Zhuge Liang The penultimate Northern Expedition. This battle should not be underestimated. Why? Because this is the closest to success after the failure of the first Northern Expedition. If we win, history may be rewritten. In addition, this was also the first real battle between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi. However, Prime Minister Zhuge chose to retreat when he defeated Sima Yi, which is regrettable. What was the reason that made Zhuge Liang order the retreat? Is it impossible to fight? Or can't the logistics keep up? Or is it for other reasons?
Zhuge Liang's Fifth Northern Expedition
The Northern Expedition that was closest to success
First was the timing; Zhuge Liang chose the right time for the Northern Expedition at this time, Cao Zhen was seriously ill and lacked a strong opponent.
The second is Renhe: Not only that, Zhuge Liang also recruited Xianbei Kebineng, asking him to raise troops to respond, and Renhe was established.
The third is the weather: It hasn’t rained in Yongliang area for half a year, so the weather is perfect.
The fourth is the geographical advantage: Although the Northern Expedition route has not changed much, Zhuge Liang invented the wooden ox to transport grain, which alleviated the problem of grain transportation due to the road, so it can be considered a geographical advantage. On the basis of occupying the right time, place and people, Zhuge Liang sent troops to surround Qishan Fort and built Lucheng as a camp in the northeast.
Sima Yi
Sima Yi personally took command
Cao Wei saw that the Shu Han was approaching menacingly, so he directly sent Sima Yi to take command and lead the army to resist. Sima Yi sent Fei Yao, Dai Ling and 4,000 elite troops to Shanggui to defend, and he led his army to follow up. After Zhuge Liang learned about it, he left Wang Ping to continue the attack, while he went north to Shanggui to "destroy" the wheat fields there. When the wheat is ripe, there is no reason not to harvest it. During this period, Dai Ling sent troops to block the attack but was repelled by Zhuge Liang. Finally, Sima Yi's army arrived and Zhuge Liang stopped destroying the wheat fields. The wheat fields were not completely destroyed.
Sima Yi arrived at the east of Shanggui and began to defend according to the danger without taking the initiative to attack. Seeing this, you will be surprised. How could Sima Yi, who always "invaded like fire" and "brought troops with great speed", take the defensive? The reason is simple. Sima Yi, who took the initiative to attack, did not take advantage, so he could only wait for the opportunity. Even when Sima Yi marched into Lucheng, he chose to climb mountains and dig camps to confront the Han army, but still refused to fight. This behavior was dissatisfied by other generals, "If you fear Shu as much as a tiger, how can the world laugh at you!" However, Sima Yi was famous for his forbearance. Naturally, Sima Yi would not take these "rumors" to heart.
Sima Yi
At this time, due to Zhuge Liang's sabotage, the Wei army fell into a food shortage and had to rely on transporting grain from Guanzhong and collecting grain from the Hu people for food. Judging from the current situation, the situation is developing in a direction beneficial to Shu Han. In order to defeat Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang withdrew the siege of Qishan Fort and concentrated his main force in Lucheng. Not to be outdone, Sima Yi took the initiative and adopted a pincer offensive, sending Zhang He to attack Wang Ping in the south of Lu City, while he himself attacked Zhuge Liang's main force.
Zhuge Liang also launched a counterattack, sending generals Wei Yan, Gao Xiang, and Wu Ban to attack in three directions, defeating the Wei army. How badly was the Wei army defeated? There are records saying that the Shu army killed 3,000 Wei army officers and harvested 5,000 armors and 3,000 crossbows. Although the figures may be exaggerated, there is no doubt that they caused great losses to the Wei army. So Sima Yi suffered a huge defeat, his morale was low, and he was at the end of his battle. Even if there is food transportation in Guanzhong, how can this stump Zhuge Liang? He has already begun to take measures to slowly cut off the Wei army's retreat. As long as Zhuge Liang continues to waste time with Sima Yi, Sima Yi will undoubtedly lose. However, fate played a huge joke on the Prime Minister.
Suddenly withdrew the troops.
Li Yan, who was responsible for transporting grain and grass, made a mistake. Not only that, he also asked Zhuge Liang to withdraw under the guise of Liu Chan's handwriting. Zhuge Liang had no choice but to give up the attack and return to the court when he saw that food and grass were running low and the emperor urged him to do so. As soon as Sima Yi saw the opportunity, he immediately sent Zhang He to pursue him, although Zhang He was reluctant and feared that he would fall into a trap. But he still had to go, and one can imagine the result: a veteran fell into the woods. This was a huge blow to Cao Wei. This was one of the Five Good Generals, equivalent to the existence of the Five Tiger Generals.He lost his life in vain, which once again dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Wei army.
Li Yan
Zhuge Liang, who returned to Chengdu, found that he had been tricked by Li Yan. It was Li Yan who deliberately set up the situation. He persuaded Liu Chan to order him back on the pretext of lack of food and because Zhuge Liang had been out for a long time and was afraid of trouble, but Zhuge Liang began to act stupid after he came back. This is a typical representative of a sinister person. Of course, Li Yan also had his own Xiao Jiujiu. He wanted to overthrow Zhuge Liang and become the leader, but his selfishness ruined the Northern Expedition plan. So Zhuge Liang and others joined him and exiled Li Yan. It is a pity that Li Yan's selfish desires disrupted the originally good situation of the Northern Expedition.
Zhuge Liang defeated Sima Yi and retreated, not because he could no longer fight, but because of internal disunity, which led to Sima Yi's lucky victory. If Ma Su was still alive and was sent by Zhuge Liang to buy food and grass, it is estimated that the Northern Expedition could proceed smoothly and history might be rewritten. Because although Ma Di was not good at actual combat, he had a good relationship with Zhuge Liang and would never do such a thing. Zhuge Liang's withdrawal was really a helplessness. Because teammates did not give their best and caused stumbling blocks, the success fell short.
Sima Yi
If Zhuge Liang replaced a reliable person to be responsible for the transportation of grain and grass, history might be rewritten. With no worries and high morale, the Shu army had no advantage whether it was attacking or attrition. Not only could it be unbearable, but it was also possible that Zhuge Liang would push him back to Chang'an . Therefore, Zhuge Liang's choice to retreat after defeating Sima Yi was more of a helplessness and unwillingness. After all, this was one of the few times when he was very close to victory.
