Battle of Xiaoting
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The Battle of Xiaoting (猇亭之戰), also known as the Battle of Yiling (夷陵之戰), is a battle in 222 during the Three Kingdoms period in China. It was fought between the Kingdom of Shu and the Kingdom of Wu in the plains of Yiling. The decisive battle here halted Liu Bei's invasion into Wu and eventually led to his death.
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Background
Liu Bei, enraged at the execution of his sworn brother Guan Yu at the hands of the Kingdom of Wu in 219, lead an attack force to the plains of Yiling. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was dramatized by Luo Guanzhong to be 750,000 soldiers. Days before the Shu Kingdom mobilized its forces to attack Wu, Zhang Fei, the other sworn brother of Liu Bei, was killed by his own men in retribution for treating his men unfairly. The fact that these conspirators fled to Wu further enraged Liu Bei, who attacked blindly into Wu against his officers' advice. The ablest of Shu's generals and the best troops were committed to this one retribution campaign, with the exception of Zhuge Liang who were left in charge of the domestic affairs of Shu, and Zhao Yun who were ordered to look after the logistics.
The battle
First blood
Initially, Liu Bei made significant progress and pushed into the heart of Wu. However, this was a plot by the Wu commander Lu Xun to sacrificed land for time and mobilization. As supply lines grew longer from Chengdu, the Shu troops grew weary. The Shu forces were mostly infantry, much better in mountainous terrain than the Wu marines. Deeper into Wu, the terrain of the region became flatter, which gave the Wu cavalry and navy a great advantage on the tired Shu infantry.
At the Battle of Yiling, Lu Xun, a competent young strategist was given command of the Wu forces. While many of Wu's older officers questioned putting such a youth in charge, Lu Xun had been hand-picked by the ruler Sun Quan as the successor to previous Wu commander Lu Meng. Under his direction, the Wu forces did not fight in mountainous terrain, and stayed behind fortified forts, thus taking away Shu's superior battlefield edge. As Shu's supplies dwindled, it had also turned into summer. Summer in those regions was extremely hot that year, and killed off many plants and shrubs, as Yiling was right on the Changjiang and right next to a great forest. Liu Bei's forces were camped right outside the forest when Lu Xun took command, and soon the summer heat started irritating the men.
Turn of the tide
Lu Xun then brilliantly devised a strategy in which he waited. Liu Bei's men challenged and taunted Lu Xun to send his forces out of his walls, but Lu Xun ordered his gates shut and wouldn't meet his taunters. Heat waves eventually plagued Liu Bei's men during the standoff, and Liu Bei finally had to move his entire army, against Ma Liang's advice, into the forest for shade, in the dead heat of summer. Liu Bei's fatal error was realized that night when Lu Xun's saboteur infiltrated behind Liu Bei's camp through the usage of navy and set the entire camp of Yiling on fire. The woods, fueled by the dead plants and dry air of the summer heat, created wildfires that could not be put out, and as the Liu Bei's men rushed for water, Wu archers shot them down. Liu Bei narrowly escaped with his life to Baidicheng (White Emperor City) with less than a thousand men.
Afterwards, the stress of the crushing defeat and the loss of his beloved generals made him extremely sick, and at the age of 53, his life ended at Baidicheng. Ma Liang, Liu Bei's military adviser for the Wu Retribution Campaign and the person who advised him not to camp in the forest, died from Wu ambushers.
Aftermath
The Battle of Yiling in 222 sealed off Shu-Han's fate as most of the entire army was killed or captured in a period of 2 days. Shu-Han's power from there on was directed by Zhuge Liang, who eventually mended ways and established ties with the Eastern Wu.
The prestige of such a victory established Wu as the undisputed ruler of southern Jingzhou. Lu Xun, the young general who defeated Liu Bei won recognician through out china as a great strategist. This battle marked the beganning of Lu Xun's illustrious career within the Wu hierachy culminating in his career as the Prime Minister of Wu.
Liu Bei's death also led to the ascension of his less capable son Liu Shan, who would eventually lead Shu-Han to defeat.
Fictional events
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Wu general Gan Ning is slain by the barbarian king Shamoke, who was asked to participate by Liu Bei. Likewise, the elderly Shu general Huang Zhong is also killed in battle.
Contrary to popular belief, General Gan Ning and General Huang Zhong had passed on before the campaign took place. Gan Ning died of illness (rumoured to be dysentery) and Huang Zhong, most likely, died of old age or illness.
Also in the novel, Lu Xun was trapped in Zhuge Liang's Stone Sentinel Maze while on the pursuit of the fleeing Liu Bei. He was guided out by Huang Chengyan, Zhuge Liang's father-in-law, who explains the array to Lu Xun. Lu Xun then exclaims that he can never top the genius of Zhuge Liang.ja:夷陵の戦い vi:Trận Di Lăng zh:夷陵之战