Wei Yan

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(南鄭侯)

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Wei Yan ({{#if:Wei Yan.ogg|{{#ifexist:Media:Wei Yan.ogg|<phonos file="Wei Yan.ogg">pronunciation</phonos>|{{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "Wei Yan.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handler}}}}) (died Template:Circa October 234<ref>Zhuge Liang's biography in Records of the Three Kingdoms mentioned that he died in the 8th month of the 12th year of the Jianxing era (223–237) in Liu Shan's reign. This month corresponds to 11 September to 10 October 234 in the Julian calendar. ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) Since Wei Yan died soon after Zhuge Liang, his death date should be in Template:Circa October 234.</ref>), courtesy name Wenchang, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Originally a subordinate of the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty, Wei Yan rose through the ranks and became a general after Liu Bei seized control of Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan and Chongqing) in 214.Template:Sfnp His performance in battle helped him to become a prominent figure in the Shu military in a short period of time. He was later appointed as the Administrator of Hanzhong Commandery and as an Area Commander in 219.Template:Sfnp Between 228 and 234, he participated actively in the Northern Expeditions led by the Shu regent Zhuge Liang against Shu's rival state, Cao Wei. After Zhuge Liang's death in Template:Circa September 234, Wei Yan was executed by another Shu general, Ma Dai, for alleged treason.

Early lifeEdit

Wei Yan was from Yiyang Commandery ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), which covered parts of present-day Nanyang in southern Henan and parts of northern Hubei.Template:Sfnp He started his career as a foot soldier under the warlord Liu Bei, probably sometime between 209 and 211 when Liu Bei was in southern Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan).Template:Sfnp Around 212, he followed Liu Bei into Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan and Chongqing) and served Liu Bei as a personal retainer in a war against Liu Zhang, the Governor of Yi Province (益州牧).Template:Sfnp Huang Zhong and Wei Yan scored many military exploits during the capture of Guanghan County.<ref name="三国史话 2">Template:Cite book</ref> Thus, Wei Yan promoted to full general.Template:Sfnp

The campaign met early success with the quick death of Gao Pei and Yang Huai and the later occupation of the passes, followed by the defeat of Liu Zhang's reinforcements at Fu County. Pang Tong was killed during the siege of Luocheng and the siege became a prolonged one. One year later, Wei Yan and Liu Bei finally captured Luocheng, then surrounded and occupied Chengdu together with Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei along with others.<ref name="三国史话 2" /> Thus, around the summer of 214, Liu Bei seized control of Yi Province from Liu Zhang.Template:Sfnp Template:Efn Template:Efn As Wei Yan has made several contributions in the conquest of Yi Province, Liu Bei promoted him to the rank of General of the Ivory Gate ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref name="傳世藏書: 三国志, 晋书">Template:Cite book</ref>

Administrator of HanzhongEdit

In 217,Template:Sfnp Liu Bei started the Hanzhong Campaign against his rival Cao Cao.<ref name="Translations from Chen Shou's 'Records of Three Kingdoms'" /> There is no direct mention of Wei Yan's participation. After Liu Bei captured Hanzhong, Liu Bei asked his subjects to nominate one of his generals to remain behind and guard Hanzhong.<ref name="Translations from Chen Shou's 'Records of Three Kingdoms'" /> His subjects nominated Zhang Fei, who also strongly believed that he would most likely be chosen.<ref name="Translations from Chen Shou's 'Records of Three Kingdoms'" /> However, much to everyone's surprise, Liu Bei chose Wei Yan instead and appointed him as General Who Guards Distant Lands ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and acting Administrator of Hanzhong ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).Template:Sfnp<ref name="Translations from Chen Shou's 'Records of Three Kingdoms'">Template:Harvp: "先主為漢中王，遷治成都，當得重將以鎮漢川，衆論以為必在張飛，飛亦以心自許。先主乃拔延為督漢中鎮遠將軍，領漢中太守，一軍盡驚。"</ref><ref name="Comprehensive Jonathan Wu" /> When Liu Bei asked Wei Yan in front of everyone how would he perform his duty, the latter confidently replied:

"If Cao Cao leads all his forces to attack Hanzhong, let me assist Your Highness in resisting them. If an enemy general comes with an army of 100,000, let me engulf them for Your Highness."{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }} Liu Bei was very pleased and everyone was impressed with Wei Yan's reply.<ref name="駢志">Template:Cite book</ref>

