Wu, Eastern, (Chinese) kingdom of
State | Defunct
222 CE to 280 CE
Eastern Wu, also known as Sun Wu, is one the three states competing for control of China during the Three Kingdoms period after the fall of the Han Dynasty.
It is based in the Jiangnan (Yangtze River Delta) region of China.
During its existence, its capital is at Jianye ( present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), but at times it was also at Wuchang (present-day Ezhou, Hubei).
Worlds
The Far East
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Sun, to avoid having to fight on two fronts, formally pays allegiance to Cao, offering to be a vassal of Cao Wei.
Cao's strategist Liu Ye suggests that Cao decline and instead attack Sun on a second front, which would effectively partition Sun's domain with Shu Han, and would eventually allow Cao to destroy Shu Han as well.
Such an opportunity will not come again.
Cao declines this suggestion, a fateful choice that most historians believe doomed his empire to ruling only northern and central China.
Indeed, against Liu Ye's advice, he creates Sun the Prince of Wu and grants him the nine bestowments.
Sun Quan’s forces, due to their superiority in numbers, initially underestimate the enemy's tenacity.
As the advancing Shu army captures regions including Zigui, Wu County, Mount Ba and Mount Xing, Sun Quan’s forces that set out from their fortifications to engage the enemy are nearly all annihilated.
The initial defeat causes Sun Quan to decide to adopt Lu Xun's strategy and appoint Lu as Grand Viceroy (de facto commander-in-chief of Sun Quan's forces).
Sun Quan’s forces, realizing that the Shu troops are better versed in warfare in mountainous terrain as they are mostly ground troops, decide to abandon their defenses at certain territories and retreat to vital positions and defend them instead.
After this, they intend to hold on to these positions and wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack.
Shu naval forces led by Wu Ban and Chen Shi capture Yiling in January 222.
Liu Bei builds his headquarters in Zigui but does not stay there for long as his forces continue to make progress and push further into the heartland of Sun Quan’s territories.
The Shu vanguard breaks through enemy lines at Yidao in February and defeats Sun Quan’s defenders in an engagement outside the city.
Sun Quan’s general Sun Huan, who is guarding Yidao, retreats with his remaining troops into the city and holds on to his position until a stalemate is reached.
The main Shu force led by Liu Bei meanwhile reaches Xiaoting and is unable to push any further as Sun Quan’s forces led by Lu Xun hold on firmly to their positions.
With no further retreat by Sun Quan’s forces, both sides reach a stalemate at Xiaoting.
As Shu troops venture further into Sun Quan’s territory, their supply lines from Chengdu lengthen and supplies take longer to arrive.
They also become gradually weary and tired from battle.
The terrain becomes flatter and the Shu infantry loses the advantage the had held in mountainous terrain.
Liu Bei deploys his troops in over fifty camps along the three hundred and fifty-kilometer line from Wuxia to Yiling on the southern bank of the Yangtze River.
His vanguard army is isolated one hundred and fifty kilometers away at Yidao.
Sun Quan’s forces think that this the best time to launch their counterattack, but Lu Xun orders them to hold on.
Most of Sun Quan’s forces had evacuated by March from mountainous terrain to fortifications on flatland.
Summer soon arrives and the sweltering heat kills several plants and shrubs.
Liu Bei's forces camped at Yiling are directly next to a forest and the heat becomes even more unbearable.
Some Shu soldiers are affected by heatstroke.
By now, the Shu army's morale has fallen significantly as compared to at the start of the campaign, as the troops are now weary and suffering from the intense heat.
Liu Bei deploys eight thousand elite troops to lie in ambush in nearby valleys and sends Wu Ban to lead a weaker force to challenge and lure Sun Quan’s forces out of their fortifications into the ambush.
However, Lu Xun sees through Liu Bei's ruse and orders his troops to ignore taunts from the enemy.
It is said that he even ordered his troops to put wax into their ears.
The failure of the ambush causes the Shu army's morale to plummet even lower.
Shu troops are suffering from the summer heat as the stalemate, which had begun in March, continues.
Liu Bei decides to shift his camp into the nearby forest for shade and shelter from the heat even though his adviser Ma Liang opposes his decision.
Lu Xun, knowing in July that the time is ripe for counterattack, orders saboteurs to encircle Liu Bei's camp by traveling on water with the navy.
Once they are behind Liu Bei's camp at Yiling, the saboteurs set the camp on fire.
The woods gradually become a fiery inferno within hours as wildfires fueled by dead plants and dry air erupt everywhere.
As Shu soldiers rush towards the Yangtze River for water to put out the fires, Sun Quan’s archers, lying in ambush, shoot them down.
Shu forces attempt a counterattack, but enemy forces led by Pan Zhang break through the lines they re-form and make retaliation impossible.
The Shu navy fares slightly better by barely managing an orderly retreat.
Cheng Ji, a Shu official, personally leads a group of men to cover the navy as it withdraws.
Sun Quan’s marine forces catch up with the rear guard of the Shu navy and engage in battle.
Cheng Ji and his men are surrounded by Sun Quan’s vanguard force but they manage to hold on by sinking the smaller enemy boats.
However, they are eventually outnumbered and killed when the bulk of Sun Quan’s navy arrives.
Shu forces loss over forty of their original fifty camps on the three hundred and fifty-kilometer line to a rockslide at the Ma'an Hills.
Liu Bei attempts to reform and regroup his remaining forces at the hills to make a last stand.
However, his troops are split up before they can regroup as one.
Sun Quan’s general Zhu Ran leads an army of five thousand to disrupt the lines and prevent Liu Bei from reforming.
Lu Xun personally leads an attack on Shu forces together with Xu Sheng and Han Dang, and succeeds in preventing Liu Bei from making his last stand.
The entire Shu army is nearly wiped out at Ma'an Hills.
Retreating Shu soldiers set ablaze the army's remaining camps to hinder Sun Quan’s forces' pursuit.
Meanwhile, the isolated Shu vanguard force at Yidao is also completely destroyed by Sun Quan’s forces.
Huang Quan manages to escape together with his deputy Pang Lin and three hundred and eighteen horsemen to the northern bank of the Yangtze River, where they are cut off from the rest of the Shu army, and eventually they decide to surrender to Wei.
Liu Bei flees to Zigui with Sun Quan’s forces hot on his heels.
The demoralized Shu troops are unable to hold their ground and keep retreating.
During the withdrawal, Wang Fu, the Shu official in charge of Jing Province, is killed in the ensuing battle, but his death buys time for Liu Bei to continue retreating.
Xiang Chong, who is stationed at Jing Province, manages to regroup the surviving Shu troops and lead them on an orderly retreat without them suffering any further great losses.
Xiang Chong also leads Liu Bei safely to Yufu (present-day Fengjie County, Chongqing) and manages to repel any further attacks by pursuing enemy forces.
Liu Bei, impressed with Xiang Chong, promotes him to the rank of viceroy.
Eventually, reinforcements from Jiangzhou led by Zhao Yun arrive and a stalemate is reached before Sun Quan’s forces decide to retreat, thus ending their counterattack.
Most of the Shu commanders who had participated in the battle have been killed; only naval commanders Wu Ban and Chen Shi manage to return safely.