15 Facts About Meng Da

Meng Da, courtesy name Zidu, was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the early Three Kingdoms period of China.

Meng Da previously served the warlords Liu Zhang and Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty before defecting to Wei.

Meng Da originally served Liu Zhang, the governor of Yi Province.

Meng Da defected to another warlord, Liu Bei, when the latter invaded Yi Province in the early 210s and seized control of the province from Liu Zhang.

In 219, Meng Da was ordered to lead a force from Zigui to attack Fangling.

Meng Da was afraid that he would be punished for refusing to help Guan Yu.

Meng Da then wrote a letter to Liu Feng, informing the latter that he was in grave danger, because someone close to Liu Bei had spoken ill of him, and he urged Liu Feng to surrender to Wei as well.

In Wei, Meng Da received various important appointments and the title of a marquis.

Meng Da became close friends with the Wei officials Huan Jie and Xiahou Shang.

Li Hong told them about Meng Da's meeting with a person called Wang Chong, who told him that Zhuge Liang urged Liu Bei to execute Meng Da's family after Meng defected to Wei, but Liu Bei refused.

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.

In 228, Zhuge Liang launched the first of a series of Northern Expeditions against Wei, and he succeeded in persuading Meng Da to assist the Shu army by rebelling against Wei.

The Wei general Sima Yi wrote letters to Meng Da to put the latter in a dilemma on whether to rebel or not, and secretly led an army from Wan to attack Meng Da's base in Xincheng.

Meng Da was betrayed by his nephew Deng Xian and subordinate Li Fu and his rebellion was swiftly suppressed.

Meng Da appeared as a character in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.