"Sooner or later, you will have to pay back the money you come out to work." Deng Ai's ending fulfilled this sentence.

In 264 AD, the guards ordered Tian Xu to chase them to Jinzhu and execute Deng Ai and his son in the prison car on the spot. Countless famous generals died in battle or accidents during the Three Kingdoms period, such as Zhou Gongjin, Guan Yunchang, Sun Ce, etc. However, among the many famous generals, every time the death of Deng Ai is mentioned, people will have mixed feelings.

Deng Ai, who came from a poor family, played the most important role in the battle to destroy Shu. It can be said that without Deng Ai's surprise attack on Yinping Pass, the Sima clan would not have been able to approach the city and ask Liu Chan to surrender. However, Deng Ai made such a great contribution, but was framed by Zhong Hui, and finally died at the hands of Tian Xu. All his sons were executed, and his clansmen were exiled to the Western Regions. Many people in later generations have complained for Deng Ai, but if you count Deng Ai in detail, If you look at his life, you will find that Deng Ai's ending is purely his own fault and he cannot blame others.

What exactly did Deng Ai do?

Deng Ai has this result, which corroborates a line in "Infernal Affairs": "Sooner or later, you will have to pay back the money if you come out to hang out." Deng Ai did not expect that it was what he did back then that pushed him into the abyss bit by bit. To talk about what Deng Ai did, we must first review Deng Ai's experiences in the first half of his life.

Deng Ai was from Xinye in Jingzhou, and his family was a big family in Xinye. Unfortunately, Deng Ai lost his father when he was young. However, due to family connections, Deng Ai could still receive a good education in his childhood. In 208 AD, Cao Cao The capture of Jingzhou caused Deng Ai to move north with his tribe to farm in Runan. In order to make a living, Deng Ai became a cowherd when he was young. However, Deng Ai in his youth was determined to make a difference.

But the ideal is very full, and the reality is very skinny. Although the adult Deng Ai has great ambitions, he stutters and cannot speak fluently. He was sent to a warehouse by the military commander and became a small official looking after grain and grass. , but after all, he had a stable job. Deng Ai worked conscientiously in his position for more than 20 years. Due to his excellent performance and seniority, he was later promoted to Diannong Caocao.

In 240 AD, his colleagues did not Thinking of it, Deng Ai, who was stammering when he was talking, became famous overnight. In just three years, Deng Ai was promoted from a dian farmer to a military officer in the Western Expedition and a prefect of Nan'an. The land's frontier official.

Why did Deng Ai, who is in his 40s and middle-aged, suddenly become rich?

The reason lies with Sima Yi. At that time, in order to guard against Soochow and Shu Han, Sima Yi wanted to find out which places were suitable for farming and increase Wei's grain production. After receiving the order, Captain Diannong assigned Deng Ai to go there. Field trips.

No one expected that after Deng Ai’s inspection, he actually submitted two pertinent suggestions to Sima Yi. Sima Yi read Deng Ai’s suggestions and understood the value of Deng Ai’s suggestions. Not only was he very satisfied, he immediately started work. implementation. Deng Ai was also appreciated by Sima Yi and single-handedly promoted Deng Ai.

Deng Ai ushered in the spring of his career. Deng Ai knew in his heart that without Sima Yi, his lifelong achievements would be nothing more than a small official working in the fields. Therefore, when Sima Yi and Sima Shi were alive, Deng Ai devoted himself to the Sima family, repeatedly defeating Jiang Wei, appeasing the Qiang tribes, and with a beautiful report card. Repay the Sima family for their kindness.

Deng Ai was also granted the title of Urban and Rural Marquis by Sima Division because of his outstanding military performance, and acted as the general of Anxi. At this time, Deng Ai was a very popular minister and became Sima Division's right-hand man.

