The Formation of the Central Kingdom < The History of the Three Kingdoms> [88th]
Author: Wen Junxuan
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The 88th time out of Qishan
Shu Han personally led the Northern Expedition, and Cao Wei really counted on Xiahou Shu as an attached horse master? Of course not, hearing that the Shu army was going to go north, Cao Zhen had already led the westward march with Zhang Gao as the vanguard. However, under the influence of Migu's suspicious soldiers, Cao Zhen did not enter Longyou at the first time, but garrisoned in Yu County. This can't be blamed on Cao Zhen's miscalculation, after all, the last time Cao Cao took the southern expedition was the Chu Chu Dao, the inertial thinking would think that the Shu army would also attack in this way, not to mention that if you don't fortify, maybe Zhao Yun really attacked the Xie Valley.
Cao Zhen led the main force into Yu County, which did not mean that longyou was not prepared at all. It was Guo Huai who was sent to Longyou, and the last time Xiahou Yuan was beheaded, it was Guo Huai who stepped forward to stabilize the Cao army and showed the demeanor of a general. Cao Pi was proclaimed empress dowager, and Guo Huai became the first Yongzhou Assassin. The geopolitical center of Longyou is the county seat of Tianshui County, which is also Ma Chao's sad jicheng. When Zhuge Liang's troops left qishan, Tianshui Taishou Ma Zunzheng took his subordinate officials and accompanied Guo Huai from Jicheng to the east to inspect.
Seeing the fierceness of the Shu army, Guo Huai immediately retreated into the nearby city of Shangyi to defend it. When Ma Chao seized Long, Shang'an was still the rule of Yong'an County, and now Yong'an County had been renamed Guangwei County, and the county rule was moved to Linwei City, more than twenty kilometers east of Shangyi, and Shangyi was assigned to Tianshui County. Logically, Ma Zun should hurry west along the Wei River valley and return to Jicheng to deploy his defenses. However, the origin of Jicheng and Ma Chao is well known to the world, and most of the Wudu people who moved north to Longyou were placed in Tianshui, and Ma Zun was very worried that he would be sold by his subordinates, so he ran to Shangyi even at night. What was even more excessive was that none of Ma Zun's men told him when he ran. One of the officials of Tianshui County who accompanied them joined the army very well, and he was Jiang Wei.
Jiang Wei and the others were very surprised to see Ma Zun running away in the morning, and after chasing down shangyi city, they found that the city gate was closed. He shouted for Taishou to return to Jicheng with everyone to defend the city, but Ma Zun said in the city: I will no longer believe you people, you are all anti-thieves. To say that Ma Zun's worries were not unreasonable, Jiang Wei saw that they could not find Taishou and had to return to Jicheng by themselves, and as a result, Jicheng had indeed fallen, and the four doors were closed tightly to prevent them from entering. Just like when Ma Chao left the city, there was a rebellion in the city. In desperation, Jiang Wei and the others had to surrender and then marched to Zhuge Liang in Jicheng.
Jiang's surname is Tianshui,Jiang Xu,who had previously rebelled against Ma Chaohou Road(s) was also a native of Jicheng, and Jiang Wei's father, Jiang Ran (江冏), was also originally Gong Cao of ben county, and later died in the Qiang Rebellion. Although some later researchers believe that Jiang Wei's father died in the war caused by Ma Chao, this view is not supported by historical data, and it is impossible to determine which camp Jiang Ran really belongs to. In any case, Jiang Wei's initial surrender to Zhuge Liang was forced by the situation.
Guo Huai was the Taishou of Yongzhou, and it was no problem to organize resistance in which city in Yongzhou, but Ma Zun, as a Tianshui Taishou, had the responsibility to defend the territory, and he lost the county rule without any resistance, and abandoned his subordinates on suspicion, which was difficult to say. Moreover, the counties of Tianshui County really fell without a fight, and this leadership responsibility could not be run away. Not only did tianshui fall, but Nan'an County in the west saw tianshui fall and immediately surrendered to Zhuge Liang. After the end of the war, Ma Zun was severely punished like Nan'an Taishou. It's just that in the future, Jiang Wei flew in Shu Han, and whether Ma Zun should reduce his sentence or increase his sentence is a matter of opinion.
