Zhuge Liang's first successor is Jiang Wan, and his second successor is Fei Yi. In addition, there is no one else. As for Jiang Wei and Wei Yan, their successors are still far away. Zhuge Liang's present position is to lead Yizhou animal husbandry in autumn, which is not only the head of the imperial court, but also the father of Yizhou. He not only controlled the imperial government, but also held the military power of Shu Han. Zhuge Liang believes that since he has chosen a successor, he must be a solemn, upright person who can control the overall situation, and must never be a military commander with developed limbs and extraordinary bravery.
Politics in the history of China has always been dominated by civil servants with the assistance of military commanders. If the military commander is allowed to be in power, the government will be no different from a military government, even if it has never been usurped.
It is not unreasonable for the Han Dynasty to govern the country by filial piety and choose officials by virtue. At that time, morality was far above the key, so Cao Cao's slogan of "meritocracy" may seem unremarkable to us modern people, but the response at that time was tantamount to pioneering and enterprising.
So Zhuge Liang chose Jiang Wan and Fei Yi as successors. Being self-serious, taking the overall situation into consideration, being decent and mediating in the middle are the common characteristics of Jiang Wan and Fei Yi, and they are also the places where Zhuge Liang likes them, so they are still the backbone members of Jingzhou School headed by Zhuge Liang. This identity ensures the legitimacy of their power, which is also determined by the entire political ecology of Shu and Han dynasties, and no one can change it.
Jiang Wei was a general of Wei, and Zhuge Liang surrendered to the Shu army during the first Northern Expedition. Zhuge Liang appreciates Jiang Wei's talent, so he values him very much. In the second year of Jiang Wei's surrender, he appointed Jiang Wei as the general of the Western Expedition and commanded 5,000 tiger steps to do this. Only after two years, Jiang Wei really got the reuse of Zhuge Liang.
Different from Jiang Wei, Wei Yan was promoted to trilogy by Liu Bei, and as a government official guarding the Han Dynasty, Wei Yan defended the Han Dynasty until Liu Bei died.
Without mentioning personality reasons, Wei Yan was the greatest hero of Shu Han at that time, and also the military commander with the greatest official position and real power. Wei Yan rose from the grass-roots level step by step with his meritorious military service and ability, and Jiang Wei was promoted by Zhuge Liang more or less. Jiang Wei's contribution in Zhuge Liang's period was very little, not recorded, or even not, but was appreciated by Zhuge Liang.
After Jiang Wei was promoted to the rank of general, there was a fatal flaw in strategic issues. Jiang Wei changed the defensive strategy of Hanzhong in Zhuge Liang's era, changing the "keeping the enemy out of the country" in Zhuge Liang's era to "leaving the country unguarded, luring the enemy into Hanzhong and encircling it." Command the dangerous plank road from Guanzhong to Hanzhong unguarded, concentrate forces, rely on the cities of Han and Le, let the enemy turn into Hanzhong, and then use this superior force to cut off its material supply and panic in order to achieve the purpose of annihilating a large number of enemies, but Jiang Wei missed a little, Wei Qiang Shu was weak, Shu army was few, and Wei Jun was many. In the battle of Wei cutting Shu in 263, this strategy was defeated by Jiang Wei.
Whether Jiang Wei or Wei Yan, who is stronger or weaker, is not the object of Zhuge Liang's consideration of successors. The possibility of becoming a successor is almost zero.
Jiang Wei's identity determines that he can't be the key person. Even in high positions, they are subject to checks and balances by court officials everywhere. Even if Zhuge Liang promoted him, he could not be integrated with Shu Han and become a successor.
As for Wei Yan, he is more like a proud child. He does things arbitrarily and needs someone to take care of him before he can do things seriously. Militarily, it is no problem for Wei Yan to be independent, but politically, Wei Yan is an idiot, far from meeting the standards of successors.