Zhou Yu (175 A.D.-210 A.D.), the name Gongjin, a famous general in the late Han Dynasty, was a native of Lujiang Shu County (now southwest of Lujiang County, Anhui Province). Luoyang is the son of Zhou Yi, who is strong and strong, has a posture and fine sound rhythm, and Jiangdong has the saying "the song is wrong, Zhou Lang Gu". Zhou Yu Shao and Sun Ce friends, 21 years old with Sun Ce to the battlefield to pacify Jiangdong, after Sun Ce was assassinated, Sun Quan succeeded, Zhou Yu generals went to the funeral, as the identity of the central protector and the long history Zhang Zhao in charge of all affairs. In 208 A.D. (the thirteenth year of Jian'an), Zhou Yu led the army of the Sun group in Jiangdong to unite with Liu Bei's army, and defeated the Cao army in the Battle of Chibi, thus laying the foundation for the three parts of the world. In 209 A.D. (the fourteenth year of Jian'an), he led the southern county to be guarded. In 210 A.D. (the fifteenth year of Jian'an), he died of illness at the age of 36. In the official history, Zhou Yu was "magnificent" and "really talented", and Fan Cheng was praised as "Jiangzuo's beautiful husband". Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty posthumously honored Zhou Yu as Pingyubo, and was one of the seventy-two generals of the Song Wu Temple.

Zhou Yu was born in a scholar family, his grandfather Zhou Jing and uncle Zhou Zhong were both officials and served as captains of the Han Dynasty. His father, Zhou Yi, once served as the Luoyang Commander. Zhou Yu himself is tall, handsome, and ambitious. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are the same age and have a close relationship. In 190 A.D. (the first year of Chuping), when Sun Jianbing was fighting against Dong Zhuo, his family moved to Shu County. Zhou Yu let the mansion in Lunan for the Sun family to live in, and went to the church to meet Sun Ce's mother, and the two families became friends. Zhou Yu and Sun Ce made friends with Jiangnan celebrities here and had a great reputation.

After Sun Jian's death in 191 A.D. (the second year of Chuping), Sun Ce inherited his father's will and commanded his troops. Zhou Yu was from his father Zhou Shang to Danyang Taishou. It happened that Sun Ce entered Liyang (now northwest of Hexian County, Anhui) and was about to cross east. So I wrote to Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu led his troops to greet Sun Ce and give him strong support. Sun Ce was very happy and said, "It's great that I got you." So, the two fought together, first conquering the Hengjiang River (the north bank of the Yangtze River in the southeast of present-day Anhui and County), Dangli and the east of present-day Anhui and County, and when the Lishui River entered the river), and then waved their troops across the river and attacked Moling (now Moling Pass, Jiangning, Jiangsu), defeating Zhenrong and Xue Li. Instead, he captured Huyi (now Hushu Town, Jiangning, Jiangsu) and Jiangcheng. Entered Qu'a (present-day Danyang, Jiangsu), and in 195 AD (the second year of Emperor Xingping of the Han Dynasty), he forced Liu Miao away (see Sun Ceping's Battle of Jiangdong). At that time, Sun Ce's army had grown to tens of thousands. He said to Zhou Yu: "I already have the troops, finances, and food of Pingshan Yue. You'd better go back and guard Danyang. So, Zhou Yu led his troops back to Danyang. Soon. Yuan Shu sent his cousin Yuan Yin to replace Zhou Shang as the Taishou of Danyang. Zhou Yu followed Zhou Shang to Shouchun (now Shou County, Anhui). Yuan Shu found that Zhou Yu was talented. He wanted to accept Zhou Yu as a general. Zhou Yu saw that Yuan Shu would not achieve anything in the end, so he only asked to be the magistrate of Juchao County, wanting to take the opportunity to return to Jiangdong. Yuan Shu agreed to Zhou Yu's request.

