Zhuge Liang, known as "Wolong", is a famous politician and military figure in Chinese history, who knows astronomy and geography, but Zhuge Liang also has miscalculations! In fact, before Liu Bei's death, he had said to Zhuge Liang that "this person" would not be removed, and the Shu kingdom would perish, but Zhuge Liang did not listen to it, resulting in the loss of soldiers and generals, and the end was super tragic!
▲ Although Zhuge Liang is clever and calculating, there are also times when he misjudges! (Schematic/reprinted from encyclopedic entry)
The "man" that Liu Bei said was None other than Ma Mo (马谡; Ma Mo (190-228), the younger brother of Ma Liang, who followed Liu Bei into Shu as a jingzhou in the early Three Kingdoms period, successively serving as Mianzhu County Ling, Chengdu County Ling, and Yue Yue Taishou.
Zhuge Liang, the chancellor of the Shu Han Dynasty, appointed him to join the army. Zhuge Liang has always been very important to him, and every time he receives talks about it, from day to night; however, in the sixth year of Jianxing (228), Ma Mo was in Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, because he violated Zhuge Liang's combat instructions, which led to the loss of the street pavilion, and after the Shu army withdrew, Ma Mo was executed by Zhuge Liang.
▲ Ma Mo was appointed as a pioneer by Zhuge Liang in the Battle of Jieting, and many veteran generals of the Shu Kingdom were dissatisfied. (Schematic/reprinted from encyclopedic entry)
It is said that before Liu Bei's death, he had said to Zhuge Liang that "Ma Mo is exaggerated and cannot be of great use", and even believed that if Ma Mo was not removed, the Shu kingdom would be destroyed. However, Zhuge Liang and Ma Mo were in love with father and son, how could they possibly listen to Liu Bei's words!
Sure enough, in "The Battle of Jieting", the veteran generals Wei Yan and Wu Yi, who had been in the battlefield for a long time, all thought that Ma Mo was not suitable to be a pioneer, but Zhuge Liang promoted Ma Mo against the opinions of the people, and also appointed Ma Mo as the vanguard, and Ma Mo had a theory and no actual combat experience, not only violated Zhuge Liang's combat deployment, but also stubbornly opinioned, did not listen to the advice of the veteran general Wang Ping, and finally suffered a big defeat, allowing the Shu army to be defeated and return to Hanzhong, and Zhuge Liang finally had to tear up and cut Ma Mo to calm the anger of the people.
▲ Zhuge Liang was strategic, and even the enemies admired his talent, but he misread Ma Chen and let the Northern Expedition lose. (Photo/Reprint from wikipedia entry)
In fact, there is a reason why Liu Bei does not like Ma Mo so much, from the perspective of the monarch, at that time, Ma Chen's brother Ma Liang had already been reused and held the military power, if Ma Mo also had great power, most of the country's military power was not mastered by the Ma family, which was inappropriate.
In addition, although Ma Mo has studied the art of war assiduously since childhood, and has his own unique views on marching and fighting, the military situation changes rapidly, and it is also very dangerous to have empty theories and no actual combat experience, and sure enough, this point was expected by Liu Bei!
In the end, in order to rectify military discipline, Zhuge Liang could only tearfully cut off the horse, which was also an indirect compliance with Liu Bei's last wishes, but the Northern Expedition suffered a great blow, losing soldiers and generals, and also making Zhuge Liang regret that he did not listen to Liu Bei's words at that time.
▲ Zhuge Liang could only tearfully chop the horse in the end, which was considered to be an indirect compliance with Liu Bei's last wishes. (Schematic/reprinted from encyclopedic entry)
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the Chronicle of Ma Mo, the Chronicle of Xiangyang, wrote to Zhuge Liang before his death: "Ming Gong, you regard Ma Mo as your own child, and Ma Mo also regards you as your father. I hope that you can imitate the righteousness of Yu and use Yu, and do not waste our usual friendship, and ma Mo will not hate Huangquan even if he dies. After Ma Chen's death, 100,000 people in the army wept for him, and Zhuge Liang also wept bitterly, and personally sacrificed for him, and also took care of Ma Mo's orphans for a lifetime.
At that time, Jiang Huan said to Zhuge Liang in Hanzhong: "In the past, King Wen of Chu killed Chengde, and then Duke Wen of Jin was quite happy to hear about this matter, and before the world was unified, he killed such a wise and strategic strategist. So Zhuge Liang tearfully retorted: "The reason why Sun Wu was able to be a person in the world at that time was that the use of the law was clear. At that time, Yang gan violated the law, and Wei Dai killed his servants. Now that the four seas are divided, we have only begun to send troops to fight, and if those abolished laws are restored now, what will we use to beg the thieves (Cao Wei)! ”