Zhuge Ke
In the spring of 253, the Wu regent Zhuge Ke returned from the Battle of Dongxing to the Wu capital Jianye (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu). Ignoring the advice of several officials, in April 253, Zhuge Ke led a 200,000 strong army to attack Wei in the north. By May or early June, Zhuge Ke and his army had reached south of the Huai River, and started attacking the Wei fortress Xincheng (新城; literally "new city/fortress") at Hefei in the following month. Zhuge Ke's forces besieged Xincheng and launched fierce attacks on the fortress. At the time, Xincheng was guarded by the Wei general Zhang Te and his subordinates Liu Zheng () and Zheng Xiang (). The Wei forces defending Xincheng, numbering only 3,000, managed to hold off Zhuge Ke's army for more than a month while inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy.