Zhuge Liang has a clever plan. His Taoist name is Wolong, and he can reach the sky! Before you even emerge from the hut, you will know the world's potential.

Zhuge Liang can be said to be the most unforgettable celebrity in the past 2000 years. His story is even written in primary school textbooks. This shows that Zhuge Liang's contribution to history is huge.

In his life, Zhuge Liang did three crazy things! The first thing is to marry the ugly Huang Yueying as his wife. "Xiangyang Ji": Zhuge Kongming said: "I heard that you are choosing a wife, and there is an ugly girl with a yellow head and black hair, but she is suitable for her." Kongming promised. In the Chronicle of Xiangyang, it is actually made very clear that Zhuge Liang married a woman with yellow hair and black hair, and she was Huang Yueying. Although Huang Yueying is not pretty in appearance, her talent matches Zhuge Liang.

The second thing is to complete the strategy he proposed in "Longzhong Dui", "Alliance with Wu to resist Cao". In order to achieve this strategic goal, Zhuge Liang personally went to Soochow and met with Sun Quan and many Dongwu. Minister Wu's theory is historically known as "tonguing with the Confucians". At this time, if Zhuge Liang could not convince Soochow, he would be killed. You know, when Zhuge Liang just started his career, not many people would buy his face.

The third thing is even crazier, that is the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei. And he persisted for 7 consecutive years, sending troops to attack Cao Wei 5 times in a row. Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition can be called the craziest thing he has done in his life. Why do you say this? It's very simple, as the saying goes. According to the "Research on the Territory Area of ??Chinese Dynasties", in 262 AD, the land areas of Wei, Shu and Wu were 2.91 million, 1.06 million, and 1.45 million respectively. From this point of view, the area of ??Shu is the smallest, and the population is also the smallest. There are probably only 1 million people in Shu, so there will be even fewer people to send troops.

At the same time, the population of Cao Wei is approximately more than 4 million. Calculating one-tenth of the number of troops used to send troops, there will be at least 400,000 people. However, Shu State only had 100,000 soldiers. In terms of population, soldiers, national strength, and even land area, Shu State was completely unable to compete with Cao Wei.

From the above brief analysis, we can get a result. Zhuge Liang insisted on the Northern Expedition back then, but actually had no chance of winning. As a wise man, Zhuge Liang, wouldn’t he know? It must be clearly understood, but even so, why did Zhuge Liang insist on the Northern Expedition even though he knew he could not win? And one dozen lasts for 7 years!

What was the real purpose of Zhuge Liang’s Northern Expedition? Definitely not a Kuang Fu Han room! So, what is the real reason?

Let’s take a look at the first Northern Expedition first.

After Liu Bei's death in June 223 AD, all military and political power in the Shu Han Dynasty fell to Zhuge Liang. The governance of Shu, military defense, and the balance of internal group power all fell on Zhuge Liang's shoulders. In 225 AD, two years after Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang finally used his own ability to mediate the connections between various channels and groups within the Shu Kingdom. (Dongzhou, Yizhou Group), quelled the civil strife, and also resolved the rebellion in Nanzhong.

In 226 AD, Cao Pi died, and the Cao Wei Group was led by his son Cao Rui. Zhuge Liang took advantage of the favorable opportunity and quickly organized troops to prepare for the Northern Expedition. "Three Kingdoms": Liang personally led the troops to attack Qishan, the troops were organized in order, rewards and punishments were solemn, and the orders were clear. The three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui, and Anding rebelled against Wei Yingliang, and Guanzhong was shaken. Judging from the first war, the Shu Han still had a certain advantage. However, Cao Wei soon responded, and even Cao Rui personally came to guard Chang'an. He also dispatched generals Cao Zhen, Zhang He and others to resist the enemy.

However, Zhuge Liang did not listen to Liu Bei's dissuasion on his deathbed and asked Ma Di to stop Zhang He. As a result, Long Road was breached, and Zhuge Liang's plan to defeat Long Road was completely unrealistic. If we don't retreat, I'm afraid the whole army will be annihilated. Zhuge Liang had no choice but to take the people of the three counties back to Hanzhong to enrich the population of Sichuan and Shu.

