In the late Three Kingdoms, the Shu state lacked talents, and had reached the point where "there were no generals in the army, and Liao Hua was the vanguard", and the ancestor Liu Bei only had the fruitful general Wei Yan, but after Zhuge Liang's death, the whole family was brutally killed by Yang Yi. On the surface, all this seems to be a personal grudge between Wei Yan and Yang Yi, but in fact, behind it is Zhuge Liang's plan to stabilize Shu.
"Three Kingdoms Zhi Wei Yan Biography" recorded: After Ling Yan was broken, Jiang Wei was second; If it is delayed or not obeyed, the military envoy will be spontaneous.
The first secret order was given by Zhuge Liang Wuzhangyuan to Shi Yangyi, Sima Feiyi, and Jiang Wei, the protector of the army, before he died of illness, telling them that after his death, he should not be mourned, and after letting Wei Yan break off, Jiang Wei followed and quietly returned to Hanzhong with the team.
If Wei Yan disobeys the military order, you will leave him alone and continue to carry out the withdrawal plan.
Pei Zhuan of the "Three Kingdoms Zhi Wei Yan Biography" quotes the "Wei Luo" to record: Ling Yan did his own deeds and secretly lost his life
The second secret order, which Zhuge Liang gave to Wei Yan alone, told him: After I die, you will take over from me to manage the army, and quickly return to Hanzhong.
In this regard, Pei Songzhi believes that this is a rumor of an enemy country and cannot be believed. However, Shoko believes that this secret order is real.
After Zhuge Liang's death, Yang Yi sent Fei Yi to the Weiyan military camp to convey the prime minister's posthumous order, making him the queen of the army. When Fei Yi reached Wei Yan's military tent, he told Wei Yan about the prime minister's last order. At this time, Wei Yan's first thought was afraid that "Yang Yi passed on his life falsely". Therefore, Wei Yan did not hesitate to respond: "Although the prime minister is gone, is there still me, how can it be Yang Yi's turn to order me." ”
Seeing this, Fei Yi pretended to respond: "Yang Changshi is just a civilian official, he doesn't understand military affairs, I will tell him what you mean, and he will follow your arrangement." ”
As soon as Fei Yi came out of Wei Yan's camp gate, he galloped away. At this time, Wei Yan felt that there might be some misunderstanding in the middle, and wanted to catch up with Fei Yi to ask clearly, but it was too late. Wei Yan sighed secretly and sent his close sentry to find out the movements of Yang Yi and the others, who knew that the sentry returned that Yang Yi had slowly retreated towards Hanzhong with his army.
This moment could make Wei Yan angry, and he was thrown here as an outcast.
Subsequently, Wei Yan had to lead a small group of troops under him to quickly circle in front of Yang Yi and the others, and burned all the plank roads encountered along the way, blocking Yang Yi and the others. At this time, Wei Yan and Yang Yi successively wrote to Liu Chan, accusing each other of mutiny. Yang Yi then ordered the army to reopen a road to Hanzhong and led the army to rush day and night. Seeing this, Wei Yan led his men to Nangukou in advance, preparing to block Yang Yi and the others here.
When Yang Yi heard the news, he immediately sent his general He Ping to attack Wei Yan. He Ping came to the valley entrance and cursed Wei Yan for being unkind, taking advantage of the fact that the corpse of the prime minister was not cold. When Wei Yan's soldiers heard this, they were deeply afraid of falling behind the name of traitors and fled Wei Yan one after another. Wei Yan panicked in his heart and hurriedly fled to Hanzhong with his son and a few of his cronies. Yang Yi was overjoyed and immediately sent Ma Dai to lead the cavalry to chase and kill. In the end, Ma Dai rushed back with Wei Yan's first rank to hand over the order. Yang Yi immediately got up and stomped a few feet at Wei Yan's first rank, and said hatefully: "Quack slave! Can you do evil? Subsequently, he killed the three Wei Yan tribes.
In the twelfth year of Jianxing (234 AD), Yang Yi returned to Chengdu, thinking that he had the merit of quelling the "Wei Yan Rebellion", or the master of the retreat of the army, thinking that Zhuge Chengxiang would definitely take over the post of Prime Minister himself. The result was very different, Liu Chan appointed him as a division of the Chinese army, but there were no subordinates, like a "light pole commander", obviously suspected of rising and secretly descending. At the same time, because of Wei Yan's affairs, Yang Yi was quite criticized in the dynasty. However, the position of Prime Minister Zhuge Cheng was succeeded by Jiang Wan, who was much less prestigious than him, and was given the title of Shangshuling by Liu Chanjia, and soon added Duhu, False Festival, Lingyizhou Assassination, Qian Da, Lu Shangshu, and Anyang Tinghou.
In the thirteenth year of Jianxing (235 AD), Yang Yi was first demoted from his post and exiled to Hanjia County because of his excessive complaints. Later, still unrepentant, he wrote a letter to slander the minister, and his words were fierce, and he was finally arrested by the imperial court and imprisoned, and committed suicide soon after.
To put it bluntly, the intensification of the contradiction between Yang Yi and Wei Yan should have been provoked by Zhuge Liang, and everything Yang Yi did was obviously "making wedding clothes" for Jiang Wan, which also led to Zhuge Liang's third secret order.
The third secret order, before the last Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang had secretly told Liu Chan: Yang Yi was impatient and narrow-minded, and proposed that Jiang Wan take over a hundred years later, and Fei Yi would take over after Jiang Wan.
So, what is the purpose of Zhuge Liang's three secret orders?
Yang Yi and Wei Yan were both people used by Liu Bei during his lifetime, and by the time Zhuge Liang, as the leadership core of the second-generation Shu Han regime, he could barely suppress Yang Yi and Wei Yan, the two old Shu Han ministers. If Yang Yi and Wei Yan are still alive, Jiang Wan, as a prestige insufficient, wants to become the core of the third-generation regime leadership of the Shu Han, and will definitely encounter many obstacles, and if it is slightly unusual, it is very likely to cause internal chaos in the Shu Han.
Think of Yang Yi not even putting a general like Wei Yan in his eyes, let alone the "junior" Jiang Wan. At the beginning, Yang Yi was Shangshu under the ancestor, and Jiang Wan was just a Shangshulang.
Therefore, it can be said that Zhuge Liang's three secret orders achieved the purpose of "killing three birds with one stone", thus ensuring the smooth handover and smooth transition of the Shu Han regime, but it was a pity that the general Wei Yan died