Battle of Xiaoyao Ford The Battle of Xiaoyao Ford , also known as the Battle of Leisure Ford , Battle of Hefei , and Hefei Campaign , was fought between the warlords Cao Cao and Sun Quan between 214 and 215 in the late Eastern Han Dynasty . The two contending sides were fighting for control over a strategic fortress at Hefei , which was defended by Cao Cao ' s general Zhang Liao . Towards the end of the campaign , Zhang Liao made use of force concentration and launched a sneak counteroffensive on Sun Quan at Leisure Ford , where Sun only had 1 , 000 soldiers with him at the time . Amidst the chaos , Sun Quan was nearly captured if not saved by his general Ling Tong , and this pursuit effectively placed Zhang Liao at the zenith of all of Cao Cao ' s generals . Background . Long before Sun Quan solidified his control over southeastern China , Cao Cao had already appointed Liu Fu as the Inspector of Yang Province , and ordered him to build up fortifications that could withstand besiegers . Thus , Liu Fu oversaw the construction of Hefei fortress ( 合肥城 ) , and prepared plenty of military supplies , including boulders , logs , and several thousand cans of fish oil . In late 208 after the Battle of Red Cliffs , Sun Quan led an army to invade Hefei but was unsuccessful despite several months of progress . The following year , the local parvenus and two former subordinates of Yuan Shu and Liu Fu , Chen Lan and Mei Cheng ( 梅成 ) , rebelled in Lujiang ( 盧江 ) after the death of Liu Fu ( whom they trusted ) , but the revolt was suppressed by Cao Cao ' s generals Zhang Liao and Zang Ba . Cao Cao then ordered Zhang Liao , Yue Jin and Li Dian to lead 7 , 000 troops to enter Hefei fortress , Xiahou Dun to lead 26 " jun " s ( 325 , 000 men ) to prepare for probable attacks , and Xiahou Yuan to handle logistics . Chen Lan ' s ally , Lei Bo , surrendered to another warlord Liu Bei . In 213 Cao Cao brought with him a 400 , 000 strong army to attack Sun Quan ' s 70 , 000 men at Ruxukou ( 濡須口 ) , but was unable to suppress his foe for more than a month , so he was forced to change from an offensive stand to a defensive one . After his repeated failures against the southerners , Cao Cao was worried that the various counties along the Yangtze River would be taken by Sun Quan , so he adopted a Fabian strategy and started to form military communities ( families of soldiers were concentrated and ordered to live together within fortifications in the district ) . The Yangtze region became depopulated as residents were relocated except for Huancheng ( 皖城 , present - day Huaining County , Anqing , Anhui ) , which was situated south of Hefei . Cao Cao appointed Zhu Guang ( 朱光 ) as Administrator of Lujiang and ordered him to garrison at Huancheng , promoting agriculture and bribing wealthy locals in Poyang ( 鄱陽 ) to spy on Sun Quan ' s side and harass the enemy ' s rear . The campaign . Battle of Huan City . In the fifth lunar month of 214 , Sun Quan took advantage of heavy rains and floods in the Huai River region to sail up the Yangtze and attack Huancheng ( citadel or headquarter of Huan City ) , which served as a cushion and storehouse for Zhang Liao ' s and Xiahou Dun ' s armies . Sun Quan faced two options : to build siege engines and use them to attack or order his foot soldiers to attack right away . Lü Meng suggested the latter option and recommended Gan Ning to lead the vanguard to initiate the offensive . Upon knowing Sun Quan had arrived on the battlefield , Zhang Liao moved out of Hefei fortress to reinforce Huancheng . However , Sun Quan ' s highly spirited troops conquered Huancheng within a day , and Zhu Guang , as well as his advisor Dong He ( 董和 ) , were captured . By the time Zhang Liao reached Jiashi ( 夾石 ) , he received news of the fall of Huancheng , so he withdrew back to Hefei . Around this time , Liu Bei had taken over Yi Province ( covering present - day Sichuan and Chongqing ) from Liu Zhang , so Sun Quan sent Zhuge Jin to demand from Liu Bei the return of Jing Province . Liu Bei refused , and Guan Yu also drove away the officials Sun Quan sent to three commanderies in southern Jing Province . Sun Quan then withdrew his elite generals from the northern frontier and ordered Lü Meng and Ling Tong to lead 20 , 000 troops to take the three commanderies of Jing Province , while sending Lu Su to lead 10 , 000 men to garrison at Baqiu ( 巴丘 ) to resist Guan Yu , while he personally stationed at Lukou ( 陸口 ) to serve as backup . Liu Bei also led his army to Gong ' an ( 公安 ) and sent Guan Yu with 30 , 000 men to Yiyang ( 益陽 ) . Lü Meng and Ling Tong took three commanderies by strategy and led their men with Sun Jiao and Pan Zhang to support Lu Su at Yiyang . Taking the opportunity of the Liu - Sun conflict , Cao Cao led an army to attack Zhang Lu of Hanzhong . Liu Bei was afraid that if Hanzhong fell to Cao Cao , Yi Province would be in peril as Hanzhong was the " gateway " to Yi Province . Hence , Liu Bei made peace with Sun Quan by dividing southern Jing Province . In return , Sun Quan promised to divert Cao Cao ' s attention from the west by attacking