The Tongdian records: "Wei and Wu Shu, mostly according to the Han system. "The three kingdoms of Wushu and Wei mostly followed the Han system in terms of official positions, military positions, and titles, for example, the two Han titles were divided into marquises and marquises of Guannei (the main difference between the two was that the marquises had the land of food, while the marquis of Guannei had no food, purely just an honorary title); the marquises from high to low were county marquis, township marquis, duxiang marquis, Tinghou marquis, and Duting marquis, in addition to rank, in principle, the higher the rank, the more food.
In the "Three Congresses" written by Yang Chen of the Qing Dynasty, a statistic was made on the number of Shu Han knights, a total of more than forty people had titles in their bodies, basically including the important figures of the Shu Han Dynasty, most of whom were titles of Marquis of Ting and Marquis of Duting, there were not many marquises of Duxiang and Xianghou, and there were only nine county marquises, namely Marquis Wei Yan of Southern Zheng, Marquis Jiang Wei of Pingxiang, Marquis Wu Yi of Jiyang, Marquis Wu Ban of Mianzhu, Marquis Wang Ping of Anhan, Marquis Madai of Chencang, Marquis Of Dunqu, Marquis Liu Bao of Yangquan, Marquis Xiangju of Qingyi, So which of the nine counties of Shu Han has the highest gold content? The Marquis of Southern Zheng who was not Wei Yan was none other: Shu Han was unmatched, and Zhuge Liangwu was far inferior to him.
Since the two Han Dynasties, there are three main ways to be crowned a marquis, namely military merit, foreign relatives, and rewards, and Liu Bang's alliance with the white horse has made an oath of alliance: "Those who are not the king of the Liu clan, the world will strike together, and if there is no merit that does not pay attention to the hou, the world will condemn it." "Therefore, among the three, the military merit of the marquis is not only difficult, but also has a much higher gold content than that of foreign relatives and rewards."
The nine counties of Shu Han, Marquis Zhongyangquan Marquis Liu Bao and Marquis Qingyi Xiangju were persuaded to have meritorious service (after Cao Pi deposed Emperor Xian of Han, it was these two who first advised Liu Bei to claim the title of emperor), that is, the marquis of Jiyang, Wu Yi, and the Marquis of Mianzhu, although they had military merit, but because they were foreign relatives (Brother of Empress Liu Bei), the gold content was not so high, and as for Ma Dai's Chen Canghou may be related to Zhuge Liang's death of Wei Yan, the gold content is also insufficient.
The only four people in Shu Han who really made them county marquises with military merit were Wei Yan, Marquis Jiang Wei of Pingxiang, Marquis Of Tangqu, and Marquis Of Gongqu, and among these four military meritorious marquises, Wei Yan's Southern Zheng marquis had the highest gold content. Let's analyze it from several aspects.
First, Wei Yan's military merit was the greatest
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that in the eighth year, Yanxi was sent into Qiangzhong, and the Wei generals Fei Yao, Yongzhou Assassin Shi Guohuai, and Yanzhan Yuyangxi, Yanda Broke Huai, etc., moved to the former military division Zhengxi General, false festival, into the Southern Zheng Marquis.
In 230, Cao Zhen, Zhang Guo, and Sima Yi attacked Shu in three ways, plus The Yongzhou Assassin Guo Huai and the Later General Fei Yao were a total of four large armies, Zhuge Liang sat in Hanzhong, Wei Yan and Wu Yi led their divisions deep into the hinterland of Cao Wei, defeated Guo Huai and Fei Yao with few victories, and won a great victory at the Battle of Yangxi, after the war Wu Yi was promoted from the Marquis of Duting to the Marquis of Gaoyang Township, and was promoted to the rank of General of the Left, Wei Yan had the greatest merit, and with this merit his title was suddenly promoted from the Marquis of Duting to the Marquis of Southern Zheng of the County, and was promoted to the General of the Expedition to the West.
The other three, Jiang Wei, who fought back Sima Yi and was promoted to Marquis of Pingxiang after Zhuge Liang's death in 234, and Wang Ping was promoted to Marquis of Pingxiang because he assisted Wu Yi in defending Hanzhong, and in 237 he took over as the governor of Hanzhong after Wu Yi's death and was given the title of Marquis of An Han and Marquis of Tangqu, but it is recorded in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: "There are several military merits, the meritorious title is Yaping, the official is the left general, and the Marquis of Tangqu is sealed." ”
There is no doubt that although the four of them were all because of military merit, the most prosperous military merit was Wei Yan (of course, the military merit behind Jiang Wei and Wang Ping was also remarkable, but the military merit at the time of the marquis was indeed inferior to Wei Yan).
