Wu’s troops are before him and Wei’s behind. When Guan Yu asks Zhao Lei what to do, Zhao Lei answers. When Lu Meng was at Lukou he wrote to Your Lordship proposing that our two houses strike Cao Cao together. Now he has helped Cao Cao attack us, which is breaking the pact. Send someone to rebuke him and see how he answers.
Lu Meng in Jing Province has already given his orders. The households of the commanders and soldiers who went out with Guan Yu are not to be disturbed by Wu’s troops, are to receive grain every month, and are to have physicians sent to the sick. When Guan Yu’s messenger arrives, Lu Meng goes out beyond the walls and treats him as a guest. My friendship with General Guan before was my own private wish, and what has happened today was on my superior’s orders, so it was not mine to decide.
While the messenger stays, people come from the soldiers’ households to entrust him with letters and messages. All of them say the homes are safe and there is no lack of food or clothing. When the returning messenger tells him this, Guan Yu rages that it is a treacherous villain’s trick. But the commanders crowding round the messenger each take the letters from home with joy, and none of them has any heart left for fighting.