Chapter 16 107 Deng Ai sneaks into Jiange

Sima Zhao killed Wei Emperor Cao Mao, thinking that the internal affairs were stable, and determined to attack Shu Han on a large scale. At that time, the ministers Jiang Wan and Fei Yi who succeeded Zhuge Liang had died, and the general of Shu Han was Jiang Wei.Jiang Wei wanted to inherit Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, and sent troops to attack Wei almost every year, but the power of the Shu Han was getting weaker and weaker. Not only could Jiang Wei fail to win, but he wasted a lot of troops in vain.In 263 A.D., Sima Zhao sent generals Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu to lead 30,000 troops each, and Zhong Hui led hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Shu Han in three ways.

Jiang Wei saw that the Wei army was so powerful that he knew that he could not resist it, so he gathered the Shu soldiers in Jiange (now Jiange County, Sichuan) to guard the main pass.Zhong Hui led his troops to the Jiange, but was unable to attack for a while. Deng Ai saw that the main force of the Shu army was guarding the Jiange, so he led his elite soldiers to sneak a detour to the west of the Jiange on a narrow path and march south.This area was originally out of the way.Deng Ai led this elite army to open roads across mountains and build bridges across rivers. They traveled 700 miles without being discovered by the Shu army.

At last, they came to a dead end, with high mountains and deep valleys, and they could not move forward.At this time, Deng Ai's soldiers had almost run out of food and grass, and the soldiers were all panicked. Deng Ai made a decisive decision, wrapped himself in a felt blanket, and rolled down the cliff.When the soldiers saw Deng Ai taking the lead, they also rolled down.Some climbed up the trees and slowly climbed down the mountain one by one, and finally crossed the dead end and rushed to Jiangyou (now Jiangyou County, Sichuan). The Shu army stationed in Jiangyou did not expect Deng Ai to come out from behind, and suddenly saw Wei Bing appearing at the gate of the city, and it was too late to organize resistance, so they had to surrender.

Deng Ai continued to attack Mianzhu (now southwest of Mianyang, Sichuan).Zhuge Zhan, the son of Zhuge Liang, guarded Mianzhu.Deng Ai sent someone to persuade him to surrender, saying, "If you are willing to surrender, I will recommend you as King of Langya." When Zhuge Zhan heard that he was asked to surrender, he was so angry that he killed the envoy Deng Ai sent to persuade him to surrender.He set up a battle, determined to fight Deng Ai to the death.But after all, he was no match for Deng Ai, and both Zhuge Zhan and his son Zhuge Shang died in battle. Deng Ai took Mianzhu and went straight to Chengdu, the capital of Shu Han.The people in Chengdu never dreamed that Wei Bing came so fast. When they heard that Deng Ai Bing was approaching the city, they all took refuge in the woods on the mountain.The court of the Shu Han Dynasty was in a mess, and the queen lord hurriedly called the ministers to discuss it.Some advocated fleeing to the south, some advocated taking refuge in Soochow, and some believed that now that the army of Wei State was overwhelming, it was better to surrender as soon as possible.

The Empress is a cowardly and thoughtless person who doesn't want to resist at all.When Deng Ai's army arrived in Chengdu, he had his hands tied behind his back and led all the civil and military officials out of the city gate to surrender. When Deng Ai entered Chengdu, he felt great and proud, and even Zhong Hui was not in his eyes.He directly wrote to Sima Zhao, wanting to take advantage of the momentum of this victory to wipe out Soochow in one go.How did you know that Sima Zhao gave Deng Ai an order, saying: "You are not allowed to make your own decisions in military operations." This incident made Deng Ai very angry.

Jiang Wei, the general of Shu who was fighting against Zhonghui in Jiange, got the news that Deng Ai had attacked Chengdu, and was about to retreat to defend Chengdu. He received an order from the master to surrender to the Wei army. The soldiers of the Shu army were angry and sad when they received this order.Some soldiers were so angry that they drew out their knives and slashed at the big rocks. Jiang Wei was very calm.He discussed with the soldiers and decided to surrender to Zhong Hui.Zhong Hui also appreciated Jiang Wei as a hero and treated him as one of his own.The two of them went out and took the car together, and then returned to the barracks to discuss matters together.

Taking advantage of the conflict between Zhong Hui and Deng Ai, Jiang Wei persuaded Zhong Hui to secretly write to Sima Zhao, accusing Deng Ai of treason. Sima Zhao was very suspicious at first, but after receiving Zhong Hui's report, he issued an edict in the name of Emperor Wei Yuan, and sent people to Chengdu to arrest Deng Ai, and took him back to Luoyang in a prison car.Fearing that Deng Ai would resist, he ordered Zhong Hui to march into Chengdu. When Zhong Hui arrived in Chengdu, he sent a team to escort Deng Ai to Luoyang in a prison cart.On the way, Deng Ai was killed.After Zhong Hui got rid of Deng Ai with tricks, all the military power was in his own hands, so he decided to rebel.

Zhong Hui discussed with Jiang Wei, and Jiang Wei fully agreed with him.Because Jiang Wei had other plans of his own, he wanted to use Zhong Hui to kill the generals of the Wei army, and then get rid of Zhong Hui.He secretly sent a letter to Liu Chan, saying, "Your Majesty, please endure the grievances for a few more days, and I will definitely restore the country." Where did Zhong Hui know Jiang Wei's plan? He thought Jiang Wei was sincerely partnering with him to fight against Sima Zhao.He falsely passed on the Queen Mother's order, saying that Sima Zhao killed Emperor Wei Yuan and asked him to send troops to crusade.He was afraid that the generals of the Wei army would not accept it, so he put them under house arrest in the Shu Palace.

The generals of the Wei army were a little skeptical about Zhong Hui's order. Later, rumors spread that Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei wanted to kill all the soldiers from the north.As a result, everyone was in a mess.Some set fires around the palace.When the rebellious soldiers entered the palace, Jiang Wei and Zhong Hui couldn't control them, and they were all killed by the rebellious soldiers.