Looking at it this way, the first half of Deng Ai's life seemed perfect, but Deng Ai did not expect that the turn of fate would come so quickly. In the second year of Zhengyuan, the 48-year-old Sima Shi suddenly passed away in Xudu. Since Sima Shi had no sons, after Sima Zhao took over the power of the Sima family, Deng Ai's status remained unchanged and his official position continued to rise, but Deng Ai forgot There is a famous saying: Once the emperor and the court minister, although Sima Zhao openly treated Deng Ai with all his heart, in fact Sima Zhao did not treat him as a confidant. Deng Ai was gradually marginalized by Sima Zhao, and even his colleagues felt that Deng Ai was deliberately left out, but Deng Ai didn't think so and still went his own way. Due to the hindsight, Deng Ai once openly opposed Sima Zhao's proposal in the court, which made Sima Zhao extremely embarrassed.

It turns out that after Sima Shi passed away, the ministers loyal to Cao Wei in the court teamed up with Emperor Cao Mao to hold a Hongmen Banquet for Sima Zhao. In the name of Cao Mao, Sima Zhao was invited to the palace to attend the banquet. Hundreds of soldiers were ambushed on both sides of the room, intending to chop Sima Zhao into soup.

But Cao Mao and his gang leaked the news, and someone told Sima Zhao. Sima Zhao immediately took the initiative and got rid of Cao Mao and all the ministers loyal to Cao Wei.

Although Sima Zhao's intentions were well known to everyone and his regicide was a helpless act, it still attracted criticism from the ministers in the DPRK. After all, Sima Zhao was still nominally a minister of Cao Mao.

Faced with the doubts of the powerful family, Sima Zhao could not let the matter continue to ferment. Therefore, Sima Zhao wanted to fight against Shu and establish an unparalleled military exploit to rectify his name and at the same time frighten Xiao Xiao in the court.

Since the battle to conquer Shu is of great importance, especially many famous generals in the Wei State, they all know how powerful Jiang Wei is. Therefore, when Sima Zhao proposed to conquer Shu, he was strongly opposed by most of the civil servants and generals of the Wei State. Only Zhong Hui could guess Sima Zhao's thoughts.

Seeing that Zhong Hui was the only one supporting him, Sima Zhao was quite embarrassed, so he thought of someone, and this person was Deng Ai, because Deng Ai had been fighting with Shu Han all year round and had defeated Jiang Wei several times. At the same time, Deng Ai's prestige among the Wei army and the court was very high. As long as Deng Ai stood by Sima Zhao and was guaranteed to win the battle against Shu, the officials would definitely have no objections.

The most important thing is that Deng Ai was promoted by Sima Yi. He can be said to be a retainer of the Sima family. Therefore, Sima Zhao believed that Deng Ai would definitely support him, but what was the result? To Sima Zhao's great surprise, Deng Ai did not try to figure out why Sima Zhao wanted to conquer Shu after returning to the court. Instead, he openly submitted a letter. This was not the best time to conquer Shu. Sima Zhao gave Deng Ai several opportunities. Ai still insisted on his opinion, but made Sima Zhao very angry!

Seeing that Deng Ai didn't appreciate praise, Sima Zhao was helpless and angry, but at this time he needed Deng Ai's support, so he did not deal with Deng Ai, but quietly asked Shi Zuan to tell Deng Ai about himself Deng Ai weighed the idea again and again, and finally agreed to Sima Zhao's birthright to conquer Shu!

"Book of Jin": Deng Ai, the general who conquered the west, thought that there was no provocation and repeatedly raised objections. The emperor was worried about it and asked the chief bookkeeper to compile it as Ai Sima to describe it, and Ai Nai obeyed the order.

Deng Ai did not expect that this move would be the trigger for his fate. In the subsequent battles against Shu, Deng Ai, who was as smart as ever, made mistakes one after another, which led to his failure. He was killed by Xiao Xiao.

In the Battle of Shu, Deng Ai never expected that he would offend three types of people, and Deng Ai's final outcome was closely related to these three types of people.

