The Battle of Chibi
War date: July 208 to November 208
Location: Wulin (now northwest of Puqi, Hubei)
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Result: Sun Quan, Liu Bei allied victory
Parties: Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan
Commanders: Cao Cao, Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, Liu Bei
Strength: about 160,000, about 50,000
Battle of Chibi: Battle of Changban – Battle of Wulin – Battle of Jiangling
The Battle of Chibi is one of the most important events in Chinese history One of the famous battles in which the weak defeated the strong. In 208 AD (the thirteenth year of Emperor Xian's reign of the Han Dynasty), Cao Cao led a land and sea army, known as one million, to launch the Battle of Jingzhou and then crusade against Sun Quan. Sun Quan and Liu Bei formed an alliance, commanded by Zhou Yu, and defeated Cao's army in the Chibi area of ????the Yangtze River (now northwest of Chibi City, Hubei Province, some say northeast of today's Jiayu), and the Three Kingdoms were established. The Battle of Chibi was the first large-scale river battle fought in the Yangtze River Basin, and it was also the only battle in which Sun, Cao, and Liu all sent their main forces to participate.
Enterprising Jingzhou: After the Battle of Guandu in 200 and the northern expedition to Wuhuan in 207, Cao Cao completed the war to unify the north. After returning to Yecheng (now southwest of Linzhang, Hebei) in the first month of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, he immediately began military and political preparations for sending troops south. First, he dug the Xuanwu Pond in Ye to train his naval forces; second, he sent Zhang Liao, Yu Jin, and Le Jin to garrison troops near Xudu in case of an unexpected incident; third, he ordered Ma Teng and his family to move to Ye and made a practical move. hostages to reduce the threat from the northwest; fourth, he dismissed three public officials and installed prime ministers and imperial censors to further consolidate his dominance; fifth, he eradicated Kong Rong, who had repeatedly insulted and opposed him, to protect himself authority.
In the autumn of July, Cao Cao personally led an army of more than 100,000 men southward to Jingzhou. In Wang Fuzhi's words in "Du Tongjian Lun", he "took advantage of Yuan Shao's momentum to attack Jing and Wu." He attempted to eliminate Liu Biao and Sun Quan of Jiangdong in one fell swoop and unify the world. Just when Cao Cao was approaching Wan and Ye, Liu Biao died of illness in August. In September, his second son Liu Cong surrendered to Cao's army without fighting in Xinye (now part of Henan Province). Thousands of mengchong and fighting ships in the Jingzhou navy were all owned by Cao Cao. At this point, Cao Cao's naval warfare strength was greatly increased. Liu Bei, who attached himself to Liu Biao and stationed troops in Fancheng (today's Xiangfan, Hubei Province), led his troops to retreat south after hearing the news.
At that time, Jiangling (today's Jiangling, Hubei) stored a large amount of grain, grass, weapons, etc. for Liu Biao. Therefore, Liu Bei on the one hand retreated from Fancheng to Jiangling, and on the other hand ordered Guan Yu to lead the navy to Jiangling via the Han River to meet up. In September, Cao Jun personally led five thousand elite cavalry, including tiger and leopard cavalry, to pursue Liu Bei, defeated Liu Bei's army at Changbanpo in Dangyang (now northeast of Dangyang, Hubei Province) and occupied Jiangling.
After Cao Cao arrived in Jiangling, he immediately took measures to settle the officials and people of the state and ordered "the officials and people of Jingzhou should be reformed with them."
Jia Xu persuaded Cao Cao to first use Jingzhou's resources to recuperate the army and civilians and stabilize the new territory, but Cao Cao ignored his suggestion. Cao Jun's combat deployment is generally as follows: with Zhao Yan as the prefect and guardian of Zhangling (the county is located southeast of present-day Zaoyang, Hubei Province), Yu Jin, Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Li Dian, Zhang Liao, Feng Kai and other seven armies will be unified to command them in between the Han River and the Huai River. On the Jingzhou side, Cao Cao sent Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan to garrison Jiangling, Cao Hong to garrison Xiangyang, and another naval force to move south from Xiangyang along the Han River to Xiakou. Cao Cao personally led a force along with the newly attached Jingzhou people down the river to attack Soochow.
