A Death-Fight at Wancheng, Falling Spent
After Cao Cao accepted Zhang Xiu’s surrender and then took his aunt as concubine, Zhang Xiu, nursing the grudge, rebelled and surprised Cao Cao’s camp by night. Dian Wei, already drunk, snatched up his two short halberds in haste to hold the gate; the enemy dared not close, and he parried and killed dozens with his halberds until they were struck from his hands, then swung the corpses of fallen enemies as weapons to kill several more, dying at last of blood loss, spent — and even dead he stood glaring, so that none dared approach to pull an arrow. That death-fight bought Cao Cao the crucial window to escape.