Lü Fan
| Lü Fan | |
|---|---|
| Official of Sun Quan | |
| Born | (Unknown) |
| Died | 228 |
| Names | |
| Traditional Chinese | 呂範 |
| Simplified Chinese | 吕范 |
| Pinyin | Lǚ Fàn |
| Wade–Giles | Lü Fan |
| Courtesy name | Ziheng (Chinese: 子衡; pinyin: Zǐhéng; Wade–Giles: Tzu-heng) |
Lü Fan (died 228), courtesy name Ziheng, was an official serving under the warlord Sun Quan in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period.
Lü Fan was from Runan Commandery in Yang Province. He was married to a woman of the Liu clan. He first served Yuan Shu, but later changed allegiance to Sun Ce. He was integral to the military progress of Wu and contributed much to the state's welfare until his death in 228.
Lü Fan began his career as a minor official in the service of Yuan Shu. It was there that he met Sun Ce, one of Yuan Shu's young generals. They became close friends, and Lü Fan participated in all of Sun Ce's battles under Yuan Shu from then on.
It is said that Lü Fan recommended himself through a game of weiqi - Sun Ce made a bad opening move, and Lü Fan capitalized upon it, pointing out Sun's mistake. Sun Ce was suitably impressed and offered Lü Fan a post. Rather than accept a high and lofty position, however, Lü Fan insisted upon remaining in a low and humble one where he could more effectively manage troops. This also impressed Sun Ce, and the two became inseparable. The game of weiqi in question, called the "Sun-Lü Game", is purported to be the first weiqi game to be recorded move for move, but many scholars doubt its authenticity. After this, Lü Fan was appointed as Chief Controller.
At one point during the beginning of Sun Ce's career, Lü Fan was sent to fetch Sun's family from Guangling to Qu'e. The governor of Xu Province, Tao Qian, despised Sun Ce and sought to imprison Lü Fan as a spy and torture him, but some retainers freed him, and he was able to successfully rescue Sun Ce's family. Lü Fan became so trusted by Sun Ce that he was treated the same as a member of Sun's own family, given food and drink before Sun's own mother, Lady Wu.
Lü Fan was third only to Cheng Pu and Xu Kun in terms of merits, following Sun Ce in every battle. His unit defeated and killed Yan Baihu's subordinate, Chen Mu. However, Lü Fan was concerned about the quality of Sun Ce’s army. He feared that though their force had grown, it comprised mostly untrained rabble with just a few veterans supporting them. Lü Fan believed that such an army could achieve limited success at best. As such, he requested that Sun Ce transfer him to his personal staff and make him the marshal of his forces. Though this title eventually came to hold a great deal of authority in Wei, at the time a marshal was just a minor staff officer responsible for training and drilling the troops. As such, this was a demotion for Lü Fan, and Sun Ce tried to talk him out of it. Lü Fan’s mind was made up, though, and he eventually persuaded Sun Ce of the importance of his request.
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