If we talk about the famous generals of Shu and Han in the Three Kingdoms, there must be Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun among others on the list, Wei Yan will definitely not be ranked. However, Wei Yan's status in the Shu Han cannot be ignored. He is highly regarded by Liu Bei when he comes in and out of officialdom. After the deaths of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others, Wei Yan made great contributions to the stability of the Shu Han. During Zhuge Liang 's reign, Zhuge Liang's North also made many outstanding achievements. However, such an outstanding military talent in the late Shu Han Dynasty was charged with treason, and the Yi tribe did not end well.
Regarding the legendary and embarrassing life of Wei Yan, I will decipher in detail the three stages of the beginning where he repeatedly made extraordinary achievements, the middle where he felt depressed, and the end where he did not get a happy ending. He was highly regarded by Liu Bei and suffered a lot in the hands of Zhuge Liang. How did the famous Shu Han general Wei Yan, who was reused and finally died in the hands of Yang Yi, come to his end step by step.
1. The beginning of many extraordinary achievements
Wei Yan has a long character and is a native of Yiyang. Yiyang belongs to Nanyang County of Jingzhou. It is speculated that Wei Yan is just an inconspicuous subordinate of Jingzhou Shepherd Liu Biao, just like Huang Zhong at that time. It was not until Liu Bei took charge of Jingzhou that Wei Yan met him. Ming Lord.
After Liu Bei entered Sichuan, Wei Yan was in the battle to pacify Guanghan County. Because he fought very bravely, he liked to charge forward every time and killed countless enemies. Therefore, he made many military exploits and was promoted to General Yamen by Liu Bei.
In the 19th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei finally conquered the important town Luocheng . Wei Yan also charged forward as usual, and his own efforts were secretly seen by Liu Bei. Liu Bei thought to himself that he was really a rare warrior!
Liu Bei has been attacking Luocheng since the eighteenth year of Jian'an. Luocheng serves as the last barrier in Chengdu. Yizhou Mu Liu Zhang's eldest son Liu Xun retreats here. Both sides know that this is a life and death battle, although Liu Bei He had powerful generals Wei Yan and Huang Zhong under his command, but they still fought against each other for a year before Liu Bei captured Luocheng. He finally completed his strategic goal of surrounding Chengdu with Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and other reinforcements.
After Liu Bei entered Chengdu and stabilized the situation, he immediately led his army to attack Hanzhong . In the 20th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei won the victory in the Hanzhong battle . Based on his merits, he was granted the title of Hanzhong . When Liu Bei became the Queen of Hanzhong, he naturally wanted to reward his subordinates for their merits. Zhuge Liang, Fazheng , Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu were all promoted to high positions. When it was Wei Yan's turn, Liu Bei did not directly reward him.
Instead, he discussed with the ministers who should guard Hanzhong. Hanzhong is the gateway to Yizhou. If you enter, you can enter Guanzhong and Liangzhou. If you retreat, you can defend Chengdu and keep the enemy at the door. This is a battleground for military strategists. , be sure to send generals to guard it. Now that Guan Yu is in Jingzhou, Liu Bei has the qualifications and abilities beside him. Only Zhang Fei is qualified to guard Hanzhong. Everyone thinks that the heavy burden will definitely fall on Zhang Fei, and Zhang Fei himself is full of confidence in this.
Liu Bei saw that everyone recommended Zhang Fei for the job, and Zhang Fei seemed destined to win. Liu Bei just touched his beard, smiled slightly, and said that he would arrange for Wei Yan to guard Hanzhong. When Zhang Fei heard that it was Wei Yan, he became anxious. Fortunately, for his brother's sake, he did not get angry on the spot.
Liu Bei awarded Wei Yan the title of General Zhenyuan, the governor of Hanzhong, and the prefect of Hanzhong. After hearing this order, the Shu Han army was talking about it. In order to dispel everyone's doubts about Wei Yan's ability, Liu Bei asked Wei Yan in front of all the ministers: "My dear, I have entrusted you with the important task of guarding Hanzhong. How will you help me guard Hanzhong?"
