The Bai River is a brief but decisive point in the retreat from Xinye: Cao Ren’s surviving troops reach its shallows hoping to recover and cross, but Guan Yu breaks a dam upstream, and the resulting flood carries away men and horses. The river turns an apparent refuge into the next stage of Kong Ming’s attack, showing how control of terrain and water can shape the fate of an army.

The retreat from Xinye

After Cao Ren enters Xinye and finds its gates open and the city deserted, fires break out during the night. As three gates burn, his men rush toward the remaining open gate, where Zhao Zilong attacks them. Cao Ren escapes that encounter, but Liu Feng’s force strikes again. With only a small number of men still with him, he retreats toward the Bai River.

A crossing becomes a trap

At the river, the survivors drink and wade through the shallows. The water appears to offer a moment of relief and a route onward. But Guan Yu has seen the fires and remembers Kong Ming’s orders: he breaks the dam upstream, sending floodwaters down the river and sweeping away men and horses.

The river in the battle’s design

The Bai River is not merely a backdrop to the retreat. Its position in the sequence links the fires at Xinye to the pursuit beyond the city: the soldiers who escape the burning gates and reach the shallows are still within the reach of a plan prepared around signals, terrain, and water. The river’s familiar use as a crossing becomes a vulnerability once Guan Yu acts on the signal. Cao Ren and a few survivors continue toward Boling, where they know of a ford, only to encounter Zhang Fei. The crossing therefore marks neither safety nor the end of the pursuit, but a reversal that carries the attack forward.