Chapter 61 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms – Cao Cao marches south again; Sun Quan plots to seize Jingzhou – weaves together two parallel narratives that reveal the fragile balance of power in the post–Red Cliffs era.
Chapter 52 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms marks a critical turning point in the post-Red Cliffs era, as the Sun-Liu alliance begins to fray under the weight of competing ambitions.