Chapter 40 (40) Misfortune from Xiao Qiang

Wei Yan's rebellion was a major mystery during the Three Kingdoms period.There are different opinions about this period of history. Some people say that Wei Yan was loyal and victimized for no reason;So which statement is closer to the historical truth?Did Wei Yan rebel?Please pay attention to it—disaster from Xiao Qiang. In 223 AD, Liu Bei died of illness in Yong'an Palace.What he didn't expect was that after his death, the Shu Han regime entered an eventful period.First, Ma Su was beheaded, then Li Yan was deposed, and then Wei Yan's rebellion shocked the Shu Han authorities.Wei Yan was one of the few brave generals in the middle and late Shu Han Dynasty. He was highly regarded by Liu Bei and was entrusted with important tasks many times.Regarding Wei Yan's rebellion, people's deepest impression may be the description in the novel, saying that he is a character with rebellious bones in the back of his head, so rebellion is also expected.

So is Wei Yan's rebellion nonsense, or is it true?Is there any relationship between Zhuge Liang and Wei Yan's rebellion?Why did Wei Yan's rebellion involve Zhuge Liang?Professor Yi Zhongtian of Xiamen University is a guest of "Hundreds of Lectures", and will give you a wonderful taste of the Three Kingdoms' "Disaster rises and Xiaoqiang". Everyone is quite familiar with the case of Wei Yan's treason, because it is very well written.When it was said that Ma Dai killed Wei Yan, Yang Yi went out of the city and said, do you dare to shout "Who dares to kill me" three times?Wei Yan said, why don't I dare, who dares to kill me!Ma Dai later said I dare to kill you, pa.Everyone is familiar with it, but this is an unjust case.This unjust case not only wronged Wei Yan, but also wronged Zhuge Liang.How do you say this?Let's first look at how it is recorded in history.There are two records and two versions of this matter in history.

Let's first talk about the records in "Three Kingdoms·Wei Yan Biography". "Three Kingdoms·Wei Yan Biography" said that Zhuge Liang died of illness in the Northern Expedition Army in August of the twelfth year of Jianxing. Before his death, Zhuge Liang held a secret meeting before his bed.Those who participated in the meeting included Yang Yi, who was the prime minister at that time, the secretary-general of the prime minister's office and the secretary-general of the State Council, Jiang Wei, and Fei Yi.Zhuge Liang said, after I die, this battle can no longer be fought. Let's retreat. When retreating, let Wei Yan stop, followed by Jiang Wei.A very important sentence was said below: "If Yan refuses to obey the order, the army will be spontaneous." If Wei Yan refuses to obey the order, leave him alone, and the army will move out by itself.After making this arrangement, Zhuge Liang died of illness.

Then, as soon as they thought about it, they asked Fei Yi to go to Wei Yan to convey the prime minister's order.Sure enough, Wei Yan jumped up as soon as he heard it: What, let me break the queen, right? "Although the prime minister is dead, I see myself alive."The prime minister has passed away. I, Wei Yan, are still alive. I, Wei Yan, can still lead the troops to continue the Northern Expedition. Why retreat?Why do all the major events in the world be delayed because of one person's death? "Yun: Why does one person die and ruin the affairs of the world?" Wei Yan said, besides, who am I, Wei Yan?Why do I, Wei Yan, kill Yang Yi for him, who is Yang Yi?quit.Then he told Fei Yi, no matter what, we will continue to deploy the Northern Expedition here and continue to fight against the Cao thieves.After making some arrangements and writing, Wei Yan told Fei Yi, come, come, sign.Fei Yi said: General Wei, this Yang Yi is a bookworm, how could he know how to fight!Let's do it, I'll go back and do some work for Yang Yi, let Yang Yi listen to the general, okay?Wei Yan said okay, go and go.This Fei Yi came out of Wei Yan's camp, jumped on his horse, turned around and ran away.Wei Yan thought for a second, he shouldn't let Fei Yi go, it's too late.Then quickly sent spies to find out how they were doing, and once inquired, Yang Yi said that he was going to follow Zhuge Liang's deployment, regardless of Wei Yan, and retreated to Chengdu with his troops.Wei Yan was furious, okay, if you withdraw, I will withdraw too, I will withdraw first, so Wei Yan retreated southward ahead of Yang Yi.And what else did he do?Walking all the way, burning all the way, destroying the bridge and the road, just running and running all the way, and ran to Nangukou.This Yang Yi saw that Wei Yan left first and burned the bridge.Yang Yi also retreated with the troops, and then hurriedly cut down the trees on the mountain and built a bridge.