Wei Yan cupped his fists and replied: " Your Majesty, if Cao Cao leads the northern army to attack, the general will definitely block Cao Cao from Hanzhong; if Cao Cao sends a general to lead an army of 100,000 to attack, the general will definitely surround them and annihilate them, allowing them to come as they come. Back."
After Liu Bei heard this, he couldn't help but admire Wei Yan for being really brave and resourceful. Unlike Zhang Fei, who was brave and brave but lacked strategy. Everyone felt that although it was a heroic feat, the thinking was very clear and it was possible to operate.
Liu Bei dismissed it. After everyone had doubts, they had to solve another problem of their own, and they had to appease their second-in-command, the bad-tempered Zhang Fei.
Liu Bei met Zhang Fei in his back garden. Zhang Fei came over angrily, cupped his fists and saluted: "Your Majesty, why don't you send me to Hanzhong? When Liu Bei faced this brother, he couldn't just say that his personality was not suitable for him. He just said that he had other important tasks to arrange for Zhang Fei. When Zhang Fei heard that his brother had other arrangements for him, he felt aggrieved and immediately laughed happily. .
Liu Bei told Zhang Fei about his arrangement and was located in Langzhong . The geographical location of Langzhong is quite special. Both waterways and land routes are very developed. It has direct access to Hanzhong in the north, direct waterway to Jingzhou in the east, and Zhang Fei can control Chengdu in the west. He handed over the heavy responsibility to himself and left happily.
Also in the 24th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei's general Guan Yu was defeated and killed. Looking at the corpse of his sympathizer, Liu Bei was filled with grief and thought, I, Liu Bei, swear. To avenge this.
In the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, Cao Pi usurped the Han and proclaimed himself emperor. Under the advice of his ministers, Liu Bei finally proclaimed himself emperor in the twenty-sixth year of Jian'an, changed the name to Zhang Wu , and appointed Zhuge Liang as his prime minister. , the second-in-command Zhang Fei was promoted to General of Chariots and Lieutenants, and Wei Yan was also promoted to General of Zhenbei. In the same year, Liu Bei, in the name of revenge for Guan Yu, led an army to defeat Wu. Everyone knows that Yiling was defeated. In the third year of Zhang Wu, Liu Bei died of illness in Baidi City.
Liu Bei, who had a favor for Wei Yan, passed away in defeat. There is no relevant record about whether Wei Yan participated in the battle of Yiling. It is speculated that Wei Yan was still there at that time. Guarding Hanzhong and not participating in the Battle of Yiling, I don’t know whether it was lucky or unfortunate for Wei Yan.
If Liu Bei wanted Wei Yan to participate in the battle, Wei Yan would definitely go to the battle without saying a word, because Wei Yan was indeed loyal to Liu Bei. While guarding Hanzhong, he worked diligently and succeeded without any attack from the Wei army.
Wei Yan was promoted from a young general to the general of Zhenbei based on his own merits.
2. Feeling depressed midway
After Liu Bei's death. , Liu Chan succeeded to the throne, and was changed to Jianxing. Both his father's old subordinates, Liu Chan, were given rewards. Zhuge Liang was entrusted with the important task of being alone, and was granted the title of Marquis of Wuxiang, in charge of military and political affairs. Wei Yan was granted the title of Marquis of Duting, in the Shu Han Dynasty. He is one of the top figures in the army.
This brings Wei Yan to the second stage of his life, where he feels depressed. As a heavyweight in the Shu Han Dynasty, why is he so depressed?
This has to be said about our Prime Minister Zhuge. He is a person who must do everything personally. All major military and political affairs must be handled by himself. Wei Yan, as Zhuge Liang's subordinate, does not have much room to display, and Zhuge Liang's personal ability is extremely strong. In his The officials under him are basically on the sidelines and offer very few opinions.
Wei Yan himself is also a strategic person, and he always feels awkward when he has to ask others to make decisions.
