Lu Xun/Lu Kang relay

[Lady Wu]

Things in roman numerals are my notes.

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Sometime before this, there were vacancies in the offices of two of the princes (i), and many of the ministers both within and outside the capital sent their sons and younger brothers to fill the positions. Quan Zong notified Lu Xun of this, and Lu Xun argued that should one’s junior family members really have talent, one should not have to worry about them being unemployed. Thus, one should not seek to establish connections in private, lest disaster ensue when a prince proves to not to be good. Furthermore, between two princes with equal power conflict must result – wise men of times past avoided getting involved in such situations.

However, Ji, son of Quan Zong, did end up affiliating himself with the Prince of Lu’s faction, and helped the Prince to develop schemes and plots (ii). Lu Xun then wrote to Quan Zong, saying, “Not taking Mi Di as a model (iii), and putting up with A-Ji’s behaviour -- my friend, you are courting disaster for your clan!” Quan Zong did not accept this advice and ill feelings came between the two men. Then, when it became apparent that the Crown Prince’s position was no longer secure, Lu Xun wrote to the Emperor, saying, “The Crown Prince, being the rightful heir, should have a foundation of power as solid as rock; while the Prince of Lu, being a vassal-prince, should be made to know his inferior position by being granted fewer favours than the Crown Prince. If all know their position in the hierarchy, both the superiors and their subordinates will know peace. I kowtow humbly, to the point of bleeding, imploring Your Majesty to consider this.” Lu Xun sent letter after letter, asking to be allowed an audience in the capital in order to discuss in preson the matter of differentiating the eldest son from the rest, and to right the wrongs committed. He was never granted a hearing. In addition, Lu Xun’s nephews Gu Tan, Gu Cheng, and Yao Xin were exiled for other connection with the crown prince. Wu Can, Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, was sent to jail and executed for his correspondence with Lu Xun. Sun Quan also repeatedly sent envoys from the court to reprimand Lu Xun. Filled with vexation and grief, Lu Xun died, at the age of 63. He had little wealth to leave behind to his family.
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(i) Sun He, the then crown prince, and Sun Ba, Prince of Lu.
(ii) Even though Sun Quan had established Sun He as his heir, he showed enormous favours towards Sun Ba, leading to Ba’s rivalry with He. At the end, Ba was ordered to commit suicide, and He lost his position as crown prince.
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Formerly, when Ji Yan submitted a proposal for constructing official buildings, Lu Xun admonished against that, predicting that it would lead to trouble. At another occasion, he said to Zhuge Ke, “Towards those above my position, I would respect them and work in concurrence with them; those who are below me I support and promote. But now, I see you, sir, carrying an air that threatens those superior to you and belittles those subordinate to you. This is not the way to build a stable career for yourself.” And yet at another time, Lu Xun predicted that one Yang Zhu of Guangling, who had made a name for himself in his youth, was bound to end up in calamity; and furthermore advised Yang Zhu’s older brother, Yang Mu, to sever him from the clan. Those are an indication of Lu Xun’s foresight. Lu Xun’s eldest, Lu Yan, died in infancy, and his second son, Lu Kang became his heir. During the reign of Sun Xiu, Lu Xun was granted the posthumous title of the Marquis of Brilliance.

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Whew! Now that's over! I'm putting all the parts in one document now and going over it. Just to warn you, it's running at 15 pages at 12pt font now, and I haven't gotten around to putting in text notes...

[Starscream]

It seems like our illustrious Lady Wu could not overcome the itch of her fingers to finish with Lu Xun's bios! As for Lu Kang's, it will be continued soon, I hope! (Lady Wu, PM me the details, thanks!)

That's all for the commercial break! <bows>

[Yorak]

Lady Wu, you rule. I've been waiting for this for so long...

And thanks to everyone who worked on the project. Lu Xun = win.

[Lady Wu]

Lady Wu, you rule. I've been waiting for this for so long...

And thanks to everyone who worked on the project. Lu Xun = win.

Thank you! If it wasn't for everyone prodding us to get it done, it wouldn't have been done. I'm 2 pages from being done with the editing and I'm quite pleased with it right now. Lu Xun is just this close to replacing Zhao Yun as my fav character (and that is really scary, if you know how fanatical I get about Zhao Yun...)!

Anyway, the edited version is coming out here: http://the-scholars.com/viewtopic.php?t=7490 . Please give feedback!

My new motto is: Lu Xun 0wnz!!!!

[PS edit, so I'm not spamming:] James, would you like to proofread/host the finished draft? The .pdf is at an obscene 161k, so I don't want to just email it over unless it's ok with you.

