If it was not Zhuge Liang who fought against Sima Yi, but Pang Tong, what would the result be? If he encountered Pang Tong, Sima Yi's trouble would undoubtedly be greater. One of Zhuge Liang's shortcomings is an important factor in the repeated failures of his Northern Expedition Zhuge Liang's previous Northern Expeditions have been a clear policy each time, but lack of flexibility. Therefore, once the original policy cannot be realized, it will seem to be impossible.
For example, during the Second Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang attacked Chen Cang. The Wei army strengthened its defenses at Chen Cang in advance, and Zhuge Liang lacked the strength to attack the stronghold. Zhang Gao, who was ordered to come to the rescue at that time, thought before he set out: Maybe Zhang Gao was going to retire before Zhuge Liang arrived. During the Fourth and Fifth Northern Expeditions, when the original plan did not achieve results, there were not many ways to face Sima Yi's insistence.
Although Zhuge Liang's battle conception during each Northern Expedition cannot be described as ingenious, the battlefield situation is ever-changing, how can everything go as expected? The lack of response to the front was an important reason for the ineffectiveness of Zhuge Liang's repeated Northern Expeditions. From The perspective of Liu Beiren: Pang Tong's ability to attack the battlefield seems to be slightly higher than Zhuge Liang's in terms of knowing people, and Liu Bei is one of the best in the Three Kingdoms. From his use of Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong, we can see the advantages and disadvantages of the two. When Liu Bei was alive, Zhuge Liang mostly sat in the rear, giving full play to his talents, governing internal affairs, and training the army. In the matter of conquest, Zhuge Liang's high theory was rarely heard.
At the same time, on the specific issue of attack, Zhuge Liang seems to have rarely spoken. For example, can you attack Sanba? Can't fight Hanzhong? Liu Bei consulted with Fa Zheng and Huang Quan repeatedly, and Zhuge Liang barely spoke. After Guan Yu was killed, did he want to go on a crusade against Sun Quan? Zhao Yun spoke one after another, and Zhuge Liang did not seem to speak. It seems that for Zhuge Liang, What Liu Bei used was his Xiangcai. Dominate the overall situation and govern internal affairs. As for the emergency response, it seems that Pang Tong and Fa Zheng must be ranked before Zhuge Liang. Horizontal comparison: Judging from the suggestions of Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong's adaptability seems to be stronger
Due to the short time of luminescence and heat, Pang Tong's performance is not much. However, judging only from his performance in Yizhou, Pang Tong is more adaptable and the strategy used is more flexible. After Liu Bei entered Yizhou, Liu Zhang personally came to take Yizhou. Pang Tong proposed the first strategy: to detain Liu Zhang during the meeting with Liu Zhang. Then he took advantage of the chaos to attack the leaderless Yizhou (this strategy was rejected by Liu Bei).
After Liu Zhang and Liu Bei turned their faces, Pang Tong again proposed three well-defined upper, middle, and lower strategies: the upper strategy, taking advantage of Liu Zhang's lack of strict defenses, to go directly to Chengdu with a crack army to arrest Liu Zhang; the middle strategy, using the excuse to summon Liu Zhang's generals Gao Pei and Yang Huai, collect their elite troops, and then attack Chengdu; the next strategy, return to the White Emperor City, and re-establish contact with the direction of Jingzhou. It seems that Ponton's strategy is extremely flexible. Extreme, prudent, conservative have a plan.
Judging from Pang Tong's proposal to directly take down Liu Zhang at the beginning, Pang Tong's style is more radical. If Pang Tong was responsible for commanding the Northern Expedition, it should be much more "strange". In contrast, Zhuge Liang's flexibility in offering advice is smaller. After Liu Chun surrendered, Liu Bei passed through Xiangyang. Zhuge Liang suggested that Liu Bei take advantage of Liu Chun's lax defenses to take Xiangyang, but Liu Bei refused. And then what? Zhuge Liang had no other way. Liu Bei was defeated at Changshanpo, and his original plan to take Jiangling could not be realized. Pang Tong would cause sima yi more trouble
As far as the front was concerned, Sima Yi should be more afraid of pang Tong's changeable opponents. Sima Yi's fighting style was similar to Zhuge Liang's. Before each battle, his judgment of the situation was generally not bad, and he would have a clear guiding ideology. Before conquering Gongsun Yuan, he had clearly anticipated his opponent's strategy (he would resist the river first, retreat to Xiangping after defeat), and he knew exactly how long it would take to suppress the rebellion (how long to go, how long to fight, and how long to return). In the battle against Zhuge Liang, he also accurately predicted when and in what direction Zhuge Liang would launch the Northern Expedition (before the Fifth Northern Expedition, he concluded that Zhuge Liang would have to prepare for at least three years before sending troops from Longyou). However, Sima Yi was inferior to generals such as Zhang Guo and Guo Huai in terms of the strange changes in the front.
During Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition, Sima Yi did not listen to Zhang Guo's advice, and was led by Zhuge Liang's nose, first cut off the wheat of Shangyi, and then suffered the defeat of Halo City; during the Fifth Northern Expedition, if it were not for Guo Huai's timely reminder, he was almost rejected by Zhuge Liang and cut off the waterway between Guan and Long; therefore, if he encountered Pang Tong's more ingenious style of using troops, Sima Yi estimated that he was a bit choked.
When commenting on Zhuge Liang, Chen Shou said: Zhuge Liang's response will be slight, not his strength. Many friends have identified Zhuge Liang as "not good at fighting a war." In fact, the strengths and weaknesses mentioned here are all evaluated by them as the top commanders at that time. It's like, someone said: Messi's header is not good. Indeed, if you regard him as a figure at the level of the king of the ball, his head ball is indeed inferior to those air masters who eat by the head ball. However, Messi's header is much stronger than that of the average player. Similarly, Sima Yi, who likes to "stick to it", broke Meng da and conquered Liaodong, all of which were swept away and easily abused; Zhuge Liang, who had the impression of "only being cautious in his life", was also bold and deep, clean and neat.
Their weaknesses are only apparent when they encounter an opponent of their same level. Therefore: the advantages and disadvantages mentioned in this article are measured by the standard of "top level". Thank you for your understanding! In general, I think that Sima Yi is difficult to resist when Pang Tong (or Fa Zheng) is on the front (but behind the need for Zhuge Liang to govern the country and train the army). However, the results of the Northern Expedition may still be difficult to change. After all, the key to winning or losing a war depends on national strength. Behind Sima Yi stood a more powerful State of Wei.