Zhong Hui's Rebellion
| Zhong Hui's Rebellion | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the wars of the Three Kingdoms period | ||||||||
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
| Zhong Hui | Cao Wei | Revolting troops formerly under Zhong Hui | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
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Zhong Hui † Jiang Wei † |
Sima Zhao Jia Chong Deng Ai  Deng Zhong
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Wei Guan Hu Lie Hu Yuan Qiu Jian |
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Zhong Hui's Rebellion was an uprising against the state of Cao Wei in 264 by the general Zhong Hui, aided by the general of the newly destroyed Shu Han state Jiang Wei. Zhong Hui considered himself capable enough of overcoming the regime of Sima Zhao to create a kingdom in the ruins of Shu, and led an army against his former colleague Deng Ai. The resulting conflict saw Deng Ai killed and the rebellion fragmented under revolts against Zhong Hui.
Initially, when Sima Zhao wanted to put Zhong Hui in charge of leading the Wei army to conquer Shu, Shao Ti warned him that Zhong Hui might rebel against Wei because he was in command of an army of thousands, was single, and had no family to worry about. Sima Zhao laughed and said he understood Shao Ti's concern very well, but chose to let Zhong Hui lead the Wei army because he had faith in Zhong's ability to conquer Shu. He also predicted that Zhong Hui would not succeed even if he rebelled because of two reasons. First, the people of Shu would be fearful after seeing how their state had been conquered, and hence would not help Zhong Hui. Second, the Wei forces would be exhausted after the campaign and want to return home, so they would not support Zhong.
Both Deng Ai and Zhong Hui had taken part in the Conquest of Shu in 263, having acted as foils to each other during the invasion - where Zhong Hui had demanded an advance through Jiange, Deng Ai had instead chosen to move through Yinping. Jiang Wei, having been surprised from Zhong Hui's eastern offensive, moved all troops from Yinping to halt Zhong Hui's advance. As a result, Deng Ai's advance through Yinping was swift enough to allow him to quickly reach Chengdu and demand Liu Shan's surrender.
In the following occupation of the Shu territory, Deng Ai began issuing orders in Chengdu an autocratic fashion, while Zhong Hui began exhibiting signs of hubris, believing himself to no longer be capable of serving under another. Jiang Wei, by contrast, liaised with Liu Shan, outlining a plan to trick Zhong Hui into rebellion, weakening Wei troops, before killing Zhong and seizing power of the troops while re-declaring Shu's independence.
Zhong Hui's first course of action was to falsify letters proving a purported plan by Deng Ai to rebel, creating distrust between Sima Zhao and Deng Ai; this was supplemented by Deng Ai's own growing arrogance in his correspondence with Sima. Zhong Hui, skilled in forgery, secretly intercepted and edited a report from Deng Ai to the Wei imperial court to exaggerate Deng Ai's arrogance, while simultaneously submitting a report of his own to express suspicion of Deng Ai; he also destroyed a letter from Sima Zhao to Deng Ai in a further effort to alienate the latter.
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