If Zhuge Liang used Wei Yan's ingenuity in the meridian valley, he could capture all the places west of Chang 'an, including Chang 'an?

During Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, Wei Yan, a general of Shu, put forward a plan to take the meridian valley route and take Chang 'an directly. This plan is recorded and discussed in the History of the Three Kingdoms and Yi Zhongtian's History of the Three Kingdoms. This scheme has also become a topic that experts and scholars have been studying, that is, can this scheme be successful and how feasible is it? I'm here to talk about my own views.

First of all, let's take a look at some opinions about such incidents.

There have always been two views on the feasibility of Wei Yan's fantastic plan in Ziwu Valley. One is feasible, let's call it Fang. The other party thinks it is not feasible, so let's call it a cube. Both sides listed their own reasons. There are two arguments for sure:

First, Wei Yan's strategy is to win by surprise. According to the law of military strategists, surprise is surprise. Because there were many people who knew Zhuge Liang in Wei Dynasty, they all thought Zhuge Liang was cautious in fighting and did not dare to take risks. It never occurred to him that he would divide his troops and take the meridian valley. Therefore, it is entirely possible to divide our forces and sneak attack, take Chang 'an first and cut off the enemy's rear retreat. If the enemy's plan is the enemy's calculation, the enemy can't calculate me, and surprise attack can completely achieve surprise attack.

Second, the commander of Chang 'an is Wan's disciple, a fearless and foolhardy Xiahou Mao. Xiahou Mao is a dude and a dude. Don't know the art of war. I don't know strategy, I haven't fought a war, I have no actual combat experience, and I like to talk big. You Wei used such a useless person to defend such an important place. How could he possibly calculate that Wei Yan would take the road of Meridian Valley?

The opposing party thinks that it is not feasible, and there are two statements:

First, the road is dangerous and easy to be ambushed. The opposition believes that even if Xiahou Mao is incompetent again, there must be suggestions in Wei to ambush in various valleys. Including the meridian valley. If there is an ambush there, Wei will be ambushed when he goes, and he will inevitably fail, thus losing his strength and strength. Once Wei Yan falls, it will shake the morale of the Shu army and dampen its spirit.

Second, I think that without Wei, I can't achieve great things. Wei Yan has 10,000 people, of whom 5,000 are grain carriers. Even after crossing the meridian valley, you may not be able to win Chang' an with so few troops. Even if we win Chang 'an, we may not be able to stick to it.

Then let's compare the arguments of both sides and see whose argument is more valid. After comparison, I found that both positive arguments are valid, while the negative second argument is not. Why not? Because we all know that since ancient times, sneak attack, especially taking dangerous roads, is to seize time first and speed second. We should reach the designated destination before the enemy knows it. In order to form the suddenness of the attack and give the enemy the feeling of falling from the sky. Moreover, the confidentiality of this March is very important, and we can't let the enemy patrol scouts find our marching distance. Once discovered, the enemy came prepared and the sneak attack was a complete failure. Then how can we achieve strong confidentiality, compete with each other in time and speed, and be sudden? That is, orders are known only to junior officers, but not to soldiers. They are responsible for walking, no matter where we go or what we do. Just follow orders. The second is to go into battle lightly and bring a small amount of troops, because we all know a common sense. That is to say, the army is large in number and heavy in trench. The March was rather slow. If you bring a large army, one is the dangerous valley and narrow terrain. If a large army suddenly meets the enemy, it is difficult to dispatch troops. The second is to delay the March. If we walk slowly and drag on for a long time, the enemy will find out our intentions. Thus losing its suddenness. So Wei Yan was right to choose to bring a small amount of troops.

So, what is the feasibility of Wei Yan's plan? Personally think it is feasible. There is a simple reason. To know whether it is feasible, only three problems need to be solved. First, does Wei Yan's strategy conform to military theory? Second, can Chang 'an Shoujiang and Minister Wei work out Wei Yan's marching direction? Third, did Wei Yan's strategy of dividing troops conform to the actual situation of the Shu army at that time? Let's explain them one by one. Let's look at the first point, whether it conforms to military theory.

I think it is completely in line with the military strategist's surprise attack theory, and the reason is exactly the same as the first positive argument. The theory of surprise victory is mainly based on not playing cards according to the routine, which is completely unexpected to the enemy. The more the enemy thinks that our army is afraid to go, the more they want to go, and the more they think that our army is afraid to go, our army is determined to go. Achieve the goal that the enemy can't understand our army's intentions. So as to achieve strategic goals. At that time, many people didn't expect Zhuge Liang to go to Meridian Valley, because they still knew Zhuge Liang better. According to Zhuge Liang's law of using troops, he will not go to dangerous places or fight unprepared and uncertain battles. Wei Yan, on the other hand, did the opposite, breaking the conventional practice and previous laws, which greatly surprised the enemy. So the enemy didn't expect Wei Yan to do this, and naturally there would be no preparation. Sneaking will be easy.

