After Liu Bei died of illness in the White Emperor's City, Zhuge Liang provoked the great beam of Shu Han, saying that he was assisting the young lord, but in essence, he directly held the power. However, he did not make the court a miasma like the rulers of other dynasties, but carried a heavy cauldron on his back.
The most important thing he did after he came to power was the Northern Expedition, but unfortunately it did not succeed and he took his own life. For his five Northern Expeditions, many people believe that it was too hasty, which directly led to the strength of the Shu state regressing again, until it was annexed.
so
If Zhuge Liang, as everyone has commented, first rests and recuperates after the Battle of Yiling, waits for more than ten or twenty years, and then goes on a crusade
Cao Wei
Will that work?
Image: Stills of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition
After Guan Yu's death, Liu Bei, who had lost his beloved general, attacked Eastern Wu under the banner of avenging him. At the beginning, Sun Quan had bowed to Liu Bei and wanted to ask for peace, but Liu Bei did not agree, and led hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Eastern Wu. In the absence of hope of peace, Sun Quan turned to the State of Wei and declared himself a vassal to the State of Wei to avoid being caught between the front and the back, and on the other side appointed Lu Xun as the commander-in-chief, drew troops, and prepared for the battle with all his might.
After Lu Xun arrived at the front line, based on a careful analysis of the strength of the troops on both sides and the situation on the ground, it was concluded that Liu Bei was definitely eager to win, so he let the Wu army temporarily avoid the front and retreat to Yiling, adding to the defense to resist the attack of Shu Han.
The terrain of Eastern Wu at that time was very favorable for the war, and completely left the Song Mountains and Mountains to Shu Han, so that Shu Han had already occupied a disadvantage before he began to fight.
Photo: Stills of Eastern Wu warlord Lu Xun
In 222, Liu Bei personally led a large army to Yiling, but Eastern Wu held its territory and refused to send troops. In order to prepare Eastern Wu for battle, Liu Bei dispatched troops to attack Sun Heng first, and the place where Sun Huan was guarding was Yidao. The reason why sun huan attacked first was not because of geographical location, but because of his identity, this person was Sun Quan's nephew, as long as he had a mistake, Eastern Wu would definitely send troops to rescue him.
However, Liu Bei's strategy failed, and Lu Xun knew Sun Huan's ability and guessed his next actions, choosing to refuse rescue and avoid premature dispersion and depletion of troops. The two armies had been in a stalemate for more than half a year, during which Liu Bei tried to use verbal abuse to provoke Mao Luxun in order to achieve the purpose of frontal combat, but Lu Xun was a wise man, and no matter how the enemy insulted him, he ignored it.
Image: Stills of the Shu army scolding Eastern Wu
Lu Xun had always been observing the morale of Liu Bei's army, and at the beginning the morale was very high, but after half a year of polishing, the military mentality had already changed. This phenomenon was a bad thing for Shu Han, and for Eastern Wu, it was a great thing, and Liu Bei's military instability meant that the most favorable time for Wu had come.
Lu Xun immediately switched from the original stubborn defense to a fierce attack, he first sent a small team to test, and the result soon allowed him to find a way to crack Liu Bei's army. After many fierce battles, Liu Bei not only did not avenge his brother, but fell ill and died in the White Emperor City, which led to the matter of Tuo Lonely.
Image: Lu Xun stills
The Shu kingdom that Zhuge Liang took over can be said to have run out of oil, but he did not choose to recuperate, but after a little rectification, he directly aimed the spearhead at Cao Wei, the most difficult bone to gnaw.
In the face of this powerful country, looking at the remnants of shu Han's soldiers, even if he has the ability to reach the heavens, he still can't reverse the ending.
Many people feel that if Zhuge Liang did not directly go north, but first deal with internal problems, and then fight after the army was raised to the previous elite level, maybe he could win with his wisdom.
However, Xiaobian felt that even if he was not so hasty, he would not be able to win the war, and the victory rate was lower.
Image: Zhuge Liang stills
First of all, the first point, as mentioned above, Zhuge Liang solved internal problems, and the Shu state left by Liu Bei was indeed full of problems
。 According to the faction, the Shu state can be divided into the Jingzhou faction, the Dongzhou faction, and the Yizhou faction. The Jingzhou faction was Liu Bei's old subordinates, such as Guan Yu and others; the Dongzhou faction was Liu Zhang's old subordinate; and the Yizhou faction was the local tycoons of Shudi.
The reason why Liu Bei was so easy to settle in Yizhou was precisely because of the conflicting interests of the two major factions. After Liu Bei got Yizhou, he paid more attention to the Dongzhou faction, but suppressed the Yizhou faction, which caused many internal contradictions.
At least it was barely even when Liu Bei was alive, but after Liu Bei's death, the internal contradictions had reached the level of deep water, and Zhuge Liang was so anxious to go north, precisely to divert the contradictions.
Second, if the army of the State of Shu was recuperating, then the army of the State of Wei would also recuperate. The terrain of the State of Wei was obviously more advantageous than that of the State of Shu
。
Wu and Shu frequently sent troops to the Central Plains, which together consumed too much of the central plains' military strength. Once enough time was given for the Central Plains to recuperate, the Wei state's repair speed would inevitably be faster than that of the other two parties.
If the State of Shu can recover to one hundred percent after recuperation, then the State of Wei may rise to one hundred and fifty percent in the same period of time. The distance between the two can only be further expanded, and it is absolutely impossible to get closer.
Zhuge Liang was so anxious precisely because he saw the distance between Shu Han and Cao Wei, and only by hurrying to the Northern Expedition was it most beneficial to the Shu kingdom. Once this opportunity is missed, it will only be more difficult to successfully cut Wei.
Image: Stills of Cao Wei's army
Third, the so-called Shu Han meant that Liu had adopted the name of the Han Dynasty, and his regime had always regarded itself as the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty
Others called the State of Shu han, but Liu Bei called his regime the Great Han, and when he founded the country, he carried out the banner of restoring "Han thieves are not separated, and Wang Ye is not biased." Many people believe that the reason why Zhuge Liang did not choose the other two aristocratic forces, but chose Liu Bei, who was a broken settlement, was precisely because he regarded himself as a citizen of the Han Dynasty, and restoring the glory of the Han Dynasty was naturally a major event that urgently needed to be done.
If he had gained Shu land, but had chosen to enjoy his own happiness and not continue to restore the Han Dynasty, then he would have lost his original intention of establishing the country, so that Liu Bei would have become a separatist force like Cao Cao.
Image: Liu Bei stills
Zhuge Liang has been passed down through the ages, and in addition to his loyalty, strategy is the most important. As such an outstanding military expert, he was able to analyze the situation in the world for Liu Bei before he left the mountain, let alone after he took over himself?
Long before he started the plan, the stakes were clear. So
The reason why he did not first think of ways to develop the Shu Han, but chose the Northern Expedition, was mainly because there were too many contradictions within the Shu Han, and if it was not transferred, the time of the fall of the Shu Han was likely to be earlier.
Moreover, the terrain between the three kingdoms was also an important reason for forcing him to be so anxious, and if the geographical location of the Shu state was opposite to that of the Wei state, he might also choose to recuperate. It is not so much that he fights for victory as it is that he fights for self-preservation.
Unfortunately, in the end, self-protection failed, not only did not save the country, but even his own life was not saved, and he could only say that he was also alive!
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!