Battle of Hefei | |||||||
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Part of the wars of the Three Kingdoms period | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Cao Wei | Eastern Wu | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Man Chong Wang Ling | Sun Quan Sun Bu | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Few | Unknown |
Battle of Hefei | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 合肥之戰 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 合肥之战 | ||||||
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The Battle of Hefei was fought between the states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu in 231 during the Three Kingdoms period.
In 230,the state of Wei constructed a new fortress at Hefei as a defence against the rival state of Wu. The fortress was referred to as "Xincheng" (新城;literally:"new city/fortress").
In 231,the Wu emperor Sun Quan led an army to attack Xincheng. Man Chong wrote to the Wei emperor Cao Rui seeking soldiers from Yan and Yu provinces to help defend Xincheng. Shortly after the troops arrived,Sun Quan retreated without attacking Xincheng. One of Cao Rui's advisers,Xu Xuan,warned that this was their plan all along and that as soon as the troops were dispersed,Sun Quan would attack again. After about ten days,Sun Quan returned to besiege Xincheng but Man Chong was fully prepared and easily repelled the assault. [1]
Later,Sun Quan realised that he could not take Xincheng by force,so he decided that since he had so much success with Zhou Fang's false defection at the Battle of Shiting,he would try that approach again. Sun Quan ordered his relative Sun Bu to pretend to defect to Wei in order to lure the Wei-appointed Governor of Yang Province,Wang Ling,into a trap. Sun Quan set soldiers in ambush at Fuling.
Sun Bu asked Wang Ling to send soldiers to take him to Wei. Wang Ling,in turn,requested permission from his superiors to do so. One of those superiors was Man Chong,who did not believe that Sun Bu's defection was genuine. Man Chong sent a letter (on behalf of Wang Ling) to Sun Bu saying that he was very pleased to hear that Sun Bu wanted to defect. However,he explained that he feared that if he sent too few troops,Sun Bu would not be protected and if he sent too many it would attract undue attention. Finally,in his letter he urged Sun Bu to think of some way to flee from Sun Quan quietly. Meanwhile,Cao Rui summoned Man Chong to meet him. Before leaving to meet the Wei emperor,Man Chong ordered his chief clerk not to give Wang Ling soldiers with which to receive Sun Bu. Wang Ling could not obtain a large number of troops and so sent only a very small force to escort Sun Bu. This small force was ambushed at Fuling and defeated. However,due to Man Chong's foresight,the loss was negligible and Sun Quan's strategy to eliminate the Wei forces based in Hefei failed. [2]
Man Chong was summoned to the Wei imperial court. This was due to a memorial issued by Wang Ling,who evidently did not get along well with his superior. Wang Ling accused Man Chong of being too old and too fond of wine to be such an important administrator. Cao Rui summoned Man Chong so that he could judge for himself. When he met Man Chong,Cao Rui determined that he was perfectly fit for his work and thus allowed Man Chong to resume his duties at Xincheng. [3]
Sun Quan,courtesy name Zhongmou (仲謀),posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu,was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty,one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime established by his elder brother,Sun Ce,in 200. He declared formal independence and ruled from November 222 to May 229 as the King of Wu and from May 229 to May 252 as the Emperor of Wu. Unlike his rivals Cao Cao and Liu Bei,Sun Quan was much younger than they were and governed his state mostly separate of politics and ideology. He is sometimes portrayed as neutral considering he adopted a flexible foreign policy between his two rivals with the goal of pursuing the greatest interests for the country.
Zhang Liao,courtesy name Wenyuan,was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He served briefly in the state of Cao Wei,founded by Cao Cao's successor Cao Pi,in the early Three Kingdoms period before his death. Formerly a subordinate of other warlords such as Ding Yuan,Dong Zhuo and LüBu,Zhang Liao joined Cao Cao around 198 after LüBu's downfall at the Battle of Xiapi. Since then,he participated in many of Cao Cao's military campaigns,including those against Yuan Shao's heirs and the Wuhuan tribes from 201 to 207. He is best known for his pivotal role in the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford in 214–215,in which he successfully defended Hefei from the forces of the warlord Sun Quan.
Wei (220–266),known as Cao Wei 曹魏or Former Wei in historiography,was a dynastic state of China and one of the three major states that competed for supremacy over China in the Three Kingdoms period. With its capital initially located at Xuchang,and thereafter Luoyang,the state was established by Cao Pi in 220,based upon the foundations laid by his father,Cao Cao,towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. The name "Wei" first became associated with Cao Cao when he was named the Duke of Wei by the Eastern Han government in 213,and became the name of the state when Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor in 220. Historians often add the prefix "Cao" to distinguish it from other Chinese states known as "Wei". The authority of the ruling Cao family dramatically weakened in the aftermath of the deposing and execution of Cao Shuang and his siblings,the former being one of the regents for the third Cao Wei emperor,Cao Fang,with state authority gradually falling into the hands of Sima Yi,another Cao Wei regent,and his family,from 249 onwards. The last Wei emperors would remain largely as puppet rulers under the control of the Simas until Sima Yi's grandson,Sima Yan,forced the last Wei ruler,Cao Huan,to abdicate the throne and established the Western Jin dynasty.
