Jiang Wei was often considered one of Zhuge Liang's heirs in later generations, but in fact this was not the case, Jiang Wei was indeed Zhuge Liang's descendant, but his control of power began when Jiang Wan decided to change the military strategy of Shu Han.

Three years after Fei Yi's death, Jiang Wei was appointed as a general and became the supreme commander of the Shu Han military.

【The ruler of the Shu Han military】

In the sixth year of Jianxing (228), Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu Han, went out of Qishan, and the first northern expedition to Cao Wei, Jiang Wei was surrendered to Shu at this time, Zhuge Liang set Jiang Wei as Cangcao Peng, added Fengyi general, and was named the Marquis of Yangting. Zhuge Liang once wrote a letter to Jiang Wan, saying that Jiang Wei was a sergeant in Liangzhou and had courage, and asked Jiang Wei to command five or six thousand tiger infantry troops. Later, Jiang Wei was promoted to the general of the Central Supervision Army.

In the twelfth year of Jianxing (234), before his death, Zhuge Liang discussed the future generations with Yang Yi, Fei Yi, Jiang Wei and others, and finally left Jiang Wei second to Wei Yan. After the army returned to the CD, the imperial court appointed Jiang Wei as the general of the right prison army to assist the Han and seal the Marquis of Xiangping.

It can be said that Jiang Wei was quite reused by Zhuge Liang after he surrendered to Shu, and the speed of promotion was also very fast, and he was already Zhuge Liang's descendant, but to say that Jiang Wei was Zhuge Liang's appointed heir, it was still a bit too much, after all, Jiang Wei was a general, and the time to surrender was not long, even if he was reused, he had not yet reached the position of Zhuge Liang's heir. In history, Zhuge Liang's designated heirs were only Jiang Wan and Fei Yi, and even Dong Yun could only be said to be half at most.

Jiang Wei was already in a good position after Zhuge Liang's death, Jiang Wan was appointed as a military Sima after taking power, and led the troops to attack Wei on a small scale many times, but there are still many people with a higher status than him in the military, including Wang Ping, Ma Zhong and Deng Zhi and others, and the real establishment of Jiang Wei's military status in Shu Han was because of a discussion between Jiang Wan and Fei Yi.

In the sixth year of Yanxi (243), Jiang Wan, the great Sima of Shu Han at that time, was originally going to go east from Hanzhong and Shuishui to attack Shangyong, Weixing and other places, but Shu Han thought it was impossible after internal discussions, so he sent Shangshu to order Fei Yi and Jiang Wei to come to Hanzhong to try to dissuade Jiang Wan, Jiang Wan and Fei Yi After discussion, they decided to give up the military action, and instead tried to seek Liangzhou, Jiang Wei was familiar with that area at that time, so Jiang Wan recommended Jiang Wei as the assassin of Liangzhou, and led the troops to the northwest, and soon Liu Chan allowed it, At that time, the imperial court took Jiang Wei as the general of Zhenxi and led the history of Liangzhou.

This incident established Jiang Wei's military position within Shu Han in one fell swoop, and Jiang Wei became the de facto leader of the Shu Han Northern Expedition.

Soon after Jiang Wan's death, in the tenth year of Yanxi (247), Jiang Wei was promoted to General Wei, and recorded Shangshu with the general Fei Yi, but was restrained by Fei Yi, who himself believed that the current Shu Han generals had limited skills, so he controlled the scale of the army.

In the spring of the sixteenth year of Yanxi (253), Fei Yi was assassinated and killed. At that time, Shangshu Ling Chen Jian also strongly supported Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition policy and did not hinder it, so Jiang Wei sent tens of thousands of troops to the north in the same year, breaking Fei Yi's original restrictions on him in one fell swoop.

In the spring of the nineteenth year of Yanxi (256), Jiang Wei was promoted to general because of the victory of the crusade against Wang Jing and became the supreme commander of the Shu Han military.

【Early Northern Expedition】

In the first year of Yanxi (238), Jiang Wei garrisoned Hanzhong with the general Jiang Wan, and Jiang Wan took Jiang Wei as the camp Sima and led the partial army to fight in Qiangzhong many times, which was also the beginning of Jiang Wei leading the troops alone.

In the first year of Yanxi (240), Jiang Wei sent troops to Longxi, Yongzhou assassin Guo Huai marched, chased Zhiqiangzhong, Jiang Wei retreated, and then Guo Huai crusaded against the Qiang Midang and other departments.

In the tenth year of Yanxi (247), Jiang Wei was promoted to General Wei. The Yi people in Pingkang County, Wenshan County, rebelled, and Jiang Wei led his troops to fight for peace.

At that time, the Wei State's Longxi, Nan'an, Jincheng, Xiping, Zhuqiang, Hunger, He, Jiaoge, Fatong, Moshasai, etc. united to rebel, besieged the town, and recruited Shu soldiers to assist in the south, and Liangzhou named Hu Zhi Wudai also raised troops to rebel. Xiahou Ba, the protector of Shu, led the troops to garrison Yu Weiying. When Guo Huai first arrived in Didao, many people thought that he should first pacify Caohan, so that he could pacify the evil Qiang internally, and thwart Xishu's plans externally.

