Zhuge Liang’s vigorous Northern Expedition to the Central Plains came to an end in tragedy, leaving behind a story about how he died before he left the army and made the hero burst into tears.
After returning to Baoji from Qinling Mountains, it was almost noon. We stopped in the city and drove east along the G30. We were galloping in the hinterland of Guanzhong. Along the way, we saw the high-speed railway track connecting Baoji and Xi'an on the left, the rushing Weishui River on the right, and the majestic Qinling Mountains in the distance.
This high-speed railway is newly built. It only takes one hour from Baoji to Xi'an, which is very convenient. I posted on Weibo, and some netizens lamented: It only takes an hour to get to Xi'an now, but Prime Minister Zhuge has been gone his whole life and still hasn't arrived yet. ? I read this sentence in the car, and everyone was silent for a while, and an inexplicable sadness filled the car.
In fact, when we set off from Baoji, this sadness has been lingering around us. The further east we go, the stronger it becomes. Everyone is silent. We no longer have the excitement and surprise we had during the previous trip, because the destination we are going to next is the end point of this Northern Expedition, and it is also the beginning of Zhuge Liang's life. The end point? Wuzhangyuan.
Wuzhangyuan is a very famous place, but when everyone mentions this name, they will unconsciously lower their voices and put away their smiles, as if they are afraid of disturbing someone. This is the end of a legendary life and the tragic ending of an epic story.
We drove east for about an hour, got off the expressway at Caijiapo Interchange, and turned south. This north-south avenue is called Kongming Avenue. After crossing the Weishui River, it enters the scope of Wuzhangyuan Town.
The weather is fine today, the sun is mellow, solemn and warm. It is a good weather for tomb-sweeping. The town is not big, and the Qinling Mountains can be seen towering in the distance. There is a tall yellow soil plateau in the south of the town, backed by mountains, which is quite impressive. I rolled down the window and looked far away, thinking: Prime Minister, we are finally here. ?
Time quickly reversed and returned to the twelfth year of Jianxing. At this time, three years had passed since the last battle at Qishan. Zhuge Liang once again led his troops northward and began his fifth and final Northern Expedition.
This time his choice was unexpected. Instead of continuing to attack Longxi, he chose to take the Baoxie Road, which is where Zhao Yun pretended to attack during the first Northern Expedition.
As we analyzed in the previous Hanzhong article, Baoxie Road is a relatively good offensive route. Its southern end is very close to Nanzheng and Mianyang. Although a large number of planks, corridors and pavilions need to be built in the road, there are Baoshui and Xieshui that can be used; while its northern end, the Jigu and Xiegu exits, are located in the Weihe Basin between Chencang and Chang'an. It is only two hundred miles away from Chang'an in the east, and only a few dozen miles away from Qishan Mountain in the north, and is connected by the Wei River.
If we can gain a foothold here, it will pose a huge threat to Cao Wei's defense line. So when Zhao Yun sent troops from here, Cao Zhen misjudged the direction of the main attack.
But why? Zhuge Liang has been working tirelessly to conquer Longxi since the first Northern Expedition. Why did he give up his previous hard work and decide to go straight to Guanzhong this time?
I think there are many reasons. Maybe he felt that the Shu army performed well last time and had the confidence to fight the enemy head-on, so there was no need to engage in roundabout strategies; maybe he had a premonition of his own fate, and time was not waiting for me, so he must seize the time. Or maybe it’s a combination of both mentalities.
Perhaps the biggest reason is his lifelong enemy Sima Yi.
Since the last battle in Qishan, Sima Yi has not been idle. He expanded the Chengguo Canal westward in Guanzhong and built Linjin Pi. He also dispatched a large number of farmers from Jizhou to work in Shanggui. He also supervised the smelting and smelting in Jingzhao, Tianshui, Nan'an and other places, which was equivalent to building an arsenal. .
With canals, there will be food and grass, and with military industry, there will be combat power. In the past three years, Longxi has become more and more indestructible. Zhuge Liang saw in despair that it was unlikely that he would be able to take advantage here anymore. He had no choice but to honestly set his sights on Guanzhong.
Sima Yi had a very keen understanding of Zhuge Liang's mentality. He once commented: "Even if we go out later, we will no longer attack the city. We should fight in the field, and it must be in the east of Longlong, not in the west." ?He had already expected that Zhuge Liang would not hit the south wall of Longxi in the next step, but could only go to Longdong to seek a decisive battle with the main force in order to gain a chance of victory.
What’s even more frightening is that Sima Yi even calculated the time. Zhuge Liang would have to accumulate three years of food and grass before he could send out troops once. From the ninth year of Jianxing to the twelfth year of Jianxing, it was exactly three years.
Therefore, the route of dispatching troops for the Northern Expedition was not so much Zhuge Liang’s choice as it was the decision that Sima Yi forced him to make. This has nothing to do with individual talent, but is entirely determined by the gap in national power.
However, strategic victory does not mean guaranteed victory. After all, Zhuge Liang still holds a sharp knife in his hand. This knife once harvested the lives of countless Wei soldiers in Lucheng, and it is still not dull to this day.
