Truth Of The Battle Of Jieting
In 228 the battle between Shu led by Zhuge Kongming and Wei led by Cao Cao, Zhuge sent a general Ma Su here and ordered to position at the bottom of the hill. But he positioned Shu army on the hill since it was written in a book of military tactics. There's an exception for everything, in this area because water was obtained fully at the bottom of the valley he had to place his troops under the valley. Shu army was surrounded and defeated by Wei army. Later Ma Su was captured by Zhuge Kongming and said to be executed.
Ma Su had been very well evaluated by Zhuge Kongming, but he executed Ma Su without mercy. He should have given him a second chance, but he took his life for his one time failure. Zhuge Kongming had been admired one of the most intelligent figures in the Thee Kingdoms Era, many his enemies feard his wisdom. After the death of Zhuge Kongming in the Battle of Wuzhang Plains, 234, Shu had no wiser strategist than Zhuge Kongming. If a wise strategist like Ma Su were alive, Shu would not have to keep Zhuge Kongming's death secret.
2 comments:
It is sort of a waste of human capital to execute a general after one failure in the field. After all, there is a Chinese proverb: "a good general must learn to endure his reverses"; in other words, you win some and you lose some. But in the case of Jieting, I think Kongming made the right decision because that battle was a disaster that sealed the fate of the first northern campaign, which was perhaps Shu's best chance at succeeding in capturing Chang'An. If the the conventional military law at the time was to punish generals who lost such important engagements, then how could Kongming have made an exception of his protege Ma Su? Doing so would have made other generals resentful and less mindful of the consequences of failure, and the soldiers would have less respect for the laws--Zhuge's own authority would have been undermined.
Also, it's not quite true imo that Shu lacked able strategists following Kongming's death. Fei Yi and Jiang Wan were just as competent at managing civil affairs, and Deng Zhi was a good, if somewhat more passive military leader. Either way, the fake Kongming statue (if that story is true) might have still been a good idea after Kongming's death on the field, seeing as the death of a general of that stature would surely shake the Shu army's morale.
Re:AJ
The strong usually wins the war, but the weak sometimes wins the war by wisdom.
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