Hefei fortress . An unorthodox order . Before Cao Cao left to attack Zhang Lu , he left his representative Xue Ti ( 薛悌 ) with a letter that read " Open when the enemy arrives " on the envelope . As Sun Quan ' s army was already advancing towards Hefei , the defending generals then opened the letter as instructed . It stated , " When Sun Quan arrives , generals Zhang ( Liao ) and Li ( Dian ) will engage him ; General Yue ( Jin ) will remain behind to defend and not go to battle . " The generals were puzzled by the instructions . It was well known that Li Dian and Zhang Liao had a personal feud , and Yue Jin lacked experience on defending a fortress , even though he was renowned to be the best vanguard in Cao Cao ' s forces . As the three of them did not get along well with each other , Zhang Liao feared that they might disobey orders . He said , " Our lord is away at war . By the time his reinforcements reach here , we ' re already done for . So he is actually instructing us to take advantage of the situation , when the enemy has just arrived and not fully gathered yet , to attack them and devastate their morale so as to calm our men and strengthen our defences . Victory or defeat , it all depends on this battle . Why are the two of you still hesitating ? " Li Dian was moved and he said , " This is a national crisis . We ' ll see how your strategy works out . How can I allow my personal affairs take precedence over my official duties ? " Zhang Liao then selected 800 " die - hard " soldiers overnight in preparation for the upcoming battle , and threw a banquet for his men . Battle around the fortress . The following morning , Zhang Liao led the 800 soldiers on a charge targeting Sun Quan ' s camp . Sun Quan ' s forces were setting up camps and did not expect that the small detachment of Zhang Liao would perform a frontal assault . Xu Sheng and Song Qian in the front were routed after a brief skirmish . Xu Sheng was wounded and lost his personal weapon in the process . Soon , Zhang Liao had penetrated Sun Quan ' s camp . After personally slaying several enemy soldiers and two officers , he cried out , " Zhang Liao is here ! " Chen Wu , the commander of Sun Quan ' s bodyguards , answered Zhang Liao ' s challenge and went forth to fight him . However , Chen Wu ' s unit was no match for Zhang Liao ' s and he was killed by Hao Zhao in the clash . Sun Quan was shocked by Zhang Liao ' s fierce attack and the scene of Chen Wu ' s death . Xu Sheng and Song Qian ' s troops turned their backs when they saw their commanders being killed or fleeing . Pan Zhang killed two deserting soldiers , forcing them to fulfil their duties . Ling Tong , who just arrived on the field , led Sun Quan to a hill and ordered his men to use the long " ji " s to a form a defensive formation before he went down to battle Zhang Liao . At the bottom of the hill , Zhang Liao shouted for Sun Quan to come down and fight him , but Sun did not dare to move . When Sun Quan saw that the situation had become more stable and Zhang Liao was only left with slightly more than a hundred men , he ordered He Qi to surround Zhang Liao and his men . During the battle He Qi retrieved Xu Sheng ' s " mao " ( 矛 , a weapon that resembled a 4 . 74m long spear ) , which the latter lost earlier . However , Zhang Liao fought fiercely and succeeded in breaking out of the encirclement . When his remaining men who were still trapped inside shouted , " Has our general abandoned us ? " Zhang Liao turned back and punched through layers of enemy soldiers to save his men , eventually succeeding in bringing them out . Sun Quan ' s men were stunned by Zhang Liao ' s valour and did not dare to stand in his way . Pan Zhang was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General while Ling Tong was appointed as Right Commander after the engagement , but the battle , which lasted from the early morning until noon , had drastically drained the morale of Sun Quan ' s troops . Zhang Liao brought his surviving men back to the city and fortified his defences . Zhang Liao ' s victory boosted his men ' s fighting spirits and instilled confidence in the defenders . When Sun Quan ' s forces had all arrived and gathered , they launched an assault on the city . However , Hefei ' s walls were not easy to breach , as its previous defending official , Liu Fu , had put in a lot of effort to strengthen the fortress ' fortifications and the defenders were well equipped . After several days , Sun Quan was still unable to take the city . At that time , a plague broke out in his army , so Sun Quan had no choice but to withdraw his army . Battle at Xiaoyao Ford . In order to avoid being infected with the plague , Sun Quan ordered the rest of his units to retreat first while his guards , numbering only about 1 , 000 , were the last to move . While observing the enemy , Zhang Liao found the best time to counterattack , as Sun Quan had the least number of troops with him at that moment . He waited until Sun Quan ' s army had reached the northern crossing of Xiaoyao Ford when he , Li Dian and Yue Jin , led all their forces out of