In 234 AD, the fifty-four-year-old Zhuge Kongming led 100,000 Shu troops to the north again, which was the sixth time in his life that he went on the Northern Expedition. As early as eight years ago, he had moved from Chengdu to Hanzhong and started his career. Obviously, for the rights, Kong Ming valued the dream of Kuang Fu Han Room more.
However, the first five expeditions ended in failure, and this time Zhuge Liang spent his life planning to accomplish this great cause in his lifetime. However, in a decisive battle on the Wuzhang Plain, Zhuge KongMinggong was defeated and failed to complete the dream of Kuang Fu Han Room, leaving regrets for future generations.
The most puzzling place is the strategic deployment made by Zhuge Kongming on top of the Wuzhang plain.
Judging from his plan, the Shu army had already fallen into the inferior rank before the war began. Look at the terrain of Gojohara, with its back to the mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack. From a strategic point of view, this is of course a "place where soldiers must fight". However, Kong Ming only deployed all the Shu troops in key areas to hold firm, and his intention was really incomprehensible.
Although this is a strategic place, if the enemy refuses to attack strongly, will all strategic advantages become a vacuum? If the enemy army held the main road and choked the throat of Wuzhangyuan, wouldn't this place become the burial place of the Shu army? Back six years ago, Ma Mo, who was deeply appreciated by the chancellor, led the soldiers to guard the street pavilion, and the arrangement made by Ma Mo at that time was not exactly to go up the mountain to stick to it? Although Ma Mo led his entire army to the top of the hill beyond the enemy's firing range, the Wei army did not take a strong attack at all, and defended the waterway and grain road to fight a protracted war with the Shu army.
In this case, Ma Mo had to face a very critical situation, and there were only two fates waiting for the Shu army:
One is trapped on the top of the mountain and starved to death by thirst;
The second is to rush down the mountain to fight the enemy to the death.
Apparently, Matthew chose the latter. Breaking through the mountain means giving up all strategic advantages and fighting a hard battle with the enemy. As a result, the soldiers who rushed down the mountain became targets for the Archers of the Wei State. With Zhuge Kongming's ingenuity, he would certainly not make the same low-level mistakes as Ma Chen, and the reason why he made such a deployment must have had his own considerations.
And looking at the distribution of the river channels below the Wuzhangyuan, perhaps Zhuge Kongming hopes to gain an advantage by "WeiShui Tian". At this time, the Shu army was no longer able to fight Chang'an, and Kong Ming knew this. Ming Ming's attack on Chang'an was an unrealistic dream, but Kong Ming did not want to give up the Northern Expedition, because it was the last attempt in his life.
Therefore, Kong Ming chose a compromise method, that is, to gain as much advantage as possible and lay a military foundation for the future Shu army. If Wuzhangyuan was used as the eastern stop line and occupied a large area of land west of ChenCang, the Longyou region could be linked. In this way, the border of the Shu state could be extended to the Guanzhong region.
If this strategic purpose was achieved, even if the Shu army could not capture Chang'an, it could gain a long-term advantage.
Some people say that Zhuge Kongming already had a premonition of his return to heaven, so he made this deployment only to wait for the moment when he died. However, the author feels that what Zhuge Kongming wants to wait for is not the end of his life, but the hope of the rise of the Shu Han Foundation.
Regarding the fact that Zhuge Liang devoted his life to the six Northern Expeditions, many scholars said that judging from the national strength of shu and Wei at that time, the possibility of Wei being defeated was very small. Zhuge Kongming's strategic layout is undoubtedly to "go against the sky", and this practice has made the people of Shudi bear a heavy burden. In successive years of exhaustive military warfare, the national strength of the Shu Han gradually exhausted.
However, from Zhuge Kongming's own standpoint, as a minister of entrustment, he obeyed the will of the former emperor, exerted great efforts to govern, and spent his life's energy to complete the unfinished business of the former emperor, which was commendable.
It is also said that the reason why Zhuge Kongming has launched wars for many years is because he wants to use war to eliminate political enemies and consolidate his own power. Obviously, this statement is pure fiction. However, looking at the situation of the Zhuge family, after Zhuge Jun followed his brother into Shu, there was no deed about this person in the historical data.
Zhuge Liang's son Zhuge Qiao, like other warriors, fought on the front line, throwing his head and spilling hot blood, and finally Ma Ge was wrapped in a corpse. There is no doubt that Zhuge Kongming did not use "nepotism" to help his family rise, and the so-called exclusion of dissidents is absurd.
If Zhuge Kongming really had selfish intentions, why didn't he emulate his old rival Sima Yi and cultivate his heirs into big ambitionists like Sima Zhao and Sima Yan? To this day, we can still see a stone stele engraved with the words "no knife outside the heart" from zhuge temple, perhaps this is the true portrayal of Zhuge Kongming's life.
In the final analysis, Kong Ming was just a sharp blade of the Kuangfu Han Room, and his whole life was willing to dedicate to the Shu Han and become a sharp knife in the hands of Emperor Liu. The waiting on the Gojohara was the last light emitted by this sharp blade. Zhuge Kongming made a big bet on the "Wei Water Field" in Wuzhangyuan, and invested all his efforts on the hope of the revival of the Shu Han Dynasty!
Resources:
【Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"】