Objectively speaking, before The Shu Han Clique Liu Bei cut down Wu, it still had a very strong strength. In the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei led a large army to defeat Cao Cao head-on, which showed his strong strength. At this time, in the Shu Han clique, there were also many first-class military generals. In addition to the most famous Five Tiger Generals, Liu Bei also had outstanding generals such as Wei Yan, Ma Dai, and Deng Zhi under his command. So the question is, among so many military generals, who has the most prominent military ability?
Let's first look at the attitude of the ancients towards this. During the Tang Dynasty, Yan Zhenqing wrote a book listing more than sixty famous generals in ancient and modern times, so that they could enter the ranks of Wang Miao and enjoy the sacrifices of future generations. Looking at the Three Kingdoms era, only seven people are on the list. They were Zhang Liao and Deng Ai of the State of Wei; Guan Yu and Zhang Fei of the State of Shu; Zhou Yu, Lü Meng, and Lu Xun of the State of Wu. It is worth noting that the reason why these people are called famous generals is not that their personal force value is extremely high, but that their military command ability is recognized by future generations.
Even in the Shu Kingdom, which was full of famous generals, there were only two people, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms? Zhang Fei's biography records: "In the beginning, Fei Xiong was majestic and mighty, and was inferior to Guan Yu, Wei Mouchen Cheng Yu and other xianxian and fei wanren enemies. Even Zhou Yu had to admit in the recital that Guan Zhang had a "bear and tiger posture". In addition, their military command ability is also commendable. Guan Yu's flooded Seventh Army was captured alive and imprisoned, and Zhang Fei's battle of Brazil broke Zhang Gao, all of which were a battle with full gold content.
However, despite this, the author believes that in terms of military ability alone, Wei Yan is not inferior to these two people. It's just a pity that his infighting with Yang Yi has cast a shadow over himself. The greatest manifestation of Wei Yan's military ability was his merits in defending Hanzhong. At that time, the Shu Han clique had two crucial strategic points. The first was Jingzhou, which was the best place for Liu Beitu to take over the world, guarded by the former general Guan Yu alone; the second was Hanzhong, which was a natural barrier for the Shu state to defend against the Wei attack. But this defender was not Zhang Fei, but Wei Yan.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms? The Biography of Wei Yan records: "The first lord was the king of Hanzhong, moved to chengdu, and when he was given the town of Hanchuan, the public thought that it would be in Zhang Fei, and Fei also promised himself with his heart." The ancestor was Bayan as the general of Zhenyuan in Hanzhong, and led Hanzhong Taishou to shock the army. Liu Bei has always been a good person, but in the face of Zhang Fei and Wei Yan's two candidates, he unexpectedly chose Wei Yan. As for Zhang Fei, he went to the second line of defense in Shuzhong, Langzhong.
It is not that Liu Bei does not trust Zhang Fei, but in his view, Zhang Fei is a thousand enemies, and it is more suitable for leading the army to charge. On the other hand, Wei Yan was more courageous and steady. Where did this conclusion come from? Seen in Chen Shou's comments: "Ran Yu is rigid and self-effacing, flying violently and unkind, defeating with shortness, and often counting." Considering the shortcomings of Zhang Fei's "love and respect for gentlemen and not for the villain", Liu Bei naturally worried that Zhang Fei would be deceived by the villain. And the land of Hanzhong was of great importance, and Liu Bei would naturally choose Wei Yan, who was deeply loved by the soldiers: "Yan is good at raising soldiers and soldiers, and brave and fierce. ”
In this regard, Wei Yan's answer was: "If Cao Cao comes from all over the world, please refuse for the king; if you want to send a hundred thousand people, please swallow it for the king." In the more than ten years that Wei Yan was guarding Hanzhong, he also failed to disappoint Liu Bei and defeated the enemy troops many times. Even the famous Cao Wei general Guo Huai suffered a great loss at the hands of Wei Yan: "In the eighth year, yanxi was sent into Qiangzhong, and the Wei generals Fei Yao and Yongzhou's assassin Guo Huai and Yan Zhan yu Yang, Yan Da broke Huai, etc., moved to the former military division to conquer the western generals, false festivals, and entered the southern Zheng Marquis. ”
Then, when Wei Yanzhen was guarding Hanzhong, what was the strategy he pursued? To put it simply, Wei Yan made full use of the favorable terrain of Shuzhong to achieve it. During Wei Yan's defense of Hanzhong, he focused on defending strategic areas around Hanzhong, and in the Qinling area, Wei Yan's only order was to defend the enemy. That is to say, the core idea of Wei Yanzhen's defense of Hanzhong was to use the advantages of terrain to implement attrition tactics against the invading enemy forces. Wei Yan's move really combined Shuzhong's dangerous and his brave fighting style, thus ensuring that Hanzhong was impregnable within ten years.
Later, the cautious Wang Ping served as the Taishou of Hanzhong, and he adopted Wei Yan's attrition tactics, and also successfully resisted the Attack of the Wei army. However, when Jiang Weizhen was guarding Hanzhong, he abandoned this practice. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms? Jiang Wei's biography: "In the beginning, the first lord stayed in Wei Yanzhen Hanzhong, and all the real soldiers surrounded themselves against foreign enemies, and if the enemy came to attack, they were not allowed to enter." And the Battle of Xingshi, Wang Pinghan rejected Cao Shuang, and all inherited this system. Wei suggested that although it was in line with the meaning of Zhou Yi's 'heavy door', it was suitable to resist the enemy and not gain great profits. ”
Later, Jiang Wei was earnest in his efforts, and he advocated the introduction of the enemy army into the land of Hanzhong, intending to gather and annihilate it. And "gathering soldiers and gathering valleys" is the core proposition of Jiang Wei. So what is the result of Jiang Wei's doing this? "Wei led the crowd out of Han and Hou He, and was destroyed by Deng Ai, and he still lived in Puzhong." Objectively speaking, if Jiang Wei had insisted on holding on to Hanzhong according to Wei Yan's advice, Shuzhong might not have been rushed into Chengdu by Deng Ai so quickly.
Judging solely by Wei Yan's insistence on Hanzhong, his military capabilities were indeed remarkable. Not to mention that Wei Yan had made countless military achievements in the process of following Liu Bei to start a business. Looking at the many Shu Han generals, only Guan Zhang's actual combat performance was slightly higher than Wei Yan's. Unfortunately, Wei Yan's radical and good fighting style caused Zhuge Liang to be jealous, and he eventually died at the hands of the villain Yang Yi. As soon as Wei Yan died, the Shu state lost its last general, which also accelerated the time of its eventual demise.
Reference book: Romance of the Three Kingdoms