zhongtian mentioned that the Sun Quan Group had sent people to ask Liu Bei to recover Jingzhou many times, but they all returned without success.But in fact, Jingzhou is a battleground that Cao, Sun, and Liu all want, and no one will give up the fight for Jingzhou.On the side of the Sun Quan Group, Lu Su, who had strongly advocated uniting with Liu Bei, passed away, and Lu Su was replaced by a new generation of leader, Lu Meng, who advocated swallowing Liu and becoming arrogant.Therefore, after Lu Meng took over, the Sun Quan Group's voice to swallow Liu Zida became louder and louder, and the problem in Jingzhou became very tense.

As soon as Lu Meng took office, he proposed to Sun Quan a strategic plan to regain Jingzhou; and Guan Yu, who guarded Jingzhou, was by no means an idler.So, what kind of person is Lu Meng?Can he take back Jingzhou from Guan Yu?Professor Yi Zhongtian from Xiamen University was a guest on "Hundreds of Lectures" to give you a wonderful taste of "Crossing the River in White Clothes" of the Three Kingdoms. Speaking of which, Lu Meng and Lu Su are also friends, just like Lu Su and Zhou Yu are friends. I think Jiangdong Group is very good about this. Although they have different political opinions, it does not prevent them from being friends in private.Then the acquaintance of Lu Meng and Lu Su is also very dramatic.In the fifteenth year of Jian'an, when Zhou Yu died of illness, Lu Su took over and went to Lukou to take up the post, passing by Lu Meng's line of defense.At that time, someone close to Lu Su told him that the general passed by General Lu's line of defense now, and he should go and see him, because General Lu is now much different than before.

What do these words mean?It means that Lu Meng originally came from a relatively poor and humble background, and he was promoted step by step by fighting bravely on his own.However, his education level was low, and he didn't like to read. Even if he wanted to write a letter or a report to Sun Quan, he had to be written by someone else.In this way, when Lu Meng achieved a certain status, Sun Quan called Lu Meng and another person named Jiang Qin over, saying that you are all officials now, and you have to bring a lot of people and have a lot of burdens. Important responsibilities, I am afraid that it will not work if you do not read or read like before. You should read some books.Lu Meng said, oh, there are a lot of things to do in this march and war, how can I have time to study?Sun Quan said: I only want you to study, is it because you are asked to study and become a doctor?Just to let you know some history!You have many things to do, do you still have many things to do alone?And Emperor Guangwu, and Cao Mengde?I think that when Emperor Guangwu fought in the South and the North, he couldn't let go of the scroll; now that Cao Mengde is fighting in the north and south, he can't let go of the scroll. Why can't you do it?After listening to Sun Quan's instruction, Lu Meng came back and started studying.This man is very talented.In fact, the matter of reading does not depend entirely on how much you have read and how much hard work you have put in. What is very important is whether you are talented or not.People with poor talent and low savvy study hard, and study hard is useless at all.Lu Meng happened to be a man with good talent and high comprehension, so he might become cheerful after reading it.

It's not what it used to be, but Lu Su doesn't know it.Lu Su still didn't think much of Lu Meng in his heart, but thought of Lu Meng's official position now, and passing by his defense line, he felt embarrassed not to take a look, so he did.Then, after looking at it, Lu Meng treated him warmly at that time. After drinking for three rounds, Lu Meng raised his glass and asked, "The general succeeds Zhou Shuai and is next door to Guan Yu. Does the general have any ideas on how to deal with Guan Yu?"Because Lu Su didn't think much of Lu Meng, he didn't bother to talk to him, and said, "Well, just adapt to the situation and see the situation at that time."Lu Meng said: "I'm afraid not. On the surface, we and Liu Bei are a family, but in fact Guan Yu is Xiong Hu. This is not an easy person to deal with. How can we not plan ahead?"Now Lu Meng is willing to offer advice to the general, one, two, three, four.What was said, I don't know, there is no record in the history books.But we know that Lu Su was shocked when he heard this, but we didn't expect Lu Meng to express so many ideas and reasons, and he moved over after hearing this.We know from the ancients that he sat on the ground, listened and moved over. After moving over, he touched Lu Meng's back and said, "Ziming, Ziming, I never expected you to be so knowledgeable now."Lu Meng said: "For three days after you leave, you should look at each other with admiration."What's more, brother, please think about who Guan Yu is. Guan Yu is also a soldier who never puts his hands down when he marches and fights. He is also a great hero today.How could he not hit our minds?The final result was that he was promoted to worship his mother, that is, Lu Su entered the inner room of Lu Meng's house and met Lu Meng's mother, which meant that he became a brother.

