How did Lu Bu die? Who killed him

At the beginning of 199 AD, after three months of siege, Lu Bu gradually fell into a desperate situation.
At this critical moment, Hou Cheng, a general under Lu Bu’s command, openly rebelled out of resentment! After Hou Cheng rebelled, he directly tied up two key figures under Lu Bu’s command, Gao Shun and Chen Gong, and even allowed Cao Cao into the city.
In this way, the Xiapi City that Lu Bu relied on was directly occupied by Cao Cao. In the end, Lv Bu, with a few remnants, was trapped on the city tower of Xiapi City.
At this point, Lu Bu also understood in his heart that the tide had passed. Even if one is skilled in battle, they cannot turn the tide with just a city tower. So in the end, Lu Bu had to have someone tie him up and then go down to surrender.
For Lu Bu, he believed himself to be the most powerful general in the world, and now that he had personally surrendered from the city, Cao Cao should have left him a way out. However, at that time, Cao Cao had no intention of forgiving Lu Bu, but directly strangled him to death and then carried out the beheading.
As a result, this person, who had the strongest military power during the Three Kingdoms period, was ultimately killed by Cao Cao.
Most later generations are familiar with the cause of Lu Bu’s death. The story of “White Gate Tower” has been widely spread, which is why it is like this.
However, there are slight differences between the death of Lu Bu in official history and the plot in romantic novels. For example, when Cao Cao was considering whether to execute Lu Bu, it was actually a person named Wang Bi who spoke up, which prompted Cao Cao to make up his mind to kill Lu Bu.
So, what are the differences between the death of Lu Bu in official history and in romantic novels? Lu Bu, who dominated the world by force, occupied Xuzhou for only three years! Why was he quickly defeated by Cao Cao and died at his hands?
This story can start with the expulsion of Liu Bei by Lu Bu.
In 196 AD, Lu Bu had previously been accepted by Liu Bei as a person in exile. However, later on, Lu Bu took advantage of the battle between Liu Bei and Yuan Shu to launch a surprise attack on Liu Bei’s rear.
Afterwards, although Lu Bu pretended to let Liu Bei station troops in Xiaopei, he actually did so to stabilize the local gentry in Xuzhou with Liu Bei. So, just as Lu Bu gained some popularity and took control of Xuzhou, he quickly broke up with Liu Bei.
Later, Lu Bujing launched a direct attack and defeated Liu Bei in one fell swoop. After being defeated, Liu Bei reached a dead end and could only go to Xu County to seek refuge with Emperor Xian of Han. At that time, Emperor Xian of Han had already been held hostage by Cao Cao, and Cao Cao was quite pleased with Liu Bei’s arrival.
Later, Cao Cao not only did not make things difficult for Liu Bei, but also allocated some troops and horses to him, and submitted a memorial appointing Liu Bei as the governor of Yuzhou. Afterwards, Liu Bei returned to Xiaopei with the troops and horses provided by Cao Cao, and then confronted Lu Bu.
It was in such a historical environment that Lu Bu embarked on his’ Xuzhou Journey ‘.
Contrary to many people’s beliefs, after expelling Liu Bei, the territory occupied by Lu Bu was actually not very vast, and he did not include the entire Xuzhou at all! He can only control the two counties of Pengcheng and Xiapi.
This does not mean that Lu Bu lacked abilities, but at that time Liu Bei could only control these two counties.
When Tao Qian was still alive, although he was known as the ruler of Xuzhou, he was actually unable to control the entire city. Xuzhou had a total of seven prefectures, and when Tao Qian passed away, Liu Bei only took over Pengcheng and Xiapi from him.
And some of the other five counties were occupied by local governors, just like Donghai County; Some were taken advantage of by Yuan Shu and directly occupied as their own, such as Guangling Commandery.
After gaining an understanding of these, we can now comprehend how Lu Bu gradually approached his downfall.
After driving Liu Bei away, Lu Bu effectively eliminated an extremely powerful opponent for himself! You should know that if Liu Bei is allowed to stay in Xiaopei all the time, the aristocrats in Xuzhou will always have a second choice, which will make Lu Bu’s own position unstable.
Subsequently, Lu Bu, who drove Liu Bei away, still couldn’t rest assured.
Soon after, he encountered another huge challenge.