In fact, after his first battle with Cao Wei, Zhuge Liang knew a truth, "It is basically impossible to defeat Cao Wei with Shu Han troops and horses alone." Zhuge Liang joined forces with Sun Quan to attack Cao Wei, so the north and the south corresponded , maybe there is still a chance.

However, don't have too much hope for Sun Quan. After all, during the alliance cooperation, he unexpectedly attacked Guan Yu. This is an unethical behavior, and it is definitely not something that can be done by someone who achieves great things...

At the same time, the failure of the first Northern Expedition also seriously affected the morale of the soldiers in central Sichuan. Previously, Zhuge Liang suppressed the rebellion in Nanzhong. After the success of the battle, all the soldiers saw hope. Then the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei was carried out, and all the soldiers were full of hope. However, this time the Northern Expedition did not gain much advantage. After Zhuge Liang led his soldiers back to Chengdu, many people in the Shu Han Dynasty began to oppose the Northern Expedition.

The Second Northern Expedition

Although the first Northern Expedition failed, at the end of the same year, Zhuge Liang planned the second Northern Expedition.

This operation was far less smooth than the first Northern Expedition. Because Cao Wei had been alarmed before, and the reason why he chose to quickly send troops to the Northern Expedition again was to seize Cao Wei's loopholes. Zhuge Liang's marching movements caught many people in Cao Wei from surprise. After the Shu army had just suffered a defeat, they quickly launched an attack again.

At the end of 228 AD, the Shu army broke away again and surrounded Chencang, but Chencang had already been guarded by Hao Zhao. Moreover, Hao Zhao is also a tough general, just like Wei Yan. Zhuge Liang fought for more than 20 days, but he still couldn't defeat him. Helpless, Kong Ming had no choice but to retreat...

During the third Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang truly saw despair, and was forced to take over Wudu and Yinping counties due to the situation.

In 229 AD, Zhuge Liang sent out his army again and asked Chen Shi to quickly attack Wudu and Yinping. He himself also led most of his troops to Jianwei to contain Guo Huai's army.

At this time, it has been almost 2 years since the battle with Cao Wei. Cao Wei was also troubled by Zhuge Liang's sudden attack, so Cao Zhen wrote a letter asking to take the initiative to attack Shu Han. In order to repay the suffering of the previous raid by the Shu army, Emperor Wei agreed at the time, but in the end it was because of the geographical location, Xiegu, Ziwu Road, Baoxie Road, these places were not easy to walk. Especially Ziwu Dao, Cao Zhen has been walking for a month and has not yet reached the halfway point.

Later, there was heavy rain in central Sichuan and the roads were washed away. Finally, Emperor Wei had no choice but to order a retreat.

In fact, it can be seen from the third Northern Expedition that Zhuge Liang was actually playing tricks. Because he knew that if he fought against Cao Wei head-on, he would not be able to gain any advantage at all.

The fourth Northern Expedition, encountering real opponents and fake colleagues.

In 231 AD, Zhuge Liang sent troops to Qishan again and built fortifications here. However, this time Zhuge Liang met his real opponent, and he was Sima Yi. Zhuge Liang knew that Sima Yi was a general guarding the city, so he tried to lure Cao Wei's troops out for a decisive battle. After confronting Zhuge Liang for a period of time, Sima Yi still failed to calm down...

"Han, Jin, Spring and Autumn" records that Sima Yi led the main force to attack Zhuge Liang's main force in Lucheng, while general Zhang He attacked the Shu Han north of Lucheng General Wang Ping. As we all know, Zhang He and Wang Ping are both famous generals who are good at forming formations. Therefore, Zhang He did not gain any advantage in attacking Wang Ping this time.

Sima Yi was even worse. He was defeated by Wei Yan, Gao Xiang, and Wu Ban, the Shu generals sent by Zhuge Liang. About 3,000 low-level officers were killed in the battle. After this battle, Sima Yi finally knew how powerful Zhuge Liang was. "You must never use your own shortcomings to defeat the enemy's strengths!".

After the Shu army gained power, it should have been the best time to continue heading north, but Zhuge Liang's army was out of food and grass, and later received Liu Chan's order to withdraw. There was no other way, Zhuge Liang had no choice but to return to Chengdu. After returning home, I realized that it was all the fault of the former boss Liu Bei's other lonely minister Li Yan.

