Jiang Wan

Illustration of a Qing edition of the story of the Three Kingdoms .

Jiang Wan ( Chinese  蔣琬  /  蒋琬 , Pinyin Jiǎng Wǎn ; † 245 ), majority name Gōngyǎn (公 琰), was an official of the Shu Han at the time of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. After Zhuge Liang's death , he became regent for Emperor Liu Shan .

Early career

Jiang Wan came from the Lingling headquarters (零陵; today's northwestern Hunan ) and, along with his brother Liu Min (劉敏), was already known for intelligence in childhood. When Jiang Wan began serving under Liu Bei is not certain, but when Liu Bei conquered Yi Province (present-day Sichuan and Chongqing ), Jiang Wan was in his army. After Liu Bei's success, Jiang Wan was appointed district magistrate. When Liu Bei came to visit him for an inspection, he found Jiang Wan drunk, not at work. He wanted to have him executed, but Zhuge Liang dissuaded him by pointing out Jiang Wan's ability. However, Jiang Wan was expelled from his post. When Zhuge Liang became regent for Liu Shan's successor after Liu Bei's death (223), he made Jiang Wan one of his assistants.

During Zhuge Liang's reign

Zhuge Liang valued Jiang Wan's talent, and Jiang's role at the imperial court became increasingly important. When Zhuge Liang began his Northern Expeditions against the Wei in 227 , Jiang Wan was taking care of internal affairs in Chengdu with other officials. In 230, Zhuge Liang made him his main assistant and gave him the logistics . Jiang Wan was able to secure troops and provisions for him, and Zhuge Liang was very pleased.

When Zhuge Liang learned of Vice Regent Li Yan's betrayal in 231 , he removed him from his post. Although he did not replace Jiang Wan as Li Yan's successor, Jiang's influence continued to grow. When Zhuge Liang fell ill during his last campaign against the Wei (234), Liu Shan sent a messenger to ask him who should succeed him as regent. Zhuge Liang appointed Jiang Wan (and Fei Yi as his successor ) and died soon after.

As regent

Jiang Wan was an able administrator and carried out Zhuge Liang's domestic policy. This kept the government efficient. But because he had no talent in military matters, he gave up Zhuge Liang's campaigns against Wei and even withdrew almost all troops from the important border town of Hanzhong (漢中, today's Hanzhong, Shaanxi ) to Fu (涪 縣, today's Mianyang , Sichuan ) . With that, Shu gave up the offensive and was no further threat to Wei. Many Wu officials saw this as a betrayal of the Alliance and an attempt to settle it with Wei, but the Wu Emperor Sun Quan saw it as a sign of weakness and was right.

The only campaign Jiang Wan planned was an attack on the Wei cities of Weixing (魏興, today's Ankang , Shaanxi ) and Shangyong (上 庸, today's Shiyan , Hubei ). But Jiang Wan never realized these plans.

In 243, Jiang Wan fell ill and transferred most of his powers to Fei Yi and his assistant Dong Yun . When Wei regent Cao Shuang attacked Hanzhong in 244, Fei Yi inflicted a crushing defeat on him. Jiang Wan retained his influence until his death in 245. He was posthumously given the name Gong (恭 = "respectful"), and Fei Yi succeeded him.