Speaking of Deng Ai, this was a famous military general in the late Cao Wei Dynasty. Deng Ai not only performed well in the battle against Soochow, but also in the battle against Shu Han, and he was undefeated in several battles with Jiang Wei. Not only that, Deng Ai had far-sighted vision, superhuman insights, and a strong strategic mind. Deng Ai wrote to Sima Shi many times for suggestions, which were accepted by Sima Shi, so he gained Sima Shi's trust. It is precisely because of this that Deng Ai, a "simple" person with a stutter, was promoted and reused by the Sima family and became an important member of the Sima family.
In ten years, Deng Ai was promoted from the prefect to the captain of Changshui, the general of Anxi, the general of Zhenxi, the general of Zhengxi and finally the Taiwei. It can be said that the promotion speed is astonishing. Why did Deng Ai, who had such outstanding military talent and was an important member of the Sima Group, after the destruction of the Shu Han Dynasty, when he was framed by Zhong Hui for treason? Sima Zhaohui believed Zhong Hui's words and ordered Zhong Hui and Wei Guan to arrest and destroy the Shu Han Dynasty. Deng Ai, the number one hero, was escorted to Luoyang? As a result, Deng Ai was chased and killed by the guard Tian Xu on the road? Is there any reason for this?
The reason why Deng Ai was framed for rebellion and eventually killed was due to his own reasons, as well as the reasons of Jiang Wei, Zhong Hui and the supervisor Wei Guan, as well as Sima Zhao's suspicious factors. in. There are many reasons, but the main reason is that Deng Ai's actions caught people's feet, and he was eventually taken advantage of by others. Only then was he ordered to be arrested by the suspicious Sima Zhao, and was eventually killed. So, what did Deng Ai do that would be used by others? This starts with Deng Ai's destruction of Shu.
In 263 AD, the Wei army attacked Shuhan in three groups, and Deng Ai was one of the three groups. The original plan was for Zhong Hui to lead an army of 100,000 as the main force to attack Shu, attack Hanzhong, and then go straight to Chengdu to destroy the Shu Han. The 30,000-strong army led by Deng Ai was only used as a partial force to contain Jiang Wei, but the situation changed during the battle. Deng Ai, who was good at seizing opportunities, became the main force from a partial division.
With the Wei army's attack, the Shu army shrank its defense line. But this contraction does not matter and leads to negligence. There were fatal flaws in the defenses of Xiegu, Luogu, and Ziwugu. Because these three choke points were not well defended, they were occupied by Liu Qin, the prefect of Wei Xing of the Wei army. In this way, Zhong Hui advanced in several directions and entered Hanzhong. Following Jiang Shu's surrender, Fu Qian was killed, and Yangguan Pass was captured by the Wei army. Jiang Wei had to retreat to Jiange and confront Zhong Hui's army.
When Deng Ai arrived at Yinping, he originally wanted to join forces with Zhuge Xu and go south, but Zhuge Xu was unwilling and instead moved closer to Zhong Hui, who took the opportunity to gain more military power. Deng Ai saw that Zhong Hui's army was blocked by Jiang Wei's defense at Jiange and was helpless, so he suggested a sneak attack on Fu County from Yinping along a small road. In order to achieve the purpose of surprising him, attacking him unprepared, and attacking him, he will be rescued, thereby defeating Jiang Wei and destroying Shu Han.
Zhong Hui followed Deng Ai's suggestion and sent his troops, Tian Zhang and Deng Ai, to lead the elite troops along the trail through the seven hundred miles of uninhabited mountains. Overcoming many difficulties, they arrived at Jiangyou unexpectedly and made an emergency landing. The guard, Ma Miao, got a chance to rest. Then attacked Mianzhu.
At this point, although Deng Ai's surprise attack was successful, the Shu Han still had hundreds of thousands of troops, and it would not be destroyed so quickly. However, Deng Ai encountered the idiot Zhuge Zhan who could only talk on paper. Zhuge Zhan ignored the advice of his subordinates to defend the dangerous place and put Deng Ai into the plain. In the end, Deng Ai defeated the Shu army. The Shu army suffered this defeat and collapsed across the board.
