Battle of Jieting

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Battle of Jieting
Part of the first of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions
Kongming subjects Ma Su to execution.jpg
A Qing dynasty illustration of Ma Su's execution
Datec. February – May 228 [1]
Location
Longcheng Town, Qin'an County, Gansu, China
Result Wei victory
Belligerents
Cao Wei Shu Han
Commanders and leaders
Zhang He Ma Su   Skull and Crossbones.svg
Wang Ping
Strength
Unknown Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The historical Sima Yi was not at the western front for the "vacant city ruse" but at the more important southern front with the Southland [Wu]. Sima Yi did not come to the western front until Kongming's [Zhuge Liang] fourth offensive [Battle of Mount Qi]. The fictional tradition tends to attach more importance to the Wei-Shu conflict than the Wei-Wu conflict, and Three Kingdoms accordingly builds up the Kongming-Sima Yi rivalry and the events of AD 228. [23]

In the abstract theory above, Roberts explains and compares historic history with fictional tales and the most likely reason Sima Yi was included before the Battle of Mount Qi. Based on Robert's view of the fictional novel's tendency to build up the rivalry between Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang, and the contradiction of Sima Yi's location at the time of this event, some share Robert's opinion that the event did not happen. However, many historians agree that Sima Yi's absence alone cannot disprove the occurrence. The historical basis for the event comes from an anecdote shared by Guo Chong (郭沖) in the early Jin dynasty (266–420). The anecdote is translated as follows:

"Zhuge Liang garrisoned at Yangping (陽平; around present-day Hanzhong, Shaanxi) and ordered Wei Yan to lead the troops east. He left behind only 10,000 men to defend Yangping. Sima Yi led 200,000 troops to attack Zhuge Liang and he took a shortcut, bypassing Wei Yan's army and arriving at a place 60 li away from Zhuge Liang's location. Upon inspection, Sima Yi realised that Zhuge Liang's city was weakly defended. Zhuge Liang knew that Sima Yi was near, so he thought of recalling Wei Yan's army back to counter Sima Yi, but it was too late already and his men were worried and terrified. Zhuge Liang remained calm and instructed his men to hide all flags and banners and silence the war drums. He then ordered all the gates to be opened and told his men to sweep and dust the ground. Sima Yi was under the impression that Zhuge Liang was cautious and prudent, and he was baffled by the sight before him and suspected that there was an ambush. He then withdrew his troops. The following day, Zhuge Liang clapped his hands, laughed, and told an aide that Sima Yi thought that there was an ambush and had retreated. Later, his scouts returned and reported that Sima Yi had indeed retreated. Sima Yi was very upset when he found out later."

Later, in the fifth century, Pei Songzhi added the anecdote as an annotation to Zhuge Liang's biography in the Sanguozhi. Since Zhuge Liang wrote on the use of this tactic in his compilation work, "Thirty Six Stratagems", going so far as to detail how the psychology employed works, and why:

"When the enemy is superior in numbers and your situation is such that you expect to be overrun at any moment, then drop all pretense of military preparedness, act calmly, and taunt the enemy, so that the enemy will think you have a huge ambush hidden for them. It works best by acting calm and at ease when your enemy expects you to be tense. This ploy is only successful if in most cases you do have a powerful hidden force and only sparsely use the empty fort strategy."

Also worthy of note is that Zhuge Liang wrote this passage in his sixth chapter, titled "Desperate Stratagems", (敗戰計败战计, Bài zhàn jì), further supporting the implication that he had experience in using this tactic, and his description does match the situation described by Guo Chong. However, there are a number of texts that dispute the accuracy of Guo Chong's anecdote.

Notes

  1. Although the text simply says that Ma Su died ("wugu"; 物故), the implication is clear that he was executed.
  2. The identity of Chen Shou's father is unknown.

