On the eleventh day of the third month, the bingshen day, in the first year of Jin's Taihe era, Huan Wen led twenty thousand naval troops of the Western Headquarters upstream along the Ruxu River aboard more than three hundred warships of various sizes. The Ruxu River connected Chao Lake above with the Yangtze River below and had been an important waterway between the Two Huai Regions and the Yangtze since the Han dynasty.
At dusk on the thirteenth, the vast fleet passed Ruxu Mouth. Huan Wen stood on the forecastle with the civil officials and military officers of the Western Headquarters. Pointing toward Ruxu Fort in the distance, he said, "That is Ruxu Fort. In former days, Lü Meng advised Sun Quan to build a fortress at Ruxu Mouth to resist Cao Cao's troops. It was also known as Dongguan, while Cao Cao erected stockades and deployed his troops at Seven Treasures Mountain and Cone Mountain, historically known as the Western Pass. Sun Quan and Cao Cao fought twice at Ruxu Mouth, and both times Cao Cao's troops returned without success. Though Eastern Wu was weak, it could still resist mighty Cao Cao. Now our great Jin, though it suffered national calamity and moved its imperial seat to Jiangdong, has spent decades building its strength and holds the lands of both Wu and Shu of the Three Kingdoms. Within my lifetime, I wish to pacify the Central Plains in the north. I rely on all your efforts to accomplish this great undertaking together!"
The assembled civil officials and military officers all felt their spirits stirred with fervor.
On the fifteenth of the third month, the Western Headquarters fleet reached Chao Lake. Misty waters stretched into the distance, and lofty mountains rose along the shores, opening the heart. Huan Wen