Jiang Wei won against the sky and conquered the Central Plains, which shows that he is an idealist, but idealism does not mean that he is stupid. On the contrary, Jiang Wei was well aware of the strength of the State of Wei and also knew that the state of Shu was limited, and the problems he faced during the Northern Expedition were greater than those of Zhuge Liang. If the Shu Han of Zhuge Liang's era could still defeat their opponents in a field battle and win a decisive victory, then in the Jiang Wei era, with the passage of time, coupled with Cao Wei's decades-long recuperation policy since Cao Pi and Cao Rui, the national strength of the two countries of Wei and Shu was further expanded, especially in terms of population and financial resources. By the time Jiang Wei commanded the Northern Expedition of the Shu army, it was almost only against Cao Wei's Northwest Corps at a time.
Pictured: Statue of Jiang Wei at the Marquis of Pingxiang Ancestral Hall
So how do you compete with increasingly powerful opponents? Jiang Wei made strategic adjustments. "Wei thinks that he practices Western customs and bears both his talents and martial arts, and wants to seduce the Qiang and Hu as wings, saying that he can be cut off from the west of the Long." Strictly speaking, Jiang Wei's strategy and Zhuge Liang's strategic goal of leaving the Qi Mountains were the same, that is, to seize the Longyou region and then control Guanzhong, and if this could not be done, the population would be plundered through war and the gap in national strength between the two countries would be reduced. But as time goes on, the opponent's strength becomes stronger and stronger, and the battle becomes more difficult to fight. If Zhuge Liang could still adopt mobile warfare, then Jiang Wei must adopt guerrilla warfare more thoroughly.
Jiang Wei added a large number of Qiang and Qiang cavalry to the Tiger Infantry Army, which was originally mainly infantry, which greatly improved the mobility of his army, and the goal of sending troops was the same as that of the ethnic minorities, that is, to plunder the population and property of the Yongliang area and not to occupy the land. After robbing the place, let Cao Wei invest financial resources and manpower to recover, and then rob it himself, repeatedly many times, so Jiang Weijiu cut down the Central Plains, almost every year in the war, but the time is relatively short, the damage to the Shu state's economy is relatively small, it is very good to play the purpose of raising war with war, and Zhuge Liang often commands 100,000 troops to confront each other for several months, which is not the same.
The constant harassment and attacks of the Shu army in the Longxi region caused Cao Wei a great headache, but Cao Wei never fought back against Shu Han, because Cao Wei himself had internal problems at this time. That is, the struggle for power and profit between the Shi clan and the Cao Wei imperial family was finally concentrated in the political struggle between Sima Yi and Cao Shuang. Since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the shi clan has controlled the economic foundation of the entire society by controlling the land, controlling the system of electing officials by controlling the "YueDan Commentary" and other forms of public opinion, and controlling the army by controlling the local manpower. The support of these forces for Cao Cao allowed Cao Cao to rule the north, but Cao Cao's "meritocracy" policy made the warriors very unhappy, so Cao Cao's control of the north was always unstable during his lifetime. It was not until Cao Pi implemented the Nine Pins Zhongzheng system, and the shi clan could monopolize the power of officials by virtue of their birth, that Cao Wei took root in the north. However, because the origin of the Cao Wei imperial family itself was not a well-known and upright family among the scholars, but rather the descendants of eunuchs, the scholars despised this imperial family at the root, and only when they were subdued by Cao Cao with force and bribed by Cao Pi with official positions, they did not dare to say anything. But as the Cao clan's imperial talent withered, the Shi clan finally saw an opportunity to control the army.
Cao Wei's military power was initially in the hands of the imperial family: the first generation of Xiahou Huan, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, and Cao Hong, the second generation of Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and Xiahou Shang, and the third generation of Cao Shuang and Xiahou Xuan. In addition to these royal families, Cao Wei's military forces also absorbed a large number of Han warriors, and the famous "Five Sons of Liang Generals": Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Zhang Gao, Yu Ban, and Le Jin were all Han. In the Cao Cao era, the Shi clan did not unify the army, until the Cao Pi era, the emergence of Sima Yi, so that the Shi clan began to control the military power; in the Cao Rui era, Sima Yi became a general in charge of the Yongliang Western Military Region. The imperial commanders withered away, making it difficult for military power to be in their hands. In particular, the third generation of Cao Shuang lacked military talent and prestige, but accepted Cao Ruituo as Cao Fang's assistant, and in front of Sima Yi, who had made great achievements in battle, Cao Shuang's position as a general was particularly bottomless. He needed battle merit, plus Jiang Wei had repeatedly violated the situation and was undercover, so he chose to attack the Shu kingdom.
In the seventh year of Yanxi (244 AD), the Cao Wei general Cao Shuang commanded hundreds of thousands of troops to attack the Shu state. Cao Shuang had four options for attacking the Shu state from Guanzhong as a rear base.
