How Sun Quan and Liu Bei Won at Red Cliffs

Cao Cao entered the south with enormous momentum.

If he broke Sun Quan and Liu Bei, the Three Kingdoms age might end before it truly began. Red Cliffs stopped him.

Zhuge Liang Crossed the River

After Lu Su met Liu Bei at Changban, Liu Bei accepted the idea of joining Sun Quan and moved to Fankou.

Cao Cao had already left Jiangling and was preparing to move east along the Yangzi to crush Liu Bei.

Zhuge Liang saw the urgency and asked Liu Bei to let him cross the river with Lu Su to seek help from Sun Quan. They went to Chaisang, where Sun Quan was stationed.

Sun Quan understood that if Liu Bei was destroyed, Jiangdong might be next. But he still wondered whether Cao Cao only meant to finish Liu Bei and would not immediately attack him.

Zhuge Liang spoke sharply.

He said Cao Cao had pacified the north, broken Jingzhou, and shaken the realm. Liu Bei had nowhere left to fight and had retreated here. If Sun Quan could resist Cao Cao with Jiangdong's troops, he should break with him at once. If he could not resist, why not disarm and submit early?

It was a provocation.

Sun Quan grew angry and asked why Liu Bei did not surrender if Cao Cao was so strong.

Zhuge Liang answered that Liu Bei was a descendant of the Han imperial house, admired as a hero. If the great cause failed, that would be fate. He would never bend to Cao Cao.

Sun Quan's spirit rose. He said he could not hand Jiangdong's lands and troops to Cao Cao.

Still, he worried whether Liu Bei, just defeated at Changban, was useful enough as an ally.

Zhuge Liang explained that Liu Bei still had soldiers returning to him, and Guan Yu's navy gave him about ten thousand elite men. Liu Qi in Jiangxia also had more than ten thousand. Cao Cao's troops had marched far, and the elite cavalry that chased Liu Bei had ridden three hundred li in a day and night. They were like a crossbow bolt at the end of its flight. Northerners were unused to water fighting, and Jingzhou's new surrender was not heartfelt.

If Sun Quan sent several tens of thousands of strong troops and worked with Liu Bei, Cao Cao could be driven back north. Then Jingzhou and Jiangdong would survive, and the realm could move toward a three-part balance.

Sun Quan was moved.

But Jiangdong had not yet agreed to fight.

Cao Cao's Letter Frightened the Court

Cao Cao then sent Sun Quan a letter.

He said he was acting under the emperor's command to punish criminals. Liu Cong had already surrendered. Now he claimed to be leading an army of eight hundred thousand and wished to "hunt together" with Sun Quan in Wu.

The message was a threat.

Sun Quan showed it to his officials. Many turned pale.

Zhang Zhao and others urged surrender. Cao Cao held the emperor's authority, they said, and Jiangdong's main advantage had been the Yangzi. But now Cao Cao had Jingzhou's navy and ships, so the river was no longer Jiangdong's private defense. The numbers were too uneven. Better to welcome him.

Lu Su said nothing in the meeting.

When Sun Quan stepped outside, Lu Su followed him. Sun Quan took his hand and asked what he wanted to say.

Lu Su answered that everyone else could surrender to Cao Cao, but Sun Quan could not.

If men like Lu Su or Zhang Zhao surrendered, they could begin again as officials and slowly rise. But if Sun Quan surrendered, where would Cao Cao place him? What military power and foundation would he still have?

Sun Quan sighed. Zhang Zhao and the others, he said, were thinking of their own families. Lu Su's words matched his own heart.

In the official record, the decisive voices for resistance are Lu Su and Zhou Yu. The famous fictional scene of Zhuge Liang debating all the scholars belongs more to the novel than to the histories.

Lu Su urged Sun Quan to call Zhou Yu back.

Zhou Yu Returned to Chaisang

Zhou Yu's bond with the Sun family was deep.

He had been close to Sun Ce, and both men married daughters of Qiao Gong. After Sun Quan inherited Jiangdong, Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao helped hold the regime together.

Cao Cao knew Zhou Yu mattered. He once sent Jiang Gan, an eloquent man from Jiujiang and an old acquaintance, to persuade him.

Zhou Yu saw through the mission at once. He hosted Jiang Gan, showed him the camps, stores, and equipment, and made his loyalty clear. His bond with Sun Quan, he said, was outwardly that of ruler and minister and inwardly like flesh and blood. Even Su Qin or Zhang Yi reborn could not persuade him, let alone Jiang Gan.

Jiang Gan returned and told Cao Cao that Zhou Yu's spirit was too high to be moved by words.

The later novel's story of Jiang Gan stealing letters is dramatic, but not in the historical account.

When Zhou Yu returned to Chaisang, he told Sun Quan that Cao Cao had come south to die and must not be welcomed.

Sun Quan Chose War

Zhou Yu analyzed the situation.

