Chapter 12 103 Ma Su Lost Street Pavilion

After Zhuge Liang pacified Nanzhong, after two years of preparation, he led an army to garrison Hanzhong in the winter of 227 AD.Because Hanzhong is close to the border of Wei and Shu, you can find an opportunity to attack Wei at any time there. When he left Chengdu, he wrote a memorial to the empress Liu Chan, asking the empress not to be satisfied with the status quo and belittle himself; to be close to virtuous ministers and alienate villains;This memorial is the famous "Teacher's List" in history. After the new year, Zhuge Liang used the method of attacking the west from the east, and spread the news that he was going to attack Meicheng (now Meixian County, Shaanxi Province), and sent general Zhao Yun to lead a team to station in Jigu (now north of Baocheng, Shaanxi Province), pretending to attack Meicheng. look.Wei Jun got the information, and he sent the main force to defend the city of Mei.Taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the Wei army, Zhuge Liang personally led the army, and suddenly rushed to Qishan (now east of Lixian County, Gansu) from the west road.

After several years of strict training by Zhuge Liang, the Shu army has a neat lineup, strict orders, and strong morale.Since Liu Bei's death, the Shu Han had not moved for many years, and the Wei State was unprepared. This time, the Shu army suddenly attacked Qishan, and the Wei army guarding Qishan could not resist and retreated one after another.The Shu army took advantage of the victory and marched. The guards of Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding in the north of Qishan Mountain all betrayed Wei Guo and sent people to ask Zhuge Liang to surrender. At that time, Wei Wendi Cao Pi had died of illness.When the civil and military officials of the Wei court heard that the Shu Han was aggressively attacking, they were all panicked.Wei Mingdi Cao Rui (sound rui), who had just ascended the throne, was relatively calm, and immediately sent Zhang He to lead 50,000 horses to Qishan to resist, and personally went to Chang'an to supervise the battle.

Zhuge Liang arrived at Qishan and decided to send a team to occupy Jieting (now southeast of Zhuanglang, Gansu) as a stronghold.Who will lead this team.At that time, there were several experienced veterans beside him.But it was useless for him, he only liked Ma Di who joined the army. Ma Di has indeed read a lot of military books, and usually likes to talk about military affairs.Zhuge Liang asked him to discuss the war, and he talked endlessly, and he also came up with some good ideas.So Zhuge Liang trusted him very much.But when Liu Bei was alive, he saw that Ma Di was not very practical.Before he was alive, he specially told Zhuge Liang, saying: "Ma Di is exaggerated, you can't send him to do big things, you have to investigate carefully." But Zhuge Liang didn't take these words to heart.This time, he sent Ma Su as the vanguard and Wang Ping as the deputy.

Ma Di and Wang Ping led their troops to the pavilion, and Zhang He's Wei army was also coming from the east.Ma Di looked at the terrain and said to Wang Ping: "The terrain in this area is dangerous. There is a mountain next to the street pavilion. It happens to camp on the mountain and lay out an ambush." Wang Ping reminded him: "The Prime Minister told him before he left to stick to the city and set up a camp. Camping on the mountain is too risky." Ma Di had no experience in war and thought he was familiar with military books, so he didn't listen to Wang Ping's advice and insisted on camping on the mountain.It was useless for Wang Ping to persuade Ma Di again and again, so he had to beg Ma Di to allocate 1,000 troops for him to station near the foot of the mountain.

Zhang He led the Wei army to Jieting, and saw that Ma Di abandoned the ready-made city and did not defend it, but stationed his men and horses on the mountain. Ma Di ordered the soldiers to rush down the mountain several times, but because Zhang He held on to the camp, the Shu army could not break through. Instead, many people were shot dead by the Wei army's random arrows. Wei Jun cut off the water source on the mountain.The Shu army cut off the water on the mountain, and they couldn't even cook food. After a long time, they became chaotic first.Zhang He saw the right moment and launched a general attack.The soldiers of the Shu army fled one after another, and Ma Su couldn't be restrained even if he wanted to. Finally, he had to break out of the siege by himself and flee westward.

Wang Ping led a thousand troops to guard the camp.When he learned that Ma Su had failed, he asked the soldiers to beat the drums desperately, pretending to attack.Zhang He suspected that there was an ambush by the Shu army, so he dared not approach them.Wang Ping organized his team and retreated without any haste. Not only did he not lose any of the thousand troops, he also took in many of Ma Di's stragglers. Jieting fell.The Shu army lost an important stronghold, and lost many troops.In order to avoid greater losses, Zhuge Liang decided to retreat all his troops to Hanzhong. Zhuge Liang returned to Hanzhong, and after detailed investigation, he knew that the fall of Jieting was entirely due to Ma Di's violation of his combat deployment.Ma Su also admitted his fault.According to the military law, Zhuge Liang sent Ma Su to prison and sentenced him to death.

Ma Di knew that he would die, so he wrote a letter to Zhuge Liang in prison, saying: "The prime minister treats me like his own son, and I also treat the prime minister as my own father. This time I committed a capital crime. I hope that after my death If the Prime Minister treats my son like Shun who killed Gun and used Yu, I will not worry about it when I die." Zhuge Liang killed Ma Di, thinking of his usual friendship with Ma Di, he felt very sad and shed tears.From then on, he really took good care of Ma Su's son. Zhuge Liang believed that Wang Ping had dissuaded Ma Su in Jieting, and when he was retreating, he used tricks to save the troops. He made great contributions and should be rewarded, so he promoted Wang Ping to join the army and let him lead five troops.

Zhuge Liang said to the soldiers: "This time the failure of sending troops is of course because Ma Di violated the military order. But I should be responsible for my improper employment." He sent a memorial to Liu Chan, requesting that his official position be lowered by three levels. Liu Chan received the memorial and didn't know what to do.A minister said: "Since the prime minister has this opinion, let him follow him." Liu Chan issued an edict to demote Zhuge Liang to the right general, and still handle the prime minister's affairs. Because Zhuge Liang clearly distinguished rewards and punishments and set an example, the soldiers of the Shu army were very moved.Everyone took this failure as a lesson, and their morale was even stronger.In the winter of this year, Zhuge Liang led troops out of Sanguan (now southwest of Baoji, Shaanxi), surrounded Chencang (now east of Baoji), and killed a general of Wei; in the spring of the following year, he sent troops to recover Wudu (now Chengxian, Gansu) , Yinping (now Gansu Wenyi Northwest) two counties.The later master Liu Chan believed that Zhuge Liang had made great contributions, so he issued an imperial edict to restore Zhuge Liang's position as prime minister.