Hao Zhao ( 220–229), courtesy name Bodao, was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He is best known for his victory at the siege of Chencang in 229 when he led a successful defence of Chencang against an invasion by a much larger army from Wei's rival state Shu Han. However, he died of illness not long after that. Early career Hao Zhao was from Taiyuan Commandery (太原郡), which is around present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi. He was described as "masculine and strong". He joined the army at a young age and was promoted to a General of a Miscellaneous Title (雜號將軍) after making achievements in battle. In 220, Qu Yan (麴演), Zhang Jin (張進) and Huang Hua (黃華) started a rebellion in Xiping (西平), Zhangye (張掖) and Jiuquan (酒泉) commanderies, all in present-day Gansu and Qinghai. The local tribes in Wuwei Commandery (武威郡) also rose up and joined the rebels. Hao Zhao and Wei Ping (魏平) joined the Wei general Su Ze (蘇則) in leading government forces to suppress the rebellion and succeeded in killing Qu Yan and Zhang Jin and forcing Huang Hua and the local tribes in Wuwei Commandery to surrender. Hao Zhao remained in charge of the lands west of the Yellow River, covering parts of present-day Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu. During his tenure of over 10 years, he maintained peace and security in the region. In 227, Qu Ying (麴英) from Xiping Commandery started a rebellion and killed the officials in charge of Linqiang (臨羌) and Xidu (西都) counties. Hao Zhao and Lu Pan (鹿磐) led government forces to attack Qu Ying and succeeded in suppressing the revolt and killing Qu Ying. Defence of Chencang Following the Tianshui revolts and the Battle of Jieting in early 228, Cao Zhen, the General-in-Chief of Wei, predicted that a future invasion by Wei's rival state Shu Han would come from Chencang (陳倉; east of present-day Baoji, Shaanxi), so he ordered Hao Zhao and Wang Sheng (王生) to guard Chencang and strengthen its defences. Cao Zhen was proven right as the Shu regent Zhuge Liang led troops to attack Chencang sometime in January 229. Zhuge Liang already knew that Chencang was heavily fortified and difficult to capture, so when he showed up with the Shu army, he was surprised to see that it was so well-defended and was shocked when he