About Zhuge Liang’s deeds

Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times

The place where Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times was located in Zhanyi County, Yunnan Province today. Zhuge Liang marched southward, captured Meng Huo seven times and conquered Nanzhong.

The 90th Chapter of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" drove out Jushan, six defeated barbarian soldiers, burned rattan armor and captured Meng Huo seven times

Suddenly a man in the tent called Meng Huo and said, "The Prime Minister is ashamed. I don't want to meet you. I'm here to let you go and recruit people to decide the outcome. You can go quickly now." Meng Huo said with tears, "I have never done anything like this since ancient times. A foreigner knows etiquette and justice, how can he be so shameless?" Then he, his brothers, wives and clan members all knelt down under the tent and apologized, saying: "Prime Minister Tianwei, the people of the south will not rebel again!" Kongming said, "Do you agree with me now?" Huo wept and thanked him, saying, "A certain son and his descendants all appreciate the grace of being born, and An De refuses to accept it!" Kongming then invited Meng Huo to pay the account, held a banquet to celebrate, and ordered Yong Huo to be a cave. host. All the land taken will be returned. Meng Huo's clan and other barbarian soldiers were all grateful and jumped away happily. Later generations wrote a poem praising Kong Ming, saying: "Feather fans and silk towels support the green buildings, and they captured the barbarian king with seven clever strategies. To this day, the power of the stream cave is spread, and temples are built on the selected plateau."

Huarong Ancient Road?

In 208 AD, after Cao Cao captured Jingzhou, he led more than 200,000 land and water troops down the river eastward without stopping. He planned to eliminate Liu Bei and Sun Quan in one fell swoop and realize his ambition to unify the country. However, he was dazzled by the victory and underestimated the enemy with pride. As a result, he was burned by the Sun and Liu coalition forces in Chibi. He fled in panic and fled along Huarong Road.

What is Huarong Road? According to the annotation of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", it is "from this way you can reach Huarong". The Huarong mentioned here, of course, refers to Huarong County. Huarong Road is the route that Cao Jun took after escaping into Huarong County during the Chibi War and then escaping to Huarong County. The ancient Huarong County seat was near Zhoulaozui, about 60 miles north of the current Jianli County seat. If you draw a straight line from Wulin, where Cao Cao stationed his troops, to Nanjun, the destination of Cao Cao's escape, Huarong City is right in the center of this straight line. If Cao wanted to escape back to Jiangling, taking Huarong County would be the shortest route. Moreover, there was Cao Jun's grain and grass warehouse near Huarong County at that time, which was convenient for the retreating soldiers to replenish grass.

Because this area is blocked by ancient swamps and lakes. There is no direct road from Wulin to Huarong City. Cao's army could only flee westward along the river, enter Huarong County, and then turn northwest toward Huarong County. In this way, we must wade through a swamp area on the edge of the big swamp. According to county annals, when Cao Cao fled to Taiping Bridge, his men and horses got stuck in the mud and had to throw away their whips and dismount and walk. There is still an ancient place name of "Cao Bi Port" here. The twenty-mile road from Qubian Port to Maojiakou was "narrow and dangerous, and the road was bumpy and difficult to navigate." Cao Jun "encountered muddy conditions and the road was impassable." So he ordered his soldiers to cut reeds and wormwood to fill the road. There are many dead in the mud."

Lu You, the great poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, once passed through this area by boat in the sixth year of Qiandao (1170). He wrote: "Since there is no one inhabited anymore, there are wild reeds on both sides of the bank, which is called a hundred miles of wilderness." The people in the boat said: "Since then, the river has been blocked and tigers and wolves are infested. If you act without knowing it, you will be harmed by your husband." 960 years after Cao Cao's defeat, the Huarong Road area was still so desolate. One can imagine the hardship and embarrassment of Cao Cao's army at that time.

The real development of Huarong Road began in the Yuan Dynasty. Today's Huarong Road is no longer as desolate as it was in the past. Instead, it is shaded by green trees and has vast tracts of fertile land on both sides of the road. The rice is fragrant and the lotus blossoms are blooming. In the evening, curls of smoke rise into the sky, showing the scenery of a plain water town.

