Zhang Liao

First-named of Lü Bu's eight generals, from Mayi; crosses spears with Xiahou Dun before Puyang and springs the hill ambush on the retreating night raiders with Zang Ba.

Leads the western arm of the fire-trap ambush inside Puyang, closing the ring on Cao Cao.

Recalls the wedding party at Lü Bu's order, then pursues Liu Bei's moonlit breakout until Guan Yu's rearguard holds him off.

Zhang Liao; serves under Lu Bu.

Assaults the west gate - and hangs his head when Guan Yu calls him too good for rebels; he shifts to the east gate and withdraws again rather than cross Zhang Fei. The shame that will bear fruit at Xiapi.

Zhang Liao; spits at Cao Cao on the scaffold; Guan Yu kneels to intercede and Liu Bei joins him; Cao Cao laughs, frees him, and takes him into service - one of the chapter's defining recruitments. Will become the hero of Hefei.

Spared at the White Gate's aftermath through Liu Bei's arm and Guan Yu's knees, he yields formally when Cao Cao unties him by hand - made Imperial Commander with a lordship, and immediately wins Zang Ba and the Taishan chiefs over as his first service.

Co-fetches Liu Bei to the plum garden - and lends his name unknowingly to Guan Yu's ruse, when the disguised soldiers hail Xuzhou's gate at third watch as 'Zhang Liao's troops from the capital'.

Zhang Liao; serves under Cao Cao.

Holds a point of the eight-point ambush, then steps forward at the council: he knows Guan Yu slightly, and volunteers to talk the defender of Xiapi into surrender.

Zhang Liao; rides to Tushan and negotiates Guan Yu's surrender terms - his repayment of the debt for being spared at the White Gate Tower.

Chases the fleeing Wen Chou, loses his cap-tassel to one arrow and his horse to the next; later sent to sound out Guan Yu - who answers that his bond with Liu Bei is friend, brother, and lord in one - and finally lies 'indisposed' when the farewells come.

Gallops out alone ahead of Cao Cao - 'go slowly, Guan Yu!' - to hold the fugitive at the bridge for the farewell, the one man Guan Yu will wait for.

Zhang Liao; named in passing in Cao Cao's circle.

Zhang Liao; commands part of the Cao Cao army at Guandu.

Zhang Liao; with Cao Cao at Cangting.

Breaks Yuan Shang in three bouts at Liyang - the defeat whose news kills Yuan Shao - then shoots Ju Gu out of the saddle at Handan, springs the ambush on the white-flag sortie with Xu Huang, and raids Yuan Shang's camp the night after the false surrender.

Second in the desert column behind the guide Tian Chou: at White Wolf Hills he takes Cao Cao's own ensign of command, leads the four-point charge with Xu Chu, Yu Jin, and Xu Huang - and personally slays King Mao Dun.

Zhang Liao; with Cao Cao in the southern campaign.

Catches the fleeing Cao Cao's bridle with Xu Chu and talks the panic out of him: 'after all, Zhang Fei is but one man.'

Zhang Liao; with Cao Cao.

Hauls Cao Cao off the burning flagship into a small boat - and, as Huang Gai closes blade in hand, looses the arrow the gale swallows: the shot that saves Cao Cao and drops the Van Leader into the river.

Guides the flight into the Black Forest road, holds off Lü Meng, fights Zhang Fei at the second ambush - and at Huarong is recognized and released by Guan Yu, whose magnanimity he is still praising when he rejoins his master. Cao Cao posts him to hold all-important Hefei, with Li Dian and Yue Jin as aids.

Sends the challenge that stings Sun Quan onto the field, fights Taishi Ci a hundred bouts, and routs the southern army - then wins the night too: armor kept on after victory ('a victory is no reason for rejoicing'), the arsonists caught and beheaded, and the city gates thrown OPEN as bait. Taishi Ci rides into the trap.

Zhang Liao; with Cao Cao at Tong Pass.

Zhang Liao; in the famous parallel sub-plot - defends Hefei against Sun Quan's 100,000-strong attack with only 7,000 men. The chapter's standout passage is the night-attack at Xiaoyao Ford where Zhang Liao with 800 picked men charges Sun Quan's whole camp at dawn, sending Sun Quan up a hill in panic. The defining 'Children stop crying at the sound of Zhang Liao' chapter.

Zhang Liao; with Cao Cao at Ruxu after Hefei.

Zhang Liao; reappears with Cao Pi's Wu invasion - already aged and ill; killed by an arrow from Ding Feng. The last of the Five Wei generals (Cao Cao's named picks) gone.

Zhang Liao; with Cao Pi; receives the arrow wound from Ding Feng that kills him after the retreat.

Zhang Liao; named in passing - long dead.