|
History — Military
history — List of battles - Three Kingdoms
Battle of Red Cliff (赤壁之戰), also known as Battle of Chi Bi. "Chi
Bi" literally means "red cliff".
In 208, Zhou Yu and Liu Bei led their forces to fight Cao Cao. Cao Cao led a force of
300,000 to attack Wu. Zhou Yu led the Wu forces (30,000) with Liu Bei's forces (20,000).
Cao Cao had previously linked his ships together because his men were mainly Northerners who were not accustomed to fighting
on water; they were also sick after an epidemic.
In the meantime, Huang Gai pretended to be a turncoat, seeking to give the top
secret of Wu's army to Cao Cao. During the night of the battle, Huang Gai engineered his escape from the South side of the
Chang Jiang (where Wu's camp was) to the North side (where Wei's base was). Near the Northern bank, Huang Gai set his tail boat on fire. Cao Cao's armada,
connected together, caught fire in the bay and was nearly totally destroyed.
Zhou Yu, at this time, sent his whole army against Cao Cao's army which lost its
morale. Cao Cao decided it would be best to retreat.
The result of the Battle of Red Cliff greatly hindered Cao Cao's expansion across Chang Jiang into the Southern China.
See also: Chinese history -- Sanguoyanyi (i.e., Romance of Three
Kingdoms) -- Sun Quan
|