Ai is one of the famous generals of the Three Kingdoms era, he resisted Jiang Wei on the Western Front, repelled him many times, and led the troops to destroy Shu, and made immortal achievements, but because he was framed by Zhong Hui, Deng Ai suffered misfortune.

【Biography】

Deng Ai, the word Shizai, is a native of Jianyang County, Yiyang. The Deng family used to be a big family in the area of Nanyang Xinye, but Deng Ai lost his father when he was a child. After Cao Cao conquered Jingzhou, he also moved to Runan to herd cattle for local farmers. When he was twelve years old, Deng Ai came to Yingchuan with his mother and read the inscription of Chen Ming, the chief of the late Taiqiu, which had two sentences, called: "Wen is the world's fan, and the behavior of the scholar is the rule" Deng Ai was deeply moved, so he named himself "Fan", and the word Shi Ze. His clan relatives already had this name, so he changed it again.

After that, Deng Ai successively served as a pawn farmer, and because he was appreciated by Sima Yi, he was recruited as a subordinate of the Taiwei Mansion, and was later promoted to Shang Shulang. Sima Yi later adopted Deng Ai's proposal for a large-scale tuntian in Huainan, and Deng Ai personally commanded the tuntian, and achieved great success.

In the fourth year of Zhengshi (243), Deng Ai was appointed to participate in the Western Military, transferred to Nan'an Taishou, and began to participate in the war against Shu on the Western Front. Earlier, Deng Ai followed Guo Huai and Chen Tai to crusade against Jiang Wei and won many victories, and Deng Ai also performed very well. Deng Ai was given the title of Marquis of Guannei, added to General Kou, and later moved to Chengyang Taishou.

At that time, Liu Bao, the right virtuous king of Bingzhou, combined the Xiongnu into one part, which changed the pattern of Cao Cao's division of the Xiongnu into five parts.

After Sima Yi's death, the general Sima Shi was newly appointed as an assistant to the political affairs, and many of Deng Ai's suggestions were adopted and implemented. Soon, Deng Ai was reappointed as the Taishou of Runan and was transferred back to the southern front. Zhuge Ke in the battle of Dongxing soon after the defeat of Wei, suffered a defeat, Deng Ai judged that his life was not long, but also explained the reason to Sima Shi, after which Zhuge Ke was really killed, soon, Deng Ai moved to Yanzhou Assassin History, Jia Zhenwei general.

When Biqiu Jian and Wenqin rebelled, Deng Ai sent troops with Sima Shi to fight, and he rushed to Lejia City to build a pontoon bridge, so that after Sima Shi arrived, he could occupy Lejia. Later, Deng Ai personally led the troops to pursue Wenqin to Qiutou. After Sun Jun, the prime minister of Wu State, attacked, Wei Zhendong's general Zhuge Dan sent Deng Ai to defend Feiyang. Deng Ai thought that Feiyang was too far away from the enemy and was not a vital place, so he moved to the attached pavilion and stationed there, and sent Taishan Taishou Zhuge Xu and others to fight against the enemy in Lizhi and repelled the Wu army.

In the second year of Zhengyuan (255), Deng Aijin was named the Marquis of Fangcheng Township, acting as the general of Anxi, and returned to the Western Front. In this year, Jiang Wei defeated Wang Jing of Yongzhou, and Chen Tai, the general of the expedition to the west, did not listen to Deng Ai's advice and sent troops to rescue Jiang Wei. After the war, everyone thought that Jiang Wei should not send troops in the short term, but Deng Ai had a different opinion, he thought that Jiang Wei was likely to attack again, so he stepped up preparations for war.

In the following year (256), Jiang Wei killed again, defeated the Shu army in Duangu, and Emperor Cao Chao of Wei issued an edict to praise Deng Ai, and ordered Deng Ai to be the general of Zhenxi and the military governor of Longyou, and entered the title of Deng Hou. Divided into 500 households, Deng Zhong is the pavilion marquis.

In the second year of Ganlu (257), Zhuge rebelled in Huainan, and Eastern Wu participated in it, Jiang Wei responded to his allies and sent troops north again, and Deng Ai and Sima Wang held the city. After the fall of Zhuge in the third year of Ganlu (258), Jiang Wei retired from the army and was promoted to the general of Zhengxi because of his merits, and a total of 6,600 households were added before and after. (Note 1)

In the third year of Jingyuan (262), Jiang Wei attacked Wei again and was defeated by Deng Ai in Houhe. In this year, Sima Zhao made up his mind to destroy Shu and appointed Zhong Hui, the captain of Sili, as the general of Zhenxi, to go to Guanzhong to reorganize the army. Deng Ai was initially opposed, but was later persuaded.

