In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, two men gave Zhuge Liang a military order. One is Guan Yu, who went to shou Huarong Road, and the other is Ma Mo who went to guard the street pavilion. But neither of them was able to complete the task they had received, and one let Cao Cao go and the other lost the kiosk. But Zhuge Liang's treatment of them was completely different, why was this?
First, Guan Yu and Ma Mo's status are different.
Some people say that Zhuge Liang did not kill Guan Yu because of the relationship between Guan Yu and Liu Bei, and he was extrajudicial to Guan Yu. There is some truth to this statement. In reality, Zhuge Liang was not a Confucian disciple, and his thoughts were more inclined to the Fa and Zongheng. Therefore, Zhuge Liang is not the kind of person who eats the ancients, and his behavior in the world is very flexible.
For example, in the attitude towards Fa-rectification, this characteristic of Zhuge Liang is reflected. Fa was Liu Bei's important strategist, who gave advice to Liu Bei and made great contributions. However, Fa zheng's character has a shortcoming, that is, he must repay his eyes. After the capture of Yizhou, Fa Zheng served as the general of Taishou and Yangwu of Shu Commandery (蜀郡太守) and Yangwu (杨武), with the outer commander of du qi and the internal mastermind.
So the great power was in his hands and the law was right, and he took revenge on those who had a vendetta against him in the past. He acted arbitrarily and arbitrarily, killing several people who had slandered and slandered him in the past. Some people went to Zhuge Liang on this matter and demanded that Zhuge Liang be correct. However, Zhuge Liang explained that Fa Zheng had made great contributions to Liu Bei's cause, so he let him do things according to his own wishes. Therefore, Zhuge Liang did not punish Fa Zheng in the end.
We can see from this that Zhuge Liang's principle of doing things is to take into account the overall situation, to put the greatest interests of the Shu Han regime in everything as the most important thing, and not to restrain his hands and feet with rules and regulations. The relationship between Guan Yu and Liu Bei was close, and Guan Yu was also the number one military general in the Shu Han Dynasty, occupying an important position in Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair". For such a military general who was very important to Shu Han, Zhuge Liang naturally would not behead him.
It's different for Ma Mo. Although Zhuge Liang valued Ma Mo's talents, Ma Mo's influence on Shu Han was very small in terms of status. In particular, Ma Mo's performance in the Battle of the Street Pavilion can be described as a disgrace. In this battle, Ma Chen exposed the essence of his exaggeration. For such a person who was useless to Shu Han and did not kill enough people to be indignant, Zhuge Liang naturally would not be merciful.
2. The military actions taken by Guan Yu and Ma Mo were different.
The military actions taken by Guan Yu when he was defending Huarong Road were also different from the actions taken by Ma Mo at the street pavilion. When Guan Yu was guarding Hua Rong Dao, he faithfully acted according to Zhuge Liang's arrangement and perfectly realized Zhuge Liang's plan. When Cao Cao fled to the fork in the road, Guan Yu set off smoke on the path according to Zhuge Liang's arrangement.
According to his own understanding of Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao believed that Zhuge Liang used the principle of "virtual and real, real and virtual", and deliberately set fire to the small road to guide him to retreat to the main road. Therefore, Cao Cao made himself clever and chose to take a small road, and as a result, he collided with Guan Yu, who had been ambushed for a long time. Under Cao Cao's begging, Guan Yu, who was thinking of his old feelings, finally let Cao Cao go.
But Ma Mo's actions at the street kiosk were completely different from Guan Yu's. When Ma Mo sent troops to the street pavilion, Zhuge Liang gave him all kinds of instructions, asking him to go down the road at the intersection of Wuzong Road to block the attack of the Wei army. However, as soon as Ma Mo arrived at the street kiosk, he changed Zhuge Liang's battle plan. Not only did he not encamp in place, but he also dragged the Shu army up Nanshan.
Ma Mo set up camp in Nanshan, nothing more than to copy the example of the Shu army at Dingjun Mountain. In that year, Liu Bei seized Dingjun Mountain, forcing Xiahou Yuan to come and fight. When Xiahou Yuan and his men were unable to fight and were tired and sluggish, they were attacked by the Shu army. As a result, The Cao army was defeated, and Xiahou Yuan was also beheaded by Huang Zhong. After this battle, the victory of the Battle of Hanzhong was laid.
