Li Shimin commented on Zhuge Liang and hit the nail on the head, revealing his ability to fight.
When it comes to the Three Kingdoms period, the first person that comes to everyone's mind is often Zhuge Liang, who is both wise and brave, Liu Bei personally invited Zhuge Liang three times and five times, Zhuge Liang's use of soldiers like a god allowed Shu Han to develop steadily, and his contribution was indispensable.
Later generations' evaluations of Zhuge Liang were not all positive, and some people even thought that he was not good at leading troops to fight. The origin of this view may be traced from Li Shimin's evaluation.
For Zhuge Liang's historical image, we can't completely rely on the ** "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", because it is not an official history, and there may be deviations from the situation and character characteristics at that time.
The Three Kingdoms are dominant, but in fact, there is a huge disparity in strength. Cao Wei sits in the north and has a vast population, compared to which Shu Han seems insignificant. Even if Zhuge Liang governed well, Shu Han reached its peak, and the scale of the army was still unable to compete with Cao Wei.
Shu Han had only a hundred thousand available troops, while Cao Wei used at least 100,000 troops to resist Shu Han, and up to 250,000.
The gap between Shu Han and Cao Wei in terms of the number of troops is obvious, but the situation of the three kingdoms has been maintained, which depends on the strategy of each country. Although Cao Wei had a strong army, he was never able to see the strength of Eastern Wu and Shu Han.
Liu Bei and Sun Quan were seen as Cao Wei's primary enemies, however, after Liu Bei's death, Cao Wei became less wary of Shu Han, believing that Shu Han could not pose a threat, and therefore focused his main efforts on confronting Sun Quan.
Although Liu Bei has passed away, Zhuge Liang is still working for Shu Han. He once assisted Liu Bei in governing the country and gave him advice when he was alive. After Liu Bei's death, he still worked for Shu Han wholeheartedly and planned strategies.
Under the circumstances at that time, he did not choose to defend passively, but took the initiative to attack Cao Wei in the north. This directly changed the situation of the war at that time, and at the beginning Cao Wei did not take Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition seriously, believing that Shu Han's seventy or eighty thousand troops were not enough to pose a threat.
Zhuge Liang's first northern expedition, taking the Battle of Longxi as an opportunity, successfully defeated Cao Wei's army of more than 50,000 and occupied three counties in one fell swoop. Cao Wei was defenseless against this, especially compared with Zhuge Liang's loss of less than 10,000 people, Cao Wei's loss was particularly heavy.
This incident caused a strong shock throughout the country, and Cao Wei immediately sent more than 100,000 troops to Longxi, not daring to take Zhuge Liang lightly.
Zhuge Liang does not have an advantage in terms of troops, but he has his own calculations in his heart. The purpose of his Northern Expedition was to annex Longxi and cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Longxi. However, in terms of the strength of Shu Han at that time, such a plan could not be achieved overnight, and it needed to be carried out gradually.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang decided to send troops to the Northern Expedition to seize the opportunity.
He conceived and planned flawlessly, but his actions were met with a variety of challenges. In the subsequent Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang suffered successive defeats, is it really because his ability is not as good as others?
The unattainable Shu Road was insignificant under the power of Zhuge Liang's army, and although Cao Wei panicked, he did not completely mess up his position and blindly sent troops to attack.
Although Zhuge Liang did win the Battle of Longxi, the difficulties they faced were difficult to overcome.
In ancient wars,"The soldiers and horses did not move, and the grain and grass went first"is an important principle. In long-term operations, timely logistical replenishment is crucial. However, the terrain of Shu is not as flat as in the north, and most places are deep ravines and steep mountains, which makes it extremely difficult to transport grain and grass.
Therefore, the street pavilion is very important for Shu Han, because it is the main grain and grass point of Shu Han. Zhuge Liang also foresaw that Cao Wei might attack Jieting, thus cutting off Shu Han's grain and grass**.
Therefore, he sent Ma Tan to lead 20,000 troops to defend the street pavilion. However, Ma Tan's army was finally defeated by the 30,000 vanguard led by Zhang He and Cao Zhen's 80,000 reinforcements, resulting in the loss of Jieting and the cutting off of Shu Han's grain and grass.
This led to the first Northern Expedition of Shu Han ending in regret.
Zhuge Liang said goodbye to Ma Jian in tears, and the loss of a general in Shu also indicated the failure of the Northern Expedition. Although the Northern Expedition ended in failure, Zhuge Liang firmly believed that for the sake of the future of Shu, the Northern Expedition was imperative and could not watch Shu go into decline.
After the failure of this Northern Expedition, Cao Wei did not relax his vigilance, in addition to sending troops to garrison Longxi, he also realized the biggest problem of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition - grain and grass.
Cao Wei adopted a strategy of defending as an attack, holding out, allowing the Shu Han army to shout and provoke, and finally due to the insufficient supply of grain and grass for the Shu army, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was forced to stop.
