During Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, he trusted and reused two people the most, one was Wei Yan, who was brave and good at war, and the other was Yang Yi, who was in charge of military affairs. However, after Zhuge Liang's death, a serious conflict occurred between Wei Yan and Yang Yi, and eventually Wei Yan was defeated and killed by Yang Yi, and the three tribes were exterminated. However, Yang Yi did not get a good end, and was exiled to the frontier and committed suicide. So, what's going on here?
First, Yang Yi, who is Zhuge Liang's right and left hand.
If Yang Yi is objectively evaluated, this person is still very talented. He was originally the master of Cao Wei's Jingzhou assassin Fu Qun, but he betrayed Fu Qun and turned to Guan Yu of Shu Han. Guan Yu appointed him Gong Cao and sent him to Liu Bei. Liu Bei and Yang Yi had a conversation, and the two talked together about military and state strategies, political gains and losses. As a result, Liu Bei was very happy and immediately appointed Yang Yi as the left general Cao Tuan.
It can be seen from this that Liu Bei still recognizes Yang Yi's ability. When Liu Bei ascended the throne of Hanzhong, he also appointed Yang Yi as Shangshu. However, later Yang Yi and Shang Shu discorded Liu Ba, and liu bei demoted him to the post of Hongnong Taishou. This was a fictitious position without power, because Hongnong had never been controlled by Shu Han.
After Zhuge Liang came to power, Yang Yi was reinstated by Zhuge Liang and became a member of Zhuge Liang's army. Since then, Yang Yi has followed Zhuge Liang in his southern expedition to the northern war and made great contributions to the Shu Han Dynasty. Yang Yi served under Zhuge Liang as a general of the Sui Army, in charge of Zhuge Liang's military affairs. The history books say that Yang Yi was familiar with his work, and it did not take long for Yang Yi to successfully complete the logistics supply and military mobilization of the large army operations.
Yang Yi not only managed the military affairs of Zhuge Liang's army, but also had the responsibility of managing the military style and discipline of the army. Therefore, Yang Yi became Zhuge Liang's indispensable assistant. In Zhuge Liang's army, although his position was under Wei Yan, in many places he was able to suppress Wei Yan everywhere. Therefore, the two sides have frequently clashed, to the point of equal water and fire.
This is because both have strong personalities and do not give in to each other. Wei Yanxiao was brave and good at war, but his personality was reserved, and he treated his colleagues with a high-spirited appearance. Everyone gave in to Wei Yan, but Yang Yi did not color Wei Yan. This made Wei Yan very dissatisfied, and the contradictions intensified. During an argument, Wei Yan actually pulled out a knife to threaten Yang Yi, bringing Yang Yi to tears. Fortunately, Fei Yi intervened to mediate, so that the contradiction did not intensify.
Zhuge Liang's contradictions between Wei Yan and Yang Yi were also very nerve-wracking. In Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Wei Yan's courage was relied upon in combat and slaughter, but Yang Yi was relied upon in military mobilization. Therefore, Zhuge Liang often lamented that Wei Yan and Yang Yi could not get along harmoniously, which seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the Shu army.
At the last military conference held before Zhuge Liang's death, Wei Yan was not called to attend the meeting. At the meeting, Zhuge Liang handed over the military power of the Shu army to Yang Yi and asked him to lead the Shu army back to Hanzhong. As for Wei Yan, after Zhuge Liang arranged for him to be cut off for the whole army, if Wei Yan did not accept the order, he would leave him alone, and the other Shu troops withdrew according to the arrangement.
From this series of performances, we can see the position of Yang Yi in Zhuge Liang's mind. Yang Yi's position in the Shu army was ostensibly second only to Wei Yan, but in fact, in Zhuge Liang's mind, Yang Yi's status was equivalent to Wei Yan. Even by the time zhuge liang died, Yang Yi's position had surpassed that of Wei Yan and she had become the de facto commander of the Shu army.
Second, Yang Yi's fate is already doomed.
However, Yang Yi's status after Zhuge Liang's death brought a bloody storm. Wei Yan, as a figure in the Shu army whose position was second only to Zhuge Liang's, naturally would not be willing to let military power fall into the hands of the enemy Yang Yi, so the two sides engaged in a firefight. Due to Zhuge Liang's death, and the support of most of the Shu army led by Wang Ping to support Yang Yi, Wei Yan was defeated.
