"Out of the master a table of real name, a thousand years who can be Bo Zhongjian", a Shu Han Xiang Zhuge Liang's "Out of the Master Table", to express his loyalty and will, the name has been passed down through the ages. During the Three Kingdoms period, in order to revive the Unification of the Central Plains by the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang can be said to have bowed down and died. After the death of the monarch Liu Bei, he decided to go north to conquer Wei, which is also the famous five Northern Expeditions in history. Historically, why was Zhuge Liang so obsessed with the Northern Expedition?
The first reason was because of Emperor Liu Bei's last wishes, and he wanted to repay Liu Bei for his kindness; the second reason was also because Cao Wei was too much of a threat to Shu Han, and if he did not attack, Shu Han would definitely be annexed. At the same time, attacking Cao Wei could also divert the contradictions within the Shu Han and clear all kinds of obstacles for the Shu Han to unify the Central Plains.
After Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang's decision to go north seemed very wise, and he had always devoted himself to his northern expedition. However, the results were not satisfactory, and all five Northern Expeditions ended in failure. And we only need to look at Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, who were the 11 major generals who died, to know how badly he was defeated.
Compared with the other four Northern Expeditions, the success rate of the First Northern Expedition can be said to be the highest, at this time the morale of the Shu Han was the strongest, and it captured the three key places of the South Bank, Anding, and Tianshui, and the combat situation was very good. If the final victory is achieved in this battle, then Shu Han may really win the Central Plains.
At that time, Cao Wei believed that after Liu Bei's death, Shu Han would inevitably decline and did not dare to rush to raise an army. At that time, Cao Wei focused more on suppressing Eastern Wu, and the deployment of Tun troops on the border was relatively weak, so Shu Han had a certain battlefield advantage.
When the Northern Expedition entered a fever pitch, Zhuge Liang learned that the next target of the Wei army was the Shu Han Zhongdao Street Pavilion. Zhang Guo, sent by Cao Wei, and Ma Chen, sent by Shu Han, were in direct confrontation here. But it has to be said that the use of the novice general Ma Mozhen, who can only talk on paper, is really a wrong decision, he gave up guarding the city and stationed in the mountains, only to be cut off by the enemy to supply and counter the general's army.
The strength of the troops led by Ma Mo was close to 10,000 people, and the defeat at the Battle of Jieting led to the collapse of almost the entire army of this partial division, and the Shu Han suffered huge losses, because it also included 11 famous generals such as Zhao Yun, Yang Qun, and Ma Yu.
The First Northern Expedition was not only a loss of personnel, it was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was wasted. In the four subsequent Northern Expeditions, Cao Wei strengthened his forces against shu han, and at the same time, the military strength of shu han was weakened, and morale was not as strong as it was at the beginning. The five Northern Expeditions brought a serious burden to the Shu State, and Zhuge Liang eventually died of illness on the way during the seven years of the Northern Expedition.
In the eyes of later generations, the evaluation of resisting the Northern Expedition is controversial, and the historical praise and criticism are mixed. On the one hand, zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was forced by the correct decision of the situation, and the troops he lost actually accounted for a small proportion from the overall point of view, and did not drag down the Shu state at all; the other is that the Northern Expedition not only failed to determine the Central Plains and restore the Han Dynasty, but became a major inducement for the demise of the Shu state.
As for the history of the Three Kingdoms, future generations have different opinions and disagreements. The war situation is changing rapidly, and even if zhuge Liang is as smart as Zhuge Liang, there is no way to make the right decisions again and again. However, although the five Northern Expeditions failed to achieve their wishes, they still played a very positive role in stabilizing the Shu Han regime.