At the beginning of 197 AD, Yuan Shu unexpectedly declared himself emperor!
In theory, the event of Yuan Shu proclaiming himself emperor has nothing to do with Lu Bu. Surprisingly, after Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, he quickly sent people to Lu Bu’s place, hoping to form a marriage alliance with him!
L ü Bu could naturally perceive that this was Yuan Shu trying to win him over and use him as a shield. After all, after Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, he theoretically offended everyone. If Lu Bu were to marry Yuan Shu, he would become a barrier for Yuan Shu in the north, thus relieving him of a lot of pressure.
But the question is, why do you act like this?
At the beginning, Lv Bu was extremely moved by the conditions given by Yuan Shu. However, many of Lu Bu’s subordinates later advised him not to act in such a way and not to collude with Yuan Shu, in order to avoid becoming a target of attacks from the crowd. Among them, Chen Deng’s father Chen Gui strongly advised Lu Bu, stating many drawbacks that would arise from the alliance with Yuan Shu. Moreover, Chen Gui strongly urged Lu Bu to work hand in hand with Cao Cao.
In the end, Lu Bu had to abandon Yuan Shu. Previously, Lu Bu had already sent his daughter to Yuan Shu’s side. After making this decision, Lu Bu could only send someone to bring his daughter back and escort Yuan Shu’s envoy to Xu County, where he beheaded her on the street.
On this point, many people in later generations believe that this reflects Lu Bu’s lack of independent thinking. However, if we stand from Lu Bu’s perspective, perhaps we can also understand his difficulties.
At that time, Lu Bu had only been stationed in Xuzhou for a short period of time and his foundation was not yet stable. All the aristocrats under him opposed his alliance with Yuan Shu. If he insists on choosing Yuan Shu at this time, it will only lead to all his subordinates opposing him, making it difficult for Lu Bu to control Xuzhou.
Indeed, from the perspective of future generations, Lu Bu’s choice seems to have a meaning of “either black or white”. In fact, under the circumstances at that time, he didn’t have to make a choice. At that time, Lu Bu was completely able to watch the fire from afar, seek benefits in the chaos, and expand his territory by taking advantage of the chaotic situation.
Unfortunately, in terms of Lu Bu’s level of political maneuvering, he may not have even considered this situation.
Next, since Lu Bu had temporarily surrendered to Cao Cao, he resolutely sent someone to Xuchang as an envoy. The person sent by Lu Bu to Xu County at that time was his important general, Chen Deng.
However, Lu Bu never expected that Chen Deng had just arrived in Xu County and immediately betrayed him.
The Chen Deng family was originally a typical representative of the Xuzhou gentry, and their family was located in Xiapi County. Previously, Chen Deng was conscripted by Tao Qian and served as the Colonel of Diannong under Tao Qian’s command. After Tao Qian’s death, it was precisely Chen Deng who stood up and advocated for Liu Bei to be elected as the new ruler of Xuzhou.
After Lu Bu attacked, although Chen Deng did not firmly follow Liu Bei, he was not willing to submit to Lu Bu. In this way, now that Chen Deng has the opportunity to meet Cao Cao, he must betray Lu Bu.
In this way, Cao Cao and Chen Deng immediately reached a tacit understanding. In the end, Chen Deng agreed to serve as an insider for Cao Cao. And Cao Cao, in return, appointed Chen Deng as the governor of Guangling in the name of the emperor.
In this way, after Chen Deng returned to Xuzhou, Lu Bu was actually confused!
He had originally planned to take advantage of this opportunity to have Chen Deng seek the formal appointment of “Xuzhou Governor” from Emperor Xian of Han on his behalf. After receiving this appointment, he will be able to legally take over several other counties in Xuzhou. However, to his surprise, in the end, under the planning of Chen Deng and Cao Cao, Chen Deng only sought the position of General Pingdong for him. It was Chen Deng himself who became the governor of Guangling.
But at this point, Lu Bu couldn’t refuse at all. You should know that at that time, Guangling Commandery was not under the control of Lu Bu, but within the sphere of influence of Yuan Shu. If we can take over Guangling with the help of Chen Deng, it is equivalent to indirectly expanding our territory.
However, before Lu Bu could react, new troubles came knocking on his door.
Upon learning of Lu Bu’s refusal to marry, Yuan Shu immediately became furious. Not long after, Yuan Shu dispatched seven armies to attack Lu Bu together.
