Battle of Yiling (208)
| Battle of Yiling | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Red Cliffs campaign | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Sun Quan | Cao Cao | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Zhou Yu | Cao Ren | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 31,000 (this number assumes there were no casualties for Eastern Wu in the battle of Red Cliffs) | 6,000 cavalry | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 3,000+ | |||||||
| Battle of Yiling | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 夷陵之戰 | ||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 夷陵之战 | ||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Yílíng Zhī Zhàn |
The Battle of Yiling was fought between the warlords Sun Quan and Cao Cao in 208 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. The battle was an integral part in the Red Cliffs campaign, as it was fought immediately after the major engagement at Wulin (烏林; in present-day Honghu, Hubei) during the Battle of Red Cliffs. The Battle of Yiling was also the prelude to the subsequent Battle of Jiangling.
Immediately after Cao Cao's defeat at Wulin in the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu led 30,000 troops into Nan Commandery in a move to capture Jing Province's capital city, Jiangling (江陵; in present-day Jingjiang 荆江, not to be confused with present-day Jiangling County, Hubei). Zhou Yu's army camped on the southern bank of the Yangtze River. Before engaging Cao Cao's general Cao Ren, Zhou Yu ordered Gan Ning to take Yiling (夷陵; present-day Yichang, Hubei) as a preemptive move to secure the entrance to Yi Province (covering the Sichuan Basin). In addition, if Yiling was captured, Cao Ren would be isolated from Yi Province's governor Liu Zhang, who was sending reinforcements to support him.
The commander of Yiling, Xi Su (襲肅), was originally an official under Liu Zhang and he hated Cao Cao. When Gan Ning's troops reached Yiling, Xi Su surrendered without a fight. As Gan Ning's force reached 1,000 (Gan had 700 men initially), Zhou Yu wanted to merge Xi Su and his 300 troops into Lü Meng's unit to strengthen the main force. Lü Meng refused the offer and appealed to Sun Quan not to reassign Xi Su and his 300 men, but rather, keep Xi Su with Gan Ning to reinforce defenses at Yiling. Sun Quan agreed to Lü Meng's proposal. When Cao Ren learnt that Yiling had fallen, he immediately sent 6,000 cavalry to retake the city. Under intense pressure, Gan Ning remained calm and stabilized his army's morale.
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