The Wu general who commanded Sun Quan’s naval forces at the Battle of Red Cliffs was Zhou Yu.
The battle took place in the winter of 208–209 CE, when Sun Quan’s forces allied with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao’s large army moving south. Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu to lead roughly 30,000 troops, many of them serving aboard ships on the Yangtze River.
Zhou Yu was the senior commander of Sun Quan’s contingent, although Cheng Pu also held an important command and Liu Bei led allied troops of his own. This shared command structure is why some detailed accounts name more than one commander, but Zhou Yu is the standard single answer for the Wu leadership at Red Cliffs.
Zhou Yu recognized that Cao Cao’s northern troops had less experience with river warfare. The victory, aided by Huang Gai’s fire attack and Cao Cao’s strategic difficulties, prevented Cao Cao from conquering the south and helped preserve the political division that led to the Three Kingdoms period. Zhuge Liang was Liu Bei’s adviser, not the Wu naval commander.