Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition used a strategy called: attack the east and the west, hold the main road, block the enemy reinforcements, and harvest the city.
1, the sound of east and west
Zhuge Liang took an army led by Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi as suspected soldiers, and with great fanfare sent troops to praise the slope road and go out of the Ji Valley, attracting the main force of Cao Wei Guanzhong and hiding his true purpose, and then Zhuge Liang led the main force of the Shu army to take qishan Road, and from the later results, the real purpose of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition was to capture the five counties of Longyou.
There were five roads from Hanzhong to Guanzhong, from west to east, qishan road, Chen cang road, chu chu road, Luo Luo road, meridian valley road, qishan road to the north was Cao Wei's Longyou region, Chen Cang road to the north was Shaanxi's Baoji (then called Chen Cang), the north side of the chu chuan road was Shaanxi's Mei County, the north side of the Luo Road was Shaanxi's Zhou Solstice, and the north side of the Meridian Valley Road was directly connected to Chang'an (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi).
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition
Zhuge Liang's main force was in the westernmost Qishan Road, and Zhao Yun's suspected soldiers were in the middle of the Chu Chu Road, the distance between the two was more than 300 kilometers, and the more than 100,000 main forces of Cao Zhen attracted by Zhao Yun were also in the Area of Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi, even if the main force of the Wei Army later discovered Zhuge Liang's true purpose, from the Shaanxi Zhouzhi area to the Longyou region, the fastest cavalry would take 4 to 5 days, and the infantry time would be longer, 7 to 10 days, Zhuge Liang was fighting this time difference.
2. Hold the main road and block the enemy reinforcements
From Chang'an at that time through Shaanxi Zhouzhi, Chen Cang to longyou area, there were two roads, one was a big road, called Longshan Road, that is, Guanlong Avenue, suitable for the march of the army, and later Zhang Gao led 50,000 troops to take longshan road, longshan road to longyou area only one pass, this pass is the street pavilion, Ma Mo is guarding here, Ma Mo guarded the main traffic road into Longyou in Guanzhong, the purpose is only one, that is, to prevent Cao Wei's reinforcements from entering Longyou.
Five Shu roads from Hanzhong to Guanzhong
The other road is a small road, called Weishui Road, it is more difficult to walk, the whole journey along the Weishui to the west, the road is rugged, the mountains are high and the valley is deep, it is okay to walk a small group of troops, if the number of troops is large, this road is difficult to walk, the general march will not take this road, the end of this road is the Qishan Road on the Shangyi, this place was originally the stronghold set up by the Wei army, but Zhuge Liang surrounded this place after leaving the Qishan Road, which was also the stronghold used by the Shu army to block the Reinforcements of the Wei Army.
From here, we can see Zhuge Liang's true purpose, guanzhong into Longyou's main traffic routes are all controlled by the Shu army, Zhuge Liang just wants to take advantage of the terrain and geographical advantages to block all the Wei reinforcements coming from the direction of Guanzhong, and then personally lead the main force of the Shu army to capture the five counties of Longyou.
3. Harvest the city
The five counties of Longyou are: Longxi County, Guangwei County, Nan'an County, Tianshui County, and Anding County. Its geographical range was in the southern part of present-day Gansu Province, where the location was very important, from Guanzhong to Liangzhou must pass through the Longyou region, once Zhuge Liang controlled the Longyou region, it cut off the connection between Cao Wei Guanzhong and the Liangzhou region, which was a very important step of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition.
Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition
The task of harvesting the five counties of Longyou was personally undertaken by Zhuge Liang, and as soon as Zhuge Liang led the main force of Shu Han to Longyou, the three counties of Nan'an County, Tianshui County, and Anding County surrendered, only Longxi County and Guangwei County were unwilling to surrender, and when the Shu army attacked Longxi County, Longxi County's Taishou You Chu said to the Shu army:
If you can block Longxi for a month, so that the Cao Wei reinforcements in Guanzhong can't reach here, my Longxi County will surrender without you attacking, and if you can't do it, you won't be able to succeed.
Why did You Chu say that?
The reason is very simple, the strength of the five counties of Longyou can not resist zhuge Liang's main force of the Shu army, although there are five counties in Longyou, but most of them are county soldiers, the strength is small and not strong, Cao Wei's main forces in Guanzhong are concentrated near Chang'an and near the five roads from Hanzhong to Guanzhong, of course, Qishan Road is also there, but it is surrounded by Zhuge Liang's main force.
Battle of the Street Kiosk
Zhuge Liang led the main force of the Shu Han regime, in addition to Zhao Yun and Ma Chen, there were at least 30,000 or 40,000 people, at this time the only way to rescue the Cao Wei army that could rescue Longyou was from Liangzhou south, in fact, when Zhuge Liang attacked Longyou, Liangzhou Assassin Shi Xumiao had already sent an army and Jincheng Taishou to lead an army to attack the Shu army in Nan'an County, and achieved some victories.
