Cao Pi's invasions of Eastern Wu 曹丕伐吳

Sun Quan outwardly served Wei but not sincerely. When Wei sent the Palace Attendant Xin Pi and the Master of Writing Huan Jie to swear a covenant and demand a hostage, Sun Quan politely declined. The Annals of Emperor Wen record that in the 10th month of the 3rd year of Huangchu (222), when Sun Quan rebelled again, Cao Pi set out on a southern campaign from Xuchang with the various armies advancing together, while Sun Quan held the river and defended it. In the 11th month Cao Pi went to Wan. Records, Wu 2 §42Records, Wei 2 §41

According to the Biography of the Lord of Wu, in the 9th month Wei sent Cao Xiu, Zhang Liao and Zang Ba out to Dongkou and Cao Ren to Ruxu, and had Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang, Zhang He and Xu Huang besiege Nan Commandery. Sun Quan had Lü Fan and others lead five armies to oppose Cao Xiu and the others with a fleet, sent Zhuge Jin, Pan Zhang and Yang Can to relieve Nan Commandery, and had Zhu Huan, Area Commander of Ruxu, oppose Cao Ren. When Sun Quan sent a humble letter, Cao Pi replied that if he sent his son Sun Deng, he would recall his troops that very evening, but Sun Quan changed the era name and held the river. Records, Wu 2 §42–47

At Dongkou a great wind blew in the 11th month and several thousand of Lü Fan's soldiers drowned, and Cao Xiu had Zang Ba raid Xuling with 500 light boats and 10,000 men ready to die. The biographies of Cao Xiu and Zang Ba record that they defeated Lü Fan and the others at Dongpu. At Nan Commandery Xiahou Shang crossed downstream at night in oiled boats and defeated Zhuge Jin's army, but Zhu Ran, defending Jiangling, held out for six months, and when a great epidemic happened to break out, Xiahou Shang withdrew his army by imperial order. Records, Wu 2 §47Records, Wei 9 §57 · 94–95Records, Wei 18 §29Records, Wu 11 §16–18

In the 3rd month of the 2nd year of Huangwu (223), Cao Ren had General Chang Diao attack the Middle Isle of Ruxu in oiled boats and had his son Cao Tai attack Zhu Huan, but the Wu army defeated Chang Diao and the others, and that month the Wei armies all withdrew. Jiang Ji had warned that going onto the sandbar was walking into a hell of one's own making, but Cao Ren did not listen and was defeated. In the 3rd month Cao Pi returned from Wan to Luoyang, and that month a great epidemic broke out. Records, Wu 2 §49Records, Wu 11 §51–52Records, Wei 14 §121Records, Wei 2 §42

In the 8th month of the 5th year of Huangchu (224), Cao Pi formed a navy and, riding the dragon boat in person, went along the Cai and Ying rivers out onto the Huai to Shouchun, and in the 9th month he reached Guangling. The Biography of the Lord of Wu says that Cao Pi gazed at the great river and went back, saying that there were men over there and Wu could not be taken; the Biography of Xu Sheng records that he withdrew because he was startled by the ramparts and false watchtowers stretching several hundred li that Xu Sheng had built from Jianye, and because the river was in high flood. Records, Wei 2 §46Records, Wu 2 §51Records, Wu 10 §86

In the 6th year of Huangchu (225), when Cao Pi meant to attack Wu again, Xin Pi said they should nourish the people for ten years before using them, and Bao Xun remonstrated that in a former year the dragon boat had drifted onto the southern bank, putting the emperor in danger. In the 10th month of winter Cao Pi reached the old city of Guangling and displayed his forces by the river with more than 100,000 soldiers and banners stretching several hundred li, but that year a great cold froze the waterways and the boats could not enter the river, so he went back. The biography of Jiang Ji, without giving the year, records that during the progress to Guangling several thousand warships were held up in the waterways, and when the water dried up at Jinghu on the way back, Jiang Ji dug channels and brought them out into the Huai. Records, Wei 25 §13–15Records, Wei 12 §72–73Records, Wei 2 §50Records, Wei 14 §122–123