Conflict228 – 234

Zhuge Liang’s Northern Expeditions

Also called: Northern Expeditions

Shu Han’s chancellor Zhuge Liang submitted his Memorial on Dispatching the Troops and attacked Wei five times. He achieved little and died in camp on the Wuzhang Plains in 234.

Zhuge Liang — Ming-dynasty portrait (Nanxun Hall album)
Unknown author · Public domain · Source

Having pacified the southern regions, Zhuge Liang presented the Memorial on Dispatching the Troops to Liu Shan in 227 and advanced to Hanzhong. In the first expedition of 228 his vanguard commander Ma Su disobeyed orders and lost at Jieting, and Zhuge Liang had him executed. Later campaigns to Qishan and elsewhere were stalled by rugged terrain, supply problems and Sima Yi’s strategy of attrition. Zhuge Liang died of illness on the Wuzhang Plains during the fifth expedition in 234.

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States and rulers at the time: Shu Han · invader
Cao Wei · invaded — Emperor Ming (Cao Rui)
Places: Wuzhang Plains

People

Zhuge LiangAD 181 – AD 234
commander · Chancellor of Shu Han, who proposed the plan to divide the realm in three to Liu Bei in 207 and died of illness on the Wuzhang Plains in 234 during his northern campaigns
Sima YiAD 179 – AD 251
commander · Wei general and minister, who held off Zhuge Liang’s northern campaigns and in 249 overthrew Cao Shuang, putting the Sima clan in control of Wei
Liu ShanAD 207 – AD 271
monarch · Second and last emperor of Shu Han, who surrendered when Wei’s Deng Ai reached Chengdu in 263

2 parts of this event

1
AD 228Battle of Jieting
On Zhuge Liang’s first northern expedition his vanguard commander Ma Su disobeyed orders and camped on a hilltop; Wei’s Zhang He cut off his water and routed him. Zhuge Liang withdrew and had Ma Su executed.
2
AD 234Battle of Wuzhang Plains
On his last northern expedition Zhuge Liang camped on the Wuzhang Plains and faced Sima Yi for over a hundred days. Sima Yi refused battle; when Zhuge Liang died of illness, the Shu army withdrew.

Before and after

Earlier: AD 225 Zhuge Liang’s Southern Campaign
Later: AD 229 Sun Quan Becomes Emperor of Wu

Themes that include this event

The Three KingdomsAD 184 – AD 280
From the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the Jin reunification — a century of Wei, Shu and Wu, the age of Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan