The Ren-Wu Tai Sui: General Lu Ming

A river and a galloping horse

Ren is yang water, a great river that keeps moving no matter what stands in the way. Wu is the horse running under the noon sun. Water gives the horse direction, and the horse gives the water speed.

General Lu Ming guards this year. People born in Ren-Wu years are often full of energy and hate waiting around. When everyone else feels stuck, they are the ones who say, "Follow me."

Ready at the starting line

He wears a green hat, and his dark, strong face has the sharp eyes of a hunter looking far into the distance. His lips are pressed tight, the look of someone who will not stop until he arrives.

He wears colorful armor and a bright red cape that seems to lift in the wind. In his right hand is a long spear pointing straight ahead.

Three times faster

According to legend, he was Lu Ming, a Song dynasty cavalry officer who grew up in a frontier military family and learned to ride before he could run.

One autumn, northern armies swept south, and his unit had to get supplies into a city before it was surrounded. The enemy had laid three ambushes, timed to how fast Song troops usually moved. Lu Ming knew going slow meant death and charging straight in meant death too. So he took a hundred riders, dropped all heavy gear, and rode through the gaps between the ambushes at night, three times faster than anyone expected.

The supplies arrived and the city held. The enemy commander later asked, "Were those men or ghosts?"

First over the line

He led many charges and was always the first across the line. He knew the danger. He also knew that when the leader goes first, everyone behind him finds the courage to follow.

Heaven named him the Tai Sui of the Ren-Wu year. A spear pointing forward and a bright, brave heart: that is his gift to everyone born in the Year of the Horse.