Introduction: Wei Yan was a soldier, and he could not have been unaware that if he led his troops to attack Yang Yi, he would be charged with violating military regulations or even conspiring against the people of the imperial court. But why was Wei Yan still willing to take risks and lead his troops to attack Yang Yi? Why did Wei Yan take such a big risk?
Before his death, Wei Yan was already the "Zhenbei General" of Shu Han, and the town guarded Hanzhong for more than 10 years. The rank of General Zhenbei was only after the general of the Fourth Army, which meant that Wei Yan's rank was only below the Five Tiger Generals such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun. In terms of prestige and status, Wei Yan was definitely the first among the Five Tiger Generals. But why did Wei Yan, after Zhuge Liang's death, risk being wrongfully killed by Shu Han and then do something wrong and lead his troops to attack Yang Yi?
Regarding Wei Yan's move to lead troops to counterattack Yang Yi, Jiang Wei, as a descendant of Zhuge Liang, was very clear in his heart.
So why did Wei Yan behave so disrespectfully after Zhuge Liang's death? This is actually inseparable from Zhuge Liang.
I. Why did Zhuge Liang say that Wei Yan had a backbone behind his head?
When Wei Yan had just appeared, Zhuge Liang said in front of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei that Wei Yan must be killed. The reason is very simple, that is, because Wei Yan's mind is relatively large, there must be anti-bone behind his head.
The reason why Zhuge Liang insisted that Wei Yan had a backbone behind his head at that time was actually because Han Xuan was beheaded by Wei Yan. Theoretically, whether Han Xuan is dead or alive, how to deal with it? This had to wait for Liu Bei to speak, and Wei Yan wanted Han Xuan's life at that time.
For Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, Wei Yan was arbitrarily exercising power, and did not pay attention to Liu Bei, the victor at all. If you were to stand in Zhuge Liang's position, if you did not propose to dispose of Wei Yan, I am afraid that you would still be taken care of by Liu Bei.
Zhuge Liang originally planned to kill Wei Yan at that time, however, Liu Bei finally expressed his position at this time, claiming that Wei Yan had not passed, but had merit, it was better to stay under the account and listen, if there was really a misdeed in the future, then dispose of it.
Zhuge Liang was indeed a qualified CEO, and after Liu Bei interceded for Wei Yan, Zhuge Liang no longer pursued Wei Yan's private beheading of Han Xuan at that time, and turned around to warn Wei Yan that he must serve Liu Bei to the death, otherwise the end would be worrying.
In fact, Zhuge Liang's sentence at that time: "The back of the head is anti-bone", is just a play with Liu Bei, the two of you come and go, and Wei Yan is pinched to death.
As a result, Wei Yan did not dare to move his mind, and could only follow Liu Bei to fight the world.
2. Liu Beiqiao used Wei Yan to guard Hanzhong and was promoted to the rank of general of the four towns
As we all know, in 211 AD, Liu Bei took Wei Yan, Huang Zhong, Pang Tong and others into Sichuan and Shu. After several twists and turns, Liu Bei and Liu Zhang turned against each other, and the two fought fiercely. During this period, Wei Yan always protected Liu Bei, and Wei Yan also made a lot of merit in the Battle of Jinchuan.
After more than three years, Liu Bei and his party finally took Chengdu. When the territory mentioned the improvement of quantity and quality, Liu Bei had to formulate monetary measures such as the Shu Ke, and in 217 AD, Liu Bei, at the suggestion of Fa Zheng, prepared to capture Hanzhong in an attempt to occupy all of Sichuan and Shu.
In the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei used all the generals except Guan Yu, including Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, and even Ma Chao. Wei Yan was no exception at that time, wei Yan had been following Liu Bei around, and attacked Badong County, and later attacked Yangping Pass.
In the Battle of Hanzhong, Wei Yan was also quite meritorious.
In 219 AD, Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao in Hanzhong and won an unprecedented victory, and the entire Hanzhong was also pocketed by Liu Bei.
However, for the governance and town guard work in Hanzhong, Liu Bei did not let Zhang Fei go this time, but handed it over to Wei Yan.
Why did Liu Bei hand it over to Wei Yan? The reason is also very simple, first of all, the population of Hanzhong was moved by Cao Cao, basically it was already an empty city, and the establishment of an empty city was not Zhang Fei's strength, and Wei Yan at this time was the peak of energy and martial arts. Moreover, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and others could also free up enough energy to govern their own territory, manage their own population, and the number of households.
And handing Hanzhong over to a domineering general like Wei Yan who wants to perform well in front of the boss is the best choice.
Therefore, for Wei Yan to guard Hanzhong well, this is not only the best shortcut to improve his status, but also a strong backing for saving his official position and life.
Before Wei Yan took office, Liu Bei deliberately held a mobilization meeting and publicly announced the promotion of Wei Yan to the rank of general of Zhenbei and the Taishou of Hanzhong.
Sure enough, after Wei Yan took office, he carefully governed Hanzhong and invented the strategy of "wrongly guarding the sieges" to defend Hanzhong, and Wei Yan's strategy also allowed Hanzhong to not step into a Single Wei Yan soldier for nearly 10 years.
Obviously, Wei Yan had successfully completed the task of guarding Hanzhong.
Wei Yan participated in Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition and was met with strategic opposition
In 228 AD, Zhuge Liang began the First Northern Expedition. At that time, Wei Yan had been guarding Hanzhong for more than 8 years, and theoretically Wei Yan was also qualified to put forward his own ideas in terms of strategy. At that time, Wei Yan proposed that he take the meridian road by himself, just like Han Xin at that time, and the enemy general had no plan and broke it as soon as he attacked.
