Zhu Ran Zhu Ran ( 182 – 249 ) , Yifeng , birth name Shi Ran , was a military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period . Despite being a childhood friend of Wu ' s founding emperor , Sun Quan , he was never tasked with important position nor assignment before Lü Meng ' s invasion of southern Jing Province in 219 , wherein he assisted in capturing the enemy commander Guan Yu . Following the Battle of Xiaoting , Wu ' s rival state , Cao Wei , launched a three - pronged strike on Wu ' s northwestern , middle , and eastern borders . Zhu Ran was sent to the northwestern border , where he defended the city of Jiangling with only 5 , 000 troops against an enemy force about ten times greater . He rose to fame and became feared throughout Wei . He then participated in a series of military operations against Wei , during which he defeated several enemy units , but the overall objectives had never been met . Before his death , Zhu Ran was granted authority to oversee matters within the army . Early life . Originally from Guzhang ( 故鄣 ) , Danyang ( present - dau Anji County , Huzhou ) , Zhu Ran was a nephew of Sun Ce ' s veteran general , Zhu Zhi , who had a liking to the 13 - year - old Zhu Ran and asked Sun to grant him permission to adopt the child . Since Zhu Zhi had contributed considerably to Sun Ce ' s pacification of Jiangdong and had not bore a son , Sun specifically ordered the Governor of Danyang to bring presents to Zhu Ran ' s family for the ceremony and celebration . Thus , Zhu Ran became an adopted son of Zhu Zhi and had his family name changed from " Shi " to " Zhu " . In addition , he studied together with Sun Ce ' s younger brother , Sun Quan , as a young boy , and the two became very intimate . Because of this , after Sun Ce died and was succeeded by Sun Quan , Zhu Ran was made a Prefect of Yuyao ( 余姚 ) at the mere age of 19 . Zhu Ran was later appointed as chief of Shanyin ( 山陰 ) , acting on authority of a captain , to oversee five local counties around the area . Pleased with his abilities , Sun Ce further promoted him to be the Administrator of Linchuan ( 臨川 ) , and gave him command over 2 , 000 soldiers . Capture of Guan Yu . During his tenure as an administrator , Zhu Ran had the merit of subjugating the Shanyue ethnic group within his jurisdiction , and was able to do so in less than a month . However , when the hegemonic warlord , Cao Cao led his massive army to invade the Wu area , Zhu Ran stayed in the back just as most other officials at the time did ; and was not assigned significant tasks for some time until the Battle of Ruxukou , where he proved his loyalty in personally going to the frontline to help resist Cao ' s 400 , 000 strong army . Although Zhu Ran did not engage the enemy in this battle , he was promoted by Sun Quan to be a Major General , as a way to reaffirm his trust in Zhu . In 219 , Zhu Ran participated in Lü Meng ' s Jing Province campaign as Lü ' s aide . When the enemy commander , Guan Yu , was abandoned by his troops and trapped in Maicheng , Zhu Ran was ordered by Lü Meng to lay the first line of blockades to Guan ' s escape . However , for reason unknown , Zhu Ran let Guan Yu slip by , and Pan Zhang , who was responsible for the second layer , succeeded in capturing Guan alive . Regardless , Sun Quan credited both Pan Zhang and Zhu Ran for Guan Yu ' s capture . When Lü Meng laid on his death bed shortly after the Jing Province campaign , Sun Quan asked his input on who could succeed him as the new commander for the army , wherein Lü Meng highly praised the abilities of Zhu Ran and recommended the latter be the replacement . Heeding Lü Meng ' s dying words , Sun Quan gave the staff of authority to Zhu Ran , and tasked him with the defense of Jiangling , capital of Nan Commandery and a vital strategic stronghold on the frontline . Two years later , the emperor of Shu Han , Liu Bei , led a grand force of more than 100 , 000 troops to invade Wu , and Zhu Ran led his 5 , 000 troops to join the Wu commander , Lu Xun , for the tactical defence of Xiaoting . When the next summer came , Zhu Ran led a separate force against Shu . After breaking Liu Bei ' s vanguard , Zhu Ran ' s forces took up a position at the rear of Shu army , blocking their escape as they attempted to flee from a fire attack executed by Lu Xun . Together , Lu Xun and Zhu Ran chased Liu Bei into the deep hills , pushing him back to Baidicheng , where he would admit defeat and die shortly afterwards . Defence of Jiangling . Throughout the whole course of the Wu - Shu conflict , the Wei military had assembled troops but never mobilised . However , immediately following the success of Lu Xun ' s battles against Shu , the Wei emperor Cao Pi suddenly launched