Zhou Yu
Zhou Yu , courtesy name Gongjin, was a Chinese military general. He served under the warlords Sun Ce and later Sun Quan in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Zhou Yu played a leading role in defeating the numerically superior forces of the northern warlord Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliffs in late 208, and again at the Battle of Jiangling in 209. Zhou Yu's victories served as the bedrock of Sun Quan's regime, which in 222 became Eastern Wu. Zhou Yu did not live to see Sun Quan's enthronement, however, as he died at the age of 35 in 210 while preparing to invade Yi Province.
In the 14th-century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which has greatly shaped Zhou Yu’s popular image, he is portrayed as a brilliant and dashing yet temperamentally insecure figure, marked by his jealousy toward Zhuge Liang.
Family background
Zhou Yu was from Shu County, Lujiang Commandery, which is present-day Shucheng County, Anhui. Two of his relatives – his great-uncle Zhou Jing, and Zhou Jing's son Zhou Zhong – served as the grand commandant in the Han central government, the highest military official position. Zhou Yu's father, Zhou Yi, was a prefect of the imperial capital, Luoyang.Service under Sun Ce
Friendship
Around the year 191, Sun Jian raised an army to join the Campaign against Dong Zhuo and moved his family from Shouchun to Zhou Yu's hometown in Shu County. Zhou Yu befriended Sun Jian's eldest son, Sun Ce, who was born in the same year as him. The two became very close friends. Zhou Yu not only offered to let Sun Ce and his family stay in the Zhou family home, but also paid respects to Sun Ce's mother Lady Wu as if she were his mother.The Jiang Biao Zhuan contains a slightly different account of how Zhou Yu and Sun Ce met each other. It mentions that Zhou Yu heard of Sun Ce's reputation and wanted to meet him, so he travelled from Shu County to Shouchun to visit Sun Ce. The two of them developed such a close friendship that Sun Ce heeded Zhou Yu's advice to bring along his family and relocate from Shouchun to Shu County.
Conquering Jiangdong
Zhou Yu later travelled to Danyang Commandery to join his uncle Zhou Shang, who was serving as the Administrator of Danyang. Around 194, Sun Ce, then acting under orders from the warlord Yuan Shu, led troops into Yang Province to aid his relatives Wu Jing and Sun Ben against the encroachments of the warlord Liu Yao. While Sun Ce was preparing to cross the Yangtze River at Liyang for an attack on Liu Yao, he sent a messenger to inform Zhou Yu about his plans. Zhou Yu led troops to assist Sun Ce, who gratefully told Zhou Yu: "With your aid, I can attain greatness!"Zhou Yu then joined Sun Ce in his conquests of Hengjiang and Dangli. They crossed the Yangtze River, conquered Moling and defeated Liu Yao's forces under Ze Rong and Xue Li. They also conquered Hushu, Jiangcheng, and Qu'e. Liu Yao fled in the wake of his defeat and the strength of Sun Ce's forces increased to tens of thousands.
Later service under Sun Ce
told Zhou Yu: "I now have sufficient military power to conquer Wu and pacify the Shanyue. You can return to Danyang and station there." Zhou Yu then made his way back to Danyang. Around 196, Yuan Shu had sent his cousin Yuan Yin to replace Zhou Shang as the Administrator of Danyang, so Zhou Shang and Zhou Yu went to Shouchun to meet Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu wanted to recruit Zhou Yu to serve under him, but Zhou Yu foresaw Yuan Shu's downfall so he pretended to ask for the appointment of Chief of Juchao while secretly planning to leave Yuan Shu and join Sun Ce. After Yuan Shu approved his request, Zhou Yu travelled to Wu Commandery via Juchao.In 198, Zhou Yu arrived in Wu Commandery, where Sun Ce personally received and welcomed him. Sun Ce appointed Zhou Yu as General of the Household Who Establishes Might and put him in command of 2,000 troops and gave him 50 horses. Sun Ce said: "Zhou Gongjin is an extraordinary hero and talent. He's very close to me and we are like brothers. I still remember that time when he brought his troops and supplies from Danyang to assist me in my campaign. I can never repay him for his help and contributions."
