them to raise their morale. Cao Ren saw that and retreated. By 209, Zhou Yu and Cao Ren had held up against each other for over a year and both sides had sustained heavy casualties. Cao Cao could no longer afford the continuous losses in personnel and materiel, so he ordered Cao Ren to withdraw from Jiangling. Advice to Sun Quan on how to deal with Liu Bei After the victory at the Battle of Jiangling, Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu as a Lieutenant-General () and the Administrator () of Nan Commandery (). Zhou Yu's headquarters were at Jiangling County while he was in charge of Xiajun (), Hanchang (), Liuyang () and Zhouling () counties. Liu Bei assumed the appointment of Governor () of Jing Province with his administrative centre at Gong'an County. When Liu Bei later met Sun Quan at Jing (京; present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), Zhou Yu wrote to Sun Quan: Sun Quan considered that Cao Cao was still a threat in the north, so he thought it would be better for him to have more allies instead of creating hostility between him and Liu Bei. Besides, he was also worried that Liu Bei's men might not submit to him, so he rejected Zhou Yu's idea. Death Around 210, Liu Zhang was serving as the Governor of Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan and Chongqing), and he faced the threat of his rival Zhang Lu in Hanzhong Commandery. Zhou Yu went to see Sun Quan and proposed: "Cao Cao is still recovering from his defeats and he faces internal threats, so he will not go to war with you any time soon. I seek your permission to let me and Sun Yu lead an army to invade Shu (Yi Province) and attack Zhang Lu after that. Sun Yu will then remain behind to defend the conquered territories and form an alliance with Ma Chao. I will join you in attacking Cao Cao at Xiangyang, and together we can conquer the north." Sun Quan agreed. Zhou Yu then headed back to Jiangling County to make preparations for the campaign. However, he died of illness at Baqiu (巴丘; present-day Yueyang, Hunan) on the way back. He was 36 years old (by East Asian age reckoning) at the time of his death. Before Zhou Yu's death, he recommended Lu Su to Sun Quan to be his successor. Sun Quan deeply mourned Zhou