Lü Meng
Lü Meng , courtesy name Ziming, was a Chinese military general and politician who served under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Early in his career, he fought in several battles under the banner of Sun Ce, Sun Quan's elder brother and predecessor. Although he had been noted for his bravery, he was still deemed as nothing more than a "mere warrior" for his lack of literacy skills. Later, with encouragement from Sun Quan, Lü Meng took up scholarly pursuits to improve himself, gradually becoming a learned and competent military leader. In 217, he succeeded Lu Su as the frontline commander of Sun Quan's forces in Jing Province. Two years later, in a carefully calculated military operation, Lü Meng led an invasion of Liu Bei's territories in southern Jing Province, swiftly and stealthily capturing all the lands from Liu Bei's general Guan Yu, who was captured and executed after his defeat. Lü Meng enjoyed his finest hour after the victory but died a few months later because he was already seriously ill before the campaign.
Early life
Lü Meng was from Fupo County, Runan Commandery, which is located southeast of present-day Funan County, Anhui. His family migrated to the south of the Yangtze River when Lü Meng was young. Lü Meng lived with his brother-in-law, Deng Dang, who served as a military officer under Sun Ce. When he was 14 or 15, he secretly followed Deng Dang to the battles against the Shanyue tribes. Deng Dang was shocked to see his teenage brother-in-law in battle, so he scolded Lü Meng and warned him to stop. Lü Meng refused to listen so Deng Dang told Lü Meng's mother about this. When she wanted to punish him, Lü Meng said: "It is difficult to survive in poverty. If we can prove ourselves through hard work, then wealth will come eventually. How can we catch the tiger cub if we don't enter the tiger's den?" Lü Meng's mother sighed and let him have his way.At the time, an official scorned Lü Meng because of his young age and often insulted him by saying things like: "What can he do? His behaviour will only result in him feeding himself to the tigers." Lü Meng killed the official one day when he lost control of his anger. Initially, he took shelter under Zheng Chang but later turned himself in to Yuan Xiong, a colonel under Sun Ce. Yuan Xiong pleaded with his lord to spare Lü Meng's life. Sun Ce interviewed Lü Meng and was so impressed with him that he pardoned Lü Meng and appointed him as a close aide.
A few years later, after Deng Dang died, Zhang Zhao recommended Lü Meng to replace Deng Dang, so Lü Meng was appointed as a Major of a Separate Command. In the year 200, after Sun Ce was assassinated, his younger brother Sun Quan succeeded him as the warlord ruling the territories in the Jiangdong region. Sun Quan planned to reorganise his army by merging small units into larger garrisons. When Lü Meng heard about it, he collected funds to purchase elaborately designed armour for his troops. When Sun Quan came to inspect Lü Meng's unit, he was so impressed that he placed more soldiers under Lü Meng's command, thus saving Lü Meng's troops from being merged into another unit.
Lü Meng participated in Sun Quan's conquest of Danyang Commandery and made many contributions in battle. He was promoted to Commandant Who Pacifies the North and appointed as the Chief of Guangde County.
Battle of Jiangxia
In the spring of 208, Lü Meng was assigned to be the navy commandant when Sun Quan launched a campaign against Huang Zu, the Administrator of Jiangxia Commandery. During the battle, Ling Tong and Dong Xi destroyed Huang Zu's two large mengchongs while Lü Meng's unit defeated Huang Zu's navy. Lü Meng killed Huang Zu's subordinate Chen Jiu in the midst of battle. Huang Zu attempted to flee after learning of Chen Jiu's death, but was captured by Sun Quan's soldiers. After the battle, Sun Quan deemed Lü Meng's contributions to be the most significant because Chen Jiu's death secured their victory. Lü Meng was promoted to General of the Household Who Sweeps Across the Wilderness and awarded 10 million coins.Red Cliffs campaign
In the winter of 208, Lü Meng participated in the Battle of Red Cliffs, in which the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeated the forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao at Wulin. Cao Cao perfunctorily retreated to northern China, leaving behind his general Cao Ren to defend Nan Commandery. Sun Quan's forces, led by Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu, pressed on their attack and besieged Cao Ren in Nan Commandery.Around the time, Xi Su, a military officer from Yi Province, brought along his men to defect to Sun Quan's side. Zhou Yu proposed to Sun Quan to let Lü Meng take charge of Xi Su's troops. However, Lü Meng praised Xi Su as a courageous person and declined to take over command of Xi Su's men. He believed it was disrespectful to do so because Xi Su had come a long way to join them. Sun Quan agreed with Lü Meng and returned Xi Su's troops to him.
