Historical background In late 220,
Cao Pi forced
Emperor Xian to abdicate the throne in his favour and ended the Han dynasty. He declared himself emperor and established the state of
Cao Wei to replace the Han dynasty, marking the start of the
Three Kingdoms period. Two years later,
Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor and established the state of
Shu Han as a successor to the Han dynasty and to challenge Cao Pi's legitimacy. Sun Quan agreed to submit to Cao Pi's rule and received the title of a
vassal king, King of
Wu" (吳王). However, in late 222, he declared independence from the Cao Wei regime but retained his title "King of Wu".
Early stages In early 222, Liu Bei personally led the Shu army to attack Sun Quan and retake his lost territories in southern
Jing Province. Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun as Grand Chief Controller () and put him in command of 50,000 troops to resist the enemy, with
Zhu Ran,
Pan Zhang,
Song Qian,
Han Dang,
Xu Sheng, Xianyu Dan (),
Sun Huan and others serving as his subordinates. The Shu army passed through Wu Gorge (), Jianping () and Lianping () until they arrived on the outskirts of Yiling (夷陵; present-day
Yichang,
Hubei), where they laid siege and built several camps. Liu Bei bribed the local tribes in Yiling with gold and silk to support him. He appointed
Feng Xi (馮習) as his Chief Controller, Zhang Nan () as the vanguard, and Fu Kuang (), Zhao Rong (), Liao Chun () and
Fu Rong as the controllers of the various divisions. He also sent
Wu Ban to lead a few thousand men to construct camps on flat ground and provoke the Wu forces into attacking them. When the Wu generals wanted to respond to the enemy's taunts, Lu Xun said, "This must be a trick. We should observe first." Earlier on, when the Shu army first arrived at Yiling, the Wu generals wanted to attack the enemy, but Lu Xun objected and said, "Liu Bei is leading an army east to attack us and his army's morale is very high. Besides, his forces are based in high and mountainous terrain, so it's difficult for us to attack them. Even if we manage to win, we cannot completely defeat them. If we suffer any setback, our morale will be greatly affected and this isn't a small issue. Now, we should raise our troops' morale and make plans while waiting for changes in the situation. If we're on plains and flat ground, we should be worrying about sustaining heavy losses in skirmishes and charges. However, since the enemy is on mountainous terrain, they can't carry out an all-out assault because they're sandwiched between wood and rocks. We should take advantage of this weakness of theirs." The Wu generals did not understand Lu Xun's reasoning and thought that he feared the enemy so they were very disgruntled with him. When Liu Bei realised that his plan to lure Wu forces into attacking him had failed, he led the 8,000 troops out of the valley, where they had been waiting in ambush earlier. When Lu Xun heard about it, he told his subordinates, "The reason why I didn't follow your suggestions to attack the enemy is because I suspected there was something fishy about it." He then wrote a report to Sun Quan:
Burning of the Shu camps The Wu generals said, "We should have attacked Liu Bei in the initial stages. Now, he has advanced further in by 500-600
li and we have been locked in a stalemate for seven to eight months. He has reinforced all his crucial positions, so even if we attack them it will yield nothing." Lu Xun replied, "Liu Bei is cunning and experienced. In the initial stage, his army was very focused and its morale was very high, so we couldn't defeat them then. Now, however, since it has been quite some time, they are already weary, low on morale, and out of ideas. Now is the time for us to launch a multi-pronged assault on them." Lu Xun then targeted one enemy camp and attacked it but failed to capture it. The Wu officers complained, "We're sacrificing our soldiers' lives for nothing." Lu Xun replied, "I have devised a strategy for defeating the enemy." He then ordered his men to carry a pile of straw each and launch a fire attack on the enemy. Upon the commencement of the fire attack, Lu Xun led all the Wu units on an all-out assault on the Shu forces. The Shu generals Zhang Nan and Feng Xi, and the tribal king
Shamoke (Liu Bei's ally) were killed in battle, while the Wu forces destroyed over 40 Shu camps. The Shu officers Du Lu (), Liu Ning () and others surrendered when they saw they had no chance of escaping. Liu Bei and his remaining troops retreated to the Ma'an Hills (), where they continued to be fiercely assaulted by Wu forces from all directions. At the same time, landslides occurred at the Ma'an Hills and caused the Shu forces to suffer thousands of casualties. Liu Bei fled at night and ordered his men to pile up their armour and set them on fire to create barriers for the pursuing enemy. By the time Liu Bei reached the safety of
Baidicheng, all his boats, military equipment and supplies had been captured by Wu forces. The dead bodies of Shu soldiers floated in the river and obstructed its flow. Liu Bei was extremely upset and furious with his defeat. He exclaimed, "Is it not the will of Heaven that I must be humiliated by Lu Xun?"
Incidents during the battle During the preliminary stages of the Battle of Xiaoting,
Sun Huan had led a separate force to attack the Shu vanguard force at Yidao () but ended up being besieged by the enemy. He requested for reinforcements from Lu Xun but was denied. The other Wu officers said, "General Sun is a relative of our lord. He's under siege, so shouldn't we help him?" Lu Xun replied, "He has the support of his men, his base is well defended, and he has sufficient supplies. There's nothing to worry about. When my plans are set in motion, even if we don't go to his aid, the siege on him will automatically be lifted." After the Wu victory, Sun Huan came to see Lu Xun and said, "Earlier on, I was indeed very resentful when you refused to help me. But now, after the victory, I see you have your own way of doing things." Many of the Wu officers who participated in the battle had either served in Wu since
Sun Ce's time or were relatives of the Sun family, so they viewed themselves highly and were unwilling to follow Lu Xun's orders. Lu Xun placed his sword on the desk and said, The Wu officers began to show greater respect towards Lu Xun after the Wu victory, which was largely due to his strategies. When Sun Quan heard about this incident, he asked Lu Xun, "Why didn't you report to me about the generals refusing to follow your orders?" Lu Xun replied, Sun Quan laughed and praised Lu Xun. Lu Xun was promoted to General Who Assists the State (), appointed as Governor () of Jing Province, and had his marquis title changed to "Marquis of Jiangling" ().
Aftermath After Liu Bei had retreated to Baidicheng, Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang, Song Qian and other Wu generals suggested to attack Baidicheng and capture Liu Bei. When Sun Quan asked Lu Xun for his opinion, Lu, along with Zhu Ran and
Luo Tong, said that when
Cao Pi amassed his forces and seemed like he was going to help Wu attack Shu, he was actually harbouring sinister intentions, so they should be cautious, abandon their pursuit of Liu Bei, and return to Wu. Not long later, Cao Pi led the
Wei armies to
invade Wu from three directions. When Liu Bei heard of the Wei invasion of Wu, he wrote to Lu: "The enemy (Wei) is at Jiangling now. If I launch another attack again, in your opinion, do you think I will succeed?" Lu Xun replied: Liu Bei died in 223 and was succeeded by his son,
Liu Shan, as the emperor of Shu.
Zhuge Liang became Shu's head of government and he made peace with Wu and reestablished the Wu–Shu alliance against Wei. Sun Quan granted permission to Lu Xun to reply to Zhuge Liang on his behalf, and had a duplicate of his own official seal made and sent to Lu's office. Whenever Sun Quan wrote to Liu Shan and Zhuge Liang, he would allow Lu Xun to read the letters, make the appropriate modifications, stamp his official seal on them and have them delivered to Shu. ==Battle of Shiting==