Shu naval forces led by Wu Ban and Chen Shi capture Yiling in January 222.

Liu Bei builds his headquarters in Zigui but does not stay there for long as his forces continue to make progress and push further into the heartland of Sun Quan’s territories.

The Shu vanguard breaks through enemy lines at Yidao in February and defeats Sun Quan’s defenders in an engagement outside the city.

Sun Quan’s general Sun Huan, who is guarding Yidao, retreats with his remaining troops into the city and holds on to his position until a stalemate is reached.

The main Shu force led by Liu Bei  meanwhile reaches Xiaoting and is unable to push any further as Sun Quan’s forces led by Lu Xun hold on firmly to their positions.

With no further retreat by Sun Quan’s forces, both sides reach a stalemate at Xiaoting.

As Shu troops venture further into Sun Quan’s territory, their supply lines from Chengdu lengthen and supplies take longer to arrive.

They also become gradually weary and tired from battle.

The terrain becomes flatter and the Shu infantry loses the advantage the had held in mountainous terrain.

Liu Bei deploys his troops in over fifty camps along the three hundred and fifty-kilometer line from Wuxia to Yiling on the southern bank of the Yangtze River.

His vanguard army is isolated one hundred and fifty kilometers away at Yidao.

Sun Quan’s forces think that this the best time to launch their counterattack, but Lu Xun orders them to hold on.

Elagabalus, to see how the Praetorians would react following the failure of various attempts at Alexander's life, strips his cousin of his titles, revokes his consulship, and circulates the news that Alexander is near death.

A riot ensues, and the guard demands to see Elagabalus and Alexander in the Praetorian camp.

The emperor complies and on March 11, 222, he presents his cousin, along with his mother Julia Soaemias.

Upon arrival the soldiers start cheering Alexander, while ignoring Elagabalus, who orders the summary arrest and execution of anyone who had taken part in this revolt.

In response, the Praetorians attack Elagabalus and his mother:

So he made an attempt to flee, and would have got away somewhere by being placed in a chest, had he not been discovered and slain, at the age of 18. His mother, who embraced him and clung tightly to him, perished with him; their heads were cut off and their bodies, after being stripped naked, were first dragged all over the city, and then the mother's body was cast aside somewhere or other, while his was thrown into the river. (Cassius Dio, Roman History LXXX.20)

Following his demise, many associates of Elagabalus are killed or deposed, including Hierocles and Comazon.

His religious edicts are reversed and El-Gabal is returned to Emesa.

Women are barred from ever attending meetings of the Senate, and damnatio memoriae—erasing a person from all public records—is decreed upon him.

The source of many of these stories of Elagabalus's debauchery is the Augustan History (Historia Augusta), which scholarly consensus now feels to be unreliable in its details.

The Historia Augusta was most likely written near the end of the fourth century during the reign of emperor Theodosius I, drawing as much upon the invention of its author as actual historical sources.

The life of Elagabalus as described in the Augustan History is believed to be largely a work of historical fiction.

Only the sections 13 to 17, relating to the fall of Elagabalus, are considered to hold any historical value.

Sources more credible than the Augustan History include the contemporary historians Cassius Dio and Herodian.

Cassius Dio's account of his reign is generally considered more reliable than the Augustan History, although it should be noted that Dio, although he was a contemporary of Elagabalus, spent the larger part of this period outside of Rome and had to rely on secondhand accounts when composing his Roman History.

Furthermore, the political climate in the aftermath of Elagabalus' reign, as well as his own position within the government of Alexander, likely imposed restrictions on the extent to which his writing on this period is truthful.

Herodian is considered the most important source on the religious reforms which took place during the reign of Elagabalus, which have been confirmed by modern numismatical and archaeological evidence.

While Herodian is deemed not as reliable as Cassius Dio, his lack of literary and scholarly pretensions make him less biased than senatorial historians.

Most of Sun Quan’s forces had evacuated by March from mountainous terrain to fortifications on flatland.

Summer soon arrives and the sweltering heat kills several plants and shrubs.

Liu Bei's forces camped at Yiling are directly next to a forest and the heat becomes even more unbearable.

Some Shu soldiers are affected by heatstroke.

By now, the Shu army's morale has fallen significantly as compared to at the start of the campaign, as the troops are now weary and suffering from the intense heat.