In the fifth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang settled in Hanzhong for the Northern Expedition. Zhuge Liang also took control of Hanzhong's military and political affairs. Although he promoted Wei Yan to an official position and made Wei Yan the governor of Liangzhou, leading Prime Minister Sima and supervising the front of the army, in fact he took control of the army. Wei Yan's military power. The rewarded governor of Liangzhou was under the jurisdiction of the enemy Wei State, and he could not take up the post at all. If the Prime Minister's Northern Expedition can capture Liangzhou, then he will be the governor of Liangzhou. If the Prime Minister's Northern Expedition fails, it will be a blank check.
When the First Lord Liu Bei was alive, he was a high official in the ruling party and a subordinate of the First Lord.When Zhuge Liang came to power, he not only became the prime minister's subordinate, but was also deprived of real power. Wei Yan could not help but compare this gap.
Faced with such a gap in treatment, even though Wei Yan admired Zhuge Liang's talent and character, he couldn't help but feel dissatisfied and depressed. Wei Yan couldn't stand the fact that Yang Yi, who only talked around Zhuge Liang, often pointed fingers at him, which also laid the foundation for Wei Yan's unfortunate ending.
Even if he feels uncomfortable, he will still faithfully carry out Prime Minister Zhuge's instructions.
In the eighth year of Jianxing, Cao Wei sent three armies, Sima Yi came out of Xicheng, Zhang He came out of Ziwu Road, Cao Zhen came out of Xiegu Road to attack the Shu Han Hanzhong area together, but due to heavy rain, two armies failed to succeed. return.
At this time, Zhuge Liang sent Wei Yan to lead a partial army to the west of Qiang to attack Cao Wei's Liangzhou area. Wei Yan led the army to the Yangxi area, and encountered Cao Wei's queen general Fei Yao and Yongzhou Assassin Shi Guo Huai The two armies engage in battle.
Although the army led by Wei Yan was smaller than that of Guo Huai and others, Wei Yan was not afraid at all and rushed into the enemy's formation with a shout. Guo Huai and others met Wei Yan unexpectedly, and Guo Huai and Fei Yao returned. Before he could react, all he saw was a big man with a beard, and the killing general came over. Before Guo Huai and others had a firm foothold, they began to lose the army.
Guo Huai did not want to fight, so he ordered his troops to withdraw. However, Wei Yan became more courageous as he fought and defeated Fei Yao and Guo Huai's army. After winning this great victory, Wei Yan was promoted by Zhuge Liang to the rank of former military advisor and general of the expedition to the west because of his military merits. He was also granted the symbol , with the power to deal with middle and lower-level officers, and was granted the title of Marquis of Nanzheng.
In the sixth year of Jianxing, during Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, Wei Yan made a suggestion at a pre-military meeting. Because the guard of Chang'an Xiahou Mao was timid and unstrategic, he was willing to lead five thousand elite troops from Ziwu Valley. He launched a surprise attack and marched directly to Chang'an. When he arrived at Chang'an City, the guard Xiahou Mao would definitely abandon the city and escape. However, Zhuge Liang felt that this plan was dangerous and had too many changes. Moreover, the Ziwu Road was narrow and difficult to navigate and could easily be blocked. It cannot be used because it is flanked by people.
This time the clever plan was not adopted, so forget it. In the decision to garrison the street pavilion , everyone thought that Wei Yan, Wu Yi and others who had experienced battles should be sent to garrison. In order to let Ma Di get the upper hand, Zhuge Liang On that day, he overcame all opinions and asked Ma Su to guard the street pavilion, and arranged for the veteran Wang Ping to assist.
did not expect that Ma Su was careless and the street pavilion fell, which ruined the good situation of the first Northern Expedition. Facing this situation, Wei Yan could only sigh helplessly.
In the next Northern Expedition, Wei Yandu proposed, asking Zhuge Liang to command ten thousand troops for him, and went all the way to attack Guanzhong, and finally met Zhuge Liang at Tongguan . Just like the former Han general Han Xin, they attacked from two directions and won in one battle. Settling the Central Plains, but Zhuge Liang has always refused. Zhuge Liang has his own concerns here. The Shu army is not as powerful as the Wei army, and there is a danger of dividing the troops and being defeated individually, but Zhuge Liang is inconvenient to tell Wei Yanming.
