he also destroyed a letter from Sima Zhao to Deng Ai. The Wei government fell for Zhong Hui's ruse and ordered Deng Ai to be arrested and transported back to Luoyang in a prison cart. Sima Zhao was worried that Deng Ai would not submit, so he ordered Zhong Hui and Wei Guan to arrest Deng Ai. With Zhong Hui and his troops following behind, Wei Guan went to Deng Ai's camp in Chengdu and used Sima Zhao's letter of authorisation to order Deng's soldiers to put down their weapons. Deng Ai was arrested and placed in a prison cart. Planning Zhong Hui had been wary of Deng Ai, so after Deng was arrested, he immediately assumed command of the Wei forces in the former Shu territories. He was overwhelmed by feelings of megalomania after seeing that he wielded great power in his hands, so he decided to rebel against Wei. He came up with a strategy for capturing the Wei capital, Luoyang, in the following sequence: Jiang Wei would lead a vanguard force out of the Xie Valley () to attack the city of Chang'an. Zhong Hui would follow behind with the main army and provide support. After capturing Chang'an, the army would be split into two groups – infantry and cavalry. The infantry would sail along the Wei and Yellow rivers towards Meng Ford () near Luoyang while the cavalry would ride towards Luoyang on land. Zhong Hui estimated that the journey would take five days. The infantry and cavalry would rendezvous outside Luoyang and attack the city together. Zhong Hui received a letter from Sima Zhao, which read: "I fear Deng Ai might not submit. I have ordered Jia Chong to lead 10,000 infantry and cavalry into the Xie Valley and station at Lecheng. I will lead 100,000 troops to garrison at Chang'an. We will be meeting each other soon." 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. However, now, since he has brought his troops here, he must be suspecting me. We should take action quickly. If we succeed, the Empire is ours. If we fail, we can retreat back to Shu Han and do as Liu Bei did before us. It is widely known that my plans have never failed