Zhuge Liang was not short of grain, and the lack of food and retiring from the army was just an excuse to stabilize morale, and after Li Yan fought for power and profit, he lied about the lack of grain, in fact, in Zhuge Liang's five Northern Expeditions, there was never a shortage of grain.
After the failure of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, the difficulty coefficient of the Northern Expedition doubled, and Zhao Zilong, who was full of courage, died of illness, and Cao Wei also began to take strict precautions in the northwest region, and the garrisons were all high-quality talents of Cao Wei.
In December 228, Zhuge Liang led an army to ChenCang, and the Second Northern Expedition officially began.
Zhuge Liang's strategic goal this time: to achieve the goal of shutting down Long by occupying Chen Cang.
ChenCangCheng's precarious terrain is a necessary road between Guanzhong and Longxi, and as long as it is occupied here, it will certainly be able to achieve strategic goals.
However, after Zhuge Liang arrived at Chen Cang, he found that Chen Cangcheng had completely changed.
In just a few months, Chen Cangcheng was further strengthened, and the famous general Hao Zhao, while Chen Cangcheng was reinforced, he built a city on the basis of the original.
There are two cities connected, the upper city Qin Wen Gongzhu, and the lower city Wei general Hao Zhaozhu.
This means that the city that originally only needed to be fought once now needs to be fought twice, chen cangcheng is already dangerous and difficult to attack, and now it is even more "indestructible".
After Zhuge Liang saw the current Chen Cangcheng, he knew that he could not attack hard, and sent someone to say that Hao Zhao had surrendered in front of the battle, but Hao Zhao did not listen to the advice at all, and directly shot arrows to expel the lobbyists who said surrender.
In this way, Zhuge Liang's tens of thousands of troops attacked Chen Cang, who did not exceed 3,000 defenders for more than 20 days, but he was stunned that he did not fight.
When Zhuge Liang attacked Chen Cang, Cao Zhen sent Fei to come to Chen Cang with reinforcements.
Moreover, Cao Rui also sent Zhang Hao to rescue Chen Cang, who was already on the road.
Zhuge Liang eventually withdrew.
Later generations attributed the reason for this retreat to a lack of food.
Here's why:
1. Before Zhang Gao rescued Chen Cang, Cao Rui asked Zhang Gao, when you arrive, Zhuge Liang will not have already captured Chen Cang, right?
Zhang Gao replied: I know that Zhuge Liang will only have ten days of grain and grass at most, and when I arrive, Zhuge Liang will withdraw his troops, rest assured.
The army of Gao Zhiliang County had no valley and could not attack for a long time, and it was said: Bichen has not yet arrived, and Liang has already left; the grain will not reach ten days.
2. In the "Biography of Zhuge Liang", it is recorded that Cao Zhen refused to do so, and the bright grain was exhausted.
First of all, Zhang Gao said that Zhuge Liang only had ten days of military food.
Grain and grass were military secrets, this war had only just begun not long ago, Zhang Hao was not on the front line, how could he know that Zhuge Liang had no grain?
This sentence is just a relief to Cao Rui.
The second article records that Zhuge Liang ran out of grain and returned it.
After Zhuge Liang retired from Chen Cangcheng, he did not return to Shu Han, but went halfway to Qishan Road to fight Guo Huai with Chen.
Historically, Chen Shi's capture of the Wu capital Yinping became the Third Northern Expedition.
But in terms of time, the Second Northern Expedition ended together with the attack on Wudu and Yinping.
During Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition, he arrived in ChenCang in December, and then fought for more than 20 days, but did not fight.
Day and night attacked for more than twenty days, bright and uncounted for, rescued, led back.
At this time, it was already January 229, and Chen Shi's capture of Wudu and Yinping was the spring of 229.
In the spring of the seventh year, Liang dispatched Chen Shi to attack Wudu and Yinping. Wei Yongzhou assassin Shi GuoHuai led the crowd to attack, Liang from the out to Jianwei, Huai returned, Suiping Erjun.
In ancient times, spring was divided into springs with lichun (February 4 or February 5) as the spring. From Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition from Chen Cang to Chen Shi's capture of Wudu and Yinping, the time did not exceed three months.
If Zhuge Liang went directly back to Hanzhong after the Second Northern Expedition, and then knew that Chen Shi had come to the Northern Expedition, and rushed over, it didn't make sense at all, and he tossed and played?
Moreover, Zhuge Liang simply could not have let Chen Shi lead his troops to the Northern Expedition alone, so Zhuge Liang would certainly not have returned to Hanzhong and then immediately set out to support Chen Shi.
It must have been halfway through the road to meet chen style army, and Chen style's attack on Wudu and Yinping was also ordered by Zhuge Liang in advance.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang could not have withdrawn his troops from Chen Cang because he had no grain, and where did the grain and grass that did not allow him to go to Qishan Dao to attack Wudu and Yinping come from? There was no shortage of food at that time.