When Cao Cao went south, Sun Quan sent Lu Su as an envoy to Jingzhou to mourn Liu and also said that Liu Bei was united in guarding Cao. Lu Su and Liu Bei met in Dangyang. Later, Liu Bei used his plan to retreat to the southeast direction of the Han River. He joined Guan Yu's navy from the east of the Han River and retreated to the allied force of more than 10,000 men from Liu Biao's eldest son, Liu Qi, the prefect of Jiangxia. Xiakou (now Hankou, Wuhan, Hubei), attempted to unite with Sun Quan to fight against Cao Cao. Liu Bei sent Zhuge Liang to follow Su to the Eastern Wu Dynasty to plot against Cao Cao.
When Zhuge Liang arrived at Chaisang (now southwest of Jiujiang, Jiangxi), Sun Quan had received a threatening letter from Cao Cao. The letter said: "The army of 800,000 people who are in charge of the water now will join the general to hunt in Wu." Sun Quan. They were unwilling to be controlled by Cao Cao with the "entire land of Wu and a hundred thousand people", and they were worried that the coalition forces of Sun and Liu could not match Cao Cao. Sun Quan's main war faction represented by Lu Su and the peace faction headed by Zhang Zhao also launched a fierce debate.
Zhuge Liang analyzed the pros and cons of both the enemy and ourselves for Sun Quan: "Although the Yuzhou (Liu Bei) army was defeated by Changban, the number of warriors returned today is as good as Guan Yu's naval army of 10,000 people, and Liu Qi and Jiangxia's warriors are no less than 10,000." He pointed out that (1) Cao Cao The soldiers were exhausted after the expedition; (2) the northerners were "not used to water warfare"; (3) the people of Jingzhou had not yet convinced Cao Cao. Zhuge Liang concluded that if Sun and Liu united, they would definitely win.
Lu Su persuaded Sun Quan by stimulating the general's advice, and at the same time advised Sun Quan to immediately recall Zhou Yu from Poyang (now northeast of Boyang, Jiangxi). Zhou Yu supported the opinions of Zhuge Liang and Lu Su, and analyzed the weaknesses of Cao's army successively, pointing out: first, Cao's army was exhausted; second, "it is extremely cold now, and the horses have no grass." Third, in addition, Ma Chao and Han Sui were still in Guanxi. Cao Cao's future troubles. Later, he further analyzed the actual strength of Cao's army and pointed out that Cao's army from the Central Plains only numbered 150,000 to 60,000, and that Liu Biao's new surrender of 78,000 to 80,000 people did not support Cao.
Sun Quan strengthened his confidence in joining forces with Liu to defeat Cao, and appointed Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu as the left and right commanders, and Lu Su as the captain of the Zan Army. Zhou Yu led an elite force of 30,000 people up the river to Xiakou, where he joined Liu Bei's army of more than 20,000 people and joined forces to fight against Cao Cao.
Defeat in Wulin: The army led by Zhou Yu met Liu Bei at Fankou. Then he went upstream to Red Cliff and met Cao Jun. Cao Jun's newly formed and newly attached Jingzhou navy had weak combat effectiveness and suffered from an epidemic of plague, which made the initial battle unfavorable. Cao Cao had to "lead the army to the north of the Yangtze River" and dock the warship to the Wulin side of the north bank. Zhou Yu docked the warship on the Red Cliff side of the south bank and faced each other.
The Northern soldiers were not used to life on the ship, so Cao Cao ordered the warships to be chained together with iron ropes to reduce the bumps of the wind and waves. Zhou Yu's general Huang Gai suggested using fire attack tactics to defeat Cao's army: "Today the invaders are outnumbered and it is difficult to sustain them. However, if Guan Cao's warships are connected end to end, they can be burned and driven away." Zhou Yu adopted Huang Gai's suggestion. He immediately decided to let Huang Gai fake a surrender to approach Cao Cao's warship. Huang prepared ten Mengchong battleships, loaded with firewood and ointment, camouflaged with curtains and carrying the flags agreed with Cao Cao.
