"The difficulty of the Shu Dao is that it is difficult to go to the Qingtian," Li Bai's famous saying explains the dangers of the Shu land very well. The Bashu Basin is a very unique region in China, where there are lofty mountains on all sides, wrapping the Shu land in the middle, and it was very difficult to enter the Shu land in ancient times. Therefore, Shudi has a natural advantage, and in history, many regimes have been born here, and they rely on Shudi to fight against strong enemies, but the regimes that are divided here often do not have good results. For example, the most famous Shu Han regime, although it was once able to resist Wei Wu, was eventually destroyed, and the demise of Shu Han had a great relationship with Deng Ai, and he also established his position as a famous general by relying on this battle.
The deeds of Deng Ai's destruction of Shu have also become a good story in history, although he was killed soon after the destruction of Shu, but Deng Ai's contribution will never be forgotten. This battle Deng Aibing was dangerous, and when Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei confronted The Sword Pavilion, he led his army from the Yinping Trail all the way through the Shu Han heavy defenses, and finally reached Chengdu. Since Shu Han's army was concentrated in the Sword Pavilion, Chengdu had no troops to defend, and Liu Chan had no ability to defend the city, so he took the initiative to surrender, and Shu Han was thus terminated by Deng Ai. This battle can be called a masterpiece of qizhan war, and Deng Ai also got "national prestige shocked in Bashu, and wusheng was raised in Jiang min." Evaluation, however, from his smuggling of Yinping to his direct access to Chengdu, there was a key battle in between, and it can be said that Deng Ai won miraculously, which achieved a feat, which was his battle with Zhuge Zhan in Mianzhu.
Smuggling yinping
The word is already very familiar to people, so where is Yin Ping? The Yinping Ancient Road refers to starting from Longyou, taking Yinping County along a trail of more than 700 miles to Fucheng, and then going straight to Chengdu through Mianzhu. This is depicted in the old Three Kingdoms version, and even Deng Ai rolls directly down the mountain wrapped in a blanket. However, the reality is even more cruel than this, which is why his march will be so highly evaluated.
Yinping is not a road in the strict sense, from here to Chengdu, to pass through the Min Mountains, Shu Han did not consider setting up an army defense here is also a reason, after all, in that environment, normal people will not think that someone can lead troops from Yinping to fight. The history books also record the cruelty of Deng Ai's march:
"In the winter of October, Ai Ziyin Ping Road traveled more than 700 miles to no man's land, chiseled mountain passages, and built bridge pavilions. The mountains and valleys are deep, and the grain transport is about to be scarce, and it is frequently in danger. Ai wrapped himself in felt and pushed it down. The soldiers climbed the wooden edge cliffs, and the fish rushed in. ”
In the process of his march, he not only had to walk the cliffs such as the Skyscraper Ridge, but also had to build his own boardwalk while letting the soldiers chisel the mountain. On the road, Deng Ai's army was still facing a situation of food shortage, after all, such a road, there is no way to ensure the logistics of the troops, but even so, after the Deng Ai army crossed the difficulties, there are still about 10,000 soldiers, the reason why Deng Ai will be respected by future generations, or because of his groundbreaking feat, he can actually ensure the safety of most of the soldiers. His troops did not lose their combat effectiveness because of the dangerous terrain, but also ensured the survival of the main force.
Battle of Jiangyou
Deng Aiqi's troops left Yinping and directly reached Fucheng (Jiangyou Pass), at this time Shu Han had received the news, and just when Deng Aibing sent Jiangyou, the army led by Zhuge Zhan had also arrived here. At this time, both sides controlled the northern and southern areas of Jiangyou, at this time, Huang Chong put forward a proposal, but it was rejected by Zhuge Zhan, which was also the main factor in the criticism of Zhuge Zhan in later generations, and many people even thought that his stubbornness buried the overall situation.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that when he arrived in Fu County, Zhan Pan Huan was not close, and he repeatedly advised Zhan Pan huan to act quickly and take advantage of the danger, and did not let the enemy enter the flat land. Juju and Wei Na, so that they can't weep.
Huang Chong's strategy is very simple, that is, the army has reached Jiangyou, and it should immediately lead the army to seize the dangerous terrain of Jiangyou. Huang Chong's strategy was actually very correct, Jiangyou was the first stop after Deng Ai's smuggling, and his troops were rested here, and if they continued south, they could directly face the plains. This is very favorable to Deng Aijun, who is good at field warfare, jiangyou pass is dangerous terrain, occupying here Shu army can play its own characteristics of good bow and crossbow, Deng Aijun does not have too good offensive equipment, it is indeed difficult to break through Zhuge Zhan's defense.
But here is a question, was Jiangyou in the hands of Deng Ai at that time? Because according to the historical records, Deng Ai's army hit Jiangyou, and the defender Ma Mi directly surrendered. As for who came first and who came after this order, the history books did not clearly explain, but if you analyze it carefully, you can find that Jiangyou should no longer be in the hands of the Shu Army at that time. Zhuge Zhan hesitated to hesitate at this point, whether he wanted to continue to march or not, they should have already received intelligence, Huang Chong's suggestion was to hurry up and occupy the danger, not to let them hurry to seize Jiangyou Pass. Considering that Deng Ai was a surprise attack, Shu Han only found out later, so Jiangyou Pass was already in the hands of Deng Ai, and if Zhuge Zhan wanted to seize the danger after arriving, he would inevitably directly lead the army to attack Deng Ai's army stationed in Jiangyou.
