Initially, when Sima Zhao wanted to put Zhong Hui in charge of leading the Wei army to conquer Shu, Shao Ti warned him that Zhong Hui might rebel against Wei because he was in command of an army of thousands, was single, and had no family to worry about.

As a result, Deng Ai's advance through Yinping was swift enough to allow him to quickly reach Chengdu and demand Liu Shan's surrender.

[1] Jiang Wei, by contrast, liaised with Liu Shan, outlining a plan to trick Zhong Hui into rebellion, weakening Wei troops, before killing Zhong and seizing power of the troops while re-declaring Shu's independence.

[Sanguozhi zhu 1] In early 264, Sima Zhao issued an edict granting Zhong Hui the position of Minister of the Interior and ordering Zhong Hui to capture Deng Ai to be brought to the Wei capital, Luoyang, to account for his conduct.

[Sanguozhi 2] However, at the same time, Sima Zhao personally led an army out of the Luoyang with Jia Chong towards Chengdu.

"[Sanguozhi 3] Zhong Hui immediately became acting commander of Wei forces in the former Shu territory, at which point his hubris reached its height.

I have ordered Jia Chong to lead 10,000 infantry and cavalry into the Xie Valley and station at Yuecheng.

After reading the letter, Zhong Hui was shocked and he told his close aides, "When His Excellency ordered me to arrest Deng Ai, he knew I was capable of accomplishing the task alone.

During the service, he showed them a forgery he had made of an imperial decree claiming to have been issued by the empress dowager before her death.

In the decree, Empress Dowager Guo wanted all those who were loyal to Wei to rise up against Sima Zhao and remove him from power.

Zhong Hui sought the officers' opinions, asked them to sign on a list if they agreed to carry out the empress dowager's dying wish, and then instructed his close aides to take over command of the various military units.

Zhong Hui favoured and regarded Qiu Jian highly and requested for him to be transferred to his unit.

Around the time, Jiang Wei was collecting his armour and weapons from Zhong Hui when they heard shouting and received news that a fire had broken out.

The detained officers broke out of captivity, regrouped with their men, and attacked Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei.

Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei fought the mutinying soldiers and slew about five or six of them, but were eventually overwhelmed and killed by them.

A popular anecdote included in the novel concerning the rebellion is that when Jiang Wei was killed, his body was mutilated to expose the gall bladder (the traditional source of courage in Chinese culture,) which had swollen to a huge size, implying reckless foolishness — it is described with a phrase now used as a proverb: "膽大如斗 (gallbladder as big as a dou)".