During the Three Kingdoms period, there were many people of good character, such as Xun Yu, who was known as the "Talent of Wang Zuo", who was from a famous and prestigious family, and his family had been loyal to the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years. After the great chaos in the world, he assisted Cao Cao, annihilating all the princes along the way, and even once wanted to revitalize the Han Dynasty. However, because he found that Cao Cao had the intention of replacing the Han Room, he did not hesitate to break with Cao Cao and interpret his faith with his own life, and was also known as the last loyal subject of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
There are loyal subjects who naturally have "anti-bone boys", and there are many anti-bone boys in that era, such as Lü Bu, Meng Da, Wei Yan, Wang Ling, etc. are all such people. Wei Yan, as Zhuge Liang's anti-bone boy named, Zhuge Liang even asked Liu Bei to kill him, but Liu Bei Aicai did not do so, but gave Wei Yan great power, thus laying the foundation for Shu Han. When Zhuge Liang led the Northern Expedition of the Shu Han Dynasty, Wei Yan's ideas even had great differences with Zhuge Liang,000, and even threatened to replace Zhuge Liang's position.
However, from a modern point of view, if Wei Yan replaced Zhuge Liang's position, shu Han would not only not develop rapidly, but might even destroy the country in advance.
Wei Yan was killed in a mutiny
During the Sixth Northern Expedition Led by Zhuge Liang and the Wei Army led by Sima Yi on the banks of the Weishui River for a long time, Zhuge Liang originally wanted to defeat the Wei army from the frontal battlefield with the excellent crossbow machines and battle formations of the Shu Han Dynasty. Sima Yi understood his own disadvantages, and did not give Zhuge Liang this opportunity, but chose to avoid fighting, and Ren Shuhan did not let the army fight no matter how he invited the battle, cursed the battle, and even humiliated himself. Because Sima Yi understood that Shu Han's national strength was very weak, if a war of attrition was fought, it would eventually be Cao Wei who won.
Wei Yan, as the deputy commander in the army and also a veteran of the battlefield, was familiar with the terrain here, plus the intelligence showed that the defense of Chang'an City was empty, as long as he gave him 5,000 elite soldiers to take the trail, he could capture Chang'an within 10 days, and then he could surround Sima Yi. Zhuge Liang, who was seeking stability, did not agree to Wei Yan's request, so Wei Yan often told his subordinates that Zhuge Liang did not understand military affairs, and that it was most appropriate for the commander of the army to let himself be.
Soon after, Zhuge Liang died of illness in Wuzhangyuan, and before dying, he knew that Shu Han was no longer capable of defeating Cao Wei, so he arranged a retreat mission and let Yang Yi and Jiang Wei retreat with the main force. Wei Yan was also a veteran of the battlefield because he was familiar with the terrain, and he was in charge of the rear of the palace. When Wei Yan learned of this, he thought that Zhuge Liang was going to harm himself and take revenge for himself! So he quickly let his troops escape first, and also burned the Sword Pavilion Trail along the way, almost letting the main force of Shu Han be surrounded and annihilated by the Wei army.
When Yang Yi and Jiang Wei returned to Shudi, they challenged Wei Yan and asked him why he did this. Wei Yan knew that he was wrong, but did not admit his mistake, but instead questioned the qualifications of Yang Yi and Jiang Wei, wanted to take away the military power of the two, and he wanted to become the commander of the army to continue the Northern Expedition. Just as the two sides were fighting, Wei Yan's troops learned that Wei Yan had disobeyed Zhuge Liang's will and broke away from Wei Yan, and finally Wei Yan was beheaded by Ma Dai, who was hiding behind him, and all his people were killed afterwards.
Wei Yan's strategic direction
As a general of hundred battles, Wei Yan had both abilities and vision. When he was young, he grew up from a low-level soldier who fought again and again, and the countless bandits in Jingzhou were his exploits. Later, because he had no background, he could only get a position as a changsha guard, which made him very unhappy. After the Battle of Chibi, Wei Yan discovered that only Liu Bei was the one who sat firmly in Jingzhou, so when Liu Bei attacked Changsha, he took Taishou hostage and surrendered, and was thus severely punished.
Wei Yan's fighting style was known for its fierceness, whether it was when Liu Bei attacked Yizhou, or when he suppressed the Yizhou shi clan, or in the Battle of Hanzhong, Wei Yan's performance was remarkable, so he was appointed by Liu Bei as the Taishou of Hanzhong, and his status was even higher than Zhang Fei. Wei Yan's strategic plan in Hanzhong was mainly defensive, supplemented by harassment of the surrounding counties of Cao Wei. You can slowly release Cao Wei's blood, expand your territory and influence little by little, and wait until you have an opportunity to accurately attack Cao Wei and change the situation between the two countries with World War I.
In Wei Yan's plan, he succeeded Zhuge Liang as the commander of Shu Han, which meant that the plan of sneaking into Chang'an would continue, and even bring the Shu army to Hanzhong, using Hanzhong as a base to constantly harass Cao Wei's Longxi, Shangyong, and Guanzhong and fight a war of attrition. Wei Yan's plan didn't seem to be bad either, but the weakness was the plan itself.
Follow the plan to walk the end of Shu Han
Wei Yan's identity was that of a military general who would only fight but not govern. At that time, the national strength of the Shu Han Dynasty was only one-fifth of Cao Wei's, and its military strength was only one-fourth of Cao Wei's. Zhuge Liang, as the de facto ruler of Shu Han, knew how deep the disadvantages of Shu Han were, so he could only develop the economy internally, and then compromise with the Yizhou scholars, so that the young talents of the Yizhou clan could enter the court as officials. With the support of the Yizhou Shi clan, it was only then that they could go deep into the south to suppress the rebellion and continue to start the Northern Expedition.
Previously, the whole shu Han dynasty supported Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, because he saw hope in Zhuge Liang, and Wei Yan was not Zhuge Liang, and he did not have as much influence and deterrence as Zhuge Liang. This situation will lead to internal instability in the Shu Han Dynasty, and the two sides of the main war faction and the main and he factions will continue to be in a tug-of-war. The most important place to fight a war is that the rear should be stable, and the discord between the two sides at home means that the situation is unstable, and the unstable situation may encounter the problem of poor grain and grass, and Zhuge Liang encountered the problem of grain and grass when he was alive, not to mention Wei Yan.
Moreover, according to Wei Yan's strategy, every military action he made would cause a great economic burden to Shu Han, but the places bordering Cao Wei were some barren lands, and it was difficult to get enough benefits from each action, which might cause Shu Han's finances to collapse in the long run. In addition, Cao Wei's commander Sima Yi was only suppressed by Zhuge Liang's ability, which did not mean that Wei Yan could also be suppressed, and might even be defeated by Sima Yi! Shu Han could no longer afford to fail, and a major defeat might bring Shu Han to the knees.
brief summary
In fact, Zhuge Liang's heart was filled with the entire Shu Han, and even the whole world. It was a fact that he and Wei Yan did not agree with each other, but he never targeted Wei Yan, let alone abandoned or abandoned Wei Yan, and exchanged his troops for the retreat of the main force of Shu Han. Everything Zhuge Liang did was the best arrangement, but Wei Yan was narrow-minded and could not understand it.
However, people like Wei Yan, in fact, whether it is ancient or modern, there are many people, many people think that they have achieved certain achievements, then they will be the first in the world, or even no one in sight. In fact, you must know that the result achieved is not because of how strong you are, but because your opponent is too weak. If you encounter a stronger opponent, not only will the result not be as good as before, but you are more likely to be knocked into the abyss.