This situation is already very bad, right? What's worse is that Wei Yan and Yang Yi both wrote to the court saying that the other party conspired against each other.Wei Yan said that Yang Yi had rebelled, and Yang Yi said that Wei Yan had rebelled, "In one day, Yu Xi handed over", that is, the two people's complaint letters were sent to Liu Chan's imperial court one after another.Seeing that Liu Chan didn't understand, how could Liu Chan understand, so he called people like Dong Yun and Jiang Wan, and said, dear friends, take a look, this Wei Yan sued Yang Yi for treason, and Yang Yi sued Wei Yan for treason, which of them was the one ?People like Dong Yun and Jiang Wan said: "Your Majesty, I dare to guarantee that this Yang Yi will not rebel; it is hard to say whether this Wei Yan will rebel or not."That's Wei Yanfan, right?Therefore, Liu Chan ordered Jiang Wan to take the Suwei camp, that is, the imperial guards, to go north to intercept Wei Yan.Yang Yi also led his troops southward to pursue Wei Yan, and blocked Wei Yan at Nangukou.At this time, He Ping—He Ping was Wang Ping, because his mother’s family name was He, and he had grown up with his grandmother, so he was also named He Ping, so he was also called He Ping. ——Wang Ping rushed forward and said, the prime minister has just passed away, and his bones are not cold, so you are like this.When Wei Yan's troops heard that we were wrong, they dispersed. Wei Yan had to flee south with a few cronies, fled to Hanzhong, and was killed by Ma Dai.After Ma Dai killed Wei Yan, he sent Wei Yan's head to Yang Yi. Yang Yi threw Wei Yan's head on the ground and stomped on it with his feet. Bastard, I think you are still doing bad things, I think you are still doing bad things !Then the Yiyan family and the Weiyan family were wiped out.This is what happened in "Three Kingdoms·Wei Yan Biography".

In 234 AD, Zhuge Liang made his fifth Northern Expedition, and finally became ill due to overwork, and died in the Wuzhangyuan Army.Zhuge Liang's death triggered the case of Wei Yan's rebellion.Wei Yan's rebellion is one of the three major suspicious cases in the "Zhuge Liang era". His rebellion has aroused a lot of speculation by historians of later generations, and some people even think that Zhuge Liang is unavoidably responsible for his rebellion with Wei Yan.So in the face of the records in "Three Kingdoms·Wei Yan Biography", how do we view Wei Yan's rebellion?Did Wei Yan really rebel?What is Mr. Yi Zhongtian's opinion on this?

Did Wei Yan rebel?My opinion on this case is that there is a reason for the incident, there is no factual evidence, and it is illogical.Why do you say that things happen for a reason?There are three reasons.First, soldiers take obedience as their bounden duty. Since Prime Minister Zhuge ordered you Wei Yanduan, you should obey, why didn't you obey?Suspicious.Second, you disobeyed the command, acted without authorization, and sent your troops south, what are you going to do?Are you withdrawing to Chengdu, or do you want to go back and subvert the Shu Han?Can't tell.Third, if you just disobeyed Yang Yi, and you were unwilling to cut off the back for him, and you retreated to Chengdu first, why did you cut off Yang Yi's back?Why do you want to destroy all the plank roads and all the bridges?It makes people feel that you are going back to Chengdu to rebel, and Yang Yi and the others are not allowed to bring troops to rescue you.Besides, Yang Yi is a nerd. Everyone thinks that it is impossible for this person to rebel. If a scholar fails to rebel for three years, it must be a soldier who might rebel.Without knowing the situation, in order to defend the emperor and the regime, we had to assume that you, Wei Yan, rebelled, so it is said that there is a reason for the incident.

