Jiang Wei

Jiang Wei (202 – 3 March 264), 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 (present-day Gangu County, Gansu), 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 (大將軍) 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.

Jiang Wei was from Ji County (冀縣/兾縣), Tianshui Commandery (天水郡), 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.

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 (中郎) and allowed him to participate in military affairs in Tianshui Commandery.

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 (祁山; the mountainous regions around present-day Li County, Gansu) and deployed his troops there in orderly formations. Three Wei-controlled commanderies – Nan'an (南安; around present-day Longxi County, Gansu), Tianshui and Anding (安定; around present-day Zhenyuan County, Gansu) – 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 (馬遵), 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 (上邽縣; within present-day Tianshui, Gansu).

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 (冀縣/兾縣; present-day Gangu County, Gansu). 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.