Ma Chao did not last long in the Shu Han regime, dying in 222 AD, and did not participate in the Northern Expedition led by Zhuge Liang.
But he is ranked first among military generals, why is that?
What significant contribution did he make to the Shu Han regime?
"Longzhong Countermeasures" is Liu Beisan's answer to Liu Bei's question when Liu Beisan asked Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang analyzed the current situation and put forward the theory of dividing the world into three parts.
At that time, Ma Chao was in Xiliang, and Liu Bei was in Jingchu, which seemed to be incompatible
Otherwise, Zhuge Liang pointed out: "Since Dong Zhuo, heroes have risen together, and there are countless people who cross states and counties. ”Ma Chao's father and son occupy a considerable territory in Xiliang and Guanzhong, and have strong armaments.
This is one of its connections .
In Longzhong Countermeasures", Zhuge Liang said to Liu Bei: "Today, Cao has millions of people, and he coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and this sincerity cannot compete with him." Zhuge Liang passed on and persuaded Liu Bei to attack Jingzhou as the first foothold.
In 208 AD, Cao Cao led his army to Jing Chu, one of the main purposes of which was to give Liu Bei no place to hide and no respite.
At this time, the situation in Jingzhou changed dramatically, Liu Biao and Liu Cong surrendered, and Liu Bei was defeated and left Xiakou, which was extremely exciting for Cao Cao, who was invincible, and embarrassing for Liu Bei.
At this time, Ma Chao, Han Sui and others suddenly attacked in Guanzhong, and fought with Cao's army on the front line of Longxi, the Yellow River, Weishui, Huayin, and Tongguan for four years, sometimes killing Cao Cao in embarrassment, and sometimes causing Cao Cao to lose his troops and generals.
This won valuable time for Liu Bei to consolidate the Jingchu base area, and from then on, Liu Bei's group got rid of the embarrassing situation of the rogues, so that the decision to occupy Jingzhou first in the "Longzhong Countermeasures" was put into practice.
In the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was defeated. The situation of warlord melee gradually developed in the direction of the Three Kingdoms, Jiangdong Sun Quan was more consolidated, Liu Bei also had his own territory, and the people and horses were stronger, except for ethnic minorities in the north, basically unified under Cao Cao's command.
Jingzhou, after the Red Cliff War, although it was acquired by Liu Bei, but it was not an easy task to manage this territory.
For Liu Bei, this is both very important and extremely dangerous, without support, the enemy on his back, if he wants to consolidate the fruits of victory, he must take Yizhou Lian into a piece.
Therefore, in 211 AD, Liu Bei led the army into Shu, leaving Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu to pass through Jingchu.
Cao Cao returned to the north and did not forget the shame of Chibi. However, before 214 A.D., there was no time to look south, on the one hand, the remnants of the northern princes still existed, and there were often rebellions.
In 211 A.D., Ma Chao, Han Sui, Cheng Yi, Li Kan and others all rebelled against Guanzhong, and fought fiercely with Cao on the front line of Tongguan, the Yellow River, Weishui, and Huayin, making Cao several dangerous, and the scene was really thrilling.
The war was fought near Gyeonggi, and the battlefield was fought under the jurisdiction of Si Lixiaowei, which was a great threat to the rule of the Cao group.
Cao Cao exhausted all his tactics and could not win, and later adopted Jia Xu's strategy to divide Han and Ma, so that Ma Chao retreated to Longxi.
In 214 AD, Ma Chao was defeated by Yang Fu and defected to Zhang Lu, who wanted to harm Yang Bai and others, and under the persuasion of Li Hui, Ma Chao Wudu turned to Liu Bei.
Liu Bei besieged Chengdu for dozens of days, Ma Chaobing arrived, the city was terrified, and Zhang was the head of the inspection, and Liu Bei took over Chengdu peacefully.
According to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Zhang asked Zhang Lu for help, and promised to attack Liu Bei at the cost of 20 states.
If history is like this, if Ma Chao does not turn against the water, Liu Bei will change from active to passive, and be beaten in the belly of Shu in the mountains and mountains.
Originally, the price of taking Shu had already been paid in blood, and the strength had already been weakened, and if the army was divided into two loads, it would be really difficult to support.
At the beginning of Liu Bei's capture of Shu, Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu guarded Jingzhou, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun each had their own divisions, and since they took Shu with Pang Tong, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, etc., it can be seen that taking Shu and guarding Jingzhou have no importance.
If you take a state, you lose a state, and it is not beneficial; If you lose a state and cannot take a state, you will lose a lot of capital.
The military advisor Pang Tong was killed and Zhang Song was killed, which made Liu Bei in a dilemma, and Zhuge Liang had to lead Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and other strong bows and crossbows to advance into Yizhou, leaving only Guan Yunchang to guard Jingzhou, which was really a dangerous move, and out of necessity.
In doing so, it is basically guaranteed that Yizhou will be taken and Jingzhou will be preserved by luck, and this is in terms of the situation that the objective conditions remain basically unchanged. If Ma Chao does not surrender and is in a stalemate with Liu Bei, then Cao Cao will force Jingzhou again, and the situation will be a different matter.
Therefore, Ma Chao's investment not only strengthened the military strength of Liu Bei's group, which was not very strong, but also made Liu Zhang feel frightened, sincerely fearful, and led the city to surrender, which actually made an immortal contribution to Liu Bei's capture of Chengdu.
More importantly, Liu Bei took over Chengdu peacefully, so that all the virtuous ministers and good generals of Yizhou, and the money and grain of the government treasury belonged to Liu Bei, so that Chengdu would not be destroyed and the people of Chengdu would be saved from disaster.
