Battle of Jiangling 江陵之戰

Cao Cao's army, defeated at the Red Cliffs, fell back to hold Nan Commandery, and when Liu Bei, Zhou Yu and the others pursued again, he left Cao Ren and others in the city of Jiangling and returned north. The Biography of the Lord of Wu records that he left Cao Ren and Xu Huang at Jiangling and Yue Jin at Xiangyang. According to the biography of Cao Ren, Cao Ren stayed at Jiangling as acting General Who Conquers the South to hold off the Wu general Zhou Yu. Records, Wu 9 §16Records, Wu 2 §13Records, Wei 9 §36

Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu advanced to Nan Commandery and faced Cao Ren across the great river. The biography of Cao Ren records that when Zhou Yu came to attack with a host of several tens of thousands and his vanguard of several thousand had just arrived, Cao Ren gathered 300 men and sent his retainer commander Niu Jin against them. When Niu Jin was surrounded, Cao Ren, despite being held back by his Chief Clerk Chen Jiao and others, rode out of the city with several dozen stalwart horsemen, broke through the encirclement and rescued him, and when he went back in to rescue the rest of the men, the enemy withdrew. Chen Jiao and the others sighed, "The General is truly a man from heaven." Records, Wu 9 §17Records, Wei 9 §36–38

Before battle was joined, Zhou Yu sent Gan Ning ahead to seize Yiling. According to the biography of Gan Ning, Gan Ning held the city with barely a thousand men, including those newly gained, and even when the 5,000 to 6,000 men sent by Cao Ren put up tall towers and shot arrows like rain, he talked and laughed calmly. According to the biography of Lü Meng, Lü Meng proposed leaving Ling Tong to hold out for ten days while he went with Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu to the rescue, and had 300 men block the rugged paths with felled trees. When they killed half the enemy at Yiling, the enemy horsemen fleeing by night abandoned their horses, and 300 horses were captured. Records, Wu 9 §17 · 60–62Records, Wu 10 §58–59

Having lifted the siege, Zhou Yu crossed the river and camped on the north bank, intending to fight a great battle on an appointed day, but as he rode out in person and swept through the enemy lines he was hit in the right side by a stray arrow and went back. When Cao Ren heard that Zhou Yu was lying in bed unable to rise and drew up his troops for battle, Zhou Yu got up by himself, went round the camps and roused his officers and men, and Cao Ren withdrew. Records, Wu 9 §17–18

Liu Bei's side also took part in the fighting. The biography of Li Tong records that when Liu Bei and Zhou Yu besieged Cao Ren at Jiangling and Liu Bei separately sent Guan Yu to cut the northern road, Li Tong dismounted, pulled up the abatis and fought his way into the encirclement to meet Cao Ren's army. The biography of Xu Huang also says that Xu Huang attacked Zhou Yu at Jiangling together with Cao Ren, and the biographies of Cheng Pu, Ling Tong and Zhou Tai record that they attacked Cao Ren in Nan Commandery. Records, Wei 18 §17Records, Wei 17 §60Records, Wu 10 §5 · 29 · 73

In the 14th year of Jian'an (209), after Zhou Yu and Cao Ren had held out against each other for more than a year, with very many killed and wounded, Cao Ren abandoned the city and fled. The biography of Lü Meng says that they thereby took Nan Commandery and settled Jing Province, and the biography of Cheng Pu records that they attacked Nan Commandery and put Cao Ren to flight. Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu Lieutenant General and concurrently Administrator of Nan Commandery, stationing him at Jiangling, while Liu Bei, concurrently Governor of Jing Province, was stationed at Gong'an. Records, Wu 2 §15Records, Wu 9 §62 · 19Records, Wu 10 §5