chinese culture

The Battle of Red Cliffs

The Battle of Red Cliffs also known as the Battle of Chibi (simplified Chinese: 赤壁之战; traditional Chinese: 赤壁之戰; Pinyin: chì bì zhī zhàn) was a decisive battle in 208 A.D. the end of Han Dynasty. It was fought between the allied forces of the southern warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and the northern warlord, Cao Cao. Liu and Sun successfully frustrated Cao Cao’s effort to conquer the land south of the Yangtze River and reunite the territory of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

After Cao Cao unified the North of China, he led the troop of 800,000 soldiers to south aiming to eliminate his main southern rivals and unify China. However, Liu Bei and Sun Quan joined up to resist Cao Army. There were altogether 50,000 soldiers, including 30,000 trained naval soldiers led by Zhou Yu, the general of Wu and others led by Liu Bei.

Because the exhausting expedition and inexperience in water battle, Cao Army got seasickness, then Cao Cao had moored his ships from stem to stem, possibly aiming to reduce seasickness in his army. Observing this, divisional commander Huang Gai sent a letter to Cao Cao, feigning surrender and handing over the provisions. Cao Cao simply assumed that superiority in number would eventually defeat Sun and Liu and believed Huang Gai. Huang Gai led his ships which filled with bundles of kindling, dry reeds, and fatty oil. When the ships approached the midpoint of the river, the sailors applied fire to the ships before taking to small boats. The unmanned fire ships, carried by the southeastern wind, sped towards Cao´s fleet and set it ablaze. Within a short time smoke and flames stretched across the sky, and a large number of men and horses either burned to death or drowned. Cao Cao had to flee with the remaining troops. The ally then chased to enlarge their victory.

The battle laid the foundation for the confrontation of the latter three kingdoms, Wei, Shu and Wu. It is also a classic battle in Chinese history famous for the fewer and weaker defeating the more and stronger.

The content of the site are all originals. Please note its origin (http://www.chinese-cultures.com) if forward the content.

This Article Link: http://www.chinese-cultures.com/the-battle-of-red-cliffs.html