The north was not fully settled. Ma Teng and Han Sui in Guanzhong remained a rear worry. Cao Cao had abandoned his cavalry advantage and chosen to fight on boats against Jiangdong's naval strength.

It was cold, and horses lacked fodder. Central Plains soldiers had marched far into a region of rivers and rice fields, making disease likely. The newly surrendered Jingzhou navy and Cao Cao's original troops would be hard to coordinate.

Zhou Yu asked for several tens of thousands of elite troops and promised to defeat Cao Cao at Xiakou.

Sun Quan was reassured. He cut the desk before him with a sword and declared that any officer who again advised surrender would be like that desk.

That night, Zhou Yu spoke privately again. Cao Cao's claim of eight hundred thousand men was a bluff. His Central Plains force was perhaps 150,000 or 160,000 and exhausted; the newly acquired Jingzhou troops perhaps 70,000 or 80,000 and not sincerely attached. Tired men controlling doubtful men were not frightening simply because they were numerous.

Zhou Yu said he needed only fifty thousand elite troops.

Sun Quan could not immediately gather that many. He gave Zhou Yu thirty thousand first, with grain, ships, and weapons. Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu led the army. Lu Su served in a planning role.

The Sun-Liu alliance finally took shape.

The Armies Met at Fankou

Liu Bei waited at Fankou, sending men daily to watch the river for Jiangdong's fleet.

When Zhou Yu's ships appeared, Liu Bei sent someone to greet him. Zhou Yu replied that he had military duties and could not leave his command. If Liu Bei was willing to come in person, he would be glad to meet.

Liu Bei had to take a small boat to Zhou Yu.

He asked how many troops Zhou Yu had brought. Zhou Yu said thirty thousand.

Liu Bei thought this too few.

Zhou Yu answered that it was enough. Liu Bei should watch him defeat Cao Cao.

Liu Bei also wanted Lu Su to join the discussion, but Zhou Yu said he could not casually assign another officer under military orders. If Liu Bei wanted to see Lu Su, he could go himself.

Liu Bei felt both embarrassed and relieved. He was weak and had to ask for help, but Zhou Yu's discipline showed that Jiangdong's army was real.

After joining, the allied forces advanced and met Cao Cao's army around Red Cliffs.

Huang Gai's Fire Attack

Cao Cao's army was already suffering.

Northern soldiers were sick and unused to ships. Jingzhou's surrendered navy did not easily merge with Cao Cao's original troops. In the first clash, Cao Cao lost and drew his navy to the northern bank near Wulin, linking it with the land army.

Zhou Yu anchored on the southern bank near Red Cliffs.

To help northern soldiers stand steadily on boats, Cao Cao accepted the idea of linking ships bow to stern and laying planks across them. It reduced seasickness, but created the opening for fire.

The novel places famous stories such as borrowing arrows, the bitter-flesh trick, and borrowing the east wind here. In the historical record, the fire plan mainly comes from Huang Gai.

Huang Gai told Zhou Yu that the enemy was numerous and the allies could not hold a long stalemate. Since Cao Cao's ships were linked, fire could break them.

Zhou Yu agreed.

Huang Gai chose ten covered assault ships, filled them with dry reeds and firewood, soaked them with oil, wrapped them with curtains, and raised banners. Fast boats were tied behind them for escape.

Then Huang Gai sent Cao Cao a false surrender letter.

When a strong southeast wind blew, Huang Gai placed the fire ships in front and advanced. Cao Cao's men thought he was coming to surrender and came out to watch.

When the ships were a little over two li away, Huang Gai ordered them set alight.

The burning ships raced with the wind into Cao Cao's linked fleet. Fire spread from ship to ship and then to the camps on shore. Smoke and flame covered the river. Many Cao troops burned or drowned.

Zhou Yu followed with elite troops, drums roaring, and attacked.

Cao Cao was defeated.

Cao Cao Retreated North

Cao Cao withdrew by the Huarong route.

The road was muddy and blocked, and a strong wind made it worse. He ordered weaker soldiers to carry brushwood and lay it down so cavalry could pass first. Many were trampled or trapped in the mud.

Zhou Yu pursued by land and water to Nan Commandery.

Cao Cao's army was hungry and sick. Many died. Cao Cao left Cao Ren to defend Jiangling and Yue Jin to guard Xiangyang, then retreated north.

Red Cliffs had decided the campaign.

The greatest military credit in the historical record belongs to Zhou Yu, Huang Gai, and the Jiangdong navy. Zhuge Liang helped make the alliance possible, but later stories of wind-commanding and divine calculation are novelistic magnifications.

Red Cliffs saved Jiangdong and prevented Liu Bei from being swallowed.

The possibility of a divided realm had moved from Zhuge Liang's strategy into battlefield reality.

The next episode follows Liu Bei into Shu, where he begins turning survival after Red Cliffs into a real western state.