What is the "Meridian Valley Conspiracy"? Why did people who were familiar with the Three Kingdoms argue about Wei Yan's "Meridian Valley Conspiracy", and what was its charm? Why did Zhuge Liang, who was the chancellor of the Shu Han Dynasty, abandon the "strange scheme" proposed by his subordinate general Wei Yan? What are the reasons for this? Chairman Mao summed it up in five words about the "Miracle plot in the Meridian Valley." This article will take you through the perspective of "proposer" and "rejecter" to take you to understand the "Meridian Valley Conspiracy" that has been debated for thousands of years, and feel the unique charm of history in the process of exploring and discovering historical problems.
First, the Meridian Valley Conspiracy
The Meridian Valley Conspiracy was proposed by Wei Yan, a shu general during Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition to Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, and is described in both the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novels. Wei Yan proposed that he lead 5,000 elite troops and 5,000 negative grain soldiers, and on the tenth day, he would surprise attack Chang'an through the Meridian Valley and control Tongguan, and Zhuge Liang led a large army out of the Valley to jointly meet Chang'an to control the Guanzhong region. However, Zhuge Liang was cautious in his life, believing that this plan was too dangerous and difficult to succeed, so he abandoned it and did not use it.
Meridian Road, north-south longitudinal, north from Chang'an County, southwest of Qinling Mountain, south to Shiquan County, about 330 kilometers long. The northern exit is called "Zikou", and the southern exit is called "Meridian", so it is called Meridian Valley. The meridian valley cliffs, steep mountains, bad roads, countless boardwalks, originally opened for the Qin Dynasty to open an important passage to Hanzhong, it was not easy to excavate it, and later because it was too difficult to pass, it was gradually abandoned.
Among the several passages from Bashu and Hanzhong to Guanzhong, the Meridian Road is the passage with the lowest traffic rate, and there is no one, although it is close but the road is too difficult, so it is easy to understand that it is easy to be abandoned.
Second, Wei Yan's thoughts
Wei Yan's idea of "going out of the meridian road" was originally a reference to Han Xin's plan of "Ming Xiu Zhan Dao, Darkness Chen Cang", which was surprisingly successful. Wei Yan, as a major general in the town of Hanzhong, should be very clear about Cao Wei's deployment in Guanzhong at that time, and he also had a corresponding understanding and mastery of the passage of the "Meridian Road", and the sergeants in Shuzhong were good at mountain warfare and had the conditions for successful troop dispatch. At the same time, Wei Yan dared to gamble, although the risk was very high, but the probability of success was also very large, so he dared to propose a surprise attack plan.
The premise of the success of this plan was that the first Chang'an defender, Xiahou Shu, was indeed as Wei Yan said: a cowardly and unscrupulous disciple, who could immediately surrender or flee to give up resistance to Wei Yan, who suddenly appeared under Chang'an City. After the second Zhuge Liang army left the valley, he was able to quickly defeat the defenders led by Cao Zhen and guo Huai's troops in the west, and was able to quickly send troops to join Wei Yan in Chang'an, and then control Tongguan and achieve "closing the gate". On the third day, the geographical advantages were favorable to Wei Yan, the Meridian Road was located in the Qinling Mountains, the weather in the deep mountains was changeable, wei Yan wanted to achieve the purpose of surprise attack, the weather must be conducive to the marching weather, in addition, the Meridian Valley Trail was well preserved, did not need a lot of repair, and the grain and grass supply could keep up in time.
Third, Zhuge Liang's considerations
As for Wei Yan's proposal of "going out of the meridian road", Zhuge Liang thought that this plan was too dangerous, so he abandoned it and did not use it. Zhuge Liang was cautious in his life in using troops, and there were basically no dangerous moves except for the "empty city plan", and the empty city plan was still forced to be helpless.
First of all, in Zhuge Liang's view, as one of the passages connecting Hanzhong and Guanzhong, with Chen Cangdao, the Chu Chuan Dao and the Luo Luo Dao have a significant feature compared to the Meridian Road - it is difficult to walk. After all, the difficulty of the Shu Dao was difficult to go to the Qingtian, and it was very difficult to cultivate the Meridian Dao, not to mention the Three Kingdoms period hundreds of years later. Therefore, Zhuge Liang thought that it was uncertain, perhaps impossible, to reach Chang'an through the Meridian Valley in ten days.
