691 Choosing Camp (1/2)

Chapter 691-Choosing Camp

Translator: ryangohsf

Editor: Nora

The Battle of Red Cliff could be called a fight for heritage and inheritance in Jingzhou by the Cao, Sun, and Liu families.

Before the battle, Liu Biao basically occupied the entire Jingzhou; Liu Bei occupied the north of Jingzhou and during the end of the 12th year of Jian An, he recruited Zhuge Liang and started to want Liu Biao's land as well.

Cao Cao had calmed down the situation in the north, and its navy was ready to conquer the south. Sun Quan attacked Huang Zu at the start of the 13th year of Jian An; he killed Huang Zu and opened up the east door of Jingzhou.

All three sides wanted Liu Biao's land while Liu Biao was sick due to old age and lacked the charisma and flair he possessed during his youth. His heirs ended up splitting up, with Liu Zong being chosen to inherit Jingzhou and Liu Qi requesting to move out to Jiangxia. Under such circumstances, Jingzhou was basically able to defend itself.

In the 7th month of Jian An 13th year, Cao Cao led his troops down south. As Liu Biao had passed away because of his illness, Liu Zong intended to surrender to Cao Cao; Liu Bei housed in Fan City did not know about this.

After Cao Cao passed Wan City, Liu Bei received the news and immediately fled. At the same time, Guan Yu led the navy and headed toward Jiangling; Cao Cao smoothly entered Xiangyang and accepted the surrender of Liu Zong before sending troops to attack Liu Bei.

Along the road, Liu Bei accepted many of the tribesmen of Liu Zong; this group quickly rolled and snowballed into hundreds of thousands in number. At this point, they moved extremely slowly and could only cover 10 miles a day.

Cao Cao knew that Jiangling had vast quantities of resources and was afraid that Liu Bei would reach them first. Hence, he made the army leave all the heavy items while he led five thousand elite cavalries to hurry 300 odd miles in just one night. At Changban, he caught up with Liu Bei's forces, the captured soldiers and the refugees.

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Changban was greatly exaggerated. It described how Zhang Fei hollered three times and scared away 100 thousand Cao troops, and Zhao Yun charging solo into the Cao camp and killing as he wished.

During the battle described in the story, Zhang Fei exceeded a god and Zhao Yun was god-like.

However, in history, it naturally was not as exaggerated as that. Only five thousand elite Cao cavalry chased Liu Bei.

In history, Zhao Yun could not be considered a war god; he was more like a high-level body guard.

After the Battle of Changban ended, Liu Bei led tens of people over to the Hanshui crossing and coincidentally met Guan Yu's navy. He did not have time to take up the resources at Jiangling and directly proceeded to Jiangxia to meet up with Liu Qi.

Cao Cao chased him all the way and smoothly occupied Jiangling.

The most crucial turning point of the war appeared at Jiangling. Cao Cao listened to the advice of Advisor Jia Xu, moving into Jiangling. He started to calm the people down and stabilize his rule over Jingzhou.

This stop lasted a full two months.

And in these short two months, Liu Bei successfully formed an alliance with Sun Quan to face off against Cao. This changed the situation at the ending years of the East Han, resulting in there being the Battle of Red Cliff and the formation of the Three Kingdoms.

If Cao Cao had decided to continue chasing, the three kingdoms would not exist. Even if Liu Bei managed to fortunately escape, he would not be able to amass power.

Similarly, if he did not rush it and waited till winter passed, the Cao army would be more prepared; they would not suffer from illnesses, and the east win. They would not have lost at the Battle of Red Cliff either.

Hence, Pei Song wrote as such in the records of the Three Kingdoms: During the Battle of Red Cliff, the loss of the Cao army was fated; it was not something man could change.

10th month of the 13th year of Jian An, the Sun Liu alliance army went up from the Jiangxia River and were ready to fight the Cao Cao army. Both sides engaged near Red Cliff and fought a huge naval battle on the Changjiang.

During the first encounter, the Cao army was defeated.

First, there was an illness spreading in the camp, which affected their fighting strength. Secondly, their troops were mainly northern warriors who were not proficient at naval warfare.

Thirdly, Changjiang had limited space and was unsuited for large scale battle. Cao Cao had a massive army but was unable to use it, resulting in his defeat.

After the defeat, the Cao army just decided to camp at the northern shore of Wulin. At the same time, Zhou Yu's army camped at the south shore of Red Cliff, both sides in a stand-off.

Hence, the true fire engulfing the Red Cliff story happened in Wulin and not Red Cliff.

However, due to the fame of Red Cliff, it continued to spread that way.

The Cao army ships were connected to one another, so the moment one caught fire, it was difficult to stop. The Zhou Yu counter attack followed, with Huang Gai leading his ships to make a fake surrender, getting close to start more fires.

Using the east wind that really should not have appeared during winter, a huge fire burned away at Cao Cao's ambition to rule the world. After the battle, Cao Cao knew that he did not have the strength to occupy the Changjiang region and decided to just destroy his remaining warships to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

From this battle, Cao Cao lost a portion of the forces that went to Jiangling and the navy he took from Liu Biao was basically finished.

After the battle, Cao Cao escaped from the land and headed back to Jiangling, where he left Cao Ren to defend. He himself backed off to the north.

A year after Zhou Yu and Cao Ren fought, Cao Ren was chased away, and they took control of the south prefecture. Hence, Cao Cao lost this portion of the Changjiang waterway.