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When Cao Cao returned to camp, he conferred rich rewards upon his henchman who had saved him, and he reprimanded his other leaders for their too hasty retirement.

“You blunt the keen spirits of the army; and if you do such a thing again, I will put you to death,” said Cao Cao.

About midnight that night there arose great commotion at the gates of the camp; and when Cao Cao went outside, he found that the enemy had crept up secretly and started a conflagration. The soldiers of the South Land forced their way into the stockade and went hither and thither, slaying till morning broke. Then Cao Cao and his army retired.

Cao Cao was greatly distressed by this misfortune. He was sitting in his tent poring over the Book of War when Cheng Yu came in to see him.

“O Prime Minister,” said Cheng Yu, “you who know so thoroughly the art of war, have you forgotten the maxim to strike quickly? You had your army ready, but you postponed action and allowed your enemies to build the ramparts at River Ruxu. Now you will find it hard to capture the place. It would be better now to retreat on the capital and await a more propitious moment.”

Cao Cao listened, but said nothing; after a time Cheng Yu went away. Cao Cao remained seated in his tent, leaning on a small table by his side. And he fell asleep. Suddenly he heard a sound as of a rushing stream or galloping squadrons of horse, and out of the river in front of him arose a huge red sun, so bright that his eyes were dazzled by it. Looking up at the sky, he saw two other suns as if reflections of this one. And as he wondered, the first sun suddenly flew up and then dropped among the hills in front of his camp with a roar like thunder.

This woke him. He was in his tent and had been dreaming, and the sentry at his tent door was just reporting noon.

Soon he had his horse saddled and rode out, with a small escort, toward the spot he had seen in his dream. As he stood gazing around him, an army of horse came along with Sun Quan at their head. Sun Quan wore a glittering helmet and was clad in silver armor.

Seeing his chief enemy, Sun Quan showed no sign of haste or dismay, but reined in his steed on a rise and, pointing with his whip at Cao Cao, said, “Behold the all-powerful minister who holds the capital in the hollow of his hand! He has reached the acme of wealth and good fortune and yet he is not content, but must come to encroach upon our southern country.”

Cao Cao replied, “You are disobedient, and the command of the Emperor is to exterminate you!”

“What words!” cried Sun Quan with a laugh. “Are you not ashamed? Everyone knows that you control every act of the Emperor and you tyrannize over the nobles. I am no rebel against the dynasty, but I do desire to capture you and reform the government.”

Cao Cao grew angry at this speech and bade his generals go over and take Sun Quan prisoner. But before they could obey, Han Dang and Zhou Tai, Chen Wu and Pan Zhang led out two armies of soldiers from left and right at the sound of beating drums, and arrows and crossbow bolts began to fall like raindrops around Cao Cao. He turned to retire, and the archers and bowmen followed him. However, presently appeared Xu Chu, with the Tiger Guard, who rescued Cao Cao and took him back to his camp. The army of the South Land had scored a victory, and they marched back to River Ruxu.

Alone in his camp, Cao Cao thought, “This Sun Quan certainly is no ordinary man, and by the presage of the sun in my dream he will become an emperor.”

He began to think it would be well to retire from the expedition, only that he feared the troops of the South Land would exult over him. So the two armies remained facing each other a whole month, fighting occasional skirmishes and battles in which victory fell sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other.

And so it went on till the new year, and the spring rains filled the watercourses to overflowing, and the soldiers were wading in deep mud. Their sufferings were extreme, and Cao Cao became sad at heart. At the council board his officers were divided, some being for retirement and others anxious to hold on till the warm weather. Their chief could not make up his mind.

Then there came a messenger from the South Land bearing a letter of Sun Quan, which read:

“You and I, O Prime Minister, are both servants of Han, but you are careless for the tranquillity of the people and

think only of battle, thereby causing great suffering. Is this conduct worthy of a kindly person?

“But spring with its heavy rains is at hand, and you would be wise to retire while you can. If not, you may expect a repetition of the misfortune at the Red Cliffs. It would be well to consider this.”

And on the back of the letter was a note in two lines running thus: “No tranquillity for me while you live!”