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As we all know, Guan Yu (關羽) is generally respected as the epitome of loyalty and righteousness. But his eventual failure was equally famous. For those who are not familiar with Chinese history, early after Liu Bei (劉備) took charge of Chengdu (成都), Guan was responsible for the defence of the Jing province (荊州).
It was a time of frequent battles. In 219 AD, Guan led most of his troop to Fancheng (樊城) - in a campaign against Wei (魏) - leaving Jing province to two of his subordinates. Lü Meng (呂蒙), the general of Wu (吳), took the opportunity and captured the whole province by the famous tactic subsequently known as crossing the river in civilian clothes (白衣渡江).
Hearing that Jing Province had fallen into Lü's control, Guan ordered a retreat from Fancheng and advanced southwards. What's not described in detail by Luo Guanzhong (羅貫中) - and even Chen Shou (陳壽) - is that Guan knew very well his troop was melting away (because of an excellent tactic of Lü, which we may discuss later) and could not possibly retake the Jing Province by force.
As a result, Guan sent a handful of messengers to Lü for negotiation - with an aim to take back the control of part of the Jing province.
Of course Lü made good use of Guan's people but had no intention for an agreement - Guan didn't even have the ability to back up the negotiation.
I believe the lesson is obvious.
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