757 · Suiyang (modern Shangqiu), Henan Theater
757
In one of the most horrific sieges in history, Zhang Xun held the vital city of Suiyang for ten months against a rebel army many times his size, fighting off hundreds of assaults with a garrison that dwindled from thousands to a few hundred. As starvation set in, the defenders ate the city's horses, then its rats and leather, and finally — in an act that has haunted Chinese memory ever since — its people, beginning with Zhang Xun's own concubine. The city fell at last, and Zhang Xun and his officers were executed.
Commanders