After the founding of the Shu Han Dynasty, because Liu Bei first avenged Guan Yu and attacked Jingzhou, which led to a great loss of strength, the Han army was unable to fight against Cao Wei until Zhuge Liang came to power to recuperate for several years, and then accumulated strength to be able to go on the Northern Expedition. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

From the spring of the sixth year of Jianxing (228) to the twelfth year of Jianxing (234), Zhuge Liang sent troops to the north six times to attack Cao Wei, and fought with Cao Zhen, Sima Yi and others six times, five of which he personally led the troops.

【Northern Expedition Background】

Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was fully prepared, when Shu Han had been recuperating for several years, and put down the rebellion in the south, Cao Wei changed again, Wei Emperor Cao Pi died, and the new Emperor Cao Rui had just succeeded to the throne at a young age, so Shu and Wu regarded this as an opportunity, and successively launched large-scale Northern Expedition operations.

After Zhuge Liang arrived in Hanzhong, he contacted Meng Da, the old general of Shu Han, intending to open a gap and finally force Meng Da to rebel, but he did not expect Sima Yi to eliminate Meng Da at lightning speed. The Shangyong Rebellion was put down, and Zhuge Liang had no choice but to personally lead his troops to start the Northern Expedition.

In the third year of Jianxing (225), Zhuge Liang led his troops south to quell the rebellion of Yonghong, Gaoding, Meng Shu and others, ending the civil strife and laying a good foundation for the later Northern Expedition.

In the fourth year of Jianxing (226), Emperor Cao Pi of Wei died, and the young Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, and Cao Wei had an opportunity to take advantage of it, so Sun Wu and Shu Han both took this opportunity to prepare for the Northern Expedition.

In the fifth year of Jianxing (227), Zhuge Liang personally led the army to the north, leaving the "Teacher's Table", stationed in Hanzhong, when Meng Da had the heart to surrender, so after Zhuge Liang first arrived in Hanzhong, he put most of his time and energy on persuading Meng Da to surrender, but Meng Da was soon pacified by Sima Yi.

In the sixth year of Jianxing (228), Sima Yi basically quelled the Mengda Rebellion in January of that year, and Zhuge Liang officially sent troops to the Northern Expedition in the spring of that year.

【Northern Expedition Process】

After Zhuge Liang took power, he launched a total of six Northern Expeditions, five of which personally led the Northern Expedition, and one let Wei Yan and others lead the troops, which is basically the same as Cao Cao's four crusades against Nanyang (Cao Cao personally fought three times and sent Cao Hong to fight once), but no matter whether Zhuge Liang or Cao Cao, in fact, they all ended in vain.

In these six Northern Expeditions, Zhuge Liang's direct opponents were Cao Wei's generals Cao Zhen and Sima Yi, both of whom were famous generals in the Cao Rui period, and even Zhuge Liang failed to change the overall situation of Wei and Shu in the face of both.

In the spring of the sixth year of Jianxing (228), Zhuge Liang launched the first Northern Expedition, out of Qishan, Nan'an, Tianshui and Anding three counties were against Wei and attached to Shu, the early stage was very smooth, the later Cao Wei army met the enemy, Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi were defeated by Cao Zhen in Keigu, Ma Tan was defeated by Zhang He in Jieting, Gao Xiang was defeated by Guo Huai in Liucheng, the Han army was defeated in three battles, and the soldiers were not enough, Zhuge Liang then retreated, and the first Northern Expedition also ended in a big defeat.

Zhuge Liang is directly responsible for the failure of the Northern Expedition, not to mention the rest, at that time, Ma Jian basically had no experience in leading troops, and Zhuge Liang used him to garrison the Chongdi Street Pavilion, this decision itself was very risky, and afterwards Ma Jian had a problem as a newcomer, which was not surprising at all.

