Records of the Three Kingdoms
Zhou Yu, courtesy name Gongjin, was from Shu in Lujiang, the same age as Sun Ce and his friend from youth. While Sun Ce settled Jiangdong, Zhou Yu was at his side. After Sun Ce’s death he and Zhang Zhao shared the inner and outer government. Sun Quan treated him with the courtesy due an elder brother.
Before Red Cliffs, Cao Cao’s army pressed in. Lu Su urged resistance and asked that Zhou Yu be recalled. Zhou Yu pointed to Cao Cao’s unsettled rear, northern troops unused to water, horses without fodder, and the unquiet new subjects of Jing, and he asked for thirty thousand picked men. Sun Quan cut the desk with his blade and said he and Cao Cao could not both stand. Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu were the commanders. Huang Gai carried out the fire attack. Cao Cao fled.
After the battle Zhou Yu proposed taking Yi Province and limiting Liu Bei. In 210 he died of illness at Baqiu, at thirty-six. When Sun Quan later became emperor he still said that without Zhou Yu he would not have been emperor.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The novel’s Zhou Yu is narrow in the chest. After three provocations he dies at Baqiu, saying that since Yu was born, why was Liang born too. In the histories the death is illness, not rage at Zhuge Liang.
The beaten-body plot, Jiang Gan stealing a letter, and the borrowed arrows are there so that Red Cliffs plays better. The historical shadow of the arrows is closer to a time Sun Quan himself reviewed a line of boats. Xiao Qiao is Zhou Yu’s wife. The claim that the Bronze Bird Terrace wants both Qiaos is a speech Zhuge Liang uses to provoke him.
Reference: Wikipedia · Zhou Yu