In the spring of the twelfth year of Jianxing, the Shu Han army crossed the Baoxie Road, passed through the Xie Valley, and entered the hinterland of Guanzhong. The Wei army, which had been prepared for a long time, did not immediately surround them, but was watching and watching the movements of the Shu and Han army.
Sima Yi said something meaningful at this time: "If you are as bright as a brave man, you should use your martial arts to follow the mountains to the east. If you go west to the Wuzhang Plain, the army will be fine." ?If Zhuge Liang is brave enough, he can go east along the Qinling Mountains from Wugong County; if he goes west to Wuzhangyuan, we can be completely relieved. This famous saying of Sima Yi was written into "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" by Luo Guanzhong, but he did not explain what it meant.
This sentence is very important. It can be said that it directly determines the success or failure of the Fifth Northern Expedition. The meaning it contains was only clear when I climbed onto Wuzhangyuan and looked down at the surrounding situation.
In fact, Wuzhang should have been written as Wuzhangyuan. The plateau is a typical loess plateau landform. The mountains are surrounded by ravines and cut into vertical cliffs. The top is as flat as a platform and looks like huge tables from a distance. Wuzhangyuan is such a landform. It is located at the northern foot of Qipan Mountain on the south side of the Weishui River. The entire mountain is surrounded by vertical cliffs on three sides. Only the south side is slightly gentle. If you drive from the north, you need to wind up the mountain.
Looking down at Wuzhangyuan, it is shaped like a pipa, wide in the north and thin in the south. The widest point is a large platform, which is the Wuhou Temple in Qishan. About eight or nine kilometers south of the Wuhou Temple, at the narrowest point at the southern end of Wuzhangyuan, there is also the ruins of Huoluo City, which is said to be the location of Zhuge Liang's military tent.
We climbed up the mountain and arrived at the top of Wuzhangyuan. The Wuzhang Yuan Wuhou Temple was built on the original roof. There is an open flat land in front of the temple, and you can see the geographical general trend of the north: the most eye-catching thing is the Weishui River under the original, and the Caijiapo on the north bank of the Weishui River can also be seen. Looking further north, you can also see Go to Qishan County and Qianshan Mountain to the north of Qishan Mountain.
To be honest, I didn’t expect that the distance between the north and south of the Guanzhong Plain in this area would be so short. Standing at the southernmost Wuzhangyuan, I could actually see the northernmost Qianshan Mountains at a glance.
This distance is the reason hidden behind Sima Yi's words.
Wuzhangyuan is backed by the Qinling Mountains. To the east is Wugong County, to the west is Chencang, and to the north is Qishan Mountain. Wugong County is located further east of Wuzhangyuan, adjacent to Fufeng to the west, Qian County to the north, Zhouzhi to the south, and is only a mere 140 miles away from Xi'an. The tomb of Su Wu and the tomb of Emperor Sui Yang are both here.
If Zhuge Liang comes out of Xiegu and goes eastward, fighting all the way to Wugong along the Qinling Mountains and the Weishui River, then the Shu Han army will be directed towards Chang'an. This creates a lot of pressure politically. Sima Yi will be forced to abandon his defensive strategy and fight Zhuge Liang decisively. When the time comes to meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. This plays into Zhuge Liang's desire to have the main force fight for a decisive battle? This is why Sima Yi said that if he is brave, he will go eastward for martial arts.
But if Zhuge Liang left Xiegu to the west and stationed himself at Wuzhangyuan, it would be another way of fighting.
As I observed while standing on the plain, Wuzhangyuan is across the Wei River, to the north is Qishan County, and to the north of Qishan is the Qianshan Mountains, commonly known as Beishan. The Guanzhong Plain is only more than 20 kilometers wide from north to south in this area.
Zhuge Liang used Wuzhangyuan as his base. As long as he went north to capture Qishan, he would cut off the Guanzhong Basin. Whether it is the Guanlong Road or the Chencang Narrow Road, it is useless. Cao Wei's northwest defense line will be cut into three parts: Longxi, Chencang and eastern Guanzhong. Zhuge Liang can then cut off the division and digest it calmly.
Guo Huai, another general of the Wei army, expected this. He analyzed: "If Ruoliang crosses the Wei River to the plains and joins the troops in Beishan, cutting off the Long Road and destabilizing the people and barbarians, this is not in the interests of the country." ?
This style of play is very dangerous for Cao Wei, but at least there is no need to rush to a decisive battle? This is exactly what Sima Yi wants. Sima Yi is not afraid of confrontation, but afraid of decisive battle. So when he heard that Zhuge Liang had gone to Wuzhangyuan, he was as happy as a child.
In war, you have to do things that make the enemy uncomfortable. Now that the enemy is so happy, the only one who feels so uncomfortable is himself.
The Shu army came out of Xiegu and stationed in Wuzhangyuan. Zhuge Liang also occupied Lankeng, a nearby farmland, and was prepared for a protracted war from the beginning.
As for Sima Yi, he did not move, remaining unchanged in response to all changes.
