The Northern Expedition to Cao Wei was the most important foreign strategy of the Shu Han clique. In the entire history of the Shu Han Dynasty, there were dozens of well-documented Northern Expeditions to Cao Wei alone, represented by Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei. However, it is a pity that although the Shu Han clique frequently carried out northern expeditions, it did not achieve any decent results, but on the contrary, it was a loss of national strength by laboring the people and hurting money, which overwhelmed the Already weak Shu Han Dynasty. However, what is puzzling is that Zhuge Liang, who was also the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei, was respected by later generations, but Jiang Wei was criticized.
If we want to get the answer, we must analyze it from the strategic goals of the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei. Zhuge Liang continued to carry out the Northern Expedition for many years, and the most important goal was to contain the Cao Wei clique and make it impossible for the Central Plains to resume production. Because Zhuge Liang is very clear that the chassis of the Cao Wei Group is vast and the population is large, if it is in a peaceful and stable development environment, fighting for production speed and subsequent development potential, Yizhou cannot fight at all. Therefore, not to go north is to wait for death, but if the real knife and real gun and the Cao Wei group fight, the strength of the Shu Han group is vulnerable. Therefore, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was to go out and go around, disrupt the production order of the Cao Wei clique and return to Hanzhong.
Jiang Wei was different, and Jiang Wei wanted to complete the Northern Expedition as a substantial war. Since Fei Yi was assassinated, no one could restrain Jiang Wei, so Jiang Wei became larger and larger each time he went on a Northern Expedition, and even transferred the troops defending Hanzhong to the front line of the Northern Expedition to fight. What's worse is that Jiang Wei's scheming and prestige are far inferior to Zhuge Liang's, resulting in a loud voice of internal generals questioning, and more and more people watching Jiang Wei dance a one-man show. For example, Zhuge Zhan, Huang Hao, and others attacked Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition at the imperial court, believing that it would lead to the demise of the Shu Han clique.
Judging from the ending, this is indeed the case. Jiang Wei became an opponent with Deng Ai every time he went on a northern expedition, but unfortunately he repeatedly lost and lost soldiers, and in the Battle of Duangu, Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition was completely defeated, and the soldiers alone lost tens of thousands of people, which greatly injured Shu Han. Jiang Wei, on the other hand, was afraid of being held accountable by Liu Chan, so he ran to the middle of the pu and hid. It was precisely because of this that Sima Zhao saw the weakness of the Shu Han clique, so he carried out the battle to destroy Shu, and the final move was successful, laying the foundation for unifying the world.
And Jiang Wei? He destroyed the hanzhong defense system and caused a sharp decline in the strength of the Shu Han state, all because of his blind Northern Expedition. Compared with Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wei regarded the Northern Expedition as a real war, rather than a strategic harassment. Although Jiang Wei prides himself on being a student of Zhuge Liang, he is too far away from Zhuge Liang. I really don't know if Zhuge Liangquan knew, Zhuge Liang would regret handing over the baton of the Northern Expedition to Jiang Wei.
Of course, the demise of the Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms was inevitable, and there is no doubt about this. However, Jiang Wei's inappropriate Northern Expedition accelerated the demise of the Shu Han Dynasty. This kind of well-intentioned practice of doing bad things is really lamentable. If Jiang Wei had been able to continue Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition strategy at that time, then at least Shu Han would not have perished so quickly. Therefore, the same Northern Expedition Cao Wei, Zhuge Liang was praised for his superb strategic control ability, but Jiang Wei was criticized.