Summary: While Guan Yu is busy fighting Cao Cao’s forces, Lü Meng and Dongwu try to catch him unawares.<br> <br> * <a href="http://www.3kingdomspodcast.com/2016/11/21/episode-096-sneak-attacks/#transcript">Transcript</a><br> * <a href="http://www.3kingdomspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ep_096.png">Map of Key Locations</a><br> * <a href="https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1Ah2jC86dBy1m4eVDa6SH09Ky-9JZ7JU11-vZ05EB">Graph of Key Characters and Relationships</a><br> <br> <br> <a id="transcript"></a>Transcript<br> <a href="http://www.3kingdomspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/3kingdoms096.pdf">PDF version</a><br> Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 96.<br> Last time, Guan Yu was riding high after he crushed the army that Cao Cao had sent to try to stop his attack on the city of Fancheng. But while he was concentrating on laying siege to the city, the Dongwu forces were planning a sneak attack on his home base of Jing Province. <br> Now, Guan Yu was on guard against Dongwu because the veteran Dongwu general Lü Meng was overseeing the forces garrisoned the key location of Lukou (4,3). To lure Guan Yu into complacency, Dongwu replaced Lü Meng with the crafty but relatively unknown Lu (4) Xun (4). As soon as Lu Xun took over command of the forces at Lukou (4,3), he sent an envoy to pay his respects to Guan Yu. <br> At this moment, Guan Yu was still recovering from an arrow wound, so his army was not on the move yet. One day, he got word that Lü Meng was deathly ill and that Sun Quan had appointed Lu Xun to take his place, and that an envoy from Lu Xun was there to see him. <br> Guan Yu summoned the envoy, pointed at him, and said, “Your lord Sun Quan is foolish to appoint a boy as general,” which yeah, is not really the most diplomatic thing to say. <br> The envoy kneeled and replied, “General Lu (4) sent me to deliver a letter and gifts to congratulate you and to ensure good relations between us. We hope you will accept them.”<br> Guan Yu perused the letter and found it filled with self-deprecation and reverence. Guan Yu looked up and laughed, and then he told his men to accept the gifts and sent the envoy on his way. The envoy reported back to Lu Xun that Guan Yu was delighted and appeared to no longer have any concerns about Dongwu.<br> Now it was Lu Xun’s turn to be delighted. He dispatched spies, who reported back that Guan Yu, as expected, had redeployed most of the troops that were guarding Jing Province and moved them to Fancheng to help with the siege on that city. As soon as his arrow wound healed, he was going to attack Fancheng. Lu Xun immediately relayed this intel to Sun Quan, who talked it over with Lü Meng.<br> “Guan Yu has redeployed the troops of Jing Province to attack Fancheng; we can now devise a plan to take Jing Province,” Sun Quan said. “What do you think about leading a large army with my brother Sun Jiao (3) for this mission?”<br> “My lord,” Lü Meng said, “if you want to send me, then send me alone. If you want to send your brother, then send him alone. Do you not know that back when Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu were co-commanders, even though Zhou Yu had the final say on everything, Cheng Pu was not happy because he was a veteran officer and yet found himself beneath Zhou Yu. It was only later when he witnessed Zhou Yu’s talent that he came to respect him. My talents are not the equal of Zhou Yu, and your brother is closer to you than Cheng Pu was. I worry that the two of us would not be able to work together.”<br> <br> Hearing this, Sun Quan came to his senses and appointed Lü Meng and Lü Meng alone as the grand commander and put him in charge of all the troops of the Southlands. So yeah, that was a pretty nifty piece of politicking by Lü Meng. Sun Quan’s brother Sun Jiao (3) was relegated to the rear, overseeing the provisions. <br> Lü Meng took his leave and departed with 30,
