Although Liu Bei's ability in governing the country and conducting military operations is very general, his performance in understanding and employing people is remarkable, for example, before his death, he deliberately instructed Zhuge Liang not to reuse someone, who ignored it, and the result eventually led to a catastrophe. This figure that made Liu Bei very uneasy was Ma Chen.
Ma Chenzi was the younger brother of Ma Liang in the Shu Han Dynasty, and although he was less talented than the eldest brother, he was very fond of discussing the military, and his views were many commendable, which was deeply appreciated by Zhuge Liang. Although Ma Mo followed Liu Bei very early and served successively as Mianzhu County Ling, Chengdu County Ling, and Yue Yue Taishou for his merits, Liu Bei did not have a good impression of him. In Liu Bei's eyes, Ma Mo belonged to Zhao Kuo's general character, who only knew "talking about soldiers on paper", but had no real talent and practical learning.
Before his death, Liu Bei instructed Zhuge Liang not to reuse the horse
Therefore, on the occasion of his death, Liu Bei specially instructed Zhuge Liang: "Although Ma Mo is good at talking about the military, his words are exaggerated and flashy, and he belongs to the same kind of person as Zhao Kuo, so the minister must not entrust him with a heavy responsibility, otherwise he may harm the country." Although Zhuge Liang nodded and said yes, he did not think so in his heart. Not only that, Zhuge Liang also promoted Ma Mo to join the army, and often talked about military strategy all day and all night, which showed the importance attached to him.
In the beginning, Yue Wei was too defensive and talented, good at military planning, and Zhuge Liang deeply added to the instrument. On his deathbed, Han Zhaolie said brightly: "'Ma Rumors are exaggerated, can not be of great use, Junqi observed! ''Bright is not the case, to join the army with the rumors, to talk about every introduction, from day to night.' See Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 71.
In fact, the reason why Zhuge Liang is heavy on horses is that he has great bitterness. Since the founding of the Shu Han Dynasty, the phenomenon of the withering of the great strategists was very serious, such as Pang Tong and Fazheng wizards no longer appeared, and the strategists who were talkative about military affairs and often had superior views were only Ma Chen, such as Jiang Huan, Dong Yun, Fei Yi and others, all of whom were able ministers in governing the country, but they were by no means strategists who strategized and won a decisive victory over thousands of miles. Therefore, in order to complete the great cause of the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the revival of the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang could not but reuse the horse.
The reason why Zhuge Liang relied heavily on Ma Mo was because of his bitterness
Moreover, Ma Mo's merit as counselor was indeed of great help to Zhuge Liang, the most obvious case of which was the conquest of the Battle of Nanzhong. In the third year of Jianxing (225), Zhuge Liang led an army to fight against the rebels Yong Min, Meng Yu and others, and before leaving, Ma Mo proposed for him the strategy of "attacking the heart first, attacking the city as the bottom", hoping to win the sincere attachment of the foreigners in south and central China by means of grace and conjuration rather than military conquest.
Zhuge Liang acted according to his words, and indeed killed Yong Min and surrendered Meng Yu, so that Nanzhong no longer dared to rebel ("Liang Naqi Strategy, pardon Meng to serve the South.") Therefore, in the final bright world, the south does not dare to rebel. See The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 39, op. cites the Records of Xiangyang). After this incident, Zhuge Liang was full of appreciation for Ma Chen's talent, so he took him with him in the first Northern Expedition to the Central Plains. But what was unexpected was that the only time Ma Mo followed Zhuge Liang to fight on the front line, he lost his life because of arrogance.
Map of zhuge liang's first northern expedition to the Central Plains
In the sixth year of Jianxing (228), Zhuge Liang sent troops to the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei. In this battle, Zhuge Liang used the strategy of suspicious soldiers, claiming that he would attack The City of Qicheng from Xiegu Road, and making Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi suspicious of Jigu, but in fact he led the main force to attack Qishan. Cao Wei was caught off guard, and the three counties of Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding knew that they were difficult to resist, so they all rebelled against Wei and surrendered to Shu, and for a time Yong and Liang shook, and Chang'an was in danger of being captured by Shu Han.
When the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui heard the news, he immediately ordered the general Cao Zhen to garrison Guocheng and ordered the left general Zhang Guo to lead an army of 50,000 to attack Jieting, with the intention of blocking Zhuge Liang's march. After Zhuge Liang heard the news, he sent Ma Mo as a forward and led Wang Pingren to defend the street pavilion. But what Zhuge Liang did not expect was that Ma Mo made a low-level mistake, and did not occupy Jieting City to meet Zhang Guo, but camped on the high mountain, intending to attack and annihilate the Wei army with the advantage of being condescending.
Ma Mo did not listen to Wang Ping's advice, and suffered a crushing defeat
However, what Ma Mo did not expect was that after Zhang Hao entered the Zhanjie Pavilion, he did not rush to fight with him, but cut off the water source of the Shu army everywhere, leaving the other side in a situation where there was no water to drink. The Shu army was hungry and thirsty, its physical strength was rapidly declining, and its combat effectiveness was even more impossible to talk about, and it was expected that it would eventually be defeated by the Wei army. In the end, the Shu army scattered and collapsed, killing, wounded, and capturing a large number of people, only a thousand people led by Wang Ping returned to the camp unharmed.
After this battle, Zhuge Liangjin had no basis, so after capturing Xi County, he led more than a thousand families to retreat to Hanzhong, while Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi were also defeated at Jigu, and at this point, the first Northern Expedition to the Central Plains ended in failure. After Zhuge Liang retreated to Hanzhong, he asked his lord Liu Chan to demote himself to the third rank and behead Ma Chen, the culprit who led to the defeat of the army. Ma Mo was only 39 years old when he was killed.
Zhuge Liang tearfully slashed at the horse, and his heart was full of remorse
After Ma Chen's death, Zhuge Liang personally went to mourn for him, wept bitterly for him, comforted his children, and treated them as if they were ordinary ("Liang Zi came to sacrifice, wept for it, caressed his orphans, and lived a peaceful life.) See Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 71). However, recalling Liu Bei's earnest instructions before his death, would Zhuge Liang feel remorse?