Liu Bei deploys eight thousand elite troops to lie in ambush in nearby valleys and sends Wu Ban to lead a weaker force to challenge and lure Sun Quan’s forces out of their fortifications into the ambush.

However, Lu Xun sees through Liu Bei's ruse and orders his troops to ignore taunts from the enemy.

It is said that he even ordered his troops to put wax into their ears.

The failure of the ambush causes the Shu army's morale to plummet even lower.

Shu troops are suffering from the summer heat as the stalemate, which had begun in March, continues.

Liu Bei decides to shift his camp into the nearby forest for shade and shelter from the heat even though his adviser Ma Liang opposes his decision.

Lu Xun, knowing in July that the time is ripe for counterattack, orders saboteurs to encircle Liu Bei's camp by traveling on water with the navy.

Once they are behind Liu Bei's camp at Yiling, the saboteurs set the camp on fire.

The woods gradually become a fiery inferno within hours as wildfires fueled by dead plants and dry air erupt everywhere.

As Shu soldiers rush towards the Yangtze River for water to put out the fires, Sun Quan’s archers, lying in ambush, shoot them down.

Shu forces attempt a counterattack, but enemy forces led by Pan Zhang break through the lines they re-form and make retaliation impossible.

The Shu navy fares slightly better by barely managing an orderly retreat.

Cheng Ji, a Shu official, personally leads a group of men to cover the navy as it withdraws.

Sun Quan’s marine forces catch up with the rear guard of the Shu navy and engage in battle.

Cheng Ji and his men are surrounded by Sun Quan’s vanguard force but they manage to hold on by sinking the smaller enemy boats.

However, they are eventually outnumbered and killed when the bulk of Sun Quan’s navy arrives.

Shu forces loss over forty of their original fifty camps on the three hundred and fifty-kilometer line to a rockslide at the Ma'an Hills.

Liu Bei attempts to reform and regroup his remaining forces at the hills to make a last stand.

However, his troops are split up before they can regroup as one.

Sun Quan’s general Zhu Ran leads an army of five thousand to disrupt the lines and prevent Liu Bei from reforming.

Lu Xun personally leads an attack on Shu forces together with Xu Sheng and Han Dang, and succeeds in preventing Liu Bei from making his last stand.

The entire Shu army is nearly wiped out at Ma'an Hills.

Retreating Shu soldiers set ablaze the army's remaining camps to hinder Sun Quan’s forces' pursuit.

Meanwhile, the isolated Shu vanguard force at Yidao is also completely destroyed by Sun Quan’s forces.

Huang Quan manages to escape together with his deputy Pang Lin and three hundred and eighteen horsemen to the northern bank of the Yangtze River, where they are cut off from the rest of the Shu army, and eventually they decide to surrender to Wei.

Liu Bei flees to Zigui with Sun Quan’s forces hot on his heels.

The demoralized Shu troops are unable to hold their ground and keep retreating.

During the withdrawal, Wang Fu, the Shu official in charge of Jing Province, is killed in the ensuing battle, but his death buys time for Liu Bei to continue retreating.

Xiang Chong, who is stationed at Jing Province, manages to regroup the surviving Shu troops and lead them on an orderly retreat without them suffering any further great losses.

Xiang Chong also leads Liu Bei safely to Yufu (present-day Fengjie County, Chongqing) and manages to repel any further attacks by pursuing enemy forces.

Liu Bei, impressed with Xiang Chong, promotes him to the rank of viceroy.

Eventually, reinforcements from Jiangzhou led by Zhao Yun arrive and a stalemate is reached before Sun Quan’s forces decide to retreat, thus ending their counterattack.

Most of the Shu commanders who had participated in the battle have been killed; only naval commanders Wu Ban and Chen Shi manage to return safely.

Sun's submission to Cao Wei does not last long, however.

After Sun's forces, under the command of Lu Xun, defeat Liu Bei's forces in 222, Sun begins to distance himself from Cao Wei.

When Cao demands that Sun send his heir Sun Deng to Luoyang as hostage, Sun refuses and formal relations break down.

Cao personally leads an expedition against Sun, and in response, Sun declares independence from Cao Wei, establishing Eastern Wu.

By this time, having defeated Liu, Eastern Wu's forces enjoy high morale and effective leadership from Sun, Lu, and a number of other capable generals.