The so-called borrowing the east wind is actually Zhuge Liang's detailed calculation based on his understanding of astronomy and geography and the local climate and temperature differences that the southeast wind will blow here on the winter solstice. Since there was an east wind, Liu Bei's army would never miss this good opportunity, so they immediately sent Zhou Yu and Huang Gai to the enemy Cao Cao to pretend to surrender. Then when the ship approached Cao Jun's camp, they threw oil-soaked reeds and dead grass onto Cao Jun's warship. At this time, Liu Bei's army in the distance fired arrows with fire, and Cao Cao's warship was attacked by rockets. After that, flames suddenly broke out everywhere, and the sky was full of flames. This battle could be said to have dealt a devastating blow to Cao Cao's side.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao became increasingly powerful and had the power to surpass Liu Bei and Sun Quan. In order to deal with this powerful enemy, Liu Bei and Sun Quan decided to form a conspiracy to unite their armies to attack Cao Cao. In the famous water battle in Chibi, compared to Liu Bei and Sun Quan who lived along the Yangtze River all year round and were well versed in water properties, most of Cao Cao's soldiers were landlubbers and did not understand water properties. Some soldiers even showed signs of seasickness.
It is for this reason that Cao Cao ordered all the ships to be connected with ropes and laid wide and thick wooden boards between the ships. In this way, the soldiers shuttled among the warships as if they were walking on flat ground, without feeling any shaking at all. The soldier's seasickness problem was solved, but Cao Cao's move also unexpectedly gave Liu Bei and Sun Quan new ideas for combat plans.
Cao Cao’s army and ships are connected with each other, so the target when they fight will become extremely large. If Liu Bei’s side attacks with fire at this time, then as long as one warship of Cao Cao’s army is on fire, the rest will The warships must also be damaged one after another. This idea is good, but the question is, who can control the direction of the wind by then?
After Zhuge Liang of Liu Bei's army learned about this, he calculated on the spot and calculated that the southeast wind would blow here on the winter solstice, and the fire attack army could take advantage of this time to conquer Cao's army. Zhuge Liang's uncanny calculations were well-known in the army, so Liu Bei did not doubt his presence. On the winter solstice, he sent Zhou Yu and Huang Gai to surrender to Cao Cao with reeds soaked in diesel and a small number of soldiers.
When Cao Cao saw the two enemy generals approaching, he was overjoyed and hurried out to greet them. Huang Gai took this opportunity and ordered his soldiers to sneak to the rear and throw the oil-wrapped reeds to Cao Cao. on the ship, and then led the troops to retreat quickly. At this moment, the archers on Liu Bei's side who had been on standby began to fire flaming arrows at Cao Cao's warship. Driven by the southeast wind, Cao Cao's ship connected by ropes burned rapidly and was instantly engulfed in flames.