He is best known for his pivotal role in the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford in 214–215, in which he successfully defended Hefei from the forces of the warlord Sun Quan.

[5] Zhang Liao was from Mayi County (馬邑縣), Yanmen Commandery, which is present-day Shuocheng District, Shuozhou, Shanxi.

[7][b] When he was young, he served as a minor official in his home commandery, and experienced many frontier skirmishes against rebellious Donghu people during his youth.

[8] Towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Ding Yuan, the Inspector of Bing Province, heard of Zhang Liao's combat skills and hired him as an assistant officer.

Ding Yuan ordered Zhang Liao to lead troops from Bing Province to the imperial capital, Luoyang, to assist the General-in-Chief, He Jin.

[10] In 192, after Lü Bu betrayed and killed Dong Zhuo, Zhang Liao served as one of his deputies and became a Cavalry Commandant (騎都尉).

[14] In 196,[2] Lü Bu betrayed his host and seized control of Xu Province, after which he appointed a 27-year-old Zhang Liao as the Chancellor of Lu State (魯國; around present-day Qufu, Shandong).

[20] In early 201, after Cao Cao defeated his northern rival Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu,[21] he first sent Zhang Liao to pacify the various counties in Lu State (魯國; around present-day Qufu, Shandong), and then ordered him and Xiahou Yuan to lead an army to attack a minor warlord Chang Xi (昌豨) in Donghai Commandery (東海郡; around present-day Linyi, Shandong).

Zhang Liao and Xiahou Yuan had besieged Chang Xi for months but were unable to defeat him and their supplies were running out, so they considered retreating.

[22] Zhang Liao told Xiahou Yuan: "Over the past several days, whenever we attacked Chang Xi, I noticed he paid careful attention to me.

Zhang Liao replied: "I was certain that Chang Xi wouldn't dare to harm me because he knows that I am authorised by the imperial court and also because he is influenced by the prestige of you, my lord.

[21] After Cao Cao returned to the imperial capital, Xu (許; present-day Xuchang, Henan), he sent Zhang Liao and Yue Jin to lead an army to conquer Yin'an County (陰安縣; north of present-day Qingfeng County, Henan) and relocate its residents to the south of the Yellow River.

Zhang Liao also led troops to the Zhao State (趙國; around present-day Neiqiu County, Hebei) and Changshan State (常山國; around present-day Shijiazhuang, Hebei) in Ji Province, where he persuaded the Heishan bandits and other opposing forces to surrender to Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao was preparing to attack the enemy in Liucheng (柳城; present-day Xingcheng, Liaoning), Zhang Liao warned him that Jing Province's Governor Liu Biao take advantage of his absence from Xu to send Liu Bei to attack Xu and take control of the capital.

There isn't a single company whose members are all involved in the mutiny, so the mutineers must be trying to cause chaos and make everyone else join them."

[33] During the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhang Liao were stationed in Changsha[34] In 209, after the Battle of Red Cliffs,[35] Chen Lan (陳蘭) and Mei Cheng (梅成) started a rebellion in Lu County (六縣; in present-day Lu'an, Anhui).

As rewards for his success, Zhang Liao was granted acting imperial authority and given additional taxable households in his marquisate.

[39] When Cao Cao retreated after being defeated by Sun Quan and Liu Bei at the Battle of Red Cliffs in the winter of 208–209,[40] he left behind Zhang Liao, Yue Jin and Li Dian with about 7,000 troops to guard Hefei from attacks by Sun Quan.

So he is actually instructing us to take advantage of the situation – when the enemy has just arrived and isn't fully gathered yet – to attack them and devastate their morale so we can calm our men and strengthen our defences.

[45] At dawn, Zhang Liao donned his armour, carried a ji, and led his men to attack the enemy formation.

He killed tens of enemy soldiers and two officers, shouted his own name, and broke through the barriers until he reached Sun Quan's command post.

Zhang Liao then turned back and fought his way into the encirclement and succeeded in rescuing his remaining men.

While Sun Quan was retreating, Zhang Liao suddenly launched a surprise attack and inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy at Xiaoyao Ford (逍遙津).

He then relocated Zhang Liao to the garrison at Chen Commandery (陳郡; around present-day Zhoukou, Henan).

[55] Cao Pi promoted Zhang Liao to General of the Vanguard (前將軍) and awarded him with 1,000 rolls of silk and 10,000 hu of grain.

[59] In 221, Zhang Liao travelled to the palace in Luoyang for an audience with Cao Pi, who brought him to a newly constructed hall and asked him for his opinion on how to conquer Wu.

All the foot soldiers who accompanied Zhang Liao in the battles against Wu were reassigned to the huben (虎賁; "rapid as tigers") unit of the Imperial Guards.

[61] In 222, after Sun Quan broke ties with Wei and declared himself the independent ruler of his Eastern Wu state,[55] Cao Pi ordered Zhang Liao and Cao Xiu to lead a naval fleet to Hailing (海陵; around present-day Taizhou, Jiangsu), directly facing Wu territory across the river.

In 225, in commemoration of Zhang Liao and Li Dian for their contributions at the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford in 214–215, Cao Pi issued an imperial decree: "During the Battle of Hefei, Zhang Liao and Li Dian defeated an enemy force of 100,000 with only 800 foot soldiers.

I hereby increase the number of taxable households in Zhang Liao and Li Dian's marquisates by 100 each, and award a son of each of them the title of a Secondary Marquis.