Ge Ding 戈定

In Chapter 53 of the Romance, Sun Quan, who had long remained at Hefei after the Battle of Red Cliffs, received a letter of challenge from Zhang Liao, flew into a rage and went out to fight. Song Qian, who had parried Yue Jin's blade, gave chase and was shot from his horse by an arrow from Li Dian, throwing the Wu army into great confusion, and Sun Quan, rescued by Cheng Pu and brought back to his main camp, wept aloud on seeing that he had lost Song Qian. The Chief Clerk Zhang Hong remonstrated that his lord had taken a great enemy too lightly. Romance, Ch. 53 §28 · 31–36

Shortly afterwards Taishi Ci came into the tent and reported that among his men was one surnamed Ge and named Ding, whose brother was a groom who tended the horses under Zhang Liao; the groom, having been punished, bore a grudge, and word had been sent that that night they would raise a fire as a signal, stab Zhang Liao to death and so avenge Song Qian. Asked by Sun Quan where Ge Ding was, Taishi Ci answered that he had already slipped into the city of Hefei, and asked for 5,000 troops to respond from outside. Though Zhuge Jin cautioned that Zhang Liao was full of stratagems and would likely be prepared, Taishi Ci insisted, and Sun Quan, grieving over Song Qian's death and eager for swift revenge, gave his consent. Romance, Ch. 53 §36–37

The Romance records that Ge Ding was a fellow townsman of Taishi Ci, and that on that day he mingled with the troops, followed them into the city of Hefei and found the groom. When Ge Ding said he had already sent word to General Taishi Ci, who would surely come to respond that night, and asked how they should go about it, the groom said that this place was far from the central command and could not quickly be reached at night, so they should simply set fire to a haystack, Ge Ding should go to the front and cry rebellion, and when the troops in the city fell into confusion they could stab Zhang Liao to death in the midst of it, and the rest of the troops would scatter of their own accord. Ge Ding called the plan truly excellent. Romance, Ch. 53 §38–39

That night Zhang Liao, returning to the city victorious, rewarded the three armies, yet ordered that no one take off his armour to sleep, saying that the way of a general is not to rejoice in victory nor despair in defeat. Before he had finished speaking, fire broke out in the rear camp and cries of rebellion rose all at once, but Zhang Liao said that a whole city could not possibly rise in rebellion, that these were only plotters trying to alarm the troops, and that anyone who caused disorder would be the first to be beheaded, and he stood blocking the middle of the road with a dozen or so officers. Before long Li Dian brought in Ge Ding and the groom as captives, and Zhang Liao, after questioning them about the facts of the plot, beheaded them at once in front of his horse. Romance, Ch. 53 §39–41

Then gongs and drums sounded loudly outside the city gate, and Zhang Liao, recognising the Wu army responding from outside, had a fire set inside the gate, had everyone cry rebellion, threw the gate wide open and let down the drawbridge. Taishi Ci, believing that an uprising had broken out within, was the first to gallop in, and was struck by several arrows loosed from the walls; when Li Dian and Yue Jin struck out from behind, the Wu army lost more than half its men. After returning to Nanxu, Taishi Ci's illness grew grave, and he died at the age of forty-one. Romance, Ch. 53 §41–43