Chen CangDao, Zhuge Liang's favorite road of the Northern Expedition, the advantage of this road is that the road is flat and wide compared to other roads, and there are Yangping Pass cover in the rear, flank Wudu, Yinping two counties controlled by Shu Han for a long time, the grain road, the retreat road are the safest. Therefore, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition liked to take this road the most.
Meridian Valley Road, this is a road that Wei Yan proposed the Meridian Valley Miracle To take. This road is very dangerous and is not conducive to the advance of the large army. Wei Yan's strategy did not become a reality at that time, but in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, someone tried to take this road - gao Yingxiang, the king, and as a result, he met Sun Chuanting, the shaanxi governor of the Ming court, halfway through, and Gao Yingxiang himself was captured and the entire army was destroyed. It turns out that this path is really not easy to follow.
The advantages and problems of the remaining two roads are similar to those of the Chu Chu Road and the Luo Road – the journey is shorter than that of Chen Cang Road and the better way to walk than the Meridian Valley Road. One of the problems with both roads is that the exits are easily blocked from both ends, making it impossible for large armies to unfold.
Cao Shuang was not stupid, and he had obviously made a full analysis of the pros and cons of these four roads. The first thing to give up was the Meridian Valley Road, for the simple reason that there were more troops and the narrowness could not be unfolded. After that, Chen Cangdao was also abandoned, because although Chen Cangdao was easy to walk, but the Yangping Pass at the end of the road was really difficult to attack, and the Weiwu Emperor Cao Cao almost gave up, Cao Shuang himself knew that he was definitely inferior to his grandfather (Cao Zhen was cao cao's relative's son, Cao Cao's adopted son), and the two counties of Shangyinping and Wudu could not be quickly captured, and the right wing and retreat were not safe for the Wei army. The remaining two roads can be directly connected to the core area of Hanzhong, Nanzheng, and the Luoluo Road will pass through the XingshiShan Bypass, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. But in Cao Shuang's view, the problem with the churn road was that his father Cao Zhen had walked this road in the past, and as a result, he was trapped, so if he walked again, he could not reach the strategic abruptness, so after excluding all other options, Cao Shuang embarked on the Luo Road. This official for three generations was determined to lead his army to the peak of his life.
When the Shu state discovered the Wei army, "the hanzhong garrison was less than thirty thousand, and the generals were shocked." (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Wang Ping). Hanzhong was originally the base camp of the Shu army, with good soldiers gathered, and Zhuge Liang's 100,000 troops of the Northern Expedition were stationed here for a long time. However, just a year before the Wei army attacked, Jiang Huan of the Shu state had just entrusted the shu state's base camp from Hanzhong Fu County to Wang Ping, and handed over the heavy responsibility of guarding the town of Hanzhong to Wang Ping: "For six years, Huan still lived in Fu, and baiping the former superintendent of the army and the general of Zhenbei, and unified Hanzhong. (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Wang Ping) From this point of view, the timing of Cao Wei's attack was very correct. It's a pity that the right timing is not the right commander. Wang Ping, as a Shu Han general, was not an ordinary person, and when Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition failed, Ma Mo was killed, Zhao Yun was punished, Zhuge Liang himself was degraded, and only Wang Ping was rewarded and promoted. Later, in many northern expeditions, Wang Ping resisted Zhang Guo and did not lose the wind in the confrontation with this famous general: "Zhang Gao attacked Ping, Ping insisted on not moving, and Gao could not be overcome." ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Wang Ping Biography) makes people feel that if Zhuge Liang had taken Wang Ping as the right and Ma Mo as the deputy to guard the street pavilion, history might have been rewritten.
In the face of Cao Shuang's army, the generals of the Hanzhong Front were in a mess: "Now the strength is not enough to resist the enemy, when the two cities of Han and Le are firmly defended, when thieves are ordered to enter, Birjian and the Fu army are saved." (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Wang Ping). This method was to let the opponent enter the hinterland of Hanzhong and garrison the elite troops in the two fortresses newly built in the Zhuge Liang era, the "Han and Le Ercheng", to wait for help. How strong are these two fortresses? Later, Wei Guozhong would attack Yangping Pass and besiege these two fortresses until the fall of the Shu kingdom! This is the safest way to do this.
