People who have read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms will be impressed by the story of borrowing arrows from straw boats. In Chapter 46 of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is said that Zhou Yu was jealous of Zhuge Liang's talent and wanted to harm Zhuge Liang, so he used an excuse to issue a military order with Zhuge Liang, giving him three days to make 100,000 arrows. Zhuge Liang did not make arrows, but borrowed twenty boats from Lu Su and sailed to the river outside Cao Cao's water village in the fog:

Said Cao village, heard the drum, Mao Jie, in the ban two people hurriedly fly to Cao Cao. Cao Cao ordered, saying, "The river is misted by heavy fog. If the other army suddenly arrives, there will be an ambush. Do not move lightly.". Can dial the water army crossbowman random arrows. And sent to the dry village called Zhang Liao, coppage each with crossbow army three thousand, rushed to the riverside shot. As soon as the order arrived, Mao Jie and Yu Jin were afraid that the Confederate troops would rush into the Water Stronghold, so they sent crossbowmen to shoot arrows in front of the Stronghold. After a while, the crossbowmen in the Dry Stronghold also arrived, about ten thousand men, and all of them shot arrows into the river. The arrows were like rain. The bore is clear to teach the boat back, head east tail west, close to the water village by arrows, a drum shout. When the day high fog dispersed, the bore made the ship back. Twenty boats lined the grass on both sides with arrows. Kongming ordered the soldiers on board to shout in unison, "Thank you, Prime Minister, for your arrows!" Than and Jun within the village when Cao Cao, the boat light water here, has been put back more than twenty miles, less than chase.

Straw boat borrowing arrows is a wonderful story, through which the personality characteristics of various historical figures are presented to the readers. Zhuge Liang's wit, Zhou Yu's jealousy, Lu Su's kindness and Cao Cao's suspicion are all impressive. It is both unexpected and reasonable to borrow arrows from straw boats.

In fact, borrowing arrows from straw boats is not a complete fiction, but has its own historical prototype. According to the Annals of the Three Kingdoms, there were similar incidents of borrowing arrows from straw boats on Sun Quan and Cao Cao. However, this incident took place in the battle of Ruxu five years after the battle of Chibi, not in Chibi, but in Ruxukou, Wuhu, Anhui Province.

Ruxukou refers to the Ruxukou water outlet connecting Chaohu Lake and the Yangtze River. In the 17th year of Jian'an (212), after pacifying Ma Chao and other Xiliang legions, Cao Cao sent 400,000 troops south to conquer Sun Quan. In order to guard against Cao Cao's invasion, Sun Quan accepted Lv Meng's suggestion and built a military fortress, Ruxuwu, at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

In the first month of the 18th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao attacked Ruxu, and Sun Quan assembled 70,000 troops, with Lv Meng as the military governor, and ordered him to lead the army to defend Ruxuwu. Lv Meng took advantage of Cao Cao's vanguard camp, led the troops to attack, and won the first victory. After that, the two armies were locked in a stalemate. In the course of the stalemate between the two armies, there was an incident of "borrowing arrows from straw boats", which was quoted from Wei Lue in the History of the Three Kingdoms:

The right to take the ship to watch the army, the minister crossbow disorderly hair, arrows on the ship, the ship will be heavy, the right to return to the ship, with one side by the arrow, the arrow is flat, is also.

The main idea is that Sun Quan broke into the front line of Cao Jun by boat from Ruxukou to observe the deployment of Cao Jun. Cao Cao ordered the crossbow to shoot at Wu's ships. After a while, Sun Quan's boat was in danger of capsizing because of too many arrows on one side. Sun Quan ordered the ship to turn around so that the other side could receive another arrow. After a while, the arrows were all flat, and Sun Jun returned safely. It is worth noting that it is said here that Sun Quan took a "big boat" instead of a straw boat. Why didn't Cao Cao let the warships attack Sun Quan instead of just shooting arrows? The main reason is that Cao Jun's "oil tanker" is no match for Sun Quan's water army. Similarly, Wu Li was quoted in the Biography of Wu Zhu in the History of the Three Kingdoms:

Tso must be out, for the tanker, night crossing on the continent. Right to water army encirclement, get more than three thousand people, its not drowned also thousands of people. The public can't stick to the challenge of weight.

From the above quotation, it can be seen that Sun Quan's water army completely suppressed Cao Cao's water army and gained control of the river, which also led to the fact that Cao Jun did not dare to use warships to attack Sun Quan's ships at all, and could only take the way of archery to expel Sun Quan. The story of the so-called "straw boat borrowing arrows" appeared entirely because Sun Quan had an overwhelming advantage on the warship, so he could calmly take a boat to observe Cao Jun's deployment and then leave safely. Cao Cao was also well aware of the disparity in the strength of the water armies of the two sides. When he saw Sun Quanjun and Qi Su, he sighed, "a son should be like Sun Zhongmou!" After the two armies were locked in a stalemate for a period of time, Cao Cao saw that it was difficult to win, and the rainy season was approaching, so he led the army to withdraw.