Man Chong
Later, Sun Quan realised that he cannot take Xincheng by force, so he decided that since he had so much success with Zhou Fang's false defection at Battle of Shiting, he would try exactly the same thing 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 true. 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. He said, however, 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, he urged Sun Bu to think of some way to flee from Sun Quan quietly. At this time, Cao Rui had 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 was able to send only a very small force to Sun Bu. They were ambushed and defeated, but due to Man Chong's foresight, the loss was negligible. and Sun Quan's strategy to eliminate the Wei forces in Hefei failed.