2 Opposing forces

Meanwhile Cao Cao had captured the strategic centre and military depot of Jiangling, and the sizeable fleet stationed there. The allied Sun-Liu forces sailed upstream to Red Cliffs, where they encountered Cao Cao's advance forces. After a indecisive skirmish, both sides settled down - with Cao camped north of the Yangzi and the allies camped in the south. Cao Cao boasted around 220,000 men, with a sizeable cavalry and naval division. Zhou Yu had around 30,000 marines whilst the exiled Liu Bei managed around 20,000.

3 Battle

The decisive blow came shortly afterwards, though the sources vary on who struck it. The most detailed account comes from the biography of Zhou Yu, which details how the Sun commander Huang Gai planned an attack on Cao Cao with fireships. The source tells of the devastation wrought in the Cao camp by the fires. In any case, a general order for retreat was given, and it is likely that the northerners destroyed a number of their own ships. There are hints that the northerners were at the time already plagued by disease and poor morale.

Many other sources indicates that a combination of Wei's underestimation and Shu deception won the Battle of Chibi(Red Cliffs). Pang Tong, an intelligent scholar and colleague of Zhuge Liang, had tricked and infiltrated Cao Cao's army as a military adviser. Pang Tong, under the advice of Zhuge Liang, then suggested that Cao Cao chain his entire warship fleet together to "prevent sea-sickness and disease".

Most of Cao Cao's massive army were from the north, and were ill-suited to the Southern climates and naval warfare altogether. Cao Cao's men were mostly cavalry and infantry, and almost none had any experience in naval warfare. Cao Cao simply assumed that superior numbers would eventually overwhelm the Wu and Shu navies, hence the 220,000 to 50,000 ratio. He converted his massive infantry and cavalry army into a marine corps and a navy, which was his first tactical mistake. Within days of drills and exercises before the battle, Cao Cao's army was decimated by sea-sickness, as many of his "fresh fleet" crew could not even swim. Tropical diseases long immune by southerners plagued the fresh bodies of the north, and had spread like wildfire in Cao Cao's camps.

Cao Cao complied to Pang Tong's request, which was logically sound, considering the alternative. Within days, sea-sickness was drastically eliminated, as the ships would rock less when chained together with many other ships. Cao Cao later praised and embraced this plan whole-willingly. In this method, dubbed "Together-Chained-Tactic", Zhuge Liang, thru Pang Tong, had tricked Cao Cao in massing and chaining his entire fleet. This act was beneficial at first to Cao Cao's fleet, but would eventually cause the demise of his fleet.

At this time of the year, Zhuge Liang knew that winds would only blow toward the direction of North-West (which is called a South-Eastern wind). Cao Cao's fleet, which was anchored in the North-West relative to Shu's and Wu's camps, was then in the exact line of fire from Wu and Shu's navy, respectively. Zhuge Liang had counted on this wind to even out the chances of the Wu and Shu's inferior forces.

The evening of battle, Cao Cao then realized that this South-Eastern wind disrupted and stopped his entire fleet movement, as his fleet could not advance against a wind blowing straight towards them. A general retreat order was called, but as his entire fleet was chained tightly to each other, panic and disorder prevented the fleet from moving effectively. The entire fleet of 2,000 was then trapped in the middle of the Chiangjiang river, with little or zero mobility.

A sitting target, Cao Cao then initiated battle orders, but his efforts were in vain. The arrows from Cao Cao's fleet could not reach the Wu and Shu's fleets, as the South-Eastern wind blew the arrows from their designated targets. Cao Cao's strategies of overwhelming the Shu-Wu navies with boarding parties had failed as soon as the fleet was immobilized. The Shu-Wu forces, aided by the wind, fired arrows tipped with fire at the hapless ships. A combination of numerous volleys of fire arrows and the attack of the infamous fire ships lead by Huang Gai on the front forward position of Cao Cao's fleet eventually destroyed the entire fleet (estimated 2,000 ships). The survivors of the Wei Navy mannually rowed back to the northern shores, and was routed by Shu marines and skirmishers.

As Cao Cao retreated in disarray, he was harassed by Liu Bei and Zhou Yu's troops. Ambushes set by Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Fei continued to hamper Cao Cao's forces until Huarong , where he met the legendary general Guan Yu. Reports are that Guan Yu, moved with pity at Cao Cao's ragtag and weary troops, remembered Cao Cao's kindness at the Battle of Guandu when Cao Cao sheltered Guan Yu, and allowed Cao Cao to escape with the survivors. Zhuge Liang was infuriated and almost sentenced Guan Yu to die for not obeying orders, but was stopped by Liu Bei, the blood brother of Guan Yu.

By the end of 209 the position Cao Cao had established at Jiangling had fallen to Zhou Yu. Liu Bei had created his own fiefdom by taking over the four commanderies south of the Yangzi River. In an act of betrayal between the Shu-Wu alliance, Liu Bei had also took Cao Cao's Jingzhou, a vital and strategic fortress on the Chang Jiang River. Its junction and location of the fortress gave the owner of Jingzhou unlimited control and access to rights of passage in the Shu Empire, important waterways in the Wu Empire, and dominion of the southern Chang Jiang river. Orignially agreed to be granted to the Wu forces, Sung Quan was extremely angry and bitter for this act of betrayal, and Shu-Wu ties were officially broken. The eventual wars between Shu and Wu would be over the state of Jingzhou for the next 20 years. Wei, under Cao Cao's forces, were still recuperating with the losses of the Battle of Chibi, and therfore could not defend Jingzhou against Guan Yu's superior forces.

It is later revealed that Zhuge Liang had plotted this all along, and calculated that Sun Quan's Wu forces would be the most weakened after the Battle of Chibi. Zhuge Liang gave the fortress of Jing Zhou to Guan Yu, who maintained and guarded it until his death in 219.

Never again would Cao Cao control such a large fleet as he had taken at Jiangling and no similar opportunity to destroy his southern rivals would again present itself. In this way, the Battle of Red Cliffs and the capture of Jingzhou confirmed the partrition of South China from the northern Yellow River valley heartland. It was also not only instrumental in creating the division of China under the Three Kingdoms but also foreshadowed the north-south hostilities of later centuries.

Red Cliffs

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