It is the middle of winter, and winds mostly blow from the north. However, according to meteorological rules, after a few days of severe cold, it is common to have less warm days, and the wind direction may change to easterly or southerly. It is said that on November 12, Jiazi Day (December 7, 208 AD), the sky was clear and the wind was warm. The south wind picked up in the evening, and the wind became strong at midnight. Huang Gai set off with the prepared ships and sailed to Cao Cao with the wind. Boat. When they arrived at the center of the river, Huang Gai sawed the torch with his hand, causing all the soldiers to shout in unison: "Surrender!" Cao's officers and soldiers were unprepared and "all stretched their necks to watch, pointing to Gai to surrender." About two miles away from Cao's army, Huang Gai ordered the firewood to be lit, and the fire started at the same time. The fire was fierce and the wind was fierce. The ship was like an arrow, burning the northern ship and spreading to all the camps on the shore. In a short time, "smoke spread across the sky, and many people were burned and drowned."
Sun Jun's main fleet on the south bank took the opportunity to beat drums and advance; at the same time, Liu Bei also marched from Shushan to Wulin. The Allied forces crossed the Yangtze River and defeated Cao's army. Seeing that the defeat was irreversible, Cao Cao immediately burned the remaining ships and led his troops to retreat. Zhou Yu and Liu Bei's armies advanced by land and water, and Cao Cao retreated toward Jiangling along the Huarong Trail (today's Jianli North, Hubei Province). Due to plague and starvation, Cao Cao's army lost most of its troops. Fortunately, Zhang Liao, Xu Zhu and others were able to escape the danger. When they arrived at Jiangling City, Cao Cao feared that his rear would be unstable, so he returned to the north, leaving Cao Ren and Xu Huang to guard Jiangling, and Man Chong stationed in Dangyang.
Consequences: Before the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao's advantage was very great: first, Cao Cao "held the emperor to order the princes", and the princes naturally found it difficult to compete morally; second, Cao Cao went south with his newly victorious army, His Qi grew stronger, and thirdly, Cao Cao's military strength was several times that of Sun and Liu. Since Cao Cao has such an advantage, the performance of the Sun-Liu coalition is even more brilliant. In this battle, Sun and Liu Jun made use of their skills in water warfare and cleverly used fire attacks. It can be regarded as a famous example in Chinese history of being decisive and defeating more with less. After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao retreated to the north and never had the opportunity to march south to Jingzhou on such a large scale. Cao Cao's group also lost the possibility of unifying the country in a short period of time.
Zhou Yu and others confronted Cao Ren across the river and sent Gan Ning to attack Yiling (today's Yichang, Hubei). Cao Ren led his troops to encircle Gan Ning. Zhou Yu led his army to rescue and defeated Cao Ren's army. Liu Bei returned to Xiakou, intending to trace the Han River to Cao Ren's rear. The following year, Cao Ren was forced to retreat. Sun Quan continued his alliance with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao.
Liu Bei took advantage of the situation and captured most of Jingzhou, including Wuling (the county seat is in today's Changde, Hunan Province), Changsha, Guiyang (the county seat is in today's Chenxian County, Hunan Province), and Lingling (all in today's Hunan Province). Later, Liu Zhang's Yizhou was captured. Sun Quan occupied Jiangdong, forming a separatist situation among the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu.
Comments: When commenting on Cao Cao's defeat at Chibi, traditional historians emphasized that his thinking underestimated the enemy's pride. For example, Zhang Zuoyao said in "The Biography of Cao Cao": "Cao Cao was easily excited and easily dazzled by victory."
Cao Cao did not take advantage of his victory to completely defeat Liu Bei.
Pei Songzhi, who annotated "Three Kingdoms", disagreed. He believed: "At that time, Cao Cao was able to pacify Jianghan and intimidate Yangyue. He used Liu's water warfare tools and took advantage of Jingchu's 楫湣 to achieve a good meeting." "This is a great opportunity. If we don't take advantage of this, what will happen if we don't take advantage of it?"
