Sima Fu
At that time, the weather was extremely hot and the Wu troops were growing weary. A plague broke out and killed many Wu soldiers as well as caused more than half of the Wu army to fall ill. Zhuge Ke grew impatient and vented his frustration on his subordinates, causing much unhappiness among his men. He even dismissed his subordinate, Zhu Yi. Later, the Wei general Sima Fu led 200,000 troops to reinforce Zhang Te at Xincheng and defeated the exhausted Wu army. Sometime between 12 August and 9 September 253, Zhuge Ke had no choice but to order a withdrawal and the siege on Xincheng was lifted.