According to records, Zhuge Liang is quite intelligent in employing people, and his seven ways of employing people are very reasonable:
First, "ask what is right and wrong and look at their aspirations."
Second, "the poor look at the degree of argument."
Third, "consulting is based on strategy and understanding".
Fourth, "tell them to look at their courage with difficulties."
V. "Drunkenness looks at its nature with wine."
Sixth, "to look at the incorruptibility of the people who come to them for the sake of profit."
VII. "Look at the letter of the matter by the time."
Since Zhuge Liang can use people, is it an overly cautious move for him to ban Ma Chao?
There is a precedent as evidence: Zhang Lu reused Ma Chao, and as a result, Ma Chao was easily surrendered by the Shu State. People with heavy ambitions like Ma Chao usually have their own ideas after a few victories, and at this time, if the enemy comes to add fuel to the fire, he is bound to turn the gun.
Ma Chao (马超), courtesy name Mengqi, was a native of Fufeng Maoling (present-day Xingping County, Shaanxi), a famous general of the Three Kingdoms period, who was good at fighting Xiao Yong, and once chased Cao Cao at Tongguan and forced Cao Cao to cut off his beard and abandon his robes, after which he surrendered to Liu Bei and ranked as the General of the Five Tigers. However, after Ma Chao's surrender, he was not reused and gradually lost his edge.
After returning to the Shu Kingdom, the only time he went out as a general was when Zhuge Liang was in the Five Roads of Anjuping. At that time, 500,000 Wei soldiers attacked the Shu state in five ways, which made the Shu state panic and uneasiness, however, Zhuge Liang came up with a countermeasure and rejected it in five ways with different countermeasures, of which Ma Chao was ordered to lead the army to resist 100,000 Qiang soldiers in the north.
The rest of the time, Ma Chao has almost been doing nothing.
So, why is that? Is it Ma Chao's ability to do it?
Not really.
The Wancheng Battle of Zhang Xiu, Xi Liang and Ma Chao, and Hua Rong Feng Guan Yu were some of the major defeats that Cao Jun had suffered, and Cao Cao once issued a message that "horses do not die, and I have no burial place!" " sigh. The person who can make politicians and military experts like Cao Cao express such emotions is probably this Ma Chao except Guan Yu.
In this sense, people call the Five Tigers "Guan Zhang Zhao Ma Huang", and ranking him fourth is indeed a bit wronged by him. It can be seen that Ma Chaozhi's courage can be described as one of the best in the Three Kingdoms period when the tigers were born. However, with Zhuge Liang's shrewdness, it is indeed a bit unreasonable to let the fierce generals go.
So, is this Zhuge Liang's mistake again?
Non also.
In the matter of using Ma Chao, he is much more sober than the misuse of Ma Chao.
What kind of person is Ma Chao? Generations of famous masters, both literature and martial arts, are the talents of the crowd, leading the army to fight, chasing deer in the Central Plains is his intention. Being a subject and helping others fight the world will definitely not be his own wish. Compared with the simple warriors such as Guan Zhang zhao huang, the more ambitious Ma Chao is difficult to control and satisfy, and it is precisely these reasons that cause the Shu state to dare not reuse Ma Chao, and even the official positions given to him are also the kind that seem to be useless as big officials.
Or rather, another reason is that Zhuge Liang did not have a complete grasp of him, so he did not use it, or even refrigerated it. On the contrary, Ma Chao's brother, Ma Dai, has more talent for Wang Zuo. Therefore, after Ma Chao's illness, Ma Dai received heavy use.
On the other hand, Ma Chao's surrender to Shu was also forced. Zhang Lu caught Kong Ming's strategy, leaving Ma Chao in a dilemma, and at the same time, Kong Ming sent people to alienate Ma Chao, skillfully subduing one of the major troubles in the Shu kingdom. However, for a personality like Ma Chao, unless he is conquered by absolute strength, he will definitely be unconvinced and will not willingly fight for you.
Earlier, Cao Cao used Yang Fu to break Ma Chao with clever tricks, leaving Ma Chao homeless. Although Cao Cao defeated Ma Chao at this time, in exchange for Ma Chao's anger, Ma Chao made a vow to be an enemy of Cao Cao for life. Defeat it with strength, and then make it surrender, and its people will be available. There were many such examples at that time, such as Guan Yu's collection of Huang Zhong, Zhang Fei's release of Yan Yan, and Kong Ming's seven captures and seven longitudinal Meng Yue, which were typical examples.
Obviously, due to his own lack of strength, Kong Ming could not follow the precedent to subdue Ma Chao.
Although Zhang Fei was able to reach a draw with Ma Chao, on the battlefield, Ma Chao could lead the brave Western Liang cavalry, and its strength was enough to crush the powerful Cao soldiers, let alone the weaker Shu soldiers at that time? Even if Ma Chao can be defeated, it will definitely hurt the troops, and it will certainly not be worth the loss. Therefore, after Zhuge Liang thought twice, he decided to surrender Ma Chao skillfully, even if he could not use this good general, he could not stay as a hidden danger.
Speaking of zhi descending, there were also successful examples at that time, such as: Jiang Wei, who was also descended by Zhuge Liangzhi, and he was reused. Among them, it is inevitable that Jiang Wei's mind is no longer in the Wei State, but more importantly, compared to Ma Chao, Jiang Wei is not so arrogant and arrogant, and there is no one in sight.
As mentioned above, Ma Chao only participated in one major battle after returning to Shu, and at that time, why did Kong Ming rest assured that Ma Chao was beyond the battle? Is it because there are no good generals in Shu?
Nor is this the case.
At that time, Kong Ming had already sensed Ma Chao's desire to lead the army, and if he continued to use him, he might cause chaos. It just so happened that one of the five roads of cao pi's army attack at that time was the Xiqiang people who had befriended Ma Chao. Kong Ming thought left and right, expecting that there would be no war between them, so he pushed the boat along the water and let Ma Chao go to ping this road, which was also really shrewd.
It can also be seen from this that Kong Ming's way of employing people is indeed very clever. It's just a pity that Ma Mengqi, who is good at war, has disappeared since he arrived in the Shu Kingdom, and finally, he has passed away alone. If it weren't for the fact that he had fought with Cao Cao before and fought big battles and made a name, I was afraid that whether we could see this name in the history books was a question.
It can be said that it is a pity that Ma Mengqi! Sadly Ma Mengqi!
Resources:
["Wei Luo", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Chao Biography", "Yizhou Qi Old Biography"]