At the beginning of the 20th year of Jian'an (215), Cao Cao sent the generals Zhang Liao, Le Jin, and Li Dian to lead an army of more than 7,000 people to garrison Hefei to defend against the Wu army's attack on Huainan.
Subsequently, Cao Cao personally led a large army to conquest Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, and before leaving, Cao Cao left a letter to Xue Ti, the protector of Hefei, with the envelope stating: "Open the seal when Sun Quan leads the army to attack in a big way."
In July of the 20th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan, the lord of Wu, did indeed personally unite an army of 100,000 people to besiege Hefei. Seeing the Wu army attacking in a big way, Xue Ti, the protector of Hefei, followed Cao Cao's instructions to open the envelope and read the letter, which said:
"If Sun Quan is in power, General Zhang (Liao) Li (Dian) will fight, General Le (Jin) will defend (Cheng), and the protector (Xue Ti) will not have to fight."
After hearing this, the generals were very suspicious, believing that Xue Ti was afraid of war and secretly manipulated him.
At this time, Zhang Liao stood up and said:
"(Cao) The expedition is outside, and if he is saved, he will destroy me." It is to teach the finger, and its failure to fight back, to fold its grand momentum, to reassure the hearts of the people, and then to defend it, the opportunity to succeed or fail, in this battle, how can the kings doubt"?
Li Dian agreed with Zhang Liao's opinion. Zhang Liaomou was one of Cao Wei's well-known "Five Sons and Good Generals" and had outstanding prestige in the military, and when everyone saw him so analyzed, they all felt justified, so they unified their opinions and obeyed his dispatches.
That night, Zhang Liao selected 800 brave and brave daredevils from the army, killed cattle and treats (hospitality), ate a full meal, and prepared to go out of the city the next day to fight the enemy. In the early morning of the next day, Zhang Liao, wearing a strong and sharp edge, took the lead in charging the horse, beheading two enemy generals in a row, killing dozens of enemy troops, and loudly reporting to his home, beating his horse and galloping, rushing into Sun Quan's camp with lightning speed, and if he entered no man's land, he even went straight to Sun Quan's command.
Sun Quan already knew that Zhang Liaoxiao was brave, but he did not expect him to be so powerful, he actually rode alone to the core of the Wu Army, blocking the death, the hitter was subdued, and no one could defeat him. Sun Quan was horrified and hurriedly galloped his horse, and his left and right guards were also overwhelmed, so they had to surround Sun Quan to climb a towering hill and protect themselves with a long halberd.
Zhang Liao shouted at Sun Quan under the hillock and shouted for Sun Quan to come down and fight to the death, but Sun Quan did not dare to respond. Sun Quan looked around on the hill and found that Zhang Liao's followers were very few, so he ordered a large army to gather and surround Zhang Liao several times, Zhang Liao's face was not afraid, he rushed left and right, slashed and killed, rampaged, sharp, and was actually rushed through a gap by him, leading dozens of warriors to break through the siege. However, there were many Wu soldiers, and there were still soldiers trapped in the formation and could not stand out. While fighting the enemy bitterly, Yu Zhong shouted loudly: "The general abandons me (leave me alone) Hu" !
After Zhang Liao heard this, he did not hesitate to turn back and rush into the battle group to rescue the rest of the people, he picked up and stabbed the Wu soldiers on their backs, frightened and tired, and fled because of panic, and did not dare to come again to block and intercept and kill.
In this vicious battle, from the early morning battle to the afternoon, Zhang Liao's courage was incomparable, killing the generals of the Wu Army and losing their fighting spirit. Zhang Liao then pulled his horse back to the camp and led his generals to repair the city defenses and strengthen the garrison. The generals of the Cao Army were greatly excited, and Li Dian, Le Jin, Xue Ti and other generals all admired Zhang Liao's boldness. Sun Quan was not reconciled, and besieged for more than ten consecutive days, but he could not attack for a long time, so he led his army to retreat, while Zhang Liao led his army out of the city to pursue him, and he was almost about to capture Sun Quan. Zhang Liao led 7,000 defenders to defeat the crowd with a small number of people, destroyed Sun Quan's 100,000 troops, almost captured Sun Quan alive, and immediately became a god in a battle.
Cao Cao returned from a triumphant attack on Hanzhong and praised Zhang Liao's wisdom and courage, and promoted him to the rank of general of Zhengdong. After this battle, Zhang Liaowei shook Jiangdong and became famous all over the world, and "Zhang Liao stopped crying (using Zhang Liao to scare children crying at night)" has also become a legendary allusion passed down by jiangnan folk. Zhang Liao's good war has been respected by successive generations, and was not only praised by Chen Shou as the head of Cao Wei's "Five Sons and Good Generals", but also deservedly entered the sequence of "Sixty-four Generals of Ancient and Modern Times".
【Illustrations from the Internet】