Although some Cao Wei generals were unwilling and wanted to take the initiative to attack, the results were often unsatisfactory, such as Zhang Jaw, Wang Shuang and other famous generals died because they were ambushed by the Shu army.
Therefore, in Zhuge Liang's later Northern Expedition, Cao Wei resolutely adopted a defensive strategy and engaged in a war of attrition with the Shu army, and the manpower and material resources of Shu could not compete with Cao Wei, and Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was also forced to be suspended many times due to lack of grain and grass.
Grain and grass are vital in frontline battles, and there are many cases in history where victory has been achieved by cutting off the enemy's food and grass**. However, the challenges faced by Shu Han are different, the terrain of Shu is rugged, and the grain and grass ** need to be extra careful, and if something goes wrong, it may not be delivered in time.
No matter how brave the soldiers on the front line are, it is difficult to last without the support of food and grass. In addition, Shu Han was the attacker, and Cao Wei resolutely did not send troops to fight against it. This kind of war of attrition is undoubtedly a huge pressure on Shu Han.
Some people believe that Zhuge Liang's repeated failures in the Northern Expedition proved that he would not lead troops to fight, and even affected the future of Shu Han. However, is this view correct?In later generations, some people quoted Sima Yi's evaluation to question Zhuge Liang's military talent, but what is the truth?
In the confrontation in Wuzhangyuan, Sima Yi made this assessment to Zhuge Liang after reconnoitring the enemy situation on the front line: "If you are brave, you should move by the mountains with martial arts, and our army needs to rest;If we go west to Wuzhang Plain, our army will have no worries.
Sima Yi analyzed the situation of the two armies at that time, and believed that if Zhuge Liang directly sent troops, the impact on Cao Wei would be very huge, but if he came to Wuzhangyuan to the west, then the two armies could face each other and be peaceful.
This was indeed the case later, the two sides confronted each other in Wuzhangyuan, and finally the Fifth Northern Expedition ended with Zhuge Liang's death and Shu Han's withdrawal. Many believe that if Zhuge Liang had taken the initiative, the outcome of the Fifth Northern Expedition might have been different.
In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Zhuge Liang's evaluation is mainly that he governs the army well, but in leading troops to fight, it seems that he is not as talented as governing the country. Chen Shou believes that although Zhuge Liang has outstanding talent and excels in military management, he seems to be slightly lacking in military strategy.
And among his many strategies, the ability to govern the country is better than the planning on the battlefield. Chen Shou did not live in Zhuge Liang's time, so his evaluation may be biased to a certain extent.
As for Sima Yi's evaluation, he did not simply think that Zhuge Liang's choice was wrong, but praised Zhuge Liang's superb strategy.
Despite the high morale of the Shu Han army during the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang still faced a key problem: the Shu Han army was far inferior in numbers to Cao Wei. In the Wuzhangyuan confrontation, the army led by Zhuge Liang was about seventy or eighty thousand people, while Sima Yi's army was almost twice as large as Zhuge Liang.
If Zhuge Liang chooses to attack and engage Sima Yi, even if Shu Han has rich experience in winning more with less, he will not have any advantage. The goal of their Northern Expedition was not to engage in a life-and-death duel with Cao Wei.
In the case of a disparity in power between friend and foe, it may not be possible to get a better result by replacing someone else. For Shu Han, the confrontation in Wuzhangyuan was already their advantage. In the face of an enemy twice as many as themselves, they were still able to force the other party to hold on, forming a situation of equal strength, which was enough to prove Zhuge Liang's military talent.
However, Zhuge Liang eventually died of illness, and the Fifth Northern Expedition ended in failure. And when Sima Yi learned of the death of his old rival, he evaluated Zhuge Liang as "a real genius in the world!".
Sima Yi deeply admired Zhuge Liang's military talents, and those who questioned Zhuge Liang's military talents often ignored this point and did not really consider the problem from the perspective of Zhuge Liang's current environment.
Li Shimin, who is also a military general, has rich experience in leading troops to fight, and naturally has his own unique views on the battlefield strategies of his predecessors.
Cao Cao's wisdom is enough to divide the world;Zhuge Liang's strategy is unmatched. However, Li Shimin also recognized Zhuge Liang's shortcomings, after all, no one is perfect. He felt that Zhuge Liang's courage could only lead his subordinates, and to lead the enemies of the Quartet, Zhuge Liang's talent was not enough.
Limited by the situation at the time and his camp, Zhuge Liang did the best he could within his ability. Otherwise, he would not have been forced to adopt a defensive posture and face Cao Wei, who was far superior to Shu Han's forces. "
Zhuge Liang's"Attack the heart first"The idea was not fully realized on the battlefield, which may have affected his military achievements. Evaluating a person needs to be examined from multiple angles, Zhuge Liang was unrivaled in the environment at that time, his talent was unmatched, especially his loyalty to Liu Bei, even if Liu Bei died, he still went north to the Wei State, leaving the "Teacher Table", and did his best to protect the rivers and mountains of Shu Han.