The Battle of Chibi is a famous and typical example of defeating more with less in history. Please explain the reasons for Cao Cao's failure based on the short article.

The Battle of Chibi is one of the famous battles in Chinese history in which the weak defeated the strong. On July 12, 208 AD (the thirteenth year of Emperor Xian's reign of the Han Dynasty), Cao Cao led a land and sea army, known as one million, to launch the Battle of Jingzhou, and then attacked Sun Quan. Sun Quan and Liu Bei formed an alliance, commanded by Zhou Yu, and defeated Cao's army in the Chibi area of ????the Yangtze River (now northwest of Chibi City, Hubei Province, some say northeast of today's Jiayu), and the Three Kingdoms were established. The Battle of Chibi was the first large-scale river battle fought in the Yangtze River Basin, and it was also the only battle in which Sun, Cao, and Liu all sent their main forces to participate.

After Cao Cao basically unified the north, he returned to Yecheng (now southwest of Linzhang, Hebei Province) in the first month of 208 AD and immediately began to make military and political preparations for the southern expedition. In terms of military affairs, Cao Cao ordered the construction of the Xuanwu Pond to train the navy, and sent Zhang Liao, Le Jin and others to garrison south of Xudu in preparation for the southern expedition. At the same time, in order to relieve worries, Cao Cao took measures against the Guanzhong area that might be in turmoil, and granted Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty the title of Ma Ma Teng was appointed as a guard, and his son Ma Chao was appointed as a partial general. He continued to lead the troops in place of Ma Teng, and ordered Ma Teng and his family to move to Ye as hostages to reduce the threat from the northwest. In terms of politics, he appointed himself prime minister to further safeguard his political power. authority.

In the autumn of the same year, Cao Cao led an army of 300,000, claiming to be 800,000, and went south to attack Jingzhou. Liu Biao also died of illness at this time, and his second son Liu Cong took over. Liu Cong was weak and incompetent. He accepted the persuasion of Kuai Yue, Fu Xun and others, and secretly surrendered to Cao Cao without notifying Liu Bei, the general of the left who was stationed on the front line of Fancheng. Liu Bei didn't learn that Liu Cong had surrendered to Cao Cao until Cao Cao's army arrived near Wancheng. Liu Bei was frightened and angry. In order to avoid being isolated, he had to abandon Fan Nan and flee. When he retreated, more than 100,000 people in Jingzhou followed him. Liu Bei was reluctant to give up these people, so he marched very slowly. He was overtaken by Cao's army at Changbanpo and was defeated. He had to flee to Xiakou where Liu Qi was stationed.

The news of Cao Cao's victory in Jingzhou reached Jiangdong. Sun Quan's civil and military officials were very shocked. They surrendered and discussed endlessly. Later, Sun Quan followed the advice of Zhou Yu and Lu Su and decided to fight Cao Cao to the death. So Sun Quan sent Lu Su to Jingzhou to inquire about the intentions and news of Liu Bei and others in the name of mourning Liu Biao. Lu Su suggested that Liu Bei station his army at Fankou on the south bank of the Yangtze River to exchange news with Soochow. Liu Bei also sent Zhuge Liang as an envoy to Jiangdong, and the two sides formed an alliance to resist Cao's army.

In December, Zhou Yu led his army to join Liu Bei at Fankou. Then the two armies went upstream to Chibi and met Cao's army who was crossing the river. The plague was prevalent in Cao's army at that time, and it was difficult for the newly formed navy and the newly attached Jingzhou navy to get along, and their morale was obviously low. Therefore, they were defeated by Zhou Yu's navy in the first battle. Cao Cao had to "lead the navy to the north of the Yangtze River" to join the army, and moved the warship to the Wulin side of the north bank to train the navy and wait for a good opportunity. Zhou Yu docked his warship on the Red Cliff side of the south bank and confronted Cao's army across the Yangtze River. The northern soldiers were not used to water battles, so Cao Cao ordered the warships to be connected to each other to reduce the turbulence of the wind and waves. Zhou Yu considered that the enemy was outnumbered and he would be disadvantaged for a long time, so he decided to find an opportunity to fight quickly. In view of the weakness of Cao Jun's "serial ship", Huang Gai, the general of the Ministry, proposed a fire attack and pretended to surrender to get close to Cao Jun, which was praised. Huang Gai sent his subordinates to deliver the surrender document to Cao Cao's camp. Cao Cao did not know what the plan was and had no doubts at all.

At the appointed time, Huang Gai led twenty warships filled with hay and other flammable materials to sail to the other side. When he was about two miles away from Cao's army, Huang Gai ordered the warship to be set alight, and he led his men in the small boat prepared in advance. Twenty warships, like galloping fire dragons, sailed into Cao's camp following the wind. Cao Ying suddenly turned into a sea of ??fire. The allied forces of Sun and Liu on the other side crossed the Yangtze River and took advantage of the chaos to defeat Cao's army. Seeing that the defeat was irreversible, Cao Cao led his army along the Huarong Trail (today's Jianli North, Hubei Province) and retreated towards Jiangling. Zhou Yu and Liu Bei's troops advanced by land and water and followed him in pursuit.

The Battle of Chibi is a famous battle in ancient times where a small number of people defeated a large number and laid the foundation for the establishment of the Three Kingdoms. [1]