Look at the second point, Xiahou Mao can't figure it out. As I said before, he is a dude, a "four don't understand", who doesn't understand the art of war, strategy, geography and never fought a war. Being with such a person is simply pushing Wei Jun into a pit of fire. At that time, he thought that Zhuge Liang would send troops to the front to stop Zhuge Liang's army, and Chang 'an could not have too many garrison troops. Even though he has more troops than Wei Yan, he has never fought a war, and his ability to adapt to cold weather is poor and his intellectual function is low. He didn't know how many people there were in Wei Yan. He must have abandoned the city in fright. Most of the time, this guy is leading troops. As the saying goes, if a soldier is a bear, a bear is a nest. Xiahou Mao is a coward, Xiong Qiang. How strong can his soldiers be? How can it be compared with Wei Yan's army? Besides, the decision-making power is in his hands. Even if someone suggested this to Wei, he wouldn't necessarily listen, and he wouldn't care too much. I won't make any big preparations. Then where is the failure?

Thirdly, I personally think that there are some similarities and some differences between them.

Which ones are more practical? It is from the overall situation and overall strategy of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition that Zhuge Liang came from thousands of miles, consumed countless resources and benefited from a quick victory. If we fight for the city, the dangerous place is exactly what Wei wants. They want to use favorable terrain to contain and consume Shu. Wei Yan's sneak attack strategy is intended to directly destroy the enemy's stronghold and catch the thief first. If Wei Jun is captured, the enemy will naturally be in chaos without fighting, which will be conducive to Zhuge Liang's drive. Don't spend too much time and energy fighting for geography.

And Wei Jun is Xiahou Mao's soldier, because of his soldiers, this strategy can be sure of success. If Sima Yi or veteran Zhang He and Guo Huai were changed, they might not succeed. Wei Yan, this belongs to bullying mentally retarded and constantly chauffeured people. Therefore, it is also in line with the actual situation in this respect.

Doesn't match what? It is the transportation of grain. Because transporting food requires a large number of convoys and soldiers. It is difficult for the motorcade to cross the mountain road. It is easy to delay the March. It should be the time to arrive and occupy the city, say, ten days, and then bring enough food and water for ten days. I don't want those teams. It's a burden.

So what will happen if Wei Yan takes Chang 'an? First of all, when the frontline troops heard that Chang 'an was ambushed, they were bound to panic, unwilling to fight and their morale was shaken. The line of defense collapsed. Chang 'an is not only the rear support of Wei's frontline troops, but also their food supply base. If we lose Chang 'an, we will lose the rear base. In that case, there will be no food and no support. The morale of the army is lax, and there is no mood to fight any more, so it is bound to retreat completely. Secondly, Zhuge Liang can directly capture all the dangerous geography west of Weihe River without much effort. Occupation of these geographical locations will help him continue to March and reduce the time and consumption of tackling key problems. Relieved the pressure on the Shu army. You can also approach the hinterland of Wei. It is conducive to Shu's next step into the Central Plains.

In that case, why didn't Zhuge Liang adopt such a good plan? I think there are two reasons.

First, Zhuge Liang is really afraid of an ambush. Because I'm not afraid of 10 thousand, I'm afraid that if the art of war is false and real, it's hard to tell the difference between true and false, just to be on the safe side. In the case that it is difficult to distinguish between reality and reality, and in the case of uncertainty, not taking risks is the so-called not fighting an uncertain war. Once the adventure fails, the consequences will be quite serious. Not only will these ten thousand soldiers be wiped out, but Wei will probably die, which is not very cost-effective for Shu. The number of Shu soldiers is small, and generals are hard to find. Famous players such as Wei Yan cannot take risks easily.

Second, minimize casualties. Because Shu is vast and sparsely populated, there are insufficient soldiers. Every time Zhuge Liang fights, he always tries his best to reduce casualties and preserve his effective strength and combat effectiveness. Because every soldier has a good foundation and is well trained. Once the casualties are serious, it is bound to transfer able-bodied men from China on a large scale. It is bound to affect domestic development and economic construction. There are more able-bodied men. Who will cultivate this land? Who will engage in production and construction? In addition, the former soldiers in the army have actual combat experience and rich combat experience. They are all elites who survived the war. Once the casualties are too heavy. Even if able-bodied men are transferred from China, after training, their fighting capacity and combat experience will be greatly reduced, far less than before. Therefore, due to these factors, Zhuge Liang finally failed to adopt Wei Yan's plan.