During his tenure, Wei Yan explained to Liu Bei that he used a strategy called the "double gates" (Template:Lang-zh). The ancient text I Ching described this strategy as a particularly designed fortification which laid numerous military garrisons surrounding the outskirt and trail exits linking to Hanzhong.<ref name="阳平关口说三分">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Journal of Social Sciences - Volumes 60-65" />

Following the end of the Eastern Han dynasty and the start of the Three Kingdoms period in 220, Liu Bei declared himself emperor in 221 and established the state of Shu Han (or Shu) to challenge the legitimacy of the Cao Wei (or Wei) state established by Cao Cao's successor, Cao Pi, to replace the Eastern Han dynasty.Template:Sfnp Liu Bei further promoted Wei Yan to General Who Guards the North ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) after his coronation.<ref name="Textual Research History of the Political System of Shu Han">Template:Cite book</ref>

Northern ExpeditionsEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Zhuge Liang 4th and 5th Northern Expeditions.png

Zhuge Liang's fourth and fifth northern expeditions against Cao Wei

After Liu Bei died in 223, his son Liu Shan succeeded him as the emperor of Shu.Template:Sfnp In the same year, Liu Shan enfeoffed Wei Yan as a Marquis of a Chief Village ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref name="Zhang Xiufeng">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 227, Zhuge Liang, the Imperial Chancellor of Shu, mobilised the Shu military and gathered troops in Hanzhong Commandery in preparation for a large scale invasion of Shu's rival state, Cao Wei (or Wei), where he put Wei Yan in charge of the vanguard division and appointed him as acting Major under the Imperial Chancellor ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and acting Inspector of Liang Province ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).Template:Sfnp<ref name="奇葩歷史魏延簡傳，魏延之子">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}(五年，諸葛亮駐漢中，更以延為督前部，領丞相司馬、涼州刺史， ...) Sanguozhi vol. 40.</ref> During this campaign, Wei Yan always requested to lead a separate detachment of 10,000 troops, take a different route through the Ziwu Valley (Template:Lang-zh) and rendezvous with the Shu main army at Tong Pass (Template:Lang-zh; in present-day Tongguan County, Shaanxi).<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊">Template:Cite book</ref>

Wei Yan argued that the Ziwu Valley and its resources could support the Shu army's operations at least for a week.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊" /> However, Zhuge Liang rejected the plan because he thought that it was too risky, prompting Wei Yan to call Zhuge Liang a coward and complain that his talent was not put to good use.Template:Sfn Template:Sfnp When Chen Shou compiled the unofficial works on the history of Shu to write the Sanguozhi, he only mentioned that Wei Yan suggested to Zhuge Liang to split the Shu army into two, and the two forces would take two different routes and rendezvous at Tong Pass.Template:Efn

Later in 230, during the Ziwu Campaign, Wei Yan led some troops towards Yangxi (Template:Lang-zh; southwest of present-day Wushan County, Gansu) and engaged the Wei forces led by and Guo Huai and Fei Yao, where Wei Yan managed to inflict a heavy defeat to them.Template:Sfn During the same year, he also assisted another Shu general Wu Yi in attacking Nan'an Commandery (Template:Lang-zh; southeast of present-day Longxi County, Gansu) where they scored another victory against a Wei army led by Fei Yao.<ref name="Li Shi; HISTORY OF THREE KINGDOMS">Template:Harvnb</ref>

During the fourth campaign in 231, Wei Yan was also involved in the Battle of Mount Qi when he, together with the Shu generals Gao Xiang and Wu Ban, scored a major victory against the Wei army led by Sima Yi, during which they killed 3,000 Wei soldiers and seized 5,000 sets of armour and 3,100 crossbows. Sima Yi was forced to retreat back to his camp.<ref name="One Hundred Cases of Ancient Chinese Wars">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="record of three kingdoms Zhuge Liang biography">Template:Cite book</ref> Zhang He, a veteran Wei general, was also killed in battle during this conflict.<ref name="诸葛亮研究">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn As a reward for his contributions, the Shu government promoted Wei Yan to Vanguard Military Adviser ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and Senior General Who Attacks the West ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), and elevated him from a village marquis to a county marquis under the title "Marquis of Nanzheng" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).Template:Sfn