Second, the Marquis of Southern Zheng was a field marquis
Marquis of The Four Great Armies of shu Han Dynasty, Jiang Wei, Marquis of Pingxiang, was a native of Ji County, Tianshui County (Hanyang County), Liangzhou, and Pingxiang County was under the rule of Tianshui County; Wang Ping, the Marquis of Anhan, was a native of Tangqu County, Ba County, and Anhan County was also under the rule of Ba County; Hou Jufu of Tangqu was a native of Hanchang County, Ba County, and Tangqu belonged to Ba County (I don't understand why Wang Ping was not simply named Marquis of Tangqu County); Wei Yan, The Marquis of Southern Zheng, was a native of Nanyang, Jingzhou, and Nanzheng County was under the rule of Hanzhong of Yizhou; in addition, Ma Dai was a native of Maoling County, Fufeng County, Sili Prefecture, and Chen Cang County was also under the rule of Fufeng County.
There was a custom in the three kingdoms to use their hometown as the land of meritorious knighthood, and the other four of the above five people except Wei Yan were all like this, but the difference was that Jiang Wei and Ma Dai were fictitious, because Liangzhou Tianshui County and Sili Prefecture Fufeng County were not in the hands of Shu Han, but in the hands of Cao Wei.
Wang Ping, Jufu, and Wei Yan were the marquises of the field, but Wei Yan's gold content was greater than that of the two, because Nanzheng County was the capital of Hanzhong, with a much larger population than Anhan County and Tangqu County, and Wei Yannan Zhenghou's food (number of households) was definitely more than the two people.
Looking at the more than forty marquises of the Shu Han Dynasty, the rank and gold content should be the highest among the nine county marquises, of which the four major military titles of Southern Zheng Marquis Wei Yan, Pingxiang Marquis Jiang Wei, An Han Marquis Wang Ping, and Tangqu Marquis Jufu are the most numerous, and the Southern Zheng Marquis is the highest among them, which can be said to be unmatched.
As for Zhuge Liang's Marquis of Wuxiang, many people think that this is a county marquis, in fact, it is not so, as mentioned above, Shu Han adhered to the Han system, non-military merit can not be crowned marquis, although there are two ways to reward and foreign relatives, but obviously has little to do with Zhuge Liang.
Shu Han had always been more cautious about the title of marquis, and although Zhuge Liang was a noble minister, he was not a marquis during Liu Bei's lifetime, even Zhao Yun and Wei Yan, and they did not have titles until Liu Bei's death and Liu Chan's ascension to the throne.
When Liu Chan ascended the throne in 223, Zhuge Liang did not have any military merit, of course, it was impossible to be crowned as a county marquis as soon as he came up, and the Marquis of Wuxiang was already the highest title at that time, and before that, only Zhang Fei and Ma Chao had the title of Marquis of Xiang, as for others such as Zhao Yun was the Marquis of Yongchangting, Wei Yan was the Marquis of Duting, both were lower than the Marquis of Xiangxiang, and Li Yan, who was also a minister of The Orphan with Zhuge Liang, was the Marquis of Duxiang, and slightly inferior to the Marquis of Wuxiang.
Then why did Zhuge Liang go on the Northern Expedition five times until his death in 234, and for more than ten years his title remained in place and was not promoted to county marquis? Military merit is on the one hand, on the other hand, Zhuge Liang has an overview of the power of the Shu Han Dynasty, and always has to lead by example, which Zhuge Liang's high wind and bright festival make people have nothing to say.
Wuxiang Hou is a township marquis, so where is Zhuge Liang's food land? There have been many studies in history, and most people believe that Wuxiang refers to the Wuxiang Valley of Southern Zheng County in Hanzhong (probably the wuxiang township of Hantai District, Hanzhong City), Wei Yannan Zhenghou is the county marquis, Shiyi is the land of Southern Zhengyi County, Zhuge Liangwu Township Hou and Zhang Fei's Xixiang Hou are township marquises one level lower than the county marquis, and Shiyi is only a township land, and judging from the title and food, it can be said that it is far inferior to Wei Yan's Southern Zhenghou.