Wei Yan As the general of the Shu Kingdom's Eastern Expedition, he should not have died. Later scholars generally believe that Wei Yan's death was purely due to his own personal character flaws.
Wei Yan was one of the few generals in the late Shu Kingdom who could still maintain his reputation. However, Wei Yan was very cold and aloof, and his aloof character made him rarely recognized by everyone. He often regarded himself as a general and looked down on generals who were not as capable as himself, let alone civilian officials.
Zhuge Liang There were still people who could suppress him when he was alive. Once Zhuge Liang died, Wei Yan became more and more arrogant and domineering. Although Wei Yan and Yang Yi were both the backbone elite forces of the Eastern Expedition, they had always been incompatible.
Zhuge Liang felt that his end was approaching during the last Eastern Expedition. He felt that Wei Yan would rebel in the future, so he gave Ma Dai a tip bag. After Ma Dai opened the tip bag and killed Wei Yan, he rarely showed up. What did Ma Dai's brother Ma Chao say to Liu Bei before his death, so that Ma Dai was hidden and protected?
Overconfident Wei Yan
Objectively speaking, Wei Yan was a practical general who had the ability to continue the Eastern Expedition after Zhuge Liang's death. Wei Yan was extremely brave, and his combat prowess and practical ability could compete with Cao Wei's army.
But after Zhuge Liang's death, his mentality suddenly expanded. He often regarded himself as a general, created tense atmosphere at every turn, often made enemies with others, and was arrogant and rude to others.
Wei Yan's abrupt and perverse character made most officials hate him with hatred, but they were not as tough as his fists, so they all kept away from him.
But Wei Yan was completely unaware of this and had no introspection process, which resulted in his very poor popularity among the army. After learning that after Kong Ming's death, he handed over the power of the Eastern Expedition to Yang Yi, he was very angry and wanted to disobey Zhuge Liang's order, seize command, and continue the Eastern Expedition.
Wei Yan's idea at this time was no longer about self-confidence, but about seizing command. This was already a statement to the Shu army that he would disobey the order. At this time, Yang Yi quickly sent someone to report to the emperor, and Wei Yan was about to prepare for rebellion.
In fact, Wei Yan really didn't think about rebelling at this time. He just wanted to seize military power and lead the army to continue the Eastern Expedition. But his actions have been deemed as acts of rebellion.
Zhuge Liang arranged for Ma Dai to follow Wei Yan, and gave him a bag of tips so that he should not open the bag unless absolutely necessary. Ma Dai was also very strong in execution and followed Wei Yan with the bag of tips.
Wei Yan and Yang Yi respectively wanted to seize the command of the Eastern Expedition, but Yang Yi's command was directly authorized by Zhuge Liang. Wei Yan and Yang Yi did not get along, so they directly ignored the law and wanted to seize the command.
At this time, Wei Yan also arranged for people to go to Hanzhong to make a small report about Yang Yi, saying that Yang Yi was going to rebel. In fact, at this time, it seemed that Wei Yan had already made a rebellious move, but he did not start anew. When confronting his own people, he was still arrogant, shouting to the sky who dares to kill me.
In fact, at this time in the Eastern Expedition Army, there was no one who could defeat Wei Yan single-handedly, which is why he dared to shout so much.
Seeing that no one could control Wei Yan, he immediately started Shu's new war strategy with the general's order. This was against Prime Minister Zhuge's original intention. When Ma Dai saw the situation, he urgently took out his kit and saw it clearly read "If someone shouts three times, 'Who dares to kill me,' kill him immediately."
After Ma Dai read the kit, Wei Yan smiled up to the sky and shouted for the third time, "Who dares to kill me?", and saw Wei Yan's head fall to the ground just as Ma Dai raised his knife and dropped it.
Ma Dai had been following Wei Yan. Wei Yan had never doubted his follower, so he was unprepared. If Wei Yan hadn't been extremely arrogant, he wouldn't have died in an unknown manner.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend
Why did Zhuge Liang choose Ma Dai to kill Wei Yan? The most important thing is that Ma Chao and Ma Dai have won many military exploits after surrendering to the Shu Han. They were once enemies of Cao Wei and were very loyal.
Cao Wei recruited Ma Chao's father Ma Teng , the warlord leader of the Xiliang Army . However, Cao Wei always went back on his word. After recruiting Ma Teng, he tentatively attacked the Xiliang Army led by Ma Teng's son Ma Chao.
Cao Wei's renegade move directly angered Ma Chao, who gathered more than a dozen ethnic minority warlords to attack Cao Wei.
However, compared to Cao Wei's regular army, the strength was still slightly inferior. After being defeated by Cao Wei's army, Ma Chao and his cousin Ma Dai defected to Liu Bei.
Liu Bei valued Ma Chao and Ma Dai very much, because their arrival not only brought thousands of Xiliang troops, but the most important thing was that the enemy of the enemy was his friend. The arrival of the two of them can effectively curb the military power of the ethnic minorities in the Xiliang area.
Of course, Ma Chao and Ma Dai had a more important goal in defecting to Shu Han, which was to avenge the entire family. Cao Wei went back on his word and killed the Ma Teng clan.
Brother Ma chose to lead Shu Han Liu Bei for this bloody feud, so Liu Bei trusted these two people very much, and Zhuge Liang believed in them even more.
Instructions before his death
After Zhuge Liang arranged for Ma Dai to complete this important event, he basically never came out again. At this time, Ma Dai was actually still in his prime, and it was the time to make achievements. However, after the last attack on Wei failed, he was granted the title of Marquis to rest in his old age. Why did start to protect Ma Dai at this time?
Ma Dai has experienced countless political struggles and battles in his life. At this time, he was a little tired of the life of fighting and killing, and even more tired of the political struggle where you win and I take.
Therefore, a peaceful retirement is a very wise choice for him. Ma Dai has no ambition to restore the family business. As for revenge, Shu Han has been doing these things.
Another more important reason is that before Ma Chao died, he once said a very meaningful last words to Liu Xuande "Only from my younger brother Dai can I be the successor of Wei Zong's Blood Food" . This sentence is undoubtedly the only bloodline that allows the Liu Group to maintain its own family.
The implication is to implore Liu Bei to give Ma Dai immortality. This request is not too much. After all, the Ma family was harmed by the common enemy Cao thieves, so this request must be met.
It is precisely for this reason that although Liu Chan, the queen leader, was short of major generals, he hid Ma Dai and never let him come back again. After seeing the world, Ma Dai packed his bags, took his marquis's print, and began a secluded life. He became one of the few generals of the Three Kingdoms who was able to take care of himself and finally died a good death.
Summary
Although Ma Dai is famous for killing Wei Yan, the real Ma Dai followed Zhuge Liang in the north and south, and was also a general with great military exploits.
It was just that during the heyday of the Shu Han Dynasty in the Kongming era, there were many capable generals, but Ma Dai's overall record was not ranked at the top, and his reputation was not as good as that of his brother Ma Chao.
But Ma Dai saved himself because of his brother Ma Chao's last words to Liu Bei. Although he was the terminator of the political struggle between Wei Yan and Yang Yi, he did not get angry because of this incident.
This shows that Liu Bei was very considerate of what Ma Chao entrusted to Liu Bei. After his death, the descendants of Shu Han and those in power treated Ma Dai kindly.
