If it was Zhuge Liang who died in Luo Fengpo, it was Pang Tong who lived! Can he finally defeat Sima Yi and unify the world? As Liu Bei's right army division, Pang Tong always disagreed with Zhuge Liang's opinion, Pang Tong believed: Jingzhou is a desolate land, according to the environment at that time, it has been exhausted, Jingzhou has a powerful Sun Quan in the east, and Cao Cao in the north, and if jingzhou is occupied, it will be in a situation of two sides. Moreover, Jingzhou has suffered from many years of war, although it is a rich place, but after years of war, the local talent and materials are extremely scarce. Therefore, Jingzhou could not be used as the foundation for Liu Bei to conquer the world.
Liu Bei was a very self-aware person, and when he attacked Xichuan, he took Pang Tong with him and let Zhuge Liang stay in Jingzhou, making very wise decisions, making the best use of his talents and people. After the death of Pang Tong and Fa Zheng, there were no people with extremely strong military offensive capabilities on the Shu Han side, and although Zhuge Liang was also outstanding. But it was more suitable for defending the city, and he was not as strong as Pang Tong in attacking the city, and even less than Liu Bei. This is also the reason why Liu Bei let Zhuge Liang guard the rear during the Battle of Yiling and did not take it with him to attack Eastern Wu.
Although Pang Tong has many ideas that are consistent with Liu Guanzhang's, if he wants to truly implement his own strategy, there will inevitably be places of conflict with Guan Zhang, and when Pang Tong and Guan Zhang have conflicts, Liu Guanzhang's position will gradually become estranged from Pang Tong. When Pang Tong felt that he was not trusted, he would not silently admit it like Zhuge Liang, but would continue to slack off, hoping to get the attention of the last time in this way. Once yes, twice can be tolerated, three times will be boring. Therefore, even if Pang Tong did not die, Sima Yi would not be defeated. Above the style, Zhuge Liang is hoping to do everything in the invisible, the type of spring wind, more neutral, but Pang Tong's style is radical and courageous, in the late Shu Kingdom is the need for radical policies to stimulate the development of Shu Han, but also a method of confrontation with Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang and the old treacherous Sima Yi always want to compare intelligence, but Sima Yi is completely unsympathetic, he does not have any feelings of pity for each other, he is unscrupulous, this is Pang Tong's commitment point. If he encountered Pang Tong, Sima Yi's trouble would undoubtedly be greater.
One of Zhuge Liang's shortcomings is an important factor in the repeated failures of his Northern Expedition Zhuge Liang's previous Northern Expeditions have been a clear policy each time, but lack of flexibility. Therefore, once the original policy cannot be realized, it will seem to be impossible. For example, during the Second Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang attacked Chen Cang. The Wei army strengthened its defenses at Chen Cang in advance, and Zhuge Liang lacked the strength to attack the stronghold. Zhang Tai, who was ordered to come to the rescue at that time, thought before he set out: Maybe Zhang Tai will retire before Zhuge Liang arrives! During the Fourth and Fifth Northern Expeditions, when the original plan did not achieve results, there were not many ways to face Sima Yi's insistence. Although Zhuge Liang's battle conception during each Northern Expedition cannot be described as ingenious, the battlefield situation is ever-changing, how can everything go as expected? The lack of response to the front was an important reason for the ineffectiveness of Zhuge Liang's repeated Northern Expeditions.
From The perspective of Liu Beiren: Pang Tong's ability to attack the battlefield seems to be slightly higher than Zhuge Liang's, but in terms of knowing people, Liu Bei is one of the best in the Three Kingdoms. From his use of Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong, we can see the advantages and disadvantages of the two. When Liu Bei was alive, Zhuge Liang mostly sat in the rear, giving full play to his talents, governing internal affairs, and training the army. In the matter of conquest, Zhuge Liang's high theory was rarely heard.
