In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the key reason for Battle of Red Cliffs's victory was Zhou Yu's double spy, which made Cao Cao kill Cai Mao, thus losing the generals who knew the water army and making the fire attack plan be implemented.
The situation in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is probably like this. After Liu Biao's death, Cai Mao gave priority to Liu Cong, while Liu Biao's eldest son Liu Qi was pushed out to Jiangxia. Even when Liu Biao died, Liu Qi was blocked by Cai Mao and could not see Liu Biao for the last time.
When Cao Cao came to attack, Cai Mao urged Liu Cong to surrender to Cao Cao, and killed Li Jue, who advised him. After surrendering to Cao Cao, Cai Mao was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the water army in the south of the city, which was also feared by Zhou Yu and others. When Zhou Yu heard that Jiang Gan had come to spy on the military situation, he set up a plot against him and used Jiang Gan to offer his ideas to Cao Cao, Cai and Cao Cao. Later, Cao Cao learned of the recruit, but it was too late.
It was because Cao Cao killed Cai and Zhang that Cao Cao's army lost its generals who knew the water army. In the face of Wu Dong, who was proficient in the water army, he lost his generals. This is the only way to connect ships, which was defeated by Cao Cao attacking Zhou Yu with fire.
In the official history, Cai Mao was not killed by Cao Cao. Cai Mao was born in Cai's powerful family in Xiangyang County, Nanjun County, and his aunt was the wife of Zhang Wen, the Taiwei of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The elder sister and the second sister married Huang and Liu Biao successively and became their second wives. Liu Biao came to Jingzhou, and it was with the support and assistance of Cai Mao that he put down the strongmen of Jingzhou and became the master of Jingzhou. However, Cai Mao knew Cao Cao when he was a teenager and had a very good relationship with him.
It is said that Cai Mao supported Liu Cong because Liu Cong was his nephew and his second sister married Liu Biao, that is, Mrs. Cai of Liu Biao. It is not clear in the official history that Liu Cong is Mrs. Cai's son, but Liu Cong did marry Mrs. Cai's niece, even if she was not Mrs. Cai's son, she was also a family, so Cai Taizu would support Liu Cong and Mrs. Cai was also a family.
After Liu Biao's death, Liu Cong became the master of Jingzhou, and Cai Mao was also a powerful man. But soon, Cao Cao led an army to attack. At that time, bretz wanted to resist, but Cai Mao didn't think so. He urged Brittany to surrender and finally forced Brittany to surrender. Cai Mao is already a very powerful man. Why did he let his nephew surrender to Cao Cao?
One of the important reasons is that Cao Cao is a good friend of Cai Mao. Compared with Cao Cao, Liu cong is obviously inferior to him, and drinking spicy food with Cao Cao lasts longer, but this is obviously not the main reason. The main reason is the real estate of Caimao.
As mentioned earlier, Cai Mao is a large local family, so he bought a lot of real estate, which is recorded in Old Stories of Xiangyang. The house at home is very good. All four walls are made of bluestone. There are hundreds of ladies-in-waiting concubines, and there are forty or fifty who do business alone? . Forty or fifty houses are absolutely rich at any time, which is why Cai Mao works hard for Jingzhou. Liu Biao came to help Liu Biao, and Liu Bei wanted Jingzhou, but Cai Mao disagreed. He also supported Liu Cong for his own property, and Cao Cao came for the same reason. In order to keep his property, he surrendered to Cao Cao instead of confiscating it after Cao Cao broke it.
In the official history, Cai Mao was not killed by Cao Cao, but just as he planned. After Cai Taizu surrendered to Cao Cao, he saved his property and life, and remained extremely rich until the Jin Dynasty and the Yongjia Rebellion, when the rebels attacked Cai Zhou and the Cai clan members were slaughtered.