Why do you say it is illogical?We know that Wei Yan's ability and strength at that time were not enough to stand on his own and proclaim himself king and emperor. The only way out for him to rebel was to surrender to Cao Wei.If he wants to surrender to Cao Wei, he should surrender nearby, because he is on the front line, right?Zhuge Liang's order said that after Wei Yan is cut off, Wei Yan can say, well, I'm dead, let's go, let's go, I'm dead, and then I surrender, isn't that convenient.You now actually, why did he go south?And after he was intercepted by Wang Ping, he could still go to Cao Wei alone. Although he had no troops, he was still a general. Why did he continue to run south?This is illogical.

So Chen Shou made a conclusion. Chen Shou said: "Originally, Yan Yan didn't intend to descend to Wei in the north but return to the south, but he wanted to get rid of Sha Yi and so on." That's my speculation, and Chen Shou also speculated. Go north to surrender Cao Wei, go south, what does he mean?He just wanted to kill Yang Yi.Why did he kill Yang Yi?Chen Shou speculated that based on Wei Yan's status, prestige, achievements, etc. at that time, if Yang Yi was killed, he should be the one who took over Zhuge Liang's class.If he can take over Zhuge Liang's class, he can continue the Northern Expedition.So Chen Shou said: "This is what I meant, so it's inconvenient to betray." It means that Wei Yan's original intention was this, and he was not rebellious.Then based on this judgment, we can draw a conclusion that Wei Yan's case is not a case of treason, but an internal strife, an internal conflict between Wei Yan and Yang Yi.So we have to ask another question, where did Wei Yan and Yang Yi have such a deep hatred?

According to the records in "Three Kingdoms • Biography of Wei Yan", Wei Yan had neither the strength nor the logic of rebellion. In fact, it was an internal strife between Wei Yan and Yang Yi.In fact, Wei Yan is a famous general of the Shu Han, with both wisdom and courage; Yang Yi is a civil servant of the Shu Han, very talented.Two people have one civil and one martial arts, and they have little connection. How could such a big incident happen?Where did the conflict between Wei Yan and Yang Yi come from? Speaking of it, everyone may laugh, it's nothing, nothing happened.It's very simple, that is, Wei Yan was the best in the Shu Han at that time, probably that means he might restrain himself a little in front of Zhuge Liang, and be arrogant in front of everyone else, because he has great abilities and great achievements, and he won't let anyone go in the eyes.Then other people are also polite to Wei Yan for this reason, let him three points, if Wei Yan wants to be domineering, he will give way.There is only one person who refuses to let go, and that is Yang Yi.Yang Yi may be a scholar, but he is still a little scholarly, why should I give you three points for this martial artist?Not to let.So Wei Yan couldn't wait more, that you are the only kid who doesn't take me seriously.So the two people are like fire and water, fire and water are incompatible, to what extent can fire and water be incompatible?Two people can't sit and talk together, they will quarrel when they sit and talk, every time they raise any issue, they will argue, when the argument gets heated, Wei Yan pulls out the knife, and then gesticulates on Yang Yi's face Yang Yi cried bitterly, and the "Three Kingdoms" said that "weeping and snot are gathered horizontally", that is, tears and snot are all over the face, crying so much that it looks like a tearful person.Only who can stop it at this time, Fei Yi, Fei Yi will quickly sit between the two of them at this time, walk away, walk away, not arguing, not arguing...it's like this.