Hefei for an all - out assault on the enemy . When Sun Quan saw that all the armies in Hefei were advancing out to attack him , he realised he was in danger and hurriedly sent men to recall back his units that retreated before him . However , as those units had already boarded the ships for quite some time , Sun Quan was unable to recall them back in time . As the 1 , 000 men of Sun Quan were engulfed by Zhang Liao ' s veteran cavalries , Ling Tong led 300 horsemen to pierce into the encirclement , keeping any enemy away from Sun Quan and engaging Zhang Liao ' s army in a bloody battle . At that time , Sun Quan ' s side was thrown into confusion and the battle signals were not given , only Ling Tong ' s 300 men reacted swiftly , so Gan Ning shouted at the drummers to beat their drums loudly to give out orders for other units to fight , while he personally held a bow to fire arrows at the enemy . As soon as Ling Tong dragged Sun Quan out from the thick of the enemies , he urged Sun to leave the battlefield while he stayed behind to buy time for his lord ' s escape . Sun Quan hurried to the southern shore until he reached the crossing at Xiaoyao Ford , but the bridge had been destroyed , leaving a near 10 metre - long gap in the middle . Gu Li , Sun Quan ' s attendant , told his master to sit tight , grab the reins firmly , and maintain control of the horse . Gu Li then went behind the horse and gave it a few whips to drive it forward . The horse then leapt across the broken bridge successfully to the southern side . Ling Tong turned back to command his remaining men to hold off the enemy after seeing that Sun Quan had leapt across the bridge to safety . On the northern shore , Ling Tong , who was determined to sacrifice for his lord ' s cause , remained fighting until all his 300 men had died and the other units had retreated . He was targeted by Zhang Liao , Li Dian , and Hao Zhao , and sustained wounds all over his body . Knowing Sun Quan must have long reached to safety by this time , Ling Tong also attempted to fight a way out . He single - handedly killed dozens of enemy horsemen along his way , and succeeded in breaking out from Zhang Liao ' s tether , but was despaired by the sight that all roads were blockaded . As the enemies were closing in quickly , without hesitation , Ling Tong dived into the water before discarding his armour . At that time , Sun Quan had already boarded a boat , and he was surprised and delighted to see Ling Tong still alive on the water . He immediately brought Ling Tong onto his ship and rejoiced in this miraculous reunion , but Ling was deeply saddened as none of his close aides survived and he could not help weeping . Sun Quan comforted him , saying , " Gongji ( Ling Tong ' s ) , let the dead go . As long as you live , why worry that you ' ll have no men under you ? " Sun Quan later put Ling Tong in command of twice the number of troops he originally had . Aftermath . During a banquet hosted by Sun Quan after the battle , He Qi wept and said , " My lord , as a leader of men , you should be prudent . Like what happened today , we were almost wiped out and the men are traumatised . I hope you ' ll take this as a life lesson . " Sun Quan thanked He Qi for his advice and promised to remember it for life . When the battle was over , Zhang Liao , Li Dian , and Yue Jin were still lingering on the battlefield in hope that they would find Sun Quan ' s corpse . They were not aware that Sun Quan had already escaped until Zhang Liao asked a surrendered enemy soldier , " Who was that purple - bearded , long - bodied , short - legged man so skilled in mounted archery ? " The soldier replied that the man was Sun Quan . Zhang Liao then told Yue Jin that he regretted not chasing after that purple - bearded general ( Sun Quan ) or else he would have caught him . When the news reached Cao Cao , he could hardly believe his subordinates had achieved a deed he had been unable to attain , so he later travelled to Leisure Ford to observe the battlefield for a long time . Cao Cao was so pleased with the three generals ' shining accomplishment . Zhang Liao was promoted to the rank of " General Who Conquers the East " . Li Dian was granted 100 more households , with a total of 300 under him now . Yue Jin received 500 more taxable households , now having a total of 1 , 200 households . 500 households were split to Yue Jin ' s son , who also participated in the battle . Yue Jin ' s son also received the title of a marquis , while the father was promoted to " General of the Right " . On Sun Quan ' s side , Ling Tong and Pan Zhang were promoted to " Lieutenant General " while Jiang Qin was appointed " General Who Eliminates Bandits " . Sun Quan also attended Chen Wu ' s funeral and ordered Chen ' s favourite concubine to join him in death . Modern references . The battle is featured as a playable stage in Koei ' s video game series " Dynasty Warriors " . In the games , the battle is known as the " Battle of He Fei " , and is not to be confused with another stage ( Battle of He Fei Castle ) , which refers to the Battle of Hefei ( 234 ) .