Jiang Wei

Who was Jiang Wei?

Jiang Wei, style name Boyue, was a military general and regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He originally served Shu's rival state, Cao Wei, as a middle-level military officer, but defected to the Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang, leaving his mother in Wei. After that, Jiang Wei took part in military campaigns against his native state. He joined Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition against Wei in 228, and was made an army commander. Zhuge Liang had always considered Jiang Wei a resourceful and capable general, and Jiang received light-speed promotions during the regency of Zhuge Liang and of Zhuge Liang's successors Jiang Wan and Fei Yi to eventually become Fei Yi's chief assistant. He succeeded Fei Yi after the latter's death in 253, but did not wield full power as his predecessor did, as he was only in charge of military affairs — and was therefore arguably a regent.

Jiang Wei revived Zhuge Liang's campaigns against Wei and made a number of incursions against Wei — one in coordination with Eastern Wu's regent Zhuge Ke - but each had to be abandoned due to inadequate food supplies or due to battlefield losses, and these campaigns greatly drained Shu's resources. In 263, a Wei army, led by Deng Ai and Zhong Hui, conquered Shu. Jiang Wei tried to restore Shu by persuading Zhong Hui to rebel against the Wei regent Sima Zhao, and Zhong agreed. However, the revolt failed because Zhong Hui's own soldiers turned against him and both Zhong and Jiang Wei were killed in action.