In 220 AD, the Han Dynasty minister Cao Pi forced emperor Chan of Han to give up the throne and set the capital at Luoyang, with the state name "Wei", known in history as Cao Wei, which marked the official end of the Han Dynasty era. A year later, in 221 AD, Liu Bei was proclaimed emperor, with the capital at Chengdu and the history known as Shu Han. In 229 AD, Sun Quan was proclaimed emperor, the capital was Jianye, the state name was "Wu", and the history was called Eastern Wu. Among the Three Kingdoms, Shu Han became the weakest side because Guan Yu carelessly lost the battles of Jingzhou and Yiling. It is true that Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei have repeatedly gone north to the Central Plains, hoping to reverse this situation, but they still cannot change the status quo. In particular, Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition led to the depletion of Shu Han's national strength, and also prompted Sima Zhao to make up his mind to eliminate Shu Han first, not Eastern Wu.
In 263, Sima Zhao, who held the power of Cao Wei, officially launched the Battle of Wei to destroy Shu. In this battle, Sima Zhao mobilized 180,000 troops and handed them over to Zhong Hui, Deng Ai and other generals. In this regard, in the author's opinion, Shu Han only had 100,000 troops, while Cao Wei's side dispatched 180,000 troops, which naturally had an overwhelming advantage. In this battle, although Zhong Hui was blocked by Jiang Wei in the area of sword pavilion. However, Deng Ai led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to smuggle across Yinping and defeated Zhuge Liang's son Zhuge Zhan, thus attacking Chengdu. In the face of Deng Ai's army, the later lord Liu Chan finally gave up resistance, which prompted the official demise of the Shu Han in October 263.
It is worth noting that after the fall of the Shu Han Dynasty, another rebellion broke out in Chengdu, which was the Zhonghui Rebellion. For Zhong Hui, sitting on an army of 200,000 people, and with the help of the Shu Han general Jiang Wei, the result was that the army failed in 3 days, which is naturally a place of doubt.
One
Specifically, although Deng Ai was the greatest contributor to the destruction of Shu, in 264 AD, under the trap of Zhong Hui and others, Deng Ai was imprisoned and prepared to be sent back to Luoyang, the capital of Cao Wei. Therefore, after Deng Ai lost his military power, Cao Wei's 180,000 troops in Yizhou were basically controlled by Zhong Hui, and Jiang Wei also led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to surrender to Zhong Hui, which prompted the latter to directly have more than 200,000 troops.
In the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Jiang Wei", it is recorded that Wei Wei will be treated favorably, and all rights will be returned to his seal. He will sit with Wei Chu and sit at the same table, saying that the long Stud predicted: "The famous people of Middle-earth who are in the middle of the world will not be able to win the public recess and the beginning." "Will both construct Deng Ai, Ai Si Che Zheng, because the general Wei and others in Chengdu, claim to be Yizhou Pastoral Rebellion." Fifty thousand peacekeepers are to be given as a precursor. Wei Was furious, killing Hui hui and Wei, and Wei's wife were all ambushed.
Under the persuasion of Jiang Wei, Zhong Hui gradually had plans to divide Yizhou. Of course, Jiang Wei did this just to muddy the water and take the opportunity to restore Shu Han. In the first month of 264, Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei came to Chengdu. On the sixteenth day of the first month, Zhong hui summoned all the generals of Cao Wei to Chengdu.
On this basis, Zhong Hui lied that he had obtained the edict from Empress Guo and now wanted to raise an army against Sima Zhao. However, on the eighteenth day of the first month, Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei were both defeated and killed. In the eyes of many people, Zhong Hui held great power and also obtained the help of Jiang Wei, even if the rebellion failed, he should not even persist for 3 days. Throughout the Three Kingdoms period, this was supposed to be the fastest mutiny to fail.
Two
In this regard, in the author's opinion, due to the following reasons, Zhong Hui was quickly defeated and killed. As far as the first point is concerned, Sima Zhao has already taken precautions. In the Battle of Wei and Shu, Although Sima Zhao handed over 180,000 troops to Deng Ai and Zhong Hui. However, Sima Zhao arranged for Hu Lie, Wei Ou and other henchmen in the 180,000-strong army to supervise Deng Ai and Zhong Hui.
For example, on the fifteenth day of the first month of the fifth year of Jing yuan (264), after Zhong Hui arrived in Chengdu, he decided to rebel. The next day, on the pretext of Empress Guo's mourning, he invited Hu Lie and other generals and officials to the Shu court, took the opportunity to put them under house arrest, and raised troops to rebel. At this time, all the soldiers and soldiers only thought about the return of the class teacher to the dynasty, and there was a commotion inside and outside Chengdu, and people were very worried and afraid in their hearts. Zhong hui left Wei Ou by his side to discuss the matter, and wrote "Want to kill Hu Lie, etc." on the wooden chips to show Wei Ou, wei Wan did not agree, and the two began to be jealous of each other. In this context, when Wei Wan went to the toilet, he met Hu Lie's original general Qiu Jian, and told him to spread the news to the army. And this has become an important reason for the failure of zhong hui to raise an army.
