After Liu Bei's death, the Ji Han regime in An'an Chuanshu could be described as internal and external troubles, external troubles with Cao Wei and Sun Quan, internal worries were disputes between the Jingzhou faction, the Dongzhou faction and the Yizhou faction within the court, and the barbarians continued to make trouble under the instigation of Eastern Wu. Fortunately, there is still Zhuge Cheng Xiang, and the general of the Great Han will fall. He re-established the Sun-Liu Alliance, quelled the barbarian rebellion, and six years later sent troops to the Northern Expedition.
Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition was particularly exciting, at that time it had been six years since Liu Bei's death, Cao Pi had also died, the Emperor of the State of Wei was Cao Rui, Cao Wei was marching south to Eastern Wu, Zhuge Liang and the new city of Meng Da in the northwest of Jingzhou secretly communicated with each other, which led to sima Yi's troops who were cutting down Wu, and then let Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi bluff with 10,000 horses, pretending to enter Guanzhong, making a threat to Chang'an, Wei Ting was shaken, and quickly let Cao Zhendu supervise all the armies in Guanzhong to resist, Zhuge Liang suddenly led the main force to swing a false shot, and attacked Long Right. At once, he took the three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui and Anding in Liangzhou, and also got a young Jiang Wei who had a heart for the Big Han. The Wei court was in an uproar and wanted to drop the soldiers of Guanzhong and go back, but they were dragged by Zhao Yun to death.
There were five counties on the right side of Longyou, and in addition to the three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui, and Anding that Zhuge Liang had taken, the remaining guangwei counties, Longxi county, and the important towns of Tianshui County, Shangyi and Jixian, did not surrender, of which longxi and Shangyi had the fiercest resistance. However, Zhuge Liang was not willing to let his men risk their lives to attack the cities, so he besieged these cities and did not attack them.
Xiaobian would like to add here that although the Jihan regime and the Liu Bang regime of the Chu and Han dynasties were based on Hanzhong and Bashu, their northern parts were two large places, Longyou and Guanzhong. Longyou has poor soil, hills and dangerous terrain, connecting Qianghu and producing warhorses. Guanzhong's soil is fertile, the terrain is flat, and it is rich in grain, and it is enough to retreat and close the Tong Pass, and it can quickly reach Luoyang and recover the Central Plains.
But the situation faced by the two is very different:
1. Liu Bang's ultimate enemy was Xiang Yu, who had lost his heart at that time in Shandong, while Zhuge Liang's ultimate enemy was the Cao Wei regime, which had a certain popular heart in Luoyang.
2. The direct enemy that Liu Bang faced was Zhang Handan's infantry, which had obvious advantages, and a large amount of grain and grass could be obtained by taking the fertile Guanzhong Plain. Therefore, Han Xin could secretly cross Chen Cang and raid Chang'an successfully. There was also an advantage in taking Guanzhong, that is, the arsenal of the Qin Dynasty, according to the literature, there were four major arsenals in Guanzhong at that time, which were in "West", "Yong", "Oak Yang", and "Xianyang". With these weapons, the Han army quickly blocked Xiang Yu's westward advance at Tongguan.
Zhuge Liang was facing Cao Wei's cavalry, and although Wei Yan advocated coming out of the meridian road and taking the fertile Guanzhong Plain, the cautious Zhuge Cheng xiang could not let the Han generals from Shu land go to the Guanzhong Plain to fight with the Cao Wei cavalry to die. Therefore, playing Long Right is Zhuge Liang's first choice.
In addition, Zhuge Liang wanted to get Long Right for the following reasons:
First, Cao Wei ruled the country with the Fa, and encouraged the reclamation of land to be light and thin, but the decree was very strict and quite resentful.
Second, the Cao Wei regime came from the Central Plains, and the subordinates of the cao Wei court always clashed with the local people of Longyou, just as many Hong Kong people today look down on mainlanders from their bones, and these people from the Central Plains look down on Longyou from their bones.
Third, Cao Wei's Tuntian strategy was not very suitable for the poor soil of Longyou, and the loyalty of longyou to the Han Dynasty was far greater than their loyalty to the Wei Dynasty.
Fourth, the Cao Wei regime was full of talents, focusing on talents in the Central Plains. Long Right's defenders had almost no possibility of moving in peace. Therefore, this is one of the reasons why Jiang Wei defected to Ji Han and was loyal to Ji Han. Jiang Wei was loyal, and the Jihan court surrendered, and did not forget to kill Deng Ai, plot against Zhong Hui, and kill Wei soldiers.
Sixth, the soldiers in Shuzhong are not to say that cavalry combat, even infantry combat is not as good as Cao Wei soldiers, but Shuzhong soldiers are experts in mountain warfare and dangerous terrain defense warfare. Longyou had a lot of mountainous terrain, and could avoid direct battles with the infantry and cavalry of the Cao Wei army.
Seventh, there was a great earthquake in Wudu during the Eastern Han Dynasty, which diverted the Han River into the Western Han River, and even if the advance was frustrated, the Han army could quickly withdraw from the Western Han River to Hanzhong within 2 days, allowing the soldiers to breathe a sigh of relief and quickly deploy in Hanzhong.
