Lu Zhao 路昭

In Chapter 21 of the Romance, news reaches Cao Cao that Yuan Shao has crushed Gongsun Zan and, having gained his troops, is at the height of his power, and that Yuan Shu, having handed over the imperial title to Yuan Shao, intends to abandon Huainan and go to Hebei. Xuande, grieving over Gongsun Zan's death, thinks to himself that if he does not find a plan to get away now, there will be no better time to wait for, and asks Cao Cao for a body of troops, saying that Yuan Shu will surely pass through Xu Province and that he will intercept and attack him on the way. The next day, after Xuande has seen the emperor and reported in person, Cao Cao gives Xuande overall command of 50,000 men and horses and has the two men Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao go along with him. Romance, Ch. 21 §24–26

Xuande gathers weapons, saddles and horses through the night, hangs the general's seal at his waist and sets out in haste, and Dong Cheng comes out as far as the pavilion ten li away to see him off. When Guan Yu and Zhang Fei ask why he is in such a hurry on this campaign, Xuande answers that he has been a bird in a cage and a fish in a net, and that this journey is like a fish entering the great sea and a bird soaring into the blue sky, and he orders Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to urge on the troops and horses of Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao to move quickly. Romance, Ch. 21 §27

Guo Jia and Cheng Yu remonstrate that giving Liu Bei troops is releasing a dragon into the sea and sending a tiger back to the mountains, and Cao Cao gives Xu Chu 500 soldiers to go after Xuande and bring him back. But Xuande, saying that when a general is in the field there are commands of the sovereign he does not accept, does not return, and Xu Chu goes back and reports what he said. When Cheng Yu and Guo Jia say that this shows his heart has changed, Cao Cao says that since his own men, the two Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao, are there, Xuande will not dare to turn against him, and asks how he could go back on it now that he has already sent him, and pursues him no further. Romance, Ch. 21 §28–32

When Yuan Shu gathers his men and horses and the articles for imperial use in the palace and comes toward Xu Province, Xuande goes out with 50,000 troops together with Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao. Zhang Fei spears the vanguard commander Ji Ling off his horse, and when Yuan Shu comes in person leading his troops, Xuande divides his army into three columns, placing Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao on the left and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei on the right, while he himself takes the centre. When Yuan Shu urges his troops forward in pursuit, Xuande falls back for a moment and lets the two columns on the left and right charge out, and Yuan Shu's army is so utterly routed that corpses cover the plain and the blood that flows forms ditches. Romance, Ch. 21 §34–36

Yuan Shu, having stopped at Jiangting, vomits blood and dies in the 6th month of the 4th year of Jian'an (199). Xuande writes a memorial reporting to the court and sends a letter to Cao Cao, then sends Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao back to Xudu and keeps the troops and horses to guard Xu Province. When the two return to Xudu and say that Xuande has kept the troops and horses, Cao Cao in his anger wants to have them beheaded, but when Xun Yu says that since authority had passed to Liu Bei the two could have done nothing about it, he pardons them. Xun Yu then proposes sending a letter to Che Zhou to have him plot against Xuande from within, and Lu Zhao's name does not appear again in the Romance after this. Romance, Ch. 21 §36–38 · 41–42