After Zhuge Liang was ready, he sent troops to cross the river and capture Beishan. Sima Yi, who was well prepared, sent Guo Huai, Hu Zun and others to block Yangsui and Jishi. Zhuge Liang could not go north, so he had no choice but to retreat to Wuzhangyuan. Next, the Wei army surrounded Zhuge Liang from east, west and north, but did not take action.
Zhuge Liang was not in a hurry, so he simply set up a battle formation near Wuzhangyuan and started farming. There are still ruins such as Zhugetian and Wei Yancheng near Wuzhangyuan, but I don’t know whether they are true or false. However, this so-called farm field is not necessarily very comfortable. Wuzhangyuan is a place with very poor water resources. There is a local folk song: "If a girl doesn't marry in Wuzhangyuan, it will be harder to get water than to get oil." ?The difference in geographical location can be seen.
But Zhuge Liang remained unwavering. He was waiting for news.
This time he was not disappointed. In May, battle reports came from the south: Sun Quan, Lu Xun, and Sun Shao's armies of more than 100,000 people were attacking three key points: Hefei, Xiangyang, and Guangling.
This time Soochow didn’t miss the mark. Regardless of the scale of mobilization or the time of attack, the coordination was just right. It was really serious.
This explains why Zhuge Liang was not in a hurry to advance eastward. Everyone has their own calculations. Sima Yi thought that the confrontation between the two armies was in his own interests. Zhuge Liang was actually waiting for the opportunity when Cao Wei had no time to look west.
Emperor Wei Ming was also tough-minded. He gritted his teeth and refused to let Sima Yi retreat and stood firm to his post. He led his people south to rescue, but Sun Quan, a loser, was defeated at the gate of Hefei in July, and his three-pronged attack on Wei ended in haste.
After Zhuge Liang heard the news, he spurted out a mouthful of blood. It's really irritating that such a situation can be messed up by people from Soochow. Zhuge Liang's subsequent unexpected death had a lot to do with the excitement of Sun Quan's defeat.
The last hope just disappeared.
No, it’s not gone yet. Emperor Wei Ming has not returned to the army yet. As long as Sima Yi is killed before then, the Shu army will still have a chance of victory.
So Zhuge Liang began to provoke. He even used the trick of giving women clothes to the prime minister of the country. He was really anxious.
If it had been another general, he might have been unable to restrain his anger. But Sima Yi is a typical model in Li Zongwu's "Houhei Xue". No matter how you toss him, I just won't fight. Not only am I not allowed to leave, but no one under my command is allowed to leave. For this reason, Emperor Wei Ming specially sent Xinpi Chijie to confirm his intention to avoid war.
Everyone knows what happened next. Soon after, Zhuge Liang became ill from overwork and died suddenly in Wuzhangyuan. The Shu army retreated angrily, and a farce of division occurred before leaving. From then on, no flag of the Shu Han could be seen in Guanzhong and Qinling.
Zhuge Liang’s vigorous Northern Expedition to the Central Plains came to a tragic end, leaving behind a story about how he died before he left the army and made the hero burst into tears. The section "Autumn Wind in the Five Zhangs Plains" in Lao Sanguo left a deep impression on me, and I cried every time I read it.
Regarding the death of Zhuge Liang, various classics have given large-scale reports. For example, "Jin Yang Qiu" once reported: "There is a star with red horns, flowing from the northeast and southwest, and throwing it into Liangying." , three shots and then return, from big to small. Er Liang died. "Han, Jin, Spring and Autumn" also vividly tells a legendary story about "Zhuge's death and his resurrection of Zhongda". It can be seen that at that time, everyone had a tendency to deify Zhuge Liang, and later these scenes were all absorbed into "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
Even Sima Yi, another party involved, went out of his way to inspect the fortress left by Zhuge Liang and praised him as "a genius in the world". Of course, I personally don’t think it’s ruled out that he was praising himself in disguise: I’ve exhausted all the geniuses in the world, so wouldn’t I be the super genius in the world?
Frankly speaking, Zhuge Liang’s fifth Northern Expedition performed very well. Poor, at least much worse than the ease of the Fourth Northern Expedition. He used his troops cautiously and rigidly, without any agility. From the beginning to the end, he was either led by Sima Yi or waited for Sun Quan to cooperate, and his fate was completely left in their hands.
I would rather interpret this abnormal behavior as meaning that he was seriously ill at that time. "Wei's Spring and Autumn Annals" records an intriguing incident. Zhuge Liang's envoy went to see Sima Yi. Sima Yi asked about Zhuge Liang's daily routine, and the envoy replied: "Zhuge Liang works hard and sleeps hard at night. He punishes him by more than 20 yuan and takes it personally. The food he eats does not amount to a few liters." After hearing this, Sima Yi only said four words: "Liang is about to die." ?
No matter how good a chess player is, it will be difficult for him to make good moves if he suffers from illness and heavy work at the same time.
In the final analysis, it is Zhuge Liang's cautious and cautious character who takes things lightly. If he can march east resolutely, he may not be unable to open up the situation. If he could pay more attention to his body, he might not be able to reverse the situation. These years of war have allowed him to grow rapidly, but ultimately failed to change his nature. Character determines fate. From the moment he handed over the "Character", Prime Minister Zhuge was destined to fall on the Wuzhang Plain.