Wei Yan (魏延), courtesy name Wenchang, was a native of Yiyang County, Jingzhou. He took his younger brother and Liu Bei into Shu together. Because of his bravery in battle and considerable military achievements, he was promoted to general of Yamen.
From this, it can be seen that Wei Yan was born at the grassroots level and was promoted because of Xiao Yong's good fighting. Although General Yamen was a miscellaneous general, the last General Yamen was the famous Zhao Yun! It can be seen that Wei Yan can also be regarded as a rising star of tomorrow.
Time quickly turned to Liu Bei as the King of Hanzhong, and when he was preparing to return to Chengdu, Liu Bei wanted to choose a general to guard Hanzhong. At that time, the Shu Han dynasty and opposition were all inclined to Zhang Feizhen to guard Hanzhong, and even Zhang Fei himself thought so.
As a result, Liu Beihui recognized the hero and promoted Wei Yan to oversee the general Hanzhong Zhenyuan to lead Hanzhong Taishou. This structure fell through everyone's glasses.
Since it is said that Wei Yan, we will ignore Zhang Fei first, and now Wei Yan's promotion to Hanzhong Taishou is indeed a promotion out of the ordinary, and some people will not be convinced, so Liu Bei came up with a way.
Liu Bei feasted on the courtiers and asked Wei Yan to express his sense of inauguration: "Today you are entrusted with a heavy responsibility, do you have any plans?"
Wei Yan was not afraid of the stage, he said very domineeringly: "If Cao Cao brings the world's soldiers to come, I will turn into the iron wall of the great king to block him, if only one of Cao Wei's generals leads hundreds of thousands of people, I will directly destroy him!" ”
Liu Bei applauded Wei Yan, and everyone also saw Wei Yan's momentum. After Liu Bei became emperor, Wei Yan was promoted to the rank of general of Zhenbei, one of the four generals of Zhenbei.
In the first year of Jianxing, during Zhuge Liang's reign, Wei Yan entered the capital Ting Marquis; in the fifth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang was stationed in Hanzhong, with Wei Yan as the governor of the front, leading sima and Liangzhou assassin.
Wei Yan's promotion shows Zhuge Liang's importance and dependence on Wei Yan. But the strange thing is that Wei Yan, as the forward of the Northern Expedition, did not have any military action at all in his first Northern Expedition in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and he always felt that this was similar to Li Yan.
Perhaps because of his grassroots origin + bad luck, Wei Yan's specific military achievements in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are few, which is a pity.
Wei Yan's next appearance was the one when Cao Zhen was cutting shu. In the eighth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang sent Wei Yan to penetrate deep into the territory of the Qiang people, and fought against Guo Huai and Fei Yao of the Wei state at Yangxi, and broke it. Zhuge Liang then promoted Wei Yan to the post of Former Military Division + General of Zhengxi + False Festival, and entered the Southern Zheng Marquis.
Speaking of this, some friends may find that it is not said that Zhuge Liang said that Wei Yan has anti-bones and hates Wei Yan very much?
In fact, anti-bone is the category of physiognomy, and all the historical records have not seen Zhuge Liang say similar things, which is a fiction of Luo Guanzhong.
Zhuge Liang always regarded Wei Yan as the number one general of the Northern Expedition and did not suppress him.
Every time Wei Yan went out on a campaign with Zhuge Liang, he would ask for 10,000 soldiers to be given to him, and he would meet Zhuge Liang at Tongguan. Zhuge Liang refused every time, and Wei Yan always said that Zhuge Liang was too timid to play his talents. This is the Meridian Valley plan of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms version. "Wei Liu" is more detailed, but the relative authenticity is not too high:
Wei Yan said, "I heard that Xiahou Shu in Chang'an was Cao Cao's son-in-law, so there was nothing to worry about. As long as the prime minister gives me 5,000 elite soldiers and 5,000 grain soldiers, I can surprise Chang'an in ten days after I walk the Meridian Valley, and Xiahou Shu will definitely flee without a fight. There was only a group of civilian officials in Chang'an, so there was nothing to worry about, and the grain in the city could let me hold on. At this time, as long as the minister went north from the Chu Xie Valley, within twenty days, the west of Chang'an could be pacified in one fell swoop. ”
Zhuge Liang thought that Wei Yan's plan was too risky, and felt that taking the Longxi Avenue was flat and could be fought steadily, so he did not adopt Wei Yan's plan.
