Cui Liang

Overview
Cui Liang was a military officer who served the Kingdom of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Ancient China as the Prefect of Anding prefecture.

History
Once, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Shu, Zhuge Liang submitted a petition to the ruler of Shu Liu Shan, requesting permission to lead the Shu troops in a campaign against the Kingdom of Wei to restore the Han Dynasty. The Wei ruler Cao Rui despatched the imperial son-in-law Xiahou Mao to lead an army to counter the Shu army.

Retreat
Xiahou Mao was an incompetent commander and led the Wei troops to defeat in the first few battles. Eventually, he was forced to retreat to Nan'an and defend the city firmly against any invasion, but would not launch any counter attack.

Zhuge's Plan
Zhuge Liang came up with a strategy to defeat Xiahou Mao, by seizing the cities of Anding and Tianshui first. He knew that the prefects of both cities would certainly lead reinforcement troops to rescue the besieged Xiahou Mao in Nan'an. Thus, he sent Pei Xu to Anding, disguised as a general who had managed to break out of the siege in Nan'an, where Pei managed to convince Cui Liang to despatch reinforcements to Nan'an. Later Pei Xu went to Tianshui to persuade the Prefect of Tianshui Ma Zun to despatch reinforcements as well.

Ambush, Capture and Death
When Cui Liang personally led the reinforcements to Nan'an, he was ambushed along the way by the Shu troops. Cui was shocked and ordered his troops to retreat back to Anding, but Zhuge Liang had already sent Wei Yan to seize Anding when Cui Liang was out.

Cui Liang feigned surrender to Shu when he was surrounded and had nowhere to escape to. He offered to convince the Governor of Nan'an, Yang Ling, to turn the city over. In fact, he had no such intention, so he told Yang and Xiahou Mao about the plot. The three of them attempted to lure the Shu army into the city and massacre them.

Zhuge Liang saw through the plot, however, and both Cui Liang and Yang Ling were slain by Zhang Bao and Guan Xing, respectively, and Xiahou Mao was captured.