Jiang Wei
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Jiang Wei (姜維, Wade-Giles: Chiang Wei, 202-264), courtesy name Boyue (伯約), was a general and later (arguable) regent of Shu Han during the reign of its second emperor Liu Shan. He was originally a Cao Wei middle level army officer, but joined the Shu Han regent Zhuge Liang on Zhuge's first northern expedition against Cao Wei in 228. Zhuge became impressed with him and immediately made him an army commander. He eventually rose through the ranks during the regencies of Zhuge and of Zhuge's successors Jiang Wan and Fei Yi to eventually become Fei's chief assistant. After Fei's death in 253, he succeeded to Fei's position, but did not have the power that Fei had, as he apparently became in charge largely only of military matters -- and therefore was only arguably a regent.
Reviving Zhuge's campaigns against Cao Wei (which Jiang Wan and Fei had largely abandoned), Jiang made a number of incursions against Cao Wei -- one in coordination with Eastern Wu's regent Zhuge Ke (Zhuge Liang's nephew) -- but each had to be abandoned due to the inadequate food supplies or due to battlefield losses, and these campaigns greatly drained Shu Han's resources. In 263, Cao Wei, led by Deng Ai and Zhong Hui, conquered Shu Han. Jiang tried to restore the kingdom by persuading Zhong to declare a rebellion against the de facto Cao Wei ruler Sima Zhao, but after Zhong did so, Zhong's own soldiers rebelled against him and Jiang and Zhong were killed in battle.
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[edit] Early life and career under Zhuge Liang's regency
Jiang Wei was born during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and was from Tianshui Commandery (天水, roughly modern Tianshui, Gansu). His father Jiang Jiong (姜冏) was an army officer who was killed in battle during a Qiang rebellion, early in Jiang Wei's life. Because of what happened to his father, Jiang Wei became an army officer himself in the army of Cao Wei, Han's successor state.
For reasons unknown, when Liu Shan's regent Zhuge Liang had his first northern expedition in 228, Jiang's commanding officer suspected him of secretly wishing to join Zhuge Liang, and once, when Jiang was outside the city with his troops, closed the city gates and would not allow Jiang Wei to re-enter. Jiang was forced to indeed defect to Zhuge's army, leaving his mother in Cao Wei. Zhuge was impressed by Jiang's military capabilities and quickly made him one of his key officers, at the age of 27.
[edit] Under Jiang Wan and Fei Yi's regencies
After Zhuge Liang's death in 234, Jiang Wan succeeded him as regent. He continued to value Jiang Wei's capabilities greatly, and he commissioned Jiang Wei with the title of the governor of Liang Province (涼州, modern Gansu), which Shu Han did not control, but effectively giving Jiang Wei the authority over the northwestern border. After Jiang Wan's death in 245, Fei Yi succeeded him and made Jiang Wei his chief assistant.
Jiang had constantly wanted to revive Zhuge's strategy of actively waging war against Cao Wei, and Fei agreed -- but only partly. He gave Jiang a small detachment of troops to allow Jiang to harass Cao Wei's border defense forces, and Jiang appeared to be fairly effective at this task. He also was successful in persuading a number of non-Han tribes into joining Shu Han.
[edit] As regent
After Fei's death (by assassination) in 253, Jiang Wei assumed the same title, making him regent -- but his influence on domestic matters appeared to be limited, as those matters appeared to be dominated by Liu Shan's trusted eunuch Huang Hao. Jiang, however, was the supreme authority in military matters. Even as Jiang attempted to strength Shu Han, however, its government's efficiency and cleanliness were deteriorating from within, greatly hindering Jiang's efforts and magnifying the effect of Jiang's losses on the battlefield.
[edit] Campaigns against Cao Wei
Jiang immediately revived Zhuge Liang's northern strategy, and later in 253 he set up a coordinated effort with Eastern Wu's regent Zhuge Ke (Zhuge Liang's nephew and Zhuge Jin's son) to attack Cao Wei on two fronts -- Shu Han on the west and Eastern Wu on the east. Jiang attacked the key border city of Didao (狄道, in modern Dingxi, Gansu) as Zhuge Ke launched a massive attack on Hefei (合肥, in modern Hefei, Anhui). Cao Wei's regent Sima Shi correctly judged the Wu force to be the more serious threat and personally led the main Cao Wei force to the eastern front while sending a smaller detachment to relieve Didao. As the first sign of what would eventually recur, Jiang, while sieging Didao, ran out of food supplies and had to withdraw. Eventually, Sima's forces dealt a crippling defeat to Zhuge Ke, leading to Zhuge Ke's downfall later that year.
In 254, Jiang, after Li Jian (李簡), the county magistrate of Didao secretly declared that he would defect, again advanced on Didao and took the city, but after suffering a loss at the hands of Xu Zhi (徐質), Jiang was forced to withdraw.
In summer 255, despite the opposition from Zhang Yi (under the rationale that Shu Han could not sustain continuous campaigns against Cao Wei), Jiang again attacked Didao, and was highly successful in his initial battles against the Cao Wei Yong Province (雍州, modern Shaanxi) governor Wang Jing (王經), nearly annihilating Wang's troops. Zhang again tried to persuade Jiang to stop his campaign at this point, but Jiang refused. Instead, he sieged Didao again and eventually was forced to lift the siege when additional Cao Wei forces arrived under the command of Chen Tai (陳泰). Jiang and Chen's forces stayed in a stalemate throughout the winter. In summer 256, as Jiang shifted his strategy to advance instead on Shanggui (上邽, in modern Tianshui, Gansu), his move was anticipated by the Cao Wei general Deng Ai, who intercepted him and dealt him a major loss -- a loss that would cause the people of Shu Han to begin to resent Jiang.
