#以书之名#
Ten years after the establishment of the Xingxing, Zhuge Liang suspended the soldiers and horses in the yellow sand, persuaded the farming, he skillfully designed the wooden ox and the horse, trained the troops and talked about martial arts, and made all preparations for the Northern Expedition again. After two years of careful preparation, he personally led the army from Xiegu Road and set up camp in Wuzhangyuan on the south bank of Weishui. At the same time, he also sent envoys to Eastern Wu to seek the support of his allies in the fight against the powerful Wei state.
However, Emperor Cao Rong of Wei Ming did not sit idly by, and he sent Sima Yi to fight against the odds and take on the important task of defense. In Sima Yi's view, although Zhuge Liang is resourceful, he needs the support of food after all. He knew very well that Zhuge Liang's previous failures in the Northern Expedition were all due to a lack of grain and grass. Therefore, he firmly believed that as long as he held his position, Zhuge Liang would have to withdraw because of the problem of grain and grass.
Zhuge Liang naturally understood the importance of grain and grass, so he produced grain in the fields near Weishui to ensure the supply of the army. The two armies confronted each other across the water, like two fierce tigers fighting each other, and neither of them wanted to easily expose their flaws.
At the critical moment of the confrontation between the two armies, Sun Quan saw an opportunity, and he personally led an army of 100,000 to the north to attack Wei. However, he was defeated by Emperor Wei Ming's Cao Rong personally led the army, and this move can be described as stealing chickens and rice. Losing the strategy of Eastern Wu, Zhuge Liang felt unprecedented pressure.
In order to make a quick decision, Zhuge Liang decided to take the initiative, but Sima Yi was like an old turtle, no matter how provoked Shu Han, he couldn't hold out. When the envoy of Emperor Wei Ming came to supervise the war, Sima Yi said bluntly: "Zhuge Kongming has little food and trouble, and it can last a long time!" He concluded that Zhuge Liang had become weak and difficult to sustain because of his hard work day and night and lack of diet. Therefore, he suggested that he just hold his ground and wait for Zhuge Liang to collapse on his own.
Zhuge Liang saw that Sima Yi had no intention of fighting a decisive battle, so he divided his troops and planted food with the people in Wei, intending to stay there for a long time. However, Sima Yi's prediction came true, and Zhuge Liang, who had worked hard day and night, finally fell ill.
Zhuge Liang, who knew that his time was short, lit 49 bright lamps before he died. This move is ostensibly to prolong his life, but in fact it contains two major poisonous schemes. This move not only demonstrated Zhuge Liang's superb resourcefulness, but also made people deeply admire his ingenuity.
The Art of the Seven Star Lanterns
In the turbulent times of the Three Kingdoms, Sima Yi became the final winner with his outstanding resourcefulness. If it weren't for "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" depicting Zhuge Liang as almost a god, later generations might not have the impression that Sima Yi was inferior to Zhuge Liang. When Zhuge Liang launched the Fifth Northern Expedition and was in high spirits, Sima Yi saw everything with a calm gaze and foresaw that the aged Zhuge Liang would not be able to last. Therefore, he decided to go on the defensive and wait for the moment.
Sure enough, everything was as Sima Yi expected, and the fire of Zhuge Liang's life gradually dimmed. At the end of his life, Zhuge Liang set up a mysterious situation: 49 seven-star lamps were made of bamboo, and they were arranged in front of the bed in the shape of the Big Dipper. Seven lamps per star, claiming that if the lamp remained unextinguished for seven days, he would be able to live for another twelve years. Although this move seems almost absurd to us, it was full of mystery and mystery at the time, and many people believed it.
In the concept of the ancients, the Big Dipper, also known as the Heavenly Pivot, is an important reference for observing celestial phenomena and deriving numerology. As "Zhou Yi" said: "Yi has Taiji, which is to give birth to two instruments, two instruments to give birth to four elephants, four elephants to give birth to gossip, gossip to determine good luck, and good luck to give birth to great cause." "The gossip contains 64 hexagrams, of which 49 are changing hexagrams, which means that the hexagram is not static, and people's fate can be reversed. The forty-nine lamps lit by Zhuge Liang correspond to these hexagrams, trying to change his life against the sky.
