Chen Wu

Chen Wu is a Wu commander who dies in the battle at Ruxu. His death gives the hard-won battlefield relief a personal cost: when Lu Xun’s reinforcements drive back Cao Cao’s troops, Sun Quan still grieves for Chen Wu, whose body is found on the field.

Role in the Ruxu campaign

The account places Chen Wu amid the battle’s intensifying action. Cao Cao sends five separate forces against Ruxu, and the fighting swings between the opposing armies. During the assault, Pang De confronts Chen Wu in the fighting near the Ruxu wall. The passage does not detail the outcome of their confrontation, but it establishes Chen Wu’s presence at the center of the campaign’s danger.

Sun Quan’s rescue

As the Wei forces threaten to overwhelm the Wu army, Sun Quan rides out with Zhou Tai to aid Chen Wu. The two become trapped between enemy forces. Cao Cao recognizes the opportunity to kill or capture Sun Quan and orders Xu Chu to attack; the assault divides the Wu troops and leaves Sun Quan exposed. Zhou Tai repeatedly returns to the fighting to bring Sun Quan toward safety, then turns back once more to rescue Xu Sheng, who is also surrounded.

Death and aftermath

Lu Xun arrives with a hundred thousand men and drives Cao Cao’s troops back. The Wei army suffers severe losses, and the Wu seize thousands of horses. Yet the reversal does not erase the cost: Chen Wu’s body is found on the battlefield, and Sun Quan is overcome with grief. After a month-long impasse, the sides declare a truce; Cao Cao withdraws to the capital, while Sun Quan returns to his base at Moling.

Narrative significance

Chen Wu’s death is reported briefly, without an account of his final actions. That restraint makes the discovery of his body a hinge in the battle’s ending: military relief and material gains arrive alongside mourning. His loss marks the difference between a victory that secures the army and one that restores what the fighting has taken.