Isn’t it Zhuge Liang who borrowed arrows from a straw boat? Why is it Sun Quan?

"The straw boat borrowing arrows" is Zhuge Liang in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and Sun Quan in history.

The straw boat borrowing arrows is a story about the Battle of Chibi in the Chinese classic "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The borrowed arrows were deliberately proposed by Zhou Yu (limited to ten days to make one hundred thousand arrows). The clever Zhuge Liang saw through it at a glance and said it was a harmful plan, but calmly said "it only takes three days." Later, with help from a foggy day, Zhuge Liang took advantage of Cao Cao's suspicious character and mobilized a few straw boats to lure the enemy. Finally, he borrowed 100,000 arrows and accomplished a miraculous feat.

As a result, Zhuge Liang's courage and intelligence were praised by later generations, which led to many idioms, anecdotes and dramatic performances. But in "Wei Lue", the so-called "borrowing arrows from a straw boat" was actually done by Sun Quan.

According to "Wu Li" cited by Pei Songzhi in "The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Master Wu", Sun Quan repeatedly challenged Cao Cao's army, but Cao Cao could not hold on. Sun Quan personally took a light boat and entered the water stronghold of Cao Cao's army from Ruxukou. As soon as Cao Cao saw it, he knew that Sun Quan was coming. Sun Quan wanted to see Cao's army's formation in person (he wanted to see my army in person), so he ordered the army to be on strict guard and not to fire arrows and crossbows indiscriminately. Sun Quan walked five or six miles in front of Cao Cao before returning. When leaving, they also played drums and played music to Cao Jun. All of this was seen by Cao Cao and he sighed: "Having a son should be like Sun Zhongmou."

But "Wei Lue" does not say this. It says that Sun Quan did not take a light ship, but a big ship. Cao Cao did not say that bows and crossbows should not be fired recklessly, but ordered the arrows to be fired. As a result, thousands of arrows were fired together, and they all hit Sun Quan's boat, causing the boat to tilt to one side. Sun Quan ordered the boat to turn around so that "the arrows were even and the boat was level", and then returned safely.

Extended information

Cao Cao had no choice but to withdraw his troops and return north

The two sides were in a stalemate for more than a month. Cao Cao sighed when he saw Sun Quan's boats, ships, warships, and troops being purged. He said in one breath: "The son should be like Sun Zhongmou; like the son of Liu Jingsheng (the deceased Jingzhou governor Liu Biao), with dolphin ears!" "Pig" means pig.

It was a continuous spring rain at that time. Sun Quan knew that Cao Cao's northern army was not suitable for fighting, so he wrote a letter to Cao Cao, "Spring water brings prosperity, and the public should leave quickly." It was completely mocking, and included On a piece of paper, there were eight other words written: "Unless you die with one step, you will never be alone." It contained contempt and curses.

But Cao Cao was very happy after seeing this, because he had always wanted to retreat but could not find an excuse. This time he finally found an honest reason, so he said to his subordinates: "Sun Quan does not bully an orphan." Then he looked at the boundless river and withdrew his troops back north with helplessness and sigh, leaving behind a sad figure.

During this battle, more than 100,000 households west of the Yangtze River saw the power of Soochow and moved to the east of the Yangtze River. Afterwards, Cao Cao was unconvinced and frantically organized several attacks, but all failed. Sun Quan basically controlled the situation south of Hefei and north of the Yangtze River.

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