History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
Mention the name of Gojohara, I think everyone will not be unfamiliar. In 234 AD, Zhuge Liang led his army to carry out the last Northern Expedition, and finally died here due to overwork and illness. It is precisely for this reason that the name of Gojohara has become a household name and is well known to everyone.
But where is Gojohara? Why was Zhuge Liang trapped here, unable to move forward, willing not to retreat, and finally could only die with a haggard hatred?
First of all, let's take a look at the special geographical location of Gojohara
The geographical location of Ichigo Hara
Chang'an City is located on the Guanzhong Plain, with the Loess Plateau in the north and the Qinling Mountains in the south, and the Weishui River in the middle, forming an eight-hundred-mile Qinchuan River of "Thousands of Miles of Golden City, Kingdom of Heavenly Capital". Therefore, on the south side of Chang'an, there are many towering mountain plains, such as Bailuyuan, Hongguyuan, Leyouyuan, Wuzhangyuan and so on.
The geographical location of Gojohara
From Hanzhong in the Shu Kingdom to Chang'an in the Wei Kingdom, there is a long Qinling Mountain Range in between. To get from Hanzhong through the Qinling Mountains to Chang'an, there have only been 4 routes to choose from since ancient times, namely ChenCang Road, Chu Chuan Road, Luo Luo Road and Meridian Road. Although these 4 roads can be directly connected to Guanzhong, because they have to cross the Qinling Mountains, each of them is rugged and dangerous, and it is very difficult to march. What we call Gojohara today is exactly the exit location on the northernmost side of the Chu Chu Road (also known as the Slope Valley).
Wuzhangyuan is bordered by the Qinling Mountains to the south and the Wei River to the north
As can be seen from the map, Wuzhangyuan is located in the foothills north of the Qinling Mountains, and its north is the Wei River that runs through the Guanzhong Plain, and to the east is a tributary of the Wei River, the Stone River. Therefore, Wuzhangyuan is precisely at the exit of the Xie valley, and is surrounded by the Qinling Mountains in the south, the Weishui River in the north, and the Stone River in the east, forming a military enclosed space.
Zhuge Liang's Fifth Northern Expedition, it was from Guanzhong that the troops came out of the Xie Valley and finally arrived at the place of Wuzhangyuan. In fact, the distance from Wuzhangyuan to Chang'an City was only more than 200 miles, and Zhuge Liangtun soldiers were here at that time, which was very close to the Chang'an City that he wanted to conquer.
Gojohara scenery
So, this brings up another question, why did Zhuge Liang's Fifth Northern Expedition take the route of Xiegu Valley?
2. Zhuge Liang's Fifth Northern Expedition
Speaking of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, we usually say that he was "six out of Qishan". In fact, Zhuge Liang only carried out 5 Northern Expeditions, of which only three were in the direction of Qishan Mountain, and the other two were in the Direction of Chen Cang Road and once in The Xie Valley.
The so-called qishan direction is actually to avoid the four rugged mountain roads of the Qinling Mountains, turn a big bend from the Qishan Ancient Road, and then enter the Guanzhong Plain from the west to the west from the east. As can be seen from the map, although such a march took a big detour, it avoided the four rugged mountain roads of the Qinling Mountains, which was conducive to the march of the large army and the supply of grain and grass in the rear.
Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition
So, why did Zhuge Liang's Fifth Northern Expedition not go to Qishan, but chose to send troops out of the Valley? There are two main reasons for this:
1. Cao Wei had already strengthened its vigilance in the direction of Qishan;
Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition was a detour from Mount Qi. At the same time as he detoured, he also arranged for Zhao Yun to lead a force to march from the Xie Valley, making Cao Wei mistakenly believe that this was the main force of the Shu army. In fact, Zhuge Liang appeared near Qishan Mountain with a loud attack, catching Cao Wei by surprise. Unfortunately, due to Ma Mo's careless loss of the street pavilion, the Shu army lost the strategic point of clamping down on Cao Wei's reinforcements, and Cao Wei's reinforcements continued to arrive, forcing Zhuge Liang to retreat to Hanzhong with all his previous achievements.
Zhuge Liang's Fourth and Fifth Northern Expeditions
After this Northern Expedition, Cao Wei's side increased its strategic defensive forces in the Longxi region and firmly held the pass of Jieting. Therefore, Zhuge Liang still sent troops from Qishan during the Fourth Northern Expedition, but he did not get too much advantage at all. In 234 AD, the 53-year-old Zhuge Liang knew that time was short, so he was determined to complete his efforts in a battle, so he chose to send troops from Xiegu.
2. On this expedition, Zhuge Liang made full strategic preparations
The biggest shortcoming in sending troops from the Xie valley is the transportation and supply of grain and grass, because of the rugged qinling mountain road, it is difficult for the grain transport troops traveling on the wheels of horse-drawn carriages to pass through efficiently.
In the face of the Fifth Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang made sufficient preparations. On the one hand, he implemented a large-scale policy of persuading farmers in the Hanzhong area to encourage the people to cultivate; on the other hand, he built many granaries along the Xie Valley to reserve grain and grass. At the same time, he also invented the wooden cow flow horse, a wooden mechanical structure propelled by human beings, which can realize the transportation of grain and grass in mountain roads.
Wooden cow flowing horse
All these measures were aimed at achieving a goal, that is, to send troops from the Xie Valley, and to reach the Guanzhong Plain as quickly as possible to carry out a military threat to Cao Wei under the premise of ensuring that there was sufficient supply of grain and grass in the rear. For this Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang spent three years in preparation, more than any previous Northern Expedition. It can be seen that he wants to use the last time of his life to strive for the greatest strategic advantage for the Shu kingdom.
