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Deng Ai
Cao Wei general who rose from cowherd to commander, crossed the wilds of Yinping in 263 to force Liu Shan's surrender, and was killed after Zhong Hui accused him of rebellion
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Zi Shizai
Deng Ai, courtesy name Shizai, came from Jiyang in Yiyang; orphaned young, he herded calves in Runan and, because he stammered, was given only a lowly post guarding rice paddies. As a commandery accounts officer he met the Grand Commandant Sima Yi, who took him onto his staff, and he wrote the Jihe lun urging military farms and canals north and south of the Huai. Posted to the Longyou front, in 256 he crushed the Shu commander Jiang Wei at Duangu. In the 263 invasion of Shu he led his men over seven hundred li of empty country by the Yinping road, rolling down slopes wrapped in felt, beat Zhuge Zhan at Mianzhu, and received Liu Shan's surrender. Zhong Hui then accused him of rebellion and had him arrested; after Zhong fell in 264, Wei Guan sent Tian Xu to kill Deng and his son Deng Zhong west of Mianzhu. In 273 Emperor Wu of Jin made his grandson Deng Lang a court gentleman.
Life and times
Dates c. 197 CE–264 CE