Without loss of time, Jiang Wei memorialized the Throne and obtained the Latter Ruler's consent. Then he returned to Hanzhong, assembled his officers, and told them his plans.
“Our many expeditions have failed to achieve success owing to lack of supplies. Now I am about to take eighty thousand troops to Tazhong to form a cantonment and grow wheat and corn ready for the next expedition. You are spent with much fighting and may now repose while collecting grain and guarding Hanzhong. The armies of Wei are from home and have to drag their grain over the mountains. They will be worn out with the labor and must soon retire. That will he the time to smite them, and success must be ours.”
Hu Ji was set over Hanshou, Wang Han over Yuecheng, Jiang Bin over Hancheng, and Jiang Shu and Fu Qian went to guard the passes. After these arrangements had been made, Jiang Wei went off to Tazhong to grow grain and mature his plans.
Deng Ai heard of these dispositions and discovered that the armies of Shu were distributed in forty-eight camps, each connected with the next like the joints of a huge serpent. He sent out his spies to survey the country, and they made a map which was sent to the capital.
But when the Duke of Jin, Sima Zhao, saw the memorial and the map, he was very angry.
“This Jiang Wei has invaded our country many times, and we have been unable to destroy him. He is the one sorrow of my heart.”
Said Jia Chong, “He has carried on the work of Zhuge Liang only too thoroughly, and it is hard to force him back. What you need is some crafty brave to assassinate him, so remove this constant menace of war.”
But Adviser Xun Xu said, “That is not the way. Liu Shan, the Ruler of Shu, is steeped in dissipation and has given all his confidence to one favorite, the eunuch Huang Hao. The higher officers of state are concerned solely with their own safety, and Jiang Wei has gone to Tazhong only that he may save his life. If you send an able leader and a strong army, victory is certain. Where is the need for an assassin's dagger?”
“These are excellent words,” said Sima Zhao, with a laugh, “but if I would attack Shu, where is the leader?”
“Deng Ai is the ablest leader of the day,” said Xun Xu. “Give him Zhong Hui as his second, and the thing is done.”
“Exactly what I think,” said Sima Zhao.
So he summoned Zhong Hui and said to him, “I desire to send you as leader against Wu; can you go?”
“My lord's design is not against Wu, but Shu,” was his reply.
“How well you know my inmost thought!” said Sima Zhao. “But how would you conduct an expedition against Shu?”
“Thinking that my lord would desire to attack Shu, I have already prepared plans. Here they are.”
He laid out his maps, and thereon were shown the camps, and storehouses, and roads all complete.
Sima Zhao was highly pleased.
“You are an excellent leader,” said he. “What say you to going with Deng Ai?”
“The Lands of Rivers is large, and there is space for more than one set of operations. Deng Ai can be sent along another line.”
Zhong Hui was given the title of General Who Conquers the West and the insignia of a Commander-in-Chief over the forces within the pass and control of the armies of Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Jingzhou, and Yangzhou. At the same time a commission with authority flag was sent to Deng Ai giving him command of the forces without the pass, with the title of General Who Conquers the West. And the time for an attack on Shu was settled.
When Sima Zhao was settling the plans in the court, General Deng Dun said, “Why are you sending our armies into a distant and dangerous country and thus inviting trouble? Jiang Wei has invaded this country
many times, and the wars have cost us many lives. We should rather seek safety in defense.”
“I am sending a righteous army against an unrighteous ruler; how dare you oppose my designs?”
Sima Zhao ordered the executioners to put Deng Dun to death forthwith, and they soon returned to lay his head at the foot of the steps. This frightened all those present, and they turned pale.
Sima Zhao said, “It is six years since I conquered the east, and the six years have been spent in preparation. I have long intended to reduce both Wu and Shu. Now I will destroy Shu, and then like a flood I will descend upon Wu and conquer that. That is the method 'destroy Guo to capture Yu.' ((Guo and Yu are two ancient states)). I can tell very nearly what forces they have in Shu. There are eighty or ninety thousand troops in the garrison of Capital Chengdu, forty or fifty thousand on the frontier, while Jiang Wei has about sixty thousand in his cantonments. Against them we can pit one hundred thousand troops under Deng Ai, enough to hold Jiang Wei and keep him from moving east, and Zhong Hui has two or three hundred thousand veterans. And they will go in three divisions straight into Hanzhong. Liu Shan, the Ruler of Shu, is a blind fool with his frontier cities in ruins, his courtiers and women quaking with fear. He will not last long.”
