生平

早年经历

郝昭为人雄壮，少年从军，屡立战功，逐渐晋升为杂号将军，镇守河以西地区四十馀年，当地人民和外族都服从他。

建安二十年（215年） 张进、麴演和黄华等人互相勾结，在河西一起叛乱，武威的三种胡又在道路上当贼匪，令道路断绝，武威太守毌丘兴向苏则告急。鉴于当时雍州和凉州的土豪都投靠张进，当时人人都认为张进势力太强，而且郝昭和魏平等人亦曾被下诏不能领兵西进，根本不可能抵抗张进。但苏则便游说郝昭和羌族首领等，最终得到他们支持，最终令三种胡投降，成功营救武威。

太和元年（227年），麴英叛乱，杀临羌县县令和西都县县长，郝昭与鹿磐前往讨伐，斩杀麴英。

陈仓之围

太和二年（228年）年初，张合于街亭之战战胜，诸葛亮撤军后，曹真认为诸葛亮不久必进攻陈仓，于是派郝昭和王生守陈仓，并修筑陈仓城。十二月（即229年年初），诸葛亮果然领兵攻陈仓，郝昭固守，诸葛亮于是派郝昭同乡靳详在外劝郝昭投降，但郝昭不听。诸葛亮见自领数万兵而城中只有一千多兵，曹魏救兵未到，于是攻城，架云梯和冲车攻城，但郝昭又用点火的箭矢烧毁云梯和以石磨压毁冲车；诸葛亮又用百尺井阑射箭入城，又填平护城河打算直接攻城；郝昭又建内加建城墙抵挡。诸葛亮又挖地道要入城，郝昭又阻截地道。如此防守了二十多日，诸葛亮仍无法攻下，此时费曜领援军到来，诸葛亮唯有退军。

去世

战后郝昭受封为列侯，魏明帝更打算重用他，但郝昭不久即去世。

家庭

子女

• 郝凯

评价

• 曹睿：「卿乡里乃有尔曹快人，为将灼如此，朕复何忧乎？ 」（《三国志·魏书·明帝纪》）

• 郝经：「心为气城，兵为城城，心固则气固，兵固则城固。静密专安，内外如一，无隙无瑕，以主待客，虽画地守之可也。况于城乎！又必兵械备具，薪粮足馀。进有郭围，退有停障。远有救援，迩有间侯。啬力多暇，明慎罚赏，申饬教戒，禁绝讹妄。血视肉薄，示之必死。曹仁之守樊，郝昭之守陈仓，张特之守新城，皆是也。」（《续后汉书》）

• 「若墨翟之制公输，郝昭之拒葛亮，或萦带而连堞，或射火而重炉，可谓善守城矣。」（《军诫秘术》）

• 钟敬伯：「郝昭尽有智略。」（《汇评三国志演义》）

• 毛宗岗：「孔明不减公输，郝昭不减墨翟。」（《汇评三国志演义》）

• 曾国藩：「孙仲谋之攻合肥，受创于张辽；诸葛武侯之攻陈仓，受创于郝昭；皆初气过锐，渐就衰竭之故。」

艺术形象

文学作品

• 郝昭在小说《三国演义》中被增加了诸葛亮趁其病危时攻入陈仓，震惊而死的虚构剧情。

影视

• 1994年电视剧《三国演义》：李世才

• 2010年电视剧《三国》：秦梵翔

于此剧中，因曹真中诸葛亮与姜维之计，以大都督兵符令其给予王双一半兵马。而后陈仓城遭蜀军得王双的一半兵马军旗及衣物而充当内应开城被攻陷，自刎而死。

• 2017年电视剧《大军师司马懿》：赵作山

于此剧中，中诸葛亮与姜维之计，深夜被骗开城门，而后陈仓城陷，不愿投降被姜维所杀

相关人物

• 苏则

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 (杂号将军) after making achievements in battle.

In 220, Qu Yan (麴演), Zhang Jin (张进) and Huang Hua (黄华) started a rebellion in Xiping (西平), Zhangye (张掖) 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 (苏则) 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 (临羌) 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 (陈仓; 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 heard that Hao Zhao was in charge of defending it. He had heard of Hao Zhao's reputation as a highly capable general and realised that he could not take Chencang easily. Zhuge Liang then ordered his troops to surround Chencang and then sent Jin Xiang (靳详), who was from the same hometown as Hao Zhao, to persuade him to surrender. Hao Zhao replied, "You're familiar with the laws of Wei and you know me well as a person. I've received much grace from my State and my house is important. There's nothing you can say (to change my mind). Return to Zhuge (Liang) and tell him to prepare to attack." After Jin Xiang reported to him what Hao Zhao said, Zhuge Liang sent Jin Xiang to try to persuade Hao Zhao again and tell him that he stood no chance against the Shu army and that there was no need for him to seek death and destruction. Hao Zhao replied, "I stand by what I told you earlier. I may recognise you, but my arrow won't." Jin Xiang then left.

The odds were drastically against Hao Zhao – he had only about 1,000 men to resist the Shu army numbering tens of thousands, with no sign of Wei reinforcements heading towards Chencang. Zhuge Liang then ordered his troops to use an escalade tactic by scaling Chencang's walls with siege ladders. However, Hao Zhao countered by ordering archers to fire flaming arrows at the siege ladders, setting them aflame and burning the soldiers on them. When the enemy used battering rams, Hao Zhao ordered his troops to link rocks and boulders with chains and roll them down the walls to smash the battering rams. The Shu army then resorted to filling up the moat around Chencang for their siege towers to get close to the walls and allow soldiers to climb up. Hao Zhao countered this tactic by ordering his men to build an interior layer of walls behind the exterior walls to prevent the enemy from advancing further in. Zhuge Liang then thought of getting his troops to dig tunnels leading directly into Chencang, but Hao Zhao was prepared for this again as he ordered his men to dig tunnels in a perpendicular direction to block the enemy.

The siege lasted for over 20 days. Zhuge Liang was unable to do anything to overcome Hao Zhao and capture Chencang. After some 20 days, he decided to withdraw his troops when he learnt that Wei reinforcements were approaching.

Death

The Wei imperial court issued a decree to praise Hao Zhao for his valiant defence of Chencang and confer him the title of a marquis to reward him for his achievements. When Hao Zhao came to the Wei imperial capital Luoyang later, the Wei emperor Cao Rui had a meeting with him. Cao Rui told Sun Zi (孙资), an official from the same hometown as Hao Zhao: "Your hometown has such bold and forthright men. What's there for me to worry about if I have generals as fiery as them?" He wanted to assign greater responsibilities to Hao Zhao, but Hao Zhao became critically ill and eventually died not long later.

Before his death, Hao Zhao told his son Hao Kai (郝凯): "As a general, I know what a general shouldn't do. I've dug up many graves to obtain wood for making battle equipment, so I know a grand funeral is of no use to the dead. (After I die,) you must dress me in plain clothing. In life, we have a place to live in; in death, where can we go? It's up to you to decide where my grave will be, be it in the north, south, east or west."

In popular culture

Qin Fanxiang portrayed Hao Zhao in the 2010 Chinese television series Three Kingdoms.