When Yuan Shu came to attack, Lu Bu was initially in chaos. However, not long after, the Chen father and son, who were undercover agents, began planning for Lu Bu again. This time, it was Chen Gui, the father, who provided advice and suggestions.
At that time, Chen Gui advised Lu Bu that the seven armies sent by Yuan Shu seemed quite powerful at first glance, but many of these seven armies were hastily assembled. And among those generals who led troops, there were several who surrendered to Yuan Shu not long ago, so there was no loyalty at all.
If that’s the case, why don’t we write to them and provoke a rift between them?
In this way, this plan was proposed by Mr. Chen, and it is estimated that the execution will be the responsibility of both father and son. Anyway, in the end, under their persuasion and rebellion, many of Yuan Shu’s seven armies did indeed rebel directly. Afterwards, they joined forces with Lu Bu and attacked Yuan Shu in turn.
In the end, Lu Bu achieved a huge victory, while Yuan Shu suffered a disastrous defeat and returned home.
In the context of Yuan Shu’s story, this failure holds extremely crucial significance. At that time, Yuan Shu had just declared himself emperor and sent seven armies to conquer Lu Bu, but ultimately suffered a devastating defeat. So, this war made everyone immediately see the true situation of Yuan Shu, and then began to besiege him, leading to his rapid defeat.
Leaving aside the matter with Yuan Shu for now, let’s talk about Lu Bu’s side.
After Yuan Shu was repelled, the Guangling County he had previously controlled became a new territory of Lu Bu. However, previously Chen Deng went to Xuchang and obtained the position of Guangling Prefect. Moreover, the Chen family is a powerful force in Xuzhou and holds significant influence locally, which forces Lu Bu to make concessions.
So in the end, Lv Bu could only watch Chen Gong go to Xuchang for a while, seeking a position as the governor of Guangling for himself, and then openly went to Guangling to take office.
Later, Chen Gong arrived in Guangling and began recruiting soldiers, expanding military forces, and developing production locally. In this case, although Lu Bu seems to have temporarily occupied Guangling County, in fact, he has planted a huge hidden danger behind him.
In this way, Lv Bu and Yuan Shu sacrificed their lives and fought fiercely, but ultimately let Chen Deng reap the benefits.
Anyway, at least in name, Lu Bu had captured another county at this time, which undoubtedly greatly boosted his confidence. So subsequently, Lu Bu began to set his sights on the other counties within Xuzhou, intending to continue expanding his territory.
And Lu Bu’s first attraction was Langya Commandery.
At that time, in Langya County, Langya Prime Minister Xiao Jian was in charge of affairs. This person’s combat ability is not outstanding, and there are no powerful generals under his command. So not long after, Lu Bu wrote a letter to Xiao Jian, implying that if he didn’t surrender, he would immediately lead his army to attack.
In this situation, Xiao Jian naturally dared not go against Lu Bu’s wishes and had to choose to surrender.
However, surrender is one situation, while takeover is another. At this time, Lu Bu had been in Xuzhou for less than two years. Most of the personnel he can hire are local aristocrats from Xuzhou, and there are not many confidants.
In this case, even if Xiao Jian surrenders, Lu Bu cannot send his trusted aides to directly take over Langya County. So in the end, the flag of Langya County was just changed, and the people managing affairs below were still the same group of people as before.
However, even so, for Lu Bu, this is still a remarkable achievement. By this time, Lu Bu had already taken control of four counties in Xuzhou.
Shortly thereafter, Zang Ba from Donghai Commandery led his army to attack Xiao Jian. Zang Ba was also a former general of Tao Qian and had significant influence in the Donghai Commandery area. After Zangba launched an attack, Lv Bu naturally did not sit idly by and quickly led troops to counterattack.
When Lv Bu arrived, Zang Ba dared not confront him head-on, relying only on defending the city. So, after a round of confrontation, both sides knew that the other was difficult to deal with. In the end, both sides had no choice but to negotiate peace. Lv Bu recognized Zang Ba’s ruling power in the local area, and Zang Ba also pledged allegiance to Lv Bu in name.
At this point, Lu Bu once again took control of Donghai County in name.