During the siege of Nan Commandery, Zhou Yu ordered Gan Ning to lead a detachment to take control of Yiling, but Gan Ning came under attack by a separate enemy force led by Cao Ren's subordinates. When Gan Ning sent a messenger to Zhou Yu's camp to request for relief forces, most of Sun Quan's officers saw that they did not have enough men to spare, so they refused to help Gan Ning. Lü Meng, however, insisted on saving Gan Ning. He told Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu: "I suggest we leave Ling Tong behind while I follow you to help Gan Ning. It is imperative that we lift the siege because he may not be able to hold out for long. I assure you that Ling Tong can defend our current position for at least ten days."
Lü Meng also suggested to Zhou Yu to send 300 men to block the enemy's retreat route with huge logs. When the reinforcements arrived at Yiling, they killed over half of the total number of enemy troops and forced the surviving ones to retreat at night. However, the enemy encountered the huge logs and were unable to cross over on horseback, so they had to dismount and proceed on foot. Sun Quan's pursuing forces arrived at the blockade and seized about 300 horses left behind by the enemy, which they transported back to their camp on boats. The morale of Zhou Yu's army improved greatly, so they crossed the Yangtze River, set up a garrison near the enemy base, and then engaged Cao Ren's forces in battle. Cao Ren lost the battle and eventually ordered his troops to abandon their position and retreat. Sun Quan's forces captured Nan Commandery and gained control over central Jing Province. Upon his return, Lü Meng was promoted to Lieutenant-General and appointed as the Prefect of Xunyang County.
Scholarly pursuits
The Jiang Biao Zhuan recorded that Sun Quan once told Lü Meng and Jiang Qin: "Both of you are commanders now so you should enrich yourself with knowledge." Lü Meng replied: "I have many things to attend to in the army, so I am afraid I won't have time to read." Sun Quan then said: Lü Meng was so inspired by Sun Quan's words that he began to study diligently and acquire more knowledge. He eventually surpassed some Confucian scholars in terms of the number of texts he read.Meeting with Lu Su
In 210, after Lu Su succeeded Zhou Yu as the frontline commander of Sun Quan's forces, he passed by Lü Meng's garrison on his way to Lukou. Lu Su had all along regarded Lü Meng with contempt, but someone told him: "General Lü's fame and glory are increasing day by day. You shouldn't view him in the same light now as you did in the past. You should visit him soon." Lu Su then headed to Lü Meng's camp. After some drinks, Lü Meng asked Lu Su, "You have received an important appointment and you are going to be stationed near Guan Yu. Have you made any contingency plans to deal with unforeseen circumstances?" Lu Su lackadaisically replied, "I will adapt to the situation when the time comes." Lü Meng then said: "The east and the west may be one family now, but Guan Yu is a person with the might of bears and tigers. How can you not make preparations beforehand?" Lü Meng then proposed five strategies to Lu Su on how to deal with Guan Yu. Lu Su left his seat, came closer to Lü Meng, placed his hand on his shoulder and said, "Lü Ziming, I never knew you had such insights until I came here." He also visited Lü Meng's mother and became friends with Lü Meng.''Jiang Biao Zhuan'' account
The Jiang Biao Zhuan recorded a slightly different account of the meeting between Lu Su and Lü Meng. Lu Su placed his hand on Lü Meng's shoulder and said: "I heard you were previously a mere warrior. But now, you have taken up scholarly pursuits and you are no longer that Meng under Wu." Lü Meng replied: He then presented three strategies to Lu Su on how to counter Guan Yu. Lu Su respected Lü Meng so he kept the strategies to himself and did not reveal them.The Chinese idioms "Ah Meng from Wu" and "rub one's eyes and look" originated from this conversation. The former is used to describe an unlearned person who achieves improvement through diligent study while the latter means to see a person in a different light, especially after the person has made remarkable improvement.
Battles of Wan County and Ruxu
Cao Cao appointed Xie Qi as the Agricultural Officer of Qichun County and ordered him to station at Wan County to harass the border of Sun Quan's domain. Lü Meng tried to induce Xie Qi into surrendering but failed, so he attacked Xie Qi. Xie Qi lost the battle and retreated. His subordinates, Sun Zicai and Song Hao, brought along several civilians and surrendered to Lü Meng.In 213, Lü Meng followed Sun Quan to Ruxu to guard against Cao Cao's advances. Sun Quan wanted to construct a dock at Ruxu, but his subordinates said, "We should land on the other side of the river and attack the enemy, then return to our ships. Why build a dock?" However, Lü Meng supported the idea of building a dock and he said: "Battles are unpredictable and we might not always win. If we lose and the enemy closes in, and we don't have time to retreat to the riverbank, how can we even board our ships?" Sun Quan agreed with Lü Meng and had the dock constructed to make boardings and landings more convenient. With this, Sun Quan's army defended their positions against Cao Cao's approaching forces, who retreated after several failed attempts to overcome the enemy.