Wu's Greatest Commander: Zhou Yu, Lu Meng or Lu Xun?

[Mikhail]

The kingdom of Wu has been incredibly fortunate in its illustrious history to have an extremely capable commander whenever their their predecessor had passed. Of course, this all began with the great Zhou Yu, who was then only really replaced by Lu Meng who then gave way to Lu Xun. But who do you think is the best out of the three?

Use whatever source you want in this topic, whether historical or the novel.

(I know there are others, such as Lu Kang, but I'm only really interested in these 3 and pre-230)

Just a quick recap of some of the major things that each of these officers are known for.

Zhou Yu: The commander of the allied forces at the battle of Chi Bi
Lu Meng: Orchestrated the takeover of Jing and the eventual death of Guan Yu
Lu Xun: Defended Jing from the advance of the Shu forces, culminating at the battle of Yi Ling.



I myself am a fan of Lu Meng's work. Without the Jing takeover, Wu would have been in a very weak position. Taking Jing with very minimal casualties and inciting the surrender of a few Shu officers was a very smart maneuver. Also, without Lu Meng, I wonder how differently Guan Yu would be treated...

[Guan Yan]

Wasent Lu meng quite stressed over the guan yu problem then lu xun helped him out without lu xun lu meng probably would not have defeated guan yu seeing as lu xun's stratagy and giving the letter to guan to make him at ease was the cause of guan yu's defeat as well as it being at the rear and xu huang and Cao ren at the front.

Also Lu xun's efforts a Yi Ling were good so i would say Lu Xun.

[white_tiger_55]

yes i agree lu xun was the best he was able to defeat both shu and wei, and he was a good politition

[Sun Gongli]

Zhou Yu, in my opinion. He not only commanded the battle that changed the landscape of China for years to come, but he also followed up on it and didn't let the opportunity pass. The only thing that limited him was his own lifespan.

[the glorious sun jian]

Lu Meng , He took more lands and showed skills agains Cao Cao more than once .

But for the political side I think Lu Xun is the best .Zhou is just over rated .

[MistroPain]

Lu Meng , He took more lands and showed skills agains Cao Cao more than once .

But for the political side I think Lu Xun is the best .Zhou is just over rated .

I wouldnt say he is that over rated.
He did after all win the most needed battle Wu has ever had, Chi Bi, which btw has been noted in history and is probably one of the largest battles and most important battles throughout the Three Kingdoms. Although if the Pang Tong part in the war was real then Pang Tong was probably more important then Zhou Yu in that war. I am pretty certain Zhuge wasnt involved in history, or was he, plus magic to call winds would be fake and therefore Zhuge wasnt needed at all in the battle.

[Long]

Without a doubt, Zhou Yu is greatest of the three that you have listed. He helped found, protect and expand the kingdom of Wu during his lifetime, and he was the one who had the grandest strategies in mind for continued expansion. Wu's potential to conquer China died with him.

When Sun Ce died, Zhou Yu was the most logical choice to succeed him, but through love and loyalty, he supported an unproven boy to rule over a fledgling territory. This shows remarkable quality to be truly selfless even when there was no reason to.
He had the charisma that could unite rival factions amongst his own men, and could inspire them back from the brink of defeat.

Even Sun Quan was noted as having described Lu Xun as similar to Zhou Yu but lacking Gongjin's flare. This goes to show that Zhou Yu was the yardstick that all of his successors would be measured by, and the esteemed opinion that Sun Quan had of him. Clearly Zhou Yu was the greatest of them.

[Lonely_dragon]

I think the best Wu had to offer was Zhou Yu... I agree with Sun Gongli the one thing that limit his career was his short lifespan... but was it true that Zhou Yu said this in his deathbed:

"Since Heaven had produced Zhou Yu, Why did the Yellow earth create a Zhuge Liang?"

[Guan Yan]

Was Zhou Yu really jellous of Zhuge Liangs skill? in history.

[Dong Zhou]

No, they may not even have met and certainly wouldn't fit Yu's generous personality

I would go for Lu Meng in terms of being a military commander, I find Zhou Yu capable but not that great, Lu Xun is very good but Lu Meng just has that little edge. If we are speaking Commander in Cheif wise, Meng's political weakness means I prefer Lu Xun