Fengjie Baidi City——Liu Bei Tuogu, the Eight Formations of Water?

The Three Gorges Wood and Stone Art Museum is located Baidi City is located at the mouth of Qutang Gorge, the first gorge of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, with a long history and extraordinary scenery. Li Bai, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote "Chaoci Baidi among the colorful clouds", which adds infinite charm to this place. Chao Wen, a famous esthetician and honorary chairman of the China Artists Association, inscribed the name of the Three Gorges Wood and Stone Art Museum. The Three Gorges Wood and Stone Art Museum displays nearly a hundred pieces of Three Gorges gloomy wood carvings and Three Gorges strange stone art works created and collected by Mr. Wei Jingyu, the honorary curator of the Baidicheng Museum in Fengjie County, Chongqing, who seeks the beauty of nature and drinks from the source of creation. Among them, you may be able to understand the true meaning of nature and life.

Bai Di Gao is the Three Gorges Town! It's Du's poem again, which describes the beauty of Baidi City, which is located on the north side of Kuimen and strangles the throat of Sichuan and Hubei. Later, there was a famous saying by a Qing Dynasty poet: "The west controls Bayu and collects thousands of valleys, and the east Jingchu presses the mountains." There is also a majestic magnanimity. As a military fortress, Baidi City has a wide area and a long history. It was the first century AD (the end of the Western Han Dynasty). Gongsun Shu occupied Shu and called himself "White Emperor". He built a city and fortified it here. After his death, he left a memorial temple on the top of Baidi Mountain. This is the Baidi Temple we are visiting now. Two hundred years after Gongsun Shu, another historical celebrity - Liu Bei, the Emperor of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, was defeated in the attack on Wu, retreated to Baidi City, and died of illness in Yong'an Palace. Before his death, he entrusted the affairs of the state (half of the country) and the family (only the orphan alive) to Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. This is the well-known "Liu Bei Tuogu" in China.

The existing Baidi Temple is a Qing Dynasty building, such as Mingliang Hall, Wuhou Temple, Tuogu Hall, Star Gazing Pavilion, etc., which promote historical celebrities related to "Tuogu" in many aspects. In the East and West Forest of Steles, there are more than 70 precious stone carvings from the Sui to Qing dynasties. The Hall of Poetry and History displays the calligraphy works of party and state leaders as well as contemporary famous calligraphers and painters. The cultural relics room takes the Daxi Culture as its origin and shows the richness of the cultural relics unearthed in this area in the order of general history.

The West Pavilion on the mountainside is a place to commemorate Du Fu. Du Fu lived in Fengjie Guest House for less than two years, but he left more than 400 masterpieces, accounting for two-sevenths of Du Fu's poems in existence today. Looking out the window, what we saw was the majestic scene of "The boundless falling trees are rustling, the endless Yangtze River is rolling in" he sang, and suddenly we were filled with high-spirited passion.

The Eight Formations of Water

On the north bank of the Yangtze River, about six miles east of Fengjie County, Sichuan Province, it is said that Zhuge Liang once built stones on the dam to form the Eight Formations of Water, commonly known as the "Eight Formations of Water" ". On the formation map, there are eight vertical and horizontal rows of stone barriers, with a distance of two feet between the rows, totaling sixty-four.

The rationality of Zhuge Liang's empty city plan?

To simply regard it as a gamble between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi would be to underestimate the rationality of the empty city plan.

Not much consideration is given to the arrangements beforehand and the changes afterward. They are taken out of context and only rely on the calmness of burning incense and playing the piano. Looking at the sky through a tube or sitting in a well, the knowledge is like a blind man touching an elephant, and it is difficult to see the whole picture. From the 95th chapter of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" "Ma Di refused to admonish and lost his place in the street pavilion, Wu Hou played the piano and retreated to Zhongda." Carefully read the previous and later chapters, and narrate the time background and detailed process, so that we can find out the truth. Facts speak louder than words. Instead of guessing what it might be, or what it should feel like.

