Lu Bu - The Great General
Lü Bu (died 198) was a military general and later a minor warlord during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era of China. According to the Records of Three Kingdoms, Lü Bu was a master in horseback riding and archery, and was thus known as the Flying General. His image as a handsome and mighty warrior wearing a pheasant-tailed helmet and wielding a ji known as the "Sky Piercer" (Chinese: 方天畫戟; pinyin: Fāngtiān Huàjǐ) on top of his steed Red Hare was later popularized by the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the story, he is the single most powerful warrior in all of China, comparable to the Greek hero Achilles in prowess.
Besides being matchless on the battlefield, Lü Bu was also notorious for having betrayed and slain two separate masters (who were both his adoptive fathers). He was perhaps most well-known for his amorous relationship with the most likely fictional Diao Chan which led to his slaying of his adoptive father Dong Zhuo, the tyrannical warlord who held the puppet figurehead Emperor Xian in his control.
Lü Bu was eventually defeated and captured by Cao Cao in the city of Xiapi. At Liu Bei's suggestion, Cao Cao had Lü Bu hanged.
LIFE
Services under Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo
A local of the county of Jiuyuan in the Wuyuan Commandery (a district of present day Baotou, Inner Mongolia), Lü Bu started his career as the Chief Secretary under Bingzhou (并州) Governor Ding Yuan. In 189, Ding Yuan led his troops into Luoyang to assist General-in-Chief He Jin to eliminate the powerful eunuch faction. However, He Jin was soon assassinated and the bloody clash between the eunuchs and government officials that ensued saw the capital plunged into chaos.
Dong Zhuo, another warlord summoned into Luoyang by He Jìn, quickly seized control. Under the enticement from this rising power, Lü Bu soon defected. He severed his former master's head and brought it to Dong Zhuo as a gesture of allegiance. The duo then swore to be father and son.
To consolidate his power, Dong Zhuo placed upon the throne a puppet emperor and moved the capital west to Chang'an. These acts, coupled with his tyrannical and cruel ways, angered many and the threat of assassination was ever present. For his personal safety, Dong Zhuo relied heavily on Lü Bu, who had by then been promoted to Knight General . The son would be seen beside the father almost all the time.
However, in his frequent bouts of temper Dong Zhuo would hurl a halberd at Lü Bu. Although the agile Lü Bu could easily dodge these throws, and Dong Zhuo's fury dissipated quickly, Lü Bu nonetheless bore a furtive displeasure against his adoptive father. Furthermore, when entrusted to guard the residence of Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu began an amorous affair with one of Dong Zhuò's concubines. For this he was constantly in fear of being discovered.
In 192, encouraged by Imperial Minister of the Interior Wang Yun, Lü Bu finally made up his mind to murder Dong Zhuo. Bringing along a dozen trusted men, including Cavalry Captain Li Su, Lü Bu greeted Dong Zhuo at the palace gate. When Li Su stepped up and stabbed Dong Zhuo, the warlord cried out for his son. But saying "This is an imperial order," Lü Bu delivered the final blow.
Days of exile
After the death of Dong Zhuo, rumors spread that the court intended to execute all his former troops from Liangzhou . When a royal decree of pardon was not issued, former subjects of Dong Zhuo, Li Jue and Guo Si, staged a coup and defeated Lü Bu within ten days. Escaping from Chang'an, Lü Bu went to Yuan Shu in Yangzhou . Deterred by Lü Bu's fickleness, however, Yuan Shu declined to keep him.
Lü Bu then headed north to seek a position under Yuan Shao. Having been given some troops by the northern warlord, Lü Bu successfully flushed out the bandit army under Zhang Yan. However, with his own force growing in strength, Lü Bu was beginning to seem like a threat to Yuan Shao. Sensing this himself, Lü Bu then bid his short-term master farewell. Yuan Shao sent assassins after Lü Bu but it was for naught; Lü Bu managed to slip away.
In 194, while Cao Cao was away on a campaign against Tao Qian in Xuzhou , his subjects Zhang Miao and Chen Gong rebelled and handed Yanzhou to Lü Bu. When Cao Cao heard the news, he quickly turned back and laid siege on Lü Bu in Puyang. After more than a hundred days of stalemate, a famine breakout forced Lü Bu to give up his position.
Occupation of Xuzhou
Thinking that by forcing Cao Cao's retreat from Xuzhou he had done it a favor, Lü Bu then headed for Xiapi to take refuge under Liu Bei, who was Xuzhou's governor. In 196, however, Lü Bu turned on his host and took over Xiapi, proclaiming himself the governor and sending Liu Bei to the nearby town of Xiaopei (, present day Pei County, Anhui).
In the same year, Yuan Shu sent a force led by Ji Ling to attack Liu Bei. Fearing that the defeat of Liu Bei would expose his backdoor to Yuan Shu, Lü Bu made camp south of Xiaopei and brought Ji Ling and Liu Bei together. The Flying General then had a halberd erected at the campground gate. Urging peace between both parties, Lü Bu extracted their promises to withdraw troops if he could hit the sharp tongue of the halberd with an arrow. From afar, Lü Bu fired a shot and the missile came in squarely on its target. Awed by such mastery in archery, the two sides then held true to their words.
To ward off the expansion of Cao Cao's power, Yuan Shu then offered to ally with Lü Bu. Lü Bu initially agreed but soon regretted. He even sent men to retrieve his daughter, who was on her way to be married to Yuan Shu's son. She was the daughter of Lady Yan, Lü Bu's first wife. Lü Bu also imprisoned Yuan Shu's envoy and sent the captive to Cao Cao as a token of friendship.
In 198, Lü Bu again switched his allegiance to Yuan Shu and attacked Liu Bei in Xiaopei. The defeated Liu Bei sought help from Cao Cao, who personally led a force on Xiapi. After three months of siege and many consecutive losses, Lü Bu subjects were down in morale and defected. Lü Bu had little alternative but to surrender himself, but in some versions, his subjects grew tired of his cruel ways and tied him up while he was sleeping and presented him to Cao Cao.
Tightly bound and brought before Cao Cao, Lü Bu pledged his service. Reminded by Liu Bei of the fate of Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao had the treacherous captive hanged. However, some say[who?] that Cao Cao had Lü Bu strangled, a death punishment normally given to women, to show that Lü Bu was a coward who pleaded for his life.
Source : Wikipedia
Share This Thread