However, at that time, Zhuge Liang thought that the Meridian Valley strategy was too dangerous and the odds of winning were extremely small, so he ignored Wei Yan's strategy. Therefore, Wei Yan showed his extreme dissatisfaction with Zhuge Liang's timidity and failure to adopt his own strategy in public.
In private, he complained about Zhuge Liang and did not adopt his own strategy.
In fact, as a subordinate, Wei Yan's approach was completely wrong, as long as the strategy was appropriate, Zhuge Liang could not fail to take it. To be a tough general is to be on the battlefield, to win meritorious deeds, and to obey military orders is a natural duty.
In 231, Wei Yan and his colleagues Gao Xiang and Wu Ban made Sima Yi suffer a great defeat.
However, in the confrontation with Sima Yi in 234 AD, Zhuge Liang did not take advantage of half of the advantage, and his body was hollowed out. As a result, Zhuge Liang arranged the deployment of the retreat, the withdrawal route and other related issues when he was seriously ill.
4. Zhuge Liang granted Yang Yi the right to fight, and Wei Yan led his troops to counterattack
On his deathbed, Zhuge Liang handed over the military power of the Sichuan Shu army to Yang Yi, and asked Wang Ping, Fei Yi, Jiang Wei, and others to obey Yang Yi's military orders. In fact, everyone who understands it knows that Yang Yi's military orders at that time were just the implementation of Zhuge Liang's last orders.
But what about Wei Yan?
The crowd did not ask Wei Yan to discuss how to retreat and how to retreat. It was just that Fei Yi went to Wei Yan's tent to check Wei Yan's situation and reaction.
Sure enough, as Fei Yi expected, Wei Yan really did not want to withdraw his troops. And also said something, "Although the minister is dead, I see itself, I should attack Cao Wei, why should I retreat?" ”
Before Fei Yi could convey the military order for Wei Yan to break off, Fei Yi praised Wei Yan for leading his troops well and fighting bravely, so he quickly rode his big black horse and rushed to the Shu army camp.
One of Fei Yi's hui battalions consulted with Yang Yi, Ma Dai, Jiang Wei, and others, and decided to implement Zhuge Liang's second military order before his death, that is, to directly retire from the army in spite of Wei Yan.
After a long time, Wei Yan heard that the large army of the Shu army had retreated, and Wei Yan's heart was angry. Immediately led thousands of cavalry to the brigade before burning all the trestles and blocking the front of Yang Yi's Shu Han army.
Wei Yan was a soldier, and he could not have been unaware that he would be charged with violating military rules or even conspiring against military rules by the people of the imperial court. But why was Wei Yan still willing to take risks and lead his troops to attack Yang Yi? Why did Wei Yan take such a big risk.
At this time, Wei Yan was already a leading general in the Shu Han army, and as long as he worked well, I am afraid that his achievements would not be under Guan Yu. But why didn't you listen to Zhuge Liang's last order after Zhuge Liang's death?
You must know that attacking the imperial army is a capital offense! In fact, the reason why Wei Yan wanted to attack Yang Yi was also very simple, and Jiang Wei, as Zhuge Liang's successor, knew it very well in his heart.
There are three main reasons:
First, Wei Yan had a very poor relationship with Yang Yi in private. When Zhuge Liang was alive, he often mediated between the two of them, what about Yang Yi? Although he was a weak scholar, his mouth was not weak, and he was not afraid at all in the face of Wei Yan.
And Wei Yan even drew his sword in front of Zhuge Liang and killed Yang Yi. I would like to ask, if Zhuge Liang let Yang Yi lead the troops back to the Dynasty, would Wei Yan obey him?
Second, Wei Yan believed that Yang Yi was just a member of the army and did not understand the art of war at all. Therefore, there was no need to obey his military orders. Moreover, with Wei Yan's temper of "Little Guan Yu", how could he be subordinate to Yang Yi?
Moreover, the relationship with Yang Yi in private was really too bad, so as long as he could lead the troops to behead Yang Yi in one fell swoop this time, with his merits in defending Han for many years, it was enough to offset the mistake of killing little Yang Yi.
Third, to kill chickens and scare monkeys, it should be known that Wei Yan not only had a bad relationship with Yang Yi, but also had a disagreement between Wei Yan and Liu Yan during his tenure.
In private, Wei Yan actually had very few close friends, why? Quite simply, like Guan Yu, he was a bit arrogant, and unless his ability was far above him, Wei Yan would never be able to speak on an equal footing with others.
If he could successfully kill Yang Yi this time, then these people in the Sichuan Shu clique who disobeyed Wei Yan would probably also have some scruples about Wei Yan, although they were dissatisfied, they definitely did not dare to say much.
Therefore, when Wei Yan led his troops to attack Yang Yi, Wang Ping on the side also mentioned Zhuge Liang's name, "Xiang Xiang has just died, how dare you commit a rebellion and disobey his military orders?" And what about Jiang Wei? Although he knew Wei Yan's purpose of leading troops to attack Yang Yi this time, Jiang Wei was still just looking at it coldly, perhaps thinking that Wei Yan acted in this way, just to relieve a major disobedient general in Chuanzhong!
Later, Wei Yan died outside the gates of Hanzhong City and was unexpectedly beheaded by Ma Dai, and yiping and Jiang Wei sat idly by and ignored Wei Yan. In fact, if Wei Yan really did not have a reaction, but died at the hands of his own people, then Wang Ping and Jiang Wei were more or less responsible.
Wei Yan, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei all died under their own disposition, temper, and character. However, Wei Yan risked being convicted of conspiracy for his own selfishness, which was really not worth it. Sadly, although he took risks, he eventually died at the hands of Ma Dai, which was worthless.
What was even more pitiful was that Wei Yan was accused of exterminating the three tribes, leaving behind a thousand years of regret. I just don't know if Wei Yan's grandsons still have descendants to continue their bloodline?