Battle of Yiling 夷陵之戰

When Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu advanced to Nan Commandery and faced Cao Ren across the great river, Zhou Yu sent Gan Ning ahead to seize Yiling before the troops had even crossed blades. According to the biography of Gan Ning, when the attack on Cao Ren in Nan Commandery failed to take the city, Gan Ning proposed the plan of first going straight to take Yiling, and on arriving he took the city at once, entered it and held it. Records, Wu 9 §17Records, Wu 10 §58

Gan Ning had several hundred soldiers under him, and even counting those newly gained he had barely a thousand. Cao Ren divided his forces and surrounded Gan Ning with 5,000 to 6,000 men, attacking for several days, putting up tall towers and shooting arrows into the city like rain. The soldiers were all afraid, but Gan Ning alone talked and laughed calmly. Records, Wu 9 §17Records, Wu 10 §58

When Gan Ning reported his peril, the generals said that their troops were too few to divide, but Lü Meng vouched that if Ling Tong were left behind he could hold out for ten days, and proposed that he himself go with Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu. He also said that if 300 men were sent to block the rugged paths with felled trees, they could capture the enemy's horses when the enemy fled. The Biography of the Lord of Wu likewise records that, on Lü Meng's plan, Ling Tong was left to hold off Cao Ren and half the army went to rescue Gan Ning. Records, Wu 9 §60–61Records, Wu 2 §14Records, Wu 10 §59

When the army reached Yiling it fought that very day and killed more than half the enemy. The enemy fled by night and, meeting the paths blocked with felled trees, the horsemen all abandoned their horses and fled on foot; the soldiers pursued them, captured 300 horses and brought them back loaded on boats. The biography of Lü Meng says that this naturally doubled the spirit of the officers and men. With the siege lifted, Zhou Yu crossed the river and camped on the north bank. Records, Wu 9 §61–62 · 17