Battle of Wuzhang PlainsEdit

Template:See also

File:虎头桥遗址碑刻.jpg

A monument in Hutouqiao, Hanzhong, Shanxi, believed to be site where Wei Yan was executed

In 234, Zhuge Liang launched the fifth Shu invasion of Wei, with Wei Yan leading the Shu vanguard force as one of the commanding officers. Wei Yan reportedly had a dream that a horn grew on top of his head. He asked the dream diviner Zhao Zhi (Template:Lang-zh) the meaning of this.<ref name="文學與人生 2">Template:Harvnb</ref> Zhao Zhi lied to him and said:

"A qilin has horns, but does not use them; this is an auspicious sign that the enemy will destroy themselves without battle".<ref>(，直詐延曰：「夫麒麟有角而不用，此不戰而賊欲自破之象也。」) Sanguozhi vol. 40.</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

After Wei Yan left, Zhao Zhi revealed to someone that the Chinese character for "horn" (Template:Lang-zh) is composed of a "knife" (Template:Lang-zh) with "use" (Template:Lang-zh) below it, which meant that dreaming of "using a knife" atop one's head was an extremely ominous omen.<ref>(退而告人曰：「角之為字，刀下用也；頭上用刀，其凶甚矣。」) Sanguozhi vol. 40.</ref><ref name="文學與人生">Template:Cite book</ref> Later in the encampment, Wei Yan had a quarrel with Yang Yi, Zhuge Liang's chief clerk, whom Wei Yan was extremely resentful of.<ref name="Zhuge Liang's Personnel Arrangement and the Generational Transition of Power">Template:Cite journal</ref> Whenever they got into heated quarrels, Wei Yan often drew his sword and brandished it in front of Yang Yi, who sobbed as tears rolled down his cheeks. This prompted Fei Yi to step in to stop them from fighting and keep them under control until Zhuge Liang's death.<ref name="洪武雄 Wei Yan vs Yang Yi">Template:Harvnb</ref> Zhuge Liang was upset by the lack of harmony between Wei Yan and Yang Yi, but was unwilling to side with either of them because he appreciated the talents of both men.Template:Sfn

When Zhuge Liang became critically ill during the invasion, he gave secret orders to Yang Yi, Fei Yi and Jiang Wei to lead the army back to Shu after his death, with Wei Yan in charge of the rearguard and Jiang Wei to follow behind. If Wei Yan refused to follow the order, they were to retreat without him.<ref name="prof zhengqingmao">Template:Harvnb</ref> When Zhuge Liang died, news of his death was kept secret.<ref name="prof zhengqingmao" /> Yang Yi sent Fei Yi to meet Wei Yan and assess his intentions.<ref name="prof zhengqingmao" /> Wei Yan told Fei Yi:

"Although the Imperial Chancellor is dead, I am still alive. The officials serving in the Imperial Chancellor's Office may bring his body back (to Chengdu) for burial, but I should remain behind to lead the army to attack the enemy. Must we abandon our mission just because of the death of one man? Besides, who am I, Wei Yan, to submit to Yang Yi's command and lead the rearguard?"<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 2">Template:Harvnb</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Wei Yan then asked Fei Yi to assist him in making arrangements for part of the Shu army to remain behind and continue with the campaign, while the rest would retreat back to Shu.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 5" /> Fei Yi pretended to write a letter, signed by both of them, and told Wei Yan that he would read out the letter to all the officers about the new arrangements. It turned out that he had lied by telling Wei Yan that he would go back and explain Wei Yan's answer to Yang Yi.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 5" />

DeathEdit

Wei Yan then let Fei Yi leave, but he immediately regretted his decision and went after Fei Yi, but could not catch up with Fei Yi in time.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 5">Template:Harvnb</ref> He then sent his subordinate to meet Yang Yi and the others, but was shocked to discover that all units were preparing to retreat in accordance with Zhuge Liang's final orders.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 5" /> Wei Yan wanted to continue the battle even though Zhuge Liang had died, so he became furious when he heard of the retreat.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 5" /> He intended to block the Shu forces from retreating, so he led his force towards the south – ahead of the main army under Yang Yi's command – and sealed the return route by destroying the gallery roads leading back to Shu.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 5" />

