Hefei

The Battle of Hefei (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. Charging with only 800 soldiers, Zhang Liao punched a hole into the Wu army, killing several generals and soldiers, and inflicting a heavy morale loss to the Wu forces. Upon Cao Cao's arrival with reinforcements, the Battle of Ruxukou takes place shortly after.

Dynasty Warriors
Within the Dynasty Warriors series, the battle retains many twists and turns. Zhang Liao is often prominently featured and will return numerous times after his defeat, the most often in Dynasty Warriors 5. He will sometimes charge the main camp after 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. The early installments often merge this with parts of the campaign of Ruxukou due to it being absent in the early games.

In Dynasty Warriors 4 an altered version of the battle is available with the goal to defeat Sun Jian, led by either Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, or Zhang Jiao. Another version has Sun Ce and Zhou Yu rescue the Qiao Sisters from Dong Zhuo's army. Said stage is also the complete version of the stage along with the original Hefei. There are two other stages that are part of the Hefei series, with one being the battle of Shiting (which is more reduced into the central area) and the aforementioned Campaign Against Sun Jian.

However, in both 4 and 5, the stage's version of He Fei Castle appears in an incomplete form that is currently under construction, hinting and foreshadowing the battle to take place at it once more in the future. In the 4th installment, the castle stays incomplete and only a portion of it is used for all of its variations. While in the 5th, the incomplete traces of the upcoming castle can be seen on the very west side of the stage/map by the river.

Hefei returns in Dynasty Warriors 6 with four scenarios. The Wei version of the battle requires that all of the Wu officers must be defeated to clear the stage. The Wu scenario requires the capture of the West and East castles to clear the stage. There is also a scenario for Lu Bu's forces. Lu Bu and his army confront Sun Jian and his forces at He Fei. Taking the East Castle that is guarded by Sun Quan will deflate enemy morale. Reinforcements by Zhou Tai will join in should the battle take too long. The last scenario is for Sun Jian and his forces, who confronts Cao Cao at Hefei. In the Wei and Wu scenarios, you can lower a drawbridge near the center of the stage as part of completing one of the targets.

In Dynasty Warriors 8 no reinforcements will actually come to aid the undermanned defense in the Wei scenario. Initially both Yue Jin and Li Dian refuse to attack and will defend the castle but will eventually join Zhang Liao's charge and fight Ling Tong and Gan Ning. A mission to destroy Xiaoshi bridge will appear and will be defended by Han Dang and Ding Feng. Once players take the four surrounding garrisons, they can attack Sun Quan; Zhou Tai will stand as a final obstacle.

This is Gan Ning's first battle for Wu; he will normally appear 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 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. In some games this is also where Taishi Ci dies.

The eighth game's scenario for Wu has them face insurmountable odds. Though Sun Quan initially leads a frontal assault, Yue Jin shuts the bridge that Sun Quan, Gan Ning and Ling Tong crosses, thus isolating them from the main forces. Immediately afterwards Zhang Liao destroys Xiaoshi bridge, cutting off the escape route for Wu and causing confusion among Sun Quan's forces. Later Wei reinforcements arrive, led by both Xu Huang and Jia Xu, putting the Wu forces at a further disadvantage. Later Zhang Liao nearly kills Sun Quan, but Taishi Ci sacrifices himself and takes the blow for his lord. Sun Quan attempts to recover from the loss by returning to his camp and rescuing the soldiers and engineers inside, however as soon as he enters Li Dian ambushes the Wu forces and shuts the gates of the camp. After defeating both Li Dian and Jia Xu, Lu Meng appears and urges his lord to escape, and Sun Quan vaults over Xiaoshi bridge. Zhang Liao then reappears at the escape point trying to stop the Wu forces from retreating, but is eventually defeated as well.

In the alternate path, both Zhou Yu and Lu Su are present and assist the Wu army by preventing mistakes made in the original scenario. Lu Su first correctly predicts Zhang Liao's attempt to destroy Xiaoshi bridge and defeats the general before he can do so. He also correctly predicts Li Dian's attempted ambush from above the western ridge after Wei troops block of the main bridge to Hefei. This surprises Li Dian, who encounters the Wu army before he can sneak into their camp. Wei reinforcements led by Jia Xu arrive in the south and put Taishi Ci on the defensive, but the Wei reinforcements are blunted and defeated by Wu reinforcements led by Sun Jian and Sun Ce. More Wei reinforcements lead by Yu Jin, Cao Ren and Zhang He arrive and attempt to relieve the siege but are defeated. Soon Yue Jin is joined by both Li Dian and Zhang Liao, and the three attempt one last stand against the Wu forces, but are ultimately defeated after failing to destroy the rams that break down the gate of Hefei Castle.

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, but later join Sun Ce to save Sun Jian and Sun Quan from execution and defeating Orochi at Koshi Castle.

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. In the midquel DLC stage, "Rise of Kiyomori Part 1" Kiyomori Taira's forces notice that Kiyomori has gained significant powers since his resurrection, and decide to test it on the outlying Wei and Wu forces. They first capture a lone Wang Yi, and successfully brainwash her into serving the serpent army. They then attack the Wei forces and capture Cai Wenji, Cao Ren and Guo Huai, and brainwash them into serving Kiyomori. The serpent army then turns it's attention to the remaining Wu forces and attack with their new allies. Though Sun Shangxiang escapes, Lianshi and Sun Quan are captured and later possessed. Kiyomori would then use He Fei as a foothold against his next target, Fan Castle.

In Ultimate, a bewildered team of Kenshin Uesugi, Yukimura Sanada and Kunoichi arrive in the area to do battle with allies from both the Takeda army and Uesugi army led by Shingen Takeda, Aya and Kanetsugu Naoe. Seeing Sun Jian in the area, Yukimura first moves to rescue the general and his army. After the Wu army is rescued, Kenshin plans a sneak attack on the enemy cavalry, and the Wu army volunteers to lead the raid while Kagekatsu baits the enemy. As the two trios confront each other, another team of Shingen, Aya and Kanetsugu appear, and the objective changes to defeating all enemy officers. Soon Gan Ning and Ling Tong arrive to aid the second Shingen's army. Once all officers are defeated, Kaguya and Shennong will appear, and will explain the recent occurrences at the battle's end.

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.