But looking at Wei Yan, Zhuge Liang was too timid, too cautious, and resented that he had nowhere to put his talents to use. Thinking about it, he felt very aggrieved.
As a general, Wei Yan was very good at training his soldiers. Not only was he extremely brave, but his men could also block hundreds of people with one blow. But Wei Yan has a very arrogant character. He never takes others seriously except Zhuge Liang. He has a bad relationship with his colleagues and has a bad temper. Everyone who sees him must avoid his sharp edges.
However, Yang Yi couldn't stand Wei Yan's arrogance and always quarreled with him. In order to kill Yang Yi's arrogance, Wei Yan once ran to Yang Yi's office and held a sharp knife to the neck of Yang Yi who was handling paperwork. He forced Yang Yi to kowtow and admit his mistake.At first, Yang Yi seemed to be rude, but the knife was on his neck, getting closer and closer, and blood was flowing from his neck. Yang Yi was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to admit his mistake.
Seeing Yang Yi kneeling in front of him like a bereaved dog, Wei Yan didn't know how happy and happy he felt. But Yang Yi knelt on the ground, having already killed Wei Yan thousands of times in her heart. Although everyone knew about the conflict between Yang Yi and Wei Yan, seeing Yang Yi being so humiliated by Wei Yan, everyone sympathized with Yang Yi and was dissatisfied with Wei Yan's domineering behavior.
In the end, it was Zhuge Liang who came forward to allow the two to bury the hatchet on the surface. When conflicts occurred later, it was Fei Yi who came forward to mediate and prevented a catastrophe from happening.
During the period when Zhuge Liang was in power, although Wei Yan was promoted due to military merit, Wei Yan's actual life was relatively depressed, his real power was taken away, and every time he made suggestions, the prime minister did not adopt them. Due to his personality, he also has a bad relationship with his colleagues, and there is also a thorny Yang Yi who always makes trouble for him.
Life is not as pleasant as before.
3. The decline without a happy end
In the autumn of the twelfth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang died of illness in Wuzhangyuan.
The mountain pressing on Wei Yan's head finally moved away. Wei Yan thought that good times were coming for him, but he did not expect that after the death of Prime Minister Zhuge, he was heading towards the end.
In the autumn of this year, Prime Minister Zhuge's condition worsened. He was lying on the hospital bed and called his trusted chief ministers Yang Yi, Sima Fei Yi, Hu Jun Jiang Wei and others to his side so that he could arrange his affairs after his death. "After that, you have to arrange the retreat and let Wei Yan take over the rear of the army. With him, our army can retreat safely. If Wei Yan does not obey my general's orders and whether to advance or retreat, let him make his own arrangements!"
Everyone was helpless after hearing the Prime Minister's last words. Everyone also knew that Wei Yan only listened to the Prime Minister's restraint. After the Prime Minister died, no one could restrain Wei Yan anymore.
After Prime Minister Zhuge passed away, everyone decided not to announce the funeral secretly, so as not to upset the morale of the army. Regarding Wei Yan's movements, Chang Shi Yang Yi sent Fei Yi to take the opportunity to test it out.
Wei Yan saw Fei Yi coming and knew his intentions. Wei Yan also heard about the Prime Minister's last words. Before Fei Yi could speak, Wei Yan replied: "Although the Prime Minister has passed away, I, Wei Yan, am still here. The Prime Minister's legacy of the Northern Expedition is , How can we give up halfway? If we retreat, won't we waste the great things of the world because of one person's death? Besides, I, Wei Yan, am a minister of the imperial court, so what kind of official is Yang Yi? Why should I take orders from Yang Yi, what kind of general? , Whoever you love should go."
understood Wei Yan's intention and knew that Wei Yan would not willingly abandon the throne and was unwilling to listen to Yang Yi's command, so he had to retreat angrily. Thinking about the ending, if Wei Yan had followed Prime Minister Zhuge's arrangements, would he have been able to have a good death? It's actually difficult to think about his character.
