After Zhong Hui forced Jiang Wei to the Sword Pavilion, the Wei army can be said to have achieved a great victory, but Deng Ai hit a new high on this basis, he unexpectedly smuggled through Yinping, and in one fell swoop into the rear of Shu Han, beheaded Zhuge Zhan, and forced Cheng (Cheng) to be the capital.

【Smuggling Yinping】

Zhong Huijiu attacked the Sword Pavilion and was ready to retreat, Deng Ai was unwilling to leave, so he Deng Ai wrote and said: "Now the enemy soldiers have suffered a great setback, and they should take advantage of the victory to pursue." From Yinping along the path, through the Han Deyang Pavilion, rushed to Fu County, more than 100 miles away from the west of the Sword Pavilion, more than 300 miles away from the Chengdu capital, sent elite troops to directly attack the heart of the enemy. Although Jiang Wei was defending the Sword Pavilion, in this case, he would definitely have to lead troops to rescue Fu County. At this time, the clock will just take advantage of the void. If Jiang Wei defended the Sword Pavilion and did not save Fu County, then Fu County would have very few troops. The Art of War says: 'Attack it unprepared, take it by surprise.' Attack its empty land today, and you will surely defeat the enemy. ”

In October of the fourth year of Wei Jingyuan (263), Deng Ai went to Jiangyou from Yinping, he led some elite soldiers to walk more than 100 miles, almost all of them were no man's land, digging mountains and opening roads, erecting plank roads, the mountains are high and the valleys are deep, it is very difficult and dangerous, and it is very difficult to transport grain, almost to the point of running out of grain. Deng Ai wrapped his body in felt and pushed down. All the soldiers climbed the cliff and advanced one by one. First came to Jiangyou County, the Western Shu guard general Ma Miao surrendered, and Cheng (cheng) was greatly shocked.

【Chengdu countermeasures】

Historically, the Shu Han army can be roughly divided into four places, one is stationed in Chengdu (cheng) capital, Fucheng, and sits in the center; One was in the Hanzhong area, against Cao Wei, and Jiang Wei led the troops at that time; One guards the south, manages the seven southern counties of Shu and Han, and is under the management of Huo Yi, the general of Annam; One was in the Yong'an area, guarding against Sun Wu, led by the right general Yan Yu.

Earlier, after Deng Ai attacked, Huo Yi, the general of Annam stationed in Nanzhong, wanted to lead the army to rescue Cheng (cheng), but Liu Chan was prepared to Cheng (cheng) and was not allowed to support, and when Deng Ai really called, Liu Chan sent a messenger to Sun Wu for help on the one hand, and transferred Yan Yu to lead the troops to rescue, on the other hand, he gave amnesty to the world, and after internal discussions, it was decided to take Zhuge Zhan as the main one, and lead Zhang Zun, Huang Chong, Li Qiu and others to lead the army to resist.

After the latter lord appealed to Wu for help, Wu sent the general Ding Feng to lead the Zhu army into Shouchun; Let the general stay in Ping to Shi Ji in Nanjun to discuss where to march the army; Let the generals Ding Feng and Sun Yi go to the rescue of Shu Han. Yan Yu, the right (great) general of Shu Han, led his troops to the west to rescue, and he left 2,000 troops to order Luo Xian to guard Yong'an City, and personally led the rest of the people to the west to rescue Chengdu.

[Zhuge Zhan died in battle]

In the winter of the first year of Yanxing (263), Deng Aiqi, the general of Wei Zhengxi, attacked Yinping and attacked from Jinggu Dao, and Shu Han sent Wei general Zhuge Zhan to lead Shangshu Zhang Zun (grandson of Zhang Fei), Shangshulang Huang Chong (son of Huang Quan), and Li Qiu (nephew of Li Hui), the governor of the right part of Yulin, to lead the army to resist, and after arriving in Fuxian, he was unable to move forward; Shang Shulang Huang Chong repeatedly advised him to quickly seize the dangerous terrain and prevent the enemy from entering the plain, Zhuge Zhan hesitated and did not take his advice, and Huang Chong wept bitterly because of Zhuge Zhan's mistake.

