The biography of the reflection of Zhang Liao records that "Sun Quan of maoji ordered the Liao, Li Dian and three generals to join 7,000 people". According to the records of Liang Wudi in the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Hefei took place in August of 2 15 (the twentieth year of Jian 'an). "Sun Quan surrounded Hefei, and Zhang Liao and Li Dian were defeated." Before that, Cao Cao attacked Sun Quan in the winter of 2 12 (the seventeenth year of Jian 'an) and the autumn of 2 14 respectively. So after which attack, Cao Cao left Zhang Liao to guard Hefei?
Biography of the Three Kingdoms records that Cao Cao once "surrendered to Sun Quan" and returned to Li Houcai to "stay with Zhang Liao and Li Dian". According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, when Cao Cao levied Sun Quan in 2 12 AD, Sun Quan asked Liu Bei, who had already entered Shu, for help. In an emergency, Liu Bei mentioned that "Le Jin refused Guan Yu in Ni Qing". Therefore, when Cao Cao left Hefei in the winter of 2 14, Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Li Dian and others should still stay in Hefei to defend Wu Dong. In addition, Cao Cao also ordered Wen Hui to be the secretariat of Yangzhou to help the soldiers of the Three Kingdoms defend Wu Dong.
In May of 2 14, Sun Quan captured Anhui City, but Zhang Liao led the army to ask for help, immediately returned to Hefei to station troops, and immediately reported to the special envoy and Cao Cao. At this time, Cao Cao was leading an army to conquer Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, and it was too late to rescue Hefei, so he wrote a secret letter and sent Xue Xu, a military guard, to Hefei, and wrote the word "thief is imminent" on this secret letter, asking Zhang Liao and others to wait until Wu Dong invaded before opening it.
In August this year, shortly after this secret letter was sent out, Sun Quan came and "led hundreds of thousands of people around Hefei". According to Cao Cao's request, everyone opened the letter and read it together. The content of the secret letter is Cao Cao's personnel deployment to resist the invasion of Soochow. "If Sun Quan arrives, General Zhang and General Li will play; General Le will defend it and the army will not have to fight. " Cao Cao sent Zhang Liao and Li Dian to war, Le Jin was in charge of guarding the city, and Xue Mian did not participate in the war. All the generals don't understand why Cao Cao arranged this. Zhang Liao boldly expressed his understanding of Cao Cao's arrangement: "It's better to go on a public expedition than to be rescued. Those who break us will rebel. Therefore, we should attack the religion and its failure, break its prosperity, reassure the public, and then defend it. The chance of success or failure, what do you doubt in this battle? " Li Dian, who had a bad relationship with Zhang Liao, also supported this view, so he finally finalized the battle plan and defended the war after the war. That night, Zhang Liao selected 800 volunteers from the army to form a death squad, staged a banquet to kill pigs and cattle, and prepared to leave for Wu Dong at dawn.
The next morning, Zhang Liao and Li Dian led the 800-member death squad to the Wu Dong camp. Wearing armor and holding halberd, Zhang Liao, as always, played his brave and forward fighting style and took the lead in attacking Wudong Army Camp. He not only killed dozens of soldiers, but also beheaded two generals. Facing the unprepared Wu Dong army, Zhang Liao became more and more brave. He not only fought hard, but also shouted his name, and unconsciously rushed to the central camp where Sun Quan was located. Sun Quan was unprepared for the sudden attack on Zhang Liao. He was so frightened that people around him didn't know what to do at that time, so they had to retreat to high places to defend themselves. Seeing that Sun Quan was leaning on a high place and holding a halberd to guard against it, Zhang Liao provoked Sun Quanjun and "abolished the use of military power". Sun Quan didn't make a move, but first observed the situation clearly. Because Sun Quan lived in a high place, he soon found that the number of troops led by Zhang Liao was not large, so he used his own strength to "gather Liao and count again". Zhang Liao's left and right wings immediately attacked and opened a gap, so Zhang Liao was able to lead dozens of Qin Bing to break through. At this time, some members of the death squads were besieged by the Wu Dong army. They shouted to Zhang Liao for help: "The general abandoned me!" Hearing this, Zhang Liao rushed into the encirclement and led the rest of the people to break through.