Guo Huai surrendered to Shangyi, and Tianshui and Nan'an voluntarily surrendered. The Taishou Of Longxi County, the westernmost of the four counties of Longyou, gave the choice to subordinates and the people. Longxi Taishou was a Guanzhong man You Chu recommended by Zhang Jie, who summoned all the officials and people and told everyone that as a Taishou, his duty lay and he was ready to repay the country with his death. You can also take my head and throw yourself at Shu Han in exchange for glory and wealth. You Chu is generous and generous, does not like criminal killing, and the official reputation is very good. The officials and the people were inspired by him to express their willingness to live and die together, and they had no two hearts.
Internal opinions are unanimous, and then there is the question of how to meet the enemy. You Chu placed the county's army in a line outside the city. Then he said to the Shu army that came to besiege the city, if you have a way to block the Wei army from coming to the rescue, I will naturally descend in less than a month. If this is not possible, such a move to fight Longxi will only increase the consumption in vain. After saying that, he also ordered the army to move forward and pose a decisive battle, and as a result, the Shu army really retreated.
The Shu army retreated because what You Chu said was indeed reasonable, and to be precise, Zhuge Liang felt that it was reasonable. Longxi County is the westernmost county of Yongzhou and is not on the main road to guanzhong. Unless you want to take Liangzhou, it is really not the highest priority. In contrast, Guangwei Commandery (廣魏郡), which was guarding Longguan Province, was much more important. As long as Guangwei was taken to guard Longguan and wei reinforcements were not allowed to enter, not only might Longxi fall without a fight, but Guo Huai's side would not be able to hold it. If the Longshan front line could not be stopped, it would be a question of whether to take Longxi or not. In this case, instead of tangling with You Chu in Longxi, it was better to concentrate forces to take Guangwei before Cao Zhen's reinforcements arrived.
The key to taking Guangwei lies in Shangyi and the adjacent Linwei City. Shangyi corresponds to the main city of Tianshui City, Gansu Province, which is not strictly speaking in the Wei River Valley, but in the lower river valley of the wei river, a tributary of the right bank of the Wei River, and the real one built in the Wei River valley is Linwei City (east of Maiji District, Tianshui City). If it is directly connected to Longguan Road by Qishan Road, it must be connected from Linwei City to the north to Qinshui (now known as Houchuan River and Niutou River), a tributary of weishui, from Linwei City to the Longshan Watershed. According to the current administrative division, the entire line starts from Tianshui City and extends northeast through Qinghe and Zhangjiachuan counties, which can refer to the G566 (National Highway) direction through this area.
Guo Huai came to inspect the defense of Longyou, naturally with the army, although it would not be too much, but he retreated into Shangyi in time, and Linwei City, which was the ruler of Guangwei County, would not fall, which was equivalent to blocking the intersection of the Shu army to Longguan. Zhuge Liang's march, Cao Zhen, who was still guarding the Chu Chuan Dao in Yu County, knew that he had been deceived, and immediately marched to Longguan with Zhang Gao as the vanguard. This meant that Zhuge Liang could either quickly take Guo Huai and advance to Longguan. Either that, they could find another way, bypassing the heavily guarded Shangyi and Linwei and reaching the west of Longguan to block Zhang Gao. Considering that time is not waiting for people, if there is such a line, it must be the first choice.
I don't know if you still have the impression that there is a "long water" between Jicheng and Shangyi that is now called Hulu River. Changlishui is a tributary of the left bank of the Wei River, which can be traced up to Xiaoguan along its river valley, and can also turn eastward at the "Xingguo City" that once blocked Xiahou Yuan, and point directly to Longguan along the Qingshui River, a tributary of the left bank of the Changlishui River. In the center of the Qingshui River Valley, there is the Luoyang City where Han Sui once garrisoned, which is also known as "Luoyang River Water" in ancient times, and its source is the most critical node of this battle, "Street Pavilion". To the east of the street pavilion is the main mountain pass where the two Han dynasties crossed the Longshan Mountains, Fansukou. The Silk Road that Zhang Qian opened up at that time also passed through this mouth.
