In the history of the Three Kingdoms, before Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, he once plotted against Meng Da. However, when Meng Da rebelled, he was suppressed by a large army led by Sima Yi. At this time, we did not see any major moves by Zhuge Liang to rescue Meng Da. Why? This is because, historically, Zhuge Liangce's anti-Meng Da was purely using him, so it was impossible to pick him up.
Meng Da was a talent, and in Liu Bei's time, he was one of the first Xichuan people to meet Liu Bei with Fazheng. Liu Bei made him the Taishou of Yidu. He then sent him to attack Fangling and occupy Shangyong with Liu Feng. Later, because he did not rescue Guan Yu and had conflicts with Liu Feng, he betrayed Liu Bei and defected to Cao Pi.
In Cao Pi, he was appreciated. Cao Pi not only appointed him as the General of The Scattered Horse and jianwu, but also made him the Marquis of Pingyang Pavilion. It also merged the three counties of Fangling, Shangyong, and Xicheng into Xincheng County, and let Meng Da serve as the Taishou of Xincheng. In the Cao Pi dynasty, although Liu Ye, Sima Yi, and others came to Cao Pi and said that Meng Da was unreliable, Cao Pi did not listen.
After Cao Pi's death, Cao Rui succeeded to the throne. Meng Da's friends in the imperial court also died one by one, making him suspicious and afraid. At this time, Zhuge Liang extended a hand of seduction to him. Meng Da took advantage of his territory and Shu Wu's proximity to Shu Wu, and looked at Shu Wu, trying to prepare for the future just in case.
After Zhuge Liang traveled with Meng Da for a while, he found that Meng Da had been hesitating and had no determination to rebel. So the counter-plan was used. It is recorded in the history books as follows:
Shu Xiang Zhuge Liang hated his repetition and worried about his troubles. Da and Wei Xingtai had a gap with Shen Yi, and Liang wanted to promote his affairs, but he sent Guo Mo to surrender and pass the yi, because he leaked his plot.
In this way, Zhuge Liang leaked the secret of Meng Da's rebellion. After Sima Yi learned the news, he immediately made a decision, and after writing a letter to stabilize Meng Da, he doubled the road and traveled, rushed to Shangyong City on the eighth day, and captured the city in sixteen days, destroying Meng Da.
During this time, both the State of Wu and the State of Shu sent troops to rescue Meng Da, but they were both blocked by Sima Yi. Of course, we can also see from here that Wu Shu did not send the main force to rescue Meng Da. Zhuge Liang, in particular, was the one who forced Meng Da to rebel, but he did not send enough troops to rescue Meng Da. So, what was he doing?
If we look at it in time, we can draw conclusions. Meng Da was destroyed by Sima Yi in January of the second year of Taihe, and almost at the same time, Zhuge Liang began his first Northern Expedition. In this way, we know that when Sima Yi attacked meng da, Zhuge Liang was intensively preparing for his Northern Expedition. At this time, how could Zhuge Liang disrupt his own plan to rescue Meng Da?
From here, we can conclude that Zhuge Liang forced Meng Da to rebel and did not have any good intentions toward Meng Da'an at all. He did not take Meng Da as a friend at all, but as an object of deception. When he wanted to seduce Meng Da, his subordinate Fei Shi explicitly objected. However, Zhuge Liang still communicated with Meng Da. In the history books, it is recorded that:
Dade Liangshu, counting the traffic, and rebelling against Wei. Wei dispatched Sima Xuanwang to march on him, that is, to kill Da. Liang also has a sincere heart to reach no money, so he does not rescue also.
Since Zhuge Liang wanted to use Meng Da, he had to let Meng Da act according to his plan. At that time, Meng Da wrote to Zhuge Liang:
"It is like going to Luo eight hundred miles, going to my twelve hundred miles, hearing my deeds, being the son of heaven on the table, more than the opposite, and in January, then my city has been consolidated, and the armies are sufficient." Then where I am in danger, Sima Gong will not come from himself; in the future, I will have no trouble. ”
That is to say, after Meng Da learned that the conspiracy plan was leaked, the time to prepare for the incident was a month later. We can infer from the time that Zhuge Liang wanted Meng Da to do things at the same time as his Northern Expedition. It was precisely because Zhuge Liang did not trust Meng Da that he took this method to force Meng Da to cooperate with him.
However, Zhuge Liang and Meng Da both miscalculated one person, and that was Sima Yi. When Sima Yi learned of the situation, he immediately made a decision and did not report to the emperor at all. He rushed to Shangyong day and night and hit Meng Da by surprise. In this situation, Meng Da hastily resisted and was soon eliminated by Sima Yi.
What benefits did Zhuge Liang get in this battle? First, the battle attracted the attention of Cao Wei and played a role in covering The Preparations for Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. Later, by the time of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Cao Wei and the Manchu Dynasty were completely unprepared and overwhelmed.
Second, it played a role in attracting cao Wei's main force. Although Sima Yi quelled Meng Da's rebellion, his men and horses had to stay in Shangyong to do the aftermath and could not escape for a while. And the chain reaction caused by this, Zhang Gao's men and horses had to stay near Wancheng just in case. In this way, during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, in the entire Yongliang region, Cao Wei only had a mere 20,000 men and horses left, or scattered. This made Zhuge Liang's men and horses into no man's land, and under the shock, the three counties surrendered in response to Zhuge Liang, causing a good situation for Zhuge Liang.
Third, the hidden danger of Meng Da has been eliminated. Meng Da was capricious, and Zhuge Liang did not trust him. Moreover, this humanistic martial artist is a fierce enemy no matter where he is. Zhuge Liang was going to go north from Hanzhong, and there was an ambiguous Meng Da staying by his side, which was really reassuring. Therefore, allowing Meng Da and Cao Wei to kill each other and kill themselves also allowed Zhuge Liang to devote himself to the Northern Expedition.
However, forcing Meng Da to rebel, due to sima Yi's misjudgment, did not achieve the best results. If Zhuge Liang trusted Meng Da, he would let Meng Da do something after the Northern Expedition. He attracted most of Cao Wei's troops in Guanzhong, creating conditions for Meng Da to surprise Cao Wei's roots, and in this way, it would produce the greatest results.
However, it was precisely because of Zhuge Liang's distrust of Meng Da that he finally decided to adopt a strategy of exploitation to treat Meng Da. Meng Da died under this strategy. Everyone said, how could Zhuge Liang abandon his Northern Expedition plan and personally lead a large army to rescue Meng Da?