The story of the Three Kingdoms War in this issue is found in the ninety-fourth episode of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which takes place during the Battle of Xincheng, and the relevant characters are Zhuge Liang, Meng Da, Sima Yi, Xu Huang, and Shen Tan. The synopsis is as follows:
Cao Zhen was repeatedly defeated by Zhuge Liang, causing Cao Rui to panic. Taifu Zhongxuan suggested that Sima Yi be used to lead the troops to take command against Zhuge Liang. Cao Rui immediately issued an edict to restore Sima Yi to the post of grand general of the Horse Riders, made him the Governor of Pingxi, and led the Nanyang soldiers and horses to Chang'an.
At this time, Zhuge Liang, who was sitting on the front line of Qishan, received news from Li Feng, The son of Li Yan, that the new city taishou Mengda, who had been forced to surrender to Cao, was suspected by Cao Wei and secretly sent a letter to Li Yan, hoping to return to Shu Han. Upon receiving this news, Zhuge Liang was very happy.
At this time, there was a detective Ma Lai report, saying that Cao Rui had reactivated Sima Yi. Zhuge Liang believed that this move would have a huge impact on Meng Da's return to Shu Han, so he wrote a letter and ordered people to quickly hand it over to Meng Da. Zhuge Liang mentioned in his letter that Sima Yi was about to go to the northwest battlefield, hoping that Meng Da could prepare in advance to prevent Sima Yi from sending troops to besiege the new city.
However, Meng Da was not impressed after reading Zhuge Liang's letter, and wrote back to tell Zhuge Liang that Sima Yi was still more than 1,200 miles away from the new city. Even if Sima Yi wanted to attack Xincheng, he had to return the plan to Cao Rui first, and wait for Cao Rui's edict to agree before acting. In this way, it will take more than a month. By that time, he had already built a fortification and could completely repel Sima Yi's attack.
After reading Meng Da's reply, Zhuge Liang threw the book to the ground, believing that once Sima Yi learned that Meng Da had raised an army, he would not play Cao Rui and directly raise an army to rush to the new city, and launch an attack on Meng Da within ten days. The development of the situation was also just as Zhuge Liang predicted, and after Sima Yi received the news that Meng Da was about to rebel from The Taishou Shenyi of Jincheng, it took only a few days to attack the city and surround Meng Da. In the end, with the assistance of the brothers Shen Tan and Shen Yi, Sima Yi attacked the new city and annihilated Meng Da. However, in this battle, the famous Cao Wei general Xu Huang was shot by Meng Da.
The battle of Sima Yi's annihilation of Meng Da mentioned in the novel did occur in history. But as opposed to real history, this battle has huge differences in terms of time, process, and related characters.
First, let's take a look at the outbreak of this war. According to the description of the novel, this battle broke out after Zhuge Liang "went out of Qishan". In real history, this battle appeared before Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the Book of Jin and other relevant historical records, Meng Da's idea of returning to shu Han began in the third year of Jianxing (225 AD), and this news was told to Zhuge Liang by Cao Wei's general Li Hong.
Zhuge Liang was overjoyed, and a year later asked Meng Da's former friend of life and death, Li Yan, to write a letter to Meng Da. Since then, the two sides have exchanged many letters. As far as Zhuge Liang was concerned, he hoped that Meng Da would raise an army before his first Northern Expedition was launched. In this way, cao Wei's overall deployment in the northwest battlefield could be disrupted, the suddenness of the attack could be achieved, and the strategic position of the eastern three counties could be occupied as soon as possible.
However, Zhuge Liang's wish eventually vanished, due to the repetition of Meng Da's attitude. As far as Meng Da was concerned, the reason why he wanted to return to Shu Han was because he was criticized by many Cao Wei ministers and worried that he would suffer bad luck. However, Meng Da had illusions about Cao Wei and hoped to regain Cao Wei's reuse.
But what Meng Da did not expect in his dreams was that the secret communication between himself and Shu Han was denounced by Wei Xingtai Shou Shenyi. Emperor Cao Rui of Wei sent Sima Yi to send troops to quell the rebellion. Sima Yi came to the Eastern Three Counties with lightning speed and destroyed Meng Da cleanly.
As for the re-activation of Sima Yi by Cao Rui mentioned in the novel, it is not a historical truth. In real history, Sima Yi was deeply valued by Cao Rui, and when he was in charge of the military forces of Jingzhou and Yuzhou, there was no so-called Ma Mo's contribution to Sima Yi's dismissal.
In the course of the battle of Xincheng described in the novel, there is another detail that impresses the reader, that is, the death of Xu Huang, a famous general of Cao Wei. As the vanguard of Sima Yi's army, the famous Xu Huang was shot and killed by Meng Da. In the real history, Xu Huang died of illness and died on the battlefield.
Finally, there is a question attached: When he realized that Sima Yi was about to besiege Meng Da, what method did Zhuge Liang use to help Meng Da solve his difficulties? The answer is only four words: see death and do not save. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms? Fei Shi's biography reads: "Wei sent Sima Xuanwang Zhengzhi, that is, to kill Da. Liang also has a sincere heart to reach no money, so he does not rescue also. ”
Why didn't Zhuge Liang save Meng Da? There are actually two reasons. One is "Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Zhuge Liang, mentioned in Fei's biography, believed that Meng Da was unreliable and decided not to send an army to the rescue. Another reason is related to the overall strategy of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. In Zhuge Liang's view, although the strategic location of the Eastern Three Counties region was important, it was close to Cao Wei's hinterland, and it was very easy for Cao Wei's main force to reinforce, and Zhuge Liang did not want to spend a long time with Cao Wei here.
Compared to the three eastern counties, the situation in the Northwest territories is completely different. The territory here is vast, and the Cao army cannot garrison heavy troops everywhere, which gives Zhuge Liang a huge space for flexible use of troops. In addition, the terrain in the northwest region was complex and mostly mountainous, which was conducive to the Infantry-based Northern Expeditionary Army of the Shu Han Dynasty, but it was not conducive to the elite cavalry units of the Cao Army. If the battlefield is placed in the area of the three eastern counties, the situation is just the opposite. This is also another important reason why Zhuge Liang did not rescue Meng Da.
Reference books: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Jin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms