Red Cliffs was traditionally thought of as this gigantic battle with tricks and fire ship attack and setting the stage for the formation of the Three Kingdoms , and is arguably the highest climax in Luo Guanzhong's novel.
After watching the 2010 drama, I was reading the section on Red Cliffs in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, I'm kind of having doubts. I agree the outcome of the campaign set the stage for the Three Kingdoms. But before Wulin, the Sun-Liu alliance had already beaten Cao Cao's navy straight up, forcing Cao Cao to retreat to and anchor at Wulin. And then according to the records due to disease in his army Cao Cao burnt own his ships and went back north and/or Zhou Yu/Huang Gai sent fire ships against Cao Cao's fleet at anchor and set fire to the fleet.
Whatever happened at Wulin though, it appears to me Sun-Liu Alliance already has already beaten Cao Cao, who saw he was at a disadvantage and wasn't keen on staying. Doesn't that make the battle of Wulin just the Sun-Liu Alliance giving Cao Cao one last kick on his way out?
Are there historians who think raised this possibility?
Pardon me if I'm incorrect in this as I haven't read Records in about five years but to my understanding the first Battle of Red Cliffs was actually a skirmish and his retreat wasn't forced but rather Cao Cao deciding he couldn't gain the advantage.
Following that skirmish he retreated to Wulin where he was attacked by the relatively famous Zhou Yu/Huang Gai fire attack which was coordinated with an attack by the southern forces. This is really the decisive moment in the campaign and given the lack of organization or morale Cao Cao decided to retreat to Jiangling and thus burnt many of his remaining ships.