Lu Xun (Three Kingdoms)
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- For the 20th century Vernacular Chinese writer, see Lu Xun.
Lu Xun (Traditional Chinese: 陸遜; Simplified Chinese: 陆逊; pinyin: Lù Xùn) (183 – 245), originally named Lu Yi (Traditional Chinese: 陸議; Simplified Chinese: 陆議), was a general of the Kingdom of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period in ancient China.
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[edit] Life
[edit] Early life
He was born in one of four most prestigious and richest families in the Wu district (Zhu, Lu, Gu, Zhang). In an attempt to rally these powerful families to his side, the ruler of Wu Sun Ce married his daughter to Lu Xun. Lu Xun began his career as a minor official under Sun Ce, ruler of Wu (who was then still a general and provincial warlord). He was soon given a minor post as commandant and civil officer, where he distinguished himself as both a skilled civil leader, and as a military commander. As a military commander, he pacified south eastern tribes of Yue and brought them within the chinese influence. As a civil official, he was successful in integrating northern refugees and minorities into the social and economic structure of Wu.
[edit] Taking Jingzhou
In AD 208, the alliance of Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeated the warlord Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliffs, halting Cao Cao's and his advisors' southern expansion and cementing Wu's place in the Three Kingdoms. Liu Bei, however, was without a territory. Sun Quan agreed to lend Liu the province of Jingzhou until such time as Liu managed to take the state of Ba-Shu. By AD 219, Liu had taken Ba-Shu, but balked at returning Jing. Guan Yu, a sworn brother of Liu Bei, who was appointed the governor of Jingzhou, was, in some measures, an arrogant man who provoked some of his subordinates, including Liu Bei's brother-in-law Mi Fang.
An opportunity presented it self, when Guan Yu began a campaign against Wei in the north, leaving his eastern front undermanned.
Sun Quan was informed of an idea by Lu Xun, and the plan was fleshed out. Lu Xun pretended to take command of the armed forces of Lu Meng and sent a flattering letter to Guan Yu, stating his awe in being allowed to work alongside such a great general and that he desired to depend on Guan's skill. Guan Yu bought it, and further dropped his guard, moving away his last reserves. Lu Meng and Lu Xun then staged a lightning attack into Jingzhou and snatched away the province before Guan knew what was happening. Afterwards, Guan Yu's arrogance doomed him as his subordinates deserted him in large to Wu army one after another.
To demoralize Guan Yu's troops, Lu Meng asked the family members of Guan Yu's troops to write them letters. After receiving these letters, Guan Yu's army simply melted away and returned home to their families. In his attempted escape to Shu, Guan Yu was captured and executed.
[edit] The Battle of Yiling
When Liu Bei found out that Jingzhou had been taken, and that Guan Yu, who was his closest general, had been executed, he was enraged. He led an army eastward to reclaim Jing and to avenge his sworn brother. After several disastrous defeats of Wu, Lu Xun was given command of the Wu army and ordered to counter this threat.
Lu Xun's strategy was to establish several forts and reinforce the existing citadels before allowing Liu Bei to move into the area. While land was sacrificed, critical time was bought to organize and transport the Wu troops. The established critical points served to tie down enemy troops and disrupt enemy supply routes.
Few generals were happy with the choice of Lu Xun as supreme commander; many were hardened veterans from the days of Sun Ce, whereas Lu Xun was someone new and something of an unknown (as Lu Meng received most of the credits for the capture of Jing). They wished to attack Liu Bei while he was fresh off the march, hoping to take advantage of the exhaustion of his forces; Lu Xun denied them, stating that he discerned that Liu Bei had planned for that, and open battle would be too risky. Liu Bei then sent some forces forward to lure the Wu army into an ambush; the generals wanted to fight, but Lu Xun, predicting an ambush, once again denied them.