[Lady Wu]

Sigh... here's Lu Kang:
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Lu Kang, having heard that there were many omissions and errors in the policies coming out from the imperial court, became deep in worry for the future [of the kingdom]. Thus he memorialised,

Your servant has heard that only when two powers become equal in virtues that the more populous one be able to defeat the other, and only when their strength is comparable that the one in peace can overcome the one in instability. This was why the Six States were annexed by the strong Qin, and the Western Chu became a vassal of the High Progenitor of the Han. At the present time, the enemy's hold spans across the lands--not just the lands of Guan-you; ruling nine provinces, they are not confined to just the west of Honggou. Our country has neither allies beyond our borders nor strength within that could match even that of the Chu. The civil administration is degenerate, nad the common people have not known peace. Yet, the counsellors are complacent, taking comfort in having the long River and the rugged mountains to protect our borders. This is of little importance--holding onto our country--and not [an attitude] that the wise would advocate! Your sevant has often contemplated on the rise and fall of the powers of the Warring States from long ago, and observed the recent disasterous demise of the Liu empire. I study such affairs from the classical texts, comparing them to the going-ons of our day. In the middle of the night I would stroke my pillow; though facing a meal I would forget to eat. In the past, when the Xiongnu was still at large, Qubing declined to have a mansion built for himself; before the codes of Han were made perfect, Jia Yi wept in sorrow. And your servant, being a scion of the royal house as well as a descendent of a family enjoying generations of imperial favours--can I not moreso disregard personal fame and safety, and tie my fate to the sorrows of the nation? Can I not set aside life and death, and perform all that my duties require of me? Can I not worry [about the country] day and night, and have my heart pain at the thought of it?

The proper way to serve a lord obliges one to risk the lord's displeasure in order to avoid being deceitful; the code of being a minister despises submissivity but praises dying for a good cause. Thus I dare to present 17 proposals as follows:

The seventeen proposals have been lost and thus are not recorded here.

At that time, He Ding held power, and allowed the eunuchs to interfere with state affairs. Lu Kang memorialised, saying:

Your servant heas heard that whether in building a country or carrying on a familiy enterprise, one does not employ persons of a mean state. [dunno the next 2 clauses] This is something that causes learned men to scornfully complain, and Confucius to sigh with regret. Since the Spring and Autumn times, and into the Qin and Han dynasties, the cause of destruction has never been any other than this. The lesser man is ignorant of reason and principles of propriety, and his understanding is shallow. Even if he can be made to serve with all his heart and in all properness, he is still inadequate to the task, let alone that his heart is always deceitful, and inconstant either in love or hate? [dunno the next 2 clauses] But now, they are entrusted with the tasks of being your ears and eyes, and given the power to dictate the laws. And yet we wish for sounds of peace and prosperity to be rise, and the era of morality and righteousness to be established. This is clearly impossible.

Looking at the officers in employment now, I see few of exceptional talent; however, they either are scions of noble families and have been exposed to teachings of proper conduct since their youth, or men who raised themselves up from a poor environment, proving their sufficient abilities. These could be given positions according to their talents, in order to restrain the lesser men. Only then can the muddied values be cleared, and the administration purified.

[Starscream]

In the first year of Feng Huang, Bu Chan, the grand administrator of Xi Ling, led a revolt in the city he governed and dispatched a man to Jin to offer his surrender. After getting news of this, Lu Kang prepared his soldiers day and night, ordering the generals Zuo Yi, Wu Yan, Cai Gong, etc to lead an attack on Xi Ling directly and also to re-construct and strengthen the surrounding walls for every units stretching from Chi Xi to Gu Shi. This served the purpose of surrounding Bu Chan from the inside and defending against invaders from the outside. Lu Kang hastened his generals with the task day and night as if the enemies had already arrived. As a result, the troops complained of the harsh task. The generals pleaded, "With the battle-readiness of the three armies, we could swiftly attack Bu Chan before the Jin army arrives. Why do we need to construct the walls and wear down the soldiers?" Lu Kang replied, "The surroundings of Xi Ling are treacherous and it has a solid defence and ample food supplies. Besides, the defence systems and weaponry of Xi Ling was designed by myself before. Now if we turn to attack it, not only can we not conquer it swiftly, the northern army would most likely arrive. If we do not have preparations, how do we defend ourselves against attacks from both outside and within?" All the generals were still adamant to attack Bu Chan, but Lu Kang still disagreed. The governor of Yi Du, Lei Tan, reasoned with much sincerity, so Lu Kang allowed a single attack in order to convince them all. Indeed, the attack failed, thus, the construction of the walls could continue and be completed.

Yang Hu, General of Chariots and Cavalry of Jin, attacked Jiang Ling and the Wu officers disagreed with Lu Kang's decision to lead the troops westwards. Lu Kang reasoned, "Jiang Ling's defence is very strong and it has plenty of troops so we need not worry. Should the enemy conquer Jiang Ling, they would not be able to hold it and we have little to lose. If there are collaborations between Xi Ling and the enemy, there might be unrest among the tribes at Nan Shan. Should that happen, worrisome matters will persist. I would rather abandon Jiang Ling to go to Xi Ling, especially with Jiang Ling's strong defence."

