After hearing that Shangyong was defeated and Meng Da was beheaded, Zhuge Liang was deeply shocked. Although he had already predicted such a result from the moment Meng Da did not listen to his advice, when he saw with his own eyes that Sima Yi dared to take action first and then report, he fought from Wancheng to Xincheng in just eight days and defeated Shangyong in less than a month. Such an enemy was really terrible.

However, Zhuge Liang also realized at the same time that Sima Yi's main task at this time was to guard Jingzhou and guard against Sun Quan and Lu Xun. His two famous battles took place on the battlefield in Jingzhou. Even if Cao Rui did not pursue the charge of killing the frontier ministers without asking for instructions, those in the court who were afraid and suspicious of him would not sit idly by.

As expected by Zhuge Liang, after Sima Yi passed the head of Meng Da to the capital, the Wei Dynasty caused great trouble.

After reading Sima Yi's apology, Cao Rui understood the whole story. Out of trust in Sima Yi, he did not want to blame him. Instead, he wanted to reward him. At this time, Cao Zhen stood up and opposed it:

"The rebellion of Meng Da has not been completely concluded. Even if it is true, Wuyang Hou has no right to attack our cities without voluntarily, let alone killing the generals guarding the border. If Your Majesty rewards Sima Yi for this, then a very bad hole will be opened, which will increase the risk of military generals attacking each other. Please be careful!"

I have to say that Cao Zhen's words make sense. From the overall perspective, Sima Yi should not be rewarded. So Cao Rui gave up his original intention and ordered Sima Yi to withdraw his troops to Wancheng immediately, and then invited Sima Yi back to Luoyang, the capital for advice on the grounds that the new affiliated county was attached and the household registration was false. Sun Li, the prefect of Xiangyang, temporarily took over his position, which in fact invisibly cut off his military power.

This is naturally not something that Sima Yi could not hide. He had expected such a situation to happen. However, he knew more clearly that Cao Rui did this not entirely out of his original intention, but was forced to pressure from the government and the people. He would not have been able to return to his original position in the future, so he willingly returned to Beijing by the imperial edict.

In early January of 228 AD (the sixth year of Jianxing in Shu Han), after learning that Sima Yi had been stripped of military power and transferred back to Luoyang, Zhuge Liang thought that the time was ripe, so he began to take advantage of this gap to take advantage of the opportunity to launch the Northern Expedition.

When discussing specific strategies at first, Wei Yan proposed his bold idea of ​​attacking Chang'an through Ziwu Valley, but Zhuge Liang believed that this was not sure enough and the risk was very high, so he did not agree.

But Ma Su thought it was a good idea, so after distributing the account, he followed Zhuge Liang back to the study, trying to convince him.

But at this time Sima Zhao believed that Zhuge Liang did not adopt Wei Yan's strategy and explained to Ma Su:

"Although General Wei Yan's plan has some reason and may also receive the miraculous effects he said, the risks are also very high. This Northern Expedition is the first time the Prime Minister has sent troops. You should not take risks easily, otherwise it will not only put General Wei in a dilemma, but will also have a great impact on the morale of the army."

Ma Su is a arrogant person. He doesn't want to be taught a lesson by anyone except Zhuge Liang, let alone an 18-year-old boy. Or it is precisely because Sima Zhao opposes his views that he is more persistent.

But what he couldn't accept was that Zhuge Liang did not adopt his idea in the end, so Ma Su left in anger.

In the end, Zhuge Liang adopted a relatively stable strategy:

First, he publicly claimed that he would capture Ji County from the Xigu Road and directly threatened Chang'an. He also used Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi as the main force of the suspicious soldiers in Jigu to attract Cao's army. Zhuge Liang himself led an army of 80,000 (300,000 to the outside world) to attack Qishan, gradually eroding from west to east.

When Sima Yi had just handed over the military power to Luoyang, he received news that Zhuge Liang personally led his troops to attack Qishan. Soon, Nan'an, Tianshui and Anding, among the five counties of Longyou, rebelled against Wei and surrendered to Shu. Guo Huai had to take Tianshui prefect Ma Zun to defend Shangji, Liang Xu, Yin Shangguan Yong and others to surrender to Zhuge Liang. Jiang Wei, the Tianshui County Army, had to surrender because he was abandoned by Guo Huai and Ma Zun.

In just less than a month, Zhuge Liang achieved such an amazing record, which made all the Wei court and the people panic.

Considering that the situation was already very serious, Sima Yi happened to return to Luoyang at this time. In order to prevent Cao Rui from appointing Sima Yi to lead his troops to Longyou again, General Cao Zhen volunteered to lead the army to resist Zhuge Liang's invasion. After judging the situation, Cao Rui also agreed to his suggestion and went to Chang'an to take charge. He sent General Cao Zhen to the general to resist Zhao Yun in Ji County, while Zhang He led 50,000 troops from Chencang to raise an army and entered Guangwei County to support the already isolated Guo Huai.