But these two people are friends as friends, brothers as brothers, and their political views are different.Although Lu Meng put forward many suggestions on how to deal with Guan Yu, Lu Su kept them in his heart and rotted in his stomach. that set of strategies.But in the 22nd year of Jian'an, when Lu Su passed away and Lu Meng took over, the situation was different.So Lu Meng proposed a plan to Sun Quanmi, so what did Lu Meng say to Sun Quan?Three questions were asked. The first question: Is it necessary to rely on Guan Yu to fight against Cao Cao?Because this is Lu Su's claim, saying that Cao Cao is a more vicious enemy. In order to deal with this more vicious enemy, we should treat Guan Yu better and rely on him.Lu Meng said, not necessarily, Lu Meng said that as long as the lord sends so-and-so somewhere, sends so-and-so to such-and-such place, and sends so-and-so with an army to walk up and down the river, and I, Lu Meng, go to such-and-such place by myself, it is enough to fight against Cao Cao. You don't have to rely on Guan Yu.This is the first point.The second question: Is Guan Yu reliable?Lu Meng said it was unreliable.Lu Meng said that Guan Yu and his ministers actually refer to Liu Bei and Guan Yu. Liu Bei and Guan Yu are plundering, capricious, and unreliable at all. He is definitely not someone we can rely on, so Guan Yu is unreliable.Sun Quan thought it was right, but Sun Quan still had a problem, so Sun Quan said to Lu Meng: Look, should we attack Xuzhou first or Jingzhou first?Lu Meng said that Xuzhou is easy to fight, and it is not a problem to win Xuzhou, but it cannot be defended.Because this place in Xuzhou is flat and flat, it is a battlefield where cavalry from the north gallop across. We won Xuzhou. If we take it today, Cao Cao will send people to take it tomorrow. We don’t have 70,000 to 80,000 people.It is better to fight Jingzhou, since Jingzhou can be won, we can also defend it.Sun Quan said, good.So set such a strategic goal - win Jingzhou.

Winning Jingzhou is very important for the Sun Quan Group. It can extend Sun Quan's influence from the south of the Yangtze River to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and at the same time remove the threat to Sun Quan from the upper reaches.Sun Quan sent people to ask for Jingzhou repeatedly, but Liu Bei refused to return it, and Lu Meng's strategy played into Sun Quan's arms.So if you want to win Jingzhou, you must first deal with Guan Yu, the governor of Jingzhou. How will Lu Meng deal with Guan Yu? Then if you want to win Jingzhou, you have to kill Guan Yu.But after all, Guan Yu was the general of bears and tigers in the Three Kingdoms era, a hero, and Guan Yu didn't say that he could be taken away, and he would be killed if he said he could be killed. There had to be a chance.Well, this opportunity came just as it was said.In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, what happened in the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an?In the first month of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei's army arrived in Hanzhong.After watching the previous programs, we know that Liu Bei already has the land of Shu at this time, the land of Shu, and Hanzhong, and the whole Yizhou belongs to Liu Bei.Then in July, Liu Bei became king in Hanzhong, calling himself "King of Hanzhong".After becoming King of Hanzhong, Guan Yu sent troops to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng in the same month. This is the famous "Battle of Xiangfan".Guan Yu's action now seems to be in line with Liu Bei's victory in Hanzhong, because Liu Bei became king in Hanzhong in July, and Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan in the same month.

Guan Yu's attack on Xiangfan went very smoothly at the beginning.In August, heavy rain fell in Xiangfan area, and mountain torrents broke out, and the floods surrounded Fancheng.This flood submerged the Seventh Army sent by Cao Cao to rescue Yu Jin in Xiangfan. This is the so-called "Flooded Seventh Army".Then Guan Yu took advantage of the flood to fight against Yu Jin by himself in a boat, captured Yu Jin, and killed another brave general, Pound, called "surrender to Yu Jin, behead Pound", and won the first battle.At this time, it was Cao Ren who was guarding Fancheng, and Cao Ren's decision was to defend it. At the same time, Cao Cao also sent Xu Huang to lead troops to rescue.So in this way, the Xiangfan battle was in a stalemate after August, that is, after Guan Yu won the first battle.On the one hand, Cao Ren's defenders, Xu Huang's reinforcements, and on the other hand, Guan Yu's troops, were deadlocked.Then under such a situation, Guan Yu could neither advance nor retreat.Because Guan Yu wants to take Xiangyang and Fancheng now, the only strength is not enough, he must send reinforcements from behind; once reinforcements are made, his rear, that is, Nanjun, will be empty.Guan Yu was hesitant at this time, not knowing what to do.Lu Meng immediately wrote to Sun Quan saying: "The opportunity has come."

