Battle of Hefei ( 234 ) The Battle of Hefei , also known as the Battle of Hefei New City , was fought between the contending states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu in 234 during the Three Kingdoms period . Background . In the second lunar month of 234 , Shu Han ' s Zhuge Liang launched a Northern Expedition against Wei for the fifth time . Shu requested assistance from its ally , Wu , to attack Wei together , and the Wu emperor Sun Quan agreed . The battle . In the fifth lunar month , Sun Quan ' s army , claimed to be 100 , 000 strong , garrisoned near Chao Lake . Sun Quan personally led his troops to attack Wei ' s fortress at Xincheng ( 新城 ; literally : " new city " ) , Hefei . On the other hand , he also sent his generals Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin to garrison at Jiangxia ( 江夏 ) and Miankou ( 沔口 ) , and they would attack Xiangyang from there . A third Wu army , led by Sun Shao and Zhang Cheng advanced towards Guangling ( 廣陵 ) and Huaiyin ( 淮陰 ) . In summary , Wu was attacking Wei from three directions . The following month , the Wei general Man Chong wanted to lead reinforcements to support Zhang Ying ( 張穎 ) , who was in charge of defending Xincheng . However , Tian Yu opposed Man Chong ' s idea , as he thought that Xincheng ' s defences were adequate , and was worried that the Wu army might turn around to attack the Wei relief force . At that time , many Wei military personnel were on leave , so Man Chong requested for them to be recalled back , and gather them to resist the enemy . Liu Shao felt that Man Chong should focus on defending instead of attacking , because the enemy was high on morale ; the Wei court would first send 5 , 000 infantry and 3 , 000 cavalry to relief Xincheng , and the troops should be spaced further apart , with more flags , banners , and war drums added , so as to create an impression of a large army . The enemy would retreat upon seeing the arrival of this " large army " . The Wei emperor Cao Rui approved Liu Shao ' s strategy and despatched the suggested relief force . Cao Rui disagreed with Man Chong ' s view , as he felt that Hefei , Xiangyang , and Mount Qi ( 祁山 ) were the three most important positions on Wei ' s eastern , southern and western borders respectively , so they already had sufficient defences . In the seventh lunar month , Cao Rui personally led a naval fleet east to lift the siege on Xincheng . Man Chong recruited several men to set fire to the Wu army ' s siege engines , and Sun Quan ' s nephew Sun Tai ( 孫泰 ) was killed in the battle . At that time , many Wu soldiers were ill and Sun Quan decided to withdraw his troops when he learnt that Cao Rui ' s army was approaching . Sun Shao and Zhang Cheng also pulled back their forces when they heard that Sun Quan had withdrawn , while Lu Xun pressed on the attack at Xiangyang for some time but also retreated later . Order of battle . Cao Wei forces Eastern Wu forces 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 Castle " , and is not to be confused with another stage ( Battle of He Fei ) , which refers to the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford . There is also a version where Wu wins this battle .