Du Fu once praised Zhuge Liang in "Shu Xiang", "He died before he left the school, which made the hero cry." "Zhuge Liang in history is indeed a genius in the world, but it is a pity that it is difficult for him to carry the great cause of the revival of Shu Han with his own strength, and in the later period of Zhuge Liang's governance of Shu, he has launched several Northern Expedition wars.
In history, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition is called "Six Out of Qishan", in fact, there is a big problem with this statement itself, Zhuge Liang launched a total of seven Northern Expedition wars, and Qishan has only experienced two baptisms of war.
Some people say that Zhuge Liang's many Northern Expeditions were a military adventure that "outweighed the losses and was extremely risky". So, why is Zhuge Liang so obsessed with the great cause of the Northern Expedition? From a strategic and tactical point of view, in fact, Zhuge Liang's approach is not a one-sided practice, but a typical practice of the strategy of "fighting to support war".
In 227 AD, Zhuge Liang led a large army into Hanzhong, preparing to start the Northern Expedition with Hanzhong as a base. Before this expedition, Zhuge Liang was very worried about Liu Chan, who was far away in the rear of Chengdu, so he wrote the "Teacher Table" that has been passed down through the ages by later generations, Zhuge Liang hoped that his teachings could enable Liu Chan to see the reality clearly and assume the due responsibility of the emperor.
After Zhuge Liang arrived in Hanzhong, he immediately convened the generals and ministers to carry out a military meeting, in this military meeting, Wei Yan put forward the famous "Meridian Valley Strategy", a long-distance attack to seize Chang'an, but Zhuge Liang thought that this move was too dangerous and the success rate was almost zero, so he rejected Wei Yan's suggestion.
Although Zhuge Liang directly vetoed Wei Yan's strategy, he set a plan to give priority to attacking the three counties of Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding. In 228 AD, Zhuge Liang officially sent troops to the Longyou region, and heard that Zhuge Liang personally sat in the Chinese army, and the Wei army in the Guanxi region was so frightened that he lost his armor, and Zhuge Liang almost effortlessly took the three counties of Longyou in one go.
The first Northern Expedition achieved unexpected results, however, Wei's response was very rapid, in the face of the aggressive posture of the Shu army, Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rong instructed Zhang He to lead 50,000 troops to meet Zhuge Liang, at the critical moment, Zhuge Liang boldly used Ma Tan to guard the street pavilion to prevent the Wei army from entering the Longyou region.
The result of the Battle of Jieting can be imagined, Ma Tan paid a heavy price because of his arrogance, and Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition was lost because of the defeat of Jieting.
The First Northern Expedition was the smoothest and most fruitful of Zhuge Liang's several Northern Expeditions, and since then, no Northern Expedition has achieved such results, so it is said that the First Northern Expedition is the most representative.
So, why did Zhuge Liang be so obsessed with using troops against Longyou and Liangzhou during the Northern Expedition? The reason is none other than the following points.
First of all, Shu is located in the west, far away from the political center of the Central Plains, inconvenient transportation, and closed terrain, which are all external factors that limit Shu's outward expansion. Zhuge Liang, as the prime minister of Shu, naturally saw it in his eyes and was anxious in his heart. Compared with the powerful Wei State, the Shu State really does not have many advantages, the terrain of Bashu is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it is not suitable for active attack, except for the Hanzhong Fortress, there is hardly any direction that can compete with the Wei State.
Through several northern expeditions, the strength of the Wei state was weakened, and at the same time, a large number of Wei troops were attracted to the strategic direction of the west, which relieved the pressure on Eastern Wu far to the south. Zhuge Liang knew that he could not capture the entire Longyou and Liangzhou at one time, and since he could not achieve the goal at one time, he must also achieve the balance of power between the two sides through multiple active attacks.
Second, from Zhuge Liang's point of view, even if Shu does not take the initiative to attack, Wei will march into Bashu sooner or later, and when Cao Wei has sufficient strength, it is better to take the lead in taking as much land as possible between the two sides to achieve a strategic buffer, and the location and terrain of Liangzhou just provide Zhuge Liang with a strategic barrier.
Third, as the weakest party in the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang knew that the resources of the land of Bashu were still too different from those of the Longyou region headed by Liangzhou, and Hanzhong had become a north-south passage across Bashu and Longyou through the governance of Zhang Lu, Liu Bei and others.
As the most important city in the Longyou region, in addition to being an important horse-producing area and grain base, Liangzhou is a fierce man and is good at conquest, and the capture of Liangzhou means that Zhuge Liang has another high-quality source of soldiers.
Fourth, due to the remote geographical location and harsh environment, Liangzhou was a battleground for soldiers in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, coupled with the mixed living of foreign ethnic groups in the region, Liangzhou people formed a unique way of life, in Zhuge Liang's view, although the recovery of Liangzhou is the main goal, but if it is impossible to seize the place for a long time, then retreat to the second, through many northern expeditions to make the Liangzhou area chaotic, thereby interfering with the foundation of Wei rule in the place.
I have to say that Zhuge Liang does have a different understanding at the strategic level, but after all, the strategic task is a long-term goal, and Zhuge Liang has long considered how to promote the strategic "big victory" through tactical "small victories".
From the route of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, we can see very clearly that Zhuge Liang went out of Longyou from Hanzhong, and there was no other way than to take the mountain road of the Qinling Mountains, and the place was very unfavorable for the transportation of grain and grass. The terrain of Liangzhou is flat and there are no mountains to block it, so Zhuge Liang's attack on Wei from Liangzhou will achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Secondly, Liangzhou is rich in war horses, which is clearly reflected from Dong Zhuo's chaotic government, the fierce Liangzhou cavalry under his command has become a nightmare for all the princes of the Central Plains, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liangzhou and Bingzhou are rich in high-quality war horses, with this unique resource, Zhuge Liang can rest assured that he boldly supplemented and established a cavalry corps belonging to Shu Han.
Finally, the people of Liangzhou are good at spears, and the people are fierce, and they are born warriors and riders. Ma Chao and Ma Dai under Zhuge Liang are all first-class generals with first-class riding skills, especially Ma Dai, who is the general that Shu Han had to rely on after Zhuge Liang's death. In addition to the Ma brothers, many well-known famous generals in the Three Kingdoms period were from Liangzhou: Li Dao, Guo Yan, Hua Xiong, Ju Yi, Zhang Xiu, ......
Therefore, from the bodies of these famous generals, we can also see the folk customs and fighting nature of the Liangzhou region, and this innate belligerence is beyond the reach of the people in the Central Plains, Jiangnan and Bashu regions.
Although Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition failed, whether in strategy or tactics, he had successes and unfinished regrets, and Zhuge Liang failed to take Liangzhou from beginning to end, so logistics supply has always been a big problem, and there is only one person in history who successfully conquered Longyou and Liangzhou from the Han Dynasty, and he is the "soldier immortal" Han Xin.