Why did Lu Meng say that the opportunity has come?Because at this time Guan Yu was in a dilemma.If Guan Yu takes Xiangyang and Fancheng, his strength is not enough, so he can only draw reinforcements from his bases, that is, the police in Nanjun and Jiangling; and the police and Jiangling are Guan Yu's base camps in Jingzhou. It is the power to guard against Sun Quan. Once it is withdrawn, Guan Yu's rear will be very empty.Therefore, Guan Yu was very hesitant at this time, and what kind of opportunity is this for Lu Meng? Lu Meng said that according to his speculation, Guan Yu is hesitating now. What we have to do now is to fool Guan Yu and ask him to transfer the troops from Nanjun to the front line of Xiangfan.So the question is, can Lu Meng fool Guan Yu?can.Lu Meng did three things, or Sun Quan did three things here.

The first one is called "pretending to be friendly". This job was done by Lu Meng as soon as he took over from Lu Su.Because we said earlier that when Lu Su and Guan Yu were adjacent to each other, Lu Su continued to do friendly work and had a good relationship with Guan Yu's troops.Then after Lu Meng took over, although he wanted to kill Guan Yu in his heart, on the surface he did better than Lu Su, which is called "External repair is generous, and he has a good relationship with Yu." So what about Guan Yu's side?He thought it was Lu Meng who continued Lu Su's policy, and he felt that there was nothing to doubt, this was the first point.

The second is to "pretend to be sick".Lü Meng wrote to Sun Quan, saying that the reason why Guan Yu was hesitant to send troops from Nanjun to reinforce the Xiangfan front was because he was afraid that I, Lv Meng, would stab him in the back.As far as the general manager is concerned, I, Lu Meng, am in very poor health and often fall ill. Please allow me to declare my illness now and return to Jianye to recuperate.Sun Quan agreed to issue an official document without sealing it to recall Lu Meng, that is, to publicly announce that Lu Meng was seriously ill and returned to Jianye to recuperate.This is the second step, called pretending to be sick.