The reason why Han Sui entered Luoyang City after the defeat of Ma Chao's army that day was to control this passage that could dock with Fanxukou, so that Xiahou Yuan, who came to attack him, had worries. Jieting is under the jurisdiction of Luoyang, and Luoyang is subordinate to Guangwei County. Although Guo Huai now blocked the western entrance of Longguan Road at the southern end of Guangwei County, the Shu army could force Longguan at the end of Guangwei County. If you want to block Zhang Gao, it is not enough to occupy Luoyang City, you must push the defensive line forward to the street pavilion. The location of the street pavilion is very special, not only can dock with the slight Yang River water, but also with the source of the Qin River (now known as the Houchuan River). Through the Qinshui River Valley, Fansukou can be connected with Linwei City and Shangyi, and the narrow sense of longguan road points to the Qinshui River valley.
Such an important point as the street pavilion obviously could not have appeared in people's sight until the time of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. In fact, Zhang Qian had already presided over the construction of a post called "Zhang Mianyi" (located in Zhangmian Yi Township, Zhangjiachuan County, Gansu Province), and many people believed that Zhang Mian was the name of Zhang Qian's son who grew up in the Xiongnu. In other words, the street pavilion and Zhang Mianyi point to a location, but like other important strongholds in history, there may be a slight displacement in the position. Once Zhang Gao left Longguan to occupy the street pavilion, he could directly join the Qinshui River Valley to the south and go to Linwei and Shangyi to meet Guo Huai. Although the street kiosks do not have a ready-made city, this kind of valley-sandwich terrain is still very favorable to the defender.
At the same time, the Shu army also needed to deploy another army in the Qinshui River Valley to prevent Guo Huai from going north to meet Zhang Guo's division and attack the Jieting Shu army. According to historical records, Zhuge Liang did deploy troops at a stronghold called "Lieliu City" to assist in the defense of the street pavilion, responsible for preventing Guo Huai from communicating with Zhang Guo, and in this case, it should be in the upper reaches of the Qinshui River Valley. Among the two outposts of Street Pavilion and Lieliu City, the street kiosk that needs to resist Zhang Gao is undoubtedly the most important. It can be said that as long as the street pavilion can block Zhang Gao, Guo Huai, who is in Shangyi, will certainly not dare to divide his troops and go north to fight Liucheng. The Shu army's strength out of Qishan this time exceeded that of the Wei army, and both in Shangyi and Western Longbei had troops in attack and vigilance.
For Zhuge Liang, the importance of the street pavilion was not only to cut off the connection between the Long Right Wei army and the guanzhong reinforcements, but also to protect the passage north to XiaoGuan. Xiaoguan was a prefecture of Anding County, and after the Battle of Tongguan, Cao Cao surrendered the Liangzhou general Yang Qiu, who had divided Anding, and helped him guard this northbound passage. Yang Qiu was also very conscientious and repeatedly countered the rebellion for Cao Wei. However, Yang Qiu had already died before Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, and Cao Wei's side had not yet been able to subdue this frontier land. Seeing Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, the stability of the people's style was already fierce, and there was also a rebellion led by Yang Tiao. Echoing with the Shu army. If the street pavilion could block Zhang Guo, Zhuge Liang could divide his troops from Xiaoguan Road south to the Guanzhong Plain and copy the back road between Zhang Gao and Cao Zhen. In this way, the situation was very unfavorable to Cao Wei. Because of this, the rebellion of Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding was very powerful to Cao Wei. Cao Rui even set out to march after Cao Zhen and Zhang Guo set out.
Since the success or failure of the street pavilion was related to the success or failure of the entire campaign, Zhuge Liang's side must definitely send a very capable person to defend it. Needless to say, everyone knows that this candidate is Ma Chen. Ma Mo was very talented, and Zhuge Liang and his brother Ma Liang were good friends and were very important to him. On the last expedition to Nanzhong, Ma Mo's advice on the heart of the attack helped Shu Han gain a stable rear. Although Zhuge Liang himself should have meant the same thing, at least it proved that Ma Mo's strategic thinking was really good. The hero saw the same thing, and the two often talked long day and night. For Zhuge Liang, Ma Mo is quite a bit like Zhuge Liang's meaning to Liu Bei that day.
