But our understanding of Battle of Red Cliffs is generally limited to the description in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. For example, Zhuge Liang borrowed the east wind, Pang Tong offered a series of stratagems, burned Chibi, ran risks, Jiang Gan stole books, borrowed arrows from grass boats, and so on. .......
There is no denying that Luo Guanzhong told these stories brilliantly. However, a story is a story after all, and there are always some inconsistencies with real historical events.
So, what is the real "Battle of Red Cliffs" in history?
Next, I will make an all-round analysis of the truth of "Battle of Red Cliffs" according to the records in the history books.
Seeing this question, many people will definitely answer directly: of course, it is because he was played by Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang. That is what we often call "burning Red Cliff".
Yes, burning Chibi did happen. However, the reason why Cao Cao failed in Battle of Red Cliffs was not only that he was attacked by fire. In other words, fire attack is only one of the factors, not the root cause.
According to historical records, the fundamental reason for Cao Cao's failure was that the northern soldiers were not acclimatized, so a serious plague broke out in the army.
This is not a lie, but there is a lot of evidence in history books. For example, in the reflection of Zhou Yuchuan, it is recorded:
That is to say, Cao Jun went down the river and met Sun Liulian, the commander-in-chief of Zhou Yu, at Chibi. Before the war between the two armies, Cao Jun was infected with the plague. Even the biographies of the war winners admit the existence of the plague, which shows that it is true.
In addition, the history books also recorded the severity of the plague. Master Wu Biography says:
It can be seen that most of the soldiers in the Cao army died of plague, not fire. Under the plague, Cao Jun's fighting capacity was greatly reduced, which was the primary factor leading to the defeat of Chibi.
So, what plague did Cao Jun get at that time?
As we know, Chibi is located in Jianghan Plain. According to textual research, an infectious disease called schistosomiasis is prevalent in the Yangtze River basin. Cao Jun, from the north, probably lost this crucial war because it was acclimatized, infected with schistosomiasis in a large area and lost its fighting capacity.
Where did Battle of Red Cliffs happen?
Many people will definitely say: Battle of Red Cliffs, of course, happened in Chibi.
Yes, according to our consistent cognition, the place where Battle of Red Cliffs happened is of course Chibi, that is, today's chibi city (formerly Puyin County) in Hubei Province, on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
However, there were actually two wars in the real "Battle of Red Cliffs" in history. It is a fact that the exchange of fire in the first war was in Chibi. The second battle, the famous battle of burning Cao Jun warships, actually took place in Wulin Town (now Honghu, Hubei) on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Regarding the specific process of the first war, Zhou Yuchuan recorded it like this:
Cao Cao went down the river from Jiangling and met Sun Liujun at Chibi. When the two armies met on the river, the first encounter inevitably broke out.
Because Cao Jun was infected with the plague at that time, the fighting capacity declined, so Cao Jun retreated and stopped at Wulin Town, north of the Yangtze River. Sun Liu's allied forces stopped at Chibi, south of the Yangtze River.
In this way, the two armies started a confrontation with the Yangtze River as the boundary. Then there was the second stage of the war, that is, Sun Liu's allied forces adopted the fire attack strategy, Huang Gai pretended to surrender, and rushed the fireboat into the Cao Jun fleet stationed in Wulin. Finally, the fire spread, which led to Cao Cao's defeat.
So Chibi is just the place where the two sides met for the first time. Later, it was the Wulin in Jiangbei, not the Chibi in Jiangnan. Therefore, the theory of "burning Chibi" is not completely accurate, but should be "burning Wulin".
There is a lot of evidence in the History of the Three Kingdoms to prove this point. For example, "Cheng Pu Chuan" said:
And the biography of Lv Meng also said:
All these can prove that Wulin is the place where the real "burning Cao Jun" happened.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is a classic story:
Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu discussed how to break the timing of Cao Zhi. Each of them wrote the plan in his hand, and finally opened his palm and found that the word "fire attack" was written on both hands.
Later, Zhuge Liang also wrote a special sentence, calling: If you want to break Cao Gong, attack him with fire, everything is ready, except the east wind.
I believe many people are impressed by this story. Therefore, we naturally think that the "fire attack" tactic was invented by Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu.
In this case, it does deify Yu Heliang. However, this is unfair to another person, who is Huang Gai.
Because, in the real Battle of Red Cliffs, it is not Yu Liang who suggested "fire attack", but Huang Gai.
Some people may ask: Is there a mistake? Isn't Huang Gai a military commander? He is a supporting actor at best. How can he come up with such a profound plan?
I have to say, there is no mistake at all. Although Huang Gai is a military commander, it is really him who put forward the fire attack plan. This is also clearly recorded in the annals of the Three Kingdoms.
For example, The Biography of Huang Gai once wrote:
The so-called "strategy" is to propose a strategy.
