First, the authenticity of the battle of Lucheng.
From these contradictory historical records, it can be determined that Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi fought in Lucheng. What is uncertain is whether Zhuge Liang or Sima Yi will win the battle. However, judging from the consequences of this battle, it should be that neither side has achieved a decisive result and is generally tied.
Looking at the records of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, there is no record that anyone was rewarded when he retreated. If Zhuge Liang achieved such a great success in the battle of Lucheng, it is impossible not to reward meritorious personnel. However, in the reflection, there are clues of this battle. For example, The Biography of Wang Ping has a record of this battle. Since this battle broke out and the Shu army didn't recommend it, the result of this battle was certainly not as brilliant as that recorded in Hanshu, Jinshu, Chunqiu.
Sima Yi's victory can't be as stated in the Book of Jin. The Book of Jin said that Sima Yi defeated Zhuge Liang and forced Zhuge Liang to retreat. The main victory was achieved in the pursuit. Sima Yi broke Zhuge Liang's army and captured tens of thousands of Shu troops. From a historical point of view, such a victory is also impossible. First, as we all know, the greatest loss of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition and Wei Jun was the death of Zhang He. The famous Cao Wei died in the pursuit of Zhuge Liang. Zhang He is the chief commander of Cao Wei's pursuit. How can he defeat his opponent in a battle in which even the commander-in-chief died?
Second, Zhuge Liang's Shu army is limited. In Zhuge Liang's era, the entire Shu army had only120,000 troops. Except for the last northern expedition, Zhuge Liang always left one-third of his troops to guard the house and only led two-thirds of his troops to the war. In this northern expedition, Zhuge Liang only brought 80 thousand troops at most. If Zhuge Liang loses tens of thousands of troops in this battle, the blow to the Shu army will be very heavy.
After the war of Jieting, Zhuge Liang took the initiative to demote himself to the third class in order to bear the responsibility of failure. If Zhuge Liang fails this time, he will certainly bear the responsibility. However, we have not found similar records in the history books, so it is certain that the battle of Lucheng did happen, but the result was not decisive for both sides and did not play any role in the end of the war.
Second, the general course of the battle of Lucheng.
The battle of Lucheng took place during Zhuge Liang's fourth Northern Expedition. In this Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang led 80,000 Shu soldiers to attack Qishan from Hanzhong. Wei Jun stuck to Qishan, Shangguan and Longxi. Because Cao Zhen was ill, Wei Emperor sent Sima Yi to defend against the enemy instead of Cao Zhen.
In this Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang did not storm Cao Wei's fortresses, such as Qishan and Shangguan, but surrounded them instead of attacking them, in an attempt to play Wei Jun's main force in the wild. Therefore, Zhuge Liang adopted a series of mobile operations to attract Sima Yi to a decisive battle. Zhuge Liang learned that Sima Yi's whole army had rescued Qishan, personally led 30,000 troops to attack Shangguan, and robbed and cut wheat in Shangguan.
Sima Yi led the army to save Shangguan, but did not fight Zhuge Liang. After harvesting the wheat, Zhuge Liang led the army to withdraw south, and Sima Yi followed Zhuge Liang again. Zhuge Liang returned to the army to fight, and Sima Yi retreated to the mountains to dig trenches to defend himself. In this case, Sima Yi's generals all asked to participate in the war. Sima yi saw the excitement and couldn't restrain it, so he had to order an attack.
In this battle, Sima Yibing was divided into two ways. He led Wei Jun as a soldier and attacked Zhuge Liang's camp. As a surprise soldier, Zhang He attacked the southern defense line behind Zhuge Liang's camp guarded by Wang Ping. In this battle, Wang Ping, who was attacked by Zhang He, stood still, making Zhang He unable to capture the southern perimeter. Sima Yi and his men, who were attacking frontally, were also sent by Zhuge Liang, and Wei Yan, Gao Xiang and Wu Ban led the troops to fight back and suffered a heavy defeat. Sima yi led the defeated army back to camp, but he couldn't hold on, and Zhang He also returned in vain.
Although the battle of Lucheng was described by some people as mysterious, it was actually a struggle between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi from beginning to end. Zhuge Liang hoped to destroy Sima Yi on the battlefield, but Sima Yi insisted on following Zhuge Liang closely and not fighting against Zhuge Liang. This is because Zhuge Liang's most fundamental weakness lies in his logistics supply. If Sima Yi desperately grasps Zhuge Liang's weakness and pursues Zhuge Liang when there is not enough food and grass to retreat, then he can win.
Zhuge Liang was actually surrounded by Sima Yi at that time. Behind him is Qishan Fortress in Wei Jun, which threatens Zhuge Liang's rear road and makes Zhuge Liang's logistics and transportation seriously threatened. Sima Yi's army suppressed him face to face. A slight mistake is a disaster. In this situation, the decisive battle between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi actually took great risks. Seeing this, Sima Yi always kept dragging his feet without fighting, which made Zhuge Liang unable to fight and was in a dilemma. If this situation continues, Zhuge Liang will be in a very difficult situation.
