The eve of the red wall
In August of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao led a large army south to prepare for an attack on Jingzhou. At this time, Liu Biao fell ill and died in Jingzhou. Liu Biao's death can be said to be a historical coincidence. The second son, Liu Chun, succeeded Liu Biao as Jingzhou Pastor. Liu Qi, the eldest son of Jiang Xia Taishou after Huang Zu was killed, came to visit Liu Biao when he was critically ill, but Liu Chun turned him away. Brotherly tensions deepened. It is very similar to the situation after Yuan Shao's death. But this time it was not the disgruntled eldest son Liu Qi who surrendered to Cao Cao, but Liu Chun, who inherited Jingzhou. Liu Chun listened to his subordinates and surrendered to Cao Cao without any resistance.
For Cao Cao, this was a result of great joy. For the attack on Jingzhou, Cao Cao also made some preparations. Unexpectedly, it was so simple that Jingzhou fell into his own hands. However, this unexpected state of affairs invisibly disrupted Cao Cao's plans. According to Cao Cao's original plan, the southern expedition was only aimed at Jingzhou, and did not regard Sun Quan as the object of the crusade. Cao Cao trained water troops at Xuanwu Pond entirely to deal with the water warfare in Jingzhou. Jingzhou fell without a fight, causing Cao Cao to have a non-dividing idea, and he decided to take the opportunity to attack Sun Quan. His subordinates Jia Xu and Cheng Yu advised Cao Cao to act cautiously, but Cao Cao did not listen.
Cao Cao wrote in a letter to Sun Quan at this time: "Those who are close to him are resigned to the crime, jingqi nan refers, and Liu Chun binds his hands." Imabari's water army of 800,000 people, Fang and the general will hunt wu. (I was ordered by the Han Emperor to fight the sinners, and as soon as the banner was pointed south, Liu Chun surrendered.) Now I lead an army of eight hundred thousand sailors, and I want to hunt with the general you in Wu. "Hunting" means hunting when the emperor patrols the place. Cao Cao had the intention of pretending to be an emperor, which fully exposed his ambition to dominate the world. For Cao Cao, who was over fifty and a half years old, it was even more urgent to achieve great achievements.
The news of Liu Chun's surrender was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Liu Bei. Liu Bei hurriedly led his troops to flee south, and Cao Jun pursued him closely. Liu Bei once again abandoned his wife and children in the chaos and escaped. Although Zhao Yun rescued Ah Dou from the rebel army, Zhang Fei demolished the bridge at Changshanpo in Dangyang to retreat from the Cao army, but it was not helpful. Liu Bei was finally forced into a desperate situation this time.
Liu Chun's surrender to Cao Cao was also an unexpected event for Sun Quan. Sun Quanzheng Jiang Xia killed Huang Zu, and the next step was to capture Jingzhou. Unexpectedly, Jingzhou's enemies suddenly disappeared and were replaced by the powerful Cao Army. In the face of Cao Cao's army, which claimed to have a water army of 800,000, Sun Quan's camp was shocked. Most of his subordinates, led by Zhang Zhao, advocated surrendering without a fight. At this critical moment, Sun Quan's cousin, Yuzhang Taishou Sun Ben, planned to surrender Cao, and even prepared to send his son to Cao Ying as a hostage. As mentioned earlier, Sun Ben's daughter was the wife of Cao Cao's son Cao Zhang. Cao Cao sent emissaries to grant Sun Ben the title of general of the Conquest of The Thieves, making him sit on an equal footing with the general Sun Quan, with the intention of dividing Sun Quan's internal relations. If Sun Ben rebelled against Cao Cao, it would inevitably lead to the dissipation of Sun Quan's camp, and the consequences would be unimaginable. At this time, Zhu Zhi, an old subordinate of Sun Jian's era and the Taishou of Wu County, volunteered to go to Yuzhang to persuade Sun Ben and make Sun Ben change his mind.
In the face of the crisis, it was Lu Su and Zhou Yu who resolutely advocated resisting Cao. On his way to Jingzhou to mourn Liu Biao, Lu Su learned of Liu Chun's surrender and Liu Bei's flight to the south. So he changed his route to Dangyang and met Liu Bei, who was in a desperate situation. Liu Bei was already very pessimistic about his future and planned to settle down in the remote area of Cangwu (present-day Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region) in the south.
Lu Su persuaded Liu Bei to ally with Sun Quan and jointly resist Cao. For Liu Bei, this was an unattainable opportunity, and he was once again desperate. Liu Bei immediately ended his southward escape and led his troops into Xiakou to merge with Liu Qi's troops. At this time, Zhuge Liang came to Chaisang with Lu Su and did Sun Quan's persuasion work with Zhou Yu. They pointed out Cao Cao's weaknesses one by one: Han Sui and Ma Chao in Liangzhou were still Cao Cao's worries; Cao Jun's army came from afar and was difficult to supply; Cao Jun claimed to be 800,000, but in fact only about half; and Cao Jun was not used to water warfare, and there were epidemics among soldiers. Sun Quan, who had been undecided, was encouraged and decided to unite with Liu Bei to jointly resist Cao.
