The Death of the Mighty Lu Bu

Three Kingdoms 22

September 198 AD,Liu Bei刘备 was defeated again and fled to Cao Cao曹操. At the same time, Cao Cao personally led his army to Xuzhou徐州, he captured Pengcheng彭城 a month later , and Lu Bu吕布 had to retreat to Xiapi下邳.

In the winter of the same year, Cao's army surrounded Xiapi,Cao Cao wrote to Lu Bu to explain his strength, and Lu Bu knew that he was no match for Cao Cao, so he prepared to surrender. However, his stragetist Chen Gong陈宫 strongly disagreed, believing that the city would hold on to confront Cao Cao and wait for the Cao’s army retreated after the food exhausted .

At the same time, he said they should ask Yuan Shu袁术 in Shunchun寿春 for help, although Yuan Shu is at odds with Lu Bu, he still understands that If Lu Bu died,he will also be ended. But the problem was that Yuan Shu's territory had long been ruined by himself, the soldiers fled, and he had few troops to support Lu Bu. In the end, Yuan Shu sent only 1000 cavalry, but they were defeated by the Cao army before reaching Xiapi.

Chen Gong tried to dissuade Lu Bu from surrendering,it is difficult to say that he was selfless,Chen Gong himself really hated Cao Cao very much and had betrayed Cao Cao,he would rather die than serve Cao Cao again,but his personal stubbornness made Lu Bu also accompany him. If Lu Bu surrendered at this time, judging from Cao Cao's later attitude towards Zhang Xiu张绣 and other warlords, Lu Bu might not be put in important position, but at least he would not be killed. Moreover,Chen Gong’s loyalty is not high, and he will betray at every turn, being really not a good person.

As the mastermind, he joined forces with Cao Cao's friend Zhang Miao张邈to betray Cao Cao and advocate that Lu Bu be greeted to Yanzhou兖州,If it weren't Xun Yu荀彧 and other, Cao Cao would be homeless, and this cauldron was really vicious.

After following Lu Bu to occupy Xuzhou, Chen Gong again looked down on Lu Bu,two years ago,one of Lu Bu's subordinate Hao Meng郝萌 rebelled, and the city was in /chaos. Lu Bu panicked, but did not know who was rebelling. Lu Bu knew that Gao Shun高顺 was loyal and upright, and he would definitely not betray him. So in a hurry, he led his family to Gao Shun's battalion and hid.

Gao Shun then led his troops to suppress the rebellion. At this time, Hao Meng's subordinates Cao Xing曹性 betrayed Hao Meng in the chaos and cut off Hao Meng's arm, while Cao Xing himself was also stabbed by Hao Meng. Gao Shun took advantage of the situation to rush to kill Hao Meng.

After that, the soldiers carried the injured Cao Xing to see Lu Bu, as Hao Meng's general, the ins and outs of this matter must be clear to Cao Xing.So Lu Bu asked Cao Xing why Hao Meng rebelled,Cao Xing replied that he had been instigated by Yuan Shu, then Lu Bu asked who the accomplices were, Cao Xing replied that Chen Gong was.

At that time, Chen Gong was sitting next to Lu Bu, and when he heard that Cao Xing identified him in public, his face turned red, didn't say any word. Lu Bu, on the other hand, considered that Chen Gong's status was too high, so he did not pursue it.

So this time,Chen Gong didn't want Lu Bu to surrender Cao Cao,only because he didn't want to die along or try any last chance to ture the tide,not because of being loyalty for Lu Bu.

Even Lu Bu's wife Lady Wei could see the fact,she said to Lu Bu:”Chen Gong and General Gao Shun高顺 have always been at odds, how can enemies work together?Moreover, Cao Cao treated Chen Gong as a baby in his arms, such generous, Chen Gong still betrayed Cao Cao to come to us, can you treat him more than that?If you leave your wife and children over the important responsibility of guarding the city to Chen Gong, once he rebels again, how coild I still be your wife?”Unfortunately, Lu Bu finally decided to follow Chen Gong's advice and stick to it.

Cao’s army had besieged Xiapi for two months, but had not been able to conquer it. Cao Cao saw that the soldiers were very tired and planned to withdraw, but both his strategists Xun You荀攸 and Guo Jia郭嘉 objected. So Cao Cao ordered the soilders to dig ditches to divert water to irrigate the city, making Lu Bu's situation being even worse.

The desperate Lu Bu climbed to the top of the city and shouted:" I want to surrender to the you,my wise lord!” Chen Gong stopped it excitedly after hearing this:” Cao Cao is just a traitor, how can he be worthy of being called a wise lord? Surrender now will not save your life!”

Pity Lu Bu, just like that, he was dragged down the abyss of irreparable calamity by Chen Gong, A few days later, Lu Bu's general Hou Cheng侯成 and others rebelled, they tied Chen Gong up to Cao Cao and surrendered.Lu Bu led a group of soldiers and retreated to the White Gate Tower in Xiapi City.

On February 7, 199, Lu Bu walked down the tower with capturing himself, but Cao Cao, at Liu Bei's suggestion, still killed him, and the head was immediately sent to Xuchang.

Lu Bu's generals Zhang Liao张辽 and Zang Ba臧霸 were not in Xiapi then,they all surrendered, while Chen Gong and Gao Shun were killed for refusing to surrender. However, as former friends, Cao Cao still raise Chen Gong's family. Thus, Xuzhou was also occupied by Cao Cao.