What is the true meaning of Wei Yan in the disputes of the post-Zhuge Liang era?
Although it is often said that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is"Seven points true, three points false", but in Wei Yan's pen it is called"Seven points false, three points true", Wei Yan also has it"Antique buns"notoriety. In fact, Wei Yan has always been loyal to Shu Han, and under Liu Bei's trust and reuse, the reason why he resisted Zhuge Liang's killing machine and did not attack Yang Yi was more likely because of his own character flaws and old grudges with Yang Yi, and neither of them was willing to forge a conspiracy to deal with each other.
Wei Yan had followed Liu Bei before and was loyal to Shu Han.
Wei Yan, a native of Yiyang, switched to Liu Bei in Shuzhong and became Liu Bei's subordinate. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yiyang belonged to Siliping County, Nanyang County, Jingzhou, so when Wei Yan was stationed in Xinye, he should have been Liu Bei's subordinate, and in the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), he accompanied Liu Bei to conquer Shu as a scholar.
After the Battle of Yizhou, he was appointed as the general of the Evil Gate, although the general of the Evil Gate is called another general in the ordinary dictionary, but this is because Liu Bei's official position is very low, but in fact he is the constant companion of the lord, giving advice to important generals, giving advice on behalf of the army, and taking care of the military horses, not only need courage and wit, but also need to be able to write and martial arts, and be loyal. It can be seen that Wei Yan's status in Liu Bei's mind.
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei became king of Hanzhong after seizing Hanzhong from Cao Cao, and when appointing Hanzhong Tai Punctuality, he unexpectedly chose Wei Yan, who had been promoted to general of Zhenyuan, over Zhang Fei, who had wide support. Liu Bei seems to have placed great trust and hope on Wei Yan, who has been following him for a long time.
In the following years, Wei Yan was loyal to his duties, protected Hanzhong, and did not give Cao Wei a chance. After Liu Bei was proclaimed emperor, Wei Yan was promoted to the general of Zhenbei. After Liu Bei's death, the crown prince Liu Chan ascended the throne, and Wei Yan was made the Marquis of Duting.
From the fifth year of Jianxing (227) to the ninth year of Jianxing (231), Wei Yan followed Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition four times, not only made many military exploits, but also put forward the famous in the first Northern Expedition"The Meridian Valley Show", but it was not adopted by Zhuge Liang. After the Northern Expedition, Wei Yan was still in charge of the defense of Hanzhong. Wei Yan was promoted to the former military division, the general of the expedition to the west, and was named the envoy of the simulated festival and the marquis of Southern Zheng.
As mentioned above, Wei Yan was not only talented in the Shuhan group, but also extremely loyal and outstanding, and Liu Bei was also very inclined to reuse, as the so-called"Spinning", it's just empty talk in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". However, the character of Wei Yan also has a fatal flaw, that is, he is arrogant and arrogant, and his final tragic ending is not lacking in highlights.
Wei Yan did not betray Shu Han, and his tragic end was caused by his character.
Although Wei Yan is both wise and brave, he is arrogant and arrogant, and he prides himself on following Liu Bei, and he does not have those rising stars in his eyes, which leads him to fight with Liu Yan, Yang Yi and others repeatedly, and even killed Yang Yi repeatedly, but fortunately, under the persuasion of Zhuge Liang, Fei Yi and others, it did not cause a big disaster.
As for Yang Yi, Zhuge Liang judged it to be"Narrow", that is, impatient temperament and narrow-mindedness, Yang Yi was very disgusted with Wei Yan and his own insults, not only sympathetic to Wei Yan's approach, but also in the period of low seniority and low status, Yang Yi himself decided to temporarily retire.
In the twelfth year of Jianxing (234), Zhuge Liang led the fifth Northern Expedition, Wei Yan served as the vanguard, in the autumn of the same year, Zhuge Liang was seriously ill, and before his death, he consulted with Yang Yi, the secretary Fei Yi, and Jiang Wei, the guard in the army. They discussed the consequences of Zhuge Liang's death and the arrangements for the withdrawal, but Wei Yan interrupted their decision, and Wei Yan made it clear that if Wei Yan refused to obey the order, then in any case, his own withdrawal would be to lead the troops to withdraw.
Soon after Zhuge Liang's death, in order to ensure the smooth withdrawal of the army, Yang Yi and others secretly mourned according to Zhuge Liang's testament, so Fei Yi and Wei Yan ordered the withdrawal of the army, and the order was forbidden. Wei Yan listened, but said:"Although the prime minister is dead, I am still there. I will lead my army to the north, and how can I leave the world because of his death? What's more, I am Wei Yan, how can I listen to Yang Yi's appointment and become the general after the break? "
After Yang Yi learned of Wei Yan's behavior, according to Zhuge Liang's agreement, he ignored Wei Yan's behavior and directly led the army to retreat. Wei Yan was furious when he found out, thinking that Yang Yi was deliberately dragging him down, so he also led the army to retreat, running in front of Yang Yi's army day and night, destroying all the roads along the way, and planning to return to Chengdu before Yang Yi.
On the way to Chengdu, Wei Yan and Yang Yi wrote to the imperial court and accused each other of rebellion. After Liu Chan received the letter, he was unable to make a decision for a while, so he asked the palace minister for advice. Although Wei Yan is in a high position, he has been the commander of the army for a long time, and he has little contact with the palace ministers, coupled with his personality, he has a bad relationship with many palace ministers. Therefore, Dong Yun, Jiang Wan and others expressed trust in Yang Yi and doubted Wei Yan.
In the unfavorable situation of the imperial court, Wei Yan led a large army, first attacking Nangu, and then attacking Yang Yi's army, Yang Yi ordered Wang Ping to confront Wei Yan. Wang Ping came to the front of the two armies and scolded Wei Yan's vanguard:"I am not cool when people die, how dare you! "As a result, Wei Yan"The morale of the army is weakened", Wei Yan's father and son were forced to flee. Yang Yi sent Ma Dai to capture and kill Wei Yan.
Ma Dai cut off Wei Yan's head and handed it to Yang Yi, Yang Yi put Wei Yan's head at his feet and scolded"Yongnu, can you still do evil again? Subsequently, Yang Yi killed Wei Yan's three clansmen, which shows how deep Yang Yi's hatred for Wei Yan is.
As mentioned above, Wei Yan's disobedience to Zhuge Liang's orders and Yang Yi's mutual attack and killing were entirely caused by his own character flaws, not the so-called rebellion. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms also clearly states"The original intention of Yan is not the Northern Wei Dynasty to descend to the south, but to eliminate the righteousness", "Yuan Hao Jingshiwen Compilation" also believes that Wei Yan killed Yang Yi"The crime of killing people in private anger and swimming in Yan", highlighting that Wei Yan's death was due to the power struggle with Yang Yi, plus Wei Yan's death was due to the power struggle with Yang Yi, the contrast between the two has been a long time, and Wei Yan has no heart to rebel.