In the first world war, Zhang Liao and Li Dian led the death squads from the early hours of the morning to noon. As a leading figure, Zhang Liao's performance is the most outstanding. In the face of Zhang Liao's brave performance, The Story of the Three Kingdoms and Zhang Liao used nine words to describe the Soochow army, saying that "men and women are invincible, and no one dares to be brave". As a result, the morale of the Dongwu army plummeted. On the other hand, the defenders in Hefei have low morale and admire Zhang Liao even more. The whole army is bent on building fortifications and defending the city. It is worth noting that the 800 people Zhang Liao brought out this time were not cavalry that Cao Wei was good at, but infantry. Cao Pi later wrote clearly in the imperial edict of Zhang Liao and Li Dian, "In the Battle of Hefei, Liao and Dian took 800 steps and broke hundreds of thieves". The battle of Hefei is the peak battle of Zhang Liao. In this war, Zhang Liao not only made great contributions, but also brought his talents into play. His bravery and courage have been fully demonstrated.
First of all, the understanding of Cao Cao's strategic intention shows Zhang Liao's military talent. Before the war, Cao Cao sent people to bring Hefei's defense plan. Many people are puzzled by Cao Cao's policy of letting Zhang Liao and Li Dian attack. Zhang Liao was the first to understand Cao Cao's strategic intention: Cao Cao's expedition out of the city failed to rescue him, so he had to "break the situation first, and then he (Wu Jun) fought back to calm the people's hearts, and then he could defend himself". Zhang Liao correctly understood Cao Cao's strategic intention and laid the foundation for the victory of Hefei War. It can be seen that Zhang Liao had made great contributions before the war. At the same time, it can be seen that Zhang Liao already has a high military capability.
Secondly, the implementation of Cao Cao's offensive strategy shows Zhang Liao's determination and courage. Although attacking first and defending later is Cao Cao's strategic policy, it is quite difficult to implement it. The first point is the disparity in strength. At that time, there were only 7,000 people stationed in Hefei, and Wu Jun came from100000 people. It is still difficult to defend the city, let alone attack it. The second point is that the generals are confused and have to attack under the condition of great disparity in strength. No wonder the generals guarding the city have doubts about the attack strategy. Although Zhang Liao has explained the reasons, it is difficult to completely convince the confused military commanders with an armchair strategist's explanation. In this case, Zhang Liao should not only be decisive, but also need great courage to implement this strategy.
Third, two appearances showed Zhang Liao's brave fighting style. In the first world war, Zhang Liao and Li Dian led only 800 people to launch a surprise attack on Sun Quan's100000 people, and in the battle, Zhang Liao took the lead in charging. The battle lasted all morning, and Wu Dong's army was invincible. Throughout the History of the Three Kingdoms, there are several places that describe someone's war in such detail, which shows that Chen Shou was also impressed by Zhang Liao's brave performance at that time. And the second time, although this biography is not as detailed as the first time, you can also imagine Zhang Liao's bravery in the battle from the words "several rights for repayment".
The victory of the battle of Hefei is of great significance to Cao Wei, because Hefei is an extremely important strategic location for Cao Wei in the Jianghuai area. "If you go out of Dajiang North and get Hefei, you can ask Shen and Cai in the west and Xu and Shou in the north, which is comparable to the Central Plains; The Central Plains won Hefei, and Jiangnan was embarrassed. Therefore, Cao Cao attached great importance to Zhang Liao, who made great contributions in this war. In historical records, Chen Shou only used the words "Mao Da Zhuang Liao" and "Da Zhuang" twice in the History of the Three Kingdoms, respectively in the Biography of the Three Kingdoms of Zhang Liao and the Biography of Xu Chuan, which shows the importance of their weight. Cao Cao also named Zhang Liao as the general of the Eastern Expedition. 2 16 years (the 21st year of Jian 'an), Cao Cao attacked Wu Dong, and when he crossed the border, he also went to the place where Zhang Liao fought, sighing for a long time wherever he went.