in a nutshell..Before watch 赤壁 part 1

in a nutshell..Before watch 赤壁 part 1

For those going to watch the movie Red Cliff...its best to do a bit of a homework first, so that you understand the story plot better.

The scenario:

The battle of Red Cliff happened at AD208. But, why fight it at red cliff? What are the factors contributing to this battle?

During the late Han dynasty (Eastern Han). The central government faced tremendous pressure and attacks from the Yellow Turban Group. A folk religious group setup to go against the government. Reason was because the Emperor during the late Han period was weak, and in addition a group of eunuchs were becoming more and more powerful, controlling the Emperor.

The Yellow Turban group started off well, and stand by their mission to give the people a better life, but it turned out that the leader of the group was blinded by power.

Feudal Lords like Dong Zhuo, Yuan shao, Cao Cao, Ma Teng, Liu Bei, Sun Jian(Suan Quan’s father), Kong Rong, Liu Biao etc all rose to suppress the Yellow Turban.

When the Yellow Turban was destroyed, Dong Zhuo, one of the more powerful Lord became the Premier of Han kingdom. He was worse than the Yellow Turban group. Lu Bu, the almighty warrior was his foster son. They became powerful and strong, and thus, the other feudal lords rose again, this time to fight Dong Zhuo.

After Dong Zhuo demised, The Northern part of China, was the place for Yuan Shao, a feudal lord in the north. Cao Cao, apparently from a rather rich middle-upper class family, rallied troops and began to conquer Yuan Shao, Lu Bu (he betrayed Dong Zhuo and became a Lord himself). Cao Cao spent many years, destroying Yuan Shao and his influences in the north. Liu Bei on the other hand, in which he was never really a feudal lord but a poor peasant selling shoes, spent his years escaping and got beaten many times. Apparently, Liu Bei was a FAR descendent of the Liu family and from there, he could be regarded as the ‘Imperial Uncle’ of the Emperor.

In a nut shell, Liu Bei was running around, seeking help. Cao Cao spent his time building up his empire in the north. Yuan Shao, Lu Bu, Kong Rong, Dong Zhuo were all defeated by Cao Cao eventually.

Liu Bei seeked, helped from Yuan Shao before, then to Cao Cao, to Tao Qian, took over Tao Qian’s Xu Zhou province when Tao Qian died, but didn’t manage to keep it, he also went to seek refuge from Lu Bu too. Finally, Liu Bei seeked help from Liu Biao, his distant relatives. Liu Biao was not in the north, but in the centre part of the Han kingdom – Jing zhou province. To the north was Cao Cao’s land, to the East/South – Sun Quan ‘s Eastern Wu empire and some other negligible small feudal lords. To the west, is West Shu (current Sichuan province) governing by Liu Zhang, also a relative of Liu Bei and Zhang Lu in Hanzhong area(just above Sichuan).

As we can see, Jingzhou is a strategic place and Liu Bei was really a pain in the neck. Cao Cao knew that Liu Bei is a person with strong character and great charisma. Liu Bei got fierce warriors like Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun etc. And by AD 208, Liu Bei got Zhuge Liang as well. (although he was not that famous in the early years).

Cao Cao, after conquering the north, began to feel that he is invincible and decided to swallow Jingzhou. Liu Biao was dead that time, due to sickness and his two sons, Liu Cong and Liu Qi were not very capable. Liu Qi was his first son, good character but weak and was from Liu Biao first wife. Liu Cong, 2nd son, slightly smarter, but with not so good character and his mother was Liu Biao 2nd wife. Liu Biao’s main general Cai Mao was Liu Biao 2nd wife’s brother. Both of them had always trying to make Liu Biao appoint Liu Cong as his heir.

Well, eventually Liu Biao died and Liu Cong took over. Liu Qi escaped the clutch of his step mother (Liu Cong’s mother) and thus settles himself down at Jiang Xia, a place within Jingzhou.

Cao Cao went on to press on Liu Bei. Poor Liu Bei with a few thousand troops and at most with Guan Yu 10’000 navel, couldn’t resist Cao Cao. Liu Bei retreat from Xin ye county, together with the commoners, marched slowly and flee to Fan Cheng (also part of Jingzhou). Initial plan to hijack Liu Cong before he surrender did not happen as Liu Bei thought it was not ethical to do so.

With some fighting, Fan cheng was also not a place to stay, Liu Bei then pressed on to find Liu Cong at Xiang yang city. Liu Cong and his mother, seeing Liu Bei arriving, quickly shut the gate and shot arrows at Liu Bei’s troop and the commoners. Many were killed. Seeing that Xiangyang was also not the place to hid, Liu Bei flee to Jiang Ling city.

Liu Bei escape route to Jiang Ling was a place and period where Zhang Fei roared and frightened Cao Cao’s troop, Zhao Yun risked his life to save Liu Bei’s son. It was this time, Guan Yu was dispatched to rally navel troops (He got 10 000 troops after that) and Lu Su, Sun Quan’s advisor approached Liu Bei to discuss the matter regarding Cao Cao astonishing move to conquer Jingzhou.

