Zhuge Liang Dies at Wuzhang Plain

After Li Yan was removed, Zhuge Liang did not immediately march again.

He spent three years preparing.

This time he wanted a more durable campaign. The key was grain.

Wuzhang Plain

In 234, Zhuge Liang led the army out through Xie Valley and reached Wuzhang Plain on the south bank of the Wei River.

The numbers in later fiction are often huge, but Shu could not field endless armies. Around one hundred thousand was already a heavy burden for a state with limited population.

Zhuge Liang camped and arranged farming near the front.

He knew that the northern expeditions often failed not because of a single battle, but because supply could not last.

He also sent envoys to Wu, hoping Wu and Shu could pressure Wei together.

Wei's commander was again Sima Yi.

Sima Yi crossed the Wei River and set up a defensive camp. He judged that Zhuge Liang would be more dangerous if he moved east toward Wugong. Since Zhuge Liang had stopped at Wuzhang Plain, Wei could hold.

Guo Huai warned that Zhuge Liang might contest Beiyuan. If Shu crossed the Wei and joined the northern hills, the road from Chang'an to Longxi could be threatened.

Sima Yi sent Guo Huai to hold it. Shu arrived, but Guo Huai had already prepared and pushed them back.

The two armies settled into stalemate.

Sima Yi Would Not Fight

Zhuge Liang wanted battle.

Sima Yi refused.

Shu was far from home. Wei had shorter supply lines in Guanzhong. If Sima Yi could wait, time favored him.

Zhuge Liang challenged him repeatedly.

To humiliate him, he even sent women's clothing and ornaments, implying cowardice.

Wei generals were furious and wanted to fight. Sima Yi sent a request to Cao Rui for permission to attack. Cao Rui sent an envoy with authority to restrain the army.

Jiang Wei saw the envoy arrive and judged that Wei would not fight.

Zhuge Liang understood Sima Yi's performance. If Sima Yi truly believed he could win, why ask for permission from far away? The request was for his own officers, not for victory.

Sima Yi then asked a Shu envoy about Zhuge Liang's daily life.

How much did he eat? How many matters did he handle?

The envoy said Zhuge Liang ate little and personally oversaw even small punishments.

Sima Yi concluded that Zhuge Liang could not live long.

Illness in Camp

Zhuge Liang's health declined.

Later fiction gives us the moving scene of the seven-star lamps, where he tries to extend his life. It cannot be treated as established history.

But the story endured because the real situation was close enough in spirit. Zhuge Liang had put his remaining strength into the campaign.

In Chengdu, Liu Shan heard that the chancellor was gravely ill and sent Li Fu to the front.

Li Fu asked who could take responsibility after Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang said Jiang Wan.

After Jiang Wan?

Fei Yi.

After Fei Yi, Zhuge Liang gave no answer.

He was arranging a short line of succession for a state he knew would soon lose him.

In the eighth month of 234, Zhuge Liang died in camp at Wuzhang Plain. He was fifty-four.

The Dead Zhuge Frightens the Living Sima

Before dying, Zhuge Liang had ordered that his death not be announced immediately.

If Wei learned too soon, Sima Yi might pursue.

Yang Yi organized the retreat. Jiang Wei and others helped cover it.

Local people told Sima Yi that Zhuge Liang had died and the Shu army was withdrawing. Sima Yi pursued.

The Shu army suddenly turned its banners and drums as if ready to attack.

Sima Yi feared a trap and pulled back.

Only after the army entered Xie Valley did Shu announce Zhuge Liang's death.

The folk saying followed: the dead Zhuge drove away the living Zhongda, using Sima Yi's courtesy name.

Sima Yi later laughed that he could predict the living Zhuge Liang, but not the dead one.

He inspected Zhuge Liang's camp and called him a rare talent.

Wei Yan and Yang Yi

The retreat also brought internal conflict.

Wei Yan was one of Shu's remaining strong generals. He had long wanted to use risky routes and felt Zhuge Liang did not fully use him.

Yang Yi was capable in administration and military coordination, but he and Wei Yan hated each other.

Before his death, Zhuge Liang ordered Wei Yan to cover the retreat. If Wei Yan disobeyed, the army should withdraw without him.

After Zhuge Liang died, Wei Yan refused to be controlled by Yang Yi. He argued that the chancellor was gone, but he remained; the northern war should not stop because one man had died.

Yang Yi followed Zhuge Liang's plan and withdrew.

Wei Yan moved ahead, burned sections of the plank road, and tried to block Yang Yi.

Yang Yi sent Wang Ping. Wang Ping shouted to Wei Yan's men that Zhuge Liang's body was not yet cold and asked how they could do this.

Wei Yan's troops scattered. Wei Yan fled with a few men and was killed by Ma Dai.

Historically, Wei Yan was not defecting to Wei. He was fighting Yang Yi for command. But in the middle of a retreat, that still broke military order.

After Zhuge Liang

The Shu army returned to Chengdu. Liu Shan issued a general amnesty and honored Zhuge Liang as Marquis Zhongwu.

Zhuge Liang was buried at Mount Dingjun, as he had requested.

He had once reported that his family had only mulberry trees and a modest amount of land, enough to support his household. After his death, no hidden wealth was found.

Even men he had punished mourned him.

Liao Li, exiled by Zhuge Liang, cried that now no one would recognize his talent. Li Yan also believed no one would restore him and died bitterly.

Chen Shou later judged Zhuge Liang as a great minister of governance, comparable in kind to Guan Zhong and Xiao He, though not strongest in sudden military adaptation.

That is a steady judgment.

Zhuge Liang did not restore the Han. But he held Shu together for more than a decade after Liu Bei's death.

His death did not immediately destroy Shu, because he had left institutions and successors such as Jiang Wan and Fei Yi.

But Wuzhang Plain removed the person who tied together northern war, law, administration, and the promise made at Baidicheng.

After Zhuge Liang, the center of the story begins to shift toward Sima Yi and the Sima clan.