Author: Long Siyi Producer: Yuan Zaiyu
In 263, Sima Zhao, the Chancellor of Wei, sent troops to attack Shu, but was stopped by the Shu Han general Jiang Wei (江維) at the Sword Pavilion. Unexpectedly, when the other generals and Jiang Wei were fighting bitterly in the Sword Pavilion, the Wei general Deng Ai "did not talk about martial virtue" and chose to bypass Jiang Wei and sneak into Chengdu through a small road. Liu Chan, the lord of the Shu Han Dynasty, was a "handsome man who knew the times", and when he saw that the Wei army was already approaching the city, he "raised the white flag" after hastily consulting with the ministers, and the Shu Han regime collapsed.
Judging from the results of the war, Deng Ai, who won the odd army, should have become a role that posterity would have liked to talk about, but in fact, his popularity and reputation were far inferior to Jiang Wei.
First of all, this has a lot to do with the people in people's minds.
After the surrender of the later lord Liu Chan, Jiang Wei, who had become a "lonely man", thought again and again, believing that desperate resistance was also futile, and decided to pretend to surrender in order to make a comeback. Under Zhong Hui's account, Jiang Wei sensed his ambition and hoped to use it to restore Shu Han. So he said to Jiang Wei:
"Wen Jun has come since Huainan, and there is no exhaustive strategy, Jin Dao Kechang, all the power of the king." Now that Shu is restored, the world will be rejuvenated, the people will be high in their merits, and the Lord will fear his plots, and he wants to return to peace with this! Fu Hanxin does not betray Han in the disturbance, in order to see the doubts in the peace, the doctor does not follow Fan Li in the Five Lakes, and the sword is ambushed and dies in vain, is he the secret lord of the fool? The stakes make it so, too. Now that the great merits of the emperor have been established and the great virtues have been established, why not tao Zhu Gong pan boat extinction, fully contribute to self-preservation, climb the ridge of Emei, and swim from the red pine? ”
The tragic slaughter of Lord Gao Gai of Han Xin Gong disturbed Zhong Hui's calm mind and stirred up his hidden desires. Under the side knock of Jiang Wei's words, Zhong Hui chose to rebel against Wei and establish himself, calling himself Yizhou Mu. However, the heavens did not go according to people's wishes, and although Zhong Hui rebelled, his gang was loyal to Great Wei, and the people rose up to resist and killed him.
Jiang Wei, who had lost his "patron", knew that his great cause would be difficult to achieve, so he drew his sword and killed himself.
After the surrender, Jiang Wei could have continued to shine in the military circles or enjoy the wealth and prosperity of his old age, but he did not. In order to repay the favor of the encounter, he chose to continue to "toss" and secretly struggle for the great cause of restoring Shu Han. In the end, he died, but this bold loyalty is still remembered by posterity.
In people's hearts, he is a lone hero full of tragic colors, synonymous with loyalty.
In contrast, Deng Ai's personality is not so "eye-catching".
After Deng Ai conquered Chengdu, he strictly controlled his troops and did not allow his subordinates to plunder, and at the same time, he also followed the example of the Eastern Han general Deng Yu and appointed the Shu Han royal family and courtiers in the name of Tianzi, which was widely supported by the people of Shu for a time.
The love of the Shu people made him proud. In Mianzhu, he built the Jingguan to promote his martial arts; privately, he said to the Shu scholars: "Jiang Wei was naturally a heroic hero for a while, but it was a pity that he met me, which is why he failed." ”
All this will be seen by his nemesis. When Deng Ai presented Sima Zhao to offer the plan of Ping Wu and the method of placing the King of Shu, Zhong Hui changed his petition to an arrogant and rude attitude and handed it to Sima Zhao.
After receiving the letter, Sima Zhao was dissatisfied, believing that Deng Ai's unauthorized division of the seal was really trespassing. Zhong Hui took a fancy to Sima Zhao's careful thinking, and then consulted Deng Ai, saying that he wanted to plot rebellion against the hearts of the people of Shu. As a result, Deng Ai was ordered by Sima Zhao to be arrested, and eventually died unjustly.
For a long time, he appeared in people's impressions as an anti-thief, and it was not until many years that he received a painless sentence from the Jin Emperor: "Deng Ai founded the meritorious service, tied his hands and suffered without escaping punishment, and his descendants were also reduced to slaves, I often sympathized with them, and I could appoint his grandson Deng Lang as Langzhong." ", in such an ambiguous sentence was rehabilitated.
In people's minds, Deng Ai is just a great general who was brutally killed by the lord of merit, and it is not uncommon to play a role.
People have always liked to shape heroes and worship heroes. And Deng Aiyijie was proud of his achievements and was killed, and his popularity was naturally not as good as that of the tragic hero Jiang Wei.
Second, the question of preconceived positions is also a major reason.
Most of the contemporary people's understanding of the history of the Three Kingdoms comes from literature such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a Zhanghui novel written by Mr. Luo Guanzhong from the perspective of Liu Bei of the Shu Kingdom, and its position is biased towards the Shu Han. People are more likely to empathize with the Shu Han camp than Cao Wei, who "military generals can be scared to death and civilian officials can be scolded to death". In people's eyes, the Shu Han who inherited the mantle of the Han Dynasty was orthodox, and Cao Wei was an anti-thief and rebel. Jiang Wei was the "bearer" of the late Shu Han Dynasty, and Deng Ai was a general in the Cao Wei camp, and the difference between the two in the camp also affected people's good feelings for them to a certain extent.
Under the influence of personality and position, how many people will be angry about the "poor Baba" Deng Ai? More people will only express regret that Jiang Wei's great cause has not been accomplished.
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Biography of Jiang Wei, Han Jin Chunqiu, Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Biography of Deng Ai