(Li Yan stills)
Historical records show that Li Yan was abolished after his death. There are three main reasons for his death:
One is lite (Liu Chan's first title) for four years. When Zhuge Liang was preparing for the Northern Expedition, he sent Li Yan to Hanzhong for defense, but Li Yan didn't go. He also asked Zhuge Liang to synthesize the five counties into a Bazhou and let him be the secretariat of Bazhou (at that time, he was the secretariat of Jiangzhou himself).
Second, in the eighth year of lite, when Cao Zhen, a general of Cao Wei, attacked Hanchuan, Zhuge Liang asked Li Yan to go to the rescue. He didn't go, saying that Sima Yi of Cao Wei would take advantage if he left. Later, Zhuge Liang put his son in charge of Jiangzhou's defense and promoted him to a title of generals in ancient times.
Third, in the ninth year of Jianxing, when Zhuge Liang was in the Northern Expedition, Li Yan was responsible for transporting grain and grass. Because of the muddy road, he was afraid that Zhuge Liang would be punished for delaying the withdrawal. After Zhuge Liang retreated, he said in front of Liu Chan that there was enough food and grass. I don't know why Zhuge Liang withdrew. Zhuge Liang showed Liu Chan Li Yan's letter and took the opportunity to impeach him. As a result, Liu Chan demoted him to Shu Ren.
Although history records show that Li Yan was abolished by his own death. However, there is one thing that puzzles me: clearly Liu Bei handed over the army to Li Yan, why did he finally become Zhuge Liang's unified soldier?
(Zhuge Liang stills)
I think, if we figure this out, we can figure out whether Li Yan was excluded by Zhuge Liang.
After Liu Bei lost in the battle of Yiling and retreated to Yong 'an, he began to consider arranging funeral affairs because of his deteriorating health. In these considerations, there is an important move, which is to raise Li Yan from the position of satrap to Yongan as a secretary. During the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms periods, Shang Shuling was not entirely a prime minister, but he was similar to a prime minister because he directly carried out the emperor's orders. Liu Bei appointed Li Yan as an official to consider entrusting an orphan to Zhuge Liang in the future, and then entrusting the orphan to Li Yan to balance Zhuge Liang and prevent Zhuge Liang from becoming a powerful minister.
Let's take a look at how Li Yan, who put Liu Bei in charge of the army after his death, lost the command of the army.
Li Yan was in charge of the army, and Liu Bei gave him the position of central defender. ? Both? Is the whole point? Guard? It means to lead troops to guard, so? Zhong Duhu? In charge of all the troops inside and outside.
However, after Liu Bei's death, something happened, which was recorded in the History of the Three Kingdoms: Zhu Bao, the satrap, supported the rebellion in counties. First of all, the most popular name in Yizhou County is that Taishou Zhang was born in Wu. According to the county, the more we lose the king, the more we betray him. That is to say, almost half of Shu Han's land has been defected.
In this way, it is necessary to use the army to quell the chaos. Although Li Yan was the commander in chief, Liu Bei arranged for him to guard Yongan at that time. Zhuge Liang also suggested to Liu Chan that Li Yan continue to guard Yongan. In fact, we must guard it, because Yongan is the gateway of Wu Dong, and the battle of Yiling has failed. If we don't protect it, Wu Dong will use it. So it can be said that although Li Yan is a central defender, he can't go back to Chengdu, so he can't exercise the power of a central defender. Command the army to quell chaos can only be handed over to the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang.
After Zhuge Liang led the army to pacify the chaos, he proposed to Liu Chan that he would inherit Liu Bei's legacy and swear the Northern Expedition. Before the Northern Expedition, we should go south and pacify the south. Of course, the matter of the southern expedition can only be handed over to Zhuge Liang. So Liu Chan handed over the army to Zhuge Liang in lite three years, and asked him to lead the army south. In this way, in fact, Li Yan's protection of Zhongdu is nominal.
After Zhuge Liang came back from the southern expedition, he immediately set about the Northern Expedition. At this time, Zhuge Liang made a decision, as mentioned earlier. In the fourth year of lite, Zhuge Liang ordered Li Yan to be transferred to Hanzhong to be responsible for guarding Hanzhong and logistics support. Zhuge Liang himself wanted to organize the Northern Expedition.
Perhaps at this time, Yan Yan's heart is already very dissatisfied. In his view, Zhuge Liang easily deprived him of the command of the entire Shu-Han army, and now he has been transferred to Hanzhong, which is equivalent to depriving him of his base area. Therefore, he resolutely refused to go and asked Zhuge Liang to merge the five counties to form Bazhou. He is not only the secretariat of Jiangzhou, but also the secretariat of Bazhou. In doing so, he just wants to expand his territory and establish a bigger base area. Of course, Zhuge Liang did not listen to him.
Since then, Zhuge Liang's first northern expedition in six years has been firmly in his own hands since his death, and Li Yan is just a general. Moreover, in the eighth year of lite, Zhuge Liang transferred him to Hanzhong, and this time he couldn't get rid of it. Lite for nine years, because of what I said before? Grain and grass incident? Li Yan falsely accused Zhuge Liang in front of Liu Chan, but he was still fighting for the last time, hoping to win Zhuge Liang. I didn't expect his means to be too inferior. Zhuge Liang has sufficient evidence to prove that he is a false accusation. As a result, Li Yan failed and was abolished as Shu Ren.
(Liu Chan stills)
From the above analysis, we can see that. Zhuge Liang really pushed out Li Yan and turned Li Yan's command of the army into his own. However, in this process, everything Zhuge Liang did was for the public, starting from the overall situation of the country. Li Yan, on the other hand, is selfish everywhere and considers his own small interests everywhere. So, in the end, he had to be defeated by Zhuge Liang.