The third is called "pretending to be incompetent".So this is not Lu Meng pretending, who pretended?Lu Xun pretended.When Lu Meng returned to Jingkou from Lukou to "recover from illness", the "recovery from illness" had to be put in quotation marks, passing Lu Xun's line of defense.At this time, just like when Lu Su passed by Lu Meng's defense line, Lu Xun also had a conversation with Lu Meng. Lu Xun said: Guan Yu and Liu Bei are a great threat to us in Nanjun. How can the general return to Jingkou to recuperate at this time? Woolen cloth?Lu Meng said: "Oh, what you said is right, but Lu Meng is really too sick now, there is nothing I can do."Lu Xun said: Well, the general really wants to recuperate, so I can only let the general recuperate, but I hope the general can tell the lord when he sees the lord that now is the best time to kill Guan Yu.why?Because Guan Yu has always been conceited and domineering. He just surrendered to the ban, beheaded Pang De, flooded the Seventh Army, and shocked China. Now is the time when his tail is the highest. We should stab him in the back at this time.Lu Meng said: "I'm afraid this is not possible. Look at Guan Yu, he is very powerful and good at fighting. This is called prestige. Guan Yu just won a major victory on the front line of Xiangfan. This is called prestige; now he is going to fight." When his morale is high, this is called powerful. Guan Yu is not so easy to deal with.But after Lu Meng went to Jingkou to meet Sun Quan, he immediately recommended Lu Xun to Sun Quan to replace me. Why recommend Lu Xun to take over his position?Lu Meng said three reasons, or three reasons.First, he said that Lu Xun is a person with deep meaning.What is "meaningful"?It means that the ideas and thinking are profound and far-reaching. He is a thoughtful person.The second point is that Lu Xun is a talented person, that is, his talent is enough to take on this position.The third point, the most important, is that Lu Xun is not well known.That is, although he is a talented person, he is very capable, but he is not well-known, and everyone does not take him seriously, let alone Guan Yu; and now is the time for us to paralyze and fool Guan Yu , there is no more suitable successor than Lu Xun.Sun Quan said yes, and sent Lu Xun to replace you. So Lu Xun succeeded Lu Meng and went to Lukou.As soon as he arrived in Lukou, Lu Xun immediately wrote a letter to Guan Yu. The letter was very elegant, beautiful and well written.Because Lu Xun is a very educated person, and in the eyes of Guan Yu and others, Lu Xun is a scholar.He further expressed himself as a scholar and wrote a very beautiful letter, which mainly contained these four points: The first point was to praise Guan Yu.It is said that the general's victory in Xiangfan this time is unprecedented. He is Han Xin, what is he, these people have no way to compare with you, General Guan, he is so beautiful.This is the first content.The second content is to belittle yourself.Said that I, Lu Xun, am a nerd and a scholar, I don't know how to fight, and I don't know why the lord sent me here.But that's okay, isn't that an opportunity to learn from you, General Guan?Please advise General Guan.This is the second content.The third content, congratulations.Speaking of the general's victory in Xiangfan this time, everyone on our Jiangdong side applauded and applauded.why?The victory of the Allies is our victory, and our common enemy is Cao Cao. We are very happy.However, this "but" is followed by his fourth content.Pretend to remind.Lu Xun said, however, Cao Cao is a cunning and cunning thief. He will not give up just because of such a failure. He will definitely counterattack and counterattack. Therefore, Lu Xun reminded General Guan to beware of Cao Cao and not to take it lightly. .Of course, I'm speaking from a nerd, please think about it yourself, the general.In fact, it means that Cao Cao will not let it go, he will reinforce, and you also need reinforcements here! This Guan Yu took a look at the letter and felt amused in his heart. Sun Quan is really not as good as the previous generation. You can see who his original marshal is—Zhou Yu, that is a talent, but unfortunately he is a short-lived ghost; another Lu Su is also a talent , he was a peacemaker; then when Lu Su died, he was replaced by Lu Meng, who also fought in the war, but unfortunately he was a sick young man, who fell ill before the fight; finally, he was replaced by Lu Xun, who was a nerd.This generation is not as good as the previous generation.Rest assured, I began to transfer myself to the garrison in Nanjun, to be precise, in Jiangling and Public Security, the garrison in defense of Sun Quan, and transferred it to the front line of Xiangfan one after another. The proud and complacent Guan Yu was finally fooled by Lu Xun, and transferred the defenders of Nanjun to the front line of Xiangfan one by one.In other words, Guan Yu's rear, guarding against Sun Quan's defenders has begun to be empty.So, what action will Sun Quan, who is watching the fire from the other side, take next?What will be the result waiting for Guan Yu? Guan Yu didn't think about it, he never thought about it, all sick people and nerds are wolf lambs, so be cruel.He also didn't expect that his past allies had secretly colluded with his current enemies at this time.Liu Bei took Yizhou and Hanzhong, so that the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and Guan Yu guarding Nanjun, the upper reaches of the Yangtze River were under the control of Liu Bei's group.This is a huge threat to the Soochow Group located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.They didn't expect that it was this change in the situation that made the enemy, or the number one enemy, for Sun Quan and the others, have changed from Cao Cao to Liu Bei.At this time, the Sun Quan Group is not about swallowing Liu's arrogance, but about curbing Liu's self-protection, which is to save his life.Since he is in such a situation where he has to save his