Jiang Wan 蔣琬

Around the age of twenty, Jiang Wan became known together with his younger maternal cousin Liu Min of Quanling. As an assistant clerk of the province he entered Shu following Liu Bei and was made Chief of Guangdu County. Once, on an excursion, Liu Bei arrived suddenly at Guangdu, and seeing that Jiang Wan had left the various affairs unattended and was, moreover, thoroughly drunk, he flew into a rage and was about to have him punished with death. The General of the Military Advisers Zhuge Liang pleaded that 'Jiang Wan is a vessel to uphold the state, not a talent for governing a county of a hundred li; his governance takes giving peace to the people as its root and does not put outward show first', and Liu Bei did not punish him but only removed him from office. Records, Shu 14 §2–3

Afterwards Jiang Wan dreamed of an ox's head at his gate, streaming with blood, and asked the dream interpreter Zhao Zhi about it. Zhao Zhi explained that an ox's horns and nose form the shape of the character gong (duke), so that his rank would surely reach that of a duke. Before long Jiang Wan was made Prefect of Shifang County, and when Liu Bei became King of Hanzhong he entered the court as a Gentleman of the Imperial Secretariat. Records, Shu 14 §3

In the 1st year of Jianxing (223), when the Chancellor Zhuge Liang opened his office, he summoned Jiang Wan to be Officer of the Eastern Bureau. When Jiang Wan was recommended as Flourishing Talent he insisted on yielding the honor to Liu Yong, Yin Hua, Pang Yan and Liao Chun (Liao Hua), but Zhuge Liang replied in an instruction that he should let his merit and recommendation stand, so as to make plain the purity and weight of the selection. Jiang Wan was transferred to Army Adviser. In the 3rd year of Jianxing (225), when Zhuge Liang, returning from the south, met Li Hong, who had come to surrender at Hanyang County, Jiang Wan was present together with Fei Shi. In the 5th year of Jianxing (227), when Zhuge Liang was stationed in Hanzhong, Jiang Wan and the Chief Clerk Zhang Yi jointly managed the affairs of the rear headquarters. Records, Shu 14 §4Records, Shu 11 §44

In the 8th year of Jianxing (230) he replaced Zhang Yi as Chief Clerk and was given the added title of General Who Soothes the Army. As Zhuge Liang often went out on campaign, Jiang Wan always kept food and troops ample to supply him. Zhuge Liang would say, 'Gongyan has set his heart on loyalty and rectitude; he is the one who will help me in the royal enterprise', and he sent a secret memorial to the Latter Sovereign, Liu Shan, saying, 'If misfortune befalls me, affairs afterwards should be entrusted to Jiang Wan.' Records, Shu 14 §5

In the autumn, in the 8th month of the 12th year of Jianxing (234), Zhuge Liang died on the banks of the Wei River. When Wei Yan and Yang Yi each submitted memorials accusing the other of rebellion, the Latter Sovereign asked the Palace Attendant Dong Yun and Jiang Wan, Chief Clerk of the rear headquarters, and both vouched for Yang Yi and suspected Wei Yan. In his lifetime Zhuge Liang had regarded Yang Yi as narrow and impatient by nature and had privately had Jiang Wan in mind, so Jiang Wan became Director of the Imperial Secretariat and took charge of state affairs. Records, Shu 3 §15Records, Shu 10 §63 · 70

Soon afterwards he was given the additional posts of acting Protector General with Provisional Authority and Inspector of Yi Province, was transferred to General-in-Chief and Supervisor of the Affairs of the Imperial Secretariat, and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Anyang Village. The Biography of the Latter Sovereign dates his appointment as General-in-Chief to the summer, in the 4th month of the 13th year of Jianxing (235). It was a time when the realm, near and far, was uneasy at the recent loss of its chief commander, but Jiang Wan showed neither grief nor joy, and his spirit and bearing were as usual; because of this people gradually submitted to him. Yang Yi, who considered himself Jiang Wan's senior in age and career, voiced his resentment, and in the 13th year of Jianxing he was made a commoner and moved to Hanjia Commandery. Records, Shu 14 §6Records, Shu 3 §16Records, Shu 10 §71–72

