Meng Da
Zhuge Liang attempted to contact Meng Da and induce him to defect back to Shu, despite objection from Fei Shi, who remarked that Meng Da was an untrustworthy traitor. By then, the Wei emperor Cao Pi had died and was succeeded by Cao Rui, who treated Meng Da less favourably. Meng Da's close friends Huan Jie and Xiahou Shang had also died, so Meng Da felt isolated and became increasingly disgruntled with the Wei imperial court. After some exchanging of letters between Zhuge Liang and Meng Da, the latter gradually developed animosity towards Wei and harboured the intention of starting a rebellion.