The Red Cliffs battle would go down in legend as the end of the Han dynasty. This is another of those moments when China threatened to break apart for ever. When the warlord Cao Cao died, he left instructions that he should be buried with no treasures and no ceremony, ‘for the country is not at peace’. China broke into two on the old north and south divide, initiating the longest period of division in its history, over 350 years.
