The trick took place before the Battle of Red Cliff, when Sun Quan and Liu Bei joined forces and Zhou Yu took command of the Eastern Wu army. When Zhou Yu learned that Cao Cao was leading an attack and that his own forces were insufficient, he discussed the Bitter Meat Trick with Zhuge Liang.

Zhou Yu planned to surrender to Cao Cao under the pretense that he had been tricked by Zhuge Liang. When Cao Cao arranged to send someone to accept Zhou Yu's surrender, Zhou Yu told Cao Cao the true nature of the Eastern Wu army, stirring up conflict between Cao Cao and the allied forces of Sun and Liu in order to weaken the enemy army.

This ploy succeeded in breaking up the alliance between Cao Cao and Sun Liu's allied forces, laying the groundwork for the subsequent Battle of Red Cliff.