The Battle of Chibi

　　1. Why do I like the Battle of Chibi?

　　1) The Battle of Chibi is one of the most famous battles in C hinese history. In this battle, the numerically(数量上) inferior(劣势的) troop defeated the numerically superior one. Although Caocao boasted of commanding 800 thousand elite soldiers, he still couldn’t resist the 50 thousand allied force of Liubei and Sunquan.

　　2) The allied force was not frightened by the numerically superior enemy and was not puzzled by superficial phenomenon. However, through calm analysis, it figured out the real situation and overcomed all the difficulties. In this way, it gained itself the foundation of winning this battle.

　　3) The power of uniting is overwhelming. Facing such a strong army, the two warlords, Liubei and Sunquan, converted the whole situation by allying together. By doing this, they created the favorable condition for themselves to win this battle.

　　4) The allied force made good use of its advantage of being good at naval battle and unexpectedly adopted the method of using fire to attack Cao’s army. Cao’s army was defeated because it was very poor in the skills of fighting naval battle and at the same time it underestimated the strength of the allied force.

　　In my study, I also should try my best to overcome all the difficultis. Now I am in the prime of my life time. All I need to do is set up a stable foundation for my future study and work.

　　2. What’s the historical background of the Battle of Chibi?

　　By the early 3rd century, the Han Dynasty, which had ruled China for four centuries was crumbling. Emperor Xian had been a political figurehead since 189. He had no control over the actions of the various warlords because they controlled their respective territories. One of the most powerful rulers in northern China was the warlord Cao Cao. By the year 207, he had unified northern China. And then his army started a sounthern campaign in the hope of uniting the whole country. The Jing province in the area of Yangtze River was key to the success of this strategy. So Cao Cao himself commanded 800 thousand soldiers and conquered Jing province in no time. At the sound of the victory of Cao Cao, Liu Bei’s troop started to retreat towards south. Later, Cao’s force took up Xin Ye and run after Liu’s troop. At last, two forces met and Liu’s troop was defeated at Chang Banpo. Liu retreated to Xia Kou. But Cao’s force continued to chase him and marched to the east of Yangtze River.

　　3. Can you compare the strength of Caocao’s force and the allied force?

　　At that time, Caocao boasted of commanding 800 thousand soldiers. Besides, after winning several battles, Cao’s force conquered Jing province and the whole navy of Jing province surrendered to Caocao. Thus, his force was said to be enlarged to about 1 million.

　　In the contrary, after Cao conquered Jing province, Liu only had a command of thousands of soliders and he didn’t had a base. Superficially, the strength of millitary forces of Cao and Liu are in great contrast. However, with deep analysis, Zhou Yu estimated Cao Cao's actual troop strength to be closer to 220,000. Furthermore, this total included 70,000 surrendered troops. So the loyalty and morale of a large number of Cao Cao's force was uncertain. Zhou Yu also observed that Cao Cao's generals and soldiers mostly consisted of cavalry and infantry, and few had any experience in naval battle. Cao tried to convert them into navy with only a few days of drills before the battle. Besides Cao Cao's troop suffered from sea-sickness and unfamiliar environment. Just as Zhuge Liang observed: "Even a powerful arrow at the end of its flight cannot penetrate a silk cloth". On the other hand, although Liu only had a command of thousands of soldiers, he had the support from Sunquan whose troop were very good at naval battle. This is the comparison of the strength of two forces.

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　　4. Can you tell me something about the alliance of Liubei and Sunquan?

　　Seeing the great power of Cao’s force, Liu realized that it was impossible for him to defeat Cao just by himself. Meanwhile, he figured out that although Cao’s force was powerful, most of them consisted of cavalry and infantry who were not good at naval warfare. As a result, he decided to ally with Sunquan.

　　At the same time, Sunquan also realized that if Liu was eliminated by Cao, the next to be destroyed would be himself. So he figured out that the best way to defeat Cao was to ally with Liu.

　　5. How did Huaggai help to defeat Cao’s force by using tricks?

　　Zhugeliang and Zhouyu all agreed to use fire to attack Cao’s headquarter. The problem was that who could do this job and how could he succeed. So Zhouyu wanted Huanggai to pretend to surrender to Caocao. But it was very difficult to win Caocao’s trust because he was very suspicious. Fortunately, they already knew that Caizhong and Caihe who were Cao’s generals just pretended to surrender to them. So Zhouyu wanted to seriously punish Huanggai in public and made use of Caizhong and Caihe to pass the news to Caocao to make him believe that Huang gai really wanted to surrender to him. Huanggai was willing to suffer from serious punishment because he wanted to pay Sunquan back (pay sb back 报答某人). The next day, Zhouyu summoned millitary conference to discuss how to prepare to defeat Caocao. Huanggai put forward a lot of disagreement. Zhou yu pretended to be furious and ordered other soldiers to make him beheaded. All the generals and soldiers asked mercy for him. And Zhouyu changed the punishment into beating him 50 times with a very thick stick. This trick not only deceived all the officers and soldiers on this side, but also deceived Caocao. At last, Huanggai pretended to surrender to Caocao and burned all the warships of his force when they were not alert at all. This was a key action for the success of Sin-Liu allied force.

　　6. Can you talk about the reason why Caocao was defeated in this battle?

　　I think there are three reasons for the defeat of Cao’s force. First, Cao Cao's generals and soldiers mostly consisted of cavalry and infantry, and few had any experience in naval warfare. So they couldn’t display their best side in Chibi. Furthermore, most of Cao’s navy were surrendered soldiers, so the loyalty was uncertain and the morale was low. Second, the Battle of Chibi took place in summer. Cao’s force camped along the river for a long time. Plagues (瘟疫)broke out in a large scale. The strength of Cao Cao's troop was seriously decreased. Third, Cao was deceived by the trick of Huanggai and zhouyu which resulted in the destroy of his headquarter by a big fire.

　　7. Can you talk about the reason why the allied force of Liubei and Sunquan won this battle?

　　I think there are three reasons for the success of Sun-Liu allied force. First, the allied force was not frightened by the numerically superior enemy and was not puzzled by superficial phenomenon. However, through calm analysis, it figured out that Cao’s force was just apparently fierce but actually soldiers were very tired after long expedition and they were not familiar with environment and very poor in naval warfare. In contrast, Sun-Liu allied force were very good at naval warfare which paved the foundation for their success. Second, the alliance of Sun and Liu was the key to success. Although they also had contradition between themselves, if they didn’t ally together, they would be destroyed separately sooner or later(迟早). But the alliance changed the whole situation and created the favorable condition for themselves to defeat Cao. Third, they made good use of their advantages of being good at naval warfare to attack the enemy’s disadvantages and they were good at attacking enemy unexpectely with fire when the enemy were not alert at all. All the above reasons led to the final defeat of Cao’s force and the success of Sun -Liu allied force.