Grain and grass can be transported to Qishan Road, and naturally can also be transported to Chen Cangcheng.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang was not short of food, this was just an excuse to retreat and use to stabilize morale.
The first Northern Expedition failed, and now it is impossible to capture Chen Cangcheng, Cao Wei reinforcements have come one after another, Chen Cangcheng is even more unlikely to be captured, and if it is defeated by Cao Wei's army, then don't think about the Northern Expedition in the future.
It can only be declared that there is no grain and grass prepared, and now there is not enough grain and grass, otherwise Cao Wei will definitely be finished, which is just a means to stabilize morale.
In 231 AD, Zhuge Liang's army came to Qishan Fort again.
Zhuge Liang's greatest rival in his life, Sima Yi, also met Zhuge Liang during this Northern Expedition.
With the passage of time, the balance of the victory of the Northern Expedition began to tilt toward Zhuge Liang's army.
Sima Yi was already at the end of the crossbow, and the most important thing was that the wheat of Shangjue was cut away by Zhuge Liang, and the reserve grain and grass in Longxi were also used up.
King Xuan of Shi had run out of grain and grass.
Sima Yi was short of grain, and the cost of transporting grain from Guanzhong was also greatly increased, and now Sima Yi was newly defeated and his morale was low, so it was a good time.
When the balance of victory tilted, Zhuge Liang was worried that the grain and grass on his side would not be delivered in time, and began to send people to ask Li Yan about the grain and grass.
Now I have three strategies, you see which way of playing can be supported by grain and grass at present:
The upper count breaks its subsequent path;
The mid-count is durable with it;
The next meter also lives in the loess.
The needs of grain are different, but the biggest feature of Zhuge Liang's life is to be cautious, plan and then move.
Zhuge Liang must have calculated that shu han still had grain, but it was still necessary to determine which kind of fighting style the Shu Han military grain supported was the most secure.
Li Yan replied to the news: There is not enough grain and grass, don't fight, come back.
Zhuge Liang was helpless to return to the dynasty.
After Zhuge Liang returned, Li Yan said in shock: There is a lot of grain and grass, why did you come back?
Liang Cheng withdrew from the army, and Pingwen retreated from the army even more yang, saying: The army is enough food, why should it return?
Zhuge Liang took out the letter as evidence, and finally Li Yan confessed to the crime.
There were two ministers in Liu Beituo, and in addition to Zhuge Liang, the other was Li Yan.
Li Yan was most likely trying to prevent Zhuge Liang from further improving his prestige, and at that time, Li Yan would have no place to stand, and now Zhuge Liang had returned without success, weakening Zhuge Liang's prestige, and Li Yan, the second person, was also easier to ascend to the throne.
As for why Li Yan made such a trick, obviously there were letters exchanged, this can not be argued at all, I think it should be Li Yan arranged people, prepared evidence to destroy the letters, but did not succeed.
Therefore, during this Fourth Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang was not short of grain, but Li Yanli was eager to smoke his heart, fighting for power and profit, and leaving Zhuge Liang short of grain.
summary
There is no shortage of grain in the Shu land of the Qin state, and Zhuge Liang is also not short of grain.
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition only recorded the second and fourth episodes of retiring soldiers due to "lack of food", and the rest did not mention the lack of food.
Zhuge Liang's lack of grain in the Second Northern Expedition was that Zhuge Liang could not attack Chen Cangcheng for a long time, and the strategic purpose could no longer be achieved, and there was no need to stay.
Continuing the stalemate will only cause change, and if the Shu army is defeated by the Cao Wei army, the Shu army will certainly be demoralized.
Even if the Shu army has been undefeated and cannot capture Chen Cangcheng, it is equivalent to failure, and the shu Han successive northern expeditions have been lost due to war, so from then on Zhuge Liang could not lead the northern expedition again.
The period is gone, how about the Northern Expedition?
The lack of food was just an excuse for Zhuge Liang to reluctantly retreat from the army, in order to stabilize morale.
The so-called shortage of grain in the Fourth Northern Expedition was li yan's purpose in order to fight for power and profit, with the purpose of weakening Zhuge Liang's prestige and allowing himself, the second most important figure in the Shu Han Dynasty, to successfully ascend to the throne, so as to miss a good opportunity.
Six out of Qishan, Zhuge Liang is short of grain, but in order to increase the dramatic description of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", in fact, there is neither six out of Qishan, nor zhuge Liang is short of grain.
To sum up, Zhuge Liang never lacked grain in the Northern Expedition, and the so-called shortage of grain was just an excuse for helplessly retreating from the army and retaining morale.