Zhou Yu was 23 years old at the time, and he was nicknamed "Zhou Lang" by the people in Wu. He was garrisoned in Lujiang Commandery and later moved to Niuzhu before assuming his appointment as the Chief of Chungu County. When Sun Ce planned his attack Jing Province, he appointed Zhou Yu as Central Protector of the Army and the Administrator of Jiangxia Commandery. Zhou Yu accompanied Sun Ce in the conquest of Wan. Zhou Yu then joined Sun Ce in attacking Xunyang County, where they defeated a minor warlord Liu Xun. They then invaded Jiangxia Commandery and subsequently pacified Yuzhang Commandery and Luling Commandery. Zhou Yu later returned to Baqiu and garrisoned there.
Service under Sun Quan
Advising Sun Quan not to send a hostage
was assassinated in the year 200 by the followers of Xu Gong, a commandery administrator whom he killed earlier. His younger brother, Sun Quan, succeeded him and took control of his territories. Zhou Yu rushed back to Wu Commandery to attend Sun Ce's funeral and remained in Wu Commandery after the funeral. Zhou Yu then held the appointment of Central Protector of the Army. As Sun Quan was still relatively young and inexperienced then, Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao assisted him in overseeing the day-to-day affairs in the Jiangdong territories.Around the time, the warlord Cao Cao, who controlled the Han court and the figurehead Emperor Xian, had recently defeated his rival Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu and was achieving success in his campaigns to unify northern China. In 202, Cao Cao wrote a letter to Sun Quan, demanding that Sun Quan send one of his sons to the imperial capital Xu as a hostage, so as to secure Sun Quan's allegiance towards him. Sun Quan gathered all his subjects, including Zhang Zhao and Qin Song, for a discussion, but they could not arrive at a conclusion.
Sun Quan was reluctant to send one of his sons to be a hostage in the capital, so he had another discussion with only his mother Lady Wu and Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu said:
Lady Wu agreed with Zhou Yu and she said: "What Gongjin said is true. Gongjin was around the same age as Bofu as he was only a month younger than Bofu. I see Gongjin as a son, so you should treat him like an elder brother." Sun Quan heeded their advice and did not send a hostage to Cao Cao.
Battles against Huang Zu
In 206, Zhou Yu and Sun Quan's cousin Sun Yu attacked bandits at Ma and Bao counties and killed their chiefs and captured thousands of enemies. Later that year, Huang Zu, the Administrator of Jiangxia Commandery, sent his subordinate Deng Long to lead a few thousand troops to attack Sun Quan's forces in Chaisang Commandery. Zhou Yu attacked Deng Long, captured him alive, and sent him as a prisoner-of-war to Wu Commandery.In the spring of 208, Sun Quan ordered an attack on Jiangxia, which was defended by Huang Zu. Zhou Yu was assigned as the Chief Commander of the Front Army and he, along with Lü Meng, Ling Tong and others, scored a major victory over the enemy. Huang Zu was killed by Sun Quan's forces when attempting to escape.
Advising Sun Quan to go to war with Cao Cao
In the late autumn of 208, Cao Cao started a campaign aimed at wiping out all opposing forces in southern China. When his forces arrived in Jing Province, the provincial governor Liu Cong surrendered without putting up any resistance. When Sun Quan's men heard that Cao Cao had obtained tens of thousands of Jing Province's land and naval troops, they were all very afraid because they knew Cao Cao's next target was Sun Quan's territories in Jiangdong.Cao Cao wrote a letter to Sun Quan as follows: "Of late, I have been leading a punitive campaign in accordance with an imperial decree. Liu Cong surrendered when I led the imperial army to the south. Now, I have 800,000 naval troops under my command, and I wish to participate in a hunting expedition in Wu with you, General." Sun Quan summoned all his subjects for a meeting to discuss how to counter an impending invasion by Cao Cao. Many of them turned pale when he showed them the letter.