References

  1. Zizhi Tongjian vol. 71.
  2. (諸葛亮圍祁山,南安、天水、安定三郡反應亮。) Sanguozhi vol. 9.
  3. (六年春,揚聲由斜谷道取郿,使趙雲、鄧芝為疑軍,據箕谷,魏大將軍曹真舉衆拒之。亮身率諸軍攻祁山,戎陣整齊,賞罰肅而號令明,南安、天水、安定三郡叛魏應亮,關中響震。) Sanguozhi vol. 35.
  4. (《魏略》曰:始,國家以蜀中惟有劉備。備既死,數歲寂然無聲,是以略無備預;而卒聞亮出,朝野恐懼,隴右、祁山尤甚,故三郡同時應亮。) Weilue annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 35.
  5. (建興六年,亮出軍向祁山,時有宿將魏延、吳壹等,論者皆言以為宜令為先鋒,而亮違眾拔謖,統大眾在前,) Sanguozhi vol. 39.
  6. (諸葛亮出祁山。加郃位特進,遣督諸軍,拒亮將馬謖於街亭。謖依阻南山,不下據城。郃絕其汲道,擊,大破之。) Sanguozhi vol. 17.
  7. (与魏將張邰戰于街亭,為邰所破,士卒离散。) Sanguozhi vol. 39.
  8. (建興六年,屬參軍馬謖先鋒。謖舍水上山,舉措煩擾,平連規諫謖,謖不能用,大敗於街亭。) Sanguozhi vol. 43.
  9. (諸葛亮出祁山。加郃位特進,遣督諸軍,拒亮將馬謖於街亭。謖依阻南山,不下據城。郃絕其汲道,擊,大破之。) Sanguozhi vol. 17.
  10. (朗素與馬謖善,謖逃亡,朗知情不舉,亮恨之,免官還成都。) Sanguozhi vol. 41.
  11. (眾盡星散,惟平所領千人,鳴鼓自持,魏將張郃疑其伏兵,不往偪也。於是平徐徐收合諸營遺迸,率將士而還。) Sanguozhi vol. 43.
  12. (亮進無所据,退軍還漢中。) Sanguozhi vol. 39.
  13. (謖下獄物故,亮為之流涕。良死時年三十六,謖年三十九。) Sanguozhi vol. 39.
  14. ((亮)戮謖以謝眾。) (literally (Zhuge) Liang had to execute (Ma) Su as an apology to the citizens.) Chen Shou. Records of Three Kingdoms, Volume 35, Biography of Zhuge Liang.
  15. (丞相亮既誅馬謖及將軍張休、李盛,奪將軍黃襲等兵,平特見崇顯,加拜參軍,統五部兼當營事。) Sanguozhi vol. 43.
  16. (壽父為馬謖參軍,謖為諸葛亮所誅,壽父亦坐被髡,諸葛瞻又輕壽。壽為亮立傳,謂亮將略非長,無應敵之才,言瞻惟工書,名過其實。) Jin Shu vol. 82.
  17. (朗素與馬謖善,謖逃亡,朗知情不舉,亮恨之,免官還成都。) Sanguozhi vol. 41.
  18. (丞相亮既誅馬謖及將軍張休、李盛,奪將軍黃襲等兵,平特見崇顯,加拜參軍,) Sanguozhi vol. 43.
  19. (襄陽記曰:謖臨終與亮書曰:「明公視謖猶子,謖視明公猶父,原深惟殛鯀興禹之義,使平生之交不虧於此,謖雖死無恨於黃壤也。」) Xiangyang Ji annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 39.
  20. (於時十萬之眾為之垂涕。) Xiangyang Ji annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 39.
  21. (帝遣真督諸軍軍郿,遣張郃擊亮將馬謖,大破之。安定民楊條等略吏民保月支城,真進軍圍之。條謂其衆曰:「大將軍自來,吾願早降耳。」遂自縛出。三郡皆平。) Sanguozhi vol. 9.
  22. 1 2 "街亭之战位在何处" [Where was the Battle of Jieting?]. Gansu Financial Daily  [ zh ] (in Chinese). 2 September 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  23. Roberts, Moss (1976). Three Kingdoms Volume IV. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. p. 2179. ISBN   978-7-119-00590-4.

35°00′07″N105°58′19″E / 35.0020074°N 105.9718660°E / 35.0020074; 105.9718660

Battle of Jieting
Traditional Chinese 街亭之戰
Simplified Chinese 街亭之战
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin Jiētíng Zhī Zhàn