Then why is Wei Yan so awesome?Because he was someone Liu Bei valued and appreciated very much during his lifetime.When Liu Bei conquered Hanzhong, he became king in Hanzhong after taking Hanzhong. After he became king, Liu Bei withdrew his army and returned to Chengdu, leaving only one person to guard Hanzhong.At this time, everyone thought that Zhang Fei was the one to stay, Liu Guanzhang, Liu Guanzhang, Guan Yu had already divided his troops to defend Jingzhou at this time, so now he had another place to defend, of course the most reliable one was Zhang Fei to defend.As a result, Liu Bei made an exception and promoted Wei Yan to use. As a result, the entire army was shocked, and everyone was surprised.Liu Bei also knew that everyone would not give in to Wei Yan, so at the meeting, Liu Bei told Wei Yan, the widow——at this time, Liu Bei has already become king, and the widow has entrusted the important task to General Wei. What is General Wei going to do? Do you?Wei Yan stood up and said, if he, Cao Cao, came out with all his strength, Wei Yan would be willing to block him for the king and refuse him; if Cao Cao sent a partial general with 100,000 horses to attack Hanzhong, Wei Yan would be willing to eat him and swallow him for the king.Such a grand style, of course he is awesome. The problem is Yang Yi, Yang Yi is not a wimp, Yang Yi is also very capable.During Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Yang Yi was responsible for planning, raising military rations, making calculations and statistics, and arranging deployments.Moreover, Yang Yi was very fast, he didn't need to think about it, he just did it, and he finished his work in a short time.So Zhuge Liang admired both Wei Yan and Yang Yi very much. He admired Yang Yi's talent very much, and he also admired Wei Yan's bravery very much.However, Wei Yan and Yang Yi are deadly rivals, so Zhuge Liang also has a headache, which is called "I often hate the injustice between the two", and there is no way.But they didn't unite, and finally the troubles reached the point of life and death. Judging from the previous analysis, the contradiction between Wei Yan and Yang Yi has been going on for a long time. Wei Yan is arrogant and Yang Yi is conceited.In this way, Wei Yan, a generation of famous generals, died and his family was wiped out. It cannot but be said that this is a tragedy.Then the next question is, who is responsible for the Wei Yan case? According to historians, most of them tend to be Yang Yi's responsibility for four reasons.The first point is that Yang Yi "killed the general with personal anger, and the crime is floating in Yan", that is, Yang Yi killed such a general out of personal grievances, and his crime was greater than Wei Yan's.The second point is that Wei Yan's contribution cannot be denied, "the three tribes of the barbarians are too much."After all, Wei Yan is such a general who has made great contributions to the Shu Han regime. He has made great contributions and made no major mistakes. He has been greatly wronged and falsely accused.Of course Wei Yan made a mistake. You disobeyed the order and went south first, and you cut off Yang Yi's retreat. This is all Wei Yan's fault; but the punishment was improper and the punishment was severe. It is entirely Yang Yi's fault that the punishment is so severe.The third point is that killing is nothing more than nodding your head. You, Yang Yi, killed Wei Yan's family, and you stomped on his head. This is too much.The fourth point they think, you, Yang Yi, said that Wei Yan conspired against you, and you yourself are not a good thing.Because Yang Yi was very proud after withdrawing to Chengdu, he thought he was the first to bring back the army left by the prime minister safely, and he also killed a rebel, so what should we do?Who knows what happened, it was Jiang Wan who took Zhuge Liang's place.As for Jiang Wan, his qualifications in the officialdom are lower than Yang Yi's. Yang Yi's original position was higher than Jiang Wan's. Own.Then Jiang Wan went up, Yang Yi hung up, and got a idle job, which was equivalent to a researcher or something. Anyway, he was given a job, but he had no power and no army.So Yang Yi was full of complaints and hummed all day long. She didn't look good when she saw everyone, and no one in the court dared to talk to Yang Yi.Only Fei Yi ran to comfort him, and Yang Yi complained a lot, and then told Fei Yi a lot of the ins and outs of the matter, and finally he said: I knew such a thing earlier. , I might as well follow Wei Yan and