After Pingnan Zhong, Ma Mo was first appointed as the Taishou of Yue yue. After Zhuge Liang decided to go north, he was transferred to join the army. If Ma Mo could stay in Zhuge Liang's shogunate as a staff officer all the time, it should be said that he was still very qualified. It is not that Zhuge Liang must have his ideas to make decisions, and no matter how smart a person is, he must have someone with similar thinking to discuss, in order to constantly improve his ideas. However, Ma Mo was not satisfied with this. "Out is the general, in the in is the phase" is the highest pursuit of the scholar. Ma Mo had already proved his staff skills and wanted to prove himself on the battlefield.
The post of governor of the street pavilions and the various armies was originally favored by everyone wei yan and Wu Yi. Wu Yi was a Chen Liu, and was first a general who followed Liu Yan into Shu. After Liu Bei became the lord of Shu Land, he married his sister as an empress, not only a veteran general but also an imperial relative. By the way, this sister of Wu Yi was originally the wife of Liu Yan's third son, Liu Mao. At that time, Liu Yan had the heart to plot the world, and when he heard xiangshi say that Wu Yi's sister had the appearance of great wealth and nobility, he married this relative for Liu Mao. As a result, Liu Maofubo died of a madness not long after. Liu Bei originally felt that this was really a bit inappropriate and did not want to marry, but it was Fa Zheng who vigorously promoted it. On the surface, it is to respond to the appearance of great wealth and nobility, but in fact, it is because Wu Yi was the elder of the Second Dynasty in Shu, and marrying his sister can stabilize people's hearts.
Although Wei Yan and Wu Yi were both battle-hardened generals, Ma Mo had this intention, and Zhuge Liang had the intention of cultivating, so he still gave him this opportunity to lead Wang Ping, Zhang Xiu, and Li Sheng to the street pavilion to camp and prepare to attack Zhang Gao. As for Lieliu City, Zhuge Liang arranged for Gao Xiang, a general from Nan County, to lead 10,000 troops to settle in. The latter things, the interpretation has been described very clearly, Ma Mo stubborn must camp on the mountain. Wang Ping was a Ba man and was familiar with mountain warfare. Repeatedly dissuaded Ma Mo from doing this.
The reason why Ma Mo insisted was most likely influenced by the Battle of Dingjun Mountain. In that battle of national fortunes, Liu Bei was only consumed by condescending encampments, and Huang Zhong even swooped down and beheaded Xiahou Yuan. Although this tactic failed at the Battle of Yiling, it was mainly Lu Xun who did not take the initiative to attack, which depleted the morale of the Shu army. This time, Ma Chen's task was to defend, to buy time for Xiang Xiang to take Long Right, and even to go north out of Xiaoguan, if the Wei army did not attack, it would be a complete task.
However, Ma Mo, who had no actual combat experience, still underestimated his opponent, and in front of him was Zhang Gao, who was extremely experienced in combat. Zhang Gao saw that the Shu army was all camped on the top of the mountain, but not in the river valley, and immediately led the army to cut off the water source of the Shu army. Theoretically, people who have no food can carry people for seven days, and if they have no water to drink for up to three days, they will die of thirst. If the Shu army wanted to reverse the situation, it could only give up the cottage it had built and take the initiative to go down the mountain to grab water. In this way, the geographical advantage identified by Ma Mo was gone.
Without the water cottage, it is certainly impossible to hold, and the soldiers and soldiers in the army are fleeing. Only the battalion led by Wang Ping did not panic, but instead beat the drums of war and posed as if they were going to attack. Seeing this, Zhang Guo decided that the fleeing Shu army was probably bait in order to lure him into the ambush circle, and stopped the attack. Wang Ping took the opportunity to gather the fleeing non-commissioned officers of the battalions and led them to return safely.
As soon as the street pavilion was lost, the Long Right Portal was wide opened, the Wei army continued to pour in, and Guo Huai also took the opportunity to attack the city of Lieliuzhou north.
Not only that, but You Chu, who was originally pretending to wait and see, would certainly not stand idly by any longer. In terms of the position of Longxi County, the nearest attack was Nan'an County, which had surrendered to Shu Han. In fact, it was not only You Chu who participated in the counter-offensive in this direction. Don't forget that there is also a new Liangzhou in the west of Yongzhou that includes Hehuang, Hexi, and Jincheng.
