Battle of Red Cliffs 赤壁之戰

In the 1st month of spring in the 13th year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao returned to Ye and made the Xuanwu Pond to train his navy, and in the 6th month he became Chancellor. In the 7th month he set out south against Liu Biao; in the 8th month Liu Biao died, and in the 9th month, when Cao Cao reached Xinye, Liu Biao's successor Liu Cong surrendered. Liu Bei fled to Xiakou, and Cao Cao advanced to Jiangling. The Biography of Zhou Yu records that Cao Cao, having acquired the navy of Jing Province, had ships and infantry numbering several hundred thousand, and that the officers and men who heard of it were all afraid. Jia Xu urged him not to go down the Yangtze River, saying that if he used the wealth of the old land of Chu to feast his soldiers and settle the people, Jiangdong would submit without his troops having to labor, but Cao Cao did not listen. Records, Wei 1 §103–104Records, Wu 9 §8Records, Wei 10 §82

Lu Su, on Sun Quan's orders, went to offer condolences to Liu Biao's two sons and to observe the situation, met Liu Bei at Changban in Dangyang, and urged him to join forces with Sun Quan. Liu Bei, pursued by Cao Cao at Changban, met Guan Yu's boats at Hanjin and crossed the Mian River, and reached Xiakou together with the force of more than ten thousand of Liu Qi, Liu Biao's eldest son and Administrator of Jiangxia, and sent Zhuge Liang to Sun Quan. Records, Wu 9 §41–42Records, Shu 2 §22–23

Sun Quan, with his army at Chaisang, was watching to see how things would turn out. Zhuge Liang said that although Liu Bei's army had been defeated at Changban, the soldiers who had returned together with Guan Yu's navy numbered ten thousand, and the troops of Jiangxia gathered by Liu Qi were also no fewer than ten thousand. He further argued that Cao Cao's host had come from afar and was exhausted, that northerners were not used to fighting on water, and that the people of Jing Province who had joined Cao Cao had not submitted in their hearts. Records, Shu 5 §12 · 15–16

Sun Quan's ministers said that Cao Cao held the Son of Heaven in his grasp and that the barrier of the Yangtze was now shared with him as well, and advised welcoming him. Lu Su, when Sun Quan rose to change his clothes, followed him under the eaves and said that he himself could welcome Cao Cao, but the General could not. Zhou Yu, summoned from Poyang at Lu Su's urging, said that Cao Cao was a traitor to the Han, that Ma Chao and Han Sui in Guanxi were a worry at his rear, that it was midwinter with no fodder for the horses, and that the troops of the Central Plains were not used to the water and climate and would surely fall sick, and he asked for 30,000 elite troops. Sun Quan said that he and the old traitor could not both stand. In the assessment to the Biography of Zhou Yu, Chen Shou said that at that time all those deliberating were doubtful and divided, and Zhou Yu and Lu Su alone showed the clear insight to decide on their own. Records, Wu 9 §9–13 · 43–45 · 95

The number of troops Sun Quan sent is recorded differently from volume to volume. The Biography of Zhuge Liang gives a navy of 30,000 under Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, Lu Su and others, and the Biography of the First Sovereign a navy of several tens of thousands under Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu and others, while the Biography of the Lord of Wu says that Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu became Commanders of the Left and Right Divisions, each leading 10,000 men. Records, Shu 5 §16Records, Shu 2 §23Records, Wu 2 §13

According to the Biography of Zhou Yu, the two sides met at the Red Cliffs; sickness was already spreading in Cao Cao's army, and having lost the first engagement it withdrew and encamped north of the river, while Zhou Yu and the others were on the south bank. Zhou Yu's subordinate general Huang Gai said that the enemy were many and they were few, so it would be hard to hold out for long, but that since the ships of Cao Cao's army were joined bow to stern, they could be burned and put to flight. Several dozen mengchong assault ships and fighting vessels were filled with brushwood and grass and doused with oil, wrapped in curtains and topped with command banners; a letter was first sent falsely saying that he intended to surrender, and fast light boats were tied behind the large ships. While the officers and soldiers of Cao Cao's army pointed and watched, saying that Huang Gai was coming to surrender, Huang Gai let the ships loose and set them all on fire at once. The wind was very strong, the flames spread to the camps on the riverbank, and very many men and horses burned or drowned. The Biography of Huang Gai also records that he proposed the fire attack as his plan. Records, Wu 9 §14–16Records, Wu 10 §12

The Annals of Emperor Wu do not record the fire attack. They say that in the 12th month Sun Quan attacked Hefei on behalf of Liu Bei, and that Cao Cao set out from Jiangling against Liu Bei, reached Baqiu and sent Zhang Xi to relieve Hefei, reached the Red Cliffs and fought Liu Bei to no advantage, and then, as a great pestilence broke out and many officers and soldiers died, led the army back. The Biography of the Lord of Wu places the siege of Hefei after the Red Cliffs. The accounts also differ over who burned the ships: the Biography of the First Sovereign says that the allied forces crushed Cao Cao and burned his ships, while the Biography of the Lord of Wu says that Cao Cao burned his remaining ships and withdrew, and that more than half his soldiers died of hunger and pestilence. The Biography of Guo Jia records that Cao Cao, returning from Jing Province, met with pestilence at Baqiu, burned his ships and sighed, "Had Guo Fengxiao been alive, he would not have let me come to this." Records, Wei 1 §105Records, Wu 2 §13–14Records, Shu 2 §23Records, Wei 14 §43

Liu Bei, Zhou Yu and the others pursued as far as Nan Commandery, and the Biography of the First Sovereign records that pestilence broke out again at this time and many of the northern troops died, so Cao Cao went back. Cao Cao left Cao Ren and Xu Huang at Jiangling and Yue Jin at Xiangyang and returned north. Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu faced Cao Ren in Nan Commandery, and this fighting in Nan Commandery, the Battle of Jiangling, lasted until Cao Ren abandoned the city and fled in the 14th year of Jian'an (209). Records, Shu 2 §23Records, Wu 2 §13 · 15Records, Wu 9 §16–17

After the battle, Liu Bei memorialized for Liu Qi to be made Inspector of Jing Province, received the surrender of the four southern commanderies of Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang and Lingling, and made Zhuge Liang Military Adviser General of the Household, putting him in charge of the three commanderies of Lingling, Guiyang and Changsha. In Yi Province, Zhang Song, who had gone to Cao Cao as an envoy and been shown no regard, returned at the time when Cao Cao's army had fared badly at the Red Cliffs and many had died of pestilence, and urged Liu Zhang to break with Cao Cao and form ties with Liu Bei. Records, Shu 2 §24Records, Shu 5 §17Records, Shu 1 §14–15