After several months of inactivity, Lu Xun suddenly struck, first with a mock attack on one of Liu Bei's camps, then ordering the entire army to move forward with torches and set fire to Liu Bei's camps, followed by a devastating attack from three sides by all of the Wu forces. Liu Bei's army was utterly destroyed. Bei fled west and died shortly thereafter in Baidi City. Afterwards, no more Wu generals criticized him, seeing how he had devised most of the winning strategies of the battle.
The Wu army prepared for a follow-up campaign into Shu, but Lu Xun perceived that Cao Pi, Emperor of Wei, would take the opportunity to attack Wu, and held off. Sure enough, Wei led armies against Wu shortly thereafter.
[edit] Later campaigns
Lu Xun had cemented his position as head of the army, and was named the Governor of Jingzhou. In the Battle of Shiting, Zhou Fang, a provincial official feigned defection to Wei, luring a large Wei army commanded by Cao Xiu deep into Wu territory. An ambush was set up by Lu Xun in which the much larger army of Wei was surrounded and all but destroyed, rescued by Jia Kui, who predicted the ambush and tried to convince Cao Xiu beforehand, but was rejected.
At a later date, Wu launched a campaign northward, but one of their trusted couriers was captured and news of their military plans leaked out. Zhuge Jin, one of the generals leading the campaign, began to panic and wrote to Lu Xun, seeking advice on how to retreat; Lu Xun did not reply, but instead spent his time playing chess and planting beans. Zhuge Jin, perplexed, went to find out what Lu Xun was up to. Lu Xun explained that if they fled immediately, the army would be in chaos and the enemy would be able to take advantage, pursue, and destroy them. nstead, by acting calm, they would suspect some ploy by Lu Xun and thus hesitate, allowing the Wu forces to quietly withdraw. Just as he said, the enemy hesitated and the Wu forces were able to withdraw safely.
Lu Xun was a highly respected advisor to Sun Quan; he was known for his virtue and humility, as well as his keen insight. After Sun Quan named himself Emperor, Lu Xun was made Chancellor.
[edit] Ignoble end
A dispute arose between two of Sun Quan's sons: Sun He, then heir to the throne, and Sun Ba, Prince of Lu. Sun He's position as Crown Prince was threatened by Sun Ba, who received a great deal of favor from his father. Lu Xun sided with He and begged Quan to firmly establish He as Crown Prince, stating that Ba's power was a threat to the stability of the kingdom. He sent letter after letter; they were all ignored. Furthermore, he was dismissed from office, and Quan repeatedly sent officers to reprimand him. Filled with grief, Lu Xun fell ill and died at the age of 63.
He was father to Lu Yan and Lu Kang; Kang eventually re-established his father's name, and went on to become one of the greatest generals of Wu.
[edit] Modern references
In the Koei video game series Dynasty Warriors, Lu Xun is portrayed as a young, idealistic and firm supporter of Sun Wu. He has a strong relationship with his mentor, Lu Meng, and credits much of his strategic knowledge to both Lu and Zhou Yu. During battle, Lu Xun takes to the front as often as he remains at the rear, depending on his role during the current battle. He wields two short sabers known as the "Falcons," and usually wears a longcoat decorated in gold and red with a cap decorated in much the same way. Rather than plotting strategies and tactics before the battle has begun, as Zhuge Liang tends to do, Lu has a penchant for observing weaknesses or faults that he spots during combat. He will often exploit these weaknesses to gain the upper hand against the enemy, but will usually require the player's assistance in ensuring success.
Lu Xun can be difficult to utilise, as his attacks are very short-ranged and do little damage, requiring the player to land many successive hits against an opponent. If surrounded by enemies, this can be very difficult to achieve. However, Lu Xun is very fast, and can outrun almost every other character in the game. It is advised that when using Lu Xun, a player stay close to Lu's allies, or have very capable bodyguards accompanying him when pushing deep into enemy territory.
[edit] External links
de:Lu Xun (Drei Reiche)
fr:Lu Xun (Trois Royaumes)
th:ลกซุน
ja:陸遜
zh:陸遜
