The failure of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition in history has a great connection with himself, Ma Yan's dereliction of duty is not the main reason, Zhuge Liang needs to bear the first responsibility as the coach. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

【Death of Ma Tan】

After the Battle of Jieting, Zhuge Liang was ready to execute Ma Tan according to the law, according to the "Xiangyang Chronicle", Jiang Wan, who joined the army, said to Zhuge Liang: "In ancient times, the Jin State was at war with the Chu State, and the Chu State killed the detached ministers who led the troops, and the Jin Wen Gong was overjoyed. Isn't it a pity that the world is not at peace now, and the wise man is killed? Zhuge Liang said with tears in his eyes: "The reason why Sun Wu was able to control the enemy and win the world was because of his strict usage; Therefore, Yang Gan, the younger brother of Jin Mourning Gong, broke the law, and Wei Jiang killed the person who drove for him. Now that the world is divided and the war has just begun, if military law is abolished, how can we crusade against the enemy? ”

It is also recorded in the "Huayang National Chronicles": Zhuge Liang was about to kill Ma Yan, and Li Miao advised Zhuge Liang: "The Qin State pardoned Meng Ming, so that he could subdue more than 20 countries of Xirong and call him Bo; The state of Chu killed Ziyu and declined in less than two generations. As a result, Li Miao was sent back to Shu because he did not meet Zhuge Liang's wishes.

Regarding the results of Ma Tan, there are many contradictions in the existing materials, similar to the capture of Yuzhou by the three Zhou brothers, and there are different records in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms".

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Zhuge Liang" recorded: "More than 1,000 families in Liangba West County returned to Hanzhong, killing them to thank the public." This is consistent with the record in "Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Wang Ping": "Prime Minister Liang immediately punished Ma Jian and generals Zhang Xiu and Li Sheng", all of which indicate that Zhuge Liang finally executed Ma Yan.

And "Xiangyang Ji" also recorded: Tan was dying and Liang Shu said: "Ming Gong regards Tan Yu son, Ming Gong looks at Ming Gong Yu father, Yuan Shen only kills the righteousness of Kun Xingyu, so that the friends of his life are not at a loss to this, although he dies without hatred for Huang Yang." "A hundred thousand people wept for it. Liang came to the sacrifice, and waited for his orphan to be like a life.

In connection with the previous text that has been translated, Jiang Wan advised Zhuge Liang not to execute Ma Tan, but was refused, which means that the record of "Xiangyang Ji" also supports Zhuge Liang's execution of Ma Tan, which is the same in "Huayang National Chronicles".

However, the record of "Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Xiang Lang" is "Tan fled, Lang knew about it, he hated it, and he was dismissed and returned to Chengdu". That is to say, Ma Jian finally managed to escape, and may not have died.

In his biography "Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Ma Liang" (Ma Tan's record is attached to Ma Liang's biography, there is no single independent biography) There is a third saying: "Ma Tan went to prison for a reason, and Liang was weeping for it", indicating that Ma Tan died of illness in prison, not was executed.

On the whole, Ma Tan is the most likely to be directly executed by Zhuge Liang and died, but it is not without other possibilities. For example, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Ma Liang" can be said to be the original biography of Ma Tan, and it is the most direct record of his life.

And Xiang Lang was implicated because of Ma Tan's incident, it is possible that Ma Jian once escaped, but did not run away, and was later arrested again.

【Causes of Failure】

Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition failed, although Ma Tan violated Zhuge Liang's operational deployment, resulting in defeat, but he is not the first person responsible, the Northern Expedition failed, not only Ma Tan was defeated in Jieting, Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi lost in Keigu, Gao Xiang's army was defeated by Guo Huai in Liucheng, the three-way army was defeated, and the whole line was defeated, which can only be said to be Zhuge Liang's unfavorable command.

Just looking at the defeat of the street pavilion, Zhuge Liang also has a direct responsibility, you must understand that Ma Jian is not a general in the army, he can become the commander of the street pavilion because Zhuge Liang is the leader. Before this Northern Expedition, Ma Tan first served as Liu Bei's engagement, successively served as the Mianzhu County Commander, Chengdu County Commander and Yue Wei Taishou, mostly polished in government affairs, and did not have any achievements in the military, this Northern Expedition may even be Ma Tan's first time leading the troops, but the location of the street pavilion is important, Zhuge Liang handed over such a heavy task to the newcomer Ma Tan, resulting in the defeat of the army, so it is not Zhuge Liang's responsibility, whose responsibility!

To put it mildly, Zhuge Liang sent the newcomer Ma Tan to the front line, in a sense, it was to harm Ma Tan, you must know that after learning about the Northern Expedition of Shu Han, Cao Rui transferred Xiahou Nan from Chang'an as soon as possible.

In the battle of Jieting, Zhuge Liang's choice of newcomer Ma Jian is a very risky thing in terms of candidates, Wei Yan, Wu Yi and others, as generals in the army, are all better candidates than Ma Tan, Zhuge Liang chose Ma Jian at this time, in fact, the risk taken is not much lower than that of sending troops to Meridian Valley.

Ma Tan's defeat in the street pavilion was actually predictable, after all, Zhang He was a famous general of Cao Wei, and Ma Tan was a newcomer, and the result was self-evident.

However, judging from the speed of Cao Wei's reaction this time, if Zhuge Liang adopted Wei Yan's strategy to send troops to Meridian Valley, it may not be pleasing to behold, Cao Rui's reaction can be said to be very important and timely, Sima Yi in Wancheng did not dispatch, and Zhuge Liang had already been repelled.

【Impact】

Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition had a huge impact. This was the first large-scale attack on Cao Wei by the Shu Han group after the Battle of Xiangfan, although it was a failure, but it also had a huge impact.

Originally, after Liu Bei's death, Shu Han had fallen into decline after many blows, and the threat to Cao Wei was greatly reduced, so even if Zhuge Liang came to Hanzhong, Luoyang did not react much to this, thinking that Shu Han was no longer able to invade the border, but Zhuge Liang launched a large northern expedition at this time, unexpectedly, Cao Wei was shaken, and the three counties looked at the wind and fell.

Although in the end Cao Wei's army repelled Zhuge Liang, Luoyang's threat to Shu Han also began to be reassessed, and the Luoyang court, which was originally dominated by Sun Wu, began to gradually turn its attention from the southeast to the southwest, and Shu Han once again began to replace Jiangdong and gradually became Cao Wei's number one enemy.

For Shu Han, the first Northern Expedition was expected to achieve major results with the advantage of surprise attacks, but because of Zhuge Liang's improper command, Cao Wei reacted quickly, Shu Han was defeated in all three ways, and finally returned in vain.

In terms of losses, although Jieting, Liucheng and Keigu were all defeated, but because of the effective play of Wang Ping, Zhao Yun and others, the overall loss of Shu Han was not large, not to mention the nerves and bones, and some people even persuaded Zhuge Liang to send troops again.

Overall, for Cao Wei, they resisted Zhuge Liang's attack this time, and strengthened the defense of Yong and Liang, while although the Shu Han side was defeated, it retained its strength and could quickly regroup its army, the battle between the two sides was only the first battle, and it was foreseeable that the battle between Shu Han and Cao Wei in Longyou and even the land of Yongliang had just begun.