1: Soldiers at the bottom

As a famous general of the generation, Deng Ai was supposed to be considerate of the soldiers. However, during the battle against Shu, Deng Ai made two mistakes one after another. , 1: In order to make a surprise attack on Yinping Pass, he resolutely ordered the soldiers to roll down the steep cliff, regardless of the lives of the Wei soldiers. Looking at the steep cliff, the Wei soldiers knew that this trip was likely to lead to a narrow escape, so the soldiers were very upset. Some Wei generals even refused to carry out Deng Ai's orders.

One of the generals was Tian Xu who sent Deng Ai back to the west. For Tian Xu’s disobedience, Deng Ai did not execute him on the spot, but scolded him severely in public, although in the end Tian Xu reluctantly agreed to Deng Ai and jumped off the cliff together, but Tian Xu was dissatisfied with Deng Ai because of this.

But this was just a small episode. After all, after jumping off the cliff, the Wei army's soldiers shared the same hatred and defeated Zhuge Liang's son Zhuge Zhan with less and more ground, creating a myth in the history of war, but Deng Ai However, he was dazzled by the victory. In order to demonstrate his military exploits and to shock the Shu army, Deng Ai turned to the Wei army soldiers and piled the remains of the Shu army and Wei army soldiers on the battlefield into a "Beijing Temple". Throughout the Three Kingdoms, there were countless battles, big and small. , but Deng Ai was the only one who built the "Beijing Temple". Regardless of his feelings for his compatriots, he also used his own people to build the "Beijing Temple", which completely chilled the hearts of the Wei army officers and soldiers. At the same time, the Wei ministers treated him for his actions. It was quite criticized that Deng Ai lost the support of the Wei army officers and soldiers, which paved the way for him to be later executed by Tian Xu.

Two: Shu Han ministers and powerful families

I don’t know whether the victory came easily, which made Deng Ai lose his mind. Deng Ai was confused again with the Shu Han ministers. He was completely Without discussing with Zhong Hui, or even saying hello to Sima Zhao, after accepting Liu Chan's surrender, he made his own decision and made Liu Chan King of Fufeng, and made Liu Chan's son a Marquis of Wei, etc.

And he was even more proud of the ministers of Shu Han. Facing the ministers of Shu Han, he said shamelessly that he wanted to thank him for being merciful and not killing them all.

They didn’t even take Jiang Wei, the great general of the Shu Kingdom, seriously, saying that Jiang Wei was mediocre and not worth mentioning. This kind of blatant look down on the civil and military ministers of the Shu Han Dynasty was completely foreign to outsiders. This kind of arrogance, but Deng Ai forgot one thing. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, Deng Ai was a scholar from a poor family. He dared to despise the Shu Han ministers and Jiang Wei, and completely ignored the aristocratic families behind them. This approach was criticized by Wei In the eyes of the prominent families of the Kingdom and Shu Kingdom, he is completely a pick. Deng Ai's arrogant words and arbitrary actions in the Shu Han Dynasty offended the lower-level soldiers and the powerful families.

Three: Coach Zhong Hui and Sima Zhao

Sima Zhao originally wanted to conquer Shu to establish prestige for himself, and blocked Wei with a miraculous feat that even Sima Yi could not do. The words of the state minister paved the way for the final concession, but Deng Ai had repeatedly pushed back on the expedition to Shu. Therefore, Sima Zhao asked Zhong Hui to take charge of the expedition to Shu. Deng Ai, as deputy general, cooperated with Zhong Hui to conquer Shu. Zhong Hui ordered Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu acted as partial troops, and the left and right wings advanced together, making it impossible for Jiang Wei to take care of both. After Zhong Hui's main force attacked Hanzhong, he was blocked by Jiang Wei at the Jianmen Pass. At this time, Zhong Hui was in a dilemma. Sima Zhao did not want to fall short, and planned to let Zhong Hui withdrew, after all, taking Hanzhong was already a miracle.