rebel.Then Fei Yi reported the truth to the court, and the court dismissed Yang Yi from office.Then Yang Yi was still restless, so he continued to complain and slander the court in the place where he was exiled.As a result, the court ordered Yang Yi to be arrested, and Yang Yi committed suicide. Therefore, the result of Yang Yi and Wei Yan's fighting in the nest is that both sides suffer.So many people tend to think that Yang Yi is responsible for this case.Moreover, what Yang Yi said also proved that Wei Yan did not want to rebel.Because Yang Yi said that if I knew this, I might as well follow Wei Yan. He didn't say what to do with Wei Yan. He said that I might as well follow Wei Yan; if Wei Yan was rebelling, didn't Yang Yi say that I regret not rebelling, and I wouldn't say that Yes, this proves that Wei Yan did not rebel. But Yang Yi also has grievances, I have to say something fair to Yang Yi.Where is Yang Yi's grievance?First, the dispute between Yang Yi and Wei Yan is a personal grievance, not a matter of principle or line.It's not easy for you to say who is right and wrong when it comes to personal grievances, right?The second point, the reason why Yang Yi offended Wei Yan was nothing more than refusing to let Wei Yan, and nothing more than to maintain a little independence of her own. What's wrong with this?Is it right for everyone to flatter Wei Yan and just let Wei Yan go?The Shu Han had this problem. In the beginning, everyone gave way to Guan Yu. Well, Jingzhou is lost. Now you want to advocate giving way to Wei Yan?not like this.The third point is to seek truth from facts. In all fairness, Yang Yi and Wei Yan had conflicts, and it was Yang Yi who was bullied.Wei Yan pulled out the knife and swayed it at someone's face. Yang Yi was a big man after all, crying like a tearful man, what do you think he feels like?Why did he treat Wei Yan like that in the end? The grievances are too deep.The most important thing is the fourth point. Yang Yi was carrying out the order, and it was Zhuge Liang who asked him to do so. It was Zhuge Liang who clearly explained to him: "After Wei Yan's decision, Jiang Wei will follow. If Yan Yan or not follow orders, the army will act spontaneously. "It was Zhuge Liang who made it clear, and it was expected that Wei Yan would not obey orders.So what's wrong with Yang Yi?Yang Yi carried out Zhuge Liang's order, but Wei Yan did not, so shouldn't Yang Yi report to the court?Wei Yan sued him for treason, shouldn't he sue Wei Yan for treason?Wei Yan cut off his back route, making him unable to go home, shouldn't he go after Wei Yan?You can't say that Yang Yi is wrong. That being said, it's not that Yang Yi is wrong, it's that Wei Yan is wrong, because we Chinese like to fight with one side anyway, and if one side is right, the other side is wrong. We like this kind of thinking.I am correcting this way of thinking now, and Wei Yan is right.How could Wei Yan be right?Wei Yan made it very clear that although the prime minister passed away, Wei Yan was still there. Couldn't Wei Yan lead troops to continue the Northern Expedition?Why delay the affairs of the world because of the death of one person?That's the right thing to say, isn't it? According to the previous analysis, in the case of Wei Yan's rebellion, Yang Yi was narrow-minded and used personal grievances to retaliate against Wei Yan, and later ended up with nothing.Mr. Yi Zhongtian believes that Yang Yi is responsible, but at the same time he is also very wronged, and there are reasons for his actions.So since what Yang Yi did was right, why did Mr. Yi Zhongtian say that what Wei Yan did was also right?If Wei Yan is right, whose fault is it? According to "Three Kingdoms·Wei Yan Zhuan" Pei Songzhi's annotation quoted "Wei Lue", Zhuge Liang also issued an order.This order is for Wei Yan, a secret order for Wei Yan, asking Wei Yan to act as his representative, "Let Yan take care of his own affairs, and go to the funeral in secret." That is to say, Wei Yan, you will act as my representative, and you will support the funeral and return to Chengdu.This is troublesome, and anyone can tell that it is Zhuge Liang who is responsible for it.Why do you issue two orders, one order to let Yang Yi take over your position, leave Wei Yan alone; the other order you to give Wei Yan, to ask Wei Yan to take your place, leave Yang Yi alone, what do you mean?Isn't it because you deliberately want the two of them to fight?So some historians say that Wei Yan's unjust case was planned by Zhuge Liang; not only Wei Yan's unjust