Jiang Wei
![A [[Qing dynasty]] illustration of Jiang Wei](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/JiangWei.jpg)
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.
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