Lu Bu was an expert in the early years of the Three Kingdoms and was famous in history. There was a famous saying at that time: there was Lu Bu in the crowd and a red rabbit in the horse pile. This sentence is also recorded in the official history.
However, is Lyu3 bu4 really the first military commander in the Three Kingdoms? How did our descendants form this impression?
First of all, it should be noted that there is no official history that mentions the view that "Lu Bu is the first military commander in the Three Kingdoms", and there is no shadow of Lu Bu as the first military commander in the official history records. Taking stock of the famous Lu Bu's career, we will find that he is not an invincible general, but a defeated soldier who has been defeated repeatedly.
Lu Zifeng Xian, a native of Jiuyuan County, Wuyuan County, was appreciated by Ding Yuan, the secretariat of Bingzhou in his early years, and made him the master book, treating him like a relative. When Emperor Ling died, Marshal Ding led his troops to Luoyang and was involved in the political whirlpool between Blade and eunuch. Later, He Jin was defeated and Dong Zhuo went to Beijing. Dong Zhuo conspired to kill Ding Yuan, annexed Ding Yuan's army, and lured Lu Bu to be the inside man. So Lu Bu killed Ding Yuan, took refuge in Dong Zhuo, and recognized Dong Zhuo as his adoptive father. At this stage, I can't see any generals of Lu Bu. He just won Ding Yuan's trust and killed Ding Yuan. Not to mention the moral foundation, there is no display of talent.
Then there is the second stage of Lu Bu's life, the stage under Dong Zhuo. This stage is a stage that is interpreted and joked by later generations, and the stories of various beauty heroes are staged in turn. On the whole, it was Dong Zhuo who acted perversely and provoked world conquest. Isn't it time for Lu Bu to show his talents? However, Lu Bu's performance is very poor. Don't listen to the legend in Romance of the Three Kingdoms that "Hulao Pass and the Three Heroes beat Lu Bu". The main force denouncing Dong Zhuo in this period was not Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Liu Bei written by Luo Guanzhong, but Sun Jian, the tiger of the East River. It was not Guan Yu of Luo Guanzhong who beheaded Hua Xiong. Although I don't know if there is warm wine, it was Sun Jian who beheaded Hua Xiong. Sun Jian fought from Jiangdong to Luoyang at the gates, beheaded Dong Zhuo's first general, Hua Xiong, and twice defeated Lu Bu outside Luoyang. Although it is not mentioned in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it has been seen in history books. Then Dong Zhuo fled to Chang 'an, and Lu Bu killed Dong Zhuo under Yun Chang's treachery.
Although Dong Zhuo is cruel by nature, he is not incompetent. His soldiers in Xiliang were loyal to him, so they defeated Lu Bu under the guidance of Dong Zhuo's old generals Li Jue and Guo Si, invaded Chang 'an and killed Wang Yun. Lu Bu started his career as a stray dog and a rebel. He took refuge in Yuan Shu first, but was rejected. Then take refuge in Yuan Shao. Under the command of Yuan Shao, Shuai Bing defeated the local warlord Zhang Yan. This is the pinnacle of Lu Bu's military career. As for Zhang Yan's strength, there is no record in the history books, only that he had more than 10 thousand troops, and Lu Bu defeated him with fewer soldiers. After the meritorious military service, he began to be arrogant, which provoked Yuan Shao to decide to get rid of him. After learning the news, Lu Bu fled overnight, and Yuan Shao sent people to hunt him down, but the soldiers were afraid to get close because of their bravery. This shows that Lu Bu's courage is still there.
From then on, Lu Bu ushered in the opportunity of life, and was appreciated by Zhang Miao, the satrap of Liu Chen, and Chen Gong, the counselor of Cao Cao. The three of them started a business, similar to a partnership. The three men occupied Yanzhou under the fierce battle of Lu Bu, and by virtue of their territory, they formed a separatist force. Then play Cao Cao. Although he won some small victories in the early stage, he was defeated by Cao Cao and fled to Xuzhou. In Xuzhou, he went to find Liu Bei, who had not yet made a fortune, and worked hard like a stray dog.
During Xuzhou, Yuan Shu conquered Liu Bei, and the two sides were deadlocked. Lu Bu was secretly bought by Yuan Shu, who attacked Liu Bei and captured Xuzhou. Liu Bei was defeated and surrendered to Lu Bu, who claimed to be a shepherd in Xuzhou and sent Liu Bei to a county town X.
Yuan Shu saw that Lu Bu was a little mature and wanted to marry him. Lyu3 bu4 readily agreed, but was later cheated by counselor Chen Gui. Chen Gui advised him not to marry Yuan Shu, and cooperation with Cao Cao was more promising. So Lu Bu broke the contract and killed the marriage envoy sent by Yuan Shu. So Yuan Shu was furious and sent troops to attack Lu Bu. With the help of Chen Gui, Lu Bu bribed the generals sent by Yuan Shu with a conspirator, so that they killed each other and suffered a crushing defeat. Shortly after joining forces with Yuan Shu, Lu Bu reneged again and decided to form an alliance with Yuan Shu, sending his Seibel to attack the fledgling girl Liu Bei. Seibel is an expert under Lu Bu. His handsome army defeated Liu Bei and Xiahou _, and Cao Cao sent him to reinforce Liu Bei.