For example, after Zhong Hui raised an army, Hu Lie's son Hu Yuan led an army to kill Zhong Hui. Moreover, as early as after Deng Ai was imprisoned, Sima Zhao was not very confident about Zhong Hui, who had an army of 200,000. Therefore, in a letter to Zhong Hui, Sima Zhao said that he was now sending Jia Chong to lead tens of thousands of troops to Hanzhong, while he himself personally led a large army to garrison Chang'an. Thus, for Sima Zhao, he was ready for the Zhong Hui mutiny. In this regard, in the author's opinion, Sima Zhao's move was also to force Zhong Hui to rebel as soon as possible, prompting him not to have enough time to prepare.
Three
As far as the second point is concerned, Zhong Hui is only nominally in charge of an army of 200,000. As already mentioned, Hu Lie, Wei Ou, and others could not have obeyed Zhong Hui's orders at all. Before the Battle of Wei and Shu, Zhong Hui had almost no experience of leading troops alone, for example, when Sima Zhao pacified the Three Rebellions in Huainan, Zhong Hui mainly played the role of a strategist. From this point of view, Zhong Hui did not have his own cronies among the Cao Wei generals, which was very fatal.
According to historical records such as the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Zhong Hui was born in the Yingchuan Zhong clan and was the son of Zhong Xuan, the minister of the State of Wei. Zhong Hui is talented and proficient in metaphysics. Weak crown into the army, successively held important official positions. It was deeply appreciated by Emperor Cao Wei and his courtiers. Sima Shi's retinue enslaved Qiu Jian, and then offered his advice to Sima Zhao to crush Cao Xian's attempt to seize power. The army quelled Zhuge Liang's rebellion, and repeatedly made strange plots, and the people at the time compared him to Zhang Liang. In this regard, in the author's opinion, it is precisely because Zhong Hui is not a battle-hardened general, so in the Battle of Wei and Shu, Sima Zhao was relieved to hand over the main force to Zhong Hui instead of Deng Ai.
Correspondingly, Deng Ai had long resisted Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition in the Yongliang region, so Deng Ai's prestige among Cao Wei's generals was much higher than that of Zhong Hui. In other words, if Deng Ai rebelled, it would obviously not last even 3 days. For Sima Zhao, it was obviously more defensive of Deng Ai, a veteran general. Therefore, in the Battle of Wei and Shu, Deng Ai initially had only tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and did not assume the responsibility of the main attack. Of course, Deng Ai was a genius after all, and he was able to promote the demise of Shu Han through the bold plot of smuggling Yin Ping.
Four
Finally, as for the third reason, it was because after the fall of Shu Han, neither Cao Wei's generals nor Shu Han's soldiers wanted to continue fighting. For the Shu Han generals, following Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition for a long time was already exhausting, and as far as the entire Shu Han was concerned, more and more people began to oppose Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition. For example, in the twentieth year of Yanxi (257), Because He Zhou saw that Shu Han often used troops against the State of Wei, the people were tired, so Tan Zhou and Shang Shu Ling Chen Qi had a fierce debate. After retiring from the DPRK, Tan Zhou wrote the "Theory of The Enemy of the Country".
Therefore, after Deng Aibing came to Chengdu, Liu Chan was forced by the pressure of Yizhou, such as Tan Zhou and others who urged Liu Chan to give up resistance. In this context, Liu Chan could only go out of the city and surrender. This led to the fact that although Zhong Hui had the help of Jiang Wei, he could not get the support of Yizhou, that is, Jiang Wei originally had the tendency to be isolated by Yizhou. As for the Cao Wei generals who came from afar, they hoped that after the fall of Shu Han, they could return to their hometown as soon as possible. For these soldiers, they were obviously unwilling to follow Zhong Hui to divide Yizhou. Even from the perspective of the entire history of the Three Kingdoms, ending the state of war and chaos is already the desire of the people. In this context, Zhong Hui's attempt to divide Yizhou is naturally unpopular. Just as the so-called gain of the Tao and the lack of help, this prompted the Zhong Hui to be impossible to rebel and succeed.
In addition, after the Zhonghui Rebellion, Liu Chan's eldest son Liu Xuan, a famous general of the late Shu Han Dynasty, Zhang Yi, was also killed by the rebels. For Yizhou, the Zhonghui Rebellion was a disruption. As for the later lord Liu Chan, he escaped the disaster and eventually came to Luoyang, the capital of Cao Wei, and was made the Duke of Anle County by Sima Zhao.