The defeat of the Shu army made Deng Ai approach the city of Chengdu with overwhelming force. The panicked Liu Chan felt that the situation was over, and under the persuasion of the surrender faction, he opened the city gate and surrendered. At this point, the Shu Han was destroyed. It can be said that Deng Ai sneaked into Yinping and defeated the Shu army, which was the main reason for the rapid demise of the Shu Han. It is not an exaggeration to say that Deng Ai was the first contributor to the destruction of Shu Han. But when Zhong Hui also came to Chengdu, Deng Ai was falsely accused of treason by Zhong Hui and Wei Guan, and was eventually arrested and taken to Luoyang, where he was killed on the way.
Why was Deng Ai falsely accused of treason? Analyzing the reasons, one is that Deng Ai was caught doing something he had done and his credit was too great, and the other is Sima Zhao's suspicion.
What on earth did Deng Ai do to be taken advantage of? Let’s take a look at what Deng Ai did after the fall of the Shu Han Dynasty and it will be clear.
After Deng Ai entered Chengdu, although he restrained his troops, he did a good job in appeasing the officials. But he should never, never use the name of the emperor to appoint officials. This was Deng Ai's biggest failure. After Deng Ai destroyed Shu, he immediately wrote to Sima Zhao and put forward his views on the situation and the measures to be taken, but his letter was revised by Zhong Hui. Although the carelessness has not changed, there is still arrogance and rudeness in it. This is not the most important thing. What is important is that when Sima Zhao asked the supervisor Wei Guan to warn Deng Ai that the matter must be reported and that it is not appropriate to act haphazardly, Deng Ai said:
I have been ordered to march, and I have been instructed to do so. As for the policy, Yuan evil is convinced; as for accepting the control and worshiping the leave, it is said to be expedient. Today, all the people in Shu are returning to the country. The land is as far as the South China Sea and borders Wuhui in the east. It is best to calm down as soon as possible. If you wait for the fate of the country, you will travel back and forth, delaying the sun and the moon. In the Spring and Autumn Period, when officials go out to the frontier, they can stabilize the country and benefit the country. Now Wu is not a guest; the situation is connected with that of Shu, so we should not rely on it to cause trouble. In the art of war, advance without seeking fame, and retreat without avoiding sin. Although Ai is not as disciplined as the ancients, he never thinks he is harming the country.
It means that you will not receive your orders from the foreign king. In Deng Ai's view, he was ordered to conquer because of the emperor's policy. He could act arbitrarily as long as he did things that were beneficial to the country. Deng Ai, who had made great contributions to the destruction of Shu, was already a little arrogant at this time. He no longer had the clear mind before, and was overwhelmed by the huge victory.
Dazzled by the victory, Deng Ai ignored Sima Zhao's warning and followed the previous practice of Eastern Han general Deng Yu, appointing a large number of Shu Han surrender ministers in the name of the emperor. Not only that, he also appointed Shi Zuan to also serve as the governor of Yizhou, and appointed Qian Hong, the governor of Longxi, and others to also serve as governors of various counties in central Shu. He sent people to bury the soldiers who died in the battle together with the dead soldiers of Shu in Mianzhu, and built a high platform as a palace to promote his martial arts. This was the most wrong step Deng Ai took on his way to death.
The proud Deng Ai not only did not think that what he did was wrong, he often showed it off and was proud of it. He once boasted in front of the scholar-bureaucrats of the Shu Kingdom: "Thanks to you meeting me, Deng Ai, you are where you are today. If you had met someone like Wu Han, you would have been dead long ago." He also mocked Jiang Wei. He said: "Although Jiang Wei was a hero for a while, when he met Deng Ai, he was doomed." He was so proud that he was committing suicide.