But the battle-hardened veteran Wang Ping was unusually calm, just like before the Battle of the Street Pavilion, he calmly analyzed the situation: "Otherwise. Hanzhong went to Fuyu for thousands of miles. If a thief is closed, he will be a curse. Now it is advisable to send Liu Hujun and Du to join the army according to the situation, and Ping will refuse later; if the thieves are divided into gold, Ping will lead a thousand people to come to him, and birjian and Fujun will march to the top of this plan. (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Wang Ping). At that time, the main force of the Shu army led by Jiang Huan and Fei Yi was in Fu County, too far from Hanzhong, and if the two fortresses of Han and Le could be maintained, but Hanzhong would be completely lost, such a situation would open the door of the Shu kingdom, and if the people's hearts were floating, it would be difficult to cope. Wang Ping's analysis is not only to know the soldiers, but also to know the situation. At the same time, he once again came up with his own plan: occupy xingshi mountain, seal the luoluo pass, and block Cao Shuang's more than 100,000 troops in the valley, and at the same time, in order to prevent Cao Shuang from possible detours, Wang Ping personally led a reserve of thousands of people to defend the golden gorge and buy time for the arrival of reinforcements.
I don't know if Cao Shuang was unlucky, the army encountered heavy rain for dozens of days in the Luo Road, and it was difficult to reach the end of the road, and it was blocked by Xingshi Mountain, and it could not advance, and it could not retreat. The Tiger Infantry Army under Jiang Wei and other Shu reinforcements rushed to the Hanzhong front. When Cao Shuang saw this, it was very unhappy. However, there was no way, he could only lead the army to withdraw to Guanzhong, but the Wei army suffered little losses in this battle, the main loss was the horses and vehicles requisitioned from Yongliang, which made the entire Guanzhong area exhausted, and it was really hard work for decades, and returned to the pre-liberation period overnight. The State of Shu once again successfully repelled the second large-scale attack of the State of Wei on itself by virtue of its time and geography.
However, this battle had a huge impact on both Wei and Shu. Cao Shuang's defeat on the side of Cao Wei proved his incompetence to the people of the time, Cao Shuang accelerated the pace of suppressing Sima Yi for his own rule, but had lost the support of all the clans, and finally experienced the Gaopingling Incident, was eradicated by Sima Yi in one fell swoop, from then on, the Cao Wei clan no longer held the military power, the Sima family on behalf of the clan has become the de facto master of the Cao Wei Empire, and all that remains is to perform a formality.
The impact of this battle on the internal strategic approach of the Shu state may also be fatal. Because after this battle, Jiang Wei made a review of Wei Yan and Wang Ping's tactics: "In the beginning, the first lord stayed in Wei Yan's town of Hanzhong, and all the real soldiers surrounded them to defend against foreign enemies, and if the enemy came to attack, they could not enter. And the Battle of Xingshi, Wang Pinghan rejected Cao Shuang, and all inherited this system. (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Jiang Wei) However, Jiang Wei believes that "thinking that the wrong defense of the siege, although it is in line with the meaning of the "heavy door" of the Zhou Yi, is suitable for resisting the enemy and does not gain great profits." (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Jiang Wei) Means that although such a passive defense can block the opponent back, it cannot annihilate the opponent, and Jiang Wei wants to fight a war of annihilation, and he draws up his own battle plan: "If the enemy is not heard, all the sieges will gather troops in the valley, retreat to the two cities of Han and Le, so that the enemy will not be able to enter the peace, and the town will be guarded to defend it." On the day of trouble, let the rangers march together to serve the void. The enemy is unable to conquer the key problems, the wild is not scattered in the valley, and the grain in Qianli County is naturally tired. On the day of retreat, and then the cities come out together, fighting with the rangers, and this art of annihilation is also. ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Jiang Wei Biography) This plan is to lure the enemy deeper, strengthen the stronghold to hinder the enemy's rear supply, once the enemy retreats to the rear of the strong stronghold can limit the opponent's retreat to a few small roads, and eventually annihilate it, forming a great annihilation war. This method of warfare is somewhat similar to the defensive tactics of German Marshal Modell of the Soviet-German War, establishing a strong fulcrum as a defensive line support, when the defensive line is breached, it does not retreat, but uses the strong fulcrum to continue to contain the opponent's other troops, when the enemy breaks through the concentrated force of the defensive line, resisting step by step, when the opponent loses the attacking edge, immediately organize armored troops to counterattack from both flanks, surround and annihilate the prominent enemy, and then restore the defensive line. There are two main points of this tactic, one is that the defensive support point is strong enough, and the other is that the strength of the counterattack should be strong enough and fast enough.
Can Jiang Wei's strategic initiative of "gathering soldiers and gathering troops" be successful?
No, because Jiang Wei was difficult to support alone, and the famous general Wang Ping, whose ability was not below him, died four years later. Without Wei Yan and without Wang Ping, Jiang Wei, the fire-fighting captain, was unable to defeat the enemy with two fists and four hands, and there were traitors in the rear, and as a result, the "gathering of soldiers and soldiers" became "opening the door and suppressing thieves", and finally defeated. This failure tells us that a good strategy that does not have enough talent to execute will become a worst strategy, laughing generously.