In the fourth year of Jingyuan (263), the Wei army was divided into three ways to attack Shu, Zhong Hui led the main force, Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu each led a partial army, they first defeated Jiang Wei and captured Hanzhong, and then Zhong Hui was stopped in the Sword Pavilion, Deng Ai smuggled through Yinping, killed behind the enemy in one fell swoop, defeated Zhuge Zhan, forced Liu Chan, and destroyed Shu Han. Afterwards, the imperial court made Deng Ai a lieutenant and increased the number of feudal households by 20,000. His two sons were named pavilion marquis, and each had to be sealed for thousands of households.

[Captured and killed]

Deng Ai was a little arrogant after the destruction of Shu, and in the face of the great victory, he arbitrarily followed the previous practice of the Eastern Han Dynasty general Deng Yu, and appointed a large number of officials in the name of the Son of Heaven. He worshiped Liu Chanxing Hussar General, the Prince of Shu Han as the commander of the chariot, and the kings as the commander of the horses; For the ministers of the Shu Han Dynasty, according to their status, they were either appointed as court officials or let them receive their subordinate positions.

Deng Ai also appointed his close subordinates to compile and lead the history of Yizhou Assassins, and appointed Longxi Taishou and others to lead the counties and counties in Shuzhong. Send people to bury the soldiers who died in the battle with the dead of the Shu soldiers in Mianzhu, and build a high platform as a Jingguan to promote their martial arts.

Deng Ai is deeply proud of this great achievement, and often shows boasting and is proud. He once said to the scholars and doctors of the Shu Kingdom: "You are fortunate to have met me, so I am today." If you meet someone like Wu Han (a famous general in the Eastern Han Dynasty, who destroyed Shu and slaughtered the city), you would have been killed long ago. He also said: "Jiang Wei is naturally a hero for a while, but he met me, so he was at the end of the road." When people of insight saw him so boastful, they often laughed at him behind his back.

All of this gave Zhong Hui an excuse to attack him. When Zhong Hui was ready to rebel, but he was afraid of Deng Ai in the capital of Cheng (cheng), so Zhong Hui revised the documents sent by Deng Ai to the imperial court and the documents that the imperial court replied to Deng Ai, and Zhong Hui also secretly reported Deng Ai's bad intentions with Wei Qiang, so Sima Zhao ordered Wei Qian to arrest Deng Ai's father and son, and sent them to Kyoto in a car, and Deng Ai was arrested.

According to the record of "Wei's Spring and Autumn Period", after being arrested, Deng Ai looked up to the sky and sighed: "I am a loyal minister, I have actually reached this point, and the situation of Bai Qi has reappeared now." ”

After Deng Ai was arrested, Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei were in chaos in Cheng (cheng), both were killed, Deng Ai's subordinates took the opportunity to rescue him, but Wei Qian took the opportunity to participate in the framing of Deng Ai, so he sent the protector Tian Xu to chase and kill Deng Ai's father and son Yu Mianzhu, Sima Zhao then acquiesced in this matter, Deng Ai's remaining sons in Luoyang were also killed, and Deng Ai's wife and grandson were sent to the Western Regions.

According to the record of "Spring and Autumn of the Han Dynasty", when Deng Ai sent troops south to Jiangyou, Tian Xu led the troops and was almost killed by Deng Ai. ”

In the first year of Taishi (265), the Jin Dynasty Wei. Emperor Sima Yan of the Jin Dynasty issued an edict saying: "In the past, Taiwei Wang Ling conspired to depose the king of Qi, and the king of Qi could not maintain the throne in the end. Deng Ai, the general of the expedition to the west, was proud of his merits, lost his integrity, and should be sentenced to death. But on the day the edict was issued, Deng Ai dismissed the people and tied his hands to sin, which was indeed different from those who were greedy for life and did evil. Today, the amnesty can be returned to the city. If there are no descendants, they can make an heir for them, so that the sacrificial rites will not end. ”

In the third year of Taishi (267), Lang Duan Zhuo wrote a book for Deng Ai. In the ninth year of Taishi (273), Sima Yan issued an edict saying: "Deng Ai created meritorious deeds, and he was punished without escaping, and his children and grandchildren were also reduced to slavery, and I often sympathized with them, and I can appoint his own grandson Deng Lang as Langzhong." ”

Note 1: It is recorded in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Deng Ai" that Jiang Wei retired from the army and Deng Ai was promoted in the second year of Ganlu (257), but in fact, Zhuge was eliminated the following year, and Jiang Wei withdrew from the army, so there is a small error in the record here.