The Reason Why Cao Cao Lost the Battle of Red Cliff（Three Kingdoms 53）
History of China
Previous Chapter ：The Battle of Red Cliff 8 (Three Kingdoms 52)
Catalog of Three Kingdoms’ history
Cao Cao, who got a fire burnt in Red Cliff, took the stunned generals and stepped on the bodies of old and weak soldiers so that he was able to cross the swamps in a frightening manner and escape back to Jiangling江陵 in a mess.
A few months ago, when Cao Cao led his army south, he had two goals in mind. The big goal was, of course, to capture Jingzhou荆州, while the small goal was to capture Liu Bei. As for Sun Quan in Yangzhou扬州, including Liu Zhang刘璋 in Yizhou益州, it was actually not a part of his plan.
But before Cao Cao's troops arrived, Liu Cong刘琮 has already surrendered with his Jingzhou. And even Liu Zhang was panicked and showed his submit.
For Cao Cao, his big goal was just too easy to accomplish. The sword has already been out of its sheath, so something had to be done. Cao Cao had to quickly adjust his strategy to make Liu Bei as his main opponent. But the fact is Liu Bei was too weak then, he seems not worth enough to be an opponent for Cao Cao, not only his soldiers were pitifully few, but he doesn't even have any territory. That's why Cao Cao used the word "hunt" in his letter to Sun Quan, and a sense of arrogance jumped off the page.
In a short period of time, Cao Cao's main target had been changed again and again, it finally fell to Sun Quan.
The lack of understanding of the climate of the Jianghan江汉 region made him ignore the sudden southeastern wind at Red Cliff; the lack of familiarity with the water conditions of the Yangtze River and the battle tactics of the naval forces made him lose the crucial right to control the river; the lack of preparation for the sudden outbreak of epidemics and the mud on the way of retreat led to the woeful situation of the enemy's incoming troops; the lack of understanding of the fighting strength of the Jingzhou soldiers who had been out of war for a long time made him unsure of their fighting ability, which led the hasty expedition. The ability of commanding and fighting will of the Wu’s generals, he did not understand, so there was a successful fraudulent surrender, the fire burned Cao's battalion.
No one can win a war without knowing themselves and their enemy. When there is no timing, no geographical advantage, no cooperation, and even luck, what suspense can there be in the final outcome?
The Battle of Red Cliffs was Cao Cao's worst defeat in his life, with more than half of his 210000-soldiers-army were lost, some died in disease, some killed in the battle ,some burned in fires, some drowned in river, some trampled in swamps, and some surrendered to the enemy.
No sooner had Cao Cao withdrawn to Jiangling than Zhou Yu周瑜 and Liu Bei had arrived under the city. Cao Cao understands that if he lost Jiangling again ,he will lost the right to control the Yangtze River , which also means that he will lost the most of Jingzhou.
Cao Cao then quickly adjusted his strategy to hold the northern part of the Yangtze River. He ordered Wen Pin文聘 to garrison Anlu安陆 and guard the northern Jiangxia江夏, Cao Ren曹仁 and Xu Huang徐晃 to stay at Jiangling, Man Chong满宠 to garrison Dangyang当阳, and Yue Jin乐进 to guard Xiangyang襄阳. Cao Cao himself led his army north back to recuperate.
This time could be said the best chance for Liu Bei and Sun Quan to seize the territory to expand their strength. Zhou Yu, with his morale in full swing, started to attack the well-defended Jiangling City, while Liu Bei aimed at the four commanderies in southern Jingzhou.
At this point, in Jingzhou, a fertile land that was rarely touched by war, Cao, Sun and Liu were revealed to be fierce, either working together, attacking each other, seizing the weakness, or reneging on their promise, and the process of history started from dividing Jingzhou into 3 parts, and entered the prelude to Three Kingdoms.
To be Continued.
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