When Zhuge Liang learned that Jieting and Liliucheng had been lost, he was making arrangements for the withdrawal of the Northern Expeditionary Army: so from the beginning, he arranged for Guan Xing and Zhang Bao to each lead 3,000 elite troops to Wugong Mountain, and then Zhang Yi was ordered to send Jiangge in advance to prepare a safe return route, and then ordered Ma Dai and Jiang Wei to prepare for an ambush. Finally, officials, soldiers and civilians from three counties including Tianshui, Nan'an and Anding were immigrated to Hanzhong. Zhuge Liang personally led 5,000 soldiers and horses to transport grain. These distribution arrangements were the beginning of the sequence of dispatching troops.

Unfortunately, some people always mistakenly believe that Zhuge Liang only used an empty city to fight against Sima Yi, or falsely believe that he was unprepared and forced to fight. In fact, few people know Zhuge Liang's prior arrangements. There is an ambush beforehand, so you dare to lay out a plan to raise suspicion. This is completely different from the situation of not preparing in advance and gambling on luck. We always speculate on Sima Yi's "nurturing the enemy to protect himself" or Zhuge Liang's "sweating and taking risks". It is better to carefully implement the "causes and consequences" of the incident and have more concrete basis to avoid falling into fantasy and confusion.

In their minds, the Wei officers and soldiers who were frightened and defeated repeatedly, starting from the burning of Xinye and the use of water in Bowang, believed that Zhuge Liang was an expert in using decoys to lure troops. Moreover, the Wei army has always been good at using decoys, such as luring Lu Bu in the Battle of Puyang in the early years, and luring Wen Chou to death in the Battle of Guandu. The Wei army had long known the consequences of greedy bait and temptation - a heroic death and serious injuries. Zhuge Liang held high the banner of the Northern Expedition and gathered a large army to attack. Whether it was moving the residents of the three counties or controlling the Shu soldiers and generals, it would not be a small activity that went unnoticed. Even if Sima Yi did not know the strength of the Shu soldiers, he could still know about it. Shu soldiers once had large-scale movements. However, the Shu troops that Sima Yi and other Wei troops saw in front of Xicheng did not have any large-scale troops. How could these Shu troops disappear? Where are the Shu soldiers who moved the defense? Could it be an ambush and preparation for an attack? Did Zhuge Liang plan to use a small number of decoy troops to lead the Wei army into the city to die? With Zhuge Liang as the top leader of the Shu army, who dares to take it lightly?

No matter how reckless Sima Yi is, he still has to figure out whether Zhuge Liang’s generals, such as Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, Ma Dai, Wei Yan and other Shu soldiers, will all gather in the west city to die, or whether they will hide in the side and watch eagerly. Waiting for an opportunity? Or it may be that all the Shu soldiers have fled, and only Zhuge Liang is left alone. There are no Shu soldiers in sight, unless Sima Yi is proud of his gamble and thinks he has caught the group leader without an escort. Either he is very lucky, or Zhuge Liang is. Set a trap to lure the soldiers into the urn. Sima Yi originally didn't believe the sentry's information. After personally visiting the enemy for verification, he took cautious measures. Advance and retreat first, then slow down: if there is an ambush, retreat; if there is no ambush, start fighting again. From the fact that Sima Yi returned to Xicheng soon and interrogated the local residents about the actual status of the Shu army, we can know that Sima Yi did have a comeback military operation, and it was not like "the Wei soldiers were scared all the way back to Chang'an" as some people said. Take a step back, maintain a safe distance, and then think of another idea instead of running away in terror.

Later on the path of Wugong Mountain, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao were heard killing each other, which made the Wei army suspicious and they did not dare to stop for a long time. Cao Zhen originally wanted to chase after him, but unexpectedly he ambushed halfway and was intercepted by Jiang Wei and Ma Dai who had been arranged by Zhuge Liang in advance. He had to lead his troops to flee. If Sima Yi had not left early, he would have almost ended up like Cao Zhen. As Sima Yi withdrew his troops temporarily, Zhuge Liang took the opportunity to retreat to Hanzhong. There were "distribution arrangements" beforehand and "ambushes and battles" afterwards, so Zhuge Liang used the roaring silence to cleverly set up an empty city to trap Sima Yi.

The official history cited Guo Chong's three incidents in Pei's Note, discussing Zhuge Liang's empty city plan.