Wei Yan's Meridian Valley strategy seems to require too many coincidences + luck: in that era of inconvenient transportation, could Wei Yan really go to Chang'an in ten days? Will Xiahou Shu really flee without a fight?
If Xiahou Shu had burned the grain in the city before he escaped, wouldn't Wei Yan have run out of food? Can Zhuge Liang, who is on the other road, come to Chang'an within 20 days without any obstacles? Really when the state apparatus of the State of Wei is a decoration!
It was hard to believe that Wei Yan, who was good at combat, would come up with such a surprise attack plan, which would almost kill these soldiers and Wei Yan himself.
As mentioned above, the authenticity of the Meridian Valley Conspiracy itself is in doubt, so we will not discuss it deeply. I regard this record as one of the evidences of Zhuge Liang's magnanimity and Wei Yan's fiery temper and poor popularity.
Zhuge Liang did not hold a grudge because Wei Yan said that he was timid, and although Wei Yan disagreed with Zhuge Liang when he was alive, the goal of the Northern Expedition was still consistent with the actual action.
The one who really shared the same water and fire as Wei Yanshi was Yang Yi.
Wei Yan was good at raising soldiers, and he was brave and good at war, but he was arrogant and arrogant, and everyone let him avoid him, only Yang Yi and him were tit-for-tat, Wei Yan was called a qi, and Yang Yi had a fight with the same situation.
Yang Yiwen was good at writing and quick in his reaction, and was valued by Zhuge Liang. Yang Yi was The Minister of Xiang changshi and Wei Yan was the Sima of the Chancellor.
One article and one martial art, both of them are rare talents, which can be described as Zhuge Liang's right and left arm.
However, the personalities of these two people are very arrogant, and the water and fire are intolerable, and Zhuge Liang is often distressed by this. We can only treat it as fairly as possible, and hope that Yang and Wei can play to their strengths.
However, Wei Yan and Yang Yi still quarreled often, and the situation became more and more intense, and the scene became more and more popular.
Zhuge Liang cherished Yang Yi's talent and agility, and relied heavily on Wei Yan's courage and good fighting. The Northern Expedition was as strong as water and fire, which made him unbearable to favor either side.
Zhuge Liang was very protective of Wei Yan, and when Wei Yan and Liu Yan clashed, Zhuge Liang scolded Liu Yan and sided with Wei Yan.
Without the patronage of The Prime Minister, Wei Yan, a political idiot, would have died ten years earlier.
Because Zhuge Liang was there, Wei Yan and Yang Yi reluctantly lived together and served the country together, and when Zhuge Liang passed away, the situation was immediately different.
This time it is no longer a fight, but a battle for power between you and me.
Zhuge Liang died of illness, and Wei Yan's strategy of Zhuge Liang developed from disagreement to resistance to action.
Wei Yan resisted retreat and refused to retreat, for three main reasons:
Continue to perform for the State
To achieve life's ambitions
Disobey Yang Yi
In short, Wei Yan's disobedience fully demonstrated his political acumen of zero points, without Zhuge Cheng Xiang's balance on it, Wei Yan could not play Yang Yi at all, and there were Jiang Huan, Fei Yi, and Dong Yun who were inclined toward Yang Yi.
Finally, let's talk about the case of Wei Yan's rebellion.
Chen Shou said: Instead of surrendering to Cao Wei instead of surrendering to Cao Wei, Wei Yan chose to go south, just wanting to kill Yang Yi. Usually, he and his colleagues are not in harmony, he just hopes to succeed Zhuge Liang to continue the Northern Expedition!
The word rebellion does not appear at all in the "Later Master Biography".
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The general Wei Yan (魏延) and Shi Yangyi (史阳宜), the chancellor of the Western Expedition, fought for power and discord, raised troops to attack each other, and Yan was defeated;
Beheaded, Yi led the armies back to Chengdu.
The book makes it very clear: Wei Yan and Yang Yi fought for power and attacked each other.
This is the most authentic record, and it is also the situation that Chengdu received at that time.
Poor Wei Yan, how many generals like you are there in ancient and modern times.
On the battlefield, he did not die on the battlefield, but died on the political battlefield.
Pathetic and deplorable.
(End)