In 198 A.D. (the third year of Jian'an), Zhou Yu returned to Wu County (now Suzhou, Jiangsu) through Juchao. When Sun Ce heard that Zhou Yu had returned, he personally greeted him, awarded Zhou Yu Jianwei Zhonglang General, and allocated 2,000 soldiers to him and 50 horses. In addition, Sun Ce also gave Zhou Yu a band and built a residence for Zhou Yu, and the reward was so generous that no one could compare. Sun Ce also said in the order issued: "Zhou Gongjin is heroic and talented, and he has a good relationship with me, flesh and blood." When I was in Danyang, he led the soldiers and sent ships and rations to help me, so that I could achieve great things, and I was rewarded for merit and merit, and today's reward was far from repaying him for the support he gave me at a critical moment!" Zhou Yu was twenty-four years old at the time, and the people of Wu County called him Zhou Lang. Because of the Lujiang area, the people have always admired Zhou Yu's kindness and faithfulness, so Sun Ce ordered him to guard Niuzhu, and later served as the head of the Spring Valley. Soon, Sun Ce wanted to attack Jingzhou, and worshiped Zhou Yu as the central protector, and concurrently served as the Taishou of Jiangxia (governing the west of Xinzhou, Hubei), and accompanied the army to conquer. Zhou Yu and Sun Ce broke through Anhui City and got the two daughters of Qiaogong, both of whom were beautiful. Sun Ce married Da Qiao, and Zhou Yu married Xiao Qiao. Sun Ce said to Zhou Yu: "The daughter of the Duke of Qiao, although she has suffered from the war and displacement, she is fortunate to have the two of us as sons-in-law. Then he attacked Xunyang, defeated Liu Xun, and then fought against Jiangxia, and returned to pacify Yuzhang (now Nanchang, Jiangxi) and Luling (now Ji'an, Jiangxi). Zhou Yu stayed behind to guard Baqiu.

In April 200 A.D. (the fifth year of Jian'an), Sun Ce was assassinated at the age of 26, and entrusted Sun Quan with military affairs on his deathbed. At that time, Sun Quan only had several counties such as Huiji, Wujun, Danyang, Yuzhang and Luling, and their remote and dangerous places had not yet been fully attached. The heroes of the world are scattered in various states and counties, and they have not established an interdependent relationship with the Sun family. At the critical moment, the first to come forward to support Sun Quan were Zhang Zhao, Zhou Yu, Lu Fan, Cheng Pu and others. Zhou Yu brought troops from outside to the funeral, and stayed by Sun Quan's side in Wujun to serve as the central guard. He held heavy troops, treated Sun Quan with the courtesy of a monarch and a minister, and was in charge of military and political affairs together with Changshi Zhang Zhao. After Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, in 202 AD (the seventh year of Jian'an), he ordered Sun Quan to send his son to Cao Cao as a hostage. Sun Quan did not want to be controlled by others, so he convened a meeting of his ministers. The ministers had different opinions, and Zhang Zhao, Qin Song and other important ministers hesitated again and again and could not make a decision. Although Sun Quan didn't want to give hostages, he was a little undecided because he didn't get strong support. So, he only took Zhou Yu to his mother to discuss the matter. Zhou Yu took a firm stance and resolutely opposed the sending of hostages, and he analyzed the benefits and disadvantages to Sun Quan, saying: "When Chu Jun was first sealed to the edge of Jingshan, the place was not enough for a hundred miles. His descendants were virtuous, expanding the land, expanding the territory, establishing a foundation in Yingdu, and occupying the land of Jingyang until the South China Sea. It has been passed down from generation to generation for more than 900 years. Now the general, you inherit the old business of your father and brother, rule the six counties, the soldiers are full of food, and the morale of the soldiers is strong. Moreover, casting mountains for copper, boiling the sea for salt, people's hearts are stable, morale is strong, and it can be said that they are invincible, so why should we send hostages to others? As soon as the hostages arrive at Cao Cao's hands, we have to echo Cao Cao, and we will inevitably be subject to Cao's control. At that time, the greatest benefit we could get was only a Hou Yin, a dozen servants, a few cars, and a few horses. If Cao Cao can abide by morality and save the world, it will not be too late for us to return to him; if Cao Cao is arrogant and tries to make a living and play with fire, he will burn himself, general, you just need to wait for the mandate of heaven, why do you want to send hostage to others?" Zhou Yu's words reached Sun Quan's heart. Sun Quan's mother also thought that this should be done, and she said to Sun Quan: "Gongjin's words make sense, he is only 1 month younger than your brother, I have always treated him as a son, you should treat him as a brother." Sun Quan did not send hostages to Cao Cao. For the Sun family, Zhou Yu can be said to be loyal. According to the "Biography of Jiang Biao", Cao Cao wanted to use Zhou Yu for his own use, and sent Jiang Gan, who was good at argumentation, to lobby Zhou Yu, but Zhou Yu resolutely rejected Jiang Gan. The scholars of the world admired Zhou Yu more and more. In 206 A.D. (the eleventh year of Jian'an), Zhou Yu led Sun Yu and others to crusade against Ma and Bao Ertun, beheaded their leaders, and captured more than 10,000 people. Jiangxia Taishou Huang Zu sent Deng Long to attack Chaisang with thousands of men, and Zhou Yu led the army to counterattack and captured Deng Long.

