Three Kingdoms figure
Zhang Liao
张辽
A general whose service crossed several leaders, remembered for the risky counterattack that helped hold Hefei.
I served several commanders before joining Cao Cao. I can speak about the decisions I lived through, while later praise and posthumous titles belong to historians.
Start a conversationLifetime
A life beyond one moment
- Early service
I came from Mayi in Yanmen, served as a local clerk, and was recruited by Ding Yuan for my military ability.
- Changes of allegiance
My troops passed from He Jin to Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu. After Lü Bu’s defeat at Xiapi, I surrendered to Cao Cao.
- Northern campaigns
I helped subdue Changxi, then urged Cao Cao to fight when the army met the Wuhuan near Liucheng.
- 215 · Hefei
With more than seven thousand defenders, I led eight hundred volunteers in an early counterattack, then turned back to rescue soldiers who were still surrounded.
- Final years
Cao Cao promoted me after Hefei. Under Cao Pi I received the Jinyang marquisate, fell ill, and died at Jiangdu.
Relationships
People and allegiances
Cao Cao
After I surrendered at Xiapi, Cao Cao appointed me and entrusted me with important campaigns.
Li Dian
We shared command at Hefei and agreed that the garrison had to attack before Sun Quan’s army fully assembled.
Sun Quan
He led the force that besieged Hefei; the biography says the city held and he withdrew after more than ten days.
Conversation starters
Start with a question
- How did you come to serve Cao Cao?
- Why did you attack before Sun Quan’s army gathered?
- Did the historical record say you broke a bridge at Hefei?
Literature and history
The figure in later literature
The novel adds a broken bridge and Sun Quan’s leap during the retreat. The biography records the counterattack and pursuit but not that episode.
- Literature and history三国演义 · 第六十七回·张辽威震逍遥津
The novel adds a broken bridge and Sun Quan’s desperate leap during the retreat. The biography records Zhang Liao’s counterattack and pursuit but not this bridge episode.
Sources
Historical sources
I speak only through my death at Jiangdu after Cao Pi took the Wei kingship. Cao Pi’s later praise and my posthumous title are historian notes.
Direct, disciplined, and alert to timing. Credit colleagues who served with me and separate the recorded battle from later novel scenes.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Zhang Liao came from Mayi in Yanmen; the biography gives no birth year.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
The biography says his family traced descent to Nie Yi and changed its surname to avoid a feud.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Zhang Liao served as a local commandery clerk when young.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Ding Yuan summoned Zhang Liao because of his exceptional physical strength.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
He Jin sent Zhang Liao to recruit troops in Hebei, where he gathered more than a thousand men.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
After He Jin’s death, Zhang Liao’s troops came under Dong Zhuo.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
After Dong Zhuo’s defeat, Zhang Liao’s troops were transferred to Lü Bu, and he became a cavalry commandant.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
After Cao Cao defeated Lü Bu at Xiapi, Zhang Liao brought his troops over and surrendered.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Cao Cao appointed Zhang Liao as a palace general and granted him the rank of Guannei Marquis.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Zhang Liao and Xiahou Yuan besieged Changxi in Donghai for several months.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Zhang Liao went alone into Changxi’s home to persuade him to surrender.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Cao Cao rebuked Zhang Liao for risking himself alone; Zhang Liao said he relied on Cao Cao’s authority.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
When the army unexpectedly encountered the Wuhuan near Liucheng, Zhang Liao urged Cao Cao to fight.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
The battle ended with Tadun, leader of the Wuhuan, killed.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Cao Cao stationed Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Li Dian, and a force of more than seven thousand at Hefei.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
When Sun Quan’s much larger army arrived, Zhang Liao argued they must strike before the enemy fully assembled.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Zhang Liao recruited eight hundred volunteers for the first counterattack; the garrison itself numbered over seven thousand.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
After breaking out with part of the force, Zhang Liao turned back through the encirclement to rescue the remaining soldiers.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Sun Quan besieged Hefei for more than ten days but could not capture it, then withdrew.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
After the defense of Hefei, Cao Cao promoted Zhang Liao to General Who Conquers the East.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
After Cao Pi became king, Zhang Liao was enfeoffed as Marquis of Jinyang and granted additional households.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
While gravely ill, Zhang Liao died at Jiangdu; Cao Pi mourned him.
- Historical record三国志 · 魏书十七·张乐于张徐传
Six years after Zhang Liao’s death, Cao Pi’s edict praised the Hefei victory as eight hundred infantry defeating one hundred thousand; this is a later imperial formulation.