Incident at Guangling 廣陵之戰

According to the Annals of Emperor Wen in Records of Wei 2, in the 7th month of the 5th year of Huangchu Cao Pi made an eastern tour and went to the Xuchang palace. In the 8th month he formed a navy and, riding the dragon boat in person, went along the Cai and Ying rivers out onto the Huai and reached Shouchun; in the 9th month he finally reached Guangling, proclaimed an amnesty for Qing and Xu provinces and replaced various generals and administrators, and in the 10th month he returned to the Xuchang palace. Records, Wei 2 §46

There was opposition to the expedition. When Cao Pi, after Cao Zhen returned from Jiangling, meant to raise a great army against Wu, Xin Pi remonstrated that even the late emperor had several times reached the river and turned back, and that they should nourish the people and set up agricultural colonies for ten years before using them. When Cao Pi asked whether he meant to leave the enemy to his descendants, Xin Pi replied that if the time was not right there was nothing to do but stop, but Cao Pi attacked Wu in the end, reached the river and came back. Records, Wei 25 §13–15

The biography of Liu Ye records that in the 5th year of Huangchu, when Cao Pi went to Sikou in Guangling, had the armies of Jing and Yang provinces advance together and asked whether Sun Quan would come in person, the ministers said he would surely come, but Liu Ye alone said that he would only keep his troops in hand and wait, and would not come out. The imperial carriage stayed for many days but Sun Quan indeed did not come, and Cao Pi turned his army back. In the biography of Wei Zhen there is the episode in which, when Cao Xiu submitted a defector's statement that Sun Quan was already at Ruxukou, Wei Zhen called it a lie, and on investigation it was indeed a story made up by a Wu garrison commander. Records, Wei 14 §101–102Records, Wei 22 §79

On the Wu side, the Biography of the Lord of Wu records that in the 9th month of the 3rd year of Huangwu Emperor Wen of Wei came out to Guangling, gazed at the great river, said, "There are men over there; Wu cannot be taken," and went back. According to the biography of Xu Sheng, Xu Sheng proposed building ramparts from Jianye, weaving fences and setting up false watchtowers on them, and floating boats on the river, and though the generals said it was useless he did not give way. Cao Pi, on reaching Guangling, was astonished to see the ramparts stretching several hundred li, and with the river also in high flood he withdrew his army. Only then did the generals acknowledge Xu Sheng. Sun Shao (孫韶), a member of Sun Quan's clan, was Administrator of Guangling around this time, and after Sun Quan became King of Wu he became General Who Spreads Might. Records, Wu 2 §51Records, Wu 10 §86Records, Wu 6 §44

The danger on the river was recorded in Wei's records too. The biography of Xu Xuan records that when he accompanied Cao Pi to Guangling, the wind and waves suddenly rose and Cao Pi's boat spun around as if to capsize, and Bao Xun, when a new expedition was being discussed the following year, remonstrated that the year before the dragon boat had drifted and fetched up on the southern bank, putting the emperor's person in danger. Cao Pi was angered and demoted Bao Xun. Records, Wei 22 §71Records, Wei 12 §72–73

In the 6th year of Huangchu Cao Pi again set out east with his navy; in the 8th month he went from Qiao along the Guo River into the Huai, and in the 10th month he reached the old city of Guangling and reviewed his troops by the river. The soldiers numbered more than 100,000 and the banners stretched for several hundred li, but that year was bitterly cold and the waterways froze, so the boats could not enter the river and he went back. The biography of Jiang Ji does not give the year, but records that during the progress to Guangling, though Jiang Ji had reported that the waterways would be hard to pass, Cao Pi did not listen and several thousand warships were stuck, and that when the water dried up at Jinghu on the way back, Jiang Ji dug out the ground and built dams to bring the boats out into the Huai. Records, Wei 2 §48–50Records, Wei 14 §122–123