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The Battle of He Fei Wikipedia

The Battle of He Fei, 217 AD, was a significant event in the Three Kingdoms era of China. The forces of Kingdom of Wu|Wu, though significantly larger than the Kingdom of Wei|Wei garrison at He Fei, were defeated and pushed back to Wu, effectively lengthening the Three Kingdoms era. If He Fei had fallen to Wu, Sun Quan and the Wu army would have had a clear path straight into the Wei heartland and capital.

Battlebox no campaign|
battle_name= Battle of He Fei
|image=<math>Insert formula here</math>
|caption=
|conflict= Unification of China
|date= ~217 AD
|place= He Fei
|result= Wei remains the strongest kingdom of China
|combatant1= Wei
|combatant2= Wu
|commander1= Zhang Liao
|commander2= Sun Quan
|strength1= 500 to 1,000 men
|strength2= approcimately 80,000 men
|casualties1= 100 to 200 men
|casualties2= 1,000 to 2,000 men
|


Background

Liu Bei, acting on the advice of his advisor, Zhuge Liang, entered the Riverlands and, through deception and trickery, forced the abdication of Liu Zhang and claimed the lands for his own. Cao Cao, the King of Wei, responded to this by advancing with a large army and taking the city of Hanzhong from its ruler, Zhang Lu. Hanzhong was the northern gateway to the Riverlands. Liu Bei feared an attack from Cao Cao, for he had not consolidated himself in the Riverlands and they would be lost if they were attacked. Zhuge Liang, however, advised that he send Yi Ji to Sun Quan in Wu. Yi Ji would offer to return the cities of Jiangxia, Changsha, and Guiyang, which Liu Bei had borrowed as bases before the Battle of Red Cliff, to Wu in return for Wu to attack He Fei. The hope was that Cao Cao would withdraw troops from Hanzhong in order to protect his heartland. Sun Quan agreed, and he mobilized on He Fei.

Prelude

Sun Quan advanced north towards He Fei with a massive army. The actual numbers are disputed, but it is assumed that the army was roughly 80,000 men strong. The distinguished generals Gan Ning, Lu Meng, Jiang Qin, Pan Zhang, Zhou Tai, Ling Tong, and Xu Sheng participated in the campaign. Sun Quan, lord of Wu, led the army north. First, they assailed the city of Huan, which was growing grain and sending large amounts of it to He Fei. Without Huan, He Fei would have no steady grain supplier. The governor of Huan, Zhu Guang, sent a request for aid to He Fei, but the reinforcements did not arrive in time. Huan fell to Wu, and Sun Quan set his sights on He Fei.

The Battle

There were only three commanders in the city of He Fei at the time: General Zhang Liao, Yue Jin, and Li Dian. The amount of men in the garrison at He Fei is also disputed, but it was definitely somewhere from 500 to 1,000 men. Zhang Liao received orders from Cao Cao that if Sun Quan attacked, he and Li Dian were to sortie against him and Yue Jin was to guard the city. The three commanders formed a plan to swiftly defeat the Wu army. Zhang Liao and Li Dian took a company of men each and placed them in ambush on either side of the Xiaoyao Bridge. Yue Jin took the remainder of the men into the field, leaving only a few in the city. The Wu army arrived, with Lu Meng and Gan Ning leading the charge. The Wu army had to cross the Xiaoyao Bridge in order to engage Yue Jin. Yue Jin clashed with Gan Ning and feigned defeat, leading his troops back towards He Fei. Gan Ning and Lu Meng pursued. Sun Quan and Ling Tong, who held the center, followed up, crossing the bridge. As soon as Sun Quan crossed, Zhang Liao and Li Dian struck. They destroyed a large portion of the Xiaoyao Bridge, cutting the Wu army in half. Both Wei commanders struck towards Sun Quan. Ling Tong did his best to hold Zhang Liao and Li Dian off, but he was hard pressed. Sun Quan, without any other options, fled. He spurred his horse and jumped the ten foot gap in the Bridge, escaping certain death. Lu Meng and Gan Ning turned back to try and save the center, but they took extremely heavy losses from Yue Jin's and Li Dian's men. Both commanders fled, skirting the river and heading back to Wu. Ling Tong lost all of his men and was himself badly wounded, but he survived and he too made it back to Wu.

Aftermath

The Wei victory at He Fei extended the Three Kingdoms period for years. Had He Fei fallen, Sun Quan could have pushed all the way to Xu Chang, the Wei capital, with little resistance, since most of the Wei army was campaigning in Han Zhong. With Wei split like that, Liu Bei could have pushed north, expelling Cao Cao's forces from the Xiliang province and the major city of Chang'an. Wei would be isolated in the northeastern portion of China, and would most likely have fallen to a significantly strengthened Wu.



Sources: Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong

Category:217
Category:Battles of China|He Fei 217

Last Modified:   2005-11-04