Second, in the final analysis, fighting a war is about national strength. The founding time of the Shu Han Dynasty was not long, and the domestic economic construction was certainly not as good as That of Cao Wei, and secondly, the soldiers and horses did not move the grain and grass first, and the supply was a lifeline for the front-line combat troops, and once the supply was not timely, it was very dangerous. It was already very difficult for the Shu army to supply food for the Shu army, and it was very dangerous for the surprise attack troops not to have sound supplies.
Third, Zhuge Liang was well aware that Cao Wei had been running the Guanzhong region for a long time, and it was not very realistic to want to take Guanzhong in a war or a surprise attack, and it was a safe move to fight steadily. Later events also confirmed Zhuge Liang's idea that Chen Cang was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and at one point during the Northern Expedition of the Shu army, it was difficult for the Shu army to move forward.
Fourth, for the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei, the Revival of the Han Dynasty, and the old capital, Zhuge Liang had his own plans and plans. That is, first take Long Right, then take Guanzhong, and even Wu made Wei. It can be said that this is the guiding ideology of Zhuge Liang's follow-up Northern Expedition, and since the general principle and strategy have been determined, it is necessary to carefully prepare for implementation as planned. Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition had actually realized the strategy of taking the Long Right first, but unfortunately, Ma Mo's loss of the street pavilion led to a failure.
Fourth, gao Yingxiang who failed
Gao Yingxiang, as the leader of the famous peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, fell at the mouth of the Meridian Valley. After repeated defeats, Gao Yingxiang came up with the same strategy as Wei Yan: to take Chang'an directly out of the Meridian Valley, but due to the lack of cooperation from the peasant rebel army, he made a desperate bet without the support of friendly troops, and because of the weather in the Noon Valley, the march was slow and the grain and grass were not supported, and he was finally captured by Sun Chuanting in the valley.
Gao Yingxiang's failure to take Chang'an out of the Meridian Valley was foreseeable. The first Gao Yingxiang gave up continuing to confront Sun Chuanting's army after determining the tactics of the Meridian Road, making it easy for Sun Chuanting to guess his thoughts, resulting in the exposure of the purpose of his surprise attack, and the surprise attack could not work.
The next day was unfavorable, Gao Yingxiang entered the Meridian Road when it coincided with the Qinling rainy season in July, coupled with gao Yingxiang's troops entering the Meridian Valley, the heavily armored troops were inconvenient to move in the valley, and the number of troops was large, and the march could only be lined up in a row, making it difficult to supply. The bad weather, combined with the already difficult meridian environment, made it even more difficult for Gao Yingxiang's troops to march through the valley.
The third grandson Chuanting recognized Gao Yingxiang's strategy and adjusted in time to wait for work, and finally defeated Gao Yingxiang in one fell swoop. The Qin army led by Sun Chuanting was already very strong in combat, and although it was inferior to Gao Yingxiang's troops, it was still able to defeat Gao Yingxiang's troops and capture them alive.
Gao Yingxiang's failure also confirms from the side that there are indeed certain difficulties in the implementation of the "Meridian Road" plan, and it can also help us understand the reasons why Zhuge Liang resolutely rejected Wei Yan's plan in the first place, which also made the Meridian Road a Qinling Passage that had never been successfully passed by the soldiers. The reason why the Meridian Road is difficult to pass is really not just talk, especially in ancient times.
5. Summary
Chairman Mao commented on Wei Yan's "Meridian Valley Conspiracy" with "this plan is too suspenseful." Although there is a saying of a surprise victory in the art of war, even military strategists such as Chairman Mao thought it was too risky for Wei Yan's "strange plot", but it is even more unlikely for the cautious Zhuge Liang. When the radical and adventurous Wei Yan met the cautious and prudent Zhuge Liang, the strange plot of "soldiers out of the Meridian Valley" could only become an endless conjecture.
History has no ifs, and history has no assumptions. We can assume from a modern perspective, what would happen if Wei Yan's plan succeeded? It may change the confrontation between the two separatist regimes, it may change the fate of Wei Yan and Zhuge Liang, and it may push the course of history to change its trajectory, but history is not hypothetical, and because of this, history can often leave us with endless conjecture and discussion, perhaps this is also one of the charms of history.