In the 1st year of Yanxi (238) the Latter Sovereign, saying that Cao Rui had raised a great host to attack the three commanderies of Liaodong and that this was a moment granted by Heaven, issued an edict ordering Jiang Wan to lead the armies and garrison Hanzhong, so that if Wu moved they could strike from east and west together. Jiang Wan went out to garrison Hanzhong in the winter, in the 11th month of that year, was ordered to open his own office, and in the spring, in the 3rd month of the following year, was given the added title of Grand Marshal while still at his post. Records, Shu 14 §6–7Records, Shu 3 §19–20

The Officer of the Eastern Bureau Yang Xi sometimes did not answer when Jiang Wan spoke to him. When someone slandered Yang Xi for slighting his superior, Jiang Wan said that if Yang Xi agreed with him it would not be his true feeling, and if he opposed him it would expose Jiang Wan's own error, so keeping silent was Yang Xi's straightforwardness. When the Agricultural Supervisor Yang Min disparaged him, saying that Jiang Wan handled affairs muddle-headedly and was no match for his predecessor, Jiang Wan again said that he truly was not the equal of his predecessor and would not let the matter be investigated; later, when Yang Min was imprisoned, Jiang Wan treated him without partiality, and Yang Min escaped a heavy sentence. Records, Shu 14 §8–9

Jiang Wan held that Zhuge Liang had repeatedly probed toward Qinchuan but could not win because the roads were perilous and transport difficult, so he built many ships intending to go down the Han and Mian Rivers and raid Weixing and Shangyong. But his old illness flared up again and again and he could not set out, and many argued that if the attack failed the way back would be very difficult, so the court sent the Director of the Imperial Secretariat Fei Yi and the Central Army Supervisor Jiang Wei to convey its views. Jiang Wan submitted a memorial saying that more than six years had passed since he came to Hanzhong, that on top of everything he had fallen ill and failed to carry out his plans, and that the agreements with Wu had repeatedly fallen through; he proposed that Jiang Wei be made Inspector of Liang Province to take control of the lands west of the Yellow River, while he himself would back him up from Fu County, where the routes by water and land led in all directions. Records, Shu 14 §10–12

In the winter, in the 10th month of the 6th year of Yanxi (243), Jiang Wan returned from Hanzhong and stayed at Fu County, and Fei Yi became General-in-Chief and Supervisor of the Affairs of the Imperial Secretariat. As Jiang Wan firmly declined his provincial duties, Fei Yi took on the post of Inspector of Yi Province. In the 7th year of Chiwu (244), Bu Zhi, Zhu Ran and others of Wu memorialized that Shu intended to break the alliance, since Jiang Wan had not sent out troops even on hearing that Sima Yi was heading south, and had abandoned Hanzhong and returned closer to Chengdu; but Sun Quan judged that this was not so. Records, Shu 3 §23Records, Shu 14 §24 · 26Records, Wu 2 §100–101

His illness grew steadily worse, and Jiang Wan died in the winter, in the 11th month of the 9th year of Yanxi (246), and was given the posthumous name Gong (Respectful). His son Jiang Bin succeeded him. Later, when Zhong Hui of Wei reached Hancheng and sent a letter saying that he wished to offer sacrifice at the grave, Jiang Bin replied that his father had fallen ill and died at Fu County, and that since the divination was auspicious he had been buried there. Records, Shu 14 §13–15Records, Shu 3 §26

In his assessment, Chen Shou wrote that Jiang Wan was upright and stern, with dignity and weight, and Fei Yi was magnanimous and loved all broadly; both inherited the rules Zhuge Liang had established and kept to them without change, so that the borders were free of trouble and the state was harmonious and united, but they had not yet fully grasped what is fitting in governing a small state or the principle of keeping still. Records, Shu 14 §52