Zhuge Liang's pacification of Nanzhong and the Battle of Ma Mo Street Pavilion were the first time in their lives to lead troops to fight, why did Zhuge Liang win and Ma Mo lost, and why was the reason?
The same situation also occurred in the hands of Han Xin and Zhao Kuo, Han Xin first led troops after the defeat at the Battle of Pengcheng by Liu Bang, attacked the Wei King Leopard, using the strategy of attacking the west from the east, using the crock pot to cross the Yellow River, raiding the Wei King Leopard, and winning a complete victory; Zhao Kuo first led his troops against Bai Qi at the Battle of Changping, Zhao Kuo and the 400,000 Soldiers of the Zhao Army led by him were completely destroyed, Zhao Kuo was killed, and the result of the first battle between Han Xin and Zhao Kuo was Han Xinsheng and Zhao Kuo was defeated.
The reasons for determining the outcome of the war are both subjective and objective, and the same is true of Zhuge Liang's victory in the Battle of Nanzhong and Han Xin's victory in the Battle of Breaking Wei; the objective reasons are fair to both sides of the war, and it is nothing more than that the time, place, and people need to be vigorously fought for, but the war capabilities of the commanders of the two sides as subjective reasons are completely different.
In other words, Zhuge Liang was able to lead his troops for the first time and win the battle to pacify Nanzhong because Zhuge Liang had worked hard for his first war and made correct decisions and strategies.
Simply put, it is a matter of human ability.
To put it more complexly, it is that the general's understanding of theory and the ability to implement it in practice are different
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There is a Chinese saying: See the true chapter under the hand. A great man in modern times once said the same thing: No matter whether it is a black cat or a white cat, a mouse is a good cat. In fact, the meaning of the two sentences is the same, that is:
Practice is the only test of truth
This is the experience of countless people through practice, failure, and summing up, and judging whether a person is a talent is not to see how solid his theoretical knowledge is, but to see how strong his practical ability is.
Whether it is Zhuge Liang, or Ma Chen, or Han Xin and Zhao Kuo, it is undeniable that the military theory of these four people is absolutely beyond doubt, Zhuge Liang's overall strategy of pacifying Nanzhong is still proposed by Ma Mo, before the Southern Expedition, Zhuge Liang had a long talk with Ma Mo all night, and Ma Mo said to Zhuge Liang:
The terrain in South Central is dangerous and the road is long, and the rebellion has a long history of disobedience, even if we defeat it today, tomorrow they will rebel. If they were all killed to get rid of the troubles, it would not be the work of the benevolent, nor would it be possible to do so in a short period of time. The principle of fighting with troops is to attack the heart first and the siege of the city as the bottom; psychological warfare as the top, to short soldiers as the bottom, I hope you can make it truly obedient.
The strategy proposed by Ma Mo for Zhuge Liang's Southern Expedition to Nanzhong can be summarized into four words, that is, "attacking the heart first", and Zhuge Liang accurately and strictly implemented this strategic principle of "attacking the heart first", and also spread the story of "Seven Captures of Meng", and finally successfully recovered Nanzhong, indicating that Ma Mo's strategy was correct and effective.
Some people will fight, such as Wei Yan, some people will lead soldiers, such as Yu Ban, some people will rule the country, such as Xun Yu, and some people will give advice, such as Guo Jia. If you let Guo Jia lead the soldiers to fight, it is estimated that the level is worse than Zhao Kuo, but let Guo Jia give advice, its level must be top-notch, so the highest principle of employing people is to put the right people in the right position.
It is undeniable that Ma Mo himself has certain talents, especially his military theoretical level, in the Shu Han is the first few, after the death of Pang Tong, Fa Zheng and other courtiers, Ma Mo should be more conspicuous in Shu Han, originally Shu Han talent is less, although Liu Bei said that Ma Mo exaggerated, can not be used and so on, but the people who can make Liu Bei specially evaluate, must have a certain status in Shu Han.
Ma Mo's defeat in the Battle of Jieting was that his practical ability was far inferior to his theoretical level, just as Zhao Kuo's actual ability was far inferior to theoretical knowledge, and it was the same reason that the success of Han Xin and Zhuge Liang was not only manifested in their first leading troops to fight, but in all aspects of their lives.
One minute on stage, ten years of work offstage, the same reason, the performance on the battlefield, comes from the accumulation of weekdays, unremitting efforts, persistent learning, you only see Han Xin and Zhuge Liang's superficial success scenery, have you ever seen them study in obscurity on weekdays?
Han Xin had been a soldier under Xiang Yu for several years, and he saw the military genius Xiang Yu's combat and studied silently in order to shine in the later Chu-Han War and achieve a generation of soldier immortals. Zhuge Liang since the birth of Sergeant Liu Bei, experienced the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Shu, the Battle of Hanzhong, the Battle of Yiling, although Zhuge Liang in liu Bei's time never touched the military, but it does not mean that Zhuge Liang will not learn military, coupled with Zhuge Liang's own familiar reading of the scriptures, naturally many things are understood at one point, but also the achievement of the later military scientist Zhuge Liang.
However, genius is not cultivated in a day, but there is a process, a process of gradually improving shortcomings and deficiencies, a process of continuous learning and improvement, Zhuge Liang's first battle can succeed, but also because his opponent in the first battle is too weak, Yong Min, Meng Yu such opponents, after all, not so strong, even if Zhuge Liang made mistakes in the first battle, it will not be full of losses.
In the same way, Han Xin is the same, his opponent is also a process from weak to strong, the first is the incompetent Wei Wangbao, then the conceited Chen Yu, and finally the proud Long Ji, the opponent is weak and gives Han Xin a chance to make mistakes and learn, if Han Xin faces the ultimate enemy at the beginning - Xiang Yu, then it is very likely that there will be no soldiers in Chinese history.
And Ma Mo and Zhao Kuo are more sad, Zhao Kuo's first battle is facing the world's strongest White Rising, there is no chance of making mistakes, a mistake is fatal, so Zhao Kuo's first battle was overturned, Ma Chen's first battle was faced with the old general Zhang Guo, who had experienced hundreds of battles, and there was no chance of making mistakes, and once he made a mistake, he would be keenly captured by the opponent, and he would lose the first battle.
Zhuge Liang's first battle to pacify Nanzhong and Ma Mo's first battle at the Battle of Jieting were the first time to lead the army to battle, and the reason for Ma Mo's great defeat was that in addition to Ma Mo's lack of practical ability, ma Mo's opponents were too strong. In addition to Zhuge Liang's practical ability being stronger than Ma Mo, the opponent he faced in the first battle was not strong, giving Zhuge Liang the opportunity to continue to learn and make mistakes, so he could continue to grow, and Ma Mo lost an opportunity and never had another chance.