In 208 AD, after pacifying the north, Cao Cao prepared to send an army to the south, and in July, Cao Cao led an army south, intending to attack Jingzhou. In August, Liu Biao of Jingzhou died of illness, and Liu Chun succeeded him as Jingzhou Mu. When Cao Cao learned of this, he took Xun Yu's advice and led light horses to attack Chaowan and Ye. Liu Chun was very panicked when he learned that Cao Cao's army was pressing the territory, and under the persuasion of the native warriors in Jingzhou, Liu Chun gave up the resistance of the city and went out of the city to surrender to Cao Cao, so that Cao Cao's soldiers could take Jingzhou without bloodshed. At this time, Xiliang Ma Teng and Han Sui and others had already submitted to Cao Wei, they sent hostages to Yicheng in exchange for peace in the northwest, Liu Zhang of Yizhou was weak, after Cao Cao's southern expedition, Liu Zhang sent emissaries to show goodwill to Cao Cao, at this time Jingzhou was also in Cao Cao's hands, Liu Bei was defeated by him, as long as Eastern Wu Sun Quan took the initiative to surrender, Cao Cao could rule the world.
However, Sun Quan did not accept the suggestion of the lord of Jiangdong to surrender, and he decided to unite with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao. At that time, Sun Quan gave Zhou Yu 30,000 elite troops, and then Zhou Yu and Liu Bei converged, at that time Sun Liu's combined army totaled 50,000 troops, and finally Sun Liu's combined army met with Cao Jun in the Chibi area. Because most of Cao Cao's army were northern soldiers, they were not good at water warfare, so Cao Cao tied the large ships together with iron cables, Zhou Yu learned of this, decided to attack Cao Cao with fire, he let the general Huang Gai deceive Cao Cao, and when Huang Gai approached Cao Cao's water army, he suddenly set the warship on fire, let the ignited warship rush into Cao Cao's warship, not only burned the warships on the river, but also burned Cao Cao's camp on land, Zhou Yu took the opportunity to lead the army to kill, Cao Cao's army was defeated, and Cao Cao could only defeat Huarong Road.
Many believe that after the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was no longer able to go south to unify China. After all, after the defeat of the chibi soldiers, Cao Cao's main force was completely lost, resulting in Cao Cao's yuan qi being seriously injured, and at the same time, Cao Cao's center of gravity seemed to be in the northwest direction. In 211, Cao Cao sent Zhong Xuan to attack Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, and at the same time Cao Cao sent Xiahou Yuan to lead an army to Hedong, so that the princes of Western Liang believed that Cao Cao was going to send troops to attack him. Under such circumstances, Ma Chao, Han Sui, and others led more than a dozen cavalry troops of Western Liang to resist, and gathered an army of 100,000 Qiang, Hu, and Han people, tun at Tongguan, and Cao Cao had no choice but to personally lead a large army to confront the princes of Western Liang. After this, Cao Cao conquered Zhang Lu and captured Hanzhong, but in the confrontation with Liu Bei, he had no choice but to retreat, and lost Hanzhong. It seems that during this time, Cao Cao's center of gravity did not seem to be placed in the south, but in the northwest, so did Cao Cao really not want to go south?
In fact, after the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao's main army did suffer some damage, after all, when he lost Huarong Road, Cao Cao retreated very badly, and it was normal for the generals to fail to keep up with the large troops and disperse, but Cao Cao sat on the northern plains and occupied most of China, if Cao Cao lacked troops, he could recruit a large army, so the source of troops was not a big problem. What's more, Cao Cao would not be suspicious of going south because of the rebellion of the 10,000 Western Liang army. After all, as early as before the Battle of Chibi, the princes of Western Liang had already sent hostages to Cao Cao, and Ma Teng, the largest prince of Western Liang, did not hesitate to personally enter Beijing as an official, and under normal circumstances, Ma Chao would not act rashly.
Only four months after the defeat of the soldiers at Chibi, Cao Cao began to build warships and train sailors. It should be known that before the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao had already dug a Xuanwu Pond in Yicheng and began to train sailors, and after the defeat in the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao may have found the artificial pool inconvenient to contact, so he dragged the soldiers to the Huai River to practice. Sun Liu's allied forces took a year to capture Jiangling on the front line, and at this time Cao Cao was training sailors at the Huai River, so that Sun Quan had to consider Cao Cao's threat. In order to reduce the risk of Eastern Wu being captured, Sun Quan exchanged territory with Liu Bei for Jingzhou. When Cao Cao heard this news, he was so surprised that his pen fell to the ground, which dispelled the idea of going south.
The author believes that after the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao did not want to go south again, but Sun Quan and Liu Bei had already anticipated this incident and made corresponding countermeasures, so Cao Cao's idea could only be temporarily abandoned.