At the same time, on the specific issue of attack, Zhuge Liang seems to have rarely spoken. For example, can you attack Sanba? Can't fight Hanzhong? Liu Bei consulted with Fa Zheng and Huang Quan repeatedly, and Zhuge Liang barely spoke. After Guan Yu was killed, did he want to go on a crusade against Sun Quan? Zhao Yun spoke one after another, and Zhuge Liang did not seem to speak. It seems that for Zhuge Liang, What Liu Bei used was his Xiangcai. Dominate the overall situation and govern internal affairs. As for the emergency response, it seems that Pang Tong and Fa Zheng must be ranked before Zhuge Liang. Horizontal comparison: Judging from the suggestions of Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong's adaptability seems to be stronger due to the short time of luminous heat, and Pang Tong's performance is not much. However, judging only from his performance in Yizhou, Pang Tong is more adaptable and the strategy used is more flexible.
After Liu Bei entered Yizhou, Liu Zhang personally came to take Yizhou. Pang Tong proposed the first strategy: to detain Liu Zhang during the meeting with Liu Zhang. Then he took advantage of the chaos to attack the leaderless Yizhou (this strategy was rejected by Liu Bei). After Liu Zhang and Liu Bei turned their faces, Pang Tong again proposed three strategies with clear levels of upper, middle, and lower levels: the upper strategy, taking advantage of Liu Zhang's lack of strict defenses, and directly went to Chengdu with a crack army to arrest Liu Zhang; Zhongce, using the excuse to summon Liu Zhang's generals Gao Pei and Yang Huai, collect their elite troops, and then attack Chengdu; The next strategy is to retreat to the White Emperor City and re-establish contact with the direction of Jingzhou. It seems that Ponton's strategy is extremely flexible. Extreme, prudent, conservative have a plan. Before conquering Gongsun Yuan, he had clearly anticipated his opponent's strategy (he would resist by the river first, retreat after defeat and defend Xiangping): he knew exactly how long it would take to suppress the rebellion (how long he would go, how long he would fight, and how long he would return).
When fighting Zhuge Liang, he also accurately predicted when and in what direction Zhuge Liang would launch the Northern Expedition. (Before the Fifth Northern Expedition, he concluded that Zhuge Liang would have to prepare for at least three years before sending troops from Longyou.) However, Sima Yi was inferior to generals such as Zhang Tai and Guo Huai in terms of strange changes in the front. During Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition, Sima Yi did not listen to Zhang Tai's advice, was led by Zhuge Liang by the nose, was first cut off the wheat of Shangyi, and then suffered the defeat of Halo City: during the Fifth Northern Expedition, if it were not for Guo Huai's timely reminder, he was almost rejected by Zhuge Liang and cut off the waterway between Guanlong and Long; Therefore, if you encounter Pang Tong's more ingenious style of using soldiers, Sima Yi is estimated to be a bit choked.
When commenting on Zhuge Liang, Chen Shou said: Zhuge Liang's response will be slight, not his strength. Many friends have identified Zhuge Liang as "not good at fighting a war." In fact, the strengths and weaknesses mentioned here are all evaluated by them as the top commanders at that time. It's like, someone said: Messi's header is not good. Indeed, if you regard him as a figure at the level of the king of the ball, his head ball is indeed inferior to those air masters who eat by the head ball. However, Messi's header is still much stronger than that of the average player! Similarly, sima Yi, who had the impression that Yi Huan "couldn't stick to it", broke Meng Da and conquered Liaodong, all of which were swept away and easily abused; Zhuge Liang, who is "cautious in his life", is also bold and deep, clean and neat. Their weaknesses are only apparent when they encounter an opponent of their same level. Therefore: the advantages and disadvantages mentioned in this article are measured by the standard of "top level". Thank you for your understanding! In general, I think that Sima Yi is difficult to resist when Pang Tong (or Fa Zheng) is on the front (but behind the need for Zhuge Liang to govern the country and train the army). However, the results of the Northern Expedition may still be difficult to change. After all, the key to winning or losing a war depends on national strength. Behind Sima Yi stood an even more powerful State of Wei!