Record of Jiang Boyo's last words (Liu Kezhuang)
Things may be difficult to remotely, people are not easy to know. Whoever dies in the clouds, there is a Jiang Wei.
Jiang Wei can be said to be the staunchest main battle faction in the late Shu Han Dynasty, and he is also the most tragic person, even more tragic than Zhuge Liang. In the midst of the anti-war voices in the DPRK and China, they insisted on the cause of the Northern Expedition; and in the case that the Shu Han Dynasty had already perished and the Later Lords had already surrendered, they also designed the grand plan of "one plan to harm the three sages" and really had some momentum of "although tens of millions of people are going to the same place." In the late Shu Han Dynasty, Zhuge Zhan, Dong Jue, Fan Jian and other anti-war factions gradually controlled the imperial government, hoping to cut jiang Wei's military power; Huang Hao also relied on Liu Chan's power and was at odds with Jiang Wei. It can be said that Jiang Wei had many enemies in the Shu Han Dynasty and was greatly constrained. So what impact did this have on Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition?
Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition
During the reign of Jiang Wei and Fei Yi, Jiang Wei did not have much performance in the Northern Expedition, and although he had the idea of the Northern Expedition during the Jiang Wei period (attacking Xiangyang from Weixing County and Xincheng County, in fact, it should be regarded as the Eastern Expedition in terms of direction), but was shot by the entire Shu Han high-level, Although Jiang Wei retreated to the second place and let Jiang Wei continue to attack Longyou, he did not see too clear a record; not to mention the Fei Yi period, Fei Yi was a thorough dove, suppressing Jiang Wei for a long time, only giving him 10,000 troops. During Fei Yi's reign, Jiang Wei's greatest victory was to receive the Liangzhou minority Baihu Wen and return to Shu Han with the cooperation of Liao Hua.
It was not until the sixteenth year of Yanxi (i.e., 253 AD) that Fei Yi was assassinated by the Wei general Guo Xun, and Jiang Wei, the Wei general Lu Shangshushi, became the second-in-command of Shu Han. At this time, the Shang Shu Ling in the DPRK was Chen Qi, who was good at dancing with long sleeves.
Chen Qi was purely a politician, originally promoted by Fei Yi, and wanted to be in a doveish posture, and at this time he wholeheartedly supported Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition. The first Jiang Wei was his superior, and the second Jiang Wei would not squeeze his power in the Northern Expedition for many years.
Jiang Wei himself was also happy. So after Fei Yi's death to Chen Qi's death,
From the sixteenth year of Yanxi to the first year of Jing Yao (that is, 258 AD), these six years were the peak of Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition, and a total of five Northern Expeditions were carried out.
Among them, a huge victory was achieved in the "Battle of Taoxi", and the "Battle of Duangu" was also defeated. After the "Battle of Duangu", although Jiang Wei's reputation was damaged and his situation was somewhat cramped, with the support of Chen Qi, he still did not give up the cause of the Northern Expedition, and in the following year he led an army to confront Deng Ai and others in Guanzhong. However, the use of troops is indeed more cautious than before.
From the first year of Jing Yao to the first year of Yanxing (that is, 263 AD), during this period, Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition fell into a low point.
Only in the fifth year of Jing Yao (that is, in 262 AD), Jiang Wei launched an attack on Long Right,
But he also kept enough caution to put a hasty end to it after being thwarted by Deng Ai. It can be seen that after Chen Qi's death, Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition became stagnant.
Jiang Wei was subjected to resistance
During the reign of Jiang Wei and Fei Yi, the resistance that Jiang Wei faced was, of course, the moderation of Jiang Wei and Fei Yi. Especially Fei Yi. In fact, during the reign of Jiang Huan, there was no large-scale Northern Expedition, and although there were plans for the Eastern Crusade, they were killed. During Chen Qi's reign, Jiang Wei simply spread out the Northern Expedition, almost once a year on average, and even after such a big defeat as the "Battle of Duangu", he was able to continue to send troops to the Northern Expedition. At this time, although Jiang Wei received some resistance, he still could not stop the momentum of the Northern Expedition. It was not until Chen Qi's death and Jiang Wei's important allies in the DPRK were absent that the anti-war resistance was reflected.
The first is the voice of some anti-war factions. For example, Zhongsan Dafu Zhou, The Great General Of the Expedition to the West, Zhang Yi, and later the Right Rider General Liao Hua and so on.
Zhou Zhou was not a heavy vassal in the Shu Han Dynasty, and Zhang Yi and Liao Hua, although anti-war, were also subject to Jiang Wei's restraint. Therefore, the voices of these anti-war factions constitute relatively little resistance for Jiang Wei, but they also influence the public opinion in the DPRK to a certain extent. In particular, a famous scholar such as Tan Zhou is the object of study of some latecomers, and what he says and the papers he has written will undoubtedly have a certain impact on these latecomers.
