Who is Zhuge Liang's opponent? I am afraid that most people think that Zhuge Liang's opponent is Sima Yi, because during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang had always faced Sima Yi, and although Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang did not achieve a great advantage in battle, they finally killed Zhuge Liang, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Sima Yi was Zhuge Liang's opponent. But from a historical point of view, Sima Yi was not Zhuge Liang's old rival, Zhuge Liang only fought with Sima Yi for the first time during the Third Northern Expedition, and the two had never fought before. So who is Zhuge Liang's real old rival? There are only these two people, so who are these two people? Why is he called Zhuge Liang's old rival?
Great General Cao Zhen
During Zhuge Liang's first two Northern Expeditions, he met Cao Zhen, a general of Cao Wei. If you look at it from the perspective of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Zhen really does not have the ability to be Zhuge Liang's opponent. But from a historical point of view, Cao Zhen's opponent as Zhuge Liang is more than enough.
In 226 AD, Zhuge Liang began the First Northern Expedition after quelling the Rebellion in Southern China. At the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang claimed to send troops from Xiegu Road to fight Wei, and Zhuge Liang's purpose was to attract Cao Wei's army to Xiegu Road, and also to stagger and confront Cao Zhen. Zhuge Liang ordered Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi to send troops as suspects to attack Qishan. At this time, Cao Zhen's large army of Cao Wei was engaged in battle with Zhao Yun at Xiegu Road. It didn't take long for Cao Zhen to discover that it was not shu han's main army that was fighting him, so he immediately sent Zhang Gao to the street pavilion to block another large army of Shu Han. Because Zhao Yun was defeated by Cao Zhen, Cao Zhen was really supporting the hui army, and had to withdraw his army in order to avoid being attacked by the enemy Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition also ended in failure.
After repelling Zhuge Liang, Cao Zhen concluded that Zhuge Liang's Second Northern Expedition would attack Chen Cang, so he ordered Hao Zhao and Wang Sheng to strengthen and raise the city walls. In the next year, Zhuge Liang did indeed send troops to Chen Cang, because Cao Zhen expected the enemy to take the lead, and Zhuge Liang attacked Chen Cang for a long time and could not take it and had no choice but to retreat. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that zhen yiliang punished Qishan, and then came out from Chen Cang. It was the generals Hao Zhao and Wang Sheng who guarded Chen Cang and ruled the city. Liangguo encircled Chen Cang, which was already prepared but could not be overcome. Therefore, Cao Zhen was Zhuge Liang's old opponent, and Cao Zhen still had a certain study of Zhuge Liang's military trajectory, otherwise he could not face Zhuge Liang on the frontal battlefield and defeat him.
Cao Wei's general Guo Huai
Speaking of Guo Huai in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it may not be a very important role, but in history, Guo Huai caused Zhuge Liang a lot of trouble, and Zhuge Liang's death can be said to be caused by Guo Huai to a certain extent, so what did Guo Huai and Zhuge Liang go through?
During Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, Zhang Gao was responsible for blocking the Shu Han army, while Guo Huai's task was to pretend to attack Liucheng, contain the Shu army, and defeat Zhuge Liang's combined Qiang, for these reasons Zhuge Liang's first defeat.
Because the Second Northern Expedition had been arranged by Cao Zhen in advance, Zhuge Liang and Guo Huai did not fight. At the time of the Third Northern Expedition, the two began to fight again. As a rescue army, Guo Huai encountered Zhuge Liang's Shu Han army and was defeated by Zhuge Liang. This time Zhuge Liang won the second county. During Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition, Guo Huai, Fei Yao, and others attacked Zhuge Liang and were defeated by Zhuge Liang, who took the opportunity to harvest ripe wheat. This caused a shortage of food for Cao Wei's army, and Guo Huai persuaded the local Qiang people to implement the policy of combining Enwei and Wei to solve the problem of Cao Wei's military food difficulties, and Zhuge Liang had to retire because of the problem of military food.
The last time Zhuge Liang was done, Sima Yi once said: "If Zhuge Liang sends troops from Wugong and goes east along the mountain, it is indeed terrible; if he goes west to Wuzhangyuan, the generals will be fine" And the place where Zhuge Liang sent his troops is indeed Wuzhangyuan. As for Sima Yi's military ability, Cao Wei's generals were very convinced, and they were very happy to hear Sima Yi's words, but only Guo Huai was very sad, why? The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records: If Liang crosses the Wei Dengyuan, even the north mountain of the army, isolates the Long Dao, and shakes the people and Yi, this is not the benefit of the country.
To put it simply, if Zhuge Liang sent an army to Wuzhangyuan to obtain the Northern Plains, it would bring great harm. When Sima Yi heard that this was indeed the case, he sent Guo Huai to the Northern Plains, just as Guo Huai expected that Zhuge Liang would indeed want to compete for the Northern Plains, because of Guo Huai's advance preparations, Zhuge Liang could only abandon the Northern Plains and attack the Western Wei to the west. Guo Huai believed that Ge Liang's desire to attack the Western Siege was false, and that attacking Yang was true. Guo Huai once again successfully prejudged Zhuge Liang's route of advance, because the Wei army was prepared at Yangsui, and Zhuge Liang was defeated again. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that Huai Du thought that this was seen in the west, and if he wanted to make the officers and soldiers respond to it again, he would attack Yang Sui'er. Its night fruit attacked the sun and could not be prepared.
In August of the same year, Zhuge Liang died in Wuzhangyuan, Zhuge Liang's last Northern Expedition, if it were not for Guo Huai's successful prediction, Zhuge Liang might have made some achievements, because of Guo Huai's prediction, Zhuge Liang's last Northern Expedition, was also without any results, and finally ended in Wuzhangyuan depressed. Looking at Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, four of them met Guo Huai, and the war between the two was won and lost, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Guo Huai was Zhuge Liang's old rival.
In summary, Zhuge Liang's old opponents were Cao Zhen and Guo Huai, and Cao Allah zhuge liang suffered a lot of losses in the first two northern expeditions of Zhuge Liang, and although Guo Huai did not take advantage of Zhuge Liang's third and fourth northern expeditions, in Zhuge Liang's last northern expedition, because of Guo Huai's successful prediction, Zhuge Liang was physically and mentally exhausted, and finally died in Wuzhangyuan. So, from a historical point of view, who is Zhuge Liang's opponent is more appropriate?
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