Editing Battle of Red Cliffs (section)

== Analysis ==
[[File:Mengchong.png|thumb|upright=1.2|A depiction of a ''[[mengchong]]'', an assault warship used in the battle that was covered in leather and designed to break enemy lines – the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'', {{circa|1040}}|alt=A black and white painting of a oared ship out on water, five seated people are on its inner lower deck, four are seated on the inner upper deck, and one standing on the outer lower deck near the front of the ship with a long stick/weapon in his hand ]]

A combination of Cao Cao's strategic errors and the effectiveness of Huang Gai's ruse had resulted in the allied victory at the Battle of Red Cliffs. Zhou Yu had observed that Cao Cao's generals and soldiers were mostly from the cavalry and infantry, and just a few had any experience in naval warfare. Cao Cao also had little support among the people of [[Jingzhou (ancient China)|Jing Province]] and so lacked a secure forward base of operations.{{sfnp|Eikenberry|1994|p=60}} Despite the strategic acumen that Cao Cao had displayed in earlier campaigns and battles, he had simply assumed in this case that numerical superiority would eventually defeat the Sun and Liu navy. Cao's first tactical mistake was converting his massive army of infantry and cavalry into a marine corps and navy. With only a few days of drills before the battle, Cao Cao's troops were debilitated by sea-sickness and lack of experience on water. Tropical diseases to which the southerners were largely immune were also rampant in Cao Cao's camps. Although numerous, Cao Cao's men were already exhausted by the unfamiliar environment and the extended southern campaign, as Zhuge Liang observed: "Even a powerful arrow at the end of its flight cannot penetrate a silk cloth."{{sfnp|Military Documents|1979}}

[[Jia Xu]], a key advisor to Cao Cao had recommended after the surrender of Liu Cong for the overtaxed armies to be given time to rest and replenish before they engaged the armies of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, but Cao Cao disregarded that advice.{{sfnp|Eikenberry|1994|p=60}} Cao Cao's own thoughts regarding his failure at Red Cliffs suggest that he held his own actions and misfortunes responsible for the defeat, rather than the strategies used by his enemy during the battle: "it was only because of the sickness that I burnt my ships and retreated. It is out of all reason for Zhou Yu to take the credit for himself."{{sfnp|Chen|c. 280|p=54:1265}}