The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 155 Lü Meng's Death, Yu Fan Takes the Blame

Lu Meng vomited blood, so the meeting could not continue. Everyone lifted his hands and feet to carry him out of the hall and into the bedroom in the back.

The residence they were in was formerly Guan Yu's general's mansion, and now it was occupied by Sun Quan. Theoretically, Lü Meng should not have stayed there overnight, but Sun Quan's family was not currently there, so there was no need to avoid suspicion.

The group carried Lü Meng to Sun Quan's bedside. Sun Quan sat by the bed, took his hand, and asked with concern, "Grand Commander, how are you?"

Lu Meng's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but the words he uttered turned into a violent cough, which even brought up blood.

This startled Sun Quan, who turned around and roared, "Where is the doctor? Has he arrived yet?"

With a shout, the doctor entered carrying his medicine kit, took Sun Quan's place, and sat by the bed to take Lü Meng's pulse. After a long while of examining him with the four diagnostic methods of traditional Chinese medicine, he stood up and shook his head helplessly, saying, "The Grand Commander was already deficient in both qi and blood, and now his heart meridian is also damaged. I'm afraid..."

Sun Quan's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly asked, "What do you mean? I don't care what method you use, you must cure the Grand Commander, do you hear me?"

Upon hearing this, the doctor's face twitched. "I'm a doctor, not a god! Aren't you making things difficult for me?"

Now all eyes were on the doctor, who felt his scalp tingling under their gaze. He dared not refute and could only grit his teeth and say, "Let me prescribe some medicine for the Grand Commander first, but my lord, medicine is only an aid. What the Grand Commander needs most is recuperation. He must keep his mood at all times and not be stimulated again. Neither extreme sadness nor joy is acceptable. My lord, please remember this."

Sun Quan waved for the doctor to fetch the medicine, then glared fiercely at Yu Fan, wishing he could emulate Lü Meng and punch him.

Knowing he had made a grave mistake, Yu Fan didn't dare to move forward. He consciously shrank into a corner and became invisible. Feeling Sun Quan's murderous gaze, he shrank back even further in fear.

Yu Fan was also aggrieved. Who would have thought that Lü Meng was so emotionally fragile, breaking down his defenses with just a few words? If only he had known…

Sun Quan was furious at his dejected appearance and waved his hand, saying, "There's no use in you staying here. Go back."

After everyone bowed and took their leave, Sun Quan personally took charge of Lü Meng's daily life, even eating and sleeping in Lü Meng's bedroom, serving him more attentively than Lü Meng's own son.

Nevertheless, Lü Meng's condition worsened day by day, and eventually he could no longer speak.

This state lasted for five days. On the sixth day at noon, he finally regained some consciousness as if in a final burst of lucidity. Upon seeing this, Sun Quan rushed to the bedside, grabbed his hand, and said, "Grand Commander, is there anything else you want to say? I'm listening."

It was obvious to anyone with eyes like Lü Meng that he was nearing his end, so there was no need to waste time on pointless chatter. It was better to hurry up and ask for his last words.

Lu Meng grasped Sun Quan's hand and said, "My lord, I am incompetent. I failed to reclaim Jianye and protect Jiangdong for you. I have let you down."

Sun Quan shook his head and said, "Grand Commander, please stop talking. This is not your fault. Wait for me, I will go find a doctor right away."

After saying this, he was about to get up and leave, but Lü Meng held him back tightly and continued, "My lord, listen to me. Now that Cao Cao and Liu Bei are at odds again, this is an opportunity for us. How to make good use of this opportunity is the most important thing next. I think we still have to fight. If we don't fight, we are doomed."

"First of all, although the Jiangdong gentry have retreated to Jiangling, their families and clan roots are still in Jiangdong, and their hearts are naturally in Jiangdong. If we cannot take back Jiangdong, we will not be able to explain to the gentry and the soldiers."

"Secondly, the Jiangdong gentry and the Jingzhou gentry have always been at odds. Now that they are in the same pot, there will definitely be many conflicts. The only way to alleviate the conflicts is to find a common enemy. Without an external enemy, the Jiangdong gentry and the Jingzhou gentry, and even the Jiangdong gentry themselves, will fight each other incessantly. That would be tantamount to suicide."

