Battle of Hefei

The Battle of He Fei (合肥の戦い, rōmaji: Gappi no Tatakai) refers to a series of battles fought at this location. The Dynasty Warriors series focuses on the second battle, in which Zhang Liao's undermanned army is heavily surrounded by Sun Quan's massive army. It is said that Zhang Liao managed to defend He Fei Castle with only 800 soldiers and was able to repel 100,000 Wu soldiers. It eventually lead to the Battle of Ru Xu Kou.

Dynasty Warriors
Within the Dynasty Warriors series, the battle retains many twists and turns. Perhaps the most significant warriors in the battle is Zhang Liao of Wei. He will return numerous times after his defeat, the most returns occurring in Dynasty Warriors 5, and sometimes even charge the main camp after trapping them by destroying a bridge, putting Wu at an immediate disadvantage. In some installments, Wei will also be reinforced by warriors such as Xu Huang, Cao Ren, and even Cao Cao.

Wu, on the other hand, also has some strategic advantages. He Fei serves as the first battle in which Gan Ning fights for the Wu forces. He normally appears in the middle of the battle on a ship with high troop morale, causing panic in the Wei ranks. He often appears near Cao Cao's forces, at a point where allied resistance is scarce. Wu also receives a morale boost after their leader, whether it be Sun Jian or Sun Quan jumps a bridge destroyed by Wei earlier.

There is a famous glitch in Dynasty Warriors 4, where the battle may be easily won with the player using Zhang Liao or Sun Jian. Once across the bridge, if the player does not lure the enemy leader across the bridge. From there, the enemy army is vulnerable and may be decimated. There are also task units in Sun Jian's main camp and by the armies of Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun on Wei's side, signifying that stage events may in fact be triggered by task units and not by chance. The appearance of Lu Xun and Gan Ning opposing Wu, and the appearance of Zhang He and Xu Huang, however, cannot be reversed. The reappearance of Zhang Liao near Wu's main camp also cannot be stopped (if the player chooses to defeat Zhang Liao).

Warriors Orochi
During Orochi's story, Da Ji wants to entertain herself by watching the humans fight amongst themselves. Zhuge Liang is given the task to take He Fei, facing Sun Jian's army with Zhou Yu as the strategist. Zhuge Liang orders the army to destroy either the north or southern Wu fronts. Once they are out of the picture, the Orochi troops proceed on their march. In due time, Zhou Yu orders Gan Ning and Zhang Liao to appear in the center to strike fear in the serpent army and rush for the Orochi main camp. Zhuge Liang orders the bridge connecting the two pieces of land to obliterated, thus forcing the two generals to turn around. The army strategist will also order troops to come out of hiding if any officer reaches the northern east bridged area. Sun Ce arrives to reinforce from the south-west and Sun Jian commences the final charge. Both members of the Sun family must be defeated to achieve victory.

After Sun Ce defects from the Orochi forces, Sun Quan assembles forces to attack his older brother here in Warriors Orochi. Though facing his brother and a portion of his former allies, Sun Ce looks forward to testing his brother's strength. The officers following Sun Ce are in the north and castle area while Sun Quan's larger force is in the south sections of the map. Lu Meng orders the player to first lure the enemy in the south within the castle. A powered up Keiji and Zhen Ji will be in the advance and, if the plot is carried out, their morale will weaken. Cao Ren charges from the center and Lu Meng orders the troops to counter. As more troops pour into the field, Lu Meng orders the destruction of the bridge, which requires to defeat the two guard captains at both ends. With Sun Quan foiled, Zhou Tai appears to help his lord and distracts Sun Ce so Sun Quan may escape.

Warriors Orochi Z features the stage as Benkei's first Gaiden, teaming him with Da Ji and Himiko. Taking place sometime after Orochi's first death, the ladies are on the move to join with their allies at He Fei. Tempted by Da Ji with the promise of many fabulous weapons for his collection, Benkei accompanies them. Throughout the stage, he strives to prove his might and steals his victims weapons as his prize. The other Orochi escapees are under siege against head-hunters lead by Zhang Jiao. After the stranded units are rescued, they regroup within the castle to lead an all out attack. Sakon and his forces eventually appear in the south to perform a pincer on the ally troops. Benkei counters the tactic by beating and bullying Sakon's engineers to work for him. Shingen threatens the castle by charging upwards from his position in the west.