Deng Ai's actions were naturally noticed by those who were interested. Among them, Zhong Hui, Jiang Wei, and Wei Guan were the most dissatisfied with Deng Ai. It is true that Jiang Wei surrendered, but he still wanted to revive the Shu Han. Therefore, he hated Deng Ai deeply for having destroyed Shu Han. Jiang Wei saw Zhong Hui's ambition, so he tried his best to persuade Zhong Hui to launch a rebellion against Cao Wei. Clearing the obstacle of Deng Ai is the key.
Zhong Hui was in control of the hundreds of thousands of troops who entered Shu, plus the 100,000 surrender troops of the Shu Han led by Jiang Wei. Relying on the natural dangers of the Shu Han, there was no problem in being independent in the Shu Han. Therefore, under Jiang Wei's instigation, his ambitions became more and more swollen, and his desire for self-reliance was already ready. The generals leading the troops in Shu at that time were Zhong Hui and Deng Ai. If he wanted to stand on his own feet, he had to get rid of Deng Ai, an obstructive figure. This is also one of the reasons why Zhong Huihui used what Deng Ai did to frame Deng Ai for rebellion.
Another reason is the same as Wei Guan. That is because Deng Ai robbed them of their credit. Zhong Hui was the deputy commander-in-chief of the expedition against Shu, and Wei Guan was the supervisor of the army. Both of them had higher official positions than Deng Ai, but the final contribution to the destruction of Shu Han was taken by Deng Ai. How could they not have objections to Deng Ai? When they first fought, the two men advocated taking steps to defend the enemy. They even planned to withdraw their troops when they encountered Jiang Wei guarding the Jiange. But Deng Ai found a unique way and quickly destroyed the Shu Han. Where did this put the dignity of the two people?
This great contribution was taken by Deng Ai alone. The two of them did not get any credit at all, and they seemed incompetent. How could the two of them not be angry with Deng Ai? That's why Zhong Hui revised Deng Ai's petition, which was also a manifestation of his anger. So Zhong Hui and Wei Guan saw that Deng Ai had appointed officials on his own initiative, and they were angry and used this to frame Deng Ai for treason.
When Sima Zhao received the false accusation from Zhong Hui and the two men, why did he order Deng Ai’s arrest without investigating it or questioning him? This is about Sima Zhao's suspicion. Sima Zhao was a very suspicious person and would doubt everything. In addition, after seeing Deng Ai's previous petition that had been tampered with by Zhong Hui, Deng Ai did not listen to Sima Zhao's advice and used the name of the emperor to appoint officials. This gave Sima Zhao, who was suspected of being seriously ill, a hint that Deng Ai was going to rebel. That's why Sima Zhao immediately ordered the arrest of Deng Ai indiscriminately.
After Deng Ai was arrested and on his way to Luoyang, Zhong Hui rebelled. Zhong Hui's rebellion was leaked due to the confidentiality of the matter. In the end, the Wei army entered the Shu Palace and killed Zhong Hui, Jiang Wei and others. The supervisor Wei Guan, who had cleaned up the mess, knew that he could not bear such a heavy responsibility. In order to reduce his culpability and prevent his frame-up of Deng Ai from leaking out, he sent guard Tian Xu to hunt down Deng Ai and his son.
Why did Wei Guan send Tian Xu to hunt down Deng Ai and his son? That's because when he first attacked the Shu Han Dynasty, Tian Xu was almost beheaded by Deng Ai because he was afraid of the enemy and refused to advance. In the end, despite the pleas of the generals, he was beaten many times, so Tian Xu also held a grudge against Deng Ai. So to the west of Mianzhu, Deng Ai and his son were overtaken and killed by Tian Xu, who was chasing him.
Some people may say that if Tian Xu had not pursued him, Deng Ai might not have died after arriving in Luoyang. The person who said this was too naive. With Sima Zhao's character, even if he knew that Deng Ai was falsely accused, I am afraid that Deng Ai would not be able to escape death when he arrived in Luoyang. This can be seen from the fact that after Deng Ai's death, his wife and grandson were sent to the Western Regions. Sima Zhao would not keep Deng Ai, and Deng Ai would die sooner or later.