Han Xin, known as a generation of soldiers, won his debut on the stage of military history with a clever trick of "Ming Xiu plank road, dark Chen Cang" at the beginning of the Chu-Han dispute.
He led his army to attack from Hanzhong, unexpectedly attacked the Chu army along the Chen Cang Road, successfully entered the land of the Three Qins, and finally helped Liu Bang conquer the Great Han River.
In the Three Kingdoms period, Shu Prime Minister Zhuge Liang led his army from Hanzhong, but the five Northern Expeditions to the Central Plains failed repeatedly, and finally hated the army and died of illness, which made the morale of later generations sigh.
It is worth mentioning that Han Xin and Zhuge Liang both led their armies to attack from Hanzhong, why can Han Xin succeed in one fell swoop, but Zhuge Liang ended in failure?
Could it be because Zhuge Liang's military capabilities were inferior to Han Xin's failure? Non also!
Although Han Xin is a generation of soldiers, Zhuge Liang, who can also rank in the Martial Temple, is not a person who knows the art of war. The reasons for the failure of the Northern Expedition are complex, but one of the most influential factors must be mentioned, and this factor is closely related to an earthquake in the Western Han Dynasty, the Wudu Earthquake!
First, the same is sending troops to the pass, why one win and one defeat?
Hanzhong is the northern gate of the Sichuan Basin, and from a military point of view, its presence can deter foreign invasion, but it is also not conducive to the attack of the defending side.
Looking at the entire history of China, Han Xin was the only one who was able to attack from Hanzhong and conquer the Guanzhong Plain.
After Xiang Yu destroyed Qin, he established himself as the overlord of Western Chu and divided the eighteen princes, and he sealed Liu Bang, who was a threat to him, to the remote area of Bashu, and at the same time divided Guanzhong to Zhang Handan, Sima Xin, and Dong Yi, and let them garrison Guanzhong in order to block Liu Bang's way north, thinking that he could rest easy.
However, Liu Bang is also a dragon among people, and there is no lack of talents under him, and he will not live under people for a long time. Zhang Liang thought deeply and bribed Xiang Bo with heavy money to ask Liu Bang for Hanzhong County.
At this time, although Liu Bang's strength was far inferior to Xiang Yu, he had the "gateway" Hanzhong that could enter Guanzhong, which was equivalent to having the initiative to attack.
Zhang Liang also suggested that Liu Bang burn the plank road of Meridian Valley, making a false appearance on the surface that he would never go out of Shu and had no intention of asking the world again, but in fact, he was striving to govern and recuperate.
It was also during this time that Han Xin, a figure who had suffered the humiliation of his crotch and had always been looked down upon, became the core figure of Liu Bang Group.
Liu Bang paid homage to Han Xin as a general, and when Qi Xiangtian Rong was dissatisfied with Xiang Yu's division and rebellion in Shandong, Xiang Yu led his army to pacify Ding, and Liu Bang and Han Xin seized this opportunity and decided to send troops to fight a decisive battle with Xiang Yu.
However, in order to attack the Guanzhong Plain, it is first necessary to break through the blockade of the three kings of Guanzhong Province. There are four roads to take between Hanzhong and Guanzhong Province, namely Baoxiao Road, Luo Road, Meridian Road and Chen Cang Road.
And Han Xin, who has always advocated "seeking war", first asked Zhou Bofan to repair the plank road of Meridian Valley and make the illusion that he wanted to send troops from Meridian Valley.
Seeing this, Zhang Wei really transferred the main force to the mouth of Meridian Valley to defend the Han army, while Han Xin led the main force to quietly arrive at Chen Cang to launch a surprise attack, catching the Chu army by surprise.
Zhang Wei led his army to help in a hurry, but was defeated by Han Xin, who had already prepared. After capturing Chen Cang, the Han army's eastward advance was opened, and then pursued all the way along Weishui, and finally captured the entire Guanzhong Province.
After sitting on the rich Guanzhong Plain, Liu Bang really had the capital to compete with Xiang Yu for the world, and eventually established the Han Dynasty.
Four hundred years later, Zhuge Liang proposed to Liu Bei a strategy of dividing the world into three in Longzhong, suggesting that Liu Bei follow Liu Bang's example and first sit in Bashu and Hanzhong, and then when the time came, send troops from Jingzhou and Sichuan to fight for the world.
After Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang sent troops to the Northern Expedition to realize the ambition of reviving the Han court that he pursued with Liu Bei.
Because Shu Han had already lost Jingzhou at this time, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition could only send troops from Hanzhong, but the five Northern Expeditions ended in failure.
It is worth mentioning that the route of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition is almost exactly the same as Han Xin, why can Han Xin conquer Guanzhong but Zhuge Liang has been repeatedly frustrated?
Of course, this is not the reason why Zhuge Liang is not good at using troops, the national strength of the Shu State is not as good as that of the Wei State, but Zhuge Liang can make Sima Yi, who has 100,000 heavy soldiers, unable to defend when the enemy is strong and weak, and he is not a person who knows the art of war.
It's just that this kind of thing of fighting has always depended on the right time and place. By the Three Kingdoms period, the Mandate of Heaven was no longer in the Han Dynasty, time passed, the slogan of "Xingfu Han Chamber" could not be supported by the people of Guanzhong Province, and the Shu army no longer occupied the Heavenly Dynasty.
In terms of geographical advantage, the situation of the Shu army is even worse. Han Xin can occupy a profitable position when he secretly holds Chen Cang, but Zhuge Liang cannot, and it can be said that Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition is doomed.
Why?
Because just twenty years after Han Xin darkened Chen Cang, China had a great Wudu earthquake, and the direct impact of this earthquake was to completely subvert the military geography of western China.
