Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The Battle of Red Cliffs . . . Was a decisive battle fought at the end of the Han dynasty, about twelve years prior to the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history." [Wikipedia] "The two armies lingered on opposite banks of the river for days; both sides were exhausted by the unending fighting of the last years. When Ts’ao finally launched an attack, he found that the wind had turned against him. The opposing commanders took the opportunity to launch a fearsome weapon towards the other bank. First they sent a letter of surrender to Ts’ao; and then they “took ten covered ships of war,” in Sima Guang’s words, “filled them with tinder grass and dried wood, poured oil inside, then covered them with tent curtains and set up flags.” . . . In a very short time smoke and flame stretched across the sky and a multitude of men and horses were burned or drowned or died.” . . . After 426 years, the Han kingdom had ended. China was now split into warring kingdoms. . . . The Three Kingdoms had replaced the Han Dynasty, and even the possibility of peace had passed. The next three centuries would see nothing but unending war."