Sun Quan's rise in the chaotic world can be said to have a great deal of serendipity, and what he inherited was an imperial foundation that had been basically formed, which was a very high starting point compared to the foundation on which Cao Cao and Liu Bei established the empire. However, a high starting point may not be able to do a good job, which is the experience summed up from many typical cases from ancient times to the present. And Sun Quan is a typical case of that high starting point and good work. It is an indisputable fact that sun quan painstakingly managed the Sun Wu Empire, which was the longest in China among the Three Kingdoms. The story of the Three Kingdoms to be shared today is Sun Quan's early battle of fame, which later generations called the "Battle of The Mouth of the Beard" or the "Battle of the Beard".
The place of contention between Wu and Wei - "Wushukou";
According to the Explanation in the Cihai, "璇宮" is the name of a water system that flowed into the Yangtze River in the ancient Jianghuai region, and the source of this water system was Xichao Lake in present-day Chaohu City, Hefei City, Anhui Province, and flowed into the Yangtze River through the southeast of Wuwei County, Present-day Wuhu City, Anhui Province. This water system, known as "Shuisu Water" during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, is one of the main waterways in the Jianghuai region, and is also the only waterway where Chaohu Lake enters the Yangtze River Basin, with extremely important military value and strategic position, and has always been a place where soldiers and families must fight. The so-called "Whiskers Mouth" is the inlet where the Water of the Yangtze River flows, which is equivalent to a major pass to curb the Water of the Yangtze River.
Regarding the specific location of the "Wusukou", due to the fact that it has lasted too long, the ancient water system and waterway have changed many times after more than a thousand years of erosion and siltation, but it is only known that the location near the entrance of the Yangtze River in the northeast of Wuwei County needs to be further examined. However, the importance of "Wushukou" to Wu and Wei in the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty is recorded in great detail in the Qing Jiaqing Nian's "Chronicle of Wuwei Prefecture".
According to the book, during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, wu and Wei had a military confrontation in the Jianghuai region, and the military town of Cao Wei was in the surrounding area centered on the ancient city of Hefei, which included Chaohu Lake and Chao County, while Sun Wu's military town was in the surrounding area centered on "Wushukou", which included the areas of Wusuwu and Dongguan at that time. The book also clearly states that as long as the Wei people were only in the area of "Wushu", the capital of the Wu state of "Jianye", that is, the present-day city of Nanjing, could sit back and relax. Therefore, whenever the State of Wei raised troops to attack Wusu, the State of Wu was bound to devote all its strength to resist.
According to the records in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, throughout the Three Kingdoms period, Wu and Wei launched four large-scale conquests around the "Wusukou", namely the seventeenth year of Emperor Jian'an of Han Xian (212 AD), the twenty-second year of Jian'an of Emperor Xian of Han (217 AD), the third year of Emperor Huang of Wei (222 AD), and the fourth year of Emperor Jiaping of Wei Ming (252 AD). In the four conquests, Cao Cao personally led a large army to attack twice, and Sun Quan personally led his troops to meet the enemy and supervise the battle twice, which shows the importance of the "Shukou" at that time. The battle for Sun Quan's fame was in the first battle of "Wusukou" in which he personally led his troops to meet the enemy.
Wu and Wei confronted each other;
After being severely damaged in the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao finally recovered in the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211 AD) of the Han Emperor Jian'an after three years of cultivation and recuperation. At this time, Cao Cao had already quelled the rebellion in the Guanzhong region, and the remnants of Ma Chao, Han Sui, and others could no longer pose a threat for the time being, and the rear was basically stable. Therefore, he set his sights on the southeast battlefield.
Cao Cao's intention of this southern expedition was twofold: First, when Sun Quan took advantage of Cao Cao's lack of time to take care of the southeast, his power developed too fast, and it was necessary to strike a blow, it was best to pacify the Jiangdong region in one fell swoop and never have any trouble. Even if he could not flatten Jiangdong, he could also occupy the Wusu area by the way, look down on the economic and political center of Eastern Wu under Cao Wei's military front, and grasp the initiative of cutting down Wu; second, Sun Quan had some blind spots, taking advantage of the gap between Cao Cao's strength had not yet been restored and the Guanzhong region was not yet stable, and had once attacked Cao Wei's military stronghold in the Jianghuai region, the Hefei area. Although sun quan did not achieve his goal under the stubborn resistance of Liu Fu, the assassination of Yangzhou, this kind of behavior was really hateful and annoying, and it was necessary to teach a lesson to show this evil breath.
In the first month of the eighteenth year of the reign of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (212 AD), Cao Cao, after more than a year of meticulous preparations, personally led a large army to march to the hefei stronghold in the Jianghuai region.
