Battle of Hefei (233)

Battle of Hefei
Battle of Hefei
Traditional Chinese	合肥之戰
Simplified Chinese	合肥之战
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Héféi Zhī Zhàn

Battle of Hefei
	Part of the wars of the Three Kingdoms period
Date	233
Location	Hefei, Anhui, China
Result	Cao Wei victory; Eastern Wu retreat
Belligerents
Cao Wei	Eastern Wu
Commanders and leaders
Man Chong	Sun Quan

The Battle of Hefei was fought between the contending states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu in 233 during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

Background

In 230, the Cao Wei state constructed a new fortress at Hefei to defend against its rival state of Wu. The fortress is referred to as "Xincheng" (新城; literally: "new city/fortress") in historical sources.

The battle

In 233, the Wu emperor Sun Quan led an army across the Yangtze River to attack Xincheng. However, as the fortress was located very inland, Sun Quan's forces remained on their ships for more than 20 days. Man Chong, the Wei general defending Xincheng, secretly sent 6,000 infantry and cavalry to wait in ambush near the river. When Sun Quan's forces set foot on land, they were suddenly attacked by the Wei army lying in ambush. Hundreds of Wu soldiers were killed while others drowned in the river as they attempted to flee. Sun Quan ordered a retreat after his defeat. He later sent Quan Cong to attack Lu'an, but Quan was unsuccessful and withdrew as well.^[1]