At the same time, he ordered the governor of Liangzhou Xu Miao to cooperate with the prefect of Jincheng Hao Zhao to send troops eastward to attack Nan'an County, and a great war was about to break out.

After conquering Qishan, Zhuge Liang led his army into Ji County in Tianshui County and used it as the base camp to command the battle.

At that time, the main force of Shu County was divided into three parts. One surrounded Guo Huai and Ma Zun in Shangji, the second was fighting in Guangwei County, and the third was blocking the Wei army coming to support in Liangzhou in Nan'an County. Soon, under the fierce offensive of the Shu army, it basically occupied the entire Guangwei territory, and Zhang He's army had already passed through Fengxian County and was advancing towards the hinterland of Guangwei.

Zhuge Liang knew very well that Zhang He was a famous general of the world, and his next goal would definitely be to capture Jieting, the important place in the throat, thereby cutting off the connection between Shu army and An Ding. In this way, Zhuge Liang would completely change from active to passive situation.

After weighing the left and right, Zhuge Liang was ready to use Wu Yi, who had rich experience, as the general who guarded Jieting. Sima Zhao also thought that Wu Yi was a veteran on the battlefield and should be competent. However, it was precisely because of Sima Zhao's words that Ma Su even more wanted to win Zhuge Liang's attention again through a battle. So Ma Su stood up and tried his best to demand that he take on the position of guarding Jieting and was willing to issue a military order.

Seeing Ma Su so persistent, Zhuge Liang had to order him to serve as the governor of Jieting. However, Zhuge Liang always felt uneasy in his heart, so he wanted a countermeasure in advance and repeatedly told Ma Su that the importance of Jieting must be defended according to his own plan, so that he could stop Zhang He's troops and never take his own actions.

Ma Su said everything he promised Zhuge Liang, but he didn't listen at all.

Zhuge Liang also saw that there seemed to be a change in Ma Su's guarding Jieting, so he made another arrangement, ordering the calm-minded Wang Ping as Ma Su's deputy general, Gao Xiang stationed in Lieliu City west of Jieting, and Wei Yan also had another army in the valley on the east side of Jieting as a supporter.

Although he had done everything he could, Zhuge Liang was still uneasy...

Sure enough, unfortunately he got the information:

After Ma Su led his army to Jieting, he did not listen to Zhuge Liang's strategic idea of ​​"guarding the important intersection", but ordered the entire army to be stationed on the Gushan Mountain in the south.

For this reason, Deputy General Wang Ping tried hard to persuade him, but he was still not adopted by Ma Su.

In desperation, Wang Ping had to send Ma Su's marching and formation map back to Ji County. After seeing it, Zhuge Liang suddenly felt a thunderclap. The strength of his legs seemed to have been pulled away and sat down. Sima Zhao, who was standing beside him, hurriedly supported him when he saw this.

Zhuge Liang's eyes were filled with despair, and the same two words were repeated:

"It's over...it's over..."

Sima Zhao, who had been with Zhuge Liang for so long, always had a calm impression of him and was as expected. This was the first time he saw Zhuge Liang so pessimistic and depressed.

After walking out of the Central Army Shogunate, Sima Zhao accidentally found a general in his twenties squatting on the mound not far outside the tent, squatting on the ground, reaching out to fiddle with stones of different sizes. He felt curious and walked to the young general to watch. He saw that this man was not just fiddling with stones, but putting stones of all sizes into a military formation.

What made Sima Zhao even more concerned was that he asked curiously:

"I dare ask the general, this is..."

The young general replied without raising his head: "Ma Youchang voluntarily gave up the favorable situation of going to the camp in power. If Zhang He surrounded Gushan and cut off his contact and supplies from the outside world, he would be completely isolated."

Sima Zhao was shocked by the general's words. He didn't expect that such a young man would see the situation so thoroughly, so he bowed and asked, "Do you dare to ask the general's name?"

The general stood up and bowed and said:

"In Xiatianshui Jiang Wei..."

As Jiang Wei said, after Zhang He's troops arrived at Jieting, they saw that Ma Su had given up the mountain road and stationed troops in Gushan. They immediately surrounded Dugushan and cut off Ma Su's water source. They set up a strong attack crossbow at the critical entrance of the mountain road, and adopted the strategy of siege but not attacking.

At the same time, Zhang He also sent troops to the valley entrance to the east of Jieting to restrain Wei Yan's troops. He also expected that Zhuge Liang had deployed so many troops around Jieting, and the encirclement of Shangji must be very weak, so he sent another army to go south to remove the siege of Shangji, and met with Guo Huai and then attacked Gao Xiang, who was deployed by Zhuge Liang in Lieliu City.

