Battle of Xiling 西陵之戰

Bu Chan was the son of Bu Zhi and the younger brother of Bu Xie; carrying on the family's work, he became Area Commander of Xiling and received the additional title of General of Illustrious Martial Might. In the 8th month, in autumn, of the 1st year of Fenghuang (272), Sun Hao summoned Bu Chan, Area Commander of Xiling, but Bu Chan did not answer the summons, held the city and surrendered to Jin. The end of Bu Zhi's biography records that Bu Chan's family had been at Xiling for generations, and that when he was suddenly summoned to become Commander of the Curtain Guard, he believed he would lose his post and also feared the calamity of slander, so he sent Bu Xie's son Bu Ji and Bu Ji's younger brother Bu Xuan to Luoyang as hostages. Jin made Bu Chan Chief Controller of All Military Affairs at Xiling, General of the Guards and of ceremonial status equal to the Three Excellencies, and enfeoffed him as Duke of Yidu. Records, Wu 7 §87Records, Wu 3 §64

As soon as he heard the news, Lu Kang deployed his various armies that same day, sending the generals Zuo Yi, Wu Yan, Cai Gong and others straight to Xiling, and had strict siege lines built anew from Chixi to Gushi, to enclose Bu Chan on the inside and hold off the enemy on the outside. He drove the work on day and night, and his men suffered greatly. When his generals proposed attacking quickly before the Jin relief armies arrived, Lu Kang refused, saying that the city held a strong position, had ample grain, and that its defensive works had all been planned by himself earlier, so it could not be taken quickly, and that if the northern relief armies arrived they would be beset from inside and out. When Lei Tan, Administrator of Yidu, pleaded earnestly, Lu Kang allowed one assault to win his men over, which indeed gained nothing, and only then were the siege lines and defenses completed. Records, Wu 13 §70–72

When Yang Hu, General of Chariots and Cavalry for Jin, led his army toward Jiangling, the generals said that Lu Kang should not go west upriver. Lu Kang went to Xiling, saying that Jiangling's walls were strong and its troops ample, but that if Xiling became entangled with the enemy, the various Yi peoples of the southern mountains would all rise up. Earlier, Lu Kang had had Zhang Xian, Area Commander of Jiangling, build a great dam to hold back the water; when Yang Hu, intending to float boats on that water to carry grain, gave out that he would break the dam to let his infantry through, Lu Kang instead had Zhang Xian break the dam at once. Yang Hu, on reaching Dangyang, had to carry his grain by cart, wasting great expense and effort. Records, Wu 13 §72–73

Xu Yin, Army Supervisor of Badong for Jin, reached Jianping with a naval force, and Yang Zhao, Inspector of Jing Province, reached Xiling. Lu Kang had Zhang Xian hold Jiangling firmly, had Sun Zun (孫遵), Area Commander of Gong'an, hold off Yang Hu on the southern bank, and had Liu Lü, Commander of the Navy, and Zhu Wan, General Who Guards the West, resist Xu Yin, while he himself led the three armies and faced Yang Zhao from behind the siege lines. When the general Zhu Qiao and the camp commander Yu Zan deserted to Yang Zhao, Lu Kang, saying that Yu Zan knew his strengths and weaknesses, that night replaced the poorly trained Yi troops with veteran officers, and the next day, when Yang Zhao indeed attacked that spot, he rained arrows and stones on them, and Yang Zhao's army suffered casualty after casualty. Records, Wu 13 §74–75

After a month, when Yang Zhao, his plans exhausted, fled by night, Lu Kang, fearing Bu Chan would seize an opening, did not divide his forces but only had the drums beaten as if to pursue. Yang Zhao's men, terrified, threw off their armor and fled for their lives, and Lu Kang sent swift troops on their heels and routed them; Yang Hu and the others also all led their armies back. The end of Bu Zhi's biography records that when Sun Hao sent Lu Kang west, Yang Hu and the others fled and withdrew. Records, Wu 13 §75Records, Wu 7 §88

Lu Kang at last took the city of Xiling and executed Bu Chan's clan and his chief commanders and officials, and those below them for whom pardon was sought numbered tens of thousands. The Biographies of the Three Successor Rulers say that Bu Chan's followers all surrendered and that Bu Chan himself and the several dozen men who had plotted with him all had their three kindreds exterminated, and the end of Bu Zhi's biography records that the Bu clan was wiped out, with only Bu Xuan continuing the sacrifices. After repairing the city's encirclement, Lu Kang returned east to Lexiang; his face showed no pride and he remained as modest as ever, and so he won the hearts of his officers and men. In the 3rd month of spring the following year Lu Kang became Grand Marshal. Records, Wu 13 §76Records, Wu 3 §64–65Records, Wu 7 §88