Xincheng Rebellion The Xincheng Rebellion was a revolt that took place in the state of Cao Wei between late 227 and early 228 CE during the Three Kingdoms period . The rebellion was initiated by Meng Da , a former Shu Han general who defected to Wei and was placed in charge of Xincheng ( located in the vicinity of present - day northwestern Hubei ) in Jing Province . The revolt was swiftly suppressed within a month by the Wei general Sima Yi . Meng Da was captured and executed . Background . In 220 , Meng Da , a general who formerly served the warlord Liu Bei , defected over to Liu ' s rival Cao Pi , who had inherited the title of a vassal king — " King of Wei " — from his recently deceased father Cao Cao . Meng Da brought along his subordinates and their families , numbering over 4 , 000 in total . Cao Pi was pleased when he heard that Meng Da had come to join him , and he gave Meng a warm welcome . Cao Pi appointed Meng Da as the Administrator ( 太守 ) of Xincheng ( 新城 ) , which is located along the southwestern border of Wei . At the time , many officials felt that Meng Da was untrustworthy and should not be given important responsibilities . The Wei general Sima Yi , who was stationed at Wan ( 宛 ; present - day Wancheng District , Nanyang , Henan ) and oversaw the military affairs of Jing and Yu provinces at the time , also cautioned Cao Pi against putting too much faith in Meng Da , but Cao did not heed Sima ' s advice . Meng Da was deeply favoured by Cao Pi , and he was also close friends with the Wei officials Huan Jie and Xiahou Shang . When Cao Pi died in 226 , Huan Jie and Xiahou Shang had also died . Meng Da started feeling uneasy because he had been on the frontline for a long time . Throughout Meng Da ' s service in Xincheng , he had been friendly with Eastern Wu ( a state founded by Sun Quan ) and had established strong defences against possible attacks from Wei ' s rival state Shu Han ( founded by Liu Bei ) . Shu ' s Zhuge Liang hated Meng Da for being capricious , and was also worried that Meng would become a threat to Shu . The rebellion . There are two accounts of Meng Da ' s motive for rebelling , both of which are generally similar but there are some slight differences . The first account is from the " Weilue " while the second is from the " Book of Jin " ( " Jin Shu " ) . The " Weilue " account mentioned that Zhuge Liang planned to induce Meng Da to defect to Shu when he heard that Meng was feeling uneasy in Xincheng . Zhuge Liang wrote several letters to Meng Da and the latter replied . Shen Yi ( 申儀 ) , the Administrator of Weixing ( 魏興 ; around present - day Shiquan County in Shaanxi and Yunxi County in Hubei ) , who had disagreements with Meng Da , secretly reported to the Wei imperial court that Meng was having dealings with Shu , but the Wei emperor Cao Rui refused to believe . Sima Yi , who was stationed at Wan at that time , sent an advisor Liang Ji ( 梁幾 ) to investigate and also urged him to travel to the capital Luoyang . Meng Da became suspicious and feared for his life , so he rebelled . The " Jin Shu " account confirmed that Meng Da did have a feud with Shen Yi . Zhuge Liang planned to make use of this incident to lure Meng Da to defect to Shu sooner , so he sent Guo Mo ( 郭模 ) to feign surrender to Wei and divulge Meng ' s plan to Shen Yi . When Meng Da heard that the plot had been leaked out , he immediately made plans for a rebellion . Sima Yi , who was at Wan at that time , became worried that Meng Da would proceed with the revolt quickly , so he wrote a letter to Meng to calm him down . Meng Da was pleased when he received Sima Yi ' s letter , and he entered a dilemma on whether to rebel or not . During this time , Sima Yi secretly led his forces from Wan towards Xincheng . Sima Yi ' s subordinates suggested that they observe Meng Da ' s actions first before advancing , but Sima replied , " ( Meng ) Da is not a trustworthy person . Now that he is hesitating due to suspicions , we should seize this opportunity to get rid of him . " Sima Yi ' s army then advanced quickly and reached Xincheng within eight days . Shu Han and Eastern Wu also sent their forces to support Meng Da , which arrived at An Bridge ( 安橋 ) at Xicheng ( 西城 ) and Mulan Fort ( 木闌塞 ) respectively . Sima Yi despatched his subordinates to deal with Meng Da ' s reinforcements . Before the battle , Meng Da wrote a letter to Zhuge Liang , agreeing to help Shu and predicting that Sima Yi would not come . However , eight days later when Sima Yi ' s army had arrived , Meng Da wrote to Zhuge Liang again , expressing shock and disbelief that Sima had reached Xincheng in just eight days . Meng Da was based in Shangyong ( 上庸 ) , a city in Xincheng which was surrounded on