People who have seen the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" know that Zhuge Liang went north to the Central Plains five times before and after, and finally became ill and died of illness in Wuzhangyuan; "heroic ambition died before he was paid", which became the best portrayal of Zhuge Liang's life; however, although Zhuge Liang's wisdom was unparalleled in the world at that time, after his death, many historians believed that Zhuge Liang was slightly biased in employing people, especially before he died, which indirectly led to the final defeat of Shu Han.
The first is Liu Feng.
Liu Feng was Liu Bei's righteous son, the best of the younger generation of generals after the establishment of the Shu Han Dynasty, and he made meritorious contributions to Liu Bei many times, and the main reason for his death was only because it might pose a threat to Liu Chan's succession; Liu Bei originally cultivated Liu Feng as an heir, and later Liu Bei had his own concubine Liu Chan, and at that time, in the era when the succession of the throne was particularly important, Liu Bei had to make Liu Chan the crown prince; but in terms of prestige and military achievements, Liu Chan was far less than Liu Feng, and Liu Feng was invincible in the places where Liu Feng went, although he was only in his early twenties at that time. But the degree of bravery is no less than that of Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun.
▲ Among the younger generation, Liu Feng is a rare military talent, complete with both culture and martial arts. (Schematic/reprinted from encyclopedic entry)
Later, Liu Feng finally made two fatal mistakes, one was that Guan Yu repeatedly asked Liu Feng to raise troops to help, liu Feng did not comply, resulting in Guan Yu being defeated and killed; second, Liu Feng bullied the deputy general Meng Da, Meng Da could not stand the bullying, and turned to Cao Wei; Liu Bei reprimanded him for bullying Meng Da, and did not send troops to rescue Guan Yu, but did not intend to cure Liu Feng's death penalty; however, Zhuge Liang considered that Liu Feng was fierce and brave, and Liu Bei might be difficult to control after his death, so he persuaded Liu Bei to take this opportunity to get rid of him, and Liu Bei gave Liu Feng death for the sake of the overall situation, and let him commit suicide. It's a pity that such a person who is both literate and martial.
The second place is Matthew.
The defeat of the soldiers at Jieting led to the failure of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, and because Ma Mo issued a military order before the war, Zhuge Liang ordered Ma Mo to be killed. Zhuge Liang and Ma Mo were in love with father and son, and also thought that Ma Mo was very talented and only owed an opportunity.
In "The Battle of Jieting", the veteran generals Wei Yan and Wu Yi, who have been in the battlefield for a long time, all believe that Ma Mo is not suitable to be a pioneer, but Zhuge Liang promoted Ma Mo against the opinions of the people, and also appointed Ma Mo as the vanguard, and Ma Mo had theory and no actual combat experience, not only violated Zhuge Liang's combat deployment, but also stubbornly opinioned, did not listen to the advice of the veteran general Wang Ping, and finally suffered a big defeat, allowing the Shu army to be defeated and returned to Hanzhong, and Zhuge Liang finally had to tear up Ma Mo to calm the anger of the people.
▲ Ma Mo was sentenced to death for disobeying Zhuge Liang's combat orders and causing the street pavilion to fall. (Schematic/reprinted from encyclopedic entry)
In fact, with Zhuge Liang's understanding of Ma Mo and Ma Mo's talent, there is absolutely no problem in guarding the street pavilion; but Zhuge Liang overlooked that a talented person like Ma Mo, after being entrusted with a heavy responsibility, must want to do something, so he did not want to completely follow Zhuge Liang's marching plan, wanted to make a splash, let the world know that Ma Mo also had unique insights, so in this battle, Ma Mo took matters into his own hands, completely forsaken Zhuge Liang's military orders, and finally ended in a big defeat.
▲ Zhuge Liang calculated everything, but after his death, Shu Han could no longer find a talent who could take on a big responsibility! (Schematic/reprinted from encyclopedic entry)
As we all know, in the late period of the Shu Han Dynasty, the five most effective tigers will die one by one, and among the young generation at that time, Liu Feng and Ma Mo are rare military talents; if these two generals are not killed, it will not lead to Zhuge Liang's death, and it will not be possible to find a young general who can take on a big responsibility, and in the case of no successor, the decline of Shu Han is only a matter of time; therefore, many historians believe that the two generals that Zhuge Liang should not kill the most are Liu Feng and Ma Chen, no matter who survives, Shu Han will have the opportunity to unify the three kingdoms.