In Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there is a very interesting story, that is, Zhuge Liang's empty city plan for Sima Yi, these two people can be said to have fought for half a lifetime, but the two of them are their masters, one is loyal to the Han Room and the other is loyal to Cao Cao, although Zhuge Liang is clever and calculating, but there is always a gap in the hundred secrets, and Zhuge Liang also has a time of error.
Because of the improper use of personnel, he lost the street pavilion, and then he was forced to lead the remnants of the defeated generals to retreat to an empty city, Zhuge Liang not only did not defend the city, but also arranged for soldiers to pretend to be civilians to sweep the floor at the gate, but Sima Yi understood his meaning after seeing it, so he quickly withdrew back to the camp, why did Zhuge Liang let people sweep the floor at the city gate? Why did Sima Yi return to the camp?
Carelessly throw street kiosks
Since Liu Bei's death, the strength of the Shu army had deteriorated, especially after the battle with Lu Xun's Yiling, the Shu state was even more seriously injured, and Zhuge Liang, who was the Xianggong in such an inferior situation, was anxious, and he wrote a poem "Out of the Division" with a large stroke of his pen, and then led the Shu army to attack the Wei army from Qishan.
At first, the situation was relatively smooth, and when Zhuge Liang's troops marched to the area around the street pavilion, he entrusted the important task of guarding the street pavilion to his proud protégé Ma Chen, and then he led a large army into the next garrison, so that he and Ma Chen's troops formed a horn.
The street pavilion was a fatal strategic place for the Shu army of the Northern Expedition, he not only occupied an excellent geographical location, but also stored the grain and grass ordnance of the Shu army, so Zhuge Liang attached great importance to this place, and let his beloved disciple Ma Mo out of Mazhen to guard the street pavilion, but what Zhuge Liang never expected was that it was this decision that ruined his Northern Expedition, and even almost let himself fall into the tiger's mouth.
Because of his arrogance and arrogance, Ma Mo, despite the persuasion of his subordinate Wang Ping, stationed his troops on a high hilltop to try to be condescending, but he ignored an important problem, that is, it was too far from the water source, so the Wei army cut off the water source of the Shu army, causing the Shu army to be trapped on the Jieting Mountain and fall without a fight.
In this way, after Zhuge Liang tearfully cut off the horse, he himself gradually retreated into Shu because there was no grain and grass, but sima Yi, who was scheming and calculating, had already sent troops to intercept Zhuge Liang, and in order to protect the smooth retreat of the large troops, he led thousands of old and weak remnants to be driven by Sima Yi to the western city.
Xicheng is a small city that can only accommodate a few thousand people, and under the iron hooves of the Wei army, xicheng will be destroyed in an instant. Zhuge Liang naturally knew about this matter in his heart, so he sang an empty city plan to Sima Yi.
The empty city plan has been sung for eternity
After Zhuge Liang arrived in Xicheng, he ordered the soldiers to open the city gate, then took off his military uniform, took a broom and swept the floor at the street entrance, and then let several book boys stand by his side, so Zhuge Liang played the piano in the face of the mighty Wei army.
At first, Sima Yi, who had just arrived in the city, was still a little confused, but he soon saw the hint, he knew that zhuge Liang was now exhausted, and the people sweeping the floor at the door were also dressed as soldiers, because these soldiers fought for many years, so they were physically strong and healthy, standing as steady as Mount Tai and ordinary people.
However, Sima Yi did not rush to attack but listened to Zhuge Liang playing the piano, so the two began to communicate, but the troops waiting on the side were impatient, and many generals stood up to Sima Yi and said to order an attack, but Sima Yi shook his head and told them to wait a little longer.
After listening to the sound of the piano for a while, Sima Yi suddenly and violently told the generals around him to quickly lead the troops to retreat, and the generals at this time did not understand Sima Yi's intentions very much, so they hesitated about his orders.
Sima Yi explained: This place is surrounded by mountains on both sides, I heard a hint of murderous qi in Zhuge Liang's piano, I know very well that this person is cautious in life, how can he risk his life, he must be hiding countless Shu soldiers in this deep mountain, if I wait a step late to retreat, I am likely to be surrounded and annihilated by the Shu army on the mountain.
The generals, after hearing Sima Yi's analysis, expressed their approval, so they each led the invading Wei army to withdraw to the base camp.
Sima Yi and the Wei family
In fact, Sima Yi withdrew his troops not because he was afraid of ambushes on the mountain, but for other reasons. Zhuge Liang naturally also knew that Sima Yi would see through his own empty city plan, so he let the soldiers sweep the floor, the intention was to prove to him that "each sweeps the snow in front of the door", Zhuge Liang has a big mess of Shu Han, and Sima Yi is not easy to go anywhere, he is just making a living under Emperor Cao Wei, and he is not in power like Zhuge Liang.
Sima Yi knew very well that they only let this governor of the capital because of his superior military ability, to put it bluntly, to use it nakedly, in fact, there was a great rift in the relationship between Sima Yi and the Cao Wei family, and he was not as united as the Shu Han Dynasty.
And Zhuge Liang also wanted to tell him to give Zhang Luo his own little bit of destruction first, don't just think about dealing with me, if I die, you won't have a good ending.
The reason why Sima Yi was shocked was precisely because he thought of this, after all, the king's family had no feelings, and in the end it was inevitable that the rabbit would end up cooking with a dead dog.
Sima Yi was considered the elder of the Three Dynasties of the Wei Dynasty during the Period of the Empty City Plan, and he was appreciated as early as the Cao Cao period, but Cao Cao's suspicious nature always put pressure on Sima Yi, preventing him more than using him.
After Cao Cao's death, the next two generations of Wei kings were also wary of Sima Yi, fearing that he would threaten his imperial power, so Sima Yi was walking on ice in Cao Wei's family, and if he was not careful, he would fall into the bottomless abyss.
Although Zhuge Liang was said to be his own great enemy, he was also the straw of his own life, and he was also a confidant and friend who was difficult to find, and out of consideration in all aspects, Sima Yi finally successfully deceived the generals of the Wei family and led the soldiers to withdraw to the base camp.
brief summary:
Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi were the top intelligent figures in the Three Kingdoms period at that time, they naturally knew what the other party wanted most in their hearts and what was most lacking, Sima Yi knew that Shu was barren, and it was inconvenient to run grain and grass to the mountains, so he sent heavy troops to attack the street pavilion, and Zhuge Liang also knew what Sima Yi wanted most in his heart when he was trapped in the street pavilion, he let the soldiers wake up to Sima Yi, and if he killed himself, he would face the disaster of destruction.
Fortunately, Sima Yi chose to retreat in time, if he did not retreat, the consequences could be imagined, after killing Zhuge Liang, he would have no use value, and Sima Yi himself still had such a big threat, then the Cao family emperor would definitely kill the killer and cut himself all over the door.