Battle of Jiangling 江陵之戰

In the 9th month of autumn of the 3rd year of Huangchu (222), Wei had Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang, Zhang He and Xu Huang besiege Nan Commandery, and Cao Pi stayed at Wan in person to back them up. Xiahou Shang, leading various armies, besieged Jiangling together with Cao Zhen, and the Wei army surrounded the city with a chain of encampments. Sun Quan had Zhuge Jin, Pan Zhang and Yang Can relieve Nan Commandery, and had General Sun Sheng hold the island in the middle of the river with 10,000 men as outside support for Zhu Ran. Records, Wu 2 §42Records, Wei 9 §94Records, Wu 11 §16

Zhuge Jin crossed onto the sandbar in the middle of the river and deployed his fleet in midstream. Xiahou Shang, taking many oiled boats at night, secretly crossed downstream with more than 10,000 foot and horse, burned those boats from both banks, attacked by land and water together and defeated Zhuge Jin's army. Zhang He separately led various armies across the river and took the fortified camp on the island, and when Sun Sheng could not hold and withdrew, Zhu Ran was cut off inside and out. The Biography of the Lord of Wu records that in the 1st month of the 2nd year of Huangwu (223) Cao Zhen divided his troops and occupied the middle isle at Jiangling. Records, Wei 9 §94–95Records, Wei 17 §50Records, Wu 11 §16Records, Wu 2 §49

In the city many soldiers suffered from a swelling sickness, and only 5,000 were fit to fight. When Cao Zhen and the others built earthen hills, dug tunnels and raised towers and shot arrows like rain, the officers and men turned pale, but Zhu Ran calmly encouraged his officials and soldiers and, watching for openings, broke two enemy encampments. When the siege had lasted six months, Yao Tai, Prefect of Jiangling, tried to collude with the enemy, but the plot came to light and Zhu Ran executed him. Records, Wu 11 §17–18

When 30,000 Wei troops laid a pontoon bridge and crossed onto Baili Isle, Pan Zhang said that Wei's momentum was at its height and the water was shallow, so they could not yet fight; 50 li upstream he made great rafts out of several million bundles of reeds, intending to set them alight and burn the pontoon bridge when the water rose. Dong Zhao submitted a memorial saying that the encampment in the middle of the island was extremely deep, crossing by a pontoon bridge was extremely dangerous and moving along a single road was extremely narrow, and that since the time for the river to rise had come, the troops should be pulled out. Records, Wu 10 §93Records, Wei 14 §73–75

Cao Pi saw the sense of Dong Zhao's words and had Xiahou Shang and the others come out quickly. The Wu army advanced from both ends together while the Wei army withdrew by a single road, and the generals Shi Jian and Gao Qian barely escaped with their lives. Ten days after the troops came out, the river suddenly rose. Pan Zhang's rafts went unused because Xiahou Shang happened to withdraw. The Biography of Xiahou Shang says that before the city fell a great epidemic broke out and he withdrew his army by imperial order, and the Annals of Emperor Wen record that in the 3rd month of the 4th year of Huangchu Cao Pi returned from Wan to Luoyang and that a great epidemic broke out that month. Through this battle Zhu Ran's fame spread to the enemy state. Records, Wei 14 §76Records, Wu 10 §94Records, Wei 9 §95Records, Wei 2 §42Records, Wu 11 §18