Zhang He (pronunciationⓘ) (died July or August 231),[a][2] courtesy name Junyi, was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He continued serving in the state of Cao Wei under its first two rulers, Cao Pi and Cao Rui, during the Three Kingdoms period until his death. Zhang He began his career under Han Fu, the governor of Ji Province, in the 180s when he joined the Han imperial forces in suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion. He became a subordinate of the warlord Yuan Shao in 191 after Yuan Shao seized the governorship of Ji Province from Han Fu. Throughout the 190s, Zhang He fought in the battles against Yuan Shao's northern rival, Gongsun Zan. In 200, Zhang He initially fought on Yuan Shao's side at the Battle of Guandu against Cao Cao, a warlord who controlled the Han central government. However, he defected to Cao Cao after Yuan Shao's defeat at Guandu in the same year.[b] Since then, he had fought in several wars under Cao Cao's banner, including the campaigns against Yuan Shao's heirs and allies (201–207), the expeditions in northwestern China (211–214), and the battles around Hanzhong (215–219). After Cao Cao's death in 220, Zhang He served in Wei and fought in battles against Wei's rival states, Shu Han and Eastern Wu. His best known victory was at the Battle of Jieting in 228, in which he defeated the Shu general Ma Su by cutting off the enemy's access to water supplies and then attacking them. In 231, he was killed in an ambush laid by Shu forces during the Battle of Mount Qi while he was reluctantly pursuing a retreating enemy force. Chen Shou, who wrote the third-century historical text Sanguozhi, named Zhang He as one of the Five Elite Generals of his time, alongside Yu Jin, Yue Jin, Zhang Liao and Xu Huang.[3]