Wei Yan and Yang Yi separately wrote memorials to the Shu imperial court to accuse each other of treason; both memorials arrived in Chengdu on the same day.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 5" /> The Shu emperor Liu Shan asked the ministers Dong Yun and Jiang Wan for their opinions.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 5" /> Both of them sided with Yang Yi and felt that Wei Yan's actions were suspicious. In the meantime, Yang Yi ordered his men to cut down trees to rebuild the gallery roads, and his troops marched day and night to catch up with Wei Yan.<ref name="prof zhengqingmao" /> Wei Yan arrived at the southern valley first and ordered his soldiers to attack Yang Yi.<ref name="prof zhengqingmao" /> Yang Yi sent Wang Ping to resist Wei Yan. Wang Ping shouted at Wei Yan:

"His Excellency (Zhuge Liang) had just died and his body had yet to turn cold, and now you dare to do something like this!"{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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}}

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Wei Yan was left with only his son(s) and a few followers, and they fled towards Hanzhong Commandery. Yang Yi ordered Ma Dai to give chase.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 3" /> Ma Dai executed Wei Yan, brought his head back, and threw it in front of Yang Yi.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 3">Template:Harvnb</ref> Yang Yi trampled on Wei Yan's head and said:

"You inferior slave! Now, can you still commit evil?"<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 3" />{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Wei Yan's family members and close relatives were also executed.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 3" /> Before Wei Yan's death, Jiang Wan had led the imperial guards from Chengdu to deal with what appeared to be a mutiny by Wei Yan.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 3" /> They had travelled for about 10 li (about three miles) when they received news of Wei Yan's death; they then turned back and returned to Chengdu.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 3" />

Character analysisEdit

File:Wei Yan 2016 Temple of Marquis Wu (Wuzhang Plains).jpg

Statue of Wei Yan in the Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple in the Wuzhang Plains, Shaanxi

Wei Yan was known for treating his soldiers well and for his bravery with valour that surpassed others. However, he was also boastful of his talents, hence his peers tended to shun him.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Sun Quan had also once remarked that once Zhuge Liang died, Wei Yan would prove to be an unreliable person.<ref name="Comprehensive Jonathan Wu">Template:Harvnb</ref> Chen Shou, who wrote Wei Yan's biography in the Sanguozhi, analysed Wei Yan's death as such: <templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

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A similar, but somewhat different and more detailed, account exists in the historical text Weilüe by Yu Huan. It stated that Zhuge Liang told Wei Yan to set up defences, although he also gave further instruction to "not return here".<ref name="Zhuge Liang history" /> Wei Yan kept this order to himself and did not share it with others, thus prompting Wei Yan's rival, Yang Yi, to spread false rumours that Wei Yan intended to defect to the enemy, causing Shu forces to turn against Wei Yan and result in his downfall.<ref name="Zhuge Liang history">Template:Cite book</ref> Pei Songzhi, who added the Weilüe account to Wei Yan's biography and annotated the Sanguozhi, cast doubts on the Weilüe account:

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Wei Yan's death was explained in political terms in "Injustice to Wei Yan" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), a neoteric article by Zhu Ziyan, a history professor from Shanghai University. Zhu wrote that Zhuge Liang personally appointed Jiang Wan, Fei Yi and Jiang Wei to be his successors, but Wei Yan's appointments and contributions were greater than those of any of them at the time.<ref name="Zhu Ziyan" /> Zhuge Liang ostracised Wei Yan and cracked down on him because he wanted to eliminate Wei Yan as a possible obstacle to his appointed successors.<ref name="Zhu Ziyan">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Meanwhile, in the Analysis of the Three Kingdoms, Yi Zhongtian commented that Zhuge Liang's last order to forcibly retreat and leave Wei Yan alone was contradicted by what he personally instructed Wei Yan; such contradiction indirectly led to tragedy between Wei Yan and Yang Yi.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> The forced retreat after Zhuge Liang's death might have been Yang Yi's idea rather than Zhuge Liang's, since Zhuge Liang died before devising any withdrawal plan. Yi Zhongtian thus theorised that there was no evidence of the theory that Yang Yi fabricated the order.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> Yi Zhongtian also explained another possible hypothesis that Zhuge Liang's final order "leave Wei Yan alone" simply meant "ignore Wei Yan" rather than "kill Wei Yan"; the Shu forces had to withdraw and if Wei Yan could not be stopped, they should have just let him be.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> Yi Zhongtian analysed and criticised Wei Yan for not grasping the political-economic reasons behind Zhuge Liang's expeditions and his extreme caution.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> Zhuge Liang launched the expeditions not only to restore the Han dynasty, but also to keep Shu in a state of war so that he could strengthen his control over Shu's internal affairs and suppress potential dissidence among local elites in Shu.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" />