Seeing that Zhuge Liang attacked the east and the west with such a loud voice, Wei Ting also understood Zhuge Liang's intentions, and Cao Rui personally sat in Chang'an, allowing Zhang Jaw to quickly increase the number of Long Right with 50,000 Central Plains elite troops.
Photo: Zhang Gao
Although Zhuge Liang had already taken three counties at this time, the important cities of Tianshui County, Shangyi and JiXian, were still in the hands of Cao Wei, and the resistance of Longxi County in the west was also quite fierce, and only by taking the two fortified cities of Shangyi and Jixian could there be a way to negotiate with Cao Cao's reinforcements; and only by taking Longxi County could he and the Qiang people lead the line to resist Cao Wei. However, resistance in Places such as Longxi and Shangyi was fierce, and Cao Wei's army was about to be killed from Longdao. What to do?
At this time, the good news came that the next batch of grain and grass would arrive within 10 days and could be used for 3 months. And Places such as Shangyi in Longxi are about to run out of grain. Xiaobian added that the first Northern Expedition Zhuge Liang prepared for a long time, so the supply of grain and grass was sufficient. Moreover, after taking the three counties, there was also food replenishment. The Ji Han army could fight a protracted war with the Wei army.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang thought so, now as long as he holds the three counties, and cuts off the connection between Cao Wei's army and Longxi, so that Longxi and Shangyi can cut off grain, then the cities can go down in one fell swoop. However, the 50,000-strong army led by Zhang Jaw was constantly coming from Long Dao, and it seemed that zhuge Liang would not be given the opportunity to take Zhucheng, what to do? Zhuge Liang thought about the main point of the LongDao with tens of thousands of people, the street kiosk. It is good to hold for 10 days, 10 days to cut off the grain in Zhucheng, to hold for a month to take the entire five counties of Longyou, and then to ally with the Qiang people and force away the Cao Wei army.
Many people said that Zhuge Liang made a mistake at this time, that is, to let Ma Mo guard the street pavilion. As for how to defend, Zhuge Liang has a unique trick, that is, Zhuge Lian's crossbow, Zhuge Lian's crossbow has strong firepower, which was specially invented by Zhuge Liang for defensive operations, and the role of the three Northern Expeditions is outstanding. Moreover, Zhuge Liang only asked Ma Mo to keep it for 10 days. As long as Ma Mo made this contribution, he could naturally become Zhuge Liang's military successor, and Zhuge Liang would not have to work hard to stop between Wei Yan and Yang Yi's two thorns.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang asked Ma Mo and Wang Ping to go to the street pavilion to garrison, the good news was that the Han army arrived a day earlier than the Wei army because of the closer distance, and the bad news was that Ma Mo had violated Zhuge Liang's orders and stationed the army on a lonely mountain south of the road.
So why did Matthew have to camp in the mountains? Xiaobian felt that Ma Mo was a southerner, a xiangyang person in today's Hubei Province, and the mountain soil in the south was red, and there were streams in the mountains. Ma Mo's idea was that the Han soldiers would give full play to the advantages of mountain warfare and not fight the Wei army on the flat land. But the street kiosk was to the north, the soil on the mountain was yellow, and the mountain that Ma Mo was guarding was far from the river, making it inconvenient to get water. People who lack water for one day are uncomfortable, and two days of lack of water is a bit of a problem, and the deputy general Wang Ping bitterly advised Ma Mo to be useless, so he sent a fast horse to quickly tell the minister about the matter.
Xiao Bian added that Ma Mo had combat experience, he had served as a Taishou of Yue, where the Southern Barbarians gathered, but Ma Mo did a good job there and quelled the rebellion many times. In the Battle of Zhuge Liangping's Southern Central, Ma Mo also made great contributions. Liu Bei felt that Ma Mo was unreliable before that, when Ma Mo had not yet shown any military ability.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang knew Ma Mo's ability, but he didn't know that Ma Mo would make such a mistake at this critical moment, master over-the-top moves, any mistake was fatal, and by the time Wang Ping sent someone to report, everything was already too late, Zhang Hao had already surrounded the Han legion. That night, Ma Mo broke out of the siege and made another mistake, that is, to abandon the soldiers and escape. Fortunately, Wang Ping made a plan to empty the city, Zhang Gao also felt that the street pavilion was important, the Han army would come to retake, and there was no direct attack at once, Wang Ping was able to withdraw smoothly with the remaining troops, and Zhuge Liang took advantage of this moment to withdraw more than 1,000 families in Xixian County to Hanzhong without danger, and cut off the horses with tears.
Reading the history so far, xiaobian could not help but sigh, if Ma Mo held the street pavilion for ten days, perhaps Zhuge Liang's strategy would be realized. If Ma Mo had guarded the street pavilion and made great contributions, he would have been able to share the worries of Zhuge Liang, so that Zhuge Liang would not have to personally damage his body, so that he could live for a few more years, and perhaps he could lead the Han army and Cao Wei to a decisive battle in Guanzhong in his lifetime, and restore Guanzhong. Unfortunately, once the street kiosks failed, they all became a bubble, and the big Han could no longer return to the old capital!
This article is written by "Water Town Sun Wenli", the special author of "The Heroic Dream of famous generals through the ages", and it is forbidden to reprint it without the author's authorization