Although Zhang Jie and Cao Zhen repeatedly used troops in Liangzhou to suppress rebellions and achieved great success, this land of Qiang and Hu was never peaceful. In the first month of the first year of Taihe, that is, before Zhuge Liang entered Hanzhong, there was another rebellion in Xiping County, named Qi Ying. Zhang of Weifu Liangzhou had died in the third year of the Huang Dynasty, and before his death he quelled a rebellion triggered by Qi Guang in Xiping. If Ma Mo could resist Zhang Guo on the front line, even if this old Han Sui land did not surrender to Shu Han, some people would re-support the army and divide it. In fact, this time Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, the Heshou area at the western end of Longxi County, that is, the territory of Song Jian, appeared in this situation.
Qi Ying /Qi Guang should sit down with Yuan Shao and fiercely attack Qi Yi, as well as Qi Yi, who killed Han Sui and Cao Cao, as the same clan. From this source, in this western part of the empire, the genes of self-reliance are almost integrated into the blood source, and suppression alone will not solve the problem. After the Rebellion of Qi Ying, Cao Rui sent Xu Mi ( Xu Mi , a native of Jixian County , to assassinate Liangzhou. On the one hand, Xu Mi was still very competent, on the one hand, he slowly gathered the civilian armed forces, built water conservancy, and recruited people to reclaim land; on the other hand, he used the surplus military expenditure to develop the local economy by starting a business of luxury goods such as gold and dogs and horses. For Qianghu, it is broken with a gentle hand, and small mistakes are not punished, and if a major crime is committed, the tribal leader will be informed first to show respect and then deal with it. All these things won more than ten years of stability for Liangzhou under Cao Wei.
During Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Xu Mi had not long since arrived in Liangzhou. If the Shu army could confront the Wei army across the Longshan Mountains, then Liangzhou would definitely have a floating heart, and Xu Mi would certainly seek self-preservation like Longxi County. Now that the street kiosk was lost, Zhang Hao's army was covering up. Xu Miao, those Liangzhou scholars and Qiang Hu who held a wait-and-see attitude naturally knew how to choose. Under these circumstances, Xu Mi was relieved to send his own army and Jincheng Taishou to longxi to attack Nan'an, which had already surrendered to Zhuge Liang, with You Chu.
If the street pavilion can be defended, there are Anding, Tianshui, Nan'an annexed, plus Hanzhong in hand, Shu Han actually formed a three-sided encirclement of Guanzhong. As a result, the street pavilion was so lost, zhuge Liang, who was on the right side of Long, was instantly surrounded by the Wei army on three sides. In this case, only a quick retreat can stop the loss. Except for Jiang Wei, who later served Zhuge Liang, the only gain of this Northern Expedition was the more than 1,000 households in Xixian County who had moved away when passing through Qishan (Qishan administratively belonged to Xixian County, corresponding to the current LiXian County in Gansu Province). For the Shu Han Dynasty, the population was extremely precious, but this population of more than a thousand households was not enough to make up for the loss of troops in this Northern Expedition.
Long's right side withdrew, and Zhao Yun's side did not need to put up an offensive posture on the churn road. If the retreat is not well deployed, it is easy to be covered up by the opponent, especially Cao Zhen, who confronted Zhao Yun, already knew that Long Right was victorious, even if he did not withdraw, there was a high probability that he would attack. Fortunately, Zhao Yun, who was full of courage, was properly deployed, and after personally breaking off, this partial division was able to retreat into Hanzhong in an orderly manner, and did not suffer greater losses like the Long Right Shu army that Empress Cang withdrew.
Qishan thus ended in failure because of Ma Chen's tactical mistakes. The impact of this incident is not only in this battle, but also in the fight against grass and snakes but without success. Because Shu Han lost Jingzhou, the three brothers Liu, Guan, and Zhang died one after another, which was already very despised by the State of Wei. When Cao Pi was alive, he stared at Eastern Wu and also felt that Shu Han only had one state, and it would be good to be able to protect himself. Fighting Eastern Wu himself, Shu Han did not have the strength to sneak into the rear. If he fights Shu Han, Sun Quan will definitely threaten himself from the two fronts of Xiangyang and Hefei. In the past few years, Zhuge Liang has a bit of the meaning of lying down and tasting his guts, deliberately not to provoke Cao Wei, and as a result, he has held back the big move for so long, but he has not made any progress at all.
