The Decision To Conquer Shu
In 262, Sima Zhao announced his intention to conquer Shu. Most subjects in the Wei imperial court were against such a campaign, including general Deng Ai, who was at the forefront of fighting Shu in the past. Against the majority, Zhong Hui strongly supported the campaign, and was the most influential factor that turned the opinion in the imperial court to yield. Sima Zhao consequently assigned his personal secretary, Registrar Shi Cuan (师纂), as a major in Deng Ai's army to "convince" him, which Shi Cuan successfully did and turned Deng's opposition to support.
Wei's decision to launch a campaign against Shu first was the result of careful strategic analysis. Its other rival state, Wu, enjoyed the natural barrier, the Yangtze River, and a strong navy with over 5,000 ships. Wei's lack of a strong navy meant that it must take its time to build one and train the sailors first if it was to attack Wu. If Shu was attacked, forces of Wei would be marching on land, avoiding the problem it would face in the campaign against Wu. Also, with Shu gone, Wei would concentrate its forces on Wu without worrying being attacked from the west. Shu was the smallest among the Three Kingdoms, with only 100,000-men strong force, less than half of the 230,000 troops Wu had. Despite its small size, Shu had been taking a very aggressive posture by constantly attacking Wei, which proved to be a major mistake, as Sima Zhao used it as a reason to force the Wei court into accepting his plan.
Read more about this topic: Conquest Of Shu By Wei
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