The story of Zhuge Liang's tear-jerking can be said to be a household name, and it is also the embodiment of Zhuge Liang's strict law enforcement and justice. However, the same "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" records of Ma Mo's death, but there are obvious contradictions, why is this? Did Zhuge Liang really kill Ma Chen?
Ma Mo violated the bright knots, leading to the failure of the Northern Expedition
After Zhuge Liang assisted Liu Chan and calmed the situation in Shu, after several years of cultivation, the national strength was restored, so he decided to go north and eliminate the Cao Wei regime.
Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang's preparations for this Northern Expedition were very well prepared, and the State of Wei was relatively lax in its defenses because the new emperor was on the throne and had contempt for Shu Han.
After Zhuge Liang's army entered the border of the State of Wei, the reaction of the State of Wei was chaos, and the three counties of Nan'an, Tianshui, and Yong'an rebelled against Wei Yingliang, and Guanzhong resounded. Shu Han was also greatly enhanced by this army, morale was high, and Zhuge Liang was ready to take advantage of the victory to pursue and march to Chang'an.
However, the State of Wei was a great power after all, and after the initial chaos, it began to deploy a counterattack, and the Wei Ming Emperor ordered Zhang Tai to send troops to fight against Zhuge Liang.
Zhang Gao was a veteran of leading soldiers, and instead of directly confronting Zhuge Liang, he led his troops to attack the street pavilions, cut off Zhuge Liang's rear road, and then attacked from both sides in order to completely defeat Zhuge Liang.
Horse Mo statue
Zhuge Liang was prepared for the Counterattack of the Wei Army, and also saw that the Street Pavilion was a strategic point for the two armies to fight, as long as the Street Pavilion was occupied, Zhuge Liang would not attack Zhang Guo from behind, on the contrary, he could attack Zhang Guo with the Street Pavilion defenders.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang sent Ma Mo to lead his troops to guard the street pavilion, and told him that he must camp in the street, block Zhang Gao, and wait for him to attack and complete the task.
Ma Mo had always been a staff officer at Zhuge Liang's side and played a very important role in Zhuge Liang's southern expedition. In Zhuge Liang's view, the task of guarding the street kiosk was very simple for Ma Mo. Therefore, I am assured to let him go.
What Zhuge Liang did not expect was that Ma Mo arrived at the street pavilion and did not follow Zhuge Liang's deployment and camp in the street to block Zhang Guo, but took it upon himself to take the army to the mountain and camp, preparing to take a condescending posture when the Wei army arrived and eliminate the Wei army in one fell swoop.
The idea was very good, but Zhang Hao did not give Ma Mo this opportunity at all, but instead adopted the tactic of siege, so that Ma Mo's army had no drinking water, and finally the army was chaotic, had no combat effectiveness, and was defeated by Zhang Hao. The street kiosk was lost, and Ma Mo fled in fear of sin.
The street pavilion was lost, and Zhuge Liang feared that his road would be cut off, so he took the initiative to retreat, and the First Northern Expedition failed.
Ma Mo lost the street kiosk and was beheaded by Zhuge Liang
After Zhuge Liang returned to the army, he got rid of the Wei army's pursuit and began to liquidate Ma Chen's sins.
Ma Mo confessed his mistake in front of Zhuge Liang's account, and Zhuge Liang thanked the public, and then confessed his mistake to the lord Liu Chan, saying: "To the point of disobeying the order of the street pavilion, the fault of Ji Gu's failure to refrain from discipline is all in the hands of the courtiers." Therefore, he also applied for a three-level demotion to the right general.
It can be said that such a record is very clear, indicating that Ma Mo was indeed killed by Zhuge Liang for violating military orders.
Logically, Ma Mo should be killed, but why is Zhuge Liang also affected by this?
Matthew
Because when Zhuge Liang was sending generals, someone reminded him that such an important strategic position as the street pavilion should be sent to veteran generals with military experience, such as Wei Yan, instead of sending a staff officer to guard it.
But Zhuge Liang did not listen. Because Zhuge Liang believed that guarding the street pavilion was mainly defensive, it was good to give it to a staff officer like Ma Mo, and he could also make meritorious contributions, and Wei Yan was also a general he could not do without.
What's more, Zhuge Liang thought that Ma Mo's military performance in peacetime was enough to prove that he was not a layman, and there should be no problem with such a small matter. I just didn't expect that it was ma Mo who had a problem, which led to the defeat of the battle, so Zhuge Liang had to be punished.
Did Zhuge Liang really kill Ma Chen?
Did Zhuge Liang really kill Ma Chen in public?
This can be clearly seen from the records in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Biography of Zhuge Liang", but also in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms • Biography of Xiang Lang", it is recorded that after Ma Mo lost the street kiosk, he did not take the initiative to ask Zhuge Liang for his guilt, but ran back to Chengdu himself and hid in the home of his friend Xiang Lang.
Later, when Zhuge Liang returned to Chengdu and learned that Ma Mo had not been killed in battle, but had run back, he was very angry and not only arrested Ma Mo and imprisoned him, but also dismissed Xiang Lang from his official position.
This record is very clear, indicating that Ma Mo did not take the initiative to ask Zhuge Liang for guilt, but fled on his own, and was later arrested by Zhuge Liang. It's just that the cause of death is not being killed, but dying of illness.
From this point of view, Zhuge Liang probably did not shed tears and cut off the horse.
What is the truth of history? Let's see if Ma Mo should be beheaded. The street kiosk is undoubtedly a very important place, which is related to the success or failure of Zhuge Liang's strategy. However, in terms of selecting generals, Zhuge Liang was responsible, because Ma Mo was not a military general, and there was no need to personally go to the street kiosk to take on heavy responsibilities.
However, Ma Mo asked for his own orders to go to the street kiosk, but when he arrived at the street kiosk, he violated Zhuge Liang's arrangement and made his own claims, which led to the defeat of the battle and the loss of the street kiosk. After the failure, Ma Mo did not dare to take responsibility, but fled, such a person, naturally should be killed, but the question is, why did Zhuge Liang shed tears because he wanted to kill Ma Mo?
Zhuge Liang was a man who paid attention to strict law enforcement, and he and Ma Mo were very good friends, and they were also very important to Ma Mo, but it was precisely because of Ma Mo that his Northern Expedition was premature.
The national strength of the Shu state was not strong in the first place, and Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition did not receive much support, and now because the people he reused spoiled the major affairs of the country, Zhuge Liang was naturally very angry, so he should not shed tears for killing him, at most he regretted that his employment was unknown.
However, there are many unreasonable historical records, and the same book has different records of Ma Mo's death.
Zhuge Liang's killing of Ma Mo is reasonable; but it is not impossible for Ma Mo to escape and be arrested and die in prison. After all, Ma Mo made a big mistake and knew that he would die, so it was also justified to be under great psychological pressure, and to be locked up in prison and suffer from psychological torture and die of illness.
Only in this way, the horse that Zhuge Liang killed would not be a living horse, but a dead man, as a friend, shed tears for the fate of the horse, expressing his sorrow, and it was justified.
Did Zhuge Liang kill Ma Chen in the end? Now it seems that it is difficult to say clearly about a historical case, but no matter how you look at it, it should be certain that Ma Mo died unnaturally because of the loss of the street kiosk.