Lu Meng ordered his troops to keep up a rapid flight of arrows so as to command the bank, and in this way the two leaders were enabled to get on board the ships.
Now Chen Wu had engaged the legion under Pang De. Being inferior in force and no aid being forthcoming, Chen Wu was forced into a valley where the trees and undergrowth were very dense. He tried to turn, but was caught by the branches, and while so entangled he was killed by Pang De.
When Cao Cao saw that Sun Quan had escaped from the battle to the river bank, he urged his steed forward in pursuit. He sent flights of arrows toward the fugitives. By this time Lu Meng's troops had emptied their quivers, and he began to be very anxious. But just then a fleet of ships sailed up led by Lu Xun, the son-in-law of Sun Ce, who came with one hundred thousand marines and drove back Cao Cao's army. Then he landed to pursue. He captured many thousands of horses and slew many men, so that Cao Cao was quite defeated and retired. Then they sought and found the body of Chen Wu among the slain.
Sun Quan was much grieved when he came to know that Chen Wu had been slain and Dong Xi drowned, and wept sore. Men were sent to seek for Dong Xi's body, which at last was found. Both generals were buried with great honors.
As a recompense for Zhou Tai's services in Sun Quan's rescue, Sun Quan prepared in his honor a great banquet, where Sun Quan himself offered Zhou Tai a goblet of wine and complimented and embraced him while the tears coursed down his cheeks.
“Twice you saved my life, careless of your own,” cried Sun Quan, “and you have received many wounds. It is as if your skin had been engraved and painted. What sort of a man should I be if I did not treat you as one of my own flesh and blood? Can I regard you, noble Sir, merely as a unit in my army? You are my meritorious minister. I share the glory you have won and mine are your joys and sorrows.”
Then Sun Quan bade Zhou Tai open his dress and exhibit his wounds for all the assembly to see. The skin was gashed all over as if his body had been scored with a knife. Sun Quan pointed to the wounds one after another and asked how each one had been received. And, as Zhou Tai told him, for every wound Sun Quan made him drink off a goblet of wine till he became thoroughly intoxicated. Sun Quan then presented him with a black silk parasol and bade him use it on all occasions as a sign of the glory that was his.
But Sun Quan found his opponents too stable; at the end of a month the two armies were both at Ruxu and neither had won a victory.
Then said Zhang Zhao and Gu Yong, “Cao Cao is too strong, and we cannot overcome him by mere force. If the struggle continues longer, you will only lose more soldiers. You would better seek to make peace.”
Sun Quan followed this advice and dispatched Bu Zhi on a peace mission to Cao Cao's camp. Sun Quan offered a yearly tribute. Cao Cao also saw that the South Land was too strong to be overcome, and consented.
Cao Cao insisted, “The Marquis should first send away his army, and then I would retire.”
Bu Zhi returned with this message, and Sun Quan sent away the greater part, leaving only Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin to hold Ruxu. The army returned to Capital Moling.
Cao Cao left Cao Ren and Zhang Liao in charge of Hefei, and he marched the army back to Capital Xuchang.
On arrival, all Cao Cao's officers, military and civil, persuaded him to become Prince of Wei. Only the Chair of the Secretariat, Cui Yan, spoke strongly against the scheme.
“You are, then, the only man who knows not the fate of Xun Yu,” said his colleagues.
“Such times! Such deeds!” cried Cui Yan. “You are guilty of rebellion, but you may commit it yourselves. I will bear no part in it.”
Certain enemies told Cao Cao, and Cui Yan was thrown into prison. At his trial he glared like a tiger, and his very beard curled with contempt; he raged and cursed at Cao Cao for a betrayer of his prince, and a rebel. The interrogating magistrate reported his conduct to Cao Cao, who ordered Cui Yan to be beaten to death in prison.
In the twenty-first year of Rebuilt Tranquillity (216), in the fifth month of that year, a great memorial signed by many officers went up to Emperor Xian, praying:
