The story of the Three Kingdoms War in this issue is found in the 92nd to 93rd episodes of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which takes place during the "One Out of Qishan", and the relevant characters are Ma Zun, Jiang Wei and Zhao Yun. The synopsis is as follows:
When Tianshui Taishou Ma Zun learned that Xiahou Shu was besieged in Nan'an City, he quickly summoned his subordinates to discuss countermeasures, and both the chief bookkeeper Yin Reward and the main ji Liang Qian believed that they should send troops to rescue as soon as possible. At this time, Pei Xu, who claimed to be Xiahou Shu's confidant, came to the city and handed Over to Ma Zun the official document that Xiahou Shu had requested reinforcements. Ma Zun did not dare to be idle, and immediately gathered people and horses, planning to go out of the city to rescue.
At this time, the general Jiang Wei suddenly arrived and told Ma Zun not to send troops out of the city. Jiang Wei believed that Pei Xu must have been a traitor sent by Zhuge Liang with the intention of luring Ma Zun out of the city. Jiang Wei speculated that there must be an ambush outside the city. Once Ma Zun led his troops out of the city, this ambush army would definitely take advantage of the void to seize Tianshui. After listening to Jiang Wei's analysis, Ma Zun suddenly realized, and Jiang Wei immediately proposed to lead three thousand elite soldiers to ambush the city, and Ma Zun led his troops to pretend to leave the city. With the fire as a trumpet, the Northern Expeditionary Army came to seize the city. Cui Yu followed the plan and led his troops out of the city with great fanfare.
Jiang Wei's judgment was indeed correct, Liang Xu was indeed a traitor sent by Zhuge Liang, and at the same time that Liang Xu entered the city in an attempt to lure Ma Zun into deception, Zhuge Liang also sent the veteran general Zhao Yun to lead a thousand soldiers and horses to ambush outside the city, waiting for Ma Zun to seize Tianshui when the city was empty after he left.
When he learned that Ma Zun had left Tianshui with his troops, Zhao Yun immediately led his troops to attack the city, but instead fell in favor of Jiang Wei's plan. In the single challenge between the two, Jiang Wei became more and more courageous, which made Zhao Yun surprised. After Zhao Yun returned to the barracks, he praised Jiang Wei in front of Zhuge Liang. As a result, Zhuge Liang personally led his troops to attack Tianshui, only to be repelled by Jiang Wei. After this battle, Zhuge Liang admired Jiang Wei's talent and moved the idea of surrendering Jiang Wei.
The author mentioned in the previous article that the historical Zhuge Liang "went out of Qishan" and unexpectedly plunged the northwestern region of Cao Wei into chaos, and Tianshui County, which borders Hanzhong, became Zhuge Liang's primary target. The Ma Zun that appears in the novel is indeed the Taishou of Tianshui County in history. However, Ma Zun's ending is not to lead hundreds of people to qianghu, as the novel says, but to be punished by the Wei Ming emperor Cao Rui. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Zhang Jie, quoting Wei Luo, says that after the "one exit from Qishan", "Nan'an and Tianshui were all destroyed, and the two counties were each given a heavy sentence." It can be seen that Ma Zun's end is very tragic.
The traitor Liang Xu sent by Zhuge Liang and the Lord of Tianshui County, Liang Qian, mentioned in the novel, are real historical figures. However, the two did not belong to the Shu Han and Cao Wei camps, but were colleagues of Jiang Wei, and at the same time served under Ma Zun of Tianshui County, Liang Xu was Gong Cao, and Liang Qian was the main record. The two surrendered to Zhuge Liang along with Jiang Wei and later held important positions in the Shu Han Empire. Liang Xuguan to DaHongqi, Liang Qianguan to Dachangqiu.
It is likely that the author of the novel became interested in these two characters in the process of reading the historical materials, and wrote both of them into the novel. However, the author's adaptation of these two characters is hilarious, obviously an official of Cao Wei Tianshui County in history, but in the novel, he becomes an enemy of the common heavens.
As for the war described in the novel, its historical origin is much simpler. According to the relevant biography of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, when he learned that the Northern Expedition army was coming, Taishou Mazun immediately fled to Shangyi. The people of Tianshui County, Zhiji County, surrendered Kaesong and surrendered to Zhuge Liang. Therefore, during Zhuge Liang's capture of Tianshui County, there was no so-called Jiang Wei who saw through Zhuge Liang's plan and fought against Zhao Yun.
Since there has never been a fierce battle between Jiang Wei and Zhao Yun in history, why should the author of the novel be so fictional? The author's move is actually careless business, the purpose is to create the needs of Jiang Wei's image. In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", whenever important characters appear, the author always designs a storyline that shows the talents of the characters to highlight the characters.
For example, when Guan Yu appeared, the author fictionalized a matter of Guan Yu killing Cheng Yuanzhi, the general of the Yellow Turban Army; when Zhao Yun appeared, there was a wonderful plot of fighting with Wen Ugly for fifty or sixty rounds. As Jiang Wei, an extremely important character in the second half of the novel, how can there be such a description missing? Choosing Zhao Yun as Jiang Wei's opponent can highlight Jiang Wei's martial arts and strategy, which is not only the perfect curtain for the famous Zhao Yun, but also a shining debut of Jiang Wei.
Reference Books: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Three Kingdoms