Why did Cao Cao launch the Battle of Chibi? Why did he lose even though he had the advantage?

In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Lieutenant General Luo Guan described the "Battle of Chibi" extremely brilliantly. Affected by this, the Battle of Chibi, one of the "three major battles" of the Three Kingdoms in the late Han Dynasty, can be said to be the most famous of a battle. So, what was the historical process of the Battle of Chibi, and why did Cao Cao fail miserably?

In the thirteenth year of Jian'an, after Cao Cao pacified the north, he began to shift his strategic focus to the south. On the one hand, he dug the Xuanwu Pond in Yecheng to train his navy, and on the other hand, he mobilized Zhang Liao, Yu Jin, Le Jin and others to lead the army. The army moved south and actively prepared for the southern expedition. At the same time, Ma Teng and his family were ordered to move to Yecheng as hostages to reduce the pressure on the northwest.

In July of the same year, Cao Cao sent his army south. In August, Liu Biao died of illness in Jingzhou, and Liu Cong succeeded Xuzhou as pastor. In September, Cao Cao led his army to Xinye. Facing Cao Cao's army, Liu Cong chose to surrender. When Liu Bei, who was stationed in Fancheng, learned that Liu Cong had surrendered, he had no choice but to abandon the city and flee south. After Cao Cao led his army to Xiangyang and learned that Liu Bei had escaped, he led five thousand cavalry in pursuit. The two sides fought fiercely at Changbanpo. Liu Bei lost his wife and abandoned his son and fled in a hurry. Cao Cao pursued to Dangyang Bridge, but Zhang Fei demolished the bridge. Then he stopped chasing. Afterwards, Cao Cao arrived in Jiangling and generously rewarded the heroes.

On the Jiangdong side, Sun Quan, who learned that Cao Jun was heading south, sent Lu Su to investigate the truth. After learning that Liu Cong surrendered and Liu Bei fled south, Lu Su found Liu Bei and persuaded him to ally with Sun Wu. Together with Cao Cao, Liu Bei agreed and stationed at Fankou. Zhuge Liang and Lu Su returned to Jiangdong to persuade Sun Quan. Although most Soochow officials wanted to surrender, under the persuasion of Lu Su, Zhuge Liang and the recalled Zhou Yu, Sun Quan finally decided to fight Cao Cao.

The armies of both sides met and fought in Chibi. Cao Cao's navy was defeated in the first battle. Cao Cao had to "lead the army to the north of the Yangtze River" to join the army on the north bank. He docked the warship on the Wulin side of the north bank and practiced water while Army, while waiting for a good opportunity. Zhou Yu also knew that Cao Cao's main force was the army, so after defeating Cao Jun's navy, he did not pursue it. Instead, he docked the warship on the south bank and confronted Cao Cao across the river.

In order to solve the problem that the northern soldiers were not accustomed to water warfare, Cao Cao connected the warships end to end to make it easier for the men and horses to move on the ship.

After Cao's army was defeated, they withdrew to Jiangling via Huarong Road, while the allied forces of Sun and Liu led their armies to advance by land and water in hot pursuit. Cao Cao had to abandon his southern expedition because his warships were burned and his army suffered from plague. Worried about a fire in his backyard, he had to return to the north to take charge. However, in order to go south again in the future, he ordered Cao Ren and Xu Huang to stay in Nanjun and Wenpin to station in Jiangxia. , and later ordered Lejin to garrison Xiangyang, and Manchong to garrison Dangyang.

Cao Cao was defeated despite being superior in strength. This was actually the result of a variety of factors.

There is no doubt that Cao Cao before the Battle of Chibi was far more powerful than Sun Liu. The coalition forces, especially after Liu Cong surrendered in Jingzhou, greatly reduced Cao Cao's resistance to going south. So why was Cao Cao ultimately defeated? Personally, I think it is actually the result of the simultaneous action of multiple factors.

1. Comparison of the strength of the two sides. Although "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" states that Cao Cao sent an army of 800,000 troops to the south, and the letter from Cao Cao to Sun Quan in "Jiangbiao Biography" did say that "the army of 800,000 people will be conquered now", Zhou Yu later had doubts about the strength of Cao's army. He made an analysis and said, "Based on the actual results, the number of Chinese he commanded was only 150,000 to 60,000, and the army had been exhausted for a long time, and the total number of soldiers he gained was only 70,000 to 80,000, so I still have doubts." Comparing the two sets of data, it is obvious that Zhou Yu's analysis is more credible. You know, during the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao scraped together 30,000 troops. According to the records of "Three Kingdoms" and "The Chronicles of the Later Han Dynasty", after Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, he not only did not recruit the 70,000 to 80,000 surrendered troops, but instead all Trap and kill.

2. Cao’s army was in poor condition. "The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Cao Cao" records that "The Duke went to Chibi to prepare for war, but it was not good. There was a great epidemic and many officials and soldiers died, so he led the army back." The "Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Sun Quan" also records that "The Duke burned the remaining ships and retreated. The soldiers suffered from famine and epidemic, and most of them died."

3. Cao Cao was defeated by carelessness. After the failure in the first battle, Cao Cao may not have no chance of winning. After all, his main army did not suffer any losses. The reason for his final defeat should still be due to his carelessness. Although the incident of "Zhou Yu attacking Huang Gai" did not occur in history, Huang Gai's false surrender and fire attack did occur. For Cao Cao, after the defeat of the water battle, his plan to go south was equivalent to a failure. Therefore, the surrender of Soochow general Huang Gai should have made him extremely happy. As for whether Cao Cao considered the matter of false surrender, it is not knew.

However, although the Battle of Chibi ended with Cao Cao's defeat, Cao Cao's losses were more than the surrender of Jingzhou troops, and the losses of the main force of Cao's army should not be large. This should also be the failure of Soochow's subsequent offensive. one of the main reasons.

After the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan personally led his army to attack Hefei in the north, but he retreated due to a trap. Zhou Yu led his army to fight against Cao Ren who was stationed at Jiangling, and sent Gan Ning to attack Yiling. Cao Ren also divided his troops to besiege, and Gan Ning asked Zhou Yu for help. Zhou Yu and Lu Meng then went to the rescue and cut off the rear with Ling Tong.

Liu Bei took advantage of the war between Soochow and Cao Cao to go south to seize the four counties of Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling. He asked Liu Qi to be named the governor of Jingzhou, and appointed Zhuge Liang as the governor of Lingling and Guizhou. Yang and Changsha counties.