One aspect that traditional comments generally ignore is the epidemic factor. Cao Cao attributed the failure to illness. He wrote to Sun Quan: "The Battle of Red Cliff was worth it due to illness. The lonely ship burned and retreated, which made Zhou Yu falsely receive this name." Pei Songzhi commented on the Battle of Red Cliff: "As for the Battle of Red Cliff, The defeat was due to luck. It was because of the rapid military success that the sharp peak was destroyed, and the wind came from the south, and the power of Fenru was used. How can it be done by Li Yousong? The article "Discussion on the Relationship with Schistosomiasis" pointed out that the reason for Cao Cao's defeat in the Battle of Chibi was "disease" - acute schistosomiasis. The battlefield of the Battle of Chibi happened to be an area where schistosomiasis was seriously endemic at that time, and it was the infection season of schistosomiasis. The Battle of Chibi began in winter, but Cao's army was moving and training in autumn. Cao Cao's navy was infected with schistosomiasis before the Battle of Chibi, and it took more than a month for the disease to develop, which made them vulnerable to fatigue and illness during the war. Liu and Sun's troops have been engaged in production and living in areas where schistosomiasis is endemic for a long time, and the soldiers have more or less developed a certain degree of immunity.
Rafe de Crespigny believed that the Battle of Ulin was really a small-scale encounter.
The location of Red Cliff
For many years, academic circles have discussed the issue of the geographical location of "Red Cliff", and various theories have been called the "New Red Cliff War" by modern media. According to general statistics, there are at least seven "Red Cliff theories": Puqi theory, Huangzhou theory, Zhongxiang theory, Wuchang theory, Hanyang theory, Hanchuan theory, and Jiayu theory. Judging from the current discussion, the focus of the debate is which is the Puqi theory, the Jiayu theory and the Huangzhou theory, and the other four theories are difficult to establish.
1. Pu Qi said: "Annotations on the Translation of Ancient Wen Guan Zhi" edited by Yin Faru wrote: "The Red Cliff is located in the northwest of Pu Qi County, Hubei Province, on the south bank of the Yangtze River." "Yuanhe County Map" "Chibi Mountain" also says: "Chibi Mountain is one hundred and twenty miles west of Puqi County, adjacent to the river in the north, and its north bank is Wulin, which is where Zhou Yu used Huang Gai to burn Cao Gong's boat and was defeated." "Zi Zhitong" annotated by Hu Sansheng It also mainly refers to "The Atlas of Chinese History" and "The Atlas of Chinese History" edited by Tan Qixiang. Among the three theories, the Puqi theory is more credible, because in recent years a large number of artifacts have been excavated from Red Cliff in Puqi. In 1991, the School of Humanities of Hubei University published the "Collected Essays on Puqi Red Cliffs on the Ancient Battlefield" in agreement with the above point of view.
2. Jiayu said: "Ancient Chinese" edited by Wang Li and "Selected Chinese Literary Works of the Past Dynasties" edited by Zhu Dongrun both hold the view that Red Cliff is located in the northeast of Jiayu County, Hubei Province. As mentioned above, the source of this theory can be traced to the "Yi Tong Zhi of the Qing Dynasty" citing the "Shui Jing Zhu" as evidence. "Shui Jing Zhu" says: "Chibi Mountain is located in the south of Bairen Mountain, and should be in the northeast of Jiayu County, at the border with Jiangxia, 200 miles up to Wulin." This statement was later endorsed by Yang Shoujing, a famous geographer in the late Qing Dynasty.
3. Huangzhou said: There is another theory that Chibi is located east of today’s Wuhan. Du Mu in the Tang Dynasty and Su Shi in the Northern Song Dynasty both regarded Chibiji (today's "East Slope Red Cliff") in the northwest of Huanggang (ancient Huangzhou) as Red Cliff because the rock walls here are vertical and red, as if they had been burnt by fire. Su Shi's "Qian Chibi Fu" said: "Looking west to Xiakou and east to Wuchang.