As the smallest and weakest amongst the Three Kingdoms, Shu would be the first one to be targeted, hence it had to launch preemptive attacks to intimidate its opponents, to expand its territory, and to improve its conditions - the chances of success were not high but it would have been better than doing nothing.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> Zhuge Liang's goal of restoring the Han dynasty was sincere and had never changed. However, Wei was too powerful and could not be defeated in a single blow, hence the expeditions had to be carried out in a careful manner with guaranteed advances rather than going with daring but risky strikes which could lead to disasters like the Battles of Xiaoting and Fancheng.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> Such a complicated situation could not be explained clearly to Wei Yan, and probably did not need to be, as Zhuge Liang wanted to keep Wei Yan's morale at his peak.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian">Template:Cite book</ref>

Ziwu Valley plan analysisEdit

Wei Yan's reasoning for his Ziwu Valley Plan was recorded in the Weilüe, which was then added as an annotation to his biography in the Sanguozhi, where Chen Shou recorded that Wei Yan received intelligence which led him to conclude that the defender of the strategic city of Chang'an, Xiahou Mao, was incompetent.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 4" /> Thus, Wei Yan reasoned, it would be easy for him to take 5,000 troops (and another 5,000 to carry supplies) across the Qin Mountains via the Ziwu Valley and into Chang'an.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 4" /> Wei Yan estimated that he would reach Chang'an in ten days and scare Xiahou Mao into flight, leaving the grain in Chang'an's storehouses for Shu's taking.<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 4" /> There, Wei Yan's force can wait for Zhuge Liang's main army to take the safer road out of Xie Valley (Template:Lang-zh) and rendezvous in Chang'an. In this way, the region west of Xianyang could be conquered in one movement."<ref name="國際漢學研究趨勢：鄭清茂教授八秩華誕祝壽論文集下冊 4">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Weilue argued that the plan might have worked; Sima Yi had acknowledged the possibility that Shu forces would carry out the plan while Xiahou Mao had not realised it.<ref name="《早期中國史研究》第3卷第2期">Template:Cite journal</ref>

When the Wei government received intelligence about Wei Yan's Ziwu Valley Plan, the Wei emperor Cao Rui immediately removed Xiahou Mao from his military command in Chang'an and reassigned him to be a Master of Writing ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in Luoyang.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> Yi Zhongtian, in his Analysis of the Three Kingdoms, commented that both proponents and opponents of Wei Yan's plan had strong reasons.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> Wei forces were rather unprepared to counter the first Northern Expedition as they had not foreseen that Shu forces could launch such an offensive, hence both Zhuge Liang and Wei Yan's strikes could have dealt a massive blow to Wei defences.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" /> However, Wei Yan's plan was also very risky, as neither Xiahou Mao's retreat nor the timely arrival of the main Shu force led by Zhuge Liang could have been guaranteed. Moreover, the Wei general Guo Huai was stationed nearby and could have come to Xiahou Mao's aid.<ref name="Yi Zhongtian" />

However, recent scholarship of Chinese history criticised the Weilue account, stating that Yu Huan had exaggerated the alleged conflict between Wei Yan and Zhuge Liang over the latter's rejection of the former's Ziwu Valley plan.<ref name="How do Yu Huan Construction’s the Three Kingdoms history image in his book Weilüe" /> Wen-Chin Wang of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature suspected that the Weilue account was biased since Yu Huan supported the state of Wei.<ref name="How do Yu Huan Construction’s the Three Kingdoms history image in his book Weilüe">Template:Harvnb</ref>