Pei Songzhi has already refuted the time, geographical location, offensive and defensive situation, and the lack of respect for etiquette of the Empty City Strategy, so what Guo Chong said is not true. Sima Yi was still the governor of Jingzhou (a position that Zhou Yu could not hold for his generation). He was in Wancheng and had no time to go north to the street pavilion to confront Zhuge Liang. The time and space no longer match. Guo Chong said that Sima Yi led 200,000 troops, while Zhuge Liang only left 10,000 soldiers in Shu, and the rest of the army was handed over to Wei Yan. With an advantage of 20 to 1, Sima Yi had no need to be afraid.

However, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" said that the Wei army only had 150,000 troops. Zhuge Liang himself had 2,500 troops, and another 2,500 Shu troops were sent out temporarily. Guan Xing and Zhang Bao each led 3,000 troops, and there were already 10,000 troops here. One thousand, Zhang Yi, Jiang Wei and Ma Dai's troops are not counted. If Wang Ping, Wei Yan, Gao Xiang, Shen Dan and Shen Yi on the Jieting battlefield are included, there are also Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi. If the suspected troops in Jigu are combined, I am afraid that those with fewer soldiers are not Shu soldiers. According to "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Zhuge Liang led more than 300,000 troops at the beginning. The Northern Expeditionary Army of Shu soldiers was able to alert Emperor Wei Ming to personally march. The size and strength of the army should not be underestimated.

According to "Han, Jin, Spring and Autumn", Zhuge Liang claimed: "The army is more numerous than thieves in Qishan and Jigu, but cannot defeat the thieves. If the thieves defeat them, then the disease is not caused by the few soldiers, but by one person's ear." ." That is to say, there are more Shu soldiers than Wei soldiers, but not more Wei soldiers than Shu soldiers. If Sima Yi's large army overwhelms the few with their numbers, why should he care about a mere 10,000 Shu soldiers? In fact, Zhuge Liang did not dare to lead the Northern Expedition with only ten thousand people. He even used ten thousand people to conquer the southern barbarians, so how could he only use ten thousand people for the Northern Expedition? Sima Yi's target was not only Zhuge Liang's direct troops, but also the entire Northern Expedition army. No matter how many people there are, they are not afraid of traps. In the Battle of Changping during the Warring States Period, although Zhao soldiers numbered more than 400,000, they were still surrounded by the Qin army and starved. In the end, they were forced to surrender and be killed. The mountainous terrain in the Hanzhong area is full of dangerous places such as patios, heavenly prisons, heavenly traps, heavenly traps, and heavenly gaps. There are also obstacles such as stone caves and jungles. The most fearful thing is that you will be trapped in a dead end without any room for escape. The mountains and forests are not conducive to the galloping of the Wei army's cavalry. The passes in the valleys are also dangerous and "one man can guard the pass, and ten thousand men are invincible." Although there are many soldiers, it would be careless to ignore the restrictions of the terrain.

Zhuge Liang already had a large army and good geographical advantages. As Guo Chong said, although Sima Yi had 200,000 troops, he still did not necessarily have the upper hand. Moreover, Guo Chong's biggest mistake was to ignore the existence of the Shu generals. Sima Yi could only count the locations of the Northern Expedition generals. Facing an army with only Zhuge Liang left, unless Sima Yi was arrogant and could not see the Shu generals Wei Yan, Gao Xiang, Zhao Yun and Wang Ping. . Otherwise, Sima Yi should consider whether these Shu soldiers were ambushing and waiting for him. Zhuge Liang later used decoy troops to kill Zhang He, Wang Shuang and others, which further proved that the Wei soldiers would end up rushing forward and would suffer the consequences of underestimating the enemy. Will face death and defeat.

Zhuge Liang’s empty city plan first appeared not in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but in the notes (Guo Chong Sanshi) from the "Three Kingdoms" written by the official historian Chen Shou, and the latter also More unreasonable than the former. This is ironic. The explanatory notes from official history are not credible, but the fictional story is comprehensive.

In addition, Zhuge Liang’s inventions, such as: Kongming lantern, wooden ox and horse, etc.

There are also stories about his wife, such as: Zhuge scarf, goose feather fan, etc.