Zhuge Liang, as the chancellor of the Shu Han Dynasty, in order to fulfill his lifelong wish and realize Liu Bei's last wish in the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, after stabilizing the domestic situation, began the continuous Northern Expedition out of the Qi Mountains, and finally died of illness in Wuzhangyuan because of his exhaustion and overwork.
Before his death, Zhuge Liang had hoped to use the method of praying for prayer to increase his life for 12 years, the so-called method of praying for prayer is a kind of Taoist special spell, with a lamp of life, seven lamps, forty-nine small lamps, and at the same time guarded by seven hundred and forty-nine people, with the lamp of life for seven days, it can extend the life span of 12 years.
Originally Zhuge Liang planned well, but there were unexpected storms in the sky, Sima Yi at the same time night to observe the sky, found that the symbol of the general in the sky of the star is not in the original position, Sima Yi is also a polymath, immediately guessed that Zhuge Liang may be ill or will not work, so Sima Yi sent Xiahou Ba to lead an army to attack the Shu camp as a test.
Wei Yan
That night Xiahou Ba led an army to attack the Shu camp, originally the two armies were opposed, one side attacked the other side was normal, when he learned that the Wei army was coming, Wei Yan went straight to Zhuge Liang's big tent to report, due to haste, Wei Yan accidentally kicked over the lamp that Zhuge Liang had set up in the account, and the lamp was extinguished.
Originally Zhuge Liang was still thinking of using the method of praying to increase his life, but now it seems impossible, that kind of mentality that could have extended his life for 12 years but was about to face death because of a mistake, it was unacceptable to anyone, even if outsiders looked at it, they would feel pity, at that time, Zhuge Liang still had Jiang Wei in the big tent.
As soon as Wei Yan broke into trouble, he immediately realized that there was a problem, whether Wei Yan was intentional or unintentional, Wei Yan's action at that time was to prostrate himself to the ground and plead guilty, but Jiang Wei could not bear it, and drew his sword in anger, preparing to kill Wei Yan in revenge for Zhuge Liang's life, but Zhuge Liang stopped Jiang Wei's behavior with providence.
Zhuge Liang
Why did Zhuge Liang stop killing Wei Yan? Isn't this a great opportunity?
Judging from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang has always believed that Wei Yan has a backbone behind his head, but because Wei Yan is a rare military talent, Zhuge Liang's attitude towards Wei Yan has always been to reuse + suppress, that is, carrots and sticks, which not only give Wei Yan benefits and benefits, but also knock Wei Yan everywhere.
Wei Yan was able to guard Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang also agreed, Wei Yan was able to hold a high-ranking official, Zhuge Liang was also promoted by default, in the entire Shu Han army system, Zhuge Liang was also wary of Wei Yan everywhere, even his own posthumous arrangements were entrusted to Jiang Wei, Yang Yi, Jiang Wan, and others, rather than entrusting Wei Yan, but arranging Ma Dai to deal with Wei Yan, which shows that Zhuge Liang did not trust Wei Yan.
With Zhuge Liang's wisdom, it had long been expected that Wei Yan would commit rebellion after his death, but Zhuge Liang did not kill Wei Yan at this time, which was a very wise choice, and then the most important reason was that he could not kill the general on trumped-up charges.
Wei Yan was a major minister of Shu Han, a general personally promoted by Liu Bei, a rare fierce general in the Shu Han army system, since the death of the Five Tigers of Shu Han, Wei Yan became the best of the new generation of military generals, such a general, can he kill him because he kicked over the Seven Star Lantern?
Obviously not, what crime is it to kick over the Seven Star Lantern?
Although the Seven Star Lantern is a prop used by Zhuge Liang to prolong his life with Taoist spells, who can guarantee that the spell will be successful, if he kills the general on this reason, the Shu army will be cold, and the Shu Han will disobey internally, what is the difference between this and killing people on trumped-up charges?
Moreover, Zhuge Liang's life was bright and upright, even if he overthrew Li Yan, a political enemy, he also used a bright and just Yang plot, Zhuge Liang used the legal system to govern Shu Han, to rule the country by law, and the premise of ruling the country by law was that everyone should abide by the law, and everyone was equal before the law, Wei Yan just kicked over the lamp, and did not break the law, Zhuge Liang could not kill Wei Yan.
Seven star lights
But Zhuge Liang was a wise man, he knew that Wei Yan had a backbone, but to overthrow Wei Yan must have real evidence, not on trumped-up charges, zhuge Liang even if he wanted to kill Wei Yan, he must wait until he had the evidence of Wei Yan's violation before he could kill, but Zhuge Liang could not wait for this day.
Although Zhuge Liang could not wait for this day, Zhuge Liang still made careful arrangements before his death, and Zhuge Liang clearly told Ma Dai: Wei Yan will rebel, and then naturally someone will kill Wei Yan. At the same time, he gave Ma Dai a tip and told him that he could only open it in a critical moment, and then someone would kill Wei Yan, and after the arrangement was made, Zhuge Liang died soon after.
As soon as Zhuge Liang died, Wei Yan rebelled and did not obey Zhuge Liang's previous orders to withdraw, and when Yang Yi led his army to retreat, Wei Yan led all his soldiers to grab Yang Yi's army and burn the boardwalk, and also sent troops to attack Yang Yi, Wei Yan openly disobeyed the military order, which was equivalent to providing zhuge Liang with conclusive evidence to kill him, and Wei Yan's death was not far away.
Wei Yan: Who dares to kill me?
It is precisely because Zhuge Liang had already made plans, made arrangements long ago, and most importantly: Wei Yan had the facts of the crime, not only disobeyed military orders, but also openly attacked his own people, which was equivalent to conspiring against the major crime, plotting rebellion according to the law was to be beheaded, the three tribes were exterminated, and finally under Zhuge Liang's pre-death arrangement, Wei Yan was beheaded by Ma Dai.
It was precisely because Zhuge Liang had planned everything, and he did not kill Wei Yan when Wei Yan kicked over the Seven Star Lantern, one was no reason, the other was unnecessary, anyway, Wei Yan could not escape death, and at the same time killing Wei Yan did not have the bad reputation of killing the general indiscriminately, but had a good reputation for quelling the rebellion, which was where Zhuge Liang was clever.
After Wei Yan's death, according to legend, Jiang Huan also built a cemetery for Wei Yan with wei Yan's early merits, located in Shima Township, 2 kilometers outside the north gate of today's Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, and there were two kneeling stone horses in front of Wei Yan's cemetery, alluding to the two people who killed Wei Yan, Yang Yi and Ma Dai, the meaning of which is self-evident.