At that time, there was peace between Shu Han and Cao Wei because of this seven-star lantern technique, and everyone was waiting to see Zhuge Liang's fate. And at this critical moment, the most anxious person was not Sima Yi, but Wei Yan. He may be well aware of the subtlety of this technique, or he may be worried that once Zhuge Liang succeeds, it will have a profound impact on the pattern of the world.
Explore Wei Yan's heart
Wei Yan, the Tiger General of the Shu Han Dynasty, the mighty Three Kingdoms, is actually the leader of the new generation of generals. Liu Bei entered Sichuan, he followed him like a shadow, made many military exploits, and won the trust of Uncle Liu Huang. However, Zhuge Liang was prejudiced against him, and even after Liu Beixian's death, this prejudice raged like a flood of beasts.
Wei Yan's ambition for the Northern Expedition was burning like a fire, and he was eager to lead tens of thousands of male soldiers, parted ways with Zhuge Liang, and took Hanzhong together, and finally met Tongguan to conspire with the great cause of the Northern Expedition. However, Zhuge Liang turned a deaf ear to his proposal, and even refused to let him serve as a pioneer, resulting in Ma Tan losing the street pavilion and regrettably defeating.
The dissatisfaction in Wei Yan's heart erupted like a volcano, openly mocking Zhuge Liang for his cowardice, and his talent had nowhere to be displayed. His arrogance naturally aroused Zhuge Liang's vigilance. Zhuge Liang knows very well that if such a general is left to his own devices, it is tantamount to raising tigers.
However, Zhuge Liang's suppression instead inspired Wei Yan's rebellious heart. When Zhuge Liang was seriously ill, he dared to question Zhuge Liang's move to light the lamp to continue his life, and said bluntly: "I heard that people die like lights go out, and today the public takes the lamp as his life, why not?" This is undoubtedly a blatant provocation against Zhuge Liang. It was precisely because of this sentence that Zhuge Liang made up his mind to get rid of Wei Yan. He secretly laid out and carefully planned, and finally ended Wei Yan's life with the help of Ma Dai.
Trick Sima Yi's scheme
If Zhuge Liang lit the lamp to detect Wei Yan's heart was an ingenious chess game, then tricking Sima Yi was another thrilling game. When Zhuge Liang was seriously ill, he felt powerless, and Sima Yi's army was like a tiger staring at the other side. Once he died, the Shu Han army would face annihilation. Take the initiative to attack and Sima Yi does not accept the move, the passive defense is running out, and if he retreats decisively, Sima Yi will definitely take advantage of the victory to pursue. The Shu Han army was in a dilemma, and Zhuge Liang was strategizing and decided to use trickery to break the situation.
Sima Yi, this scheming opponent, is cautious and almost suspicious. Zhuge Liang knows that to deal with such a person, it is necessary to combine the real with the false, the true and the false. So, he made a high-profile declaration that he would borrow his life from heaven for 12 years, leaving Sima Yi wandering in the fog and at a loss. While Sima Yi was hesitating, the Shu Han army had quietly begun to retreat in a big way.
After the seven-star lamp was lit, Zhuge Liang passed away. However, before he died, he had laid a retreat for Shu Han. Secretly, he retreated calmly, and when Sima Yi pursued, he took out a wood carving carved into the appearance of Zhuge Liang, so as to scare off the enemy with the fake and the real. Jiang Wei and others followed Zhuge Liang's last words and worked step by step. When Sima Yi saw the wood carving, he mistakenly thought that Zhuge Liang was still alive, and he was worried that he had fallen into a trap and urgently ordered the withdrawal of the army. When the Shu army entered the valley safely and Sima Yi could no longer pursue, Jiang Wei announced Zhuge Liang's death. Sima Yi was remorseful, but it was too late.
Looking back at Zhuge Liang's technique of lighting the lamp, its ruthlessness can be seen, especially for Wei Yan. He may never have expected that from that moment on, Zhuge Liang was determined to get rid of it quickly. And Wei Yan, who has always been loyal to Shu Han, was forced by Zhuge Liang and Yang Yi to bear the charge of rebellion. This contest of power and resourcefulness ended in a tragic way.