Sun Quan's Letter Turns Back Cao Cao 孫權遺書退老瞞

In Chapter 61 of the Romance, as Sun Quan is about to attack Jing Province, news comes that Cao Cao is coming with 400,000 men to avenge Chibi. Following the letter left by Zhang Hong, who has died of illness, Sun Quan moves his seat of government to Moling, renames it Jianye and builds Shitoucheng (the Stone City). To the generals who say they can land and fight on shore and jump back into the boats when needed, Lü Meng says that if they suddenly meet the enemy they will have no time to reach the water's edge and proposes building a fort at the mouth of the Ruxu River, and so the Ruxu fort is built. Romance, Ch. 61 §27–29

In Xuchang, at Dong Zhao's suggestion, Cao Cao seeks to receive the rank of Duke of Wei and the Nine Bestowments, and Xun Yu, who tries to stop him, receives an empty box sent by Cao Cao, takes poison and dies. Marching south in the 10th month, winter, of the 17th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao sees at Ruxukou how orderly Sun Quan's warships are and exclaims, "A son should be like Sun Zhongmou!", but he is chased by the cavalry Sun Quan leads in person and by Han Dang and Zhou Tai, and after a night raid he falls back more than fifty li. Romance, Ch. 61 §30–40

Having dreamed of a red sun rising out of the river and falling on the hill in front of his camp, Cao Cao meets Sun Quan at the foot of that hill and says he has come to punish him on the Son of Heaven's edict, but Sun Quan retorts that Cao Cao holds the Son of Heaven hostage to command the lords, and drives him off with an ambush. After facing each other for over a month, in the 1st month of the following year, when the soldiers are suffering in the mud from the spring rains, a letter comes from Sun Quan. After the words that the spring waters are just rising and he should leave quickly, two more lines were written: "While you do not die, I cannot be at peace." Cao Cao says, "Sun Zhongmou does not deceive me," and turns his army back. Romance, Ch. 61 §42–48