Why did the Shu army stop at Wuzhangyuan?
Then, since Zhuge Liang was so well prepared, why did he stop at the place of Wuzhangyuan as soon as he came out of the Valley of Slope? There are two reasons for this:
First of all, it is related to the geographical location of Gojohara. As we said just now, the geographical location of this place in Wuzhangyuan is relatively special, it is backed by the Qinling Mountains, the north is Weishui, and the east is the Stone River, which is in a geographical space surrounded by mountains and rivers. If Zhuge Liang wanted to attack Chang'an to the east, he had to try to cross the river.
Road map for the march of the Wei and Shu sides
At this time, Sima Yi on the Wei side had already set up a long camp along the Weishui river, waiting for the arrival of the Shu army. At the same time, he also strictly prevented Zhuge Liang from secretly crossing the river, so he arranged for the general Guo Huai to move along the north bank of the Wei River to defend and patrol day and night. It can be seen that as soon as Zhuge Liang entered the pass, he encountered a head-on interception by the Wei army, and the two sides confronted each other along the Wei River, and for a while they could not decide the victory or defeat. In this case, Zhuge Liang could only choose to garrison the army at Wuzhangyuan.
Another reason was Sima Yi's defensive strategy. Sima Yi accurately analyzed that the biggest weakness of the Shu army was the problem of grain and grass and Zhuge Liang's health, so the longer it dragged on, the more unfavorable it was to the Shu army. Based on this, Sima Yi adopted the tactical strategy of "resisting the wall", no matter how provoked Zhuge Liang, he just couldn't hold out. In order to provoke his opponents to fight, Zhuge Liang even sent Sima Yi a set of women's clothes to ridicule him as a timid and cowardly woman. But even in this way, Sima Yi remained indifferent.
It is conceivable that Zhuge Liang at that time fell into a dilemma. He wanted to march forward, but was intercepted by Sima Yi; he wanted to fight Sima Yi to the death, and the other side could not hold out; if he bypassed Sima Yi's camp and secretly crossed the river, he would be intercepted by Guo Huai at the halfway crossing.
Sima Yi stills
So we can now understand why Wuzhangyuan became Zhuge Liang's final trapped place, and not somewhere else. It was precisely because of the unique geographical location here and Sima Yi's strategy of "sticking to the wall and refusing to defend it, waiting for work" that led to his dilemma of not being able to advance half a step in the end.
Fourth, since it was impossible to advance, why did Zhuge Liang not choose to retreat
Speaking of this, some people may ask, since Zhuge Liang cannot advance, and his body is deteriorating, why not choose to retreat?
To answer this question, we need to analyze Zhuge Liang's mentality at that time. Before this dispatch, Zhuge Liang had already launched four Northern Expeditions, all of which had returned to no avail. Before the Fifth Northern Expedition, he made full preparations, that is, to use the last period of his life to take advantage of the war with the State of Wei and to try to gain territorial and strategic advantages for the Shu Han. Now, he has once again failed to succeed in the division, and in the face of the lack of time for the rest of his life, of course, he is unwilling to retire.
So, why did Zhuge Liang have to fight Wei Guo? Is it not good for the two sides to get along peacefully?
On this issue, Zhuge Liang once expressed his heart in the "Table of Later Departures", he believed that the Shu state had only one state, and if it wanted to compete with the Wei state sitting on the land of nine states, it was necessary to carry out the Northern Expedition as soon as possible and occupy the territorial advantage as much as possible. Otherwise, with the passage of time, the gap in strength between the Wei and Shu states will widen even more, and the demise of the Shu state will be sooner or later.
Zhuge Liang once said: "Only when a subject cuts down a thief is the weak enemy and the strong enemy." However, if the thief is not cut, the king will also die. But sit and wait for death, and cut it down? This means that I am now cutting Wei wei, with weak against strong, and the odds of winning are not high. But if the Northern Expedition is not carried out, the Shu state will perish sooner or later. Instead of sitting still, it was better to concentrate on launching an attack on the State of Wei and winning in exchange for some advantages.
This sentence generally summarized Zhuge Liang's mentality at that time. He put out the banner of "Wang Ye is not biased, and Han thieves are not two sides", and launched the Northern Expedition against Cao Wei for many years in a manner similar to exhausting military force, which is based on this psychology. Because he knew very well in his heart that if he died, Shu Han would no longer have anyone to deal with the State of Wei, and then he could only face the end of destruction.
Therefore, the 53-year-old Zhuge Liang was trapped on the Wuzhang Plain, and although he could not march forward, he was still unwilling to withdraw his troops. He preferred to send soldiers to reclaim the Shangtun field in Wuzhangyuan to reduce the loss of military food in the rear, and always had to confront Sima Yi.
Finally, in August 234, Zhuge Liang died on the Wuzhang plain. At this time, he had been confronting Cao Wei here for more than a hundred days.
Conclusion:
In the 113th episode of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, when Zhuge Liang died in Wuzhangyuan, Luo Guanzhong inscribed a poem like this:
Everything is not decided by man, and it is difficult to compete with fate.
Indeed, throughout Zhuge Liang's five Northern Expeditions, they were all fighting with fate, with heaven, and with a kind of ending that had long been predestined. With a spirit of "knowing what not to do", he fulfilled the promise of "bow down and die later".
However, history is accidental and inevitable, after all, the strength of the Shu state and the Wei state is very different, and the general trend of the unification of the world cannot be stopped by manpower. Even if he has the great talent of the world, he cannot reverse the direction of the wheel of history. Only a sigh of "leisurely heaven, how thin than me" can only be left behind, which will forever echo in the mountains and rivers of Gojohara.