For Zhuge Liang, he was not worried about the Wei army in the direction of Liangzhou, because the strength of the entire Liangzhou was not strong, and Liangzhou still had to defend the Hu nomads in the northwest, and it was impossible to pour out the nest to rescue, even if all the Wei troops in Liangzhou arrived, it would take time, Zhuge Liang was fighting the time difference, and he could take all five counties of Longyou before the arrival of the Wei army reinforcements, and then he could rely on the supply of the city and the city to resist the Wei reinforcements.
Ma Mo Shou Street Kiosk
Therefore, the most important thing in the whole war was the street pavilion guarded by Ma Mo, which determined the success of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition war, in fact, shou jie ting was not only a general of Ma Mo, but also Wang Ping, Wei Yan, Gao Xiang and other generals, Wang Ping was Ma Mo's deputy general, Wei Yan led an army to guard the valley on the right side of the street pavilion, Gao Xiang led an army to guard the city of Lieliu on the left side of the street pavilion, Ma Mo was the main general, Ma Mo was defeated, Wei Yan was blocked in the valley by Zhang Hao, Gao Xiang was defeated by Guo Huai, and only Wang Ping used a ruse to block Zhang Gao.
Looking back at Zhuge Liang's overall strategy in the First Northern Expedition, zhuge liang thought of all the problems that could be thought of, but there was only one problem he did not expect: Ma Mo actually gave up the road to set up the village, took it upon himself to go up the mountain and camped, failed to block Zhang Gao's army, and lost the street pavilion in just a few days.
Zhuge Liang used the wrong person
As soon as the street pavilion was lost, the Wei army reinforcements entered Longyou from the street pavilion to reinforce the five counties of Longyou, zhuge Liang wanted to capture the five counties of Longyou again, and it was impossible for Zhuge Liang to take the five counties of Longyou, and at the same time, after the loss of the street pavilion, the strategy of the Shu army fell into a serious passive realm, if the Wei army went south along the Qishan Road to cut off the retreat of the Shu army, Zhuge Liang's main force scattered in the five counties of Longyou would be cut off from the way back, there was a danger of the whole army being destroyed, Zhuge Liang saw this danger, so after learning that Ma Mo lost the street pavilion, he immediately abandoned the long right five groups and retreated in full.
The person who made a great contribution to Zhuge Liang's time to retreat was Wang Ping, who led a thousand people to block Zhang Gao's army with a plan, so that Zhang Gao did not dare to take advantage of the victory to pursue, and the Shu army still controlled the Qishan Road south of Jieting, until Zhuge Liang led the main force to retreat safely, and since then, Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition has been abandoned.
So the question is, if Ma Mo guarded the street pavilion, then Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition would definitely be successful?
The answer is yes.
Position of the long right
If Ma Mo blocked Zhang Guo's main force, it would not take long, just like Longxi Taishou You Chu said, as long as he blocked for a month, Zhuge Liang could harvest the five counties of Longyou, capture all the cities, and after taking the city, Zhuge Liang could rely on these five counties to provide supplies, occupy the city, and at the same time connect with Qishan Dao and become the control area of Shu Han.
So how will Wei Jun react?
How Zhang Gao could not take the street pavilion, he would definitely think of other ways, WeishuiDao was a choice, but because the road was difficult to walk, it was also strictly defended by Zhuge Liang's troops, and it was difficult to break through, so he could only go north from Guanzhong to go around in a circle through Ningxia to Reach Liangzhou, and then join forces with Cao Wei Liangzhou's army to attack Longyou, so that it would take more time, more than a month.
The Three Kingdoms were established, and Long Right could cut off liangzhou's connection with Guanzhong
Then during this period, Zhuge Liang took the five counties of Longyou with the main force of the Shu army, and then Zhuge Liang cut off the direct connection between Cao Wei Liangzhou and Guanzhong, and then Zhuge Liang would run the five counties of Longyou and consolidate the occupied area, on the one hand, to block the Wei army from the Guanzhong region, and on the other hand, to attack Liangzhou, because Liangzhou at this time was the eye of Longyou, which was also a small strategy in Zhuge Liang's entire Northern Expedition strategy.
If Liangzhou is attacked, Cao Wei is still difficult to rescue, Guanlong Avenue can not go, supplies can only take a long detour, and the effect is not good, Liangzhou can only fight alone, the final result is that just like the five counties of Longyou, Zhuge Liang will also take advantage of the geographical advantage and time difference to attack Liangzhou.
Zhuge Liang's northern expeditions
However, with the strength of The State of Wei, as soon as possible, it will attack the street pavilion, even if Ma Mo can hold the street pavilion for a month, he cannot hold it forever, the street pavilion has not reached the point of "one husband and one man, ten thousand people can not open", when Cao Wei eased up and showed his strength, he could still attack the street pavilion, but it was only a matter of time.
At this time, there may be a situation, that is, Cao Wei and Shu Han will repeatedly compete for this place of the street pavilion, after all, this is the main road to guard guanzhong and Longyou, and at the same time can cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Liangzhou, as long as Zhuge Liang can capture the five counties of Longyou, Shu Han and Cao Wei will repeatedly compete in the Qishan Road around the street pavilion, as for Liangzhou, as long as it loses contact with Guanzhong, sooner or later it will be controlled by Zhuge Liang.