Speaking of this matter, Zhuge Liang himself is still a little inaccurate in looking at people, Liu Bei actually reminded him early on, saying that "Ma Rumors are exaggerated and should not be of great use" (exaggerated, this idiom is called here). For this responsibility, Zhuge Liang did not prevaricate, and after returning home, he went to Liu Chan to request that he be relieved of his position as a minister and demoted to the third level. Everything in Shu Han was being shouldered by Zhuge Liang, and Liu Chan could not let him pick a son. Although at Zhuge Liang's insistence, he was relieved of the position of chancellor and demoted to the third rank of right general, he still took the post of chancellor, and others would not have the intention of replacing him.
Seeing that Zhuge Liang asked for self-punishment on the table, Zhao Yun also pleaded guilty, believing that he had also failed on this road and should be punished, and was subsequently demoted to the rank of general of the Zhen Army. Of course, in Liu Chan's mind, Zhao Yun's position would not waver in the slightest. Zhuge Liang learned through Deng Zhi that it was Zhao Yun who had a good dispatch and personally cut off the rear and retreated. He ordered that the excess military cloth in Zhao Yun's army be rewarded to his subordinates. He was rejected by Zhao Yun on the grounds that he had no merit and was not subject to Lu. At the same time, he requested that these materials be included in the treasury of the government and then given to the soldiers in the form of a reward in the winter. Doing so will strictly enforce military discipline, but it will not make people think that they have damaged the interests of soldiers for the sake of false names, that their emotional intelligence is not generally high, and that their character is not generally good.
The one who really stood out in this battle and accepted the reward was Wang Ping. Wang Ping's merit was not only to remind Ma Mo many times, but also to bring out the other troops who had fled in the face of danger. When he defected to Liu Bei that day, Wang Ping was appointed to the position of Tooth Gate General, and although this Tooth Gate General was one word different from Wei Yan and Zhao Yun's Tooth Gate General, the difference was very large, and it could only be regarded as a mid-level officer who was not a general, and was later promoted to "General Of Qi", although he could be called a general, his rank was the lowest, and he could lead a battalion of troops (one thousand people).
After the war, Wang Ping was appointed by Zhuge Liang to join the army, which was equivalent to giving him the position of Ma Mo. Not only that, Zhuge Liang also handed over the "Wudang Flying Army" to him according to Wang Ping's origin. After Zhuge Liang pingnanzhong, did not he move more than 10,000 families of Yue Yue qingqiang into Shudi, and let the local southerners pay for the recruitment of the brave and fierce among the Yi people to join the army, and according to the number of recruiting departments, they were given official positions. The troops made up of these barbarian mercenaries were the "Flying Army". The literal understanding of the word "block" that "dang" resists is an army that is flat on the ground in the mountains and has no one to stop. Such an army with a special background of mountain warfare attributes is most appropriate to hand over to Wang Ping, who is from the Ba people.
If there is a reward, there must be a punishment, and it is certainly not enough for Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun to punish themselves as the commanders and commanders of the two armies. Zhuge Liang's rule of the army was very strict, and the rewards and punishments were clear. As the direct person responsible for the defeat in this battle, Ma Mo was even more reluctant in Zhuge Liang's heart, and he had to sacrifice it. In addition to Ma Mo, he failed to restrain his subordinates at the street pavilion that day, and even the generals Zhang Xiu and Li Sheng, who had fled, were also beheaded. For this result, Zhuge Liang was really sad, but there was no way. The national strength of the Shu Han was the weakest of the Three Kingdoms, and without an army that was forbidden, there was no way to gain a foothold, let alone go north again and again.
The Shu Han side was summing up the lessons, but Cao Wei's side could hold a celebration feast. Seeing that the battle on the front line was smooth, Cao Yan also came to Chang'an in March of that year to watch the battle. As for the three counties that defected, the Shu army withdrew like this, and the soldiers without spending a knife were all faster than one anyway. Now that Cao Rui already knew that Shu Han was not passive defensive strategically, then Cao Zhen had to stay in Guanzhong on alert, and Xiahou Shu was transferred back to Luoyang.
However, the thing that worried Cao Wei the most finally happened. When Sun Quan was entangled in the western battlefield of Wei Wu, he made a big move on the eastern front.
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