If Cao Cao's forces had been successful at the battle of red cliff and managed to establish a foothold in land south of the Yangtzee River(number of possibilities, his Vanguard could have been not as plagued by disease or he didn't have all his ships chained together allowing them all to go up in flames), what would be the both near and latter effects of this?
I assume that Wu would be able to hold on to a portion of it's former land but Liu Bei would have been devastated to the point of him running to Shu with his tail between his legs.
Discuss.