Nanjun

Nanjun is a strategically important city repeatedly contested by the forces of Cao Cao, Zhou Yu, and Xuande. Its possession is never just a matter of holding a set of walls: control of the city is bound up with the defense of Yiling, access to neighboring Jingzhou cities, and the ability to sustain an army. A succession of feints and reversals makes Nanjun a measure of how quickly battlefield advantage can change hands.

Strategic Position and the Contest for the City

After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu learns that Xuande has moved his force toward the mouth of the You River, with Kong Ming alongside him. Zhou fears Xuande means to seize Nanjun, a city Zhou himself intends to capture, and visits Xuande with Lu Su to test his intentions. Both leaders have been warned that the city is the central point of contention. Their wary exchange leaves the contest unresolved: Zhou says that if his forces fail, Xuande is welcome to try.

The approach to Nanjun runs through a wider struggle over Yiling. Zhou Yu’s advance party is defeated by Cao Ren’s men, and the importance of Yiling to Nanjun’s defense soon becomes clear. Cao Ren sends troops to hold it. When Gan Ning advances, Cao Ren’s men are driven back, but Gan Ning’s entry into the town is followed almost at once by a siege. Zhou marches to relieve him. The combined southern forces defeat the besiegers, but Zhou’s effort to turn back toward Nanjun is interrupted by another relieving force from Cao Ren; after an inconclusive engagement, both commanders withdraw to recover.

Cao Ren’s Feint and Zhou Yu’s Reversal

With Yiling lost, Cao Ren’s position becomes increasingly desperate. He opens a secret letter from Cao Cao and prepares to abandon Nanjun at dawn, while leaving banners on the walls to suggest that his army still occupies the city. The apparent evacuation is a trap. Zhou Yu divides his army and leads one section toward the city as Cao Ren attacks from the north. When the northern force falters, Cao Ren retreats in seeming disorder. Zhou, believing the defenders are giving way, rides through the outer gate toward the inner wall.

Archers concealed above that inner gate then open fire on Zhou Yu’s men. Zhou is struck by a crossbow bolt and narrowly avoids capture, with Xu Sheng and Ding Feng helping him escape. Cao Ren’s troops follow the retreating southern army, but Ling Tong’s charge checks them and prevents the withdrawal from becoming a complete disaster. Zhou’s men return to camp, while Cao Ren regains Nanjun. The city’s walls and gates have thus turned Zhou’s apparent advance into a costly reversal, rather than the capture he had sought.

Cao Ren’s confidence in Zhou Yu’s imminent death leads to a further trap. After supposed deserters report that Zhou has died, Cao Ren sets out at night, intending to seize the body and strike at the enemy camp. He leaves Chen Jiao with only a small guard in Nanjun. The night expedition is ambushed and destroyed; Cao Ren and Cao Hong escape, but their remaining force is attacked again by Ling Tong and Gan Ning. Cao Ren reaches Xiangyang, while Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu gather their army and march on the city.

Xuande’s Forces Take Nanjun

When Zhou Yu’s victorious army arrives, banners still fly from Nanjun’s towers. Zhao Zilong calls down from the wall to say that he has taken the city on orders from above. Zhou immediately orders an assault, but arrows drive his soldiers back. He then plans to cut off Zhao’s supplies by sending forces against Gong’an and Xiangyang before attempting a larger attack.

Kong Ming has anticipated this move. News reaches Zhou that the men guarding Jingzhou have left after being deceived into thinking they were needed elsewhere, allowing Zhang Fei to seize the city. The same stratagem has drawn Xiangyang’s defenders away, and Guan Yu has captured it. Zhou’s effort to surround Zhao in Nanjun is therefore overtaken by the loss of the neighboring positions he meant to use against him. The news so enrages Zhou that his wound opens again. In this sequence, possession of Nanjun depends not only on the city itself but on the communications and garrisons around it; Kong Ming wins the wider contest by making Zhou’s planned encirclement arrive too late.

Nanjun Changes Hands Again

Nanjun later becomes part of the collapse of Guan Yu’s position. After a defeat near Fancheng, Guan Yu hears that Jiangling has fallen and that his family is under Lü Meng’s control. He turns toward Gong’an, only to learn that Fu Shiren has surrendered it. Soon afterward, he receives word that Mi Fang has surrendered Nanjun to Cao Cao. The successive losses remove possible refuges and reveal how thoroughly Guan Yu’s support in the region has disintegrated. He sends for reinforcements from Chengdu and sets out toward Jiangling with Guan Ping and Liao Hua, but Nanjun is no longer in his hands.

The city remains a military objective under Cao Pi. During his invasion of Wu, Cao Zhen besieges Nanjun while Lu Xun attacks from within and Zhuge Jin from outside. Cao Zhen is defeated, adding to the failures of Cao Pi’s campaign. In the larger pattern of the narrative, Nanjun repeatedly changes meaning with its possessor: it is first the prize of a rivalry after Red Cliffs, then the stage for Cao Ren’s defensive deception and Kong Ming’s counterplay, and later one of the territorial losses that leaves Guan Yu isolated. Its strategic value is shown through the consequences that radiate from its gates, garrisons, and neighboring cities.