In 257, when Cao Wei was dealing with the rebellion of Zhuge Dan (who had anticipated an usurpation by Sima Shi's brother and successor Sima Zhao and wanted to resist it), Jiang again attacked, this time advancing all the way to Mangshui (芒水, in modern Xi'an, Shaanxi), but could not induce Cao Wei's forces, commanded by Deng and Sima Wang (司馬望), to engage him in battle. After Zhuge was defeated in 258, Jiang withdrew.
In 262, Jiang, despite Liao Hua's opposition, again attacked Cao Wei, targeting Taoyang (洮陽, in modern Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Hezuo), Gansu), but was defeated by Deng. He withdrew to Tazhong (沓中, also in modern Gannan), and, apprehensive that Huang Hao might take this opportunity to damage him politically, did not dare to return to the Shu Han capital Chengdu, but remained at Tazhong, perhaps to carry out one strategy that Zhuge considered late in his campaigns -- have soldiers grow wheat to use as next year's food supply. (Why Jiang was particularly apprehensive of Huang at this point was that he had unsuccessfully tried to persuade Liu Shan to execute Huang earlier that year, and Huang was trying to find an opportunity to replace Jiang with his friend Yan Yu (閻宇).)
[edit] Fall of Shu Han
In 258, Jiang had suggested the following strategic plan be drawn up in case of a major Cao Wei attack -- that the border cities do not try to resist, but instead have the main forces to withdraw to the mountain passes to wait for Cao Wei forces to be worn out, and then close up their path of withdrawal. Liu Shan approved the strategy and made it the official plan to follow in case Cao Wei attacked.
Late in 262, aggravated by Jiang's constant attacks, Sima Zhao considered hiring assassins to kill Jiang. At his strategists' suggestion, he decided instead to try to wipe out Shu Han once and for all, and commissioned Zhong Hui and Deng Ai to lead the Cao Wei forces against Shu Han. Jiang quickly realized that Cao Wei was about to attack and petitioned Liu Shan to send forces to block off the key passes, but Huang, believing in fortunetellers, disagreed and persuaded Liu Shan to take no actions on Jiang's petition.
In 263, while Jiang was still at Tazhong, the Cao Wei attack was launched. Liu Shan ordered that Jiang's 258 plan be carried out -- but much to Shu Han's surprise, Cao Wei forces took no heed of Shu Han border cities at all and headed directly for the key passes. Jiang quickly withdrew his forces to try to defend against the attack, and after some initial failures, was finally able to block off Zhong's forces at Jiange (劍閣, in modern Guangyuan, Sichuan). Zhong considered retreating, but Deng led a smaller detachment through a treacherous mountain pass descending on Jiangyou (江油, in modern Mianyang, Sichuan), defeating Zhuge Liang's son Zhuge Zhan and heading directly for the Shu Han capital Chengdu. Surprised and believing that Chengdu was defenseless, Liu Shan surrendered and ordered Jiang to surrender to Zhong, even though Chengdu was still manned by hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Zhong treated Jiang with respect and quickly made him a key advisor.
[edit] Efforts to reestablish Shu Han and death
Jiang Wei quickly saw that Zhong Hui had other ideas -- Zhong considered his abilities superior to all Cao Wei generals and even Sima Zhao, and wanted to overthrow Sima. He encouraged Zhong to rebel against Sima, and Zhong agreed. Zhong first falsely reported to Sima that Deng was planning a rebellion, and forged letters to and from Deng to increase the tension between Sima and Deng. In early 264, Sima ordered that Zhong arrest Deng and seize his troops -- but at the same time led a force personally, heading toward Chengdu from the Cao Wei capital Luoyang. Zhong, after seizing Deng's troops, realized that Sima had seen through his intentions, and declared a rebellion.
Jiang had other plans, however. He tried to persuade Zhong to kill all of the high level Cao Wei officers, with his own plan that after Zhong did so, he would kill Zhong and then all of the Cao Wei soldiers and redeclare Shu Han's independence. He wrote letters to Liu Shan explaining his actions. Zhong tentatively agreed with Jiang's suggestion to kill all of the key officers, but hesitated in carrying the plan out. The plan leaked, however, and Zhong's soldiers turned against him. Jiang led Zhong's personal guards against the rebelling soldiers, but could not withstand the attack and was killed in battle, along with Zhong. Jiang's wife and children were also killed in the confusion.
[edit] Historical views of Jiang Wei
Jiang Wei was one of the most controversial figures in Chinese history. In Bo Yang's Modern Chinese Edition of Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian, for example, Bo cited seven different and discordant views of Jiang's career -- ranging from ringing endorsements of his honesty and loyalty to Shu Han (Pei Songzhi (裴松之), commentator to the Sanguo Zhi) to criticism of his constant draining campaigns (Chen Shou, author of the Sanguo Zhi) to outright condemnation (Sun Sheng (孫盛), author of the Spring and Autumn Annals of Jin), each of which could be considered a potentially valid view of his complicated character. (Bo himself declined comment, but later in an open letter to a reader suggested that all of the views were, indeed, correct -- that Jiang's fatal errors were to drain the energy of his people, but that he was indeed an honest and loyal man, willing to lay down his life in a futile attempt to reestablish Shu Han.)
[edit] Media
He is a playable character in the Dynasty Warriors series. He wields a trident in this game.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms game series, he is renowned for being "Zhuge Liang's Scholarly Heir".
