On the fifteenth day of the first month of 264, Zhong Hui led a large army into chengdu, the capital of the Shu Han Dynasty, and sent someone to escort Deng Ai to Luoyang. At this time, Zhong Hui's troops had reached more than 200,000 troops, and they were elite divisions that had experienced hundreds of battles. Jiang Wei, a famous General of the Shu Han Dynasty in the past, also became a guest of honor at the Zhong Hui. However, this rebellion launched by Zhong Hui lasted only three days before it failed, and Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei were killed.
In the post-Three Kingdoms period, there were three famous generals, namely Deng Ai, Zhong Hui, and Jiang Wei, and the three of them could be called the top generals of that era. For example, Zhong Hui is good at strategizing and calculating exhaustive strategies, Sima Shi calls him "Wang Zuo's talent", and Sima Zhao even refers to Zhong Hui as his "sub-room" (that is, Zhang Liang). This military plan to destroy Shu was completely deployed and commanded by Zhong Hui. Deng Ai and Jiang Wei are also famous generals, and the two have been fighting in the Guanzhong area for a long time, winning and losing each other.
After the fall of the Shu state, Deng Ai was proud of his achievements, which caused Sima Zhao's dissatisfaction, and he asked Zhong to arrest Deng Ai. During this period, Zhong Hui also changed, no matter what the purpose, he intended to betray Sima Zhao and raise an army to rebel. It is reasonable to say that with Zhong Hui's wisdom, coupled with Jiang Wei's help, and the 200,000 elite soldiers in his hands, even if sima Zhao could not be overthrown, it should not be a problem to divide Sichuan and Shu, but why did he fail?
First, the clock will be personal limitations. Zhong Hui, a man who had long served as a "staff officer" of Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, was good at planning, but he did not command directly on the front line and lacked the corresponding military command ability. Although he commanded the battle against Shu, if it were not for Deng Ai's smuggling of the Yinping Trail, I am afraid it would be difficult to succeed. It can be said that Zhong hui has the talent of Zhang Liang's strategy, but he does not understand the way of Han Xinbing.
Second, Jiang Wei's surrender to Zhong Hui had another purpose. After the fall of the Shu Han, Jiang Wei surrendered to Zhong Hui, but he had another purpose. Jiang Wei secretly sent someone to deliver a letter to the rear lord Liu Chan, "Your Majesty endured the humiliation for several days, and the subject wanted to restore peace to the danger of the society, and the sun and moon were quiet and bright. Jiang Wei's plan was to have Zhong Hui kill the Wei generals, and then he was killing Zhong Hui, taking advantage of Zhong Hui's rebellion to revive the Shu Han Dynasty.
Third, Zhong Hui held a staff post for a long time and did not form his own power group. Zhong Hui summoned the generals to "correct the empress dowager's will, so that the guild would raise an army to abolish King Wen", but it did not get the support of the generals, which shows that although Zhong Hui was the main general, he did not have his own loyal generals. At this time, Jiang Wei took the opportunity to offer advice, "You can kill the tooth gate above the governor." While Zhong Hui hesitated, the generals had already mutinied.
Fourth, most of the Wei army were northerners and did not want to stay here. At noon on the eighteenth day of the first month, the Wei general Hu Lie and his son beat drums and went out, and although the Wei army was not commanded, they all poured out of the military camp and killed the palace of Shu Han. When the clock was distributing weapons to Jiang Wei, he heard the drum noise outside and immediately went into battle. Jiang Wei led his cronies to engage the Wei army, and although he personally killed five or six people, he was alone after all, and was eventually killed.
Zhong Hui also died in the rebellion, and at the same time hundreds of soldiers died in battle. The Zhonghui Rebellion lasted only three days from the sixteenth day of the first month to the eighteenth day of the first month. Zhong Hui, Jiang Wei, and Deng Ai all died in this turmoil. After that, the Wei army killed and plundered in Shuzhong, Jiang Wei's entire family was killed, and Guan Yu Manmen was also beheaded by Pang Hui, the son of Pang De. It was not until a few days later that the unrest subsided.
References: 1. Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms; 2. Zizhi Tongjian