Guo Huai estimated that Jiang Wei would definitely attack Xiahouba, so he entered Fengzhong, transferred his troops to the south, and met Xiahouba. Jiang Wei really attacked, and when he saw Guo Huai's army coming, Jiang Wei left. Then Guo Huai crusaded against the rebels, killed Hungry He, burned Ge, and surrendered tens of thousands.

In the eleventh year of Yanxi (248), Guo Huai was defeated and ruled Wudai, Jiang Wei sent troops to the stone camp, to Jiangchuan, and to the west to govern Wudai, leaving Yinping Taishou Liaohua to build a castle in Chengzhong Mountain, and collected Zhuqiang stragglers as hostages. Guo Huai wanted to divide the troops into two ways, and the generals all thought that Jiang Wei would connect the powerful Hu soldiers to the west, and Liao Hua would defend the natural danger, if the troops were divided into two roads, they would definitely weaken the troops, and they would not be able to contain Jiang Wei if they advanced, and they could not capture the city defended by Liao Hua when they retreated, so it was better to concentrate their forces and march westward together, and break through each of them before the Hu and Shu soldiers failed to connect, which was the best policy. Guo Huai said: "Sending troops to attack Liaohua today can be taken by surprise, Jiang Wei must have some scruples." By the time Jiang Wei rushed back, Liao Hua had been defeated, and Jiang Wei could be exhausted. Jiang Wei's army did not meet the Hu people to the west, and the Hu people would naturally evacuate, which was the best way to kill two birds with one stone. So he sent Xiahou Ba and others to pursue Jiang Wei in the middle of the country, and he led a large army to attack Liaohua, and Jiang Wei really led his division to rescue Liaohua, as Guo Huai expected. Guo Huai was named the Marquis of the capital for his merits.

The leaders of the Hu tribe, Bai Huwen, Zhi Wudai and others, led their troops to Shu, and they were all moved to Shu. However, there is a slight difference in the specific time recorded in the "Wei Zhi" and the "Shu Zhi" about this matter.

In the twelfth year of Yanxi (249), Cao Wei had a coup d'état in Gaopingling, and the Shu Han court made Jiang Wei a holiday, Jiang Wei led the army out of Xiping, attacked Yongzhou, and built two cities by Qushan. Jiang Wei was familiar with the customs and folklore of Longxi, and wanted to lure Qiang Hu to return to Shu in order to control the region. Sent Yamen generals Ju'an, Li Xin and others to garrison, and united with the Qianghu people to attack the nearby counties.

Cao Wei sent Guo Huai, the general of the expedition to the west, and Chen Tai of Yongzhou to lead the army to resist. When the two discussed countermeasures, Chen Tai said: "Although Qucheng is strong, it is far away from Xishu, the roads are steep, and grain can only be transported over long distances; Qianghu's hostages are afraid of serving Jiang Wei, and they will definitely not cooperate for a long time. Now, as long as we besiege it, we can take Koji Castle without bloodshed. Although Xishu may send rescuers, the mountain road is dangerous and will not come soon. ”

Guo Huai followed his plan, so he adopted the strategy of besieging the city and sending reinforcements, ordering Chen Tai to ask for the Shu protector Xu Qian, Nan'an Tai guarding Deng Ai into the siege of Qucheng, cutting off traffic and water sources, and the Shu army went out of the city to challenge, and Chen Tai ordered to hold the position without fighting. The Qucheng Shu army was embarrassed, and even distributed dry food to the soldiers and lived on snow and water. Jiang Wei led the troops to the rescue, entered Niutou Mountain, and met Chen Tai. Chen Tai said: "The art of war is expensive in that people can submit without fighting, and now as long as we cut off the road to Niutou Mountain, so that Jiang Wei has no way to retreat, we can capture him." Then he ordered all the troops to defend themselves and not engage the Shu army. Chen Tai immediately transferred his army south to cross Baishui and traveled eastward along the river; Guo Huai led his army into Taoshui in an attempt to cut off Jiang Wei's retreat. Jiang Wei discovered the movement of the Wei army in time, and Jiang Wei quickly withdrew. Ju'an, Li Xin and others were isolated and helpless, so they had to surrender the city.

At this time, Deng Ai served as the Taishou of Nan'an, after Jiang Wei withdrew, Guo Huai led the army to the west to attack the Qiang people, Deng Ai said: "The enemy soldiers are not far away, and they may soon counterattack, so they should divide their troops to avoid accidents." Guo Huai stayed on the north bank of Deng Aitun Baishui to prevent the Shu army from counterattacking. Three days later, the Shu army really returned, and Jiang Wei sent Liao Hua to camp on the south bank of Baishui, opposite Deng Ai, but did not attack Wei. Deng Ai said to the generals: "Jiang Wei returned suddenly, we have few soldiers, according to common sense, they should cross the river instead of building a bridge." This is Jiang Wei wanting to make Liao Hua to contain our army and prevent us from moving troops. Jiang Wei will definitely attack Taocheng from the east. "Taocheng is in the north of Baishui, sixty miles away from Deng Ai's station. Deng Ai seized Taocheng that night, and soon, Jiang Wei really led a heavy army to attack Taocheng. Jiang Wei saw that the Wei army had seized Taocheng, so he retreated.

It can be found that during the period of Jiang Wan and Fei Yi, Jiang Wei had made many northern expeditions, but because of the limited number of troops, the results were not great.