According to the arrangements of the prime minister, as Yang Yi and others slowly retreated into Hanzhong, Wei Yan was furious after hearing this. He wanted to lead his army in the Northern Expedition, but the army retreated. Still led by his old enemy, Wei Yan was really angry and dizzy at this time.
Wei Yan actually led his troops to travel day and night, rushing in front of Yang Yi's army and burning the plank roads where they passed. In Wei Yan's opinion, this move was just to force the army to have no way to retreat and could only turn around and follow him in the Northern Expedition. Wei Yan's behavior was very confusing to Fei Yi, the guard Jiang Wei and others. There was something wrong with the Marquis of Nanzheng's brain. What was the purpose of burning the army's retreat? Was he planning to rebel?
Moreover, both Yang Yi and Wei Yan came to the table, and Liu Chan said that the other party was plotting rebellion. Liu Chan asked the servant Dong Yun and the governor Shi Jiang Wan who wanted to rebel. The relationship between Dong and Jiang and Wei Yan was not good in the first place. In addition, Wei Yan was arrogant and domineering and difficult to restrain, so they all guaranteed that Yang Yi had no intention of rebellion and suspected that Wei Yan was rebelling.
Wei Yan, who was already dizzy, occupied Nangukou first and took the initiative to lead his army to attack Yang Yi's army. He thought that as long as he could kill Yang Yi in the army, he would be able to take over the army.
The calm Yang Yi ordered General Wang Ping to go forward to resist Wei Yan. Wang Ping knew that it would be difficult to defeat Wei Yan if he fought head-on, so he scolded Wei Yan in front of Wei Yan's vanguard: "Wei Yan, what are your intentions? Prime Minister Zhuge had a general order to withdraw the army. The prime minister had just died and his bones were not yet cold, so you did not obey the general order." , are you going to rebel? You follow Wei Yan, are you also going to rebel? "
When the army heard this, the Prime Minister wanted everyone to withdraw. Why did General Wei say that Yang Changshi had rebelled and tampered with the Prime Minister's order? Now that General Wang is here, is it Wei? Is the general falsely conveying the Prime Minister's order? Who is telling lies? Since General Wang is usually very serious about his words, he must be telling the truth. Everyone started talking about it. Wei Yan saw that the morale of the army had been shaken. If he continued to fight, he would have no chance of winning. In the chaos of the army, Wei Yan could only Able to escape the battlefield with his cronies.
Wei Yan took his son and his confidants and fled to Hanzhong as fast as possible. When Yang Yi heard that Wei Yan had escaped, she couldn't help but sneer in her heart, Wei Yan, Wei Yan, you have this day too, so she immediately ordered, " Ma Dai Go and bring Wei Yan's head back to me."
Ma Dai clasped his fists and said: "No." After exiting the military tent, Ma Dai ordered all the troops and horses, and soon caught up with Wei Yan. When Wei Yan saw that the person coming was Ma Dai, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "This Yang Yi really refuses to let me go." Wei Yan Knowing that it was useless to plead in front of Ma Dai, he laughed wildly. At this time, Ma Dai rushed over and cut him off the horse with his knife.
Ma Dai presented his head to Yang Yi. Yang Yi looked at the head in the package, threw it to the ground in relief, trampled on Wei Yan's head, and cursed proudly: "Idiot! I see How can you be more dominant and prosperous in the future?" He also ordered that all three Wei Yan clans be wiped out and eradicated.
A generation of famous generals ended up like this, which is really sad. Throughout Wei Yan's life, if we really want to study carefully why he came to an end, his character really determines his destiny. If he hadn't been arrogant and had a bad temper, no one would have spoken up for him during the subsequent rebellion. If he hadn't been arrogant and had a bad temper, he looked down on Yang Yi and humiliated Yang Yi too much, which ultimately led to Yang Yi's death. Killer with pain.
As a person with great talent, he must be humble so that he can get along with others better. He must also be broad-minded and easy-going so as not to make enemies everywhere or create hidden dangers in the future. It's a pity that Wei Yan doesn't understand this.
