Everyone has a hidden agenda, except maybe for the guy suspected of hatching an insurrection. (Note: Special guest narrator this week)

* Transcript

* Map of Key Locations

* Graph of Key Characters and Relationships

Transcript

PDF version

Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 150.

Last time, this became the Romance of the Two Kingdoms Podcast, as Deng (4) Ai (4) forced the Shu emperor Liu (2) Shan (4) to surrender. Deng Ai then sent a letter back to his boss, Sima (1,3) Zhao (1), advising that they leave Liu Shan in the Riverlands for now and treat him well so as to show the emperor of Wu that hey, you should really just surrender too.

But that advice aroused in Sima Zhao a suspicion that Deng Ai was trying to set himself up to rule the Riverlands. So Sima Zhao now sent two documents. One was an official decree to Deng Ai; the other was a handwritten letter to Deng Ai’s army supervisor, Wei (4) Guan (4). The decree heaped praise upon Deng Ai for his accomplishments and informed him that he was to be promoted to grand commandant. He would have an extra 20,000 households added to his fiefdom, and his sons would receive titles of nobility and food from fiefdoms of a thousand households each.

After Deng Ai received that decree, the army supervisor Wei (4) Guan (4) showed him the handwritten letter from Sima Zhao. It said that regarding what to do with Liu Shan, Sima Zhao needed to first run Deng Ai’s advice through the emperor, so he couldn’t act on it immediately. Of course, Deng Ai wasn’t buying that. I mean, when was the last time Sima Zhao ran anything through the emperor except a pointy weapon?

“A general in the field may disregard an order from his lord,” Deng Ai said. “Since I have the authority of an imperial edict for my expedition, why should he reject my proposal?”

So Deng Ai sent another letter back to the capital. By now, everyone at court was saying that Deng Ai must be thinking about a rebellion, which only added to Sima Zhao’s paranoia. And then, his envoy returned with Deng Ai’s letter, which basically said that we have to act quickly to firm up the loyalty of the people of Shu and to capitalize on the opportunity to win hearts and minds in the kingdom of Wu. So I can’t wait until you run this proposal through the emperor. As the Spring and Autumn Annals said, “Beyond the borders, a high official may do as he sees fit as long as his purpose is in the best interest of the state.” I will never do anything to harm the state’s interest, so I will go ahead and put my proposal into effect.

 

Uhh, this was exactly the wrong time to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. Sima Zhao was shocked by the audacity expressed in the letter, so he quickly huddled with his adviser Jia (3) Chong (1).

Sima Zhao said, “Deng Ai is getting too arrogant and is acting on his own accord. His rebellious intent is showing. What should we do?”

“Why not promote Zhong (1) Hui (4) to check him?” Jia Chong suggested.

So Sima Zhao promoted Zhong Hui to minister of the interior and put Wei (4) Guan (4) in charge of both armies in Shu. He also sent another handwritten letter to Wei Guan, telling him to work with Zhong Hui to keep an eye on Deng Ai, in case Deng Ai did decide to rebel.

Upon receiving his promotion, Zhong Hui met with Jiang (1) Wei (2), the former Shu commander who had surrendered to Zhong Hui and become his sworn brother.