The story of the Three Kingdoms War in this issue is found in the 88th to 89th episodes of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which takes place during the "Four Captures of Meng", and the relevant characters are Zhuge Liang and Meng Yue. The synopsis is as follows:
After Zhuge Liang "captured Meng Yu three times", Meng Yue was still not convinced, and proposed to fight with Zhuge Liang again, and if he was captured, he surrendered with a dead heart. Zhuge Liang ordered the samurai to loosen meng's restraints and release him and the other captured chiefs of the caves. Before Meng Yu left, Zhao Yun and Wei Yan successively warned Meng Yu. Meng Yue did not dare to speak out, and Nono left.
After Meng Yu returned to Yinkeng Cave, he sent people with gold jewels to Bafan and Ninety-Three Dian and the Barbarian Tribes, and borrowed hundreds of thousands of troops to prepare to launch a counterattack against Zhuge Liang. After Zhuge Liang received this news, under the reminder of Lü Kai, the main force of the army immediately crossed the Xi'er River and set up camps on both sides.
Not long after, Meng Yu personally led 10,000 sword and brand badges to fight in front of the camp. Zhuge Liang ordered no battle behind closed doors and to investigate the enemy situation at a high place in the camp. A few days later, Zhuge Liang found that the enemy army was slack, so he summoned Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Wang Ping, Ma Zhong and other generals to teach him the opportunity.
Another day later, when Meng Yue came to the Shu army camp again to fight, he found that the Shu army camp was empty, but there were hundreds of grain and grass carts left in the camp. Meng believed that Eastern Wu or Cao Wei had launched an attack, forcing Zhuge Liang to withdraw his troops. Therefore, Meng was ordered to occupy the camp and camp on the south bank of the Xi'er River. However, Meng Yuwan did not expect that when his army moved forward, the rear troops were empty. Zhuge Liang took the opportunity to secretly mobilize a large army into the rear of the rebel army and form a pinch attack on Meng Yu.
Sure enough, after the Shu army completed the encirclement of the rebels, it immediately launched a general attack. The rebels suffered heavy casualties and fled in all directions, and Meng Yu was also pursued by Ma Dai's troops. When Meng Yu fled to the mountain pass, Zhuge Liang suddenly appeared. Meng Yu fell into the trap pit and was captured by Wei Yansheng. At this point, Zhuge Liang captured Meng Yu alive for the fourth time.
As I mentioned in my previous article, whether the "Seven Captures of Meng" are true or false in history is still inconclusive, but one thing is certain, that is, Meng Yu was indeed captured alive by Zhuge Liangsheng. So, where was zhuge liang's capture of Meng alive? The novel gives a location in this episode: the Xi'er River. Is this a literary fiction or a historical truth? To examine this problem, we must first look at the authenticity of the Xi'er River.
The first thing to affirm is that the Xi'er River not only really existed in history, but its name has been used to this day. The Xi'er River is located in Dali, the capital of present-day Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province. The river is 23 km long and is a tributary of the Lancang River. If Zhuge Liang really captured Meng in this life, it would mean that Zhuge Liang had visited Dali during the Southern Expedition.
So, is there any record in the historical records that Zhuge Liang visited Dali during the Southern Expedition? Judging from the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by the Historian Chen Shou of the Western Jin Dynasty alone, there is no trace of it. The "Spring and Autumn of the Han Dynasty" is only briefly mentioned: "(Zhuge Liang) went to Dianchi Lake." ”
However, in the literature of the Western Jin Dynasty, there are also some relatively clear records. For example, zuo Si, a great poet of the Western Jin Dynasty, once mentioned in the "Shu Dufu": "Shu Zhuge Liang's Pingnanye, the battle is the south of the water." The water has three islands known as Kinsuo, Akamun, and Tamaki. "The three islands mentioned here are in today's Erhai Sea. The location of the Erhai Sea is in the Dali area, belonging to the Lancang River system, and is in the upper reaches of the Xi'er River.
In the following more than a thousand years, many documents have appeared in Zhuge Liang's southern expedition to the Xi'er River and captured Meng Yu alive. Here are a few examples. The "Zhao Zhou Zhi" quotes the "Tongjian" as saying: "In the three years of Jianxing in the Shu Han Dynasty, Zhuge Wuhou Marched South, and Shici Baiyan. The Yunnan Beizheng Zhi quotes the Book of Barbarians as saying: "Zhuge Liang, the Marquis of ShuZhongwu, cut down the southern barbarians, and in May he crossed the lu in the north of Nongdong City. The "Collection of Sayings of Ancient Dian" says: "Zhuge Wu Marquis marched on Yongchang and returned to Baiyan. The places mentioned in these records, such as Baiyan and Nongdongcheng, are all in the territory of today's Dali. In addition, there are some documents that mention that Zhuge Liang once came to Dali and captured Meng Yu alive here.
In addition to the above documents, there are several cultural relics that can prove that Zhuge Liang did visit Dali during the Southern Expedition. In the 1950s, an inscription in the Hongshan Stone Buddha Temple in Fengyi, Dali, mentioned: "The head of the Stone Buddha was destroyed by soldiers during Zhuge Liang's southern expedition." "In addition, there used to be a stone monument in Dali Tuanshan Park. The inscription on it has three lines. On the left is "Guangxu Bingwu Mengchun", in the middle is "Zhuge Wuhou Capture Meng", and on the right is "Zhao Zhou Mu Wuchang Xiong Chen Chang Lord" These documents and objects show that during the historical Battle of Nanzhong, Zhuge Liang not only led his troops to Dali, but also captured Meng Yu in this life.
Reference Books: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Spring and Autumn of the Han Dynasty, Chronicle of Zhao Zhou, Collection of Ancient Dian Sayings, Romance of the Three Kingdoms