Some of Sun Quan's followers suggested to surrender to Cao Cao on the grounds that the strength of their armed forces was not comparable to Cao Cao's. Zhou Yu, however, had a different opinion and he said:
Sun Quan replied: "The old villain has harboured the intention of usurping the Han dynasty for a long time, but he feared the two Yuans, Lü Bu, Liu Biao and me. Now, all the others have been destroyed and I am the only one left. The old villain and I cannot coexist together. Your idea of going to war coincides closely with my thoughts. This is a sign that Heaven has granted you to me." He then drew his sword, slashed the table in front of him and said: "Any of you who dares to speak of surrendering to Cao Cao shall end up like this table!"
Later that night, Zhou Yu came to see Sun Quan and said:
Sun Quan placed his hand on Zhou Yu's shoulder and replied:
Pei Songzhi, who annotated Zhou Yu's biography in the Sanguozhi, argued that Lu Su was actually the first person who urged Sun Quan to resist Cao Cao. Zhou Yu was at Poyang County before Sun Quan held the discussion with his subjects, and Lu Su suggested to Sun Quan to summon Zhou Yu back for the meeting. Zhou Yu and Lu Su gave similar advice to Sun Quan, which resulted in Sun Quan arriving at his decision to go to war with Cao Cao. Pei Songzhi argued that it was unfair to Lu Su because Zhou Yu's biography gave full credit to Zhou Yu for being the only person to urge Sun Quan to resist Cao Cao, and failed to mention that Lu Su had already urged Sun Quan to resist Cao Cao before Zhou Yu did.
Battle of Red Cliffs
Around the time, Liu Bei had recently been defeated by Cao Cao at the Battle of Changban, and he planned to lead his followers south across the Yangtze River. Liu Bei met Lu Su at Dangyang, where they discussed the formation of an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan. Liu Bei then moved to Xiakou and garrisoned there. At the same time, he also sent his adviser Zhuge Liang to accompany Lu Su to meet Sun Quan and discuss a Sun–Liu alliance. Sun Quan ordered Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu to lead his forces to join Liu Bei in resisting Cao Cao, and they rendezvoused at Red Cliffs. A plague had broken out in Cao Cao's army, so Cao Cao lost to the allied forces in an early skirmish between both sides. Cao Cao then moved his camp to the northern bank of the Yangtze River while the allies remained at the south.Huang Gai, one of Sun Quan's generals, told Zhou Yu: "The enemy are superior in numbers in comparison with our side. I fear that we cannot last long. However, I observe that Cao Cao's ships are linked to each other. We can destroy them by fire." Huang Gai then prepared about ten mengchongs and and filled them with the ingredients necessary for starting a fire. He also wrote a letter to Cao Cao, pretending that he wanted to surrender and defect to Cao Cao's side.
Huang Gai then prepared some , which would follow behind the and, and his small fleet sailed towards Cao Cao's base. The wind was blowing strongly from the southeast. When Huang Gai's fleet reached the middle of the river, the ships all raised their sails, and Huang Gai lifted a torch and instructed his men to shout "We surrender!" Cao Cao's troops came out of the camp to look and they said Huang Gai was coming to join them. When Huang Gai was about 20 li away from the enemy base, he ordered his men to set the ships on fire and they boarded the smaller boats behind. As the wind was very strong, the flaming ships sailed towards Cao Cao's warships at fast speed and caused them to catch fire as well. Cao Cao's ships were all burnt down and the flames also spread quickly to his camps on land. Zhou Yu then ordered an attack on Cao Cao's base and scored a major victory. Cao Cao retreated north with his surviving troops after his defeat. Zhou Yu and Liu Bei led their respective forces in pursuit of Cao Cao, but Cao had already fled.