In history, Zhuge Liang's first two Northern Expeditions to Cao Wei ended in failure, and it was not until the Third Northern Expedition that it was initially successful. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoIn this battle, Zhuge Liang successfully recaptured Wudu and Yinping counties.

【Third Northern Expedition】

In the spring of the seventh year of Jianxing (229), Zhuge Liang attacked Wei for the third time. He sent Chen Shi to attack the two counties south of Qishan, Wudu (west of present-day Chengxian County, Gansu) and Yinping (northwest of present-day Wenxian County, Gansu). Chen Shi was also a general in the Shu Han army at that time, and had already participated in battles such as the Battle of Hanzhong and the Battle of Yiling earlier, and his status in the Shu Han army was basically second only to Wei Yan, Wu Yi and others.

After learning of the attack of Shu Han, Guo Huai, the assassin of Wei Yongzhou, led his troops to the rescue, but was blocked by Zhuge Liang's main force in Jianwei (now west of Chengxian County, Gansu) and was forced to retreat. The Shu army then captured Wudu and Yinping counties. Zhuge Liang pacified the local Di and Qiang people, and then left his troops to defend them, and led his troops back to Hanzhong.

This battle was also the first victory of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. After the war, Liu Chan restored Zhuge Liang's position as prime minister.

At that time, Liu Chan issued an edict to Feng Zhuge Liang and said: "In the battle of the street pavilion, the main culprit lies with Ma Yan, and you blame yourself and deeply depreciate yourself, at that time, it was difficult to violate your wishes, so you had to agree to the request of self-depreciation of the third level, and last year led the troops to raise the prestige of our army and kill Wang Shuang; This year, he led the troops out again, and Guo Huai fled; Surrender and pacify the Di and Qiang departments, recover the two counties of Wudu and Yinping, deter the fierce enemy with majesty, and make meritorious deeds all over the world. Now that the world has not been pacified, the culprit and the evil have not been eradicated, you are shouldering a heavy responsibility, presiding over the military affairs, and derogating yourself for a long time, which is extremely detrimental to carrying forward the great cause of the first emperor. ”

Compared with the first Northern Expedition to obtain the three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui and Anding, this Northern Expedition also recovered the two counties of Wudu and Yinping, which seems to have a small difference in results, but in fact it is far from it.

This is because the two counties of Wudu and Yinping were originally the territory of Shu Han, but they may have been occupied by Cao Wei after the defeat of the First Northern Expedition (Note 1). Wudu County originally belonged to Liangzhou, but after Cao Cao was defeated and retreated in Hanzhong, he was lost to Liu Bei because of the inconvenience of contact. Yinping County was originally a Guanghan vassal state of Yizhou, and the territory seized by Cao Cao after occupying Hanzhong was changed to Yinping County, and Hanzhong was also recaptured by Liu Bei after it was lost.

As for the three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui and Anding, plus Guangwei County and Longxi County, they all belong to Longyou, which originally belonged to Liangzhou, and after Cao Pi took the throne, he gradually merged Longyou, Qinzhou and other places with the three auxiliary areas of Sili into Yongzhou.

Compared with the Second Northern Expedition, this operation can be said to be a well-planned operation, and the target is also more realistic after two consecutive blows, not like the first two troops to prepare to turn the world upside down, but only to regain lost territory, so the certainty is also greater.

[Reasons for starting a war again in the short term]

In terms of time, Zhuge Liang's first three Northern Expeditions were very compact, the time of the first Northern Expedition was the spring of the sixth year of Jianxing (228), the second Northern Expedition was the winter of the sixth year of Jianxing (228), the third Northern Expedition was shorter, and the spring of the seventh year of Jianxing (229) began again, and Zhuge Liang launched three Northern Expeditions in just over a year. If the Second Northern Expedition started because of an accident, then why did Zhuge Liang rush to launch the Third Northern Expedition?

Personally, I think this should not be related to military reasons, but for internal political reasons, specifically because Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition also failed. The defeat of the two consecutive Northern Expeditions will not only have a major blow to Zhuge Liang's prestige, but also have a fatal impact on the policy of the Northern Expedition of Shu Han.

Therefore, in order to save his reputation and save the strategy of the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang had to launch the Third Northern Expedition again in a short period of time, trying to achieve results to subdue everyone and continue to maintain the Northern Expedition, that is to say, the Third Northern Expedition is not only a military action, but also a political salvation.

Fortunately, Zhuge Liang succeeded this time, and of course, Zhuge Liang's success this time was not just because of luck. First of all, in Shu Han, the goal of the third Northern Expedition is no longer ambitious, but more realistic, and the difficulty of achieving it is greatly reduced.

For Cao Wei, because Zhuge Liang had just launched an offensive in winter, they did not expect Zhuge Liang's attack this time, and they were caught off guard, and finally forced to retreat and give up the two counties.

And Wudu, Yinping two counties are geographically easier to occupy by Shu Han, because of the barrier of Hanzhong, the two counties and Chang'an can not communicate directly, Yinping can be said to be originally Yizhou, and Wudu is actually more southern, after Liu Bei captured Hanzhong, Cao Cao had to give up the two counties because of this.

The two counties themselves have also been controlled by Shu Han for many years, so Shu Han also has more advantages in terms of people's hearts, Cao Wei has just occupied it for a short time, and it is not deeply rooted, so the difficulty of regaining it is relatively low.

Under the influence of many factors, Zhuge Liang successfully recaptured the two counties of Wudu and Yinping. But that's the end of it, although Zhuge Liang recaptured the two counties, he didn't have the ability to further expand the results of the battle, after all, the winter had just passed, and the problem of supply had not yet been solved.

The time interval between the Second Northern Expedition and the Third Northern Expedition was very short, basically Zhuge Liang had just retreated from the front line, maybe just after a Spring Festival, and the speed launched another operation, and finally won a victory.

The victory of this operation also has great significance, first of all, the victory of this operation is a turning point in Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, marking the beginning of the Shu Han group against the Cao Wei group from the downside to the upper hand, from the results can also be seen, the first Northern Expedition was defeated in three battles, and may also lose territory, although the second Northern Expedition returned in vain, but eliminated the pursuit of Wang Shuang, at least one head merit, the third Northern Expedition to recover the old land, counted a good victory, as for the fourth confrontation between Shu Han and Cao Wei, it can only be said that the results are better.

Moreover, the victory of this operation also greatly encouraged people, increased morale, and more importantly, ensured the continued implementation of the Northern Expedition policy, so that the Shuhan group came out of the shadow of the defeat of the first two Northern Expeditions. Due to the extremely short interval between the two Northern Expeditions, it is conceivable that the internal opposition in Shu Han may not be ready to belittle Zhuge Liang, and they have already received the news of the victory of the new Northern Expedition, which has also greatly slowed down the internal strife and attrition in Shu Han.

Note 1: The time when Wudu and Yinping counties were lost should be in Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, but I have not found specific information to prove it at present.