At this time, the personal bodyguard reported that General Fan Wei's Xu had come to visit. Just when Lu Xun was about to go to sleep, he immediately got up and ordered his personal bodyguard to take Xu into his bedroom.
Pan Jun entered Lu Xun's bedroom and respectfully bowed to Lu Xun, who was sitting on the bed: "General, you will be returning to Xiling tomorrow. I have come to see you off. Please do not hold any grudge."
Lu Xun stood up to support Pan Jun: "Chengming, our friendship is not one that requires formalities from me. Please sit down quickly."
Pan Jun didn't act coy either. Following Lu Xun's guidance, they sat down together on Lu Xun's bed.
Pan Jun is a very interesting person, even to the extent that he can be considered a model of the traitors from the Three Kingdoms.
As the saying goes, "Good birds choose good trees to rest." Good officials choose their lords and masters. During the end of the Han Dynasty, various factions fought constantly, and it was not uncommon for literary and military officials to change allegiances to other factions.
For example, Cao Wei, Cao Cao's army from Chenliu to the unification of the entire North China, has defeated and subjugated countless small and large forces. Naturally, the number of officials who surrendered to him is also huge.
Because there were so many traitors, the Cao Wei regime adopted a very tolerant attitude towards them, making it a matter of course to assign military duties to those who could command troops and administrative roles to those who could govern.
For instance, when Cao Rui was preparing to entrust Guanzhong's important duties to Zhang He, Zhang He was a standard Cao Wei traitor.
As early as the Battle of Guanyu, when Cao Cao led 5,000 elite troops to attack Woniashan and set fire to it that night, Zhang He and Gao Lian were in charge of fiercely attacking Cao's camp.
At that time, the military general responsible for guarding the camp was Cao Hong. Zhang He was unable to capture Cao's camp and felt restless as the fire at Woniushan spread. Moreover, strategist Guo Tu falsely accused Zhang He to evade blame. Consequently, Zhang He led his troops to directly surrender to Cao Hong across the way.
It was because at that time, there was nothing unusual about surrendering, Zhang He had little psychological burden. When Cao Cao returned to the camp and heard that Zhang He had surrendered, he was very pleased and praised Zhang He, saying his actions were like "Wēi Zhǐ leaving Yīn and Huán Xìng returning to Han."
Among Cao Wei's external generals, for modern people, the "Five Generals of Merit" is well known. Besides Lè Jin, who served under Cao Cao from the beginning of his career, and Yú Jìn, who first served under Bào Xìn and then joined Cao Cao, the remaining three generals Zhang He, Zhang Bēi, and Xu Zhǎng were all traitors.
Zhang Biao originally belonged to Lü Bu, Zhang He originally belonged to Yuan Shao, and Xu Huang originally belonged to Yang Feng.
With numerous traitors and generals who had surrendered to Cao Wei, naturally there were also some traitors in the Eastern Wu. Pan Jun was among the best at mixing in as a traitor.
Pan Jun was from Wuling District in Jingzhou, and before he was thirty years old, he was appointed as an officer of Jiangxia District by Liu Biao, the Governor of Jingzhou at that time. After Liu Bei took over as the Governor of Jingzhou, he appointed Pan Jun as a supervisor.
In the 24th year of the Jian'an era, Sun Quan sent Lü Meng to attack Guan Yu from behind and occupied Jingzhou after the conquest. Many officials and military personnel in Jingzhou then submitted. However, if Pan Jun had simply surrendered, how could his value be demonstrated? So Pan Jun pretentiously fell ill and stayed at home.
Pan Jun was originally a famous scholar in Jingzhou, and he had been a disciple of the great Confucian scholar Song Zong. He was also known as one of the "Seven Talents of the Jian'an Era" along with Wang Can, which made him much different from ordinary officials.
At the same time, it was Lu Xun, who was responsible for pacifying Jingzhou, who advised Sun Quan to use Han Gaozu and Han Guangwu as examples to emphasize the importance of integrating Jingzhou's scholars.
So Sun Quan personally went to persuade Pan Jun to surrender. Seeing Sun Quan's arrival, Pan Jun no longer put on airs and bowed to him in gratitude on the ground, and he also reported to Sun Quan all the military situations in Jingzhou.
