Wei Yan (魏延), a Shu Han general during the Three Kingdoms period, was heavily valued by Liu Bei. He made indelible contributions to the establishment, development and growth of the Shu Han Dynasty. However, it was such a great hero who, after Zhuge Liang's death, was framed as a "chaotic thief" and exterminated the three tribes. After Wei Yan's death, shu Han was left with only one general, Jiang Wei, who was destroyed by Deng Ai and Zhong Hui in 263.
Some people said that if Wei Yan did not die, Shu Han might have resisted the joint attack of Deng Ai and Zhong Hui, and would not have been destroyed. Is this true? Personally, I believe that even if Wei Yan lived, Shu Han would perish, and Liu Chan did not issue such feelings as "Wei Yan does not die Shu Han does not perish" when he surrendered to Cao Wei, and the analysis is as follows.
First of all, Wei Yan was adventurous and probably waged wars more frequently than Jiang Wei.
In 211 AD, the Yamen general Wei Yan followed Liu Bei into Sichuan and made great achievements in the Eastern Expedition to the West. After Liu Bei became the King of Hanzhong, Wei Yan was awarded the title of Taishou of Hanzhong for his merits, and became an independent feudal official. He was an all-round general who could recruit good guards, such as his "heavy door strategy", guarding Hanzhong to the point of solidity, and assuring the lord Liu Bei that Hanzhong was foolproof. During Zhuge Liang's many campaigns against Wei, Wei Yan, as one of the most important generals, often charged into battle, such as the Battle of Yangxi in 230 AD, where he defeated Cao Wei Feiyao and Guo Huai and won a great victory.
For another example, when Zhuge Liang first attacked Wei, Wei Yan proposed the "Meridian Valley Conspiracy", he personally led 5,000 elite troops, from the Meridian Valley directly to Chang'an, occupied Chang'an, and Zhuge Liang's army met at Tongguan. However, Wei Yan's risk-taking strategy was sternly rejected by Zhuge Liang, who had always been cautious. Zhuge Liang pursued his strategy of taking him step by step, fighting steadily and steadily, and gradually encroaching on Cao Wei. The Wei Liu records the following:
Liang thought that this county was in danger, it was better to be safe from Tan Dao, you can take the right side of long, and the perfect will be overcome without worry, so there is no need to delay the calculation.
Many people complained that Jiang Wei had cut Down Wei many times after Zhuge Liang's death, and in the rendition was the Nine Cuts in the Central Plains, and in the history, he cut Wei up to thirteen times. However, Wei Yan, who was more adventurous than Jiang Wei, was even more than Jiang Wei. Maybe it will exceed Jiang Wei's number of times, and twenty times is also possible. The national strength of the Shu Han Dynasty could not be compared with that of Cao Wei, and continuing to wage war would only cost the people and money, making the national strength weaker and weaker.
Secondly, Wei Yan's personality is as arrogant as Guan Yu's, and he may not be reused.
Wei Yan was a good soldier, brave and fierce, and a military wizard. However, he had an arrogant personality, just like Guan Yu in those days, "treating soldiers well and being proud of scholars", known as "Little Guan Yu". In other words, the relationship between Wei Yan and his colleagues was not too harmonious, especially with Chang Shi Yangyi. Even if Wei Yan wins the battle with Yang Yi, he does not have a good relationship with his colleagues, and he may not be reused. A veteran who has not been reused can play a limited role.
Guan Yu was because of his arrogant personality that he offended Liu Feng, Liu Feng, Liu Bei's "righteous son", and when he defeated Maicheng, he did not receive assistance, so he was in a different place. In the same way, Wei Yan may also have the same fate as Guan Yu.
In the end, even if Wei Yan lived in 263 AD, he was a veteran like Liao Hua and was about to die.
We know that the shu han fell in 263 AD, and this year, a full 29 years have passed since Wei Yan was killed, and at this time, Wei Yan, even if he was lucky enough to live, was a veteran of about seventy years old. Conquest is very energy-consuming, a seventy-year-old veteran, whether physical or mental, can not keep up, he has reached the age of retirement.
For example, Liao Hua, after Guan Yu lost Maicheng and was captured and killed by Eastern Wu, he escaped back to Yizhou. After Zhuge Liang's death, Liao Hua had been following Jiang Wei in his conquests, but as he grew older, he was decent in combat and did not perform too well on the battlefield. However, he was in good health and lived until the year of the fall of the Shu Han. There is an old saying that "there are no generals in Shu, Liao Hua is a pioneer", which means that Liao Hua is too old, and there are very few new generation generals in Shu, and he has to reluctantly fight on the battlefield many times.
In the spring of the fifth year of Jingyuan (264), Liao Hua, who was in his seventies, followed the empress dowager Liu Chan and was invited by Sima Zhao to luoyang. Because Liao Hua was too old, coupled with his sorrow for the fall of the Shu Han Dynasty, he died of illness in the middle of the way. If Wei Yan was alive, he would probably end up like this. He died in apprehension after witnessing the fall of the Shu Han Dynasty. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms records the following:
In the spring of the first year of Xianxi, he moved to Luoyang and died of illness.
Summary: Although Wei Yan was the sixth general besides the "Five Tiger Generals" of shu Han, even if he lived to the year when Shu Han fell in 263 AD, he could not save Shu Han. As for the reasons, it is the above three reasons, Wei Yan may be exhausted, and he still has a bad relationship with his colleagues, and his age is not spared, and it is difficult to lead Shu Han to victory. Therefore, the so-called "Wei Yan does not die Shu Han does not perish" sentence exaggerates the role of Wei Yan and overemphasizes the role of the individual in the long river of history. There is also no relevant record in history that Liu Chan lamented that "Wei Yan did not die and Shu Han did not perish".