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The Battle of Chibi refers to the battle in which Sun Quan and Liu Bei’s allied forces defeated Cao Cao’s army in Chibi (now northwest of Chibi City, Hubei Province) on the Yangtze River in the 13th year of Jian’an (208) in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. It is one of the famous battles in Chinese history, with the fewer and the weak, the most famous of the three major battles of the Three Kingdoms period, and the first large-scale river battle in the Yangtze River basin in Chinese history.
02
In the thirteenth year of Jian ‘an of the Eastern Han Dynasty (208 AD), the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao’s army in a decisive battle in the area of Chibi (the Mountain of Chibi in the northwest of Puqi City, Hubei Province, or the mountain of Chiji in the west of Wuchang County, Hubei Province) on the Yangtze River. Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, broke Wuhuan, and basically unified the north. In July of the thirteenth year of Jian’an, he sent troops south from Wan (now Nanyang, Henan), intending to destroy Liu Biao first, and then march eastward along the Yangtze River to defeat Sun Quan and unify the world. In September, Cao’s army occupied Xinye (now in Henan), when Liu Biao had died and his son Liu Cong surrendered without a fight. Liu Bei, who was attached to Liu Biao’s army in Fancheng (now in Hubei), hastily led his army and people to retreat south. Cao Cao collected Liu Biao’s troops, claiming that 800,000 troops were advancing to the Yangtze River. After Liu Bei Chang (now Dangyang, Hubei Province) was defeated by Cao Jun, Zhuge Liang was sent to Chaisang (now southwest of Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province) to meet Sun Quan on his way back from the army and persuade Sun Quan to form an alliance against Cao.
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Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu as the main general, Cheng Pu as the deputy, leading 30,000 elite water troops, and Liu Bei’s army stationed in Fankou (present-day Ezhou, Hubei), a total of about 50,000 men marched westward back to the Yangtze River to meet Cao Jun. In November, Sun and Liu faced off against Cao in Red Cliff. Cao Cao will be linked to the ship head and tail, as one, in order to facilitate the exercise of the navy, waiting for the opportunity to attack. Zhou Yu adopted the department will Huang Gai fire attack, and make it to the book Cao Cao false surrender, Cao Cao trick. Huang Gai chose the time to lead the Mengchong fighting ship to sail into the Cao Jun Water Village and set it on fire. The Cao army’s ship formation was burned, the fire extended to the shore camp, and the Sun-Liu coalition army took advantage of the situation to attack, and the Cao army was killed and wounded by more than half, so he led his troops to retreat north, leaving the southern general Cao Ren to hold Jiangling. The coalition took advantage of the victory and expanded the results, and Sun and Liu’s two armies occupied important places in Jingzhou.
04
In the decisive battle in Chibi, Cao Cao underestimated the enemy in a favorable situation, made a mistake in command, and was finally defeated. Sun Quan and Liu Bei formed an alliance to fight against Japan at the juncture of the strong enemy’s advance. They used fire to attack skillfully, and finally defeated the strong with the weak. This battle laid the foundation for the future establishment of the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu.