In the autumn of 208 AD (the thirteenth year of Jian'an), Cao Cao led an army to invade the south and occupy Jingzhou, and Cao Cao advanced to Sun Quan. When the army was pressing, Sun Quan's ministers appeared in two factions: the main peace and the main battle. Sun Quan was also influenced by the words of Lu Su and Liu Bei's subordinate Zhuge Liang, and was hesitant. Lu Su persuaded Sun Quan to recruit back Zhou Yu in Poyang. Zhou Yu returned to Sun Quan and analyzed to Sun Quan the key to the victory or defeat of Cao Cao's and Sun Quan's armies, and first pointed out: Cao's army was exhausted from a long journey; the weather was cold and horses had no grass to eat; the northerners were accustomed to land warfare and were not good at water warfare, so they were not accustomed to water and soil; Ma Chao and Han Sui were still in Guanxi and were Cao Cao's troubles. After further analyzing the actual strength of Cao's army, it was pointed out that Cao's army from the Central Plains was only 1560,000, and the 70,000 or 80,000 people who were newly surrendered by Liu Biao were not favored by Cao. Zhou Yu recommended himself to resist Cao's army with 30,000 elite soldiers, Sun Quan made up his mind, drew his sword and cut off a corner of the table, saying: "There are people who dare to say surrender, just like this table!" Sun Quan ordered Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu to lead 30,000 people to resist Cao, on the way to meet the two armies in Chibi, Cao Cao's army was defeated in the first battle because of illness and not accustomed to water, and Cao Cao led the army to Jiangbei. Zhou Yu and Liu Beijun set up camp on the south bank and confronted each other. Zhou Yu's general Huang Gai suggested that Cao Jun be defeated by fire, but Zhou Yu thought it was feasible and ordered Huang Gai to surrender. Cao Cao really hit the plan, all the ships were burned, and Cao Cao returned the north to the south county.

Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu marched into Nanjun again, and held Cao Ren across the river. Before the two armies clashed, Zhou Yu first sent Gan Ning to occupy Yiling. Cao Ren sent a part of his troops and horses to surround Gan Ning, and Gan Ning complained to Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu adopted Lü Meng's strategy, left Ling Tong to guard the rear, and personally led Lü Meng to rescue Gan Ning and lifted the siege of Gan Ning. Zhou Yu led his troops to garrison the north shore and set an appointed date to fight Cao Ren. Zhou Yu personally rode a horse to supervise the battle, was shot in the right flank by a flying arrow, was seriously injured, and retired to the camp. Cao Ren heard that Zhou Yu was sick in bed, and personally supervised the soldiers to attack the Wu soldiers. Zhou Yu rose up, inspected the battalions, and encouraged the soldiers to kill the enemy, but Cao Ren had no choice but to retreat. Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu as a partial general, and concurrently served as the Taishou of Rennan County, and made Xiajun, Hanchang, and Zhouling as his Fengyi, and let him garrison Jiangling. After the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu offered Sun Quan a plan to put Liu Bei under house arrest and directly manage the army subordinates of Liu Bei's camp, but Sun Quan did not agree. In 210 (the fifteenth year of Jian'an), Sun Quan approved Zhou Yu's plan to conquer Western Shu, but when Zhou Yu rushed back to his garrison Jiangling and was preparing to go on the expedition, he became seriously ill and finally died in Baqiu at the age of Chinese New Year's Eve. Sun Quan personally put on mourning clothes to mourn for Zhou Yu and was moved. When Zhou Yu's coffin was transported back to Wu County, Sun Quan went to Wuhu to greet him in person, and all the funeral expenses were paid by the state. (To be continued......)