However, what Ma Mo did not expect was that there was no water source on the South Mountain, and his opponent was not Xiahou Yuan, who had the courage and strategy, but Zhang Guo, who was scheming and calculating. Zhang Gao learned the lesson of Dingjun Mountain in those years, and first sent people to cut off the Shu army's way of drawing water. When the Shu army was in chaos because of lack of water and no war, Zhang Gao easily defeated the Shu army and captured the street pavilion.
In war, the commander-in-chief attaches the most importance to ordering prohibition. Although Guan Yu let Cao Cao go, in the course of the battle, he did not violate Zhuge Liang's general orders, reflecting his respect for Zhuge Liang's command, which was still forgivable in Zhuge Liang's eyes. However, Ma Mo modified Zhuge Liang's general orders without authorization, and he also suffered a fiasco for this, which was an unforgivable sin in Zhuge Liang's eyes.
Third, Guan Yu and Ma Mo's confession attitudes are different.
Zhuge Liang's attitude toward Guan Yu and Ma Mo was different, and it was also related to their confession attitude. After Huarong Dao released Cao Cao, Guan Yu did not evade responsibility, but when he released Cao Cao, he made up his mind to go to Zhuge Liang to receive punishment. Guan Yu's awe-inspiring style of righteousness made Zhuge Liang very admirable.
However, Ma Mo's approach was very different from Guan Yu's. After losing the battle, he voluntarily gave up the combat command and gave up his subordinates to flee for his life alone. If Zhang Gao took advantage of the situation to attack Zhuge Liang's camp, the unsuspecting Shu army would face annihilation. Fortunately, Wang Ping resisted, so that Zhang Gao did not dare to pursue the Shu army.
What made Zhuge Liang even more intolerable was that After escaping from the battlefield, Ma Mo did not return to Zhuge Liang's camp. Ma Mo fled back to Shuzhong alone and hid, and it took a long time before he was captured and arrested. Ma Mo's behavior had already touched Zhuge Liang's bottom line, making him intolerable.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang's life is summarized. For those who make mistakes, Zhuge Liang's principle of handling is: "Although those who are loyal and beneficial will be rewarded, those who break the law and slacken off will be punished personally, those who serve crimes and lose affection will be released although they are heavy, and those who are clever in their words will be killed even if they are light." Corresponding to this principle, we will find that Guan Yu and Ma Mo's attitude is exactly corresponding to it.
Guan Yu let Cao Cao go at Huarong Road, and his behavior was of course wrong. However, Guan Yu did not hide his mistake, but instead went to Zhuge Liang in a bright and upright manner to plead guilty and was willing to accept punishment. This corresponds precisely to Zhuge Liang's principle of "those who serve sin and lose their feelings must be released even though they are heavy". Because of Guan Yu's willingness to take responsibility, Zhuge Liang let him go.
After the defeat of Ma Mo, however, he adopted an attitude of evading responsibility. His own behavior violated Zhuge Liang's principle that "those who break the law and slacken off will be punished personally", so that Zhuge Liang had to punish him. He also escaped and hid, so that Zhuge Liang could not even find a reason to give him an excuse. Therefore, Zhuge Liang had to behead Ma Mo to infuriate the civilians and inspire the hearts of the army.
epilogue:
Both Guan Yu and Ma Mo gave Zhuge Liang military orders, and both said that the battle had failed and obeyed Zhuge Liang's punishment. Zhuge Liang spared Guan Yu, but killed Ma Mo. There are three main reasons for this, the subordinates are Guan Yu and Ma Chen's identity status is different, and the corresponding influence on the role of Shu Han is different, and Zhuge Liang made a choice for the highest interests of Shu Han.
Secondly, the two had different attitudes towards carrying out Zhuge Liang's military orders during the battle, Guan Yu faithfully carried out Zhuge Liang's orders, while Ma Mo changed Zhuge Liang's military orders without authorization. Finally, Guan Yu and Ma Mo had different attitudes towards taking responsibility. Guan Yu has the courage to take responsibility, and Ma Mo evades responsibility. This made Guan Yu feel forgivable in Zhuge Liang's eyes, while Ma Mo was unforgivable. Therefore, Zhuge Liang's treatment of the two also has a difference.