The consecutive victories almost blinded Lu Bu’s mind. At that time, Lu Bu was about to take control of the entire Xuzhou. Afterwards, Lu Bu once again turned his gaze to the neighboring Yuzhou.
To be precise, he actually sought refuge with Liu Bei.
Before the battle of Xiaopei, Liu Bei had already been scattered by Lu Bu. Later, Liu Bei went to Xu County for a while and obtained a large army from Cao Cao. Then he turned back to Xu County. Lu Bu had already reached a peace agreement with Cao Cao before this and was fully focused on attacking Xuzhou, so he could not launch another attack on Liu Bei.
However, time has passed, and at this moment, Lu Bu believes that his internal problems have been resolved. In this way, he naturally had to challenge Liu Bei again.
There is a record in “Heroes” that this time, the conflict between Liu Bei and Lu Bu was caused by a horse buying incident.
At that time, Lu Bu wanted to form cavalry, so he sent people to Hanoi County with a large amount of money to buy horses. However, the people sent by Lu Bu must pass through Liu Bei’s territory. After learning about this, Liu Bei did not hesitate to send someone to directly seize Lv Bu’s money, attempting to retaliate against the previous enmity.
For this situation, Lu Bu naturally cannot tolerate it. So, in 198 AD, Lu Bu once again formed an alliance with Yuan Shu and launched a fierce attack on Liu Bei.
After being attacked by Lu Bu, Liu Bei suffered another devastating defeat not long after. At that time, although Cao Cao’s side quickly dispatched Xiahou Dun to provide support. However, in the end, even with Xiahou Dun joining in, they could not defeat Lu Bu together. In the end, Peicheng was easily breached, and Liu Bei’s wife and children were also captured by Lu Bu.
Liu Bei’s defeat this time undoubtedly greatly touched many people within Xuzhou. Many people originally believed that Liu Bei would eventually return. After experiencing this defeat, everyone realized that Lu Bu was really skilled in battle. So not long after, some generals like Zang Ba began to proactively send people to befriend Lu Bu and gradually show their allegiance to him.
At this point, Lu Bu could be said to have reached the pinnacle of his life. He has almost taken control of the entire city of Xuzhou.
However, what was unexpected was that after reaching the peak, it was immediately followed by decline and decay.
Through the previous expansion process, we can realize that Lu Bu can only control the two counties of Xiapi and Pengcheng. Among these two, Pengcheng was slaughtered by Cao Cao several years ago and had a relatively small population. And most of the other counties were dependent on Lu Bu, who couldn’t even command them. Moreover, there are people like Chen Deng who are ready to stab Lu Bu in the back at any time.
So, after reaching the peak, Lu Bu quickly ushered in a turning point in his life.
This year, Liu Bei was expelled by Lu Bu. In September, Cao Cao led his army to attack.
After learning that Cao Cao was about to attack, Chen Deng led Guangling Commandery to openly rebel and even marched towards Xiapi where Lu Bu was located. At the same time, the generals led by Zang Ba also decided to hold their ground and were unwilling to send troops to assist Lu Bu.
In this way, only Pengcheng and Xiapi counties are left for Lu Bu to allocate and use.
Coincidentally, in front of Cao Cao, Pengcheng County was unable to hold on for even one turn. Before long, Cao Cao led a large army to the outskirts of the city and executed Hou Xie, the prime minister of Pengcheng established by Lu Bu.
At the same time, due to the sudden rebellion of Guangling County controlled by Chen Deng, Lu Bu was in a situation of being attacked from both sides and had no way to send troops to stop Cao Cao.
So not long after, Cao Cao joined forces with Chen Deng, Liu Bei, and others in Xiapi. However, in order to defend, Lu Bu had to shrink all his troops back into the city of Xiapi Commandery.
In just over a month, Lu Bu went from controlling most of Xuzhou to only having one Xiapi City left.
Until this moment, Lv Bu still couldn’t figure out how he had fallen into decline. It is obvious that it is even more difficult for Lu Bu to repel Cao Cao than to ascend to the sky.
Subsequently, Lu Bu began to seek assistance from his allies. Although Lu Bu’s popularity is relatively average, there are still two people willing to send troops to help him in this situation.
One person was Yuan Shu, who was also in poor condition at that time. However, according to the principle of mutual dependence and coldness, he still sent troops. However, in the end, due to the limited number of reinforcements sent by Yuan Shu and the obstruction of Cao Cao, Yuan Shu’s reinforcements were unable to reach the battlefield in Xiapi at all.
