Battle of Changban 長坂坡之戰

In the 7th month of autumn in the 13th year of Jian'an (208) Cao Cao set out south to attack Liu Biao; in the 8th month Liu Biao died and his son Liu Cong succeeded him and was stationed at Xiangyang, while Liu Bei was stationed at Fan. In the 9th month, when Cao Cao reached Xinye, Liu Cong surrendered. The Biography of the First Sovereign says that the First Sovereign did not know Lord Cao had suddenly arrived and only heard of it when Lord Cao reached Wan, whereupon he left at the head of his followers. As they passed Xiangyang, Zhuge Liang said that if he attacked Liu Cong he could have Jing Province, but the First Sovereign said he could not bear to, halted his horse and called out to Liu Cong, and Liu Cong was too frightened to rise. Records, Wei 1 §104Records, Shu 2 §20

Many of Liu Cong's attendants and the people of Jing Province went over to the First Sovereign, so that by the time they reached Dangyang his followers numbered more than a hundred thousand and the wagons carrying the baggage several thousand, and they made ten-odd li a day. The First Sovereign separately had Guan Yu lead several hundred boats to meet him at Jiangling. When someone said that, with few men in armor, he should hurry to hold Jiangling, the First Sovereign said that to accomplish great things one must take people as the foundation, and that now that the people had come over to him, he could not bear to abandon them and leave. Records, Shu 2 §21

Lord Cao, fearing that the First Sovereign would seize Jiangling, where there were military stores, left his baggage behind and reached Xiangyang with a lightly equipped army. Hearing that the First Sovereign had already passed, he led 5,000 elite horsemen, rode more than three hundred li in a day and a night, and caught up with him at Changban in Dangyang. The First Sovereign abandoned his wife and children and fled with a few dozen horsemen including Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, and Lord Cao captured great numbers of his followers and baggage. Cao Chun pursued Liu Bei at Changban, captured his two daughters and his baggage and gathered up his scattered soldiers, and the biography of Wen Pin records that Wen Pin, too, pursued Liu Bei at Changban together with Cao Chun. The Biography of Zhuge Liang records that Xu Shu's mother was captured at this time, and that Xu Shu took leave of the First Sovereign and went to Lord Cao. Records, Shu 2 §22Records, Wei 9 §46Records, Wei 18 §35Records, Shu 5 §10–11

According to the biography of Zhang Fei, when the First Sovereign heard that Lord Cao had suddenly arrived, he abandoned his wife and children and fled, having Zhang Fei hold the rear with twenty horsemen. Zhang Fei, using the river as his defense, cut the bridge, glared, leveled his spear and said, "I am Zhang Yide! Come and let us fight it out to the death!" None of the enemy dared approach, and so in the end they escaped. The biography of Zhao Yun says that Zhao Yun himself carried the infant son, the Later Sovereign, and protected the Later Sovereign's mother, Lady Gan, so that all escaped, and the passage on Empress Gan likewise records that, the situation being desperate, the First Sovereign abandoned Lady Gan and the Later Sovereign, but they escaped the disaster under Zhao Yun's protection. Records, Shu 6 §16 · 39Records, Shu 4 §3

At the same time Lu Su, sent by Sun Quan, was coming to offer condolences to Liu Biao's two sons when he heard at Nan Commandery that Liu Cong had already surrendered and that Liu Bei meant to cross the river southward; he went straight to meet him and met Liu Bei at Changban in Dangyang. Lu Su conveyed Sun Quan's intentions and urged Liu Bei to join forces with Sun Quan, and formed a friendship with Zhuge Liang, who was with Liu Bei. Records, Wu 9 §42

The First Sovereign headed obliquely by a byway toward Hanjin, happened to meet Guan Yu's boats, crossed the Mian River, and reached Xiakou together with the more than ten thousand followers of Liu Qi, Liu Biao's eldest son and Administrator of Jiangxia. Cao Chun advanced and received the surrender of Jiangling, and the Annals of Emperor Wu record that Cao Cao advanced on Jiangling and issued an order to the officials and people of Jing Province that they would make a fresh start together. Zhuge Liang, who went from Xiakou to Sun Quan, said that although the army of the Governor of Yu had been defeated at Changban, the soldiers who had returned together with Guan Yu's naval elite troops made ten thousand, and that Cao Cao's light cavalry, who had ridden more than three hundred li in a day and a night in pursuit of the Governor of Yu, were in the situation of a powerful crossbow bolt that at the end of its flight cannot pierce even the thin silk of Lu. Records, Shu 2 §23Records, Shu 6 §7Records, Wei 9 §46Records, Wei 1 §104Records, Shu 5 §15