The Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty was a wonderful period in the history of our country, from the conquest of the deer to the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, and finally reunification. The Battle of Wei and Shu opened the curtain of unification, and in this war, Deng Ai's smuggling of Yin Ping played a crucial role in promoting, influencing the direction of history and leaving a strong mark on the history books.
In 263 AD, the State of Wei raised troops to attack Shu, and the whole process of war lasted only about 3 months, and the State of Shu perished, and the speed was lamented. Today, we will understand what kind of existence Deng Ai and Yin Ping Dao really were, and how they could have such a significant impact on the fortunes of the Shu kingdom.
The Wei army attacked Shu in three ways, and the first zhong hui led 100,000 troops, and took Hanzhong from the Xie Valley, Luo Valley, and Meridian Valley in three ways, and then attacked Chengdu. The second road Deng Ai led 30,000 troops, out of Di Dao (present-day Lintao, Gansu), and the third road Zhuge Xu led 30,000 troops out of Wudu (northwest of present-day Chengxian County, Gansu).
Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu were tasked with attacking the Shu Han general Jiang Wei (江威), who was in Tuntian (屯田, northwest of present-day Zhouqu, Gansu), so that he could not return to his aid. Jiang Wei had no choice but to withdraw and defend Jiange (present-day northern Jiange County, Sichuan).
Because of the location of the Big Sword Mountain and the Small Sword Mountain, the Sword Pavilion has a steep terrain, high mountains and valleys, and the deep roads are narrow, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Shu Dao is difficult, it is difficult to go to Qingtian, and Li Bai's Shu Dao is mainly the section between the Guangyuan Sword Pavilion and the Yangping Pass in Shaanxi, that is, the Golden Bull Road. The Golden Bull Road could lead directly from Hanzhong to the Shu capital Chengdu, and the main force of the Wei army led by Zhong Hui took this fastest road into Shu.
The Sword Pavilion is strong and Cui Wei is strong, and one husband and wife are inseparable. Jiang Wei, Liao Hua and Zhang Yi joined forces to guard the Sword Pavilion and block Zhong Hui from going south. Wei Jun was blocked by the Sword Pavilion, and it was difficult to advance, and Zhong Hui had the intention to retreat. Deng Ai proposed that the surprise army take Yinping (present-day northwest of Wen County, Gansu), bypass the Sword Pavilion, and directly insert jiang Wei behind. If Jiang Wei retreats, the Sword Pavilion is preferable; if Jiang Wei does not retreat, he will directly attack Chengdu.
Between the Guanzhong Plain, the Hanzhong Basin and the Sichuan Basin are the Qinling Mountains and the Daba Mountains, there are a total of eight main roads, and there are 5 roads from the Guanzhong Plain in the north to the Hanzhong Basin, namely Chencang Road (also called GuDao), Chu Chuan Road, Luo Luo Road, Meridian Road, Longnan Road (also called Qishan Road), and there are 3 main roads from the Hanzhong Basin to the Sichuan Basin in the south, namely Jinniu Road, Micang Road and Lychee Road.
In fact, there is another road that leads directly from Gansu to Sichuan without passing through Hanzhong, called Yinping Road. This road is more difficult to navigate than other roads, and the Shu Han is defensive, with three passes and stone gorges, dangerous cliff dams, and Yinping Bridges. Deng Ai did not take this Yin Ping Road, but another mountain road, which we call the Yin Ping Trail.
The history books record: "From Yinping from the evil path through the Han DeYang Pavilion Fun Fu, out of the Sword Pavilion Xili, to Chengdu for more than three hundred miles", calling the Yinping Road "evil path". The Yinping Trail actually had no road at all, but it forced Deng Ai to lead people out of a road. The Yinping Trail starts from Yinping County (present-day Huyiba, Longnanwen County, Gansu), passes through the county seat of Wenxian County, crosses the Skyscraper Ridge (2730 meters above sea level) on the border of Qingchuan County, passes through Tangjiahe, Yinping Mountain, Mazhuanguan, jingjun Mountain, and reaches Jiangyouguan (present-day Nanba Township) in Pingwu County, with a total length of about 265 kilometers. The northern slope of the Skyscraper Ridge is slower, and the southern side is a cliff, there is no road to work, there is a poetry cloud "the mountain is as high as a cloud table, and the crane is still timid", which shows its steepness.
The 66-year-old Deng Ai led the elite of the Wei Army, opened roads in every mountain, built bridges when encountering rivers, and had no way to go, "all climbed the wooden edge cliff" or directly wrapped in clothes and felt blankets and rolled down the cliff. On the Yinping Ancient Road in the territory of ancient Tangchang, there are still the remains of the "Deng Deng Bridge" built by Deng Ai's father and son. It took them a month to cross the mountains and wade through the mountains and rivers, which shows how difficult the road is and how strong their ambitions are.
As a result, everyone also knew that Deng Aiqi's soldiers destroyed the Shu kingdom. Why did Deng Ai succeed? There are mainly the following reasons:
First, surprise and attack it
The Yinping Road was steep and more difficult than the Shu Road, and Shu Han did not think that the Wei army dared to take this desperate road, so that when Deng Aijun appeared under the jiangyou Pass City, the Shu army thought that the divine soldiers had descended from heaven, and they were directly confused and fell without a fight. Deng Ai was like a sharp knife, straight into the heart of the Shu Kingdom, and before the Sword Pavilion defenders could return to help, Liu Chan surrendered Kaesong.
Second, there were problems within the Shu Han
In the late Shu Han Dynasty, the later lord Liu Chan's confidant Huang Hao and other villains, although Jiang Wei was a great general, in order to protect himself, he could only be in Tuntian, and did not have absolute control over the army. In fact, before the war, Jiang Wei had gone to the Hou Lord to remind him of the defense of Yang'an Pass, Yinping Bridge, and other passes, and as a result, Huang Hao asked the ghost witch for nothing to do, and the Hou Lord covered up the matter.
Third, the Shu Han was weak and the troops were weak
The State of Shu and Wei had been at war for many years, their national strength was weak, their soldiers were tired and tired, and their morale was not high. The Shu Wei army was elite, and the one that Deng Ai chose to smuggle into Yinping was the elite of the elite. Although Zhuge Zhan's military ability was not high, most of his troops were old, weak and disabled soldiers, and it was reasonable to stop Deng Ai's elite soldiers.
In general, although Deng Ai's smuggling of Yin Ping was the direct cause of the demise of Shu Han, it was fundamentally that Shu Han had exhausted its qi and the building would fall, so it would be destroyed so quickly.