The Battle of Xiapi ends Lü Bu’s bid to preserve his power in the region: betrayed by Chen Deng, driven from Xuzhou and Xiaopei, and trapped in Xiapi, he is ultimately captured by his own men after Cao Cao’s forces flood and assault the city. Its decisive turn comes not from a successful breakout, but from the converging effects of unreliable allegiance, failed escape plans, and dissension inside the walls. The fall also brings Cao Cao face to face with his former ally Chen Gong, whose defiant refusal to reconcile contrasts with Cao Cao’s decision to spare Chen Gong’s family.

Causes and strategic background

After Cao Cao’s campaign against him, Lü Bu relied heavily on Chen Deng, a trust that proved fatal. Chen Deng had concluded that Lü Bu’s cause was doomed and secretly passed information about his intentions to Cao Cao. He also persuaded Lü Bu’s commanders that their leader had urgently called them to his aid. Once they left, Chen Deng opened the gates of Xiaopei to Cao Ren. Defeated elsewhere, Lü Bu retreated to Xiaopei expecting safety, only to find it in enemy hands; with Zhang Fei closing in, he had no option but to flee to Xiapi.

Chen Deng’s actions made the siege more than a contest between armies. Lü Bu had sent reserves and his family to Xiapi as a refuge in case Xuzhou fell, but the city became a trap when his fallback position was exposed and his own command network was manipulated. The larger political setting was a struggle among rival powers as the Han weakened. Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sun Quan would emerge as the three leading figures associated with the kingdoms that arose from Han China’s fragmentation; at Xiapi, the immediate question was whether Lü Bu could preserve an independent base amid Cao Cao’s advance.

The siege and failed escape

Once besieged, Lü Bu wanted to attack outward, but his wife and concubine’s fearful pleas persuaded him not to leave them. He became despondent and drank heavily. His advisers Xu Si and Wang Kai then renewed a proposed alliance with Yuan Shu, to be secured by the marriage of Lü Bu’s daughter to Yuan Shu’s son. They crossed enemy lines to seek Yuan Shu’s agreement, despite the earlier hostility caused when Lü Bu had executed Yuan Shu’s envoy. But Zhang Fei captured one of Lü Bu’s messengers on the return journey, exposing the plan to Cao Cao. The siege tightened, blocking Lü Bu and his daughter from reaching Yuan Shu.

Lü Bu eventually attempted a nighttime breakout. His daughter rode behind him on Red Hare, protected beneath cotton and armor, while the party slipped through a small gate. Near Liu Bei’s camp, their flight was discovered. The three sworn brothers attacked the escort and pushed it back. Lü Bu was unwilling to endanger his daughter, so he turned back into Xiapi with her. The failed escape deepened his despair and left the besieged city with no relief route established by the marriage alliance.

Flooding, revolt, and capture

Cao Cao’s siege was making little progress, and he was ready to abandon it, when Xun You and Guo Jia proposed diverting the Yi and Si rivers to flood Xiapi. At the same time, Lü Bu’s conduct alienated his own officers. Having moved from drunkenness to abstinence, he banned alcohol. When one of his prominent generals broke the ban to celebrate a minor victory, Lü Bu sentenced him to death, then reduced the punishment to fifty lashes after being persuaded. The punishment unsettled the other generals, and plots began to form among them. Red Hare was stolen and delivered to Cao Cao, a conspicuous sign that Lü Bu’s control over his own camp was slipping.

During a major assault on the city, Lü Bu, exhausted, fell asleep in a tower. Song Xian seized his famous halberd, and Wei Xu helped bind him. When Lü Bu awoke, he was a prisoner of his own men. Wei Xu called down to Cao Cao, announced Lü Bu’s capture, and opened the gates. Cao Cao’s forces then took the city. The outcome was therefore secured both by the external pressure of the flood and assault and by a betrayal from within: the commanders who had served Lü Bu made it possible for Cao Cao’s army to enter.

Chen Gong and Lü Bu after the fall

After order was restored, Cao Cao and Liu Bei sat in judgment over the captives. Chen Gong, a former ally of Cao Cao, was brought before him. Their exchange recalled the rupture between them: Chen Gong accused Cao Cao of deceit, and Cao Cao challenged him for having left to serve Lü Bu. Chen Gong replied that Lü Bu might have been foolish, but was not deceitful in the way Cao Cao was. Their dispute gave the capture a personal dimension: the victory reunited former allies only as opponents, with neither willing to deny the breach between them.

Chen Gong expected to die and asked for a swift execution. When Cao Cao asked what should happen to his wife, mother, and children, Chen Gong appealed to the duties of filial rule and benevolence, asking that his family not be harmed and that the rites appropriate to his tomb be respected. Cao Cao ordered that Chen Gong’s family be taken to the capital and cared for for the rest of their lives. Chen Gong was then executed. The scene places his unwavering refusal to return to Cao Cao beside Cao Cao’s protection of the family, distinguishing the two men’s political relationship from the treatment of those left behind.

Lü Bu was also sentenced to death, by strangulation. In desperation he appealed to Liu Bei, reminding him that he had once saved Liu Bei’s life with a shot from an arrow. Zhang Liao, one of Lü Bu’s men, urged him to face death bravely. The sentence was carried out, and Lü Bu’s power ended with the fall of Xiapi. His appeal invoked a past act of assistance, but it could not reverse the political defeat or secure his survival.

Narrative significance

The siege is shaped by reversals of trust. Chen Deng’s apparent service to Lü Bu conceals his decision to help Cao Cao; Lü Bu’s refuge becomes a prison; and the commanders inside Xiapi, rather than an invading force alone, deliver their leader into enemy hands. The stolen Red Hare and halberd make the loss of authority tangible, while the failed escape with Lü Bu’s daughter shows that even the celebrated fighter’s choices are constrained by the danger to those with him.

The episode also sets military calculation against political and personal conduct. Cao Cao’s forces gain the city through a plan to redirect rivers, but the decisive opening comes when Wei Xu opens the gates after Lü Bu’s capture. In the judgment scene, Chen Gong’s death does not erase his appeal for his family, and Cao Cao’s order to protect them stands beside his execution of the man who had once served him. The battle thus closes Lü Bu’s immediate struggle for power while turning the aftermath into a reckoning with loyalty, betrayal, and the obligations owed even to an enemy’s household.