Yiling

²⁷ Yiling, to the east of the present Ichang, Hupeh Province, was the place where Lu Sun, a general of the state of Wu, defeated the army of Liu Pei, ruler of Shu, in A.D. 222. Liu Pei’s troops scored successive victories at the beginning of the war and penetrated five or six hundred li into the territory of Wu as far as Yiling. Lu Sun, who was defending Yiling, avoided battle for over seven months until Liu Pei “was at his wits’ end and his troops were exhausted and demoralized”. Then he crushed Liu Pei’s troops by taking advantage of a favourable wind to set fire to their tents.