After the defeat of the First Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang defended himself and wrote Liu Chan again, which is the "Later Teacher Table" that was circulated in later generations. In the same year, Cao Wei's great Sima Cao Xiu was defeated in Shiting, Wei mobilized the troops of the Western Front to the south, Zhuge Liang saw that there was an opportunity, and sent troops to the Northern Expedition again in winter, but Cao Zhen had already expected that Zhuge Liang was blocked in Chencang and could not enter, and the Second Northern Expedition failed again.

Although Zhuge Liang also has a record of killing the king and shuang in this Northern Expedition, it can not hide the fact that Zhuge Liang failed in two consecutive Northern Expeditions, don't forget that Cao Cao was almost slumped when he was defeated in the sour jujube coalition army, although Zhuge Liang was high and powerful in Shu Han, but he was not invulnerable, at this time Zhuge Liang was facing very great political pressure, he had already written "Later Division" to explain when the first Northern Expedition failed, and he had no excuse at this time.

In order to save his predicament, Zhuge Liang brazenly launched the Third Northern Expedition in a very short period of time, and less than a quarter had passed since the Second Northern Expedition.

In the spring of the seventh year of Jianxing (229), Zhuge Liang attacked Wei for the third time, and this time Zhuge Liang's goal was much more realistic, he sent Chen Shi to recover Wudu and Yinping two counties, and he intercepted Guo Huai who came to the rescue, and finally won a complete victory.

The victory of the Third Northern Expedition saved everything, and it was also an important turning point in Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. After the war, Zhuge Liang was reinstated, and from then on, Zhuge Liang began to gain the upper hand against Cao Wei.

After the success of this operation, Zhuge Liang did not impulsively continue to launch the Northern Expedition, but Zhuge Liang did not fight, Cao Wei's great Sima Cao Zhen did not do it, in order to teach Shu Han a lesson, Cao Zhen decided to crusade against Hanzhong in the autumn of the fourth year of Taihe (230), he divided his troops into several ways to attack, which was also the fourth confrontation between Cao Wei and Shu Han during the Zhuge Liang period.

In this battle, Cao Zhen sent troops in the autumn, and it was the rainy season at that time, which caused the army to move forward with difficulty and failed to reach Hanzhong for a long time, so the Cao Wei court finally ordered the army to retreat, which also made Cao Zhen unable to directly confront Zhuge Liang throughout his life. Zhuge Liang took this opportunity to send Wei Yan, Wu Yi and others to the north to defeat Cao Wei Yongzhou Assassin Shi Guo Huai and the later general Fei Yao, overall, it was already a big victory.

After this battle, Cao Zhen was seriously ill, and died soon after, the confrontation between him and Zhuge Liang ended, Zhuge Liang and his four battles, respectively, were big defeats, small defeats, small victories, big victories, although the record continued to improve, but overall it was still evenly matched, the two sides did not directly confront, it is still difficult to compare.

In the spring of the ninth year of Jianxing (231), Zhuge Liang took the opportunity to launch the Northern Expedition again after Cao Zhen's defeat in sending troops, and also united with the Xianbei people Kebineng, and Cao Wei took Sima Yi to control it, which was the fifth Northern Expedition of Shu Han. In this battle, Zhuge Liang first led his troops to surround Qishan, after Sima Yi sent troops, Zhuge Liang and it competed for the grain and grass in Shangqi, Sima Yi defended, and then the two sides launched a head-to-head duel in the area of Lucheng, which ended in Sima Yi's defeat, Zhuge Liang retreated again because of the lack of soldiers' food, Zhang He was sent by Sima Yi to pursue, and died in ambush.

After this battle, Zhuge Liang rested for three years, and in the spring of the twelfth year of Jianxing (234), he united Sun Wu to launch the last northern expedition in his life, this battle Sima Yi was mainly fortified, Zhuge Liang did not overcome the strong attack in the early stage, according to the martial arts Wuzhang Yuan, in the local Tuntian and Sima Yi confronted, and then constantly sent envoys to challenge him, Sima Yi ignored it, and finally died of illness because of overwork.

It can be seen that in the two confrontations between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang had a slight upper hand, and Sima Yi was not even willing to directly confront him in the later period, but this did not help the overall situation.