"Therefore, we must attack the Guan family and their sons to shift the internal conflicts of Eastern Wu onto them. Only in this way can we temporarily put aside our internal differences and unite against external forces."

"And then there's Shi Xie in Jiaozhou. If we continue our attack, Shi Xie will stay in Jiaozhou and wait and see. If we stay in Jiangling and just wait to die, Shi Xie might defect to Liu Bei. At that time, once Liu Bei finishes his Northern Expedition and turns to the East, Guan Yu and his son will attack from the East again, and Shi Xie will lead his army north again. Then Jiangdong will really be finished."

To put it simply, the offensive was not aimed at recovering Jiangdong, but merely at diverting internal conflicts.

Sun Quan said bitterly, "I understand what you're saying, but where do we find the strength to launch an attack now?"

He still has over 100,000 troops under his command, and there are also provisions left by Guan Yu in Jiangling. He has plenty of soldiers and provisions, but his morale is low.

Therefore, Sun Quan urgently needs to recuperate and has no intention of taking the initiative to attack. However, what Lü Meng said is also true. If they do not attack Guan Yu and his son, Jiangdong will fall into internal strife. The fact that Yu Fan angered Lü Meng to this extent is the best proof of this.

Fighting is not an option, and not fighting is also not an option. Sun Quan tragically discovered that it seemed like nothing he did was right.

Lu Meng said, "We don't have to launch a full-scale attack, but we must make an offensive posture and choose the right target to attack."

"Don't attack Guan Yu for now. The Wei army will handle Guan Yu. We can just stand by and watch. While observing the situation, we should focus our attack on Guan Xing. Send a general with an army to Shexian County to attack Damo County. We should gradually advance and eliminate Guan Xing first. We must eliminate Guan Xing and not let him develop any further."

"After eliminating Guan Xing and recovering the Jinqu Basin, we will build warships and train the navy. Then we will advance by land and sea simultaneously to recover Wu County and force Guan Yu back to Jianye."

Lü Meng had been reflecting on the reasons for his defeat, and finally concluded that he should not have divided his troops.

If he hadn't ignored Guan Xing's all-out attack on Jianye City back then, he might have already taken it by now. Even if he hadn't, Guan Xing wouldn't have been able to develop so quickly.

You have to understand that Guan Xing's 40,000 to 50,000 troops were all sent by me. Without my help in sending troops and supplies, how could Guan Xing's few thousand rabble have stirred up such a big wave?

Similarly, if they had ignored Guan Yu and personally led a large army to attack Wushang and annihilate Guan Xing, and then turned back to attack Jianye, the situation might have been very different.

So Lü Meng originally planned to lead his army to Shexian after setting up the Chaisang defense line, to attack Guanxing and recover the Jinqu Basin, but who would have thought that bastard Yu would...

Now that he's past his prime, he has to hand things over to someone else.

Sun Quan nodded firmly and said, "I have remembered everything the Grand Commander said. I will definitely recapture Jinqu according to your plan and will not let Guan Xing, that little thief, run rampant again."

As if a weight had been lifted from his heart, Lü Meng turned and lay flat, shouting at the ceiling with all his might, "Guan Yu, you red-faced thief, I refuse to submit to you..."

After saying that, he coughed up a mouthful of hot blood, then his expression gradually became blank, his arms fell limply to his sides, and only his eyes were wide open, filled with resentment.

Lü Meng died, and died in such a miserable way.

When the news spread, Jiangling City was in an uproar. Everyone was stunned, especially Yu Fan, who was so frightened that he almost packed his things and ran away.

Lu Meng's death was caused by a variety of factors. First, he was already in poor health, and after years of fighting and wearing armor, he suffered repeated defeats in Jianye and was constantly hit hard. On the way back, he vomited blood several times, and then he was further agitated by Yu Fan...

In other words, Lü Meng's body was already riddled with holes, and Yu Fan could not be considered a murderer; at most, he was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The tragic thing is that while all the straws may break the camel's back, it is always the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

Regardless of how Lü Meng died, Yu Fan is determined to take the blame.