LegacyEdit

Military fortificationEdit

The "Heavy Gate" (Template:Lang-zh) bulwark designed by Wei Yan during his tenure as Administrator of Hanzhong Commandery particularly turned out useful on two occasions when his successors as Administrator of Hanzhong Commandery used it to repel invaders. It also helped the Shu general Wang Ping defend Hanzhong Commandery from a massive invasion led by the Wei general Cao Shuang.<ref name="Journal of Social Sciences - Volumes 60-65">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="阳平关口说三分 3">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Shu general Jiang Wei later dismantled the "Heavy Gate" fortification in favour of his own design.Template:Sfnp However, Jiang Wei's new defence strategy failed to impede Wei invaders led by Zhong Hui, and Jiang Wei himself ultimately lost control of Hanzhong.<ref name="傳世藏書: 三国志, 晋书 2">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="傳世藏書: 三国志, 晋书"/><ref name="Academia Sinica. Institute of History and Linguistics">Template:Cite book</ref>

Wei Yan ShrinesEdit

A Wei Yan Shrine ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is located in Baique Village, Sanquan Township, Zitong County, Sichuan. In front of the shrine flows a Wei Family River ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). On the plains east of the river, there once stood a Wei Family River Temple ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), which had three stone tablets in front of it.<ref name="三国史话">Template:Cite book</ref> One of the stone tablets bears the words "Wei Yan once led soldiers and was stationed here."<ref name="三国史话"/> According to legend, in 231, during the fourth Shu invasion of Wei, Zhuge Liang ordered Wei Yan to lead a separate force to station south of the Wei Family River where, in memory of the incident, the locals built the Wei Family River Temple beside the river and a small bridge called "General Bridge" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref name="三国史话"/> The Wei Yan Shrine was initially demolished by the government but was rebuilt in 1995.<ref name="三国史话"/> A statue of Wei Yan stands in the main hall of the shrine.<ref name="Wei yan Shrine">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

There is another temple attributed to Wei Yan in Wei Yan's purported hometown in Weijia Village, Gaobao Township, Qingfeng County, Henan.<ref name="三国史话"/>

In popular culturesEdit

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In Romance of the Three KingdomsEdit

Wei Yan appears as a character in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, which romanticises the historical events leading to, and during the Three Kingdoms period, such as Wei Yan participation in the fictional Battle of Changsha.<ref name="Robert Moss translation">Template:Cite book</ref> Wei Yan surrendered to Liu Bei after killing his superior, Han Xuan.Template:Sfn

During a clash between Liu Bei against Ma Chao forces, Wei Yan defeat Ma Dai after they duelled for several bouts, causing the latter to flee.Template:Sfn

During the battle in Hanzhong, Wei Yan and Zhang Fei were unable to overcame Zhang He, causing both to retreat.Template:Sfn

According to Zhang Chaoju,Template:Efn Wei Yan was beaten during this campaign by Cao Cao's general, Pang De.<ref name="Zhang Caoju">Template:Cite book</ref>

Later, during the battle of Wuzhang plains, Wei Yan lured Sima Yi and his two sons, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao into a fire ambush. However, a sudden, heavy rain caused the fire to extinguish, and the plan failed; prompting the Simas to escape.Template:Sfn

Modern era depictionsEdit

“Sun Qi Mountain” drama which was written by Wei Ming-Lun, that described the relationship between two important historical figures Zhuge Liang and Wei Yan depicted the latter in positive light as it was not Wei Yan intent to betray Shu, which making him as tragic hero figure.<ref name="悲劇英雄？代罪羔羊？難纏對手？－論陳耀昌、平路、林克明形塑之「揆一」形象">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Wei Yan is featured as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series. He also appears in Koei's Dynasty Tactics 2.<ref name="Enemy Officer Defeated">Template:Cite thesis</ref>

BibliographyEdit

Wei Yan

Early lifeEdit

Administrator of HanzhongEdit

Northern ExpeditionsEdit

Battle of Wuzhang PlainsEdit

DeathEdit

Character analysisEdit

Ziwu Valley plan analysisEdit

LegacyEdit

Military fortificationEdit

Wei Yan ShrinesEdit

In popular culturesEdit

In Romance of the Three KingdomsEdit

Modern era depictionsEdit

BibliographyEdit

NotesEdit

ReferencesEdit

Primary & secondary sourcesEdit