This is of extremely important positive and progressive significance for the establishment and consolidation of the Shu Han regime, the restoration of production order, and the sustained development of the economy.
Hanzhong has always been the gateway of Shu and even Jingchu, and its location and conditions are closely related to Shuchu. It is particularly important in the Warring States and Qin and Han dynasties, along the Han River you can go down to Jingchu, cross the Qinling Mountains to attack Guanlong, go to the Central Plains, and defend the Ya Pass to consolidate the border.
Advance is desirable, retreat can be defended. During the Warring States period, it belonged to Chu, and later returned to Qin, and during the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang became an emperor because of it.
In 215 AD, Cao Cao conquered Zhang Lu, and then Hanzhong was born. Send Xiahou Yuan, Zhang Tai and others to guard. In 218 AD, Liu Bei attacked Hanzhong, and in 219 he beheaded Xiahou Yuan and defeated Zhang Tai.
Cao Cao came back to fight for Hanzhong Liu Bei stood at the pass to guard the danger, Cao Cao could not win, and used the "chicken ribs" as a metaphor for Hanzhong, so he retreated.
After Liu Bei obtained Hanzhong, he promoted Wei Yan to be the Taishou of Hanzhong, and commissioned Ma Chaozhen to guard Yangping Pass. Yangping Pass (in the Three Kingdoms) is the most strategically located barrier in Hanzhong, as the choke point, rejecting Qinlong in the north and controlling Bashu in the south.
Yangping Guan Gu, then Hanzhong Bao; If Yangping is lost, then Han is in danger. The dispute between Shu and Wei and Hanzhong mainly lies in Yangping Pass, and Zhuge Liang went north out of Qishan, which is also based on this. Among the many generals of Shu Han, why did Ma Chaozhen be appointed to guard Yangping Pass?
This is closely related to Liu Bei's knowledge of people and good duties.
First, Ma Chao "has both civil and military qualifications", has the courage of faith and cloth, has experienced a hundred battles, and has extremely rich experienceIn a sense, he can be compared with Guan Yunchang, and he is a rare high-level talent among the generals of Shu Han.
Second, this arrangement is in line with Ma Chao's psychological state, he and Cao Cao have a common enmity, once the time is ripe for the Northern Expedition, he can take the lead and charge into battle.
Third, he had made Cao Cao frightened in Guanzhong, and Wei was downcast, so he guarded Yangping Pass, which was a great threat and psychological obstacle to Cao Wei's southward advance.
Fourth, when he ran Guanlong, he had a harmonious relationship with ethnic minorities such as Di and Qiang, just as Liu Bei said, "Di and Qiang are subdued, and they are full of righteousness".
Because of the good foundation of ethnic relations, if you go out of Qinlong, you can unite the ethnic minority tribes to resist Cao Wei together.
Fifth, Ma Chao is good at handling military-civilian relations, and is friendly and friendly with the common people, and the people supported him when he was in Guanlong in the past. Yang Fu said that he was "very strong and unrestrained", and Liu Bei thought that he could "seek the misery of the people".
This is Ma Chao's consistent style, he was able to compete with Cao Cao for four years when he was in Guanlong, not only because of his martial bravery, but more importantly, he has a good mass base, he does not sloppy, does not slaughter the city, although defeated, but does not lose the support of the people.
Such a person guarding the border is not only reassuring to the Lord, but also liked by the people.
In 222 AD, Ma Chao died of illness in Yangping Pass and was buried on the spot. In 227, Zhuge Liang went to the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei, passed through the tomb of Ma Chao, and ordered him to hang filial piety from his younger brother Ma Dai and pay tribute to the tomb of Liang Qinyi, inspiring the soldiers of the three armies to turn grief into strength.
Ma Chao tomb is located in Shaanxi Mianxian two kilometers west of the 108 National Highway next to the west and Wuhou Temple adjacent to the west, is one of the important cultural relics of the Three Kingdoms, in 1992 was listed as a key cultural relics protection unit in Shaanxi Province.
Ma Chao tomb, the ancestral hall has more than 20 acres of land, is separated by the Hanhui Canal into two courtyards, the tomb is north of the temple south, there is a wind and rain bridge connection. The landscape of the cemetery is quiet, and the temple in the ancestral area is refreshed.
The tomb is a Han system covered bucket type, with a circumference of 90 meters and a mound height of 8 meters, which is magnificent. There are two tombstones, one in front of the tomb; One is next to National Highway 108 in front of the ancestral hall.
Ma Chao Tomb and Ancestral Hall are adjacent to Leifeng Mountain in the north, Hanjiang River in the south, and Wuhou Tomb under Dingjun Mountain across the river, and Wuhou Shrine and Tomb together constitute a group of cultural relics of the Three Kingdoms, enriching the content of the culture of the Three Kingdoms in Hanzhong.
Ma Chao's tomb and ancestral hall have been famous for thousands of years. Those who burn incense and sacrifice, those who hang the past and cherish the present, and those who pay homage to the counselors are endless.
During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, Ma Yungang, the magistrate of Chu County, wrote poems in front of Ma Chao's tomb to commemorate and write poems"The north wind rises in a single place, and the bones of the green mountains are heroes." If a person is like a martyr, he can be the master, and he has not succeeded in defeating Xichuan.
Hanye is ashamed of being peaceful, and Wei no longer hates He Poor. Back then, the righteous servants were far away, and they were brave enough to push the faith. ”
This poem gives Ma Chao a fair evaluation that is more in line with historical facts.
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