Novel scene
Deng Ai Crosses Yinping in Secret 鄧士載偷度陰平
About this event
This scene is the episode named in the chapter title of Chapter 117 of the Romance, "Deng Shizai secretly crosses Yinping," the passage in the Conquest of Shu by Wei in which, while Zhong Hui is held up at Jiange by Jiang Wei, Deng Ai crosses more than seven hundred li of uninhabited country by the byways of Yinping, takes the city of Jiangyou and presses on as far as Fu. The Romance says that Deng Ai advanced from Yinping in the 10th month of that year and crossed Motianling after more than twenty days. Romance, Ch. 117 §7 · 13–16 · 20–25
Chen Shou recorded this advance in the Biography of Deng Ai, Records of Wei 28. In the 10th month, in winter, of the 4th year of Jingyuan (263), Deng Ai traveled more than seven hundred li through uninhabited country by the Yinping road, cutting roads through the mountains and building bridges and plank roads, wrapped himself in felt and rolled down the slopes, and when he reached Jiangyou (江由) first, the Shu garrison commander Ma Miao surrendered. Records, Wei 28 §69–71
In the Romance
In Chapter 117 of the Romance, when Jiang Wei holds Jiange firmly, Deng Ai goes to Zhong Hui's camp and says that if he goes out by the byways of Yinping to the Deyang Pavilion of Hanzhong and strikes straight at Chengdu with a surprise force, Jiang Wei will come to the rescue, and Zhong Hui can take Jiange in the meantime. Zhong Hui praises the plan, but once Deng Ai has gone he mocks him as a mediocrity, saying that if Shu guarded the steep places with only a hundred-odd men, Deng Ai's troops would starve to death. Declaring that he will take Chengdu to show Zhong Hui, who took him for a mediocrity, Deng Ai turns his army toward Yinping that night. Romance, Ch. 117 §2 · 7–11
Deng Ai gives his son Deng Zhong five thousand men without armor to cut through the mountains and build bridges, and he himself leads thirty thousand, leaving three thousand behind to set up a camp every hundred-odd li; from the 10th month he travels more than seven hundred li in over twenty days, and only two thousand men remain. When at Motianling no more road can be cut and Deng Zhong and the pioneers weep, Deng Ai says, "How can one get the tiger's cub without entering the tiger's den?", wraps himself in felt and rolls down first, and the soldiers clutch the trees, hang from the cliffs and go down in single file like fish on a string. Over the ridge stands a stele of the Marquis Wu beginning, "When the two fires first arise, someone will cross here," and Deng Ai bows twice to the stele. Romance, Ch. 117 §12–17
Passing an empty camp the Marquis Wu had once had garrisoned, Deng Ai urges his men on, saying that with no way back they can survive only by attacking the city of Jiangyou. Ma Miao, defending the city, has been guarding only the main road and is being rebuked by his wife, Lady Li, for his disloyalty when Deng Ai's two thousand-odd men enter the city, and he surrenders; Lady Li hangs herself. Deng Ai gives her a generous burial, and after starting to behead Tian Xu, who wants to rest, but stopping when the generals plead for him, he advances on Fu, where the people in the city think the army has come down from heaven and all surrender. Romance, Ch. 117 §19–25
Where the Romance differs
Where the plan was proposed: In Chapter 117 of the Romance, Deng Ai goes to Zhong Hui's camp before Jiange, which Jiang Wei is holding, and proposes the Yinping plan, and Zhong Hui mocks it. In the Biography of Deng Ai in the Records, Deng Ai submitted a memorial saying that if he went from Yinping by a byway past the Deyang Pavilion toward Fu County, he would come out a hundred li west of Jiange, some three hundred li from Chengdu, so that a surprise force could strike at the enemy's heart. Romance, Ch. 117 §7–9Records, Wei 28 §69–70
The march through Yinping: In Chapter 117 of the Romance, Deng Ai leaves three thousand men behind every hundred-odd li, crosses Motianling with only two thousand, and sees the stele of the Marquis Wu. The Biography of Deng Ai in the Records says that during the march of more than seven hundred li through uninhabited country the grain transport was nearly exhausted and they were in danger many times, and records nothing of camps left behind, troop numbers or a stele. Romance, Ch. 117 §13–17Records, Wei 28 §71
Ma Miao's surrender: In Chapter 117 of the Romance, Ma Miao surrenders while being rebuked by his wife, Lady Li, and Lady Li takes her own life. The Biography of Deng Ai in the Records states only that when Deng Ai reached Jiangyou (江由) first, the Shu garrison commander Ma Miao surrendered. Romance, Ch. 117 §20–23Records, Wei 28 §71
Written by 3KDEX (not yet reviewed) — The tags at the end of each paragraph link to the exact passage in the Records volume or Romance chapter it is based on.