Jingzhou is situated at the upper banks of the Yangzte river. All the while Sun Quan relied heavily on the natural barrier – Yangzte River to protect his territory and now, Cao Cao had came so near to him and even share the river, Sun Quan was nervous, Lu Su panicked and decided to see Liu Bei so as to understand the whole situation. It was here, Zhuge Liang proposed to ally with Sun Quan to fight Cao Cao.

Back to our great Cao Cao, when Cao Cao entered the city and met Liu Cong. Liu Cong, his mother and Cai Mao, seeing Cao Cao coming down with his strong army, decided to surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao accepted, making false promises to them (agreeing to give them wealth, status etc) but killed them along the way.


Now, Cao Cao had managed to seize almost the whole of Jingzhou. Dumb Liu Cong surrendered without fighting, leaving a strong navel and Cai mao(he was spared due to his expertises in navel). Feeling a sense of superior and a new navel troop, he sent a letter to Sun Quan, asking him to join him for ‘hunting trip’.

Well, it is here that Cao Cao did a few unexpected things. Firstly, the MOTIVE of the battle was not clear. Cao Cao chased the pathetic Liu Bei all around Jingzhou running a merry go round, but did not attempt to continue to chase Liu Bei when he fled to Jiang Ling. Some guesses was that Cao Cao knew, that although the north was settled, the west was still troubled. Ma Teng at North west was strong with metal armoured cavalry troops. Zhang Lu was still popular and strong in Hanzhong region and Liu Zhang was still happily hiding in Xichuan, aka Western Shu (Sichuan).

Therefore, Cao Cao dared not play this merry go round with Liu Bei for too long. Another reason could be Cao Cao’s troop was still very much unsettled. Many were part of Yuan Shao’s old troop and Liu Cong’s Jing Zhou armies. Cao Cao needs time and resources to tidy things up, and thus decided to give Liu Bei a ‘break’. But this break is not for long, the letter he sent to Sun Quan, although very ambiguous, as it could mean that he was targeting Liu Bei BUT at same time also testing Sun Quan’s loyalty and support for him.

Now, not only Liu Bei was threatened, Sun Quan felt the heat as well. Zhuge Liang later went over to Sun Quan’s place, for meetings and to persuade Sun Quan to fight Cao Cao. Actually was to make use of Sun Quan to resist Cao Cao. When asked, how many troops Cao Cao brought, Zhuge Liang mentioned Cao Cao had brought one million strong armies. This was impossible and we have to take note that in the past, the numbers of soldiers were often exaggerated. A safe way is to divide the number to half. But in this case, after dividing by half, we have to divide again, because Cao Cao simply can’t bring such a big army. Yes, his full strength can hit 1 million men, but do not forget he got a long border to guard. In addition, within a few months (after chasing Liu Bei), he could not rally so many troops.

Estimated, Cao Cao only got around 200 000 or a few hundred thousand. Sun Quan army? Estimated to be around a few ten thousands strong. Liu Bei? Even more pathetic, Guan Yu 10 000 navel, Liu Qi 10 000 troops and Liu Bei a few thousands soldiers only.

The whole battle revolved around Zhou Yu, the then Commander in Chief at Sun Quan side. Majority of the navel battle was done by Zhou Yu and team. Liu Bei troop play a small part only. Zhuge Liang only task was to ensure Sun Quan fight the war.

Cao Cao’ defeat was because his objective for the battle was not clear, some even said he fought because of the then great beauty – Xiao Qiao – wife of Zhou Yu. Da Qiao married to Sun Ce, brother of Sun Quan. Both Sun Quan’s father (Sun Jian) and Elder Brother Sun Ce died young in accident. But they were both very capable and outstanding people.

Cao Cao’s troop morale was not high. Most of the soldiers were not Cao Cao’s original troop and many were from the north and not familiar with navel battle. Cao Cao success in the past was because he fought for good justified reasons. This time round, it was unclear. The battle was declared rather quickly and such important battle should have more time for planning.

It was this battle that gave Liu Bei a chance to ‘breath’ and regains his strength, so as to seize the neighbouring cities within Jing Zhou, eliminating the smaller feudal lords and eventually seize Xichuan and Hanzhong and establishes the Shu kingdom. Cao Cao military strength was greatly hurt in this battle and after the recovery; it was still a phobia for him to fight on water. Partially also he realized his backend got some problem and trouble unsolved as well.

Both Zhuge Liang and Lu Su have foreseen a 3 kingdom scenario. For Zhuge Liang, it was Cao Cao, Sun Quan and liu Bei. For Lu Su, it was Cao Cao, Sun Quan and Liu Zhang/Liu Biao.

Zhou Yu was an outstanding strategist, and he was a real gentleman in real life. Not a petty person dedicated in novel. He died young because of sickness, not because of Zhuge Liang.

This ‘in a nutshell’ (although not really a nut shell after all), if you guys notice, I focused a lot on the pre-war issues. Because the film makers released part 1 first, and I don’t want to talk so much on the things that haven’t shown on film yet. Furthermore, I think it is crucial to know the background and pre-war events.