Jiang Wei


Jiang Wei, courtesy name Boyue, was a Chinese military general and politician
of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Born in Ji County, Jiang Wei started his career as a military officer in his native Tianshui Commandery, which was a territory of Wei. In 228, when Wei's rival state Shu launched an invasion led by Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wei was distrusted by Ma Zun, then administrator of Tianshui Commandery. As such, Jiang Wei had to defect to Shu. Zhuge Liang, the Imperial Chancellor and regent of Shu, highly regarded Jiang Wei and appointed him as a general in Shu. After Zhuge Liang's death in 234, Jiang Wei continued serving as a military commander during the regencies Jiang Wan and Fei Yi, eventually rising to the highest military rank of General-In-Chief after Fei Yi's death in 253. Between 240 and 262, he continued Zhuge Liang's legacy of waging war against Wei by leading another 11 military campaigns. However, Jiang Wei's campaigns were relatively constrained in terms of both scale and duration due to Shu's limited resources and inadequate food supplies, as well as internal political faultlines. In 263, when Wei launched a massive invasion of Shu, Jiang Wei led Shu forces to resist the invaders at Tazhong, Yinping and Jiange, himself defending Jiange which was under Zhong Hui's attack. While Jiang Wei managed to temporarily stall Wei's main force led by Zhong Hui, Deng Ai, another military commander of Wei, took a shortcut via Yinping and showed up at Chengdu unexpectedly. Liu Shan surrendered to Deng Ai without putting up resistance and ordered Jiang Wei to surrender to the Wei general Zhong Hui; this event marked the end of Shu's existence. In the following year, Jiang Wei instigated Zhong Hui to launch a rebellion in Chengdu against the Wei regent Sima Zhao and hoped to use the opportunity to gain military power and restore Shu. However, some of Zhong Hui's officers were unwilling to participate in the rebellion and started a mutiny, killing Jiang Wei and Zhong Hui.

Family background

Jiang Wei was from Ji County, Tianshui Commandery, which is present-day Gangu County, Gansu. As his father died early, Jiang Wei grew up with his mother and was known for his interest in the writings of the Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan.
The Fu Zi recorded that Jiang Wei was a fame-seeking person with great ambitions. He also secretly raised a private militia.

Early career in Wei

Jiang Wei began his career in his native Tianshui Commandery, which was a territory of the state of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He started out as a clerk in charge of records and later became an assistant officer under the commandery administrator. After considering that his father died in service, the Wei government commissioned Jiang Wei as a zhonglang and allowed him to participate in military affairs in Tianshui Commandery.

Defection to Shu

''Sanguozhi'' account

In the spring of 228, Zhuge Liang, the Imperial Chancellor and regent of Wei's rival state Shu, launched the first of a series of military campaigns against Wei. He occupied Mount Qi and deployed his troops there in orderly formations. Three Wei-controlled commanderies – Nan'an, Tianshui and Anding – responded to the invasion by defecting to the Shu side.
Jiang Wei's biography in the Sanguozhi recorded that at the time, Jiang Wei and his colleagues Liang Xu, Yin Shang and Liang Qian were out on an inspection tour with Ma Zun, the Administrator of Tianshui Commandery. When Ma Zun learnt of the Shu invasion and heard that many counties in Tianshui Commandery had defected to the enemy, he suspected that Jiang Wei and the others were going to betray him so he fled overnight and took shelter in Shanggui County.
By the time Jiang Wei and his colleagues realised that Ma Zun had abandoned them and fled on his own, they attempted to catch up with him but it was too late. They were denied entry when they showed up at Shanggui County, so Jiang Wei led them to his home county, Ji County. However, the official in charge of Ji County also refused to allow them to enter. Faced with no other choice, Jiang Wei and his colleagues surrendered and defected to Shu.

Alternative account in the ''Weilüe''

The Weilüe recorded a different account of Jiang Wei's defection from Wei to Shu.
At the time of the Shu invasion, Ma Zun and his subordinates were on an inspection tour with the Wei general Guo Huai when they received news that Zhuge Liang and the Shu army had occupied Mount Qi. After telling Ma Zun that Zhuge Liang was "up to no good", Guo Huai wanted to quickly head back to Shanggui County in the east of Tianshui Commandery. Even though his headquarters was at Ji County in the west, Ma Zun did not want to go back because he feared that there would be unrest in Ji County in light of the Shu invasion. He decided to join Guo Huai and move to Shanggui County instead.
When Jiang Wei urged Ma Zun to return to Ji County, the latter told him and the others: "If you go back, then you will become my enemy." Jiang Wei ignored Ma Zun because he was worried about the safety of his family in Ji County, so he parted ways with Ma Zun and returned to Ji County with his colleague Shangguan Zixiu and others.
When Jiang Wei returned to Ji County, the people welcomed him back and insisted that he meet Zhuge Liang. Jiang Wei and Shangguan Zixiu relented and went to see Zhuge Liang, who was delighted to meet them. By the time Jiang Wei wanted to go back to Ji County to fetch his family members, Wei forces under Zhang He and Fei Yao had defeated the Shu vanguard at the Battle of Jieting. Unable to return to Ji County and left with no other option, Jiang Wei decided to defect to Shu and follow Zhuge Liang. After Wei forces recaptured Ji County, they took Jiang Wei's family members captive but did not execute them because they knew that Jiang Wei did not originally intend to defect to the enemy. Jiang Wei's family members were thus imprisoned. According to Zizi Tongjian, Jiang Wei received letter from her mother with an implicit message to return home to Wei, however Jiang Wei chose to follow his ambition in Shu.

