In the spring of The Third Year of Zhang Wu (223), Liu Bei fell ill and died at the White Emperor City of Yong'an. Before his death, Liu Bei designed an auxiliary political structure of "Liang Zheng Yan Vice", that is, Zhuge Liang was the right and Li Yan was the deputy. Chen Shou recorded Li Yan's duties in the "White Emperor City Trust Orphan" in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Biography of Li Yan": to take Yan as the protector of the capital, to unify the internal and external military forces, and to stay in yong'an.
However, for thousands of years, people only remembered that Zhuge Liang was a minister of orphanage and completely ignored Li Yan. The reason is simple. Liu Bei's idea of being an assistant minister of "Liang Zheng Yan" was destroyed after only eight years, and Li Yan was deposed and exiled, and eventually died of grief.
The reason for Li Yan's abolition was this: Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition, Li Yan was responsible for the supply of grain and grass for the Northern Expedition army. Li Yan's luck was too bad, the sky was not beautiful, and it rained heavily, and the military grain could not be transported to the front line as scheduled. What to do? Li Yan ordered someone to send a message to Zhuge Liang to withdraw his troops, and Zhuge Liang obeyed.
However, when the news of Zhuge Liang's retreat came out, Li Yan's mind was hot, and yin and yang said in a strange way, "The army is full of food, so why should it return?" He also played Liu Chan, saying that Zhuge Liang was retreating and advancing, and the purpose was to "lure thieves and fight." This was obviously a slander, and when Zhuge Liang showed Liu Chan the letter that Li Yan had asked him to withdraw, Li Yan could only confess his guilt and was deposed and exiled.
Would Li Yan make such a low-level mistake? Obviously illogical. Some experts said that Li Yan's fate was completely self-inflicted, the truth is not so simple, Zhuge Liang must have found something. No matter from which angle of analysis, Zhuge Liang's abolition of Li Yan is the result of careful consideration.
As early as the fourth year of Jianxing (226), Li Yan showed a hint of disobedience. Li Yan built a city in Jiangzhou on a large scale, and apparently made Jiangzhou his base camp. Not only that, Li Yan also asked Zhuge Liang to assign five counties to his name and build Bazhou for him. Countless days and nights, when Zhuge Liang racked his brains to restore the Han Room, Li Yan's shadow always haunted his mind, "This person must not stay!" ”
As for Li Yan's request, Zhuge Liang vetoed it, believing that Li Yan wanted to engage in an independent kingdom, especially that only Zhuge Liang was qualified to govern the affairs of the kaifu. Of course, in addition to maintaining the internal stability of the Shu Han, Li Yan was a very problematic person in himself. Ability is indeed no problem, but Li Yan is arrogant in personality, and ordinary people cannot get into the eyes of the law at all.
At that time, the villagers of Li Yan's hometown had such an evaluation of him, "It is difficult to be foxy, Li Scales." This means that if a person has scales, it is said that the person is difficult to get along with, and can only follow him, and it is difficult to go against him. In short, Li Yan's eventual abolition was the result of Zhuge Liang's balance of interests within the Shu Han Dynasty.
Reference: Romance of the Three Kingdoms • Biography of Li Yan