In addition, there is evidence in Zhou Yuchuan:
Visible, Huang Gai is the real inventor of "burning Cao Jun", he not only invented it, but also personally put it into practice. He pretended to surrender to Cao Cao, sprinkled kerosene and firewood on the boat, and set fire to Cao Jun's stronghold in Wulin.
Therefore, Huang Gai should be blamed for setting fire to Jun.
Then some people will ask, since the fire attack plan was put forward by Huang Gai, what was Zhuge Liang doing at that time? Did he take part in Battle of Red Cliffs?
The first thing to say is that Zhuge Liang was indeed in the front camp.
Reflection. ZhuGeLiangChuan records:
On the eve of Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Bei stationed troops at the Xiakou, and sent Zhuge Liang to Soochow to meet with Sun Quan to discuss the common fight against Cao. At that time, Sun Quan was in Chaisang (Jiujiang, Jiangxi) and was very happy after hearing Zhuge Liang's lobbying, so he sent Zhou Yu and others to unite with Liu Bei to fight against Cao.
So Zhuge Liang followed Zhou Yu to the front line of Chibi, and was also in the army at that time. This is no problem.
But the question is, how much did Zhuge Liang contribute to Battle of Red Cliffs?
First of all, it was not he who proposed the "fire attack" plan, but Huang Gai, as we have just said.
Secondly, the story of "borrowing an arrow from a straw boat" is simply a myth, which has never happened in history and has not been recorded in history books.
Third, it is absolutely impossible to "borrow the east wind." According to historical records, the river was really windy at that time, that is, it was very windy. But it can't be borrowed by Zhuge Liang by magic. Zhuge Liang in history was an ordinary man and could not give orders at all.
Finally, in the end of Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu did not intend to kill Zhuge Liang, and of course Zhuge Liang did not escape at all. In fact, after the end of Battle of Red Cliffs, Sun Liu's first priority was to pursue Cao Cao and seize Nanjun, and there was no time for infighting. Zhou Yu didn't have this idea at all, and he didn't have this power.
Mr. Lu Xun once said, "Zhuge Liang is wise and close to demons." It means that Luo Guanzhong's description of Zhuge Liang is fantastic. He can not only predict the future, but also call the wind and rain and predict the stars, which is a bit like a demon.
Think about it carefully, this sentence does have some truth. Because the real Zhuge Liang in history is an ordinary civil servant, not so capable.
The scene of Chibi in the novel was completely robbed by Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, as if it had nothing to do with Liu Bei. Liu Bei, like a spectator, lay high in the back and witnessed the whole war.
But in fact, in the real Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Bei also played a very important role.
First of all, according to the forces invested by Sun and Liu, Dongwu sent 30,000 people, while Liu Bei assembled about 20,000 troops under Guan Yu and Liu Qi, totaling about 50,000 people. Of these 50,000 people, Liu Bei accounts for 40%, which is not low.
Second, reflect. The biography of the late Lord says:
Thus, in Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Bei did not hide behind as a bystander as described in the novel, but led Guan and Zhang to the front.
Finally, Cao Cao was defeated, and Liu Bei personally led the army to pursue him until Huarong Road. Therefore, Cao Cao did not encounter Guan Yu's interception in Huarong Road, but had been avoiding Liu Bei who was chasing after him.
This is also recorded in "Yang Shan Gong Zi Ji":
According to the description of this historical material, it was Liu Bei who participated in the burning of the ship, and it was Liu Bei who pursued Cao Cao on Huarong Road. His role should not be underestimated.
Having said that, we might as well sum up the truth of the whole "Battle of Red Cliffs":
1. A large-scale plague occurred in Cao Jun, probably schistosomiasis, which directly led to the decline of Cao Jun's combat effectiveness;
2. There were two battles in Battle of Red Cliffs. The first battle was an encounter between the two sides in the Chibi area of the Yangtze River. Cao Jun defeated the plague and lived in seclusion in Jiangbei Wulin. In the second game, Huang Gai offered a fake surrender plan and successfully burned the Wulin;
Liu Bei played an important role in Battle of Red Cliffs. On the contrary, Zhuge Liang's role was infinitely exaggerated by Luo Guanzhong;
4. What needs to be added is that, except stories like Borrowing the East Wind, Straw Boat and Left Arrow, stories like Pang Tongxian's serial plot and Jiang Gan's stealing books are all fictional stories, which are not recorded in history books.
Of course, all this is not to deny the beauty of Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. As one of the four classical novels, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is really classic and fascinating, which makes China people fall in love with the Three Kingdoms and the legendary history.
However, history is history and facts are facts. We can't ignore historical facts because of the wonderful description in the novel. Restoring a real "Battle of Red Cliffs" is also to let more people know and taste the Three Kingdoms. what do you think?