Battle of Shiting 石亭之戰

In the 2nd year of Taihe (228) Emperor Ming of Wei, planning to attack Wu by two routes, sent Sima Yi down the Han River and had the Grand Marshal Cao Xiu lead the armies toward Xunyang. Jia Kui's biography records that Jia Kui, in command of four armies including those of Man Chong and Hu Zhi, was to advance from Xiyang toward Dongguan, Cao Xiu from Wan, and Sima Yi from Jiangling. Records, Wei 9 §58Records, Wei 15 §81

In Wu, Sun Quan ordered Zhou Fang, Administrator of Poyang, to find among the old clans and chieftains of the mountains someone known to the north and have him lure out Cao Xiu. Zhou Fang replied that such men could not be trusted and the matter might leak, and asked instead to send his confidants Dong Cen and Shao Nan, posing as defectors, to Cao Xiu with a letter in seven articles. In the letter he said that he had been censured by the ruler of Wu and that disaster was only moments away, and that if Cao Xiu came from Wan to the riverbank with ten thousand troops he would lead the officials and people in rising from within, and he asked for seals of general and marquis and the like. When court gentlemen bearing edicts frequently came to question him on various matters, Zhou Fang cut off his hair at the gate of the commandery office to apologize, and Cao Xiu, hearing of it, had no further suspicions. Records, Wu 15 §50–53 · 58 · 67 · 73

Cao Xiu submitted a memorial saying that among the enemy there were men asking to surrender and that he would advance deep to meet them; an edict halted Sima Yi's army and had Jia Kui go east to join Cao Xiu. Jia Kui reckoned that the enemy would concentrate its forces at Wan, and that if Cao Xiu went deep and gave battle he would surely be defeated. Jiang Ji also submitted a memorial warning that if Cao Xiu went deep into enemy territory, Zhu Ran and others upstream would fall on his rear, and Man Chong memorialized that Cao Xiu's route had a lake at its back and ran along the river, easy to advance by and hard to retreat by; but before any reply came, Cao Xiu had already gone deep. Cao Xiu led 100,000 infantry and cavalry, his baggage trains filling the roads, straight into Wan. Records, Wei 15 §81Records, Wei 14 §124Records, Wei 26 §10–11Records, Wu 15 §72Records, Wu 11 §53

Sun Quan arrived at Wan, summoned Lu Xun, granted him the yellow axe and made him Grand Commander. With Lu Xun as commander-in-chief, Quan Cong and Zhu Huan became the Left and Right Commanders, each leading 30,000 men. Zhu Huan said that if Cao Xiu were defeated he would surely flee by Jiashi and Guache, and that if they blocked the road with 10,000 men they could capture Cao Xiu alive and take Shouchun; but Lu Xun, whom Sun Quan consulted, said it would not do, and the plan was not carried out. Records, Wu 13 §30Records, Wu 15 §26Records, Wu 11 §53–54

Cao Xiu realized he had been deceived, but trusting in his numbers he gave battle. Lu Xun took the central division himself, with Zhu Huan and Quan Cong as the left and right wings, and advancing by three routes they struck Cao Xiu's ambush and drove it off, pursuing the fleeing enemy as far as Jiashi. The Biography of Lu Xun says that more than ten thousand were killed or captured, that oxen, horses, mules, donkeys and 10,000 carts were taken, and that the military supplies and equipment were almost all seized; Zhou Fang's biography likewise records that those killed or captured ran to ten thousand or more. The Biography of Cao Xiu records that, having gone deep because of the false surrender, he fared badly, withdrew and camped at Shiting, where at night the army took fright, the soldiers fell into disorder, and a great deal of armor, weapons and baggage was abandoned. Records, Wu 13 §30Records, Wu 15 §72Records, Wei 9 §59

When Jia Kui learned from captured enemy soldiers that Cao Xiu had been defeated and that Sun Quan had sent troops to cut off Jiashi, he rejected his generals' suggestion to wait for the rear army, pressed on day and night and set out many flags and drums as a decoy force. The Wu army withdrew, and Jia Kui occupied Jiashi and supplied Cao Xiu with troops and provisions, so that Cao Xiu's army at last recovered. Jiang Ji's biography says that Wu meant to block Jiashi, but relief troops arrived and the government army escaped annihilation, and Man Chong's biography records that Zhu Ling and others came up from behind and ran into the enemy, who fled in alarm, so that Cao Xiu's army was able to return. Records, Wei 15 §82–83Records, Wei 14 §125Records, Wei 26 §11

Cao Xiu submitted a letter apologizing, and Emperor Ming sent Yang Ji, Colonel of Garrison Cavalry, to console him and treated him with even greater courtesy and gifts, but because of this affair Cao Xiu developed an abscess on his back and died. The Annals of Emperor Ming record that Cao Xiu died on the gengzi day of the 9th month, and that year Man Chong replaced him in command of the armies of Yang Province. In Wu, when the army passed through Wuchang, Sun Quan had Lu Xun covered with his own imperial canopy as he went in and out of the palace gates, and at a banquet he told Zhou Fang that by cutting off his hair and taking duty upon himself he had accomplished a great undertaking, and granted him the title of Assistant General and the rank of Marquis Within the Passes. Records, Wei 9 §59Records, Wei 3 §10Records, Wei 26 §11Records, Wu 13 §31Records, Wu 15 §73