Chen Tai
In the meantime, Chen Tai, who was at Shanggui County (上邽縣; in present-day Tianshui, Gansu), split up his forces and ordered them to advance day and night to quickly capture and defend strategic locations in the area. The Wei imperial court appointed Deng Ai as acting General Who Stabilises the West (安西將軍) and ordered him to lead troops to assist Chen Tai in resisting the Shu invasion. Days later, the Grand Commandant (太尉) Sima Fu also led backup forces to reinforce Chen Tai. Wei reinforcements led by Deng Ai, Hu Fen (胡奮) and Wang Mi (王秘) arrived in Shanggui County to join Chen Tai's forces. They split into three groups and advanced towards Longxi Commandery. Earlier on, Chen Tai had disagreements with the other officers on how to lift the siege on Didao. Deng Ai and the other officers said that the Shu army's morale was high after defeating Wang Jing, so they should retreat first and hold up in a strategic location, while waiting for an opportunity to strike back. Chen Tai, on the other hand, argued that they should launch a swift assault and decisively defeat the Shu army before it could take advantage of its high morale to conquer more Wei territories and garner strong support from the Qiang and Di tribes.