During Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition, tens of thousands of troops failed to win Chen Cang, but they had an unexpected gain!

The Northern Expedition of Zhuge Liang was the five wars that Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, during the Three Kingdoms period, in order to help the Han family and to dominate the world. From the spring of 228 to the winter of 234, he launched five wars against Cao Wei. It lasted 7 years. Zhugeliang's Northern Expedition is also called Zhugeliang's Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition, the Restoration of the Central Plains, the Revival of the Thieves, and the Revival of the Thieves. The statement of "six out of Qishan" in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is incorrect (one of them was Cao Wei's counterattack). Zhuge Liang sent troops to the Northern Expedition five times before and after, and only sent troops to Qishan twice (the first and fourth times).

In the spring of the sixth year of Jianxing (228), the prime minister of Shu Kingdom Zhuge Liang made his first northern expedition to the Central Plains. In this battle, although Zhuge Liang attacked Longxi three counties (Tianshui County, Nan'an County, Anding County), he won first and then lost. Set the suspected soldier in the Xiegu, and lead his army to attack Qishan. However, because Zhang Yun broke his horse at the street pavilion, Zhuge Liang could only return to Hanzhong from more than a thousand families in Baxi County. Therefore, for Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, it ended in failure. So, the question is, when Zhuge Liang made his second Northern Expedition, why couldn't the tens of thousands of troops take down the city guarded by a thousand men?

一

First of all, in Zhugeliang's first Northern Expedition, because Ma Di lost the street pavilion, Zhuge Liang could only lead his army to retreat. In this regard, after Zhuge Liang withdrew, Cao Zhen and Zhang Yun quickly pacified the three counties of Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding. Cao Zhen also believed that the Han army failed to attack Qishan this time, and the Bao ramp was burned by Zhao Yun and eroded by floods. The next meeting With Chen Cang as the target, he sent generals Hao Zhao, Wang Sheng and more than a thousand soldiers to Chen Cang to rebuild Chen Cang City. In the winter of 228 AD, General Cao Xiu was defeated by Soochow General Lu Xun in Shiting. Zhuge Liang heard that the Wei army was marching eastward, and Guanzhong was empty.

Therefore, for Zhuge Liang, he is naturally unwilling to give up this very bad attack on Cao Wei. So Zhuge Liang wrote to his brother Zhuge Jin and said: "There is a small valley in Suiyang, although the cliffs are extremely dangerous, the water is vertical and horizontal, it is difficult to use marching, and the main roads of the past and the roads are accessible. Now the front army is used to rule this way. Chen Cang is enough to climb even the thieves, so that those who do not score eastward." In this context, Zhuge Liang led tens of thousands of troops to Chen Cangdao and surrounded Chen Cang. This was Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition. Of course, for Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition, because the core of the battle was the battle for the city of Chencang, it was also called the battle of Chencang by later generations.

二

For Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, tens of thousands of troops were gathered on the Shuhan side, while Hao Zhao, who guarded Chencang by Cao Wei, had only a thousand soldiers. In the eyes of many people, this is a battle of disparity in military strength. However, in the Three Kingdoms period at the end of Han Dynasty, many famous battles were often defeated by less. For example, in the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao with less victory. For example, in the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao with less victory. By the same token, although the strength of the troops is very different, Hao Zhao did not panic at all.

As mentioned earlier, during Zhuge Liang’s first Northern Expedition, Cao Zhen had already guessed that Zhuge Liang’s second offensive would definitely target Chen Cang, so he sent generals Hao Zhao, Wang Sheng, etc. More than a thousand people garrisoned Chen Cang and rebuilt Chen Cang City. Therefore, it is very obvious that this means that the city of Chencang has been repaired. In addition to the strong city, Hao Zhao and other soldiers also prepared equipment for defense and siege. And this naturally became an important reason why Zhuge Liang's tens of thousands of troops did not capture more than a thousand people to guard the city. In other words, the "Book of Rites·The Doctrine of the Mean" records: "Everything will be established in advance, and nothing will be abandoned." Putting it into war is also an applicable principle. Because of sufficient preparation, Hao Zhao and his men are high in fighting spirit. Not at all intimidated by the tens of thousands of Shu Han army.

三

Because Hao Zhao was well prepared, Zhuge Liang did not attack the city as soon as he came up. Instead, he sent Hao Zhao’s fellow township Jin Xiang to lobby Hao Zhao to surrender several times, but Hao Zhao resolutely refused. After the defeat of Persuasion, Zhuge Liang launched an army to attack Chen Cangcheng. In the Battle of Chencang, the Shuhan army used ladders and rush carts to attack the city in turn. Hao Zhao burned the ladders, and the people on the ladder were burned. He tied the stone with a rope, fell off the city wall, and crushed the rush cart. Zhuge Liang switched to shooting arrows from a hundred feet away from the city, covering the soldiers and filling the moat with soil. He wanted to climb the city directly, so Hao Zhao built an inner wall to make the wells invalid. byTherefore, in the face of Zhuge Liang's offensive, Hao Zhao can be said to have seen tricks, and resolved the opponent's offensive one by one.

In desperation, Zhuge Liang dug a tunnel again and wanted to raid the city. Hao Zhao dug a trench in the city to block the tunnel, which also caused the Shu Han army to return without success. In this regard, in the author's opinion, in ancient wars, due to the siege equipment and equipment, the difficulty of the siege party is naturally much greater than that of the defender. For the same reason, for the Shu Han, the reason for contending with the mighty Cao Wei was the defensive blessing brought by mountains, rivers and cities. Therefore, despite having tens of thousands of troops, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Shu, failed to conquer Chen Cang, which was guarded by thousands of people. Moreover, for Hao Zhao, he knew that Cao Wei would send an army to support him, and he was even more determined to defend the city.

四

Finally, in the second Northern Expedition of Zhuge Liang, because Cao Wei had made sufficient preparations in Chencang in advance, coupled with the difficult terrain of Chencang, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack. No victory or defeat for more than ten days. At the same time, Cao Zhen sent Fei Yao and other troops to rescue, and Emperor Wei Ming also summoned Zhang Yun to meet Zhuge Liang. At this time, the army of the Shu Han was not able to continue the food and grass, and when the Wei reinforcements were coming soon, Zhuge Liang had to return to Hanzhong. However, Zhuge Liang, who had achieved nothing, ushered in unexpected gains during the retreat. On the way to the retreat of the Shuhan army, Zhuge Liang succeeded in killing General Cao Wei Wang Shuang who came to pursue.

Wang Shuang (? -228 years), General Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. In the winter of the sixth year of Jianxing of the Shu Han Dynasty (228), Zhuge Liang left Sanguan, attacked Chencang, and retired after his food was exhausted. Wang Shuang led the cavalry to pursue the Shu army, but was defeated in the battle with the Shu army, and Wang Shuang was also beheaded by the Shu army. In the official history, Wang Shuang, the general, followed Cao Cao, Cao Ren and others. For example, when Cao Pi's three-way army attacked Dongwu, Wang Shuang followed Cao Ren to attack Dongwu's moustaches. Therefore, in the author's opinion, the Wang Shuang killed by Zhuge Liang is obviously not an unknown person, but a Cao Wei general with certain qualifications. To a certain extent, it was precisely because of beheading Wang Shuang and defeating the chasing soldiers of Cao Wei that Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition could not be called a return without success. It is worth noting that during Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang was relegated to General Right because of his defeat. However, when Zhuge Liang made his second northern expedition to Cao Wei, he did not need to demean himself again because of the unexpected gain of beheading Wang Shuang.