Dai Ling 戴陵

Chapter 99 of the Romance records that in summer, in the 4th month of the 7th year of Jianxing of Shu-Han (229), Sima Yi, having reached Chang'an, made Zhang He his vanguard and Dai Ling his lieutenant general, led 100,000 troops to Mount Qi, and pitched camp south of the Wei River. After Wudu and Yinping were lost, Sima Yi, reasoning that Kongming would be away from his camp comforting the people, gave Zhang He and Dai Ling 10,000 picked troops each and had them go around that night to strike the Shu camp from behind. Romance, Ch. 99 §1 · 9

Dai Ling advanced by a byway on the left and Zhang He by one on the right, and after joining on the main road they struck at the rear of the Shu army, but several hundred carts of hay blocked the road and ambush troops came out on all sides and surrounded the two. From atop Mount Qi, Kongming called out to 'Dai Ling and Zhang He' that, as they were nameless, petty generals, he would not kill them, and told them to surrender. Zhang He broke out of the encirclement, but, not seeing Dai Ling, plunged back into the layers of encirclement, rescued him and returned, and the two reported to Sima Yi that they had come back badly defeated. Romance, Ch. 99 §10–13 · 15

When Kongming withdrew his army, Zhang He and Dai Ling led several dozen lieutenant generals and 30,000 picked troops ahead and pitched camp halfway. They pursued four Shu generals, who fought and then fled, for more than 20 li, until their retreat was cut off by Guan Xing's troops and the ambush of Wang Ping and Zhang Yi. When Sima Yi hurriedly turned his army back on news that the Shu army had gone to attack his main camp, Zhang He and Dai Ling, seeing themselves isolated, fled by remote byways through the mountains. Romance, Ch. 99 §22 · 28–29 · 32–33

In Chapter 100, contending with Kongming in battle formations, Sima Yi decided to attack the Eight Trigrams Formation that Kongming had laid out, and summoned three generals, Dai Ling, Zhang Hu and Yue Chen, instructing them to break in through the Gate of Life due east, come out through the Gate of Rest in the southwest, and then break in again through the Gate of Opening due north. With Dai Ling in the middle, Zhang Hu in front and Yue Chen behind, each leading 30 horsemen, they entered by the Gate of Life, but the formation was like a chain of linked walls and they could not break out, and their men were bound one by one and sent to the central command. Romance, Ch. 100 §36–40

When Zhang Hu, Dai Ling, Yue Chen and ninety soldiers were brought bound beneath his tent, Kongming released them, telling them to tell Sima Yi to come and contend for mastery after reading his military treatises again, and had them leave their weapons and horses behind. Stripped of their clothes and with ink smeared on their faces, they walked out of the formation, and Sima Yi, seeing this, flew into a rage and drove his three armies to charge. Romance, Ch. 100 §41–42