The second is the deterioration of relations with Huang Hao.
After Dong Yun's death, Huang Hao's interference in politics began to show signs; after Chen Qi's death, Huang Hao's momentum in politics was even more uncontrollable. Jiang Wei once persuaded Liu Chan to execute Huang Hao, but Liu Chan refused, only to let Huang Hao apologize to Jiang Wei. In this way, the relationship between Jiang Wei and Huang Hao was undoubtedly extremely deteriorated. In fact, as a eunuch, Huang Hao's power was basically based on Liu Chan's imperial power.
However, Huang Hao, as Liu Chan's favorite eunuch, was able to influence Liu Chan's will to a certain extent and guide the imperial power for his own use.
For example, Liu Chan's brother-in-law Liu Yong was alienated by Liu Chan for a long time because he offended Huang Hao. Jiang Wei, as a great general Lu Shangshi, held a high position of power in the Shu Han Dynasty, and of course he would not be easily overthrown by Huang Hao, but he was also jealous of Huang Hao.
Finally, Zhuge Zhan, Fan Jian, Dong Jie, and other anti-war factions came to power. The threat and resistance caused by this to Jiang Wei is the greatest.
After Chen Qi's death, Dong Jie became Shang Shu Ling. As a general of Cao Wei, Jiang Wei had been leading troops for a long time, and his influence in the dynasty was very limited, and his foundation was very shallow. Therefore, the weight of Dong Jue's Shang Shu Ling was still very high; in the fourth year of Jing Yao (that is, in 261 AD), Zhuge Zhan, Dong Jue, and Fan Jian were each promoted, and Zhuge Zhan and Dong Jie each became the Wei general, the auxiliary general, and the Ping Shang Shu Shi; Fan Jian replaced Dong Jie as the Shang Shu Ling. Zhuge Zhan, Dong Jie, and Fan Jian were all factions of Jingzhou and also anti-war factions, and the key was to be in the center of power and could elevate Jiang Wei politically. Zhuge Zhan and the others decided to wait for Jiang Wei to depose Jiang Wei and replace Jiang Wei with Yan Yu, who was guarding Yong'an. Jiang Wei did not dare to return to Chengdu and stayed in Tuntian to avoid trouble.
Influence on the Cause of the Northern Expedition
What influence did these anti-war factions have on Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition? First of all, when the voice of the anti-war faction in the late Shu Han Dynasty was so strong, Jiang Wei did not give up the cause of the Northern Expedition. This can be seen from Jiang Wei's change of the Hanzhong defense system. In the past, the defense system of Hanzhong was to concentrate troops in many besieged city docks in the north and central parts of Hanzhong, and defend layer by layer, so that Cao Wei's army could not smoothly enter the plain area.
On the grounds that such a defense could only repulse and could not annihilate the enemy army, Jiang Wei reduced the strength of these besieging docks and shifted some of his troops to the west; Jiang Wei himself was also in the middle of the army.
It can be seen that Jiang Wei's modification of the Hanzhong defense system certainly has the hope of destroying a large number of enemy troops in Hanzhong, but at the same time, it is also for the needs of the Northern Expedition and long-right, and can only mobilize troops from Hanzhong. And when Zhuge Zhan, Fan Jian, Dong Jie, and others came to power to control the government, Jiang Wei still had the strength to launch a relatively large-scale Northern Expedition in Puzhong. It can be seen that on the whole, Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition was not completely destroyed.
However, from the specific matters of the Northern Expedition, the resistance that Jiang Wei received was obvious. In the original Northern Expedition, Jiang Wei dared to take risks, and the hanging army went deep and continuously attacked in order to achieve great results and also suffered huge defeats. In the "Battle of HouHe", although Jiang Wei was defeated by Deng Ai, he was not defeated, but took the initiative to "run away".
At this time, Jiang Wei did not dare to take any more risks; from the perspective of frequency, the contrast between before and after was even more stark. During Chen Qi's reign, Jiang Wei carried out five Northern Expeditions in six years; during the reigns of Zhuge Zhan, Dong Jie, and Fan Jian, Jiang Wei carried out only one Northern Expedition.
According to the editor's speculation, it was still a gamble against the anti-war faction in order to obtain military merit. Therefore, in summary, although the resistance of the anti-war faction in the late Shu Han Dynasty did not completely destroy Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition, the blow caused was still very large, and it was an important factor in Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition from positive to negative.
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chronicle of the State of Huayang