In the spring of the sixth year of Jianxing (228 AD), Zhuge Liang led the Shu army in the Northern Expedition, which was his first Northern Expedition and the smoothest march, and after the Shu army left Qishan, it captured the three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui, and Anding in one fell swoop, and the State of Wei was shaken.
Unfortunately, because Ma Mo disobeyed the order and led his army up the hill to defend, the street kiosk was lost. The street pavilion was located on the main road from Guanzhong to Longyou, and after being captured by Zhang Gao, the Wei army in Guanzhong could reinforce Longyou at any time. Therefore, Zhuge Liang had to hastily withdraw his troops, and the first Northern Expedition ended in failure.
Many people therefore believe that it is precisely because Ma Mo missed the street pavilion that Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition would fail, otherwise it would be a success, but this idea is not accurate.
During Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, it was indeed very smooth in the early stages, but it was not achieved by the Shu army relying on its own strength.
In order to achieve unexpected results during the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang first declared that he would march from Xiegu to attack Guoxian County, and ordered Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi to lead part of the Shu army to enter Jigu and pose a posture to attack Yuxian County.
Yi County was close to Chang'an, and Chang'an was Cao Wei's most important stronghold in the Guanzhong region, and there was no room for mistakes, so wei at first focused all its attention on Zhao Yun's Shu army, and the general Cao Zhen personally led his army to Jigu to confront Zhao Yun. However, at this time, Zhuge Liang suddenly led the main force of the Shu army out of Qishan and raided Longyou.
Since Liu Bei's death, the Wei state believed that the Shu Han state was small and widowed, and its strength was limited, and it was not regarded as a major threat at all. Even in the fifth year of Jianxing (227 AD), when Zhuge Liang led an army into Hanzhong, Cao Wei only strengthened the garrison of the passes after receiving the news, and did not pay much attention.
In addition, at this time, the attention of the Wei army was attracted to Zhao Yun, and the Long right was even more empty, the main force of the Shu army suddenly appeared here, causing the counties of the Long right to fall into panic, rebellion broke out in Nan'an, Tianshui, Anding and other places, Tianshui and Nan'an were too defensive to abandon the city and fled, Yongzhou Assassin Shi Guohuai led the army to retreat to Shangyi, Jiang Wei, Liang Xu and others surrendered to Zhuge Liang, the Shu army took the three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui, and Anding, and Yongzhou only Longxi and Guangwei counties had not yet been taken, and the situation looked very good.
However, the national strength of the Shu Han Dynasty was limited, the number of troops that could be supported was limited, and the total strength of the whole country was only about 100,000. After deducting the troops left behind in Chengdu, Yong'an, Hanzhong, Nanzhong and other places, only 50,000 or 60,000 people could really be used for the Northern Expedition. In contrast, Cao Wei could easily mobilize 100,000 or more troops, and the gap between the two countries' strength was huge.
Moreover, the Shu army lost all its elite in the Battle of Yiling, although after Zhuge Liang presided over the military and political affairs of the Shu Han, he began to reorganize the Shu army and accumulate actual combat experience in battles such as the suppression of rebellion in southern China. However, after all, the time was still short, and the combat effectiveness of the Shu army was still difficult to compete with the Wei army.
Therefore, after capturing Tianshui and other counties by relying on the chaos of Cao Wei in the early days, the Shu army suffered repeated setbacks in the ensuing battles.
Like the Shu army once attacked Longxi County, which did not surrender, Longxi Commandery Taishou You Chu ordered Chang Shi Ma Yong to lead the Wei army out of the city to meet the attack and repel the Shu army. Although there is no information on this battle to mention the strength of the two sides, the Wei army in Longxi is only a weak state and county soldier, and the Shu army is still unable to win, which shows that their combat effectiveness is not strong.
In the Battle of Jieting, although Ma Mo violated Zhuge Liang's deployment, he led his troops up the mountain to defend. However, at this time, the main force of the Wei army was still led by Cao Zhen, and was attacking Zhao Yun, who was stationed in Jigu. Only Zhang Gao led part of the Wei army to attack Jieting, and the strength of the troops was not as large as that of Ma Chen. In the case of equal troop strength, Ma Mo was condescending to occupy a favorable position, but he was still unable to confront Zhang Hao, which showed the large gap between the two sides.
In addition, at the same time as the Battle of Jieting, Guo Huai led the Wei army to attack the Shu army in Lieliu City. The main commander of this Shu army will be Gao Xiang, who is also one of the elders of the Shu army, but he is still defeated by Guo Huai and is defeated.
In addition, Zhao Yun was also defeated by Cao Zhen at the Battle of Jigu Valley, in fact, during Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, in addition to starting to rely on the Wei state and using the rebellion of Long Right to occupy Tianshui and other places, the four confrontations with the Wei army ended in failure, and there was a big gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides.
It was precisely because it was unable to confront the Wei army head-on, so in the case that the street pavilion was lost and the main force of the Wei army in Guanzhong could reinforce Long Right at any time, Zhuge Liang did not continue to stay, but immediately withdrew.
In this case, if Ma Mo, in accordance with Zhuge Liang's deployment, camped at the intersection to repel Zhang Guo, it would only be a temporary blockade of the Wei army. Then, after Cao Zhen defeated Zhao Yun and arrived with the main force of the Wei army, the Shu army would also face a new vicious battle. Moreover, when the Wei army in Guanzhong reinforced Longyou, the Liangzhou assassin Xu Miao also mobilized the Liangzhou Wei army to attack Nan'an, which had been captured by the Shu army, from the north gate, and with the remnants of the Wei army at Longyou, the Shu army had no way to concentrate its forces to guard the street pavilion, and it was afraid that it would be difficult to defend.
In addition, there is not only one street kiosk from Guanzhong to Longyou. When Ma Chao attacked Qishan, Xiahou Yuan once ordered Zhang Gao to lead an army to take the Chen Cang Ancient Road to the rescue. Therefore, even if the street pavilion was difficult to conquer for a while, Cao Zhen could let Zhang Gao once again lead his army to Chen Cang to Qishan, attack the rear road of the Shu army, and force Zhuge Liang to withdraw.
Therefore, even if Ma Mo held the street pavilion, in the case that the Shu army could not compete with the Wei army in the field battle, the result of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition would not be too ideal, it would be difficult to avoid the result of failure, and there would not be much difference from history.
Of course, if Ma Mo guards the street pavilion, then Zhuge Liang will be more relaxed than history. On the one hand, they could use the street kiosks to resist the Wei army, and on the other hand, they could move more of the people of Longyou to shu Han and enhance their own strength, so that the final result would be better than in history.