Liu Bei garrisoned Fankou, eagerly awaiting Sun Quan's army, and sent patrolling soldiers every day to look out over the river.
On this day, the soldiers looked through the autumn water, finally saw Zhou Yu's fleet, and immediately returned to the camp on horseback to report to Liu Bei.
Liu Bei was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to Wei Lao.
Zhou Yu said to the comforters: "I have military affairs, I can't appoint others to represent me, I hope Liu Bei can condescend to come to the meeting." ”
Liu Bei went to see Zhou Yu in a boat and said, "It is really a wise decision to resist Cao Cao now. I don't know how many warriors there are? ”
Zhou Yu said, "Thirty thousand people." ”
Liu Bei said: "Unfortunately, there are too few. ”
Zhou Yu said, "This is enough, General, and see how I defeat the Cao Army." ”
Liu Bei wanted to talk to Lu Su and others together.
Zhou Yu said: "They accept military orders, each has its own responsibilities, and cannot arbitrarily entrust others to represent them. If you want to see Lu Su, you can visit him another time. ”
When Liu Bei heard this, he was both ashamed and very happy.
Zhou Yu led a large army to continue his advance, and met Cao Cao face-to-face at Chibi (赤bi, Hubei).
At this time, Cao Cao's troops were overwhelmed by the soil and water, and the disease had begun to occur.
The two armies engaged for the first time, and the Cao army lost and retreated to the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Zhou Yu and other garrisons were on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
Zhou Yubu put Huang Gaijin into a fraudulent surrender and suggested a fire attack.
Huang Gai (黄 Gai), courtesy name Gongfu, was a native of Quanling, Lingling County (present-day Lingling District, Yongzhou, Hunan), and one of the Twelve Tiger Ministers of Jiangbiao.
Huang Gai served as a minor official in the county, was inspected as filial piety, and was recruited into the gongfu.
When Sun Jian raised a volunteer army against Dong Zhuo, Huang Gai followed him and was appointed Sima of the Other Department for his military merits.
After Sun Jian's death, Huang Gai successively followed Sun Ce and Sun Quan, put on armor and turned to the north and south, risked death to attack the city, and made great military achievements.
The Shanyue tribes were reluctant to submit to Sun Wu, or to counties where thieves were rebelling, and always sent Huang Gai there as county magistrates or county commanders to quell rebellions and control the chaos.
The officials of Shicheng County were particularly difficult to restrain their management, so Huang Gai appointed two historians to be in charge of various departments.
He instructed the two men: "I, the county commander, have no talent, but only rely on martial arts to obtain officials, not be famous as civilian officials." Now that the thieves have not been pacified, I often have military tasks, and the handling of official documents will be entrusted to you two. You should supervise and inspect the various departments, correct and expose their mistakes, and handle things well within the scope of your duties. If there is deception and adultery, I will not punish him with a whipping stick no matter what. Do your best not to break their heads. ”
Fearing Huang Gai's majesty, the two historians began to be dutiful and diligent, but over time, they thought that Huang Gai did not read the documents, and gradually neglected official duties.
Huang Gai was dissatisfied with their laxity and laziness, and from time to time he examined them and had evidence of their own lawlessness.
He invited all the officials in the county to come, set up a banquet, and took out examples of violations of law and discipline, and questioned the two historians.
The evidence was conclusive, and the two historians had nothing to say and both bowed their heads and pleaded guilty.
Huang Gai said, "I have warned you before that in the end I will not punish you with a whip or a staff, and I will never deceive you." ”
With that, he ordered the killing of the two men.
The officials of the county were shocked and intimidated.
Later, Huang Gai was transferred to the county magistrate of Chungu County, Xunyang County Ling, etc., and served in nine counties before and after, all of which were governed safely and stably.
He was also promoted to the rank of Lieutenant of Danyang, suppressing the strong and helping the poor and the weak, so that Shanyue sincerely surrendered.
Huang Gai's appearance is serious and resolute, but he is good at taking care of his subordinates, and every time he sends troops to fight, the soldiers and soldiers strive to be the first.
Huang Gai suggested: "Nowadays, the enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered, and it is difficult to hold each other for a long time. The Cao army was connecting the warships together, end to end, and could attack with fire to defeat the Cao army. ”
Zhou Yu adopted Huang Gai's suggestion, selected ten Mengchong warships, loaded them with dried di and dry firewood, poured oil on the inside, wrapped the curtain on the outside, planted a flag on the top, prepared the speedboat in advance, and tied it to the stern.
Huang Gai first sent a letter to Cao Cao, falsely claiming that he intended to surrender.
At that time, the southeast wind was rapid, and Huang Gai lined up ten warships in the front, raised the sails when they reached the center of the river, and sailed rapidly towards Cao Ying, and the rest of the ships followed behind and advanced in turn.
When the officers and men of the Cao Army heard that Huang Gai had come and descended, they all walked out of the barracks, stood and watched, pointing at the fleet, and talking about it.
When there were still more than two miles away from the Cao army, the Wu army ignited ten warships at the same time, and the fiery wind was fierce, and the ships flew forward like arrows, rushing into the Cao army warships, igniting all the Cao army warships, and the fire spread all the way to the camp on the land of the Cao army.
In an instant, thick smoke and fire covered the sky.
The Cao soldiers and horses could not retreat, and countless people were burned and drowned.
Zhou Yu and other elite warriors led by light armor followed close behind, drumming the heavens and rushing forward bravely.
The Cao army was defeated.
At this time, the wind was blowing more and more tightly, and Cao Cao led his army to retreat on foot from Huarong Road, encountering mud and impassable roads, so he had to let all the old and weak remnants of the soldiers lay grass on the road, and the cavalry barely passed.
The old, weak and disabled soldiers were trampled by people and horses, trapped in the mud, and countless deaths and injuries were inflicted.
Liu Bei and Zhou Yu marched on land and water, taking advantage of the victory to pursue until they reached Nan County.
Cao Jun was hungry and sick, and died for more than half of them.
Cao Cao left the general Cao Ren (曹仁) and the Yokono general Xu Huangzhen (徐晃镇) to guard Jiangling, and the general Lejin (樂進镇) to guard Xiangyang, leading his army back to the north.