Liu Bei's capture of Nanjun and Jingzhou cities is a contest over who will control Nanjun after Zhou Yu’s victory over Cao Cao’s forces. Zhou Yu believes Liu Bei intends to seize the city he has marked for himself, but the resulting campaign repeatedly turns against him: his assault on Nanjun is checked by Cao Ren’s trap, and while he recovers, Zhao Zilong occupies the city. Kong Ming then exploits the diversion of Wu’s forces to arrange the capture of Jingzhou and Xiangyang as well. The episode makes territorial gain a product of strategic timing as much as battlefield strength, and turns Zhou Yu’s military success into a political defeat.

Causes and competing claims

Zhou Yu’s alarm begins when he learns that Liu Bei has moved his force to the mouth of the River You and that Kong Ming is with him. He reads this movement as evidence that Liu Bei means to take Nanjun, a city Zhou Yu himself intends to capture. With Lu Su, he visits Liu Bei to discover whether that suspicion is justified. The meeting is tense because both leaders know the city is the central issue, and Liu Bei has already received Kong Ming’s advice on how to answer.

Zhou Yu tells Liu Bei that he understands him to be planning to take Nanjun. Liu Bei replies that Zhou Yu has the same intention. Zhou then says that if his own side fails, Liu Bei is welcome to try. Liu Bei immediately makes sure the offer has witnesses: Lu Su and Kong Ming can attest to Zhou Yu’s words, so he cannot later withdraw them. Zhou insists that he will keep his word. After Zhou leaves, Liu Bei asks Kong Ming what the exchange means. Kong Ming’s answer is that Zhou should do the fighting, while Liu Bei’s side will soon be inside Nanjun. The promise has been made openly, but Zhou privately considers it meaningless and remains determined to take the city himself.

Zhou Yu’s assault and Cao Ren’s trap

Zhou Yu’s forces first advance against Cao Ren, who holds Nanjun. Their forward party is defeated, and the fighting makes Yiling, a strategically important point in the city’s defence, the next focus. Cao Ren sends troops there. Gan Ning advances on Yiling and enters the town after driving off its defenders, only to find himself besieged by northern forces. Zhou Yu marches to relieve him. His main army and Gan Ning’s troops defeat the besiegers, but the fighting does not end there: as Zhou turns back toward Nanjun, Cao Ren sends another relief force to Yiling. The two sides fight without a decisive result, and, exhausted, return to their camps.

The loss of Yiling leaves Cao Ren in a worsening position. He decides to open Cao Cao’s secret letter and, following its instructions, prepares to abandon Nanjun at daybreak while leaving banners on the walls to make it appear that his force still holds the city. Zhou Yu divides his army and leads one part toward Nanjun. When Cao Ren’s attack begins to falter under pressure from both sides, he retreats north in apparent disorder. Zhou Yu takes this as an opportunity and rides into the city through its outer gate, heading for the inner gate.

The retreat is a feint. Hidden in the tower above the inner gate, Chen Jiao orders archers to fire on Zhou Yu’s men as they enter. The sudden attack inflicts heavy losses; Zhou Yu is struck by a crossbow bolt as he tries to escape. Xu Sheng and Ding Feng help prevent his capture. Cao Ren’s army then turns on the retreating soldiers outside the city, and Ling Tong’s charge halts that attack before it becomes a complete rout. Cao Ren re-enters Nanjun, while Zhou Yu’s battered force returns to camp. His wound leaves him seriously ill and in great pain, and Cheng Pu keeps the army from responding to the taunts of Cao Ren’s men while its commander is incapacitated.

The capture of Nanjun and the other cities

Cao Ren hears that Zhou Yu is near death and is persuaded by supposed deserters that the Wu army has lost confidence in Cheng Pu. Hoping to seize Zhou Yu’s body and strike a decisive blow, he leads a night raid, leaving Chen Jiao with only a few men to guard Nanjun. The raiders find the enemy camp apparently empty and its gate open. Their suspicion comes too late: an attack begins from every direction, and Cao Ren’s army is destroyed. Cao Ren and Cao Hong escape with their guards, but Ling Tong intercepts them, and Gan Ning’s troops destroy most of the remaining force. Cao Ren eventually reaches Xiangyang.

Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu then gather their men and advance on Nanjun, expecting to claim the city after the defeat of Cao Ren. Instead, they see banners above the walls and hear Zhao Zilong announce that he has taken Nanjun on orders from above. Zhou Yu responds with an immediate assault, but a heavy volley of arrows drives his soldiers away from the walls. The capture is thus revealed only when Wu’s army arrives to find another force already in possession; the victory over Cao Ren has not secured the prize Zhou Yu sought.

Zhou Yu consults his officers and plans to take Gong’an and Xiangyang, cutting off Zhao Zilong’s supplies before a larger attack on Nanjun. Kong Ming has anticipated this move. News reaches Zhou Yu that the soldiers guarding Jingzhou were tricked into leaving the city because they believed they were needed elsewhere, allowing Zhang Fei to seize it. The same device draws the defenders away from Xiangyang, which Guan Yu captures. Zhou Yu’s plan to isolate Nanjun therefore exposes the other cities to capture instead.

Consequences and narrative significance

The sequence leaves Zhou Yu with the costs of a prolonged campaign, a serious wound, and none of the cities he expected to secure. His forces had defeated Cao Ren in the field and forced him out of Nanjun, but Zhou’s pursuit of the apparent opportunity gives Zhao Zilong time to occupy the city. His subsequent attempt to cut off that occupation’s supplies is overtaken by the capture of Jingzhou and Xiangyang. The episode distinguishes defeating an army from controlling the territory: Nanjun’s banners, the gates and roads, and the movement of defenders determine who actually possesses the region.

The reversal also sharpens the rivalry between Zhou Yu and Kong Ming. Zhou Yu’s concerns are grounded in the same strategic geography as Kong Ming’s: Nanjun is the prize, and the surrounding cities and supply routes shape the contest. Yet Kong Ming repeatedly makes Zhou’s expected actions serve Liu Bei’s interests. The earlier public promise that Liu Bei may try for Nanjun if Zhou fails becomes a pointed framework for their competition, while the occupation of Nanjun and the loss of the other cities turn the struggle between Sun Quan and Liu Bei onto a new course. The city changes hands not through a single conclusive assault, but through layered deception, divided attention, and the arrival of forces where the opponent does not expect them.