In August 263 AD, Sima Zhao launched a war to destroy Shu, and in just three months, the Liu regime, which had painstakingly managed Shu for decades, was declared extinct under the surrender of Liu Bei's son Liu Chan.
When the Shu State fell, the military division Zhuge Liang has been dead for several years, in the time of the death of the country to resist Sima Zhao's army, is the general Jiang Wei, with Jiang Wei's strength, Shu will invade the Wei army in the future to block the sword pavilion, but what Jiang Wei did not expect, is Deng Ai's soldiers are in danger, from Jinggu Road dark Yin Ping, Zhuge Liang's son Zhuge Zhan although desperately resisted, but after all, he was unable to return to the sky, in Mianzhu was defeated and killed, in November of the same year, Deng Ai's army approached Chengdu, Liu Chan had to open the city to surrender, Shu perished.
Judging from the process of the demise of the Shu Kingdom, there are two obvious messages, one is that the speed of destruction is so fast, the army is defeated in three months, and it does not have the strength that it should have for decades;
The imminent destruction of the Shu Kingdom.
You must know that in addition to its own strength, Shu also has military strength in the southern and central regions. And the Nanzhong region is the place where Zhuge Liang once operated with his heart, and the leader of the Nanzhong region is the well-known Meng Shu.
When it comes to Meng Huo, almost everyone knows the allusion of "Zhuge Liang Seven Captures Meng Huo", as the leader of the Southern Barbarian Land, under the inspiration of Zhuge Liang, he was captured seven times and seven verticals, and finally surrendered to Shu, led Nanzhong, and became the territory of Shu.
So, as a member of the Shu Kingdom, Meng Shu and the Nanzhong region, when the Shu Kingdom was destroyed, why didn't they come to the rescue, but watched the destruction of the Shu Kingdom?
It's not that Meng Shu doesn't want to be saved, it's that he doesn't know that Shu is about to perish!
Let's look at the chronological order, Zhuge Liang in 225 AD, started the southern expedition, which lasted several years, pacified the Nanzhong region, and Meng Shu also surrendered at this time, and Sima Zhao launched the war to destroy Shu in 263 AD, and the Shu State was destroyed in that year, from 225 to 263, with a gap of 38 years.
Even if Meng Huo was a young man when he surrendered to Shu, he was at least about 30 years old, and by 263 AD, Meng Huo's age was about 70 years old.
A dying old man who is close to ancient times, what appeal can he have in the Nanzhong region, even if he is still the leader, but the control of the Nanzhong region must not be as good as it was back then, and it is even possible that when the Shu Kingdom fell, Meng Shu was no longer alive.
This is only one reason, the other reason is the complex Nanzhong region.
Although in the romance, Zhuge Liang did make Meng Shu and his subordinates submit to Shu, but this is a romance after all, and the real situation may not be the case.
The southern and central regions are dominated by barbarians, large and small tribes are staggered, and various forces are intertwined, which is a well-known difficult bone, and the Shu State of that year, the strength did not allow Zhuge Liang to conquer by force, and it was forced to adopt the strategy of "attacking the heart first", which is not only Zhuge Liang's resourcefulness, but also the lack of hard power of Shu.
Because of this, after Meng surrendered to Shu, the Nanzhong region did not really surrender to Shu, on the contrary, there were still many rebellions in various places, so that Zhuge Liang went south for the second time to quell the rebellion.
Therefore, the Nanzhong region, which did not really surrender to Shu, treated the demise of Shu from the perspective of not caring for itself, and even some tribes had a gloating attitude, in this case, it was obviously impossible to expect them to come to the rescue.
Another main reason is that Meng Shu is not the so-called Nanzhong barbarian king in Romance.
In addition to the romance, in many other historical materials, there is little mention of Meng Huo himself, and the introduction of Meng Huo's life can be found, probably as slightly mentioned in the "Spring and Autumn Period of the Han and Jin Dynasty" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
And none of these historical materials shows that Meng Huo was born in an ethnic minority, but it is only mentioned that he was born in Nanzhong and participated in the rebellion in Nanzhong, and combined with the history of the rebellion in Nanzhong led by Han people, so Meng Huo may also be a Han person.
Meng Huo was born in Nanzhong Haoqiang, and he was able to eat well in all local forces, whether it was Han or ethnic minorities, Meng Huo had a certain influence in it, so after the rebellion, Meng Huo quickly organized a team, and gradually grew into the largest local rebel team by constantly annexing other rebel forces.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang will take Meng Huo to open the knife, one is also to kill the chicken and make an example of the monkey, and take down the largest force Meng Huo first, and other small forces will also weigh it;
However, this has resulted in the fact that although Meng Shu surrendered, it does not mean that Nanzhong surrendered, he is the biggest force is good, but it is not good on behalf of Nanzhong, even if the age factor is not considered, assuming that when Shu is destroyed, Meng Huo is still alive, but Meng Huo is impossible to order the forces in Nanzhong to rescue Shu, and people are not your subordinates, there is no need to sell your life, not to mention, and Shu is not yet to deal with, therefore, when Shu is destroyed, there is no need for other forces to rescue Shu.
In the Nanzhong region, Shu has been operating for decades, but it has not been completely naturalized, even when Zhuge Liang was alive, rebellions in the Nanzhong region occurred from time to time, although in the early stage, Shu relied on military strength to suppress the barbarians and could not move, but suppression and naturalization surrender are two different things, the longer the suppression, the more powerful the rebound.
In fact, Zhuge Liang didn't know about this situation, but there was no good solution, even if he set up the post of Yue Taishou in Nanzhong, but the effect was not great, and the Nanban people should still rebel.
This kind of stop-and-go days were maintained until 253 AD, when Zhuge Liang had died, Jiang Wei ascended the throne, and the strategic direction of Shu, under the control of Jiang Wei, gradually shifted to the north, and for the Nanzhong, which had never been truly subdued, governance and control gradually stopped.
As a result, after the suppression was lifted, Nanzhong became more unscrupulous, invading the border of Shu from time to time, although it did not get any bargains, but it also made Shu annoying.
In 263 AD, Sima Zhao launched a war to destroy Shu, before the army pressed the border, the forces in Nanzhong were all making small calculations in their hearts, calculating which area they could grab after the destruction of Shu, as for sending troops to King Qin, it was impossible.
Once, before the death of the country, someone suggested to Liu Chan to temporarily go to Nanzhong to avoid the advance of the Wei army, but it was quickly vetoed. The strategist Qian Zhou said: Go to that ghost place? When Prime Minister Zhuge was here, the Nanban rebelled repeatedly, and now we are desperate to take refuge, it is simply a way to kill ourselves!
Therefore, when Deng Ai's army approached the city of Chengdu, Liu Chan, who had nothing to do, had to open the door and surrender, and in the Nanzhong region, it was impossible for a single soldier to come to the rescue of Shu in the twilight of the West Mountain!