Battle of Hefei

The Battle of He Fei 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. Zhang Liao distinguishes himself with this conflict as it was a heavy loss for Wu. It eventually lead to the Battle of Ru Xu Kou.

Dynasty Warriors
The Battle He Fei is an involved battle in the Dynasty Warriors series, in which many twists and turns occur. Perhaps the most significant warriors in the battle is Zhang Liao of Wei. He will return numerous times after his defeat, the most returns occuring 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, causing panics in the Wei ranks. Wu also recieves 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. While playing as either Zhang Liao or Sun Jian, the player is easily able to win the battle. Once across the bridge, do not lure the other man (be it Liao or Jian) to the other side. Once across, you can totally decimate the other's army. 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.

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 Jingzhou after agreeing to split Jingzhou 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 battle, 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, Lu Meng and other generals at the rear. At 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 led the archers to shoot down the enemy troops surrounding his lord, while Ling Tong led about 300 troops to rescue Sun Quan. Lu Meng and Jiang Qin's troops were badly defeated and suffered heavy casualties. Ling Tong managed to rescue Sun Quan and he turned back to fight the Wei troops. However, the Xiaoshi Bridge which the Wu troops had to cross had been destroyed. Sun Quan managed to leap across the bridge to safety on his horse. Later, Sun Quan met the 3000 backup troops under He Qi's command and safely retreated back to Jiangdong. Ling Tong and Gan Ning were still fighting on bravely against the Wei troops and had lost almost all their troops, and suffered grave wounds. They only retreated when they heard that their lord was safe.