At this time, Yang Yi fully demonstrated his narrow-minded and short-tempered personality. He sent Ma Dai to hunt down Wei Yan, and when Wei Yan's first rank arrived, he threw Wei Yan's head to the ground and scolded Wei Yan with his feet. Subsequently, he also sent people to Nanzheng and destroyed Wei Yan's three tribes. As everyone knows, just when he is satisfied, his fate is already doomed.
As early as many years ago, Fei Yi sent an envoy to Eastern Wu. Sun Quan took the opportunity of getting drunk to tell Fei Yi that Yang Yi and Wei Yan were villains, and although they were now meritorious to the state, once they were appointed, they would not be able to lose their tails. If Zhuge Liang was not alive, it would cause chaos. If you do not guard against this, it will harm your children and grandchildren in the future.
At that time, Fei Yi was stunned and did not know how to answer. His deputy, Dong Hui, motioned to him and asked him to reply that the discord between Yang Yi and Wei Yan was only out of personal grudge and would not harm Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. Not appointing them now because of future calamities is like not using ships for fear of wind and waves, which is not a long-term solution. Zhuge Liang later heard about this incident and thought that Dong Hui was speaking with a good word of Gold and Jade, and immediately promoted and reused Dong Hui.
From this incident, we can see that everyone can see the advantages and disadvantages of Wei Yan and Yang Yi very clearly. As for the discord between Wei Yan and Yang Yi, he was even more familiar with it. As for Zhuge Liang, he agreed with Dong Hui's opinion that wei yan and Yang Yi would continue to be reused while he was alive, and that when he died, wei yan and Yang Yi would be disposed of.
Yang Yi safely withdrew the Shu army to Hanzhong and killed the opposition Wei Yan, contributing to the smooth transition of power between Shu and Han. But what he didn't know was that Zhuge Liang had already secretly recommended Jiang Huan to Liu Chan as his heir. After the situation stabilized, the main force of the Shu army in Hanzhong and the local area was taken over by Wu Yi, the power of the imperial court was taken over by Jiang Huan, and Yang Yi was appointed as a military division with little real power.
In this way, what Yang Yi did became to make wedding dresses for others. His dream of succeeding Zhuge Liang and becoming the ruler of the Shu Han Dynasty was shattered. Yang Yi, who was originally narrow-minded and grumpy, became completely hysterical. He complained all the time and spoke wildly, and finally because he said something rebellious, he was stripped of his official position after being reported by Fei Yi and exiled to Hanjia County. After arriving at the exiled place, Yang Yi still did not repent and was forced to commit suicide.
In fact, Yang Yi's fate was already doomed. During Liu Bei's time, he was demoted by Liu Bei because of his discord with his superior, Liu Ba. It can be seen that Liu Bei's attitude towards him, although he admired his talent, but did not agree with his character. During Zhuge Liang's time, he still did not learn his lessons, clashed with Wei Yan, who was higher than him, and finally became intolerable. Zhuge Liang only showed tolerance for Yang Yi during the Northern Expedition by taking advantage of yang Yi's talents.
In fact, everyone saw Yang Yi's heart very clearly, that is, to climb up by any means until the peak of Shu Han's power. In this process, anyone who stands in his way to promotion is his enemy. Therefore, when Zhuge Liang abandoned him and chose Jiang Huan as his heir, Yang Yi's fate was already doomed.
After Yang Yi safely brought the Shu army back to Hanzhong and completed the transfer of power, he lost all the use value. Yang Yi, who was abandoned by the power group, still has no self-awareness, and when she still wants to run amok as in the past, the time has passed. Yang Yi, who had no one to support him, eventually ended up with the tragic end of being cut from his post to the people, exiled to the border, and committed suicide.
epilogue:
Yang Yi was a rare talent in the Shu Han regime during the Zhuge Liang period. He was very capable, in charge of military affairs in Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition army, and also managed the military style and discipline of Zhuge Liang's army. With his efforts, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was able to proceed smoothly. Under Zhuge Liang, although his position was lower than that of the second-in-command Wei Yan, in many ways Yang Yi could suppress Wei Yan.
After Zhuge Liang's death, Yang Yi, who took over military power, became the supreme commander of the Shu army. He defeated Wei Yan and brought the Shu army back to Hanzhong safely. However, after the completion of the transfer of power, Yang Yi was deprived of all powers and only served as a military division without any real power. Soon after, this unscrupulous villain, who was unscrupulous in order to climb up, was stripped of his post and committed suicide in the exiled land on the frontier because of his complaints.