Looking at this, it can be seen that Pan Jun and Lu Xun have quite a connection. It is precisely because Pan Jun had been in charge of Jiangxia for a long time since he entered the service and was very familiar with Jiangxia affairs, while Lu Xun often communicated with this famous scholar.
In due course, they became friends with each other, which was normal.
As an aside, both of Pan Jun's teacher Song Zhong and his friend Wang Can's sons died in the same year that Jingzhou was lost to Guan Yu, and they were killed in the 'Wei Fan Incident' in the city of Ye, which was under Cao Pi's jurisdiction.
Pan Jun visits Lu Xun tonight for a few reasons. One is to bid Lu Xun farewell, as they are colleagues in the same court and it is natural for them to be present when Lu Xun leaves tomorrow.
On the other hand, Pan Jun was also worried about what Sun Quan had said in the summer kikou this afternoon.
Pan Jun spoke directly: "General, what do you think of His Majesty's words today? Does His Majesty intend to launch an attack against Cao Wei?"
Lu Xun looked at Pan Jun. At this time, Pan Jun was leading 5,000 troops to guard Xiaokou and belonged to Sun Quan's central army. Sun Quan was going to launch an attack on Anfeng soon, and Pan Jun's troops would definitely participate in the battle in the end. So Lu Xun told Pan Jun that it was nothing to worry about.
Lu Xun said: "Exactly. The Majesty's military operation this time is of great significance. If a large-scale military operation is launched, your troops are definitely going to participate in the battle."
Pan Jun, upon hearing this, fell silent for a moment before slowly asking, "I dare not inquire about the specifics. I just want to know, is it an offensive on Jingzhou or on Yangzhou?"
Lu Xun said: "It is on Yangzhou."
Pan Jun shook his head and sighed deeply upon hearing this.
As a native of Jingzhou and someone who had long served in Jingzhou, Pan Jun naturally would have preferred to use military force in Jingzhou. If they could conquer Xiangyang and use Xiangyang, Jiangling, and the Han River as a foundation to consolidate Jingzhou, isn't that better than attacking on the plains of Huaiyuan against Cao Wei?
Forgotten the several times they couldn't capture Hefei?
The generals of the Eastern Wu mostly tend to favor defense rather than offense.
Just as within the Cao Wei regime there are divisions over power struggles, offensive and defensive strategies, and whether to use military force in Jingzhou, Yangzhou, or Yongliang, so too within the Eastern Wu there are divisions over whether to employ military force in Jingzhou or Yangzhou.
As early as Jian'an 5, twenty-six years ago compared to now, Lu Su presented what was called the "Table Strategy" to Sun Quan, guiding the strategic direction of the Eastern Wu.
Lu Su meant that it would be better to march north along the Huanghe River and attack Xuzhou from the east than to advance up the Yangtze River, occupy the entire Jingzhou region, and achieve a triangular base with the Han River and Yangtze River as a foundation.
Lu Su indeed had such a plan and acted accordingly. In actuality, attacking Jingzhou, which is upstream along the Yangtze River, rather than Xuzhou and Yangzhou, was also a more realistic choice for the Eastern Wu.
But an awkward thing happened. succeeded by Lv Meng, who also wanted to do so, and regarded conquering Jingzhou as a priority. Instead, during Guan Yu's Northern Expedition against Xiantan and Fancang, he led troops to secretly attack and destroy the alliance's excellent situation.
If Lv Meng had seized the entire Jingzhou after his surprise attack on Guan Yu, that would have been all right. The key is that Lv Meng and the Eastern Wu did not have the strength to occupy Xiangyang for a long time, and instead left it to Cao Wei.
This resulted in a situation where the ally was lost, only half of Jingzhou was taken, the front line was stretched twice as long, and the defensive pressure also increased sharply.
Since Jingzhou couldn't be captured, it was understandable that Sun Quan wanted to use military force in Yangzhou. However, considering that the Governor of Jingzhou was Lu Xun and Pan Jun, who was born in Jingzhou and served as a General of Vigorous Strength, capturing Xiangyang and occupying Jingzhou were of utmost importance!
What's the point of attacking Yangzhou? Can you cross over to Hefei and Shouchun?
It can be said that whether it is the Wei or the Wu, when they want to launch military operations outside, they will inevitably encounter various kinds of obstacles and internal divisions.
No one is much lighter than the other, and it's at this point that it's up to who can hold up.
...
