The "Burning of Red Cliff" is the battle of Cao Cao's southern attack on Jingzhou at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty; it can also be referred to as the battle of Chibi-Wulin on the Yangtze River. It was one of the most famous battles of the Three Kingdoms period, and the first large-scale water battle to take place on the Yangtze River.
In 208 (the 13th year of Emperor Xian's reign), Cao Cao, who largely controlled the north, led an army southward to Jingzhou, where Liu Chong surrendered. As Cao Cao pursued Liu Bei, Sun Quan sent Lu Su to inquire whether the fallen Liu Bei would make an alliance against Cao Cao. Liu Bei then sent Zhuge Liang to Jiangdong to agree on an alliance, and Sun Quan dispatched his governors Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu to lead an army to form a coalition with Liu Bei, which defeated Cao Cao's chain of ships at Red Cliff of the Yangtze River by a fire attack with a fraudulent surrender by Huang Gai and sent Cao Cao back to the north in despair. After this battle, Cao Cao's army retreated to Xiangyang, and Cao, Sun and Liu split Jingzhou into three parts, establishing the situation of the Three Kingdoms.
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During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao, Sun Quan and Liu Bei were the most powerful. Later, when Cao Cao unified the north, Liu Bei decided to join Sun Quan in fighting Cao Cao. To continue expanding his territory, Cao Cao led an army of 200,000 men to attack Sun Quan.
Sun Quan panicked when he heard that Cao Cao was coming with hundreds of thousands of troops. Zhuge Liang comforted him by saying, "Although Cao Cao has many soldiers, 70,000 to 80,000 of these are soldiers who have just surrendered, and they don't necessarily obey Cao Cao sincerely. And Cao Cao's original soldiers were all drilled in the north and are not familiar with water warfare. So you don't have to worry at all." Zhuge Liang's words allowed Sun Quan to see the situation at hand, and a hanging heart was finally released.
He then sent his general Zhou Yu to lead 30,000 soldiers against Cao Cao alongside Liu Bei. Cao Cao's army arrived in the south and settled down in the area of Red Cliff. At this point, because Cao Cao's army had just arrived in the south, many of his soldiers were overwhelmed by the water and became ill. Cao Cao only wanted to defeat his opponents quickly and didn't even consider the health of his soldiers as he ordered his army to tighten their defenses and be ready to go to war with Zhou Yu's army at any time.
The soldiers in the north had been on land for years and were unfamiliar with the water, and it was difficult for them to walk freely on ships. There were also frequent gusts of wind on the river, which rocked the boat from side to side, and many soldiers became seasick, so where was the strength to go to war. At this time, some people suggested to tie the boat with an iron cable, nailed on the top of the sturdy wooden boards, combined into a very large boat. People walked on it as if it were flat ground.
Cao Cao thought this was a good idea and hurriedly ordered his men to do it. When he heard that Cao Cao's army had connected the ships, Zhuge Liang was overjoyed! He excitedly said to Zhou Yu, "How could Cao Cao not have thought this time that linking the warships together would only cause him to lose badly?" Zhou Yu also laughed happily.
Originally, as soon as the two men heard the news that Cao Cao had linked his ships together, they both thought of using fire attacks against Cao Cao's army. Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu kept their troops still, and Cao Cao thought they were afraid and gradually let their guard down. That night, a southeast wind blew on the river. Zhou Yu's henchman, Huang Gai, pretended to surrender to Cao Cao, and sailed ten warships filled with oil-filled firewood and grass, approaching Cao Cao's army.
When he was close to Cao Cao's army, Huang Gai immediately set fire to the firewood on the ten ships, and with the help of the easterly wind, the fire quickly grew large. These ten warships were blown by the wind to where Cao Cao's army was. Cao Cao's warships were too late to be unlocked in a short time because they were locked together, and in a short while they were burned into a sea of flames. In the end, Cao Cao was able to escape the fire under the protection of his close friends.
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p>Follow-up--
Sun Quan personally led his army to attack Hefei in the north, but he was trapped and retreated; Zhou Yu and others also attacked Jiangling, which Cao Ren had left behind, and confronted each other across the river; Zhou Yu also sent Gan Ning to attack Yiling, and Cao Ren divided his army to besiege it. Gan Ning told Zhou Yu about the emergency, and Zhou Yu used Lv Meng's plan to leave Ling Tong to defend the area, and then he and Lv Meng went to rescue him. After Gan Ning's siege was solved, he was led to the north bank. Wu's vanguard first surrounded Cao Ren's general Niu Jin, who came to meet the battle, but later was saved by Cao Ren's two breakthroughs. After the two sides grams period of great battle.
Zhou Yu personally went to the battlefield on horseback, but he was hit by a stray bullet in his right side, and was seriously injured, so he retreated. Afterwards, Cao Ren realized that Zhou Yu had not risen from his bed, so he brought his troops to Wu's battlefield. Zhou Yu then got up and marched through the camp, encouraging the soldiers, and Cao Ren then retreated.
On the other hand, Liu Bei, then Liu Qi as the assassin of Jingzhou, south of the southern Jingzhou, including Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, Zuling, four counties surrendered, and Zhuge Liang is in charge of supervising the three counties of Zuling, Guiyang, Changsha, and adjusting their taxes to fill the military reality. Sun Quan hibernates Zhou Yu as the governor of South County, Cheng Pu as the governor of Meaningful Xia, and Quan Rou as the governor of Guiyang. Zhou Yu, on the other hand, divided the public security to Liu Bei cantonment.
Baidu Encyclopedia - The Battle of Red Cliff