Due to his inability to transport grain, Li Yan falsely accused Zhuge Liang of wanting to dominate. In fact, when Zhuge Liang learned that Li Yan was in conflict with him because of the food and grass problem. Then I knew that the Northern Expedition would never be realized in this life. Self-preservation still requires coordination, not to mention that the strength of the enemy is far different. Later, Zhuge Liang deposed Li Yan as a commoner.

In the Fifth Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang fought for his ideas.

The Fifth Northern Expedition was actually the last time Zhuge Liang led troops out of Sichuan. However, Sima Yi, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei, refused to fight Zhuge Liang.

In the end, Zhuge Liang was trapped in the military camp alive and did nothing...

In fact, as early as the Fourth Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang knew that if he wanted Sima Yi to send out again, he would probably have no chance in this life. . Except that Sima Yi had no good way to deal with Fang Ge Liang at the risk of all his elite troops. However, Sima Yi did not dare to take too many risks. After all, Sima Yi was not able to control Cao Wei's situation at this time. If Cao Wei lost more soldiers, Sima Yi would not be able to survive... Therefore, Sima Yicai and Zhuge Liang fought a war of attrition.

Every day, in addition to consuming more than ten tons of food in Cao Wei. He will not make any other moves.

To sum up, Zhuge Liang made five Northern Expeditions in his life, and he had no chance of winning. Except for the first Northern Expedition, which had some success, the Shu army basically did not open its positions in the second, third, fourth, and fifth expeditions. However, the first attack on Cao Wei was due to Cao Wei's neglect of precautions, and the fact that the leader of Wei had just come to power and did not pay special attention to border management. If, once we pay attention to it, the Shu army will have no chance to capture Cao Wei's city or even reach Chang'an, this is even more idiotic.

At that time, Wei Yan proposed taking the Ziwu Road, which was a dangerous move in Zhuge Liang's eyes. Again, Cao Zhen had already walked through it before, and walked for a month, but did not complete half of the distance. Don't you, Wei Yan, know how to drive a roller coaster? Therefore, Zhuge Liang did not consider taking the Ziwu Road.

In short, Zhuge Liang already knew the outcome of the war before the Northern Expedition. That is "defeat". As the old saying goes, if you know yourself and the enemy, you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. However, there was Sima Yi in Cao Wei, who was considered an immortal who could compete with him. As long as he is around, it will be difficult for one's own strategy to really bring out huge benefits.

Secondly, there is the hardware condition. The Shu Han army only has 100,000 troops. And Cao Wei can use at least 300,000 troops and horses. With such a huge disparity in strength, does An have any chance of winning? It's considered good if you don't get dumped.

In other words, Zhuge Liang has always insisted on the Northern Expedition in order to reduce the gap with Cao Wei. In addition to this factor, the main reason is to repay Liu Bei for his kindness in the past. It has been stated in Zhuge Liang's "The Later Disciple's Example" that the minister worked hard and died; I think this can already explain the problem. Zhuge Liang means that he is willing to devote his life to Liu Bei's cause.

And there is another sentence immediately following it, "As for success or failure, it cannot be reversed by the wisdom of the minister." This sentence is also very simple. As for whether this war can be successful? I won't be able to see it in this life. I can only do my best in this life to do this. From these records, we can understand why Zhuge Liang insisted on the Northern Expedition. The main reason is to repay Liu Bei's kindness for visiting the thatched cottage three times, and the second reason is to create a story that will last for thousands of years.

Before Zhuge Liang died, he decided to get rid of Wei Yan. Why? It's also very simple, because Wei Yan is very likely to destroy the country of Shu. He is arrogant, arrogant, and at odds with his colleagues. Every label is fatal, for a general. Therefore, getting rid of Wei Yan is the best way to ensure the national strength and military strength of Shu.

At the same time, getting rid of Wei Yan was also Zhuge Liang's idea to completely cut off the Kingdom of Shu and launch the Northern Expedition... When Zhuge Liang was about to die, he decided that the Kingdom of Shu would always be defended rather than the main battle. In other words, the Northern Expedition could not get ahead, let alone help the Han! Liu Chan, on the other hand, is unclear about his affairs and is far away from his father Liu Bei. Please take care of yourself...