Zhuge Liang adopted the strategy of forcing Sima Yi to make a quick decision. Under the pressure of his subordinates, Sima Yi, who had just gained military power and did not gain the trust of the whole army, had to fight against Zhuge Liang against his will. However, we can see that in this battle of Lucheng, Sima Yi left the cause behind. His frontal attack did not exhaust all his forces, but contained Zhuge Liang's forces and covered Zhang He's attack on Wang Ping. If Zhang He succeeds, Zhuge Liang's posterior road will be cut off and it is in danger.
However, Zhang He's attack failed and Sima Yi withdrew from the camp. Zhuge Liang won the battle, but didn't get the result he wanted. Because Zhuge Liang failed to give a heavy blow to Sima Yi's main force and captured Sima Yi's camp. At the same time, Zhuge Liang could not fight back against Zhang He, who was fighting alone, and let him retreat. From then on, we can know the result of this battle.
After the war in Lucheng, Sima Yi continued to stick to the strategy. Zhuge Liang, surrounded by Sima Yi, finally had to retreat because of the difficulty in supplying food and grass. Sima Yi sent Zhang He to pursue in order to realize his winning strategy, regardless of Zhang He's opposition. Zhang He was ambushed by Zhuge Liang at the wooden door and shot dead with an arrow. Zhuge Liang also successfully retreated to Hanzhong. At this point, Zhuge Liang's fourth Northern Expedition ended.
Third, the consequences of the battle of Lucheng.
The battle of Lucheng was the first direct confrontation between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi in history. Before this war, the two sides fought each other and made many tactical maneuvers. Although the two sides have not met, they have met in strategy and tactics. The effect of all these battles was reflected in the battle of Lucheng.
Zhuge Liang mobilized Sima Yi with mobile tactics to seek a decisive battle in the wild. At the same time, considering the difficulty of their own food and grass supply, they robbed each other of wheat and supplemented their rations. Sima Yi, on the other hand, seized the weakness of Zhuge Liang's difficulty in supplying food and grass, and always pressed hard to limit Zhuge Liang's actions, but did not fight Zhuge Liang. In this way, Sima Yi has been putting pressure on Zhuge Liang, making Zhuge Liang bear the burden of logistics, and finally retreating due to lack of food and grass.
In fact, Zhuge Liang adopted a strategy of both offensive and defensive, and Sima Yi adopted a strategy of both offensive and defensive, but tactically, the two sides turned over again. Zhuge Liang attacked and Sima Yi attacked and defended. Zhuge Liang has been challenging Sima Yi, but this is his defensive action under Sima Yi's offensive situation. Sima Yi failed to keep Zhuge Liang's challenge. This is because he put pressure on Zhuge Liang by defensive means to keep the offensive posture.
In the battle between the two sides, Zhuge Liang adopted the tactics of defending and then fighting back. Although Sima Yi adopted offensive tactics, what he actually wanted was defensive effect. In this way, when Sima Yi attacked Zhuge Liang's camp, it was only a tentative attack. Once the situation is unfavorable, he immediately retreats. In this way, the battle of Lucheng ended in anticlimactic results.
However, after this war, Sima Yi basically had a deep understanding of Zhuge Liang's strategy and tactics. At the same time, he also learned about the combat effectiveness of his subordinates and the army through this battle. Especially with Zhuge Liang, he established his own strategy and tactics. Is to stick to it and wait for Zhuge Liang to run out of food and grass before pursuing it. At the same time, Zhang He also left a deep impression on Sima Yi in his pursuit.
Zhuge Liang's fifth Northern Expedition put into practice the experience and lessons gained by both sides in the battle of Lucheng. Zhuge Liang still took the once successful mobile warfare, invaded the northern plain and attacked Yang Sui. But under the defense of Wei Jun, who had taken precautions against Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang's mobile operation failed. Sima Yi insisted on an effective strategy, surrendered without fighting, and waited for Zhuge Liang to withdraw. At the same time, when the Shu army retreated, Sima Yi learned the lesson of Zhang He and was cautious. The Shu army made a gesture of counterattack and immediately retreated.
Zhuge Liang, on the other hand, learned a lesson from his own logistical difficulties and focused on solving this problem in the fifth Northern Expedition. He first saved food and grass for three years and transported it with wooden cows and mobile horses. Zhuge Liang also grasped Sima Yi's insistence on not fighting and led troops to open up wasteland. He mixed the army with the local people, cultivated the land there and solved the problem of food and grass supply. If this stalemate continues, Zhuge Liang may force Sima Yi to change his strategy and fight with himself. Unfortunately, Zhuge Liang failed to do so because of overwork and died in Wuzhangyuan.
Conclusion:
The battle of Lucheng has different records in history, but it does exist. But no matter what the outcome of the battle was, it did not have a decisive impact on the war. Judging from various documents, this battle should be Zhuge Liang's victory. However, due to his poor military achievements, Zhuge Liang's entire army did not get a reward.
However, this battle has a far-reaching impact on the future war between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi. Through fighting, both men deeply understood the enemy's operational characteristics and applied these lessons to Zhuge Liang's last Northern Expedition. In that battle, Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang finally contained Zhuge Liang's offensive after many confrontations, which failed to realize Zhuge Liang's ambition. None of this is the result of the battle of Lucheng.