After Deng Ai drove straight in, Zhuge Zhan supervised the army to Fucheng and met the Wei army in battle, Deng Ai defeated Zhuge Zhan's forward, and Zhuge Zhan was forced to retreat to Mianzhu. Deng Ai sent an envoy to send a letter to lure Zhuge Zhan to surrender: "If you are willing to surrender, I will definitely crown you as the evil king of Lang." Zhuge Zhan was furious, beheaded Deng Ai's envoy, and led the army to battle.

At this time, Huang Chong also inspired the soldiers to fight to the death, and Li Qiu gave orders in battle, so the last battle of the Han and Wei dynasties - the Battle of Mianzhu broke out. Zhuge Zhan set up a position in Mianzhu and waited for Deng Ai, Deng Ai sent his son Deng Zhong to outflank from the right, and sent Shi Shu to outflank from the left, but both were defeated by Zhuge Zhan and retreated, reporting: "The enemy is difficult to break!" Deng Ai was furious and said: "Life and death, in this move, what can't you do!" The two were to be beheaded, so the two fought again and defeated the Han army, and Zhuge Zhan, Huang Chong, Zhang Zun and others were all killed.

According to the record of "Huayang National Chronicles", Zhuge Shang, the son of Zhuge Zhan, sighed after hearing about the defeat of the army: "Our father and son have received so many favors from the country, but they did not kill Huang Hao early, so they were defeated, what face do they have to live?!" So he rushed into the battle and died.

After the fall of Mianzhu, the Shu army collapsed on all fronts. Deng Ai took advantage of the victory to attack, captured Luo County in one go, and approached Cheng Capital.

【Zhuge Zhan's Death】

In history, Zhuge Zhan's defeat in Mianzhu gave Shu Han a fatal blow, but it should be noted that although Zhuge Zhan is the son of Zhuge Liang, after the famous family, the official to the general, but he does not have much military experience, and this time against Deng Ai is likely to be his first time leading troops to fight. The situation of the others Zhang Zun, Huang Chong, and Li Qiu is similar to Zhuge Zhan, they are basically civilian officials and have no military experience. At that time, Liao Hua, the general of the right chariot cavalry in the middle of the court, and Zhang Yi, the general of the left chariot cavalry, had already led troops north to support Jiang Wei and others, and there were no generals in the imperial court, so Zhuge Zhan's group of people was because there was really no one in Cheng (cheng), and they drove ducks to the shelves. And because Liao Hua and the others had already taken away a group of troops, Zhuge Zhan's troops were not very strong, and the number was not much.

As a military newcomer, although Zhuge Zhan and others have a lot of enthusiasm, they are still incomparable with Deng Ai, a veteran general in the army, and they hesitate to lead the troops, and they are easily angered by their opponents. As a result, Zhuge Zhan and the others suffered the same painful defeat as the newcomers Ma Tan and Wang Jing back then.

As mentioned above, after Zhong Hui and Deng Ai attacked, the Annan general Huo Yi originally wanted to lead the troops to rescue Cheng (cheng), but Liu Chan didn't know what medicine to take and didn't agree, if the Annan general Huo Yi brought troops to help in history, the situation would be much better, first of all, Huo Yi as a general in the Shu Han army, his military experience is much stronger than Zhuge Zhan and others, and he can also bring a large number of troops, which can greatly alleviate the emptiness of the internal military strength of Shu Han at that time, Moreover, there was a precedent in Shu Han earlier for the garrison of Cheng by the commander of Nanzhong, and Cao Shuang did this before Fei Yi went north to do so.

You must know that although Deng Ai smuggled through Yinping and successfully entered the rear of Shu Han, he came from a small road, which was sudden, but did not have sufficient strength, and the troops led by Deng Ai were not many, at most 30,000 people, and there must be a lack of military equipment, and it would be difficult for Zhong Hui to support Deng Ai because of the road. In the case that Jiang Wei blocked Zhong Hui's large army in the Sword Pavilion, as long as it dragged on, the Wei army's grain and grass supply would be 100% problematic, even if Deng Ai's troops could solve the grain and grass problem, Zhong Hui's large army would not be able to solve this problem, as long as Zhong Hui was forced to retreat, Deng Ai would be a catfish on the chopping block, and he would not be able to escape.

Time is on the side of Shu Han, if Zhuge Zhan did not choose to fight head-on, stick to the city checkpoint, drag Deng Ai, and wait until Yan Yu and Sun Wu's reinforcements arrive, the situation will be reversed sooner or later, but unfortunately Zhuge Zhan is still too young and does not have enough military experience.