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In spite of the smallness of their following, Jiang Wei felt that Ma Dai acting with Wei Yan was a dangerous combination, and he wanted the advice of Yang Yi.

“Wei Yan is valorous, and he is having the help of Ma Dai. How shall we repel them?” asked Jiang Wei.

Yang Yi replied, “Just before his death, the Prime Minister gave me a silken bag, which he said I was to open when Wei Yan's mutiny reached a critical point. It contains a plan to rid ourselves of this traitor, and it seems that now is the moment to see what should be done.”

So Yang Yi opened the bag and drew forth the letter it held. On the cover he read, “To be opened when Wei Yan is actually arrayed opposite you.”

Said Jiang Wei, “As this has all been arranged for, I would better go out, and when his line is formed then you can come forth.”

Jiang Wei donned his armor, took his spear, and rode out, with three thousand troops. They marched out of the city gates with the drums beating. The array completed, Jiang Wei took his place under the great standard and opened with a volley of abuse.

“Rebel Wei Yan, the late Prime Minister never harmed you; why have you turned traitor?”

Wei Yan reined up, lowered his sword and replied, “Friend Jiang Wei, this is no concern of yours; tell Yang Yi to come.”

Now Yang Yi was also beneath the standard, but hidden. He opened the letter, and the words therein seemed to please him, for he rode forward blithely.

Presently he reined in, pointed to Wei Yan and said, “The Prime Minister foresaw your mutiny and bade me be on my guard. Now if you are able thrice to shout, 'Who dares kill me?', then you will be a real hero, and I will yield to you the whole of Hanzhong.”

Wei Yan laughed.

“Listen, you old fool! While Zhuge Liang lived I feared him somewhat. But he is dead and no one dares stand before me. I will not only shout the words thrice, but a myriad times. Why not?”

Wei Yan raised his sword, shook his bridle, and shouted, “Who dares kill me?”

He never finished. Behind him someone shouted savagely, “I dare kill you!” and at the same moment Wei Yan fell dead, cut down by Ma Dai.

This was the denouement, and was the secret entrusted to Ma Dai just before Zhuge Liang's death. Wei Yan was to be made to shout these words and slain when he least expected it. Yang Yi knew what was to happen, as it was written in the letter in the silken bag. A poem says:

Zhuge Liang foresaw when freed from his restraint

Wei Yan would traitor prove. The silken bag

Contained the plan for his undoing. We see

How it succeeded when the moment came.

So before Dong Yun had reached Nanzheng, Wei Yan was dead. Ma Dai joined his army to Jiang Wei's, and Yang Yi wrote another memorial, which he sent to the Latter Ruler.

The Latter Ruler issued an edict: “Wei Yan had paid the penalty of his crime; he should be honorably buried in consideration of his former services.”

Then Yang Yi continued his journey and in due time arrived at Chengdu with the coffin of the late Prime Minister. The Latter Ruler led out a large cavalcade of officers to meet the body at a point seven miles from the walls, and he lifted up his voice and wailed for the dead, and with him wailed all the officers and the common people, so that the sound of mourning filled the whole earth.

By royal command the body was borne into the city to the Palace of the Prime Minister, and his son Zhuge Zhan was chief mourner.

When next the Latter Ruler held a court, Yang Yi bound himself, and confessed he had been in fault.

The Latter Ruler bade them loose his bonds and said, “Noble Sir, the coffin would never have reached home but for you. You carried out the orders of the late Prime Minister, whereby Wei Yan was destroyed and all was made secure. This was all your doing.”

Yang Yi was promoted to be the Instructor of the Center Army, and Ma Dai was rewarded with the rank that Wei Yan had forfeited.

Yang Yi presented Zhuge Liang's testament, which the Latter Ruler read, weeping. By a special edict it was commanded that soothsayers should cast lots and select the site for the tomb of the great servant of the state.

Then Fei Yi said to the Latter Ruler, “When nearing his end, the Prime Minister commanded that he should be buried on Dingjun Mountain, in open ground, without sacrifice or monument.”

This wish was respected, and they chose a propitious day in the tenth month for the interment, and the Latter Ruler followed in the funeral procession to the grave on the Dingjun Mountain. The posthumous title conferred upon the late Prime Minister was Zhuge Liang the Loyally Martial, and a temple was built in Mianyang wherein were offered sacrifices at the four seasons.

The poet Du Fu wrote a poem:

To Zhuge Liang stands a great memorial hall,

In cypress shade, without the Chengdu Wall,