three sides by water , so he set up wooden barriers to defend himself . Sima Yi ' s forces crossed the waters , destroyed the barriers , and arrived just outside Shangyong . Sima Yi then split up his army to attack Meng Da from eight directions . Sima Yi tempted Meng Da ' s nephew Deng Xian ( 鄧賢 ) and subordinate Li Fu ( 李輔 ) into surrendering , which they did so by opening Shangyong ' s gates after sixteen days of siege . Meng Da was captured and executed , and his head was sent to the Wei capital Luoyang . Aftermath . Sima Yi and his army captured over 10 , 000 prisoners - of - war and they returned to Wan . Shen Yi ( 申儀 ) had been in Weixing for a long time and had been behaving arrogantly . He had several official seals carved and distributed without proper authorisation . When he heard of Meng Da ' s fate , he became apprehensive . Many other officials in the region presented Sima Yi with gifts and congratulated him on his victory . Sima Yi sent a messenger to taunt Shen Yi , so Shen came to meet Sima Yi , who questioned him about the distribution of unauthorised official seals but released him later . Sima Yi also relocated the 7 , 000 households from Meng Da ' s territory to You Province in northern China . The Shu generals Yao Jing ( 姚靜 ) , Zheng Ta ( 鄭他 ) and others led their men , numbering over 7 , 000 , and surrendered to Wei . Sima Yi travelled to the capital Luoyang to meet the Wei emperor Cao Rui , who consulted him on how to counter invasions from Eastern Wu , and then ordered him to return to the garrison at Wan . In fiction . The rebellion was mentioned in Chapter 94 of the historical novel " Romance of the Three Kingdoms " , in which some fictitious elements were introduced for dramatic effect . The novel ' s account . Meng Da invited Shen Yi ( 申儀 ) , the Administrator of Jincheng ( 金城 ) , and Shen Dan ( 申耽 ) , the Administrator of Shangyong ( 上庸 ) , to join him in the rebellion . Shen Yi and Shen Dan pretended to agree as they were secretly planning to help the Wei army when it arrived to suppress the revolt . They lied to Meng Da that the preparations were insufficient , and Meng believed them . Sima Yi ' s messenger Liang Ji ( 梁畿 ) arrived at Xincheng and lied to Meng Da that Sima had led an army towards Chang ' an to deal with an invasion by Shu Han . Meng Da was pleased and he threw a feast for Liang Ji and then saw Liang out of the city . He then gave orders to Shen Yi and Shen Dan to rebel on the following day . However , just then , he received reports that an army had arrived outside the city . Meng Da rushed to the city wall and saw that the army was commanded by Xu Huang , a veteran Wei general . Xu Huang called for Meng Da to surrender , but Meng fired an arrow which hit Xu in the forehead . Meng Da ' s archers then rained arrows on Xu Huang ' s men , forcing them to retreat . Xu Huang died from his arrow wound that night at the age of 59 ( by East Asian age reckoning ) and his body was placed in a coffin and sent to Luoyang for burial . By then , Sima Yi ' s main army had showed up outside Xincheng and completely surrounded the city . The following day , Meng Da saw Shen Yi and Shen Dan ' s forces arriving and he thought that they had come to help him . He opened the gates and led his men out to attack Sima Yi , but Shen Yi and Shen Dan shouted at him , " You rebel , don ' t try to escape ! Quickly accept your death ! " Meng Da sensed trouble and attempted to retreat back into the city , but his subordinates Li Fu ( 李輔 ) and Deng Xian ( 鄧賢 ) had betrayed him and denied him entry . Shen Dan approached the exhausted Meng Da and killed him , and Meng ' s men surrendered . Sima Yi entered Xincheng and restored peace and order to the city . He reported his victory to the Wei emperor Cao Rui , who asked for Meng Da ' s head to be sent to Luoyang . Shen Yi and Shen Dan were promoted and ordered to accompany Sima Yi to deal with the Shu invasion , while Li Fu and Deng Xian were tasked with guarding Xincheng and Shangyong . Historicity . Historically , Shen Yi ( 申儀 ) and Shen Dan ( 申耽 ) were not involved in the rebellion . There is also no evidence that Xu Huang participated in suppressing the revolt . The " Sanguozhi " did not provide much details on his death . It simply stated that he died in the first year of the Taihe era ( 227 – 233 ) in the reign of Cao Rui . Modern references . The rebellion is featured as a playable stage in the Koei video game " " , in which it is known as the " Battle of Xin Castle " . The player can only play on the Wei side as Cao Pi , Sima Yi or Xu Huang , and must defeat Meng Da to win the stage . If the player is fast enough , the stage can be completed before Shu reinforcements arrive to help Meng Da .