In the beginning, Jiang Ling's terrain was flat with passable roads, but Lu Kang ordered for the construction of a dam to block the water, resulting in the flooding of the flat plains that also prevented entry by the potential enemies. Yang Hu wanted to make use of the dam water for the transportation of food and he announced to destroy the dam. After hearing this, Lu Kang immediately ordered Zhang Xian to destroy the dam. The officers were very puzzled and tried many times to stop this, but Lu Kang refused to listen. Upon reaching Dang Yang, Yang Hu got news that the dam had been destroyed and had to use carts instead of boats for transportation, thus wasting great amounts of effort and time.

Xu Yin, the army supervisor of Ba Dong of Jin empire, led naval forces to Jian Ping, while Yang Zhao, the Inspector of Jing Zhou, reached Xi Ling. Lu Kang ordered Zhang Xian to defend Jiang Ling city; Sun Zun, the Inspector of Gong An, to patrol the southern shores of Chang Jiang river and defend against Yang Hu; Naval officer Liu Lu and Zhu Wan, General Who Defends the West, to defend against Xu Yin. Lu Kang himself led the three armies to the walls to fight against Yang Zhao. Wu general Zhu Qiao and Camp Chief Controller Yu Zan surrendered to Yang Zhao. Lu Kang said, "Yu Zan served the army for a long time and understands much of our army. I am often worried about the lack of training of the tribal soldiers. Should the enemies attack the walls, they are likely to strike at here." Therefore, he dismissed the tribal soldiers and mobilized reservists in their place. The next day, Yang Zhao indeed led army to attack the position where the tribal troops used to be stationed at. Lu Kang ordered for a counter-attack, and arrows, rocks fell like rain on Yang Zhao's troops, wounding and killing many of them. Yang Zhao could not do anything after more than a month at Xi Ling and he fled in the night. Lu Kang wanted to pursue him but was wary if Bu Chan was to concentrate his forces to attack their weak spot, they might not have sufficient troops to defend, hence he merely ordered for drums to be beaten to warn the army and made it seemed as if he intended to pursue. Yang Zhao's army was in great disarray and fear and everyone discarded their weapons and fled. Lu Kang sent light-armoured troops to pursue from the rear, and Yang Zhao's army suffered a great defeat, while Yang Hu and the rest also led their troops to retreat.

Lu Kang occupied Xi Ling city and executed Bu Chan's family and his generals and officers. Those below the rank of officers pleaded mercy for release and some tens of thousands of them were not prosecuted. Lu Kang repaired the walls of Xi Ling and rebuilt its structures before he returned back. His face revealed no sign of arrogance and was as humble as usual. This was why he was respected and loved by the officers. --> go to Annotation 1

Dear Lady Wu, I have not checked through the above paragraphs for accuracy and stuff and it's my pleasure to invite you to be my proof-reader! (As usual, sigh) Do you want to handle the next paragraph? <pokes>

[Morg]

Proof-reading for Transformer B:

Lu Kang hastened his generals with the task day and night , as if the enemies had already arrived.

No need for the space between 'night' and the comma.

If there is collaborations between Xi Ling and the enemy,

Should be 'are'.

After hearing this, Lu Kang immediately order Zhang Xian to destroy the dam.

Should be 'ordered'.

Sun Zun, the Inpector of Gong An, to patrol the southern shores of Chang Jiang river and defend against Yang Hu;

Inspector.

Lu Kang sent light-armoured troops to pursue from the rear, and Yang Zhao's army suffered a great defeat, while Yang Hu and the rest too led their troops to retreat.

If 'too' was replaced with 'also', the sentence would probably flow a little better.

Excellent work.

[PrimeMinister Bu Zhi]

Lu Xun is just this close to replacing Zhao Yun as my fav character (and that is really scary, if you know how fanatical I get about Zhao Yun...)!

Lu Xun is my favorite character, and I agree, Lu Xun Ownzz. Nice bios, finally some Lu Kang info.

Lu Kang and Lu Xun seem to know EVERYTHING before it even happens. In my opinion, Lu Xun is the smartest person in the TK.

[Lady Wu]

Dear Lady Wu, I have not checked through the above paragraphs for accuracy and stuff and it's my pleasure to invite you to be my proof-reader! (As usual, sigh) Do you want to handle the next paragraph? <pokes>

Do I have to? *whine whine*

You took the nice actiony bit too... I actually did start working on that paragraph, oh well.

Then it's more petitions... *stabs Lu Kang voodoo doll*

[Starscream]

You took the nice actiony bit too... I actually did start working on that paragraph, oh well.

Then it's more petitions... *stabs Lu Kang voodoo doll*

I'll start working with the portion saying 2nd year of Feng Huang. Being a rustic dolt, I think you'd handle petitions better than myself!!