Xianning.

In 208, the forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei opposed Cao Cao’s southward advance. Accounts of the fighting at Red Cliffs give river warfare and fire attack a central role. The defeat checked Cao Cao’s attempt to dominate the south and helped shape the political geography from which the Three Kingdoms emerged. Exact army totals vary in historical accounts and should not be treated as a single settled count.

Jiugong Mountain lies in Tongshan County, Xianning, in the Mufu mountain range. Its name, “Nine Palaces”, is explained by a tradition about princes sheltering here and building palaces. That is a story carried by the place, not a count of nine surviving buildings that every visitor can expect to find.