Sun Quan was shocked to hear the news of Cao Cao's southern expedition, and immediately summoned the generals to discuss countermeasures, and finally made a consistent decision, with Sun Quan personally taking command and leading a large army to meet the enemy at "Wusukou". In order to ensure that nothing was lost, Sun Quan also ordered the general Zhu Ran to build a wetwood in the Dongguan area, on the one hand, to prepare for a long-term battle; on the other hand, to prevent the Wei army from sneaking attacks from the Dongguan area.
At this time, in the depths of Sun Quan's heart, it must be said that there must be fear, after all, the strategic position of "Wu Sukou" is too important to the State of Wu, and the gains and losses here directly determine the question of whether or not we can grasp the initiative on the battlefield. However, to say that Sun Quan was panicked and confused, it would not be enough. After all, Sun Quan was also a person who had experienced battlefield life and death when he was sixteen years old, especially after he took control of Eastern Wu at the age of nineteen, without the help of Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu and others, he led the sons of the clan alone to experience a battle of liwei, which was the time when his heart was high and he was eager to try. Regarding Sun Quan's "Battle of Liwei", a detailed introduction will be made in another article, and it will not be repeated in this article.
In this way, Cao Cao and Sun Quan, each leading their own people, formed a confrontation in the area of "Wusukou" in the Jianghuai region.
Sun Quan's battle of fame - "Straw boat borrowing arrows", "Eight characters to retreat from the enemy";
In this battle of "Wushukou", Cao Cao did not have anything outstanding, and the most eye-catching thing was Sun Quan's performance.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Zizhi Tongjian, at the beginning of the war, Sun Quan kept advising, led his troops to take the initiative to attack Cao Cao's military camp, and as a result, the rear was empty and gave Cao Cao an opportunity. Cao Cao led his troops to break through a camp of the Wu army, captured the Wu general Gongsun Yang, and achieved a small victory at the beginning of the war. After that, Cao Cao wanted to continue to expand the results of the battle, and once again ordered people to sneak into the Wu army's military camp. After Sun Quan's first attack failed, he did not dare to support the enemy, and used the advantages of the water army to surround and annihilate the enemy, killing and drowning thousands of Wei troops and capturing more than 3,000 people. Not only did it turn the war into a draw, but it also made Cao Cao soberly aware of the sharpness of wu's water army.
Next, the two sides attacked each other several times, winning or losing each other, regardless of whether they were in the same position. Cao Cao originally thought that this was a war of annihilation with big deception and small deception, but he did not want to fight a scorching war, especially the advantages of Wu Guo's water army, which made Cao Cao very jealous. Therefore, Cao Cao ordered the armies to hold their ground and stalemate with Sun Quan's army. Sun Quan saw that the Wei army could not shrink out, and he was also interested, not only personally leading his troops to call for a battle in front of the Wei army camp, but also, after repeatedly calling for the battle without results, he also took advantage of the night to drive a warship into the Wei army's camp and conducted a tour, military parade, and tour. With only one warship entering the hinterland of the Wei army's marine division camp, it is conceivable how bold Sun Quan was at that time.
According to Pei Songzhi's note in the Wei Luo, Sun Quan entered the Wei army camp on a large boat to inspect, Cao Cao ordered ten thousand arrows to be fired in unison, and the hull of the ship was tilted when there were too many arrows, and Sun Quan ordered the ship to turn, and finally "the arrows were flat, but they were returned." This is the origin of the allusion that "grass boats borrow arrows".
Regarding Sun Quan's "eight-character retreat from the enemy", it is also an allusion to the good story. According to Pei Songzhi's note quoting in the Wu Calendar, the Wu and Wei armies had been deadlocked for a long time, and no one had gained any benefits, and the Wei army could not shrink because the Water Army of the State of Wu could not shrink, and Sun Quan gradually lost the interest of continuing to confront each other. Therefore, Sun Quan wrote a letter to Cao Cao, accompanied by a note with eight words written on it: "Do not die under your feet, and you cannot be lonely." This sentence can be understood as: As long as you don't die, we still have a chance to compete, so why are we frozen like now?
After Cao Cao read Sun Quan's letter, he led his troops to retreat, and the Battle of "Wushukou" ended. The battle between Wu and Wei was not only the first battle around the "Wusukou", but also a classic battle in which Sun Quan became famous and was famous for future generations. Therefore, in this sense, Wuwei County in Wuhu City, Anhui Province, is really a blessed place where Sun Quan became famous.
Reference books: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zizhi Tongjian, Cihai