Sun Quan's commander on the Yangtze. Feigned illness, crossed in merchant dress, and took a province without a pitched battle. Died weeks after the victory.
When you parted from a scholar three days ago, you should now rub your eyes and look again.Lu Meng to Lu Su; Jiangbiao zhuan, in Pei Songzhi's commentary to Sanguozhi, Wu shu 9
Appears in
Three Kingdoms 8 · panel 11Three Kingdoms 8 · panel 13Three Kingdoms 8 · panel 14Three Kingdoms 8 · panel 17
Relations
- Sun Quan commander & king — Sun Quan had told him to study, and afterwards said of his talent and measure that he was no longer the A-Meng of Wu.
- Guan Yu opponents — Feigned illness to draw off the river defences, crossed in white clothes, and took his province and his life without a pitched battle.
- Lu Xun commander & successor — It was Lu Meng who named Lu Xun as his successor at Lukou: his thoughts run deep, and his plans are equal to the weight.
Myth vs record
The story you may know
The crossing in white was a mourning ruse, and the victor died of Guan Yu's avenging ghost at the feast of victory.
What the sources say
White was the plain dress of commoners, worn by his rowers in the guise of merchants so the fleet drifted past the watch-posts unseen. And he died of illness weeks after the victory, aged forty-two; the ghost scene is the novel's.