Speaking of famous war scenes, many people will think of the Battle of Chibi, the fire burning in the sky on the warship, with ingenious strategy to win a wonderful battle, so relying on intelligence to win the battle, although there are not a few in history, but Chibi's magnificent scene is indeed favored by many film directors, and because of this scene engraved in the hearts of many people. All this seems to be so logically perfect, this is a battle of intelligence over the forces of armaments, from the strategy to the end is so dramatic, the strategist of this doctrine gives people the impression of a god. But this battle in history is actually not as legendary as in the novel, and countless historical materials have proved that it is actually just an ordinary battle, what is the truth behind this?
From many written records, we can find the fact that there was indeed a fire at that time, in fact, the plan at that time was successful, but it was not as legendary as in novels and film and television dramas, although the fraudulent ships successfully penetrated into the other side's thousand warships and brought flames into this fleet. The wind that was blowing at that time was a southeasterly wind, and the opposing camp was in the north, and it was impossible for the fire to spread to the enemy camp from the position. But what is certain is that the plan at that time can be said to have been partly successful, because in the battle they successfully brought the flames to the opposing warships, but the weak flames were not enough to burn the legendary and spectacular fire.
Secondly, the formation of the Cao Army's fleet at that time was not as inseparable as described in the novel, their warships used a water snake-type formation, and the connection was not inseparable chains and iron cables, if there was a real fire, the safe ships must be able to quickly disperse, rather than tied together deadly waiting for the spread of the fire. So if only a small number of warships were on fire at that time, why did it become a scene of flames in the future? This is not entirely dramatic, Cao Cao once said that they themselves burned out the remaining ships with fire and then evacuated, so the fire did exist, but it was not because of the plan, but Cao Jun himself burned.
Why did Cao Cao make such a decision? If only a small number of ships were on fire, he could use the remaining ships to meet the battle, so why give the other side a good name of winning without a fight? The root cause behind this can be found in many written materials, when diseases were rampant in the army, and many soldiers and generals were infected with diseases, not only the combat effectiveness and morale declined, but even many people died in the army. Because there are many texts describing this history, it is almost certain that this is an important reason for their choice to retreat. Although this statement was originally from Cao Cao's own mouth, the credibility is still very high.
At that time, perhaps considering that some of the supplies had been burned and the soldiers' combat effectiveness was not high, they decided to burn the remaining supplies so as not to let the other side pick up the leaks, and then chose to retreat. Such a statement is very different from the legendary scene in the novel, but it may be more in line with the real situation at that time. In addition to these circumstances, there is also a detail that cannot be ignored, that is, the leader of the ship that pretended to surrender at that time fell into the water, and it is impossible to cause such a large-scale fire in the battle without leadership, so the claim that only a small number of ships caught fire caused by the plot in the battle is more plausible.
In many biographies, we can see descriptions of this war, and many texts in the main history confirm that a disease prevailed in the Cao army at that time, and that the disease was inevitable in the war. The strategists of the time did mention the elements of this battle in their analysis of the battle, and the rest of the factors had a way to escape and solve, except for the disease that caused the greatest and most uncontrollable effect. If the Cao Army at that time had not been entangled in the disease, the outcome of this battle might have been rewritten, and the subsequent situation would have changed as a result. But history is driven by many factors, each of which heralds the outcome, and although this battle is not an imaginary legend, such a scene has left a lot of inspiration for the literary creation of later generations.