Does Matthew have real talent and practical learning? Ma Mo joined the army, had always been a staff officer, and had never been a single-handed leader who would lead all the soldiers and horses. There is a huge difference between the roles of staff officer and chief general, similar to the difference between creative director and general manager, as a staff member to give advice does not need to bear the ultimate responsibility and consider specific implementation issues, nor does it need to manage the team and manage specific project execution, while the front line master will not only manage a huge team, but also need to do specific project management for each campaign combat strategy, and also need to bear the enemy's close pressure and personally risk the consequences of all decisions, so the requirements of the main general are extremely high.
Ma Mo contrasted with Guo Jia, who had always acted as Cao Cao's staff and had never commanded all the soldiers and horses alone as a general. Ma Mo led his troops to meet Zhang Gao at the street kiosk, on the one hand, his eyes were low, and his specific execution ability was insufficient, on the other hand, the prestige in the army was not enough, it was rare for soldiers to die, and more importantly, the first time he personally came to the front line, which was very different from the rear's planning, the fierceness of the front line made him, a rookie general, frightened, so he abandoned the army and fled, committing a capital crime. Therefore, on this issue, I think that Ma Mo is a real talented and practical scholar, a good staff officer, but his personal quality is not suitable for being the main general, and Zhuge Liang has promoted him to a position that he is not competent for, and it is Zhuge Liang's negligence in employing people who must be responsible for leadership.
Why did Zhuge Liang break the rules and promote Ma Mo to be the master of guarding such an important street kiosk? I am afraid that it is still because the talent of the Shu state is withered and no one is available, and Zhuge Liang has a high evaluation of Ma Mo's strategy, and he has been working as a staff officer in the rear, and it is difficult to expose the shortcomings of being timid in the face of the enemy, so Zhuge Liang also has a certain error in judging Ma Mo's comprehensive ability. If Zhang Yide, the chief of the clouds under the account at that time, would certainly not have fallen into the use of ma Mo shou street kiosk.
Ma Mo's task was not to defend the city, let alone annihilate the enemy but to block. Slowing Down Zhang Gao's advance, making it impossible for him to reinforce Qishan, buying time for Zhuge Liang to attack Shangyi, Longxi, and Nan'an. Once the entire Qishan Mountains were conquered by the Han army, Zhang Gao's reinforcements became a strong attack and a back attack. The defeat of Ma Mo's army meant that Zhuge Liang was closest to success in the Northern Expedition, and at the same time, the situation of factions in the Shu Han Dynasty was complicated, zhuge Liang pursued the principle of fairness and rule of law, and if Ma Mo made such mistakes and did not punish them severely, then no one in the whole country would obey Zhuge Liang after that.
Ma Mo chose to lose at the key location because he did not listen to the instructions, the responsibility is definitely different from Zhao Yun's defeat, the degree is not the same, as to whether the defection is before or after, I am more inclined to the previous, the reason is still according to Zhuge Liang's personality, good recognition of mistakes and faction protection, more chance to survive, the reason why before the conviction to escape because just after the defeat of the battle of the six gods and no master, self-pressure is too great, so out of the trick. Judging from the description of Ma Mo, this man is intelligent, but his character is flawed, he is reckless beforehand, and he is afraid of disaster afterwards, and this kind of person is not suitable for leadership. After losing the war, it was impossible for him to serve the people like this, and it was no longer possible to lead the army, so it was equivalent to ruin.
There is no point in keeping, only to kill the stabilization of the army's heart. Ma Mo is different from the kind of general who has been beaten all his life, and that kind of general can fight first and naturally has his own superiority. Secondly, in general, there are already contacts and united partners and subordinates, so there is no fundamental harm in failing once and failing twice. His core team is still there to be a day when it will always rise, or it can still be used, and it will be useful. A man like Ma Mo probably only had some connections in the literati family circle, and no one among the soldiers listened to him, so he couldn't do it.
The First Northern Expedition was the last chance, because Cao Wei also knew that after the Battle of Yiling, Ji Han was basically abolished, and only a straw bag Xiahou Shu was placed to guard the West Road, if Ji Han took the Yongliang area with a single blow, he would not only be able to get the precious horse farm, but also use the Silk Road to bypass Cao Wei to sell Shu Jin, and the two mines would become four mines and six mines, not without a chance of reunification. But unfortunately, there was no if, after the first Northern Expedition, Cao Wei immediately changed people, and Cao Zhen Guo Huai Sima Yi was much stronger than Xiahou Shu. The next few Northern Expeditions could only have a little harassing effect, there was no way to fundamentally threaten Cao Wei, and Ji Han did not have any chance to unify the world.
Read Romance of the Three Kingdoms to learn more about the Story of the Three Kingdoms.