The Battle Of He Fei (Part 2)

His deputy Jiang Ji advised him to send three generals out of the city with fake letters which mentioned that the reinforcements under Zhang Xi had arrived and Liu Fu would be receiving them. Sun Quan caught two of the generals and read the letters. He thought that the Wei reinforcements had arrived and decided to retreat in failure.In 214, Cao Cao's southern campaign against Sun Quan had ended in failure and he decided to retreat, leaving behind Zhang Liao, Li Dian and Yue Jin to guard Hefei with 7000 men. The next year, Cao Cao sent Xue Ti to deliver a letter to Hefei before he led an army to attack Zhang Lu in Hanzhong. On the envelope, it was written 'Do not open this letter yet, until the enemy has arrived'. At the same time, Sun Quan and Liu Bei retreated from Jingzhou after agreeing to split Jingzhou after conquering it. Sun Quan saw that Cao Cao had just conquered Hanzhong and could not get back to the east in time, so in August, he led an army of about 100,000 men to attack Hefei.
Zhang Liao and his deputies opened the envelope and read the letter, on which this was written 'If Sun Quan has arrived, Zhang Liao and Li Dian will meet the enemy, Yue Jin will stay and guard the city and not engage the enemy.' All three generals were dumbfounded, and Zhang Liao said, 'The lord (Cao Cao) is out at war, by the time his reinforcements arrive, we would have been defeated by the enemy. The lord wishes us to affect the enemy's morale before the actual battle begins, in order to calm the troops. Only then can we defend the city effectively. The crucial battle is about to begin, does anyone have any doubts? ' Li Dian agreed with Zhang Liao and gathered about 800 men overnight, preparing to attack the enemy the next day. At daybreak, Zhang Liao personally led the charge in the Wu formation, killing several dozen enemy soldiers and two generals. The Wu general Chen Wu was killed in battle, and Zhang Liao charged all the way to Sun Quan's main camp. The Wu generals Song Qian and Xu Sheng were unable to resist Zhang Liao's attack and their troops deserted. The Wu general Pan Zhang chased after them and killed two deserting soldiers. The deserting soldiers were shocked and afraid, so they turned back and fought the Wei troops.There is a part three coming out, so stay tuned!