At this juncture, Deng Ai came up with a surprise attack and even invited Zhuge Xu, who was also a partial army commander, to walk along the Yinping Road. Zhuge Xu rejected Deng Ai's suggestion and joined Zhong Hui. In order to monopolize the military power, Zhong Hui tried to escort Zhuge Xu back to Luoyang, but Zhong Hui did not expect that he would be picked off by Deng Ai after he had worked so hard to confront Jiang Wei. Zhong Hui's troops surrounded Chengdu and accepted Liu Chan's surrender. This made Zhong Hui very angry, but Deng Ai had accomplished a great feat and Sima Zhao was very happy. Although Zhong Hui was depressed at this time, he was the coach after all, so it was not easy for him to have an attack. .

Deng Ai’s various actions after establishing the miraculous power made Zhong Hui, who had always been depressed, see the light of day. Zhong Hui, who was full of scheming, came up with a way to quietly modify Deng Ai and Sima Zhao. They exchanged letters, but at this time Deng Ai was still kept in the dark and made his last big mistake. Offended Sima Zhao.

Originally, Sima Zhao responded to Deng Ai's decision to confer Liu Chan the title of King of Fufeng. In view of Deng Ai's great achievements, Sima Zhao only wrote back to remind Deng Ai that "things must be repaid, and it is not appropriate to act haphazardly." , When reflecting, you need to know how to measure things, and you need to discuss things with each other. Don’t forget that Sima Zhao is the boss.

But Deng Ai used the reason that the general was not willing to accept the emperor's life, and used the Spring and Autumn Days to defend himself. This approach made Sima Zhao suspicious, and the clock would secretly report that Deng Ai had different intentions. , because Zhong Hui was Sima Zhao's confidant, and Deng Ai's previous actions, Sima Zhao believed what Zhong Hui said. Let the military guards capture Deng Ai and escort him back to Luoyang.

Wei_ was still wary of Deng Ai at first because Deng Ai was in charge of an elite Wei army. However, Wei_ did not expect that Deng Ai would be so unpopular. He privately summoned all the generals and stated that he was here to arrest him. Not only did no one of Deng Ai's generals tell Deng Ai, but all of them wanted to catch Deng Ai and make a killing.

In the end, with Tian Xu’s insistence, Wei_ asked him to take people to the camp to capture Deng Ai. Tian Xu’s success in capturing Deng Ai surprised Wei__ Unexpectedly, Wei_ How Deng Ai and his son were captured so easily is completely unbelievable. Coincidentally, the place where Deng Ai killed him was the brocade bamboo he built "Jingguan". Deng Ai's ending was apparently caused by Zhong Hui's jealousy. But in the final analysis, his emotional intelligence is too low. It was the interaction between the Wei army officers, the powerful families, the Shu Han monarchs and ministers, as well as Sima Zhao and Zhong Hui that allowed Deng Ai to achieve this ending. But at the moment of his death, Deng Ai still couldn't figure out where he went wrong and lamented Bai Qi's Why things happen to you. It can be seen that Deng Ai, who created immortal achievements, ended up being betrayed and separated from his relatives. It was entirely his own fault and had nothing to do with others.

Deng Ai gives us a warning. Whether in life or work, first of all, people must be humble and low-key. Especially when they achieve great success, they need to act in a low-key manner and avoid giving people a rude look. I feel like this will turn off your friends and colleagues.

A person’s success is inseparable from the support of friends, leaders, colleagues and subordinates! If we do everything possible to pursue success, regardless of the feelings of our subordinates and colleagues, and do not listen to the opinions of our leaders, we may achieve short-term success, and the final result will be the same as Deng Ai.

Whether it is in life or in the workplace, we must know how to sail with caution, and always remember Zheng Banqiao's couplet: An open-minded bamboo has lowered leaves, and a proud plum has no upward-facing flowers.