The battle over Jiangyou eventually ended with Zhuge Zhan taking the initiative to withdraw his troops, and the only exchange of fire between the two sides was deng Ai defeating Zhuge Zhan's forwards. The main factor for Zhuge Zhan to abandon Jiangyou was that he had no bottom, and the Shu army he led was not capable of confronting Deng Ai, who refused to defend Jiangyou, and he had little confidence. This can also be seen in a problem, Zhuge Zhan's army is not many, and his troop equipment is relatively poor, at least there is no preparation for the battle, there is no equipment at all, otherwise Zhuge Zhan is such a strong person, how can he try to tackle the key problems with all his might, in fact, the result of the Jiangyou scramble has already determined the outcome of the Battle of Mianzhu.
Win first and lose later
Zhuge Zhan retreated all the way to Mianzhu, at this time he had no choice, Mianzhu is the gate of Chengdu, if you abandon Mianzhu, the gate of Chengdu will be wide open, and Deng Ai's army will be able to directly kill it. Zhuge Zhan's arrangement here was still not too much of a problem, he did not stay in the city, but occupied Lutou Mountain, relying on mountain formations to deal with Deng Ai's army. Zhuge Zhan's arrangement was in line with the situation at that time, and he also achieved a key victory initially, deng Ai's left and right armies were defeated by Zhuge Zhan, so angry that Deng Ai almost killed his own son.
So why did Zhuge Zhan fail again? This has to be said that Deng Ai was experienced in using soldiers, and he did not immediately withdraw from the army, but resolutely integrated the remnants of the army and killed them again. After the impact again, he really defeated Zhuge Zhan, and this time in the confrontation, Zhuge Zhan lost in inexperience. In ancient times, the momentum of fighting was very important, the Battle of Mianzhu had just broken out, it was the Shu army that retreated, Zhuge Zhan and others were determined to fight to the death, everyone made up their minds, and Deng Ai's army successfully fought here, they also had some light enemies. However, after repelling Deng Ai's army, Zhuge Zhan did not make timely arrangements, and the army, whether in formation or morale, was not the same as before.
Deng Ai's army was originally a lone army, and once they failed, there was no way back, and Deng Ai could take advantage of the army's situation in time to change the situation and let the troops win in the death battle. Of course, the final outcome of the Battle of Mianzhu was already doomed, Zhuge Zhan's troops were indeed too bad, and Deng Ai's army was selected from more than 30,000 elites. The strength of the troops that can pass through the sinister and dangerous is indeed not bad, they can also walk while building roads, and the equipment of the army is not much worse. What was the situation with Zhuge Zhan's troops?
When Jiang Wei retreated to the Sword Pavilion, Liu Chan did not do nothing, he successively sent Liao Hua, Zhang Yi and others to lead troops to support in separate routes. It can be said that the military strength in Shuzhong is already quite empty, tens of thousands of elites are concentrated in the Sword Pavilion, and suddenly a Deng Ai appeared, allowing Zhuge Zhan to resist, and the army he led could not be any elite, perhaps they were all drawn from the forbidden army, and the gap between such a unit and Deng Ai's elite was indeed very large. And one thing that must be taken into account is that Deng Ai had too many choices, after the loss of Hanzhong, Shu Han retreated to the Sword Pavilion, and in fact the initiative was already in the hands of wei jun.
In the history books, the details of the war are rarely described, and deng Ai's smuggling has a detail that is worth noting, that is, more than 10,000 of his people have successfully walked through Yinping, which will inevitably be supported by a large number of personnel resources. Otherwise, it is really a lone army without any support to go in, and it is no different from sending it to death, and it is impossible to reach Jiangyou basically without much damage. After Deng Ai attacked, Cao Wei should have mobilized a lot of resources to support him, so after Deng Ai's army arrived, he even considered whether to go to Baishui to join zhong. The war was also fought with the strength of two countries, and deng Ai's side received too much support, while Zhuge Zhan's side was his own army from beginning to end, and if he lost a battle, he would completely lose.
During the war, Zhuge Zhan's arrangement could only be said to be decent, without particularly major mistakes or too good scheduling. But the Battle of Mianzhu reflected the internal problems of the Shu Han, starting from the smuggling of Deng Aijun to the passive response of the Shu Han, and the defenders surrendered without fighting. The corruption within the Shu Han Dynasty and the weakening of national strength were exposed very thoroughly, and such a country really had no ability to resist in the face of the newly emerging Sima family.
epilogue
Overall, on the Mianzhu battlefield at that time, a manager who could create miracles was needed. Otherwise, under such an unfavorable environment, your decent arrangement will not have much impact on the war, Zhuge Zhan is not such a person, and his ability has not yet reached this level. In the final analysis, Jiang Wei's abandonment of Hanzhong's blow to Shu Han was too great, and the premise for Deng Ai to launch this sneak attack was that the base camp was pushed to the front line of the Sword Pavilion, and Cao Wei had the possibility of going deep into Shu. If Hanzhong was still in the hands of Shu Han, Cao Wei would not be able to complete this long-distance sneak attack, which was also the reason why Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others desperately had to defend Hanzhong.