The Shu army was in chaos due to the lack of water, and the reinforcements Gao Xiang was defeated by Guo Huai, and Wei Yan was blocked at the valley entrance and could not advance. Without any foreign aid, Ma Su panicked and chose to abandon the army and fled. Zhang He seized the opportunity to launch a general attack. The Shu army was defeated and Jieting was declared completely fall.

At the same time, with the assistance of Huan Fan's plan to lure the enemy, Cao Zhen led his troops to defeat Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi's troops in Jigu.

At this point, the gateway to the west of Tianshui has been opened. Zhuge Liang knew that all his strategic advantages had disappeared, and Nan'an County was under tremendous pressure from Hao Zhao and Xu Miao. It was meaningless to continue to persist at this time, so he made the most helpless decision:

More than a thousand households in Baxi County (southwest of Tianshui) withdrew their troops back to Hanzhong, while Wang Ping and Zhao Yun led their troops to defeat the troops and cut off the rear.

Ma Su, the criminal who caused Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, was arrested shortly after his escape. Xiang Lang, who had deliberately protected Ma Su, was dismissed from all his official positions by Zhuge Liang.

After leading his army to Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang escorted Ma Su back to CD and apologized to Emperor Shu Liu Chan, and submitted a memorial to request a third-class demotion.

Although Liu Chan finally agreed to Zhuge Liang's apology and punishment, he still asked him to act as the right general on behalf of the prime minister. The so-called punishment was nothing more than a superficial motion.

But what Zhuge Liang had to avoid was another problem, that is, how to deal with Ma Su, the defeated general who caused the Northern Expedition to die.

At that time, many people pleaded with Zhuge Liang, but Zhuge Liang rejected them all and insisted on punishing them with a penalty.

In Sima Zhao's eyes, making this decision was the most painful for Zhuge Liang, but he had to do so. Because Sima Zhao knew how much effort Zhuge Liang spent on Ma Su and how deep hope he gave him, but all this was put to waste due to Ma Su's own stubbornness.

After the date of execution was set, Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Liang took Sima Zhao to the death prison where Ma Su was imprisoned one night before the execution.

Ma Su, whose hands and feet were tied to iron chains, saw his mentor standing outside the iron fence, and immediately knelt on the cold ground covered with straw. He walked to Zhuge Liang's face and said in tears:

"Ma Su is a heavy trust from the Prime Minister! He is a man of death, but he really has no face to see you again!"

Zhuge Liang looked down at Ma Su who was kneeling in front of him through the fence. Sima Zhao, who was standing beside him, vaguely saw tears flashing in his eyes. Zhuge Liang squatted down regardless of his identity and reached out to pick the dead grass stained on Ma Su's dirty and messy hair:

"No, this is also my fault. Before the death of the late emperor, you told me your shortcomings, and you must not be entrusted with important tasks before you overcome them. It is because I was too anxious to let you stand alone, thus ignoring your fatal shortcomings, so that the Northern Expedition failed, and I should bear the main responsibility..."

These words made Ma Su even more ashamed. In awe of shame, he began to regret his own cleverness and cried bitterly:

"No! It has nothing to do with the Prime Minister. It is because I am jealous of Sima Zhao and are highly appreciated by you, which makes me lose my mind. In order to show myself in front of you, you have made arrangements and reminded me, but I still..."

"Stop talking..."

Tears flowed from Zhuge Liang's eyes, and he turned to wipe away the tears from Ma Su's cheek.

Sima Zhao, who was standing aside, was shocked by their conversation because he didn't know that Ma Su had been jealous of him all the time. Sima Zhao began to think that perhaps it was because of his own that Ma Su had come to this point today...

After the two cried bitterly, Zhuge Liang took out a small bottle from his sleeve bag and put it in Ma Su's hands:

"Although you and I don't have the status of master-apprentice, I have already had the affection of master-apprentice. Today, I have no choice but to kill you in order to calm the public's anger. But I don't want you to die so painfully that you can't even leave your entire body, so..."

Ma Su understood Zhuge Liang's meaning, and he knew even more that this small bottle contained the poisonous poison that was sealed with blood.

Ma Su was already very satisfied with this ending. After removing the cork at the bottle mouth, he looked at Sima Zhao with a dull expression:

"I really value you, I know very well. I don't have that good life to follow the Prime Minister. I hope you don't waste his efforts on you..."

After saying that, Ma Su raised his head and drank the poison in the bottle in one go, and died without pain in a short while.

Ma Su's death was a huge shock to Sima Zhao. He seemed to see the unknown tender side of Zhuge Liang hidden deep in his heart. He really admired his choice of "big righteousness and unrighteousness" for the sake of national justice.
Chapter completed!