During Zhuge Liang's regency

After returning to Hanzhong Commandery, Zhuge Liang appointed Jiang Wei as an Assistant official in charge of food supplies. Later, Jiang Wei was commissioned as General Who Upholds Righteousness and enfeoffed as the Marquis of Dangyang Village.
Jiang Wei was subsequently promoted to the rank of General Who Attacks the West and given the appointment of Central Army Supervisor.

During Jiang Wan's regency

Following Zhuge Liang's death at the Battle of Wuzhang Plains in the autumn of 234, Jiang Wei returned to the Shu capital Chengdu and was reassigned to serve as Right Army Supervisor with the rank of General Who Assists Han. He was put in command of Chengdu's armed forces and promoted from a village marquis to a county marquis under the title "Marquis of Pingxiang".
In 238, Jiang Wei accompanied the Shu regent Jiang Wan to Hanzhong Commandery near the Wei–Shu border. After Jiang Wan was appointed Grand Marshal in April or May 239, he appointed Jiang Wei as a Major under him. He also put Jiang Wei in charge of a separate force to make incursions into Wei territory.

First Northern Expedition

In 240, Jiang Wei led Shu forces to attack the Wei-controlled Longxi Commandery but was driven back by Wei forces under Guo Huai's command.
Three years later, Jiang Wei was promoted to the rank of Senior General Who Guards the West and appointed as the nominal Inspector of Liang Province.

During Fei Yi's regency

Following Jiang Wan's death in 246, Fei Yi became the regent of Shu.
A year later, Jiang Wei was promoted to General of the Guards. He also shared power with Fei Yi by jointly holding the office of Manager of the Affairs of the Masters of Writing with him.
In the same year, Jiang Wei suppressed a rebellion in Pingkang County.

Second Northern Expedition

In 247, the Qiang tribes started a rebellion against Wei in four commanderies in Yong and Liang provinces, and called for support from Shu. Baihuwen and Zhiwudai, two tribal kings in Liang Province, responded by rebelling against Wei. When Jiang Wei led Shu forces into Liang Province to support the Qiang rebels, Baihuwen and Zhiwudai led their forces to join him.
In response, the Wei government sent Xiahou Ba and Guo Huai to lead troops to suppress the rebellion and repel the Shu invasion. Jiang Wei attacked Xiahou Ba's position at the west of the Tao River but retreated back to Shu when Wei reinforcements led by Guo Huai showed up.

Third Northern Expedition

In 248, Jiang Wei led Shu forces from Shiying to Qiangchuan to rendezvous with the tribal king Zhiwudai, who had recently been defeated by the Wei general Guo Huai at Longyi County He left his subordinate Liao Hua behind to guard the fortress at Chengzhong Mountain.
Guo Huai split his army into two groups with the aim of preventing Jiang Wei from meeting up and combining forces with Zhiwudai. He led one group to attack Liao Hua at Chengzhong Mountain to force Jiang Wei to turn back to save Liao Hua. At the same time, he ordered his subordinate Xiahou Ba to attack Jiang Wei and push him back towards Tazhong. Guo Huai's plan succeeded as Jiang Wei turned back to save Liao Hua when he learnt that Chengzhong Mountain was under attack. In doing so, he failed to meet up with Zhiwudai and eventually retreated back to Shu.

Fourth Northern Expedition

In the autumn of 249, after he was granted acting imperial authority by the Shu emperor Liu Shan, Jiang Wei led Shu forces to attack the Wei-controlled Yong Province and gained support from the Qiang tribes. He had two fortresses constructed at Qushan.
In response to the Shu invasion, the Wei general Guo Huai ordered his subordinates Chen Tai, Xu Zhi and Deng Ai to besiege the two fortresses and cut off their supply routes.
When Jiang Wei led troops from Mount Niutou to reinforce the two fortresses, Chen Tai led a Wei army to block his path. At the same time, Chen Tai sought help from Guo Huai, who led his troops across the Tao River to attack Jiang Wei's base at Mount Niutou. Jiang Wei became fearful so he pulled back all his troops and abandoned the two fortresses.
Three days after his apparent retreat, Jiang Wei sent Liao Hua to lead a small force to distract Deng Ai at Baishui while he led the main army to attack Taocheng. Deng Ai saw through Jiang Wei's ruse and immediately dispatched reinforcements to Taocheng. Jiang Wei failed to capture Taocheng as Deng Ai had already strengthened its defences so he withdrew all his troops and returned to Shu.