a three - pronged campaign against Wu after Sun Quan refused to send his eldest son , Sun Deng , as a hostage . Even though Cao Pi ' s plan was detected by Lu Xun , who ordered Xu Sheng to perform a double - back to return to Jianye and informed Sun Quan to prepare for war , the Wu forces still faced a dire situation . Their troops were stretched thinly across at least four fronts ; on the western front facing Baidicheng , where Liu Bei ' s declaration of war was still in effect ; the Nan Commandery , which was pressed by the Wei generals Zhang He , Xu Huang , Cao Zheng , and Xiahou Shang ; at Ruxu , where the Wei general Cao Ren was leading his team to land on the Middle Island ; and at the eastern battlefield on the Yangtze River , Dongkou , where Zhang Liao and Cao Xiu defeated Lü Fan ' s navy . At the time , there was an extreme shortage of military personnel . Furthermore , an outbreak of disease greatly reduced the morale and number of soldiers in Zhu Ran ' s army , leaving him with only 5 , 000 men capable to do battles , who were intimidated by the news that the Wu reinforcements led by Sun Sheng ( 孫盛 ) were eliminated by Zhang He . At Jiangling , Xiahou Shang had also built numerous pontoon bridges for his soldiers to cross the shallow waters and attack the castle . With each passing day , the number of Wei troops besieging the castle increased by the thousands . Not knowing how and where the Wei forces were crossing the shallows of the river , the Wu reinforcements under Pan Zhang and Zhuge Jin had no effective way to lift the siege . Surrounded in his castle , Zhu Ran was heavily outnumbered by Cao Zheng , who encircled the fortress with several layers and deployed a variety of siege weapons . Yet Zhu Ran showed no signs of fear , and encouraged his comrades and subordinates to counter the enemy . When Cao Zheng relaxed his guard , Zhu Ran ' s forces were able to destroy two of the Wei encampments . Six months had passed ; however , the Wei army still continued the siege , and Cao Pi had arrived at Wan city to bolster their morale . One of Zhu Ran ' s officers , seeing that the Wei troops were numerous and that the food supply within Jiangling castle was running out , planned to defect to Wei . He secretly contacted the Wei troops outside of the castle walls and promised to open the gate to permit their forces entry . When the betrayer was about to open the castle gate , he was noticed by Zhu Ran and executed . At the time , Pan Zhang had gone upstream and collected one million bundles of reeds . He fitted these to rafts and set them on fire , sending them downstream so that they would burn the pontoon bridges being used by Wei . Knowing what Pan Zhang had done , the Wei forces returned north before the retreat route could be destroyed . Because of his extraordinary performance in this battle , Zhu Ran ' s name became known throughout Wei as a powerful enemy general . Later life . In 241 , Zhu Ran led an assault on Fancheng and surrounded it . However , the army of Wei under the command of Sima Yi defeated him , and he retreated . In 246 , he again invaded Wei and attacked Zhazhong ( 柤中 ) , and when his escape route was cut off by Li Xing ( 李興 ) of Wei , he defeated Li Xing ' s forces and withdrew . In 245 , Lu Xun died and Zhu Ran was given command over the armies of Wu by Sun Quan . He died four years later in 249 , and received the third largest funeral after Lü Meng and Ling Tong . At his funeral service , Sun Quan was said to have wept greatly for him . His son , Zhu Ji , succeeded him and continued to serve Eastern Wu . Zhu Ran ' s tomb . In June 1984 , during the construction of a factory , Zhu Ran ' s burial site was discovered in Ma ' anshan , Anhui . Many historically important decorative items of clothing and some of the world ' s oldest discovered lacquer were unearthed after being discovered within . The tomb had been underground for nearly 1 , 700 years . Though the tomb was raided , it was still home to 140 + of many valuable items . Most of the remaining buried items included mainly lacquered items made of wood , such as wooden plates , wooden clogs , and some wooden tables with educational stories and images drawn on them . The road on which the site was discovered was renamed to " Zhuran Road " in his honour . In fiction . Zhu Ran appears as a character in the historical novel " Romance of the Three Kingdoms " by Luo Guanzhong , which romanticises the historical events before and during the Three Kingdoms period . In the novel , he was killed by Zhao Yun at the Battle of Xiaoting . ( See Battle of Xiaoting # Zhao Yun killing Zhu Ran for details . ) Modern references . Zhu Ran is set to become a playable character in Koei ' s upcoming " " .