Battle of Hefei (253)  The Battle of Hefei, also known as the Battle of Hefei Xincheng, was fought between the contending states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu from roughly April to August 253 during the Three Kingdoms period of China. In the spring of 253, the Wu regent Zhuge Ke returned from the Battle of Dongxing to the Wu capital Jianye (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu). Ignoring the advice of several officials, in April 253, Zhuge Ke led a 200,000 strong army to attack Wei in the north. By May or early June, Zhuge Ke and his army had reached south of the Huai River, and started attacking the Wei fortress Xincheng (新城; literally "new city/fortress") at Hefei in the following month. Zhuge Ke's forces besieged Xincheng and launched fierce attacks on the fortress. At the time, Xincheng was guarded by the Wei general Zhang Te and his subordinates Liu Zheng () and Zheng Xiang (). The Wei forces defending Xincheng, numbering only 3,000, managed to hold off Zhuge Ke's army for more than a month while inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. Zhang Te told Zhuge Ke: "I have no intention of fighting now. However, according to the laws of Wei, when I am under attack for more than 100 days and reinforcements do not arrive, even if I surrender, my family will be spared from punishment. Since I first started resisting the enemy, it has been more than 90 days. This city originally had a population of more than 4,000, and now more than half of them have died in battle. Even when the city falls, if someone does not wish to surrender, I will speak to him and explain the possible implications of his choice. Tomorrow morning I will send a list of names, you can first take my tally as a token of trust." After finishing his speech, Zhang Te tossed his tally to Zhuge Ke, who did not take the tally as he believed that Zhang Te would keep his word. That night, Zhang Te ordered his men to tear down houses and fences, and use the wood to reinforce damaged parts of the fortress walls. The next morning, Zhang Te announced to the enemy: "We shall fight to the death!", and firmly refused to surrender. The Wu soldiers were furious and attacked the fortress but were unable to breach the walls. At that time, the weather was extremely hot and the Wu troops were growing weary.