Second, the geographical conditions of the darkness of the warehouse
An important river - Ancient Han Water has to be mentioned here, without this Ancient Han Water, Han Xin's Absolute Darkness Chen Cang Plan will definitely not be able to proceed smoothly.
Originating in southwestern Shaanxi, the ancient Han water has two paths, both eventually flowing into the Yangtze River, but one flowing into Sichuan and the other into Hanzhong.
Therefore, before the Wudu earthquake, the existence of ancient Han water made the connection between Guanzhong and Hanzhong and Shuzhong very convenient. From Hanzhong, you can go upstream to Longxi, and down the river to Jingchu.
At that time, Liu Bang's men and horses attracted the main force of Zhang Handan's army in Meridian Valley, while Han Xin secretly led the main force back to the north of the ancient Han River and secretly arrived at Chen Cang.
As mentioned earlier, Hanzhong is a special place, which can resist foreign invasion, but at the same time it is not conducive to the attack of the defending side.
But it is the existence of ancient Hanshui that provides Han Xin with a favorable location.
After arriving at Chen Cang, Han Xin took advantage of the transportation convenience brought by the ancient Han Water to send some troops to make the illusion of attacking Longxi to confuse Zhang Handan, and his large army broke into Guanzhong along Chen Cang Road, catching Zhang Han by surprise, and Guanzhong was finally under Liu Bang's control.
So the question is, Han Xin can use the location to attack Guanzhong, why can't Zhuge Liang?
The answer is: definitely not. Because after the Wudu earthquake, the channel of the ancient Han water was cut off, and the so-called geographical advantage no longer existed.
According to historical records, in 186 BC, an earthquake of about 6-7 magnitude occurred in Wudu Province of the Western Han Dynasty, not to mention the high intensity of the earthquake, and the aftershocks lasted for eight months.
When the earthquake occurred, the strong tremor caused a huge landslide in the area of the Hanwang Mountain in Ningqiang, Shaanxi, and the ancient Han water was blocked, and the river channel was cut off, and the south stream gradually separated from the east flow, becoming the Jialing River and the Han River.
In this way, Qinling and Dabashan became the heavenly graben blocking the three places of Guanzhong, Hanzhong, and Shuzhong, and the communication between the three did not have the convenience of before, but became extremely difficult.
Therefore, by the time of Zhuge Liang, the Northern Expedition of the Shu Kingdom no longer had the geographical advantages of Han Xin's march, on the contrary, the march was not easy, and the transportation of grain was extremely difficult.
The three routes of Baoxiao, Luo Road and Meridian Road are very difficult to follow, and the original Chen Cang Road has also become very difficult due to the decrease in the flow of Han water.
And after the loss of Jingzhou, Zhuge Liang could only use Hanzhong as a base to send troops to the Wei state, you can imagine how difficult the military operations of the Shu army will be, no matter which way to start, the transportation of grain is difficult to guarantee, it is simply impossible to keep up with the pace of the march of the army, and the loss of grain will not be caused during transportation.
Even if Zhuge Liang was ingenious and could invent such a means of transportation as Muliu, cattle and horses, he could not defeat the bad transportation on the bad marching road.
Every time the Shu army went on a campaign, it could only seek a quick victory and could not effectively encroach on the land of the Wei state, which became an important reason for the failure of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition.
During the last Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang even ordered his soldiers to settle the Guanzhong Tuntian, so as to solve the food problem of the Shu army so that he could fight a protracted war with Sima Yi, but unfortunately he died of illness in the army at this time.
3. Providence cannot be violated
Because of Chen Shou's phrase "ingenuity is short", some people blamed the failure of the five Northern Expeditions on Zhuge Liang's military ability, but ignored the geographical conditions of the Shu army's attack on Wei.
But he never thought that if Zhuge Liang did not have military talent, how could Tang Taizong set up a martial temple and offer him in it? It's just that the art of war is too profound for ordinary people to know.
At the beginning, Meng Yu rebelled and was captured by Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang took him to watch the deployment of the Shu army camp, and asked what the strength of the Shu army was, Meng Yu thought it was just that, Zhuge Liang laughed, and the last seven captured Meng Yu.
On the contrary, Sima Yi, who had 100,000 heavy troops in his hands, had more troops than the Shu army, but did not dare to fight a decisive battle with Zhuge Liang, and what he feared was nothing more than Zhuge Liang's military ability.
Unlike Meng Yu, after Zhuge Liang's death, the Shu army retired, and Sima Yi inspected the deployment of the Shu army's barracks, and even he couldn't help but marvel that Zhuge Liang was really a "wizard" in the world.
It can be seen that the art of war cannot be solved unless those who are well versed in this way.
In fact, Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition alarmed the entire Guanzhong region, and three counties of the Wei state chose to surrender to the Shu state.
However, food was always a hard wound, and the five Northern Expeditions had to be retired due to the difficulty of food shortages. During the last Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang sent his army to Guanzhong Tuntian, intending to use this method to consume Sima Yi, who could not hold out.
Originally, this was a pioneering strategy, but unfortunately he died in the army that year due to overwork.
Looking at Zhuge Liang's five Northern Expeditions, it is not difficult to find that he has used manpower to the extreme as much as possible, but the problem of geography has always been an insurmountable mountain.
In addition, the slogan of "Xingfu Han Room" has long lost its appeal, and under the condition that the time and place are not occupied, the Northern Expedition is not only fighting with people, but also fighting with heaven and earth.
However, it is not easy to go against the sky, and the impact of the terrain changes brought about by the Wudu earthquake on the military operations of the Shu State is simply not something that can be solved by manpower.
It can only be said that the will of God cannot be violated, and it makes posterity sigh and sigh!