| NAME | |
|---|---|
| Chinese Name | 吕霸, 呂霸, Lǚ Bà |
| Nickname | Heir of Lü Meng; successor to the Jing marquisate |
| Other name | Lã Bá |
| INFORMATION | |
| Birth Place | Fupo, Runan (Southeast of Funan County, Anhui) |
| Death Reason | Unrecorded after succeeding Lü Meng in 219/220 |
| FAMILY | |
| Father | |
| Relatives | |
| CAREER | |
| Allegiance | Eastern Wu |
| Battles | Not a recorded combatant. Chapter 77 is Lü Meng’s Jing campaign and death; Lü Ba inherits after the fighting. |
Biography & Historical Record
Lü Ba (吕霸, Lã Bá) was the son and heir of Lu Meng (吕蒙, Lã Mông), courtesy name Ziming (子明, Tử Minh), the Wu general who took Jing Province from Guan Yu (关羽, Quan Vũ) in 219 and died the same winter. Chen Shou’s biography of Lü Meng in Sanguozhi 54 (Wu 9) closes with a single family line: “His son Ba succeeded; three hundred households were assigned to guard the tomb, and fifty qing of fields were restored.” That is the whole historical career. Lü Ba did not command a named campaign, hold a recorded courtesy name, or leave a memorial. He exists in the record as the man who inherited Lü Meng’s marquisate after Sun Quan (孙权, Tôn Quyền) buried the conqueror of Jing with extraordinary honours.
Chapter 77 of the novel is Guan Yu’s capture and death and Lü Meng’s own sudden illness and death after the triumph. Sun Quan weeps, rewards the Jing officers, and the narrative moves on to the mourning for Guan Yu and the coming revenge of Liu Bei. The son is not given a speaking scene; the histories, not the novel, name him. This page therefore treats Chapter 77 as the literary death of the father and the moment the heir’s succession becomes possible, and keeps Lü Ba distinct from other Lü officers (Lü Fan’s line, Lü Dai, the notorious Wu slanderer Lü Yi 吕壹, and Shu’s Lü Yi 吕乂 on /lu-yi-2/).
Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Chapter 77 (Guan Yu’s bones return to Jade Spring; Lü Meng’s soul haunts Sun Quan — titles vary by edition): After Lü Meng’s white-clothed crossing, the fall of the Jing cities, and Guan Yu’s capture at Maicheng, Sun Quan has Guan Yu killed (or, in some tellings, fails to keep him alive). Lü Meng then collapses at the victory banquet — the novel’s famous possession / illness scene — and dies. Sun Quan personally mourns, orders a rich burial, and settles the Jing administration (Lu Xun, Zhu Ran, and the rest). The chapter does not bring Lü Ba on stage. The historical sequel sits just off the page: the son inherits, tomb-households are assigned, and the Lü house of Fupo remains a titled Wu family because Sun Quan chose to honour the dead commander rather than absorb the fief.
Lü Ba (吕霸) — Historical & Literary Timeline
to 219 AD
Son of the Jing campaign
Lives as Lü Meng’s heir while his father serves Sun Quan, takes Ruxu and Jiangling in earlier years, then executes the 219 crossing that isolates Guan Yu. No separate command is recorded for the son.
219–220 / Chapter 77
Father dies; succession
Novel: Lü Meng dies after the Jing victory. History: son Ba succeeds to the marquisate; Sun Quan assigns three hundred tomb-households and fifty qing of land. This is Lü Ba’s only dated act in Chen Shou.
Wu thereafter
No further notice
Chen Shou does not follow Lü Ba into later Wu wars (Yiling, Shiting, the later palace struggles). Later genealogies sometimes mention other Lü descendants; they are not this page’s subject.
His only official notice is the closing line of Lü Meng’s biography.
Key Relationships
Family
- Father Lu Meng (吕蒙, Lã Mông), courtesy Ziming, from Fupo in Runan (southeast of present Funan, Anhui). Conqueror of Jing in 219; died the same winter. Lü Ba’s entire historical identity is “the son who succeeded.”
- No mother, spouse, or children named in Sanguozhi 54. Do not invent a novel wife to fill the box.
Friends
- Sun Quan (孙权, Tôn Quyền): Patron who buried Lü Meng with high honours and allowed the son to inherit. The relationship is institutional — lord to a dead general’s heir — not a sworn friendship shown on the page.
Enemies
- None personal. The enemies of the house are his father’s: Guan Yu (关羽, Quan Vũ) in 219, and Shu’s later revenge under Liu Bei at Yiling. Lü Ba is not named in those battles.
Other
- Lu Xun (陆逊, Lục Tốn) and the Jing settlement officers of Chapter 77: they take the living commands Lü Meng leaves behind; Lü Ba takes the dead man’s title, not the field army.
- Do not confuse with Lü Yi (吕乂, Lã Nghệ) of Shu on
/lu-yi-2/, with Wu’s slanderer Lü Yi (吕壹), or with Lu Yi (陆纡) on/lu-yi/. - Birthplace in the stub (Fupo, Runan) is the father’s seat; treat it as the family place, not a proven birth village for the son.
In Novel
Chapter 77
- Lü Ba (吕霸, Lã Bá) is not given a speaking part. The chapter is his father’s last: Lü Meng (吕蒙, Lã Mông) takes Jing, Guan Yu (关羽, Quan Vũ) is captured and killed, Lü Meng collapses at Sun Quan’s (孙权, Tôn Quyền) feast and dies. Sun Quan mourns and rewards the Jing officers. The historical son who inherits the marquisate stands just outside that scene — named by Chen Shou, not by Luo Guanzhong.
In History
Summary
- Lü Ba (吕霸, Lã Bá) was the son of Lü Meng (吕蒙, Lã Mông) of Fupo, Runan. After Lü Meng’s death in 219/220 he succeeded to the marquisate. Sun Quan assigned three hundred households to guard the tomb and restored fifty qing of fields. No courtesy name, office list, or later campaign is attached to the son in Chen Shou.
Year: 219–220 AD
- Jing Province falls; Guan Yu dies; Lü Meng dies. Succession formula in Sanguozhi 54: 子霸嗣，与守冢三百家，复田五十顷.
Historical Record
- Sanguozhi 54 (吴书九 — Lü Meng). Pei Songzhi does not add a separate career for the son. The novel’s Chapter 77 is the father’s death-scene, not a biography of Lü Ba.
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