Zhou Yu befriended Sun Ce since childhood. When Sun Ce rose, Zhou Yu swept across Jiangdong and contributed money to help Sun Ce achieve great things. Yuan Shu admired Zhou Yu's talent and wanted to hire Zhou Yu as a general, but Zhou Yu refused on the grounds that Yuan Shu could not achieve great things. Later, he managed to formally defected to Sun Ce and fought side by side with Sun Ce, which made great contributions to the establishment of Jiangdong and was trusted by Sun Ce. After Sun Ce's assassination, Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao assisted Sun Quan in charge of military and political affairs. After Cao Cao destroyed Yuan Shao, he threatened Sun Quan to send his son as a hostage. Zhou Yu was ambitious and discouraged Sun Quan from delivering the hostages. In Battle of Red Cliffs, fighting Cao Cao, foreseeing the disadvantages of Cao Jun and the advantages of our army, and commanding the whole army to defeat Cao Jun in Chibi and Wulin were the most classic battles in the history of the Three Kingdoms. Later, he successfully conquered Nanjun, a strategic place in Jingzhou, but Coss failed. After Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu suggested to Sun Quan to send troops to attack Shu, destroy Zhang Lu, annex Liu Zhang, and share the world equally with Cao Cao. Zhou Yu died in Baling while preparing for war in Gangneung at the age of 36.
Zhou Yu in history was open-minded. Veteran Cheng Pu refused to accept Zhou Yu because he was younger than himself, and insulted him many times in person. Zhou Yu didn't care about him. Cheng Pu was finally impressed by Zhou Yu's talent and morality, and moved to say, "If you make friends with Zhou Gongjin, you won't get drunk when you drink" and became friends with him. The narrow-minded Zhou Yu described in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a supporting role image deliberately created by Luo Guanzhong to set off Zhuge Liang. It is an artistic treatment and cannot be taken seriously. Of course, there is no historical basis for "Three Yu", and Zhou Yu finally died of illness on the way out.