Lu Xun (Part2)

When Liu Bei found out that Jing Province had been taken and Guan Yu has been slain, he immediately led an army of 100,000 to attack Eastern Wu.Lu Xun established several forts and reinforced the existing citadels instead of directly contesting Liu Bei's advance. Although this strategy sacrificed territory, it gained him critical time to organize and transport the Wu troops. The critical points thus established also served to tie down enemy troops and disrupt enemy supply routes.
Few generals were happy with the choice of Lu Xun as supreme commander; many were hardened veterans from the days of Sun Jian, whereas Lu Xun was someone new and something of an unknown (Lü Meng had received most of the credit for the capture of Jing province). They wished to attack Liu Bei while his troops were presumably exhausted from the march. Lu Xun denied them, stating that he discerned that Liu Bei had planned for that, and open battle would be too risky. Liu Bei then sent some forces forward to lure the Wu army into an ambush; the generals wanted to fight, but Lu Xun, predicting an ambush, once again denied them.
After several months of inactivity, Lu Xun suddenly struck, first tricking the Shu commanders with a mock attack on one of their camps, then ordering his troops to move forward with torches and set fire to all the other camps of Liu Bei's army. This was followed by a devastating attack from three sides by all of the Wu forces, and Liu Bei's army was utterly destroyed. Then the officers of Wu henceforth did not criticised Lu Xun, as they knew Lu Xun produced only winning strategies.