 Deng Ai pursued Jiang Wei to Yinping, where he formed a group of elite soldiers from among his troops and took a shortcut to Jiangyou (江由; north of present-day Jiangyou, Sichuan) through Deyang Village (德陽亭; northwest of present-day Jiange County, Sichuan), and approached Mianzhu, which was near the Shu capital Chengdu.He asked Zhuge Xu to join him.Zhuge Xu had received orders to block Jiang Wei's advance and was not authorised to join Deng Ai in his mission, so he led his force to Baishui County to rendezvous with Zhong Hui.