Legendary Story (6) Zhang Baotong 2019.3.14

When Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain, he had already seen the situation of three parts of the world, Zhou Yu of Wu, Sima Yi of Wei, and Zhuge Liang of Shu can be said to be the planners and implementers of the overall situation during the Three Kingdoms period. The three-third of the world relied on Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, and in the end, the battle for Wei Shu was a life-and-death duel between Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang. The duel between the two can be described as a chess opponent, and it is exciting. Among them, the empty city plan staged by Zhuge Liang can be described as the most classic and legendary round of the duel between them.

At that time, after Ma Tan lost the street pavilion, Zhuge Liang beheaded Ma Tan with tears. But the Northern Expedition defense line, which he had painstakingly built for many years, collapsed. At that time, Zhuge Liang had no generals around him, only a group of civilian officials, half of the 5,000 troops he led were still transporting grain and grass, and there were only 2,500 soldiers around him. Therefore, when everyone heard the news that Sima Yi had brought 150,000 troops, they were all shocked. Out of helplessness, Zhuge Liang had to fight against the odds. So, after he climbed the tower to watch, he said to the people, "Don't panic, everyone, I can teach Sima Yi to withdraw with a little strategy." ”

Therefore, he ordered all the flags to be hidden, and the soldiers to be put still, and to be beheaded immediately if they went out without permission or made a loud noise. He also told the soldiers to open the four city gates, and sent 20 soldiers in front of each gate to disguise themselves as civilians and sprinkle water to sweep the streets. Zhuge Liang himself put on a crane, put on a high scarf, led two little scholars, brought a piano, went to the city to sit down by the railing in front of the enemy tower, lit incense, and then slowly played the piano. Using this method to deal with Sima Yi, who has 150,000 elite soldiers, can be described as extremely thrilling.

Soon, Sima Yi personally led an army of 150,000 to the West City Gate. But what he saw was not the soldiers guarding the city, but Zhuge Liang playing the piano elegantly upstairs, the sound of the piano was up and down, staggered, the two little scholars around him were calm, the city gate was wide open, only a few veterans were sweeping the floor, and the city was full of dust. This is the empty city plan set by Zhuge Liang.

After Sima Yi saw it, he was puzzled, so he came to the Chinese army and ordered the rear army to act as the front army, and the front army as the rear army to retreat. His second son, Sima Zhao, said, "Could it be that Zhuge Liang's family has no soldiers, so he deliberately made this appearance? Father, why did you withdraw from the army?" Sima Yi said, "Zhuge Liang was cautious all his life and never took risks. Now the gates of the city are wide open, and there will be an ambush inside, and if our army enters, it will fall into their plan. Hurry up and retreat!" So all the soldiers and horses retreated.

If he were to be replaced by another commander, he would definitely send a few men to attack the city everywhere. As a result, the city would be easily captured, the defenders would be annihilated, and Zhuge Liang would be captured. But after being scheming and calculating, Sima Yi, who had experienced a hundred battles, faced this situation, but waved his hand and immediately retreated. In this regard, many people in later generations believed that this was because Sima Yi was too cautious and chose to withdraw from the army.

But this argument is clearly untenable. First, Sima Yi must know the current situation of the Shu army's soldiers and horses, and second, a small place in Xicheng can't stop the impact of more than 100,000 troops at all. The reason why he didn't move a single soldier and turned around and left, it wasn't that he was too cautious and timid, or that he wasn't smart enough. It's that he's too smart and wise. Because he is not entirely thinking about Zhuge Liang's life and death, but also about the life and death of himself and the entire family. He knew that as long as Zhuge Liang was alive for a day, the Cao family would let him lead an army to conquer. If once Zhuge Liang dies and the Shu Kingdom is destroyed, then the Cao family will have to cook rabbits and dogs, and they will be killed by the Sima family.

In the past, Cao Cao loved and feared Sima Yi when he was alive, and his love was because of his superior talent, and he was afraid that because of his superior talent, which threatened his position, so Cao Cao never gave Sima Yi military power. After Cao Rui came to power, he put Sima Yi in prison. If someone in Wei could compete with Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi would probably have died in prison long ago. Therefore, Zhuge Liang's piano sound made him seem to hear such a voice: If you kill me, you are equivalent to killing yourself.

Sima Yi is smart and smart, he thinks about problems very long-term, he doesn't care about the gains and losses in front of him, he doesn't act too smart and too public, but he is very good at pretending to be confused. Therefore, the Cao family couldn't fight Sima Yi, and Sima Yi became the final winner of the Three Kingdoms. This empty city plan is that Zhuge Liang made full use of Sima Yi's mentality and laid him this dangerous empty city plan.

In fact, Zhuge Liang did not set up an empty city plan. Zhuge Liang's plan to empty the city for Sima Yi is Luo Guanzhong's artistic creation. The Wei commander of the Battle of Jieting was Zhang He, not Sima Yi. Volume 71 of "Zizhi Tongjian" is very detailed: "The battle of Jieting was the spring of the second year of Taihe, in the first month, Sima Yi attacked the new city, and there were six days in October, and he pulled it out and beheaded Mengda. Shen Yi has been in Weixing for a long time, and he is good at making engraving seals, and he has been falsely awarded, and he has been called to Luoyang. That is to say, when Zhuge Liang led the army to fight with Zhang He in the street pavilion, Sima Yi was still thousands of miles away in Luoyang. Therefore, it was impossible for Zhuge Liang to use an empty city to scare off Sima Yi who was thousands of miles away.

Although we now know that Zhuge Liang's "Empty City Strategy" is not true, the legendary story created by Luo Guanzhong is still a classic and is talked about by people.