In Warriors Orochi 3, Cao Pi, Zhenji and Mitsunari Ishida head to Hefei to rescue the trapped forces of Lu Xun who are fighting against Susano'o and the mystics.

Historical Information
In 214, Cao Cao's southern campaign against Sun Quan had ended in failure and he decided to retreat, leaving behind Zhang Liao, Li Dian and Yue Jin to guard Hefei with 7000 men. The next year, Cao Cao sent Xue Ti to deliver a letter to Hefei before he led an army to attack Zhang Lu in Hanzhong. On the envelope, it was written "Do not open this letter yet, until the enemy has arrived". At the same time, Sun Quan and Liu Bei retreated from Jing Province after agreeing to split Jing Province after conquering it. Sun Quan saw that Cao Cao had just conquered Hanzhong and could not get back to the east in time, so in August, he led an army of about 100,000 men to attack Hefei.

Zhang Liao and his deputies opened the envelope and read the letter, on which this was written "If Sun Quan has arrived, Zhang Liao and Li Dian will meet the enemy, Yue Jin will stay and guard the city and not engage the enemy." All three generals were dumbfounded, and Zhang Liao said, "The lord (Cao Cao) is out at war, by the time his reinforcements arrive, we would have been defeated by the enemy. The lord wishes us to affect the enemy's morale before the actual battle begins, in order to calm the troops. Only then can we defend the city effectively. The crucial battle is about to begin, does anyone have any doubts?" Li Dian agreed with Zhang Liao and gathered about 800 men overnight, preparing to attack the enemy the next day. At daybreak, Zhang Liao personally led the charge in the Wu formation, killing several dozen enemy soldiers and two generals. The Wu general Chen Wu was killed in action, and Zhang Liao charged all the way to Sun Quan's main camp. The Wu generals Song Qian and Xu Sheng were unable to resist Zhang Liao's attack and their troops deserted. The Wu general Pan Zhang chased after them and killed two deserting soldiers. The deserting soldiers were shocked and afraid, so they turned back and fought the Wei troops.

Sun Quan was shocked and his troops did not know what to do, so Sun Quan ascended to the top of a hill, standing there firmly with a spear in hand. Zhang Liao shouted for Sun Quan to come down and fight him, Sun Quan did not dare to move, but when saw that Zhang Liao had fewer troops, he ordered to have Zhang Liao surrounded. Zhang Liao managed to fight his way out of the encirclement with a small number of soldiers. The other soldiers trapped in the encirclement shouted "General Zhang had abandoned us!" Zhang Liao turned round and charged into the enemy formation and rescued the trapped soldiers. Sun Quan's troops were defeated badly by Zhang Liao and deserted as no one dared to resist Zhang Liao. Since the battle had been on since morning till noon, both sides were exhausted and went back to their respective bases. The Wei army's morale was greatly boosted.

Sun Quan's troops besieged Hefei for several days but were still unable to conquer Hefei, and the troops were infected with a disease. Hence, Sun Quan had no choice but to retreat, with himself, Ling Tong, Gan Ning, Lü Meng and other generals leading 1,000 troops at the rear. At Leisure Ford (Xiaoyaojin), Zhang Liao saw the Wu troops retreating, so he led his army to attack the retreating Wu troops. The Wu troops were thrown into confusion, and Sun Quan was surrounded by enemy troops. Gan Ning requested the drums to be played, and took a bow to shoot down the enemy troops, while Ling Tong led 300 troops to rescue Sun Quan. Lü Meng and Jiang Qin's troops were badly defeated and suffered heavy casualties, and the situation was most critical. Still, Ling Tong managed to rescue Sun Quan, and he turned back to stop the pursuing Wei troops. However, the Xiaoshi Bridge which the Wu troops had to cross had been destroyed. Under instruction of his officer, Gu Li, Sun Quan leapt across the bridge to safety on his horse. At the end of southern ford, Sun Quan finally met the 3000 backup troops under He Qi's command and safely boarded a ship. Ling Tong was still fighting on bravely against the Wei troops and had lost almost all of his troops, and suffered grave wounds. He only retreated when after he knew his lord was safe. This expedition led to the Battle of Ruxukou in 217.