life, how can he still be buddies with you?Moreover, Guan Yu should have known that Sun Quan had already sent Cao Cao a secret glance, the autumn spinach had already been sent over, and there had been private contacts.And he should think of something else, that is, this time Cao Cao also needs to unite with Sun Quan.Because your army surrounded Fancheng so tightly and dealt such a big blow to Cao Cao, Cao Ren guarded Fancheng alone, can Cao Cao not protect it?Therefore, both Cao and Sun have the desire to collude with each other or to ally with each other. According to the records of "Three Kingdoms", after Guan Yu surrendered to Jin and killed Pound, "Three Kingdoms·Guan Yu Biography" said that "Megatron China", that is, the entire Central Plains shook.Cao Cao convened a meeting to discuss the issue of moving the capital, and wanted to avoid Guan Yu's edge.Of course, whether Cao Cao really had the idea of ​​moving the capital is also controversial in the academic circles. Although it is recorded in the official history, some historians say that Cao Cao is not yet.However, it is certain that Cao Cao was shocked, so Cao Cao also held this meeting to discuss the situation, which is also certain.Then at this meeting, Sima Yi and the others put forward a suggestion - unite with Sun Quan. Sima Yi and the others said that Liu Bei's achievement was definitely not what Sun Quan wanted to see.Sun Quan's thoughts are actually very clear. He and Liu Bei allied with Liu Bei during the Battle of Chibi and wanted Liu Bei to be his horseman. Now that Liu Bei is so big, he is absolutely unwilling.So people like Sima Yi and Jiang Ji suggested to Cao Cao to make a wish to Sun Quan and let him do it later.Cao Cao agreed, sending a signal to Sun Quan.Sun Quan responded immediately and wrote a letter to Cao Cao, "Begging for Yu to serve myself", asking the prime minister to allow me to attack Guan Yu and serve the court; but there is one request, please keep it secret. Cao Cao showed Sun Quan's letter to everyone for reading. Do you think it should be agreed, or should it be kept secret?Everyone said that of course it must be kept secret. Military operations must be kept secret. It would be better if Sun Quan drove over quietly and suddenly appeared to beat Guan Yu. Wouldn't it be good?But there is a counselor named Dong Zhao, who has appeared many times in our program before, and is no stranger to audience friends, Dong Zhao said: No, prime minister, not only do we not give Sun Quan kept it secret, we want to leak it.why?Keeping secrets is beneficial to Sun Quan; leaking secrets is beneficial to us.Please think about it, prime minister, what will happen if we leak the secret?It is nothing more than Guan Yu knows.Guan Yu knew that he had two possibilities: the first one is that he immediately turned around to fight Sun Quan, so wouldn't the siege of Fancheng be lifted immediately?Another possibility is that Guan Yu didn't go back to beat Sun Quan immediately, because Guan Yu was too good.Under such circumstances, we must let our generals in Fancheng know that things are saved.Either way, we're going to leak.Cao Cao nodded, yes.He gave an order to copy several copies of the letter from Sun Quan, and shot them out with arrows. Some shot to Cao Ren's Fancheng, and some shot to Guan Yu's barracks.So both Cao Ren and Guan Yu knew about it, and Cao Ren immediately announced that Sun Quan was going to attack Guan Yu from behind. The whole army cheered and their morale doubled. There was hope. Sun Quan, who had been making small moves behind his back, finally succeeded in his plan. On the front line of Xiangfan, the morale of Cao Cao's army doubled.In Nanjun behind Guan Yu, Sun Quan was friendly on the surface, but he was sharpening his sword secretly. Can Guan Yu, who was caught in the middle, break through?How would Guan Yu react after receiving the letter from the Cao-Sun Alliance?So, what is waiting for him? After Guan Yu got the letter, he hesitated, and Guan Yu really hesitated, because now Guan Yu is really hard to get off.This Fancheng was soaked by floods, and the walls were almost collapsed. He felt that this Fancheng was at his fingertips. If he withdrew his troops now, all previous efforts would be wasted. won, so he did not withdraw.Guan Yu didn't withdraw his troops, so Cao Cao moved. On the one hand, the morale of Cao Ren's defenders doubled, and on the other hand, Xu Huang's reinforcements also doubled his morale. It happened that Cao Cao sent another 12 battalions to reinforce Xu Huang. Ordered to attack Guan Yu. Then, Guan Yu couldn't resist this battle, so he had to withdraw his troops.The siege of Fancheng was resolved.Where is Sun Quan?As soon as Sun Quan received the news that Guan Yu had begun to dispatch troops to the Xiangfan front line, Lu Meng recovered from his illness, and Lu Xun was no longer a scholar.And what method did Lu Meng adopt?It is called "Crossing the River in White Clothes" in history.It was he who made his soldiers wear white clothes, dressed up his army as a caravan, and dressed his warships as cargo ships, and marched along the Yangtze River to Jiangling.When I met Guan Yu's sentry post along the way, I said we were in business, and while chatting, the people here went up and killed the sentry post.Along the way, they came to Nanjun quietly. As soon as Lu Meng's army arrived in Nanjun, the guards of Jiangling and Gong'an surrendered, and these two surrendered immediately.Therefore, Lu Meng took down Nanjun without bloodshed.And what about Lu Xun?It's also a triumphant song all the way, where is Lu Xun's army?When they arrived at Yidao, they blocked the mouth of the Yangtze River to prevent Liu Bei's reinforcements from attacking.So let's take a look at this map and we will know what is the situation of Guan Yu at this time?Xiangfan is Cao Cao's army, Yidao is Lu Xun's army, and Nanjun is Lu Meng's army. Such a big pocket has already surrounded Guan Yu.So what will Guan Yu do?Please watch the next episode - Defeat Maicheng.