In 221 AD, Shu's ruler Liu Bei, ignoring objections from general Zhao Yun and others, launched an attack on Eastern Wu to reclaim the strategic Jingzhou (present-day Jiangling, Hubei) and avenge Guan Yu, who had been killed after carelessly losing it. Eastern Wu's Sun Quan sent envoys to sue for peace, but Liu Bei refused. So Sun Quan appointed the thirty-eight-year-old Lu Xun as Grand Commander, leading fifty thousand troops to meet the enemy.
The following spring, Liu Bei's army advanced by both land and water, reaching Yiling (southeast of modern Yichang, Hubei), where they set up dozens of camps across the mountainous terrain along the southern bank of the Yangtze River for six or seven hundred li, creating an imposing display of force.
Lu Xun saw that the Shu army's morale was high and they held advantageous terrain, so he held his position firmly and refused to engage. At the time, a Wu force was besieged at Yidao (northwest of modern Yichang, Hubei) and requested reinforcements. Lu Xun refused to send troops, telling his generals, "Yidao's walls are strong and its supplies abundant. Once my plan unfolds, the siege will lift on its own."
Lu Xun's generals, seeing their commander neither attack Shu forces nor reinforce Yidao, grew furious, believing he was a coward. Some were veteran officers, others were Sun Quan's relatives, and all refused to obey Lu Xun's orders. So Lu Xun gathered them for a council, hand on his sword, and declared, "Liu Bei is renowned throughout the land—even Cao Cao feared him. Now he leads an army against us; he is a formidable foe. I urge you all to prioritize the greater cause, unite our efforts, and crush the invading enemy to repay the nation's grace. Though I am but a scholar, the lord has appointed me Grand Commander to lead the army, and I will fulfill my duty. The state has asked you to submit to my command because I have some merit—I can endure hardship and bear heavy responsibility. Military orders are as firm as a mountain; violators will face martial law. Let no one defy this!"
Lu Xun's words silenced the generals, and from then on, none dared defy his commands.
Lu Xun made up his mind to hold his position and avoid battle, a strategy that stretched on for seven or eight months. Only when the Shu army was utterly exhausted did he seize the moment, using a favorable wind to set fires and secure a decisive victory. Liu Bei fled back to Baidi City, where he soon fell ill and died.
Later, the idiom "endure humiliation and bear heavy responsibilities" came to describe someone who can tolerate grievances and take on important tasks.
Source: *Records of the Three Kingdoms*, "Biography of Lu Xun"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "忍辱负重" came to describe how someone can tolerate grievances and take on important tasks.