Lung Kong Association [龍岡親義公所]

Addresses of the Lung Kong Association [龍岡親義公所]

the Four Blood Brothers

Liu Bang was a peasant. He joined the Qin army as an ordinary soldier and rose to the rank of an officer in charge of a town called Si Shang. Later he rebelled against the Qin authority and became a bandit. He and his henchmen were rough plebeians. Many years later with the help from these plebeians he founded the Han Dynasty (206BC to 220AD). He was the first commoner to become an Emperor in Chinese history.

422 years later the Han Dynasty collapsed and the land was divided into three Kingdoms by three powerful generals of the former Han Dynasty. In the North, Cao Cao, the son of an adopted son of a eunuch established his kingdom called Wei4 (220AD to 265AD). Sun Quan in the region of the lower Yangtze and the South proclaimed the formation of his kingdom as the Kingdom of Wu2 (229AD to 280AD). Liu[劉] Bei in Sichuan the Western part of the land established the Shu Han Kingdom (221AD to 263AD) there. The duration of incessant civil wars among the Three Kingdoms lasted for about 45 years. This period from 220AD to 265AD was called The Three Kingdoms Period by the historians.

Before he proclaimed the formation of the Shu Han Kingdom in Sichuan, Liu[劉] Bei was a general under the commamnd of Cao Cao, the Prime Minister of the central government of the Han Court. He was frustrated by being pushed around by Cao Cao. So he left Cao Cao and joined up with Liu Biao another general who was in control of the central region of the Yangtze River. Liu[劉] Bei became the new ruler of that region after the death of Liu Biao. Planning to establish his own Kingdom, Liu[劉] Bei needed help from capable personnel. He found a kindred spirit in the two generals, Guan[關] Gong and Zhang[張] Fei. The three of them became sworn brothers with Liu[劉] Bei as the elder brother, Guan[關] Gong the second and Zhang[張] Fei the younger brother.

In 219AD Guan[關] Gong, the great general was besieged in a walled city called Mai (present day Mai Cheng in Dang Yang Xian in Hubei province) by the army of Wu. He with the troops were surrounded by the enemies for many months. He sent messengers to Liu[劉] Bei for help. The replied he received was a old saying,

"A bucket of water cannot extinguish the burning of firewoods in a cart."

An advisor from the Wu army arrived at Mai Cheng. He tried to talk Guan[關] Gong into surrendering to Wu. But he was sworn to Liu[劉] Bei who was his boss. Besides he was staunchly loyal to Liu[劉] Bei. So he refused to surrender. After all the provisions were exhausted, in the month of the Tenth Moon of that year he broke through the cordon. However, on fleeing from the enemy troops he and his son Guan[關] Ping were captured by the Wu troops. Later they were executed by the order of the ruler of Wu, Sun Quan. Guan[關] Gong was 58 years old when he died.

from The romance of the three kingdoms