황조
With their home base secured, Wu looked to external threats. Huang Zu, who had formerly supported Liu Biao, prepared a pirate fleet to attack. Nanman king Meng Huo had shown signs of revolt in the south. In the north, Cao Cao prepared an armada to invade the south. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu defeated Huang Zu with a naval fire attack at Xiakou and convinced Gan Ning to join them, and Zhou Yu inflicted a decisive defeat on Meng Huo's elephant troops in Nanman. To fix the problem with Cao Cao, Sun Jian allied with Liu Bei and defeated Cao Cao's fleet at Chi Bi.