After Cao Cao united North China, he had
only two rivals, Sun Quan in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River and Liu
Bei in what is now the area of Hubei province.
In 208, Cao Cao led an army of 200,000 soldiers (claimed to be 800,000) to the south.
Liu Bei retreated to Wuchang, Hubei. At that time, he only had army of about 20,000
soldiers. Based on the military strategist Zhuge Liang's suggestion, he decided
to make an alliance with Sun Quan to fight together against Cao Cao. Zhuge Liang
argued before Sun Quan that, although Cao Cao outstripped them in the quantity of
the army, about 70,000 to 80,000 of his soldiers surrendered from Jingzhou. These
people were mainly navy soldiers and were the operational main force, and they had
no certain loyalty to Cao Cao. Furthermore, the northern soldiers were not good
at battle on water, and many fell into a bed illness after their long-distance advance.
This analysis caused Sun Quan to clearly see the situation, and he agreed to send
hsi senior general Zhou Yu to lead 30,000 sergeants to fight against Cao Cao together
with Liu Bei.
Cao Cao anchored at a place call Red Cliff (in today's Chibi city, Hubei province),
He chained his ships together so that the northern soldiers could walk steadily
on them. Both Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu decided to attack Cao Cao with fire. One night,
when there was a favorable southeast wind, Zhou Yu dispatched the general Huang
Gai with 10 ships to sail toward the enemy, pretending to be surrendering. The ships
were loaded with firewood soaked in gasoline. When they were near enough to Cao
Cao's fleet, they set their ships on fire and left them to drift into the enemy
ships. Because Cao Cao's ships were chained together and were hard to untie in such
a short time, Cao Cao's fleet was immediately caught in a sea of fire. Later, the
fire expanded to the land, and Cao Cao's troops were severely destroyed.
After the Battle of Red Cliff, the situation of China changed. Cao Cao retreated
back to the north. In 220, after Cao Cao's death, his son Cao Pi dethroned Emperor
Xiandi of Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor, renaming his territory Wei,
with Louyang as its capital. Following his victory in the Battle of Red Cliff, Liu
Bei occupied most of Jingzhou, and then spread his power to the west. In 221, he
also proclaimed himself emperor, and named his state Shu, with the capital in Chengdu,
Szechuan province. Sun Quan consokidated his power in the middle and lower reaches
of Yangtze River, and proclaimed himself emperor in 222. He named his state Wu,
and made Jianye (today's Nanjing) as his capital. The situation of tripartite confrontation
lasted until 280, when Western Jin Dynasty wipped out Wu.
Reference data
Sun Quan Rules East Coast
Sun Quan (c. 182 - 252) was born in today's Zhejiang province and named Zhongmou.
After his elder brother Sun Ce's death, he took over his rule over the middle and
lower reaches of Yangtze River area. At that time, there were people who looked
down on him and rebelled publicy against him. Su Quan dispatched troops quickly
and killed the rebels. Seeing he was so courageous and resourceful, people all admired
him very much. Later, Cao Cao proposed that as long as Sun Quan sent one of his
sons to Cao Cao as hostage, Cao Cao would promise to keep good relations with Sun
Quan. Adopting Zhou Yu's advice, Sun Quan did not follow Cao Cao's proposal. Instead,
he developed and expanded his own power relying on the geographical advantages in
Jiangdong (roughly the areas south of Yangtze River), which finally led to the situation
of tripartite confrontation.
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