Lesson 16 The Three Kingdoms Rally

The Battle of Guandu

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, who occupied the area of Henan Province, took political initiative by bringing Emperor Xiandi from the capital city of Luoyang to Xu, giving orders to the world in the name of the emperor and recruiting various talents. Economically, Cao Cao organized his army and exiled people to engage in agricultural production by using the measure of cantonment, which not only solved the livelihood of a large number of exiles, but also raised military food. Thus, Cao Cao's power gradually grew.

Yuan Shao, who occupied the north of the Yellow River at that time, had a large army and was powerful. Both Cao Cao and Yuan Shao wanted to annex their rivals and dominate the north, and in 200, they fought a duel at Guandu. Cao Cao adopted the tactic of attacking the west from the east, and attacked Yuan Shao's army's grain cantonment, burning all the grain and quickly destroying Yuan's main force, laying the foundation for the unification of the north later.

Battle of Chibi

In 208, Cao Cao swung his army southward, preparing to destroy the southern forces and unify the country. After Cao's army occupied Jingzhou, Liu Bei led his army to retreat from Fancheng to Xiakou. He sent Zhuge Liang to contact Sun Quan to work out a plan to resist Cao. Sun Quan listened to his general Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang and decided to join forces with Liu Bei to meet Cao's army.

Cao's army had more than 200,000 soldiers, while Sun and Liu's allied army only had about 50,000 men, and they faced each other at Chibi. Cao's army was exhausted from the long journey, and most of them were northerners who were unconvinced by the water and diseases. In response to the weaknesses of Cao's army, which was not used to water warfare and the ships were connected together, Zhou Yu adopted the suggestion of his subordinate Huang Gai, who fraudulently surrendered to Cao Cao and attacked by fire. After sending the "letter of surrender", Huang Gai led dozens of large ships loaded with oiled firewood and grass to the other side of the river. Cao army officers and soldiers thought it was the Wu army that came to surrender and were defenseless. When the incoming ships were not far from Cao's camp, they suddenly lit fire at the same time and rushed into the fleet of Cao's camp by the wind, not only burning Cao's ships but also extending to the camp on the shore, killing countless soldiers who fell into the water. Zhou Yu then led his troops to attack and kill them, and Cao Cao's army was routed, and Cao Cao retreated north with his defeated troops. The Battle of Chibi had a crucial impact on the overall situation at the time and laid the foundation for the formation of the Three Kingdoms.

The Three Kingdoms

After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao turned to Guanzhong, and finished the unification of the north by eliminating the secessionist forces in Guanzhong. After Liu Bei occupied most of Hubei and Hunan, he moved to the southwest and took over Sichuan and Yunnan. Sun Quan extended his rule to Fujian and Guangdong while seizing Liu Bei's sphere of influence in Hubei and Hunan.

In 220, Cao Pi, the son of Cao Cao, abolished Emperor Xian of Han and became emperor in Luoyang under the name of Wei. 221, Liu Bei became emperor in Chengdu under the name of Han, which was called Shu Han. In the following year, Sun Quan became the King of Wu. The state was called Wu. The three kingdoms were formed.

Cao Wei attached importance to agricultural production and vigorously built up water conservancy. In 230, Sun Quan sent General Wei Wen to lead a fleet of 10,000 ships to Yizhou, which strengthened the connection between Taiwan and the mainland. Under the administration of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, the Shu Han Dynasty developed its economy, improved ethnic relations, and accelerated the development of the southwest.（686words）