case, but also Yang Yi's tragedy, right?Because when you died, you secretly wrote a letter to the court saying that Jiang Wan would take over your position and let Yang Yi hang out.So some historians asked, with your lofty prestige, Zhuge Liang, why didn't you disclose the secret during your lifetime?Why don't you publish all of this?Once you announce it, won't the world be at peace? Why?Well, my opinion is that the statement in "Wei Lue" is not reliable. We first wash off the stain on Zhuge Liang, and wash off the stain on Zhuge Liang first.Why is "Wei Lue" unreliable?Pei Songzhi has already said it, he said: "Songzhi thinks that this is a rumor from the enemy's country." It is a legend from the enemy's side, which is unreliable.And you said that it is impossible for Wei Yan to hold the funeral, because Wei Yan is not with Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Liang's body is with Yang Yi. How can Wei Yan go south with Zhuge Liang's coffin?impossible.Moreover, this record says that after Wei Yan arrived at Nangukou, Yang Yi told Wei Yan that Wei Yan was going to surrender to Cao Cao to the north. That was impossible. He surrendered to Cao Cao and went north. How could he go south?Therefore, the record in "Wei Lue" is not reliable.Therefore, it cannot be said that Zhuge Liang planned such an unjust case single-handedly, this cannot be established. However, are the records in "Three Kingdoms·Wei Yan Biography" reliable? "The Biography of Wei Yan" clearly records such a last order of Zhuge Liang: "After Wei Yan's death, Jiang Wei will be next. If Yan Yan or refuses to follow the order, the army will spontaneously." Then there is a problem with this order. It is to tell Yang Yi and these people not to Take care of Wei Yan, throw Wei Yan there, throw him on the battlefield, let him beat Cao Wei by himself, let's go home.This order, why is such an order issued?Three interpretations.The first explanation is that Zhuge Liang expected Wei Yan to rebel. Isn't there a rebellion behind this person? He will see it by looking.Who said this? .Is it reliable?Unreliable, the novelist said don't take it seriously.The second argument is that of Mr. Zhang Zuoyao. Mr. Zhang Zuoyao's "Liu Bei Biography" said that he wanted to plan Wei Yan's treason case, to force Wei Yan to rebel, and to get rid of Wei Yan.The third argument is that of Mr. Lu Simian and Mr. Chen Erdong. What is it?It is the record in "Three Kingdoms·Wei Yan Biography" that is not the truth at all.What do these two gentlemen think was the truth at that time?It was Zhuge Liang who had a sudden illness. Of course we don't know what kind of illness it was, but judging from Zhuge Liang's situation at the time, he was still preparing to lead troops to the Northern Expedition, and he didn't expect to be ill.Suddenly fell ill, didn't explain anything, it was too late.As a result, Yang Yi, Fei Yi, and Jiang Wei murmured, Wei Yan will definitely not listen to us, so let's do whatever we want.Therefore, it was Yang Yi, Jiang Wei, Fei Yi and others who falsely passed on the prime minister's will, which is false. So is this possible?It is still possible, because to be honest, the history of the Three Kingdoms is really very difficult to study.As we have said before, there are three versions of Ma Di, the same person Chen Shou, and the same book "Three Kingdoms", which one do you think is true?At this time, when the power changes, the new person who takes over the power can completely manipulate him.And as you know in the Three Kingdoms, there are no historians in the Kingdom of Shu, and there is no national archives.Then you can’t study modern history like the National Archives, which will be declassified seventy years later. If you take a look at the secret documents at that time, the truth will become clear, which is impossible.So it is possible for them to falsely pass on the prime minister's will.But we are now faced with such a very difficult choice: the argument in favor of saying that Zhuge Liang ordered Wei Yan to rebel against Wei Yan, you have wronged Wei Yan; the argument in favor of "Three Kingdoms·Wei Yan Biography" admits that Zhuge Liang made this order Order, we have to criticize Zhuge Liang; if we agree with Mr. Lu Simian and Mr. Chen Erdong's statement that the statement of "Wei Yan Biography" is not the historical truth, we must deny Chen Shou.Please think about what to do?Isn't there a fourth argument that makes sense and no one is wronged?For the fourth statement, please see the next episode - use offense as defense.