Yue Jin,courtesy name Wenqian,was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was noted as much for his short stature as for his valour and ferocity on the battlefield. Yue Jin participated in most of Cao Cao's early military exploits,and gained multiple successes in the campaigns against LüBu,Liu Bei,remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels,and Yuan Shao and his associates. He was particularly praised as a capable vanguard,but his most famed accomplishment came with his supporting role in the defence of Hefei against Sun Quan's forces at the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford of 214–215.
Cao Xiu,courtesy name Wenlie,was a Chinese military general of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. A distant younger relative of the warlord Cao Cao,Cao Xiu started his career in the late Eastern Han dynasty as a military officer under Cao Cao. In the early stages of the Hanzhong Campaign of 217–219,he outwitted Zhang Fei and defeated his subordinate officer Wu Lan (吳蘭). Later in his career,he became a provincial-level military commander and fought in various battles against Wei's rival state,Eastern Wu. He died in 228 shortly after the Wei defeat at the Battle of Shiting.
Man Chong,courtesy name Boning,was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He previously served under the warlord Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty. He is best known for defending the city of Hefei from a series of invasions by Wei's rival state,Eastern Wu,between 230 and 235.
Meng Da,courtesy name Zidu,was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the early Three Kingdoms period of China. He previously served the warlords Liu Zhang and Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty before defecting to Wei. In Wei,he served under the first two rulers,Cao Pi and Cao Rui. Around late 227,he started a rebellion in Wei and aimed to rejoin the Shu-Han but the revolt was swiftly suppressed by the Wei general Sima Yi. Meng Da was captured and executed for treason.
Zang Ba,courtesy name Xuangao,was a military general who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period of China. He served the warlord Tao Qian initially,followed by LüBu and finally Cao Cao and his successors,but for the most part of his career,he remained semi-autonomous over his troops and eastern China. The years of his birth and death are not recorded,but he served the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period until the reign of the second Wei emperor,Cao Rui.
Sun Liang,courtesy name Ziming,was the second emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the youngest son and heir of Sun Quan,the founding emperor of Wu. He is also known as the Prince of Kuaiji or Marquis of Houguan (候官侯),which were his successive titles after he was deposed in November 258 by the regent Sun Chen. He was succeeded by his brother Sun Xiu,who managed to oust Sun Chen from power and kill him. Two years after Sun Liang's dethronement,he was falsely accused of treason and demoted from a prince to a marquis,after which he committed suicide.
Sun Hao,courtesy name Yuanzong,originally named Sun Pengzu with the courtesy name Haozong,was the fourth and last emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was a son of Sun He,a one-time heir apparent of the founding emperor Sun Quan. He ascended the throne in September 264 after the death of his uncle,Sun Xiu,in light of the desire of the people to have an older emperor,considering the recent destruction of Wu's ally state Shu Han. However,he turned out to be a most unfortunate choice,as his cruelty,extravagance and inability to handle domestic matters doomed Wu,which was eventually conquered by the Jin dynasty in 280,ending the Three Kingdoms period.
The Empty Fort Strategy is the 32nd of the Chinese Thirty-Six Stratagems. The strategy involves using reverse psychology to deceive the enemy into thinking that an empty location is full of traps and ambushes,and therefore induce the enemy to retreat. Some examples are listed in the following sections.
Liu Shao,courtesy name Kongcai,was an official of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He often provided advice to the emperor Cao Rui,and was praised by Cao Rui for his good advice,even though Cao Rui did not frequently actually act on the advice. He also wrote poems to try to discourage Cao Rui from military and palace-building projects. When Sun Quan,the emperor of Wei's rival state Eastern Wu,led an army to attack the Wei stronghold at Hefei in 234,Liu Shao suggested to Cao Rui to send his forces to cut off Sun Quan's supply route rather than engage Sun Quan directly –a strategy that forced Sun Quan to withdraw.
Wang Chang,courtesy name Wenshu (文舒),was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Zhang Te,courtesy name Zichan,was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He is best known for resisting an invasion by Wei's rival state,Eastern Wu,at the Battle of Hefei in 253.
Sun Deng,courtesy name Zigao,was an imperial prince of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the eldest son of Sun Quan,Eastern Wu's founding emperor,and was crown prince from 229 until his death in 241.
Wang Ling,courtesy name Yanyun,was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
The Battle of Hefei was fought between the contending states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu in 233 during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
The Battle of Hefei,also known as the Battle of Hefei Xincheng,was fought between the contending states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu from roughly June to September 234 during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
The Battle of Hefei,also known as the Battle of Hefei Xincheng,was fought between the contending states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu from roughly April to August 253 during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
The Battle of Quebei was a military offensive launched in 241 by the state of Eastern Wu against its rival state,Cao Wei,during the Three Kingdoms period of China. The campaign was initiated by Wu's founding emperor,Sun Quan,two years after the death of the second Wei emperor,Cao Rui. The campaign ended with an overall failure. Despite its name,Quebei being the location where most of the fighting took place,the campaign was actually a two-front attack and covered a wide area in Anhui and Hubei.