Lu Bu openly confronted Cao Cao and finally attracted Cao Cao's army. During the siege, Chen Gong suggested that Lyu3 bu4' s troops stationed outside the city could form a corner with the city, but Lyu3 bu4 didn't have the courage to fight and just retreated to the city to defend. He wrote to Shu Yuan in the city for help. Of course, Yuan Shu could not attack Cao Cao for him. Lu Bu was finally rebelled by his subordinates, but he was captured alive and presented to Cao Cao. After the defeat of Lyu3 bu4, Chen Gong, the counselor, gave Seibel a generous death, but Lyu3 bu4 begged Cao Cao to spare his life and wanted to take refuge in Cao Cao and continue to torment him. But what's the use of a shrewd Cao Cao who has betrayed so many people in a row? So Cao Cao ordered the killing of Lu Bu, ending his treacherous life and fleeing in a hurry.
This is the experience of Lu Bu's whole military career. He is really brave, with strong arm strength and good fighting skills, but does he have any outstanding military record? We abandoned all the moral stains of his treachery. Just look at the record itself, he was able to kill Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, because the other party trusted him, and it was a one-on-one hit, and the other party was older than him. There is no such thing as high martial arts and extraordinary military ability. Anyone who is headstrong can do it. Defeating Zhang Yan is a feat, and attacking Liu Bei is also a victory. It originated in Chen Gui to deter Ji Ling and defeat Yuan Shu with bows and arrows and halberds. Dong Zhuo's side was defeated by Sun Jian twice. After fighting with Dong Zhuo, he was defeated by Li Jue Guo Si. He was defeated by Cao Cao in the first war with him. On the way to the rout, he was also defeated by a military leader named Li Jin in Shicheng County. This can be seen from Tongzhi bamboo slips.
Throughout Lu Bu's life, we will wonder why Lu Bu has no record, no strategy and no loyalty. How can such a person become the first military commander in the Three Kingdoms? What power pushed him to the altar and hyped him into today's image?
First of all, the first factor is Lu Bu's fiery popularity. It is recorded in the History of the Three Kingdoms. At that time, people said, "There are Lyu3 bu4 in the crowd and red rabbits in the horse pile." There is no way to prove who this person is, but this sentence still points out Lu Bu's position at that time. In his time, Lu Bu was a well-known military star. Everyone has heard of him, and rumors about him are everywhere in the Jianghu. As for how good he is, how can we know if we don't fight? How many people really fought with him? Lu Bu's network celebrity status and that famous saying became the public opinion basis for later generations to speculate that he was the first military commander in the Three Kingdoms. Just like the entertainment circle now, the most famous and popular is not necessarily the best acting. Moreover, according to the sentence patterns expressed by the ancients in China, the red rabbit horse placed in the last sentence seems to be the object of emphasis. Perhaps the original meaning of this sentence is: "Red hare is a good horse, mighty and powerful. How can it be compared? Just like Lu Bu among people. " However, later generations mostly ignored this point.
The second factor, which I think is the decisive factor, is the misunderstanding caused by the book Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Although Luo Guanzhong did not say that Lu Bu was the first military commander in the Three Kingdoms, others' fiction and concealment enhanced Lu Bu's heroic image. First of all, he made up three stories about Lu Bu in the Great Britain War. Three or six brothers fought side by side and did not defeat Lu Bu. It can be seen that Lu Bu is stronger than Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Coupled with Luo Guanzhong's extreme apotheosis of Liu Bei Group in this book, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are both portrayed as macho men in the Three Kingdoms. That's why everyone thinks Lu Bu is so powerful! Even Liu Sanren is no match for him! In fact, this incident is false. These three men didn't fight Lu Bu in Hulao Pass. As a master, Liu Bei himself can't beat Lu Bu. The battlefield suddenly changed. What if Lu Bu kills him? Secondly, Luo Guanzhong concealed Lu Bu's experience of repeated wars and defeats, especially his successive defeats by Sun Jian, which led to Dong Zhuo's defeat in Chang 'an. These concealment led to the misunderstanding of the image of Lu Bu, mistaken for the invincible god of war.
The third factor is that later generations do not know enough about the forms of ancient wars. We modern people, in particular, may be deeply influenced by the romance of the Three Kingdoms. When it comes to ancient wars, what we think of is that the two sides lined up to fight and sent their military commanders to fight one-on-one. Whoever chooses the winner will immediately boost morale and win the battle. In fact, such a thing rarely happened in the ancient wars during the Three Kingdoms period. Take Lu Bu himself as an example. After Dong Zhuo's downfall, Li Jue and Guo Si attacked Lu Bu at the gates of Chang 'an. Lyu3 bu4 offered to fight Guo Si one-on-one, gained the upper hand in the one-on-one fight, and stabbed Guo Si with a spear, but Guo Si was immediately rescued by his men behind him, and then the army was defeated by Lyu3 bu4. In the war, there were occasions when military commanders faced each other one by one, but that was only an episode. Not every military commander fights like this. Such as Zhou Yu, Monroe, Lu Xun and Yang Hucheng. These brave and resourceful military commanders could not have done such reckless things before going into battle. Once an accident happens, it will have a fatal impact on the whole war situation. How does a responsible general do this? Fighting the braver generals, they all lost their feet. Sun Jian, who defeated Lu Bu, is an example. He died on the battlefield at a young age and did not achieve greater hegemony. An excellent military commander must be brave and resourceful, able to understand the overall situation, manage the army, be good at attack and defense, and advance and retreat freely. What is Lu Bu's outstanding ability? Is he worse than Zhang Wenyuan who made Jiangdong's children cry? Is it comparable to Zhou Gongjin who defeated the enemy talking and laughing in Battle of Red Cliffs? Is it comparable to Lv Ziming who crossed the river in white and easily defeated Guan Yu in Jingzhou? Is this comparable to the battle of Yiling? The battle of Yiling even burned the Lu Boyan camp.