Another person who came to reinforce is Zhang Yang, an old friend of Lu Bu. Zhang Yang and Lv Bu used to serve as generals under Ding Yuan’s command, and their friendship was also quite good. In this way, as Lu Bu was about to face the brink of destruction, Zhang Yang also planned to lend a helping hand. The trouble is that Zhang Yang’s sphere of influence is in Hanoi County, and in this situation, it’s like a distant water cannot save a nearby fire. Even if Zhang Yang sends troops, they can only reach Dongshi and disperse a part of Cao Cao’s forces.
However, it is clear that none of this can alleviate the pressure that Lu Bu is under.
And then, what made Lu Bu even more upset was Cao Cao’s siege tactics.
Lu Bu defended himself and did not go out to meet the enemy. Cao Cao knew in his heart that if he forcefully attacked, he would definitely not be able to capture it. So Cao Cao immediately changed his strategy. He ordered people to dig the Sishui and Yishui rivers, causing them to breach their banks and flood the city of Pi!
In the face of such great power, even if Lu Bu is extremely skilled in battle, there is nothing he can do. At this moment, another horse loss incident occurred within the Lu Bu Group!
In short, at that time, there was a general under Lu Bu’s command named Hou Cheng. During the previous battle, Hou Cheng’s horse was lost, but it was later regained. To celebrate finding his beloved horse, Hou Cheng invited a few friends to have a delicious meal. Moreover, Hou Cheng did not forget Lu Bu and immediately went to offer him wine and meat.
Anyone can tell that this is nothing more than “pleasure in hardship” when trapped.
However, unexpectedly, upon learning of this matter, Lu Bu immediately became furious. Lu Bu felt that these generals under his command might be looking for an opportunity to assassinate him.
So, Lu Bu also scolded Hou Cheng severely.
Speaking of Hou Cheng’s side, they were already trapped in Xiapi and living a very difficult life. Now that I have been scolded by Lu Bu again, my heart must be even more uneasy. So in the end, Hou Cheng decided to find a few friends, but unexpectedly betrayed them!
Subsequently, they bound Gao Shun, the most capable under Lu Bu’s command, with Chen Gong and opened the city gates, allowing Cao Cao to enter the city.
The generals under his command suddenly betrayed, and Lv Bu had no choice. Fortunately, Lu Bu stayed above the city gate at that time and was not captured by Hou Cheng and others.
However, at this point, Lu Bu was left with only this city tower, having long lost the ability to turn the situation around.
So, seeing that the situation was hopeless, Lu Bu ordered his soldiers to chop off his head and surrender to Cao Cao. But the soldiers around couldn’t bear it, so in the end they tied up Lu Bu and surrendered to Cao Cao.
Next, we come to the classic ‘murder’ segment.
After Lu Bu was captured, he calmly said to Cao Cao, “I was extremely lenient towards the generals under my command, but they suddenly betrayed me together
At this moment, Cao Cao responded, “You have an improper relationship with the wives of your subordinates behind your back, how can this be called kindness
Therefore, the real existence of Lu Bu in history is actually not much better in terms of his character.
Subsequently, there was a disagreement among the people on how to handle the matter of Lu Bu. Some people believe that Lu Bu’s military power is unparalleled in the world. If he can make Lu Bu surrender, Cao Cao will quickly pacify the world like a fierce tiger adding wings in the future. However, some people also believe that Lu Bu is just a brave but unprincipled person, untrustworthy, and goes against morality. Cao Cao is not worth surrendering him.
At this critical moment, Liu Bei spoke up: “No, didn’t you see how Lu Bu treated Ding Jianyang and Dong Taishi
At almost the same moment as Liu Bei spoke, Wang Bi, the chief clerk under Cao Cao’s tent, also spoke up: “Lu Bu is a formidable enemy. His troops are not far from the city and cannot be lightly spared
It was precisely these two sentences that led Lu Bu to a dead end.
Recalling the fate of Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo in the past, and seeing that the army outside the city had already surrendered, Cao Cao had no intention of surrendering.
So in the end, Cao Cao issued an order to strangle Lu Bu to death and then behead him for public display.
This is Lu Bu in historical records, his ultimate destination.