Cui Hao’s Appraisal of Zhuge Liang
Cui Hao was a prominent minister under Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei.
This conversation probably took place around 430 AD, about two hundred years after Zhuge Liang’s death. The source is Mao Xiuzhi’s biography in the Book of Northern Wei. Mao Xiuzhi’s father had been Inspector of Yizhou around 405 AD, so even “the elders” of Yizhou would not have been alive before Zhuge Liang’s death by then.
I assume the reference to 棄荊州 “abandoning Jingzhou” was in the wake of Liu Biao’s death, not the later loss to Wu.
浩以其中國舊門，雖學不博洽，而猶涉獵書傳，每推重之，與共論說。言次，遂及陳壽《三國志》有古良史之風，其所著述，文義典正，皆揚于王廷之言，微而顯，婉而成章，班史以來無及壽者。脩之曰：「昔在蜀中，聞長老言，壽曾為諸葛亮門下書佐，被撻百下，故其論武侯云『應變將略，非其所長』。」浩乃與論曰：「承祚之評亮，乃有故義過美之譽，案其迹也，不為負之，非挾恨之矣。何以云然？夫亮之相劉備，當九州鼎沸之會，英雄奮發之時，君臣相得，魚水為喻，而不能與曹氏爭天下，委棄荊州，退入巴蜀，誘奪劉璋，偽連孫氏，守窮踦𨄅之地，僭號邊夷之間。此策之下者。可與趙他為偶，而以為管蕭之亞匹，不亦過乎？謂壽貶亮非為失實。且亮既據蜀，恃山嶮之固，不達時宜，弗量勢力。嚴威切法，控勒蜀人；矜才負能，高自矯舉。欲以邊夷之眾抗衡上國。出兵隴右，再攻祁山，一攻陳倉，疏遲失會，摧衄而反；後入秦川，不復攻城，更求野戰。魏人知其意，閉壘堅守，以不戰屈之。知窮勢盡，憤結攻中，發病而死。由是言之，豈合古之善將，見可而進，知難而退者乎？」脩之謂浩言為然。
Cui Hao appointed Mao Xiuzhi as a scholar on subjects of the Middle Kingdom. Although Mao Xiuzhi was no erudite, he was still conversant in the old texts and histories, so Cui Hao was always respecting him and engaging in conversations with him.
On one occasion, they began discussing Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms. They felt that it was a worthy successor to the glorious histories of old, having followed in their footsteps; its prose was sublime, its composition proper, all in imitation of the words of Wang Ting. It had been a slight project, yet produced a glorious work, one concise and yet complete. They felt that no other history since the Book of Han by the Ban clan compared to Chen Shou's work.
During this discussion, Mao Xiuzhi said, "When I was in the Shu region many years ago, I used to hear the elders say that Chen Shou had received a hundred floggings while serving as a clerk under the Zhuge family, and that was why he had ended his biography of Marquis Wu (Zhuge Liang) with the comment that 'flexibility of strategy was never his forte'."
Cui Hao replied, "If anything, Chengzuo (Chen Shou) was far too effusive in his appraisal of Zhuge Liang and bolstered his reputation. If we examine what he wrote, there is no sign of blame against Zhuge Liang; there could not have been any underlying animosity against him. Why do I think so? You may note that the age in which Zhuge Liang became Liu Bei's chancellor was one in which the cauldrons of the Nine Provinces were roiling over, a time when heroes and stalwarts rose and burst forth, and when this master and his servant found one another, it was like when a fish had found water. Yet they could not contend for the realm with the Cao clan. Rather, they abandoned Jingzhou, fled into the regions of Ba and Shu, deceived and wrested power away from Liu Zhang, pretended to form common cause with the Sun clan, held out in some cramped and distant region, and declared themselves sovereign amidst the border tribes. This was an inferior sort of strategy. One might, perhaps, put Zhuge Liang on the same level as the regional warlord Zhao Tuo. Yet Chen Shou would have him as second only to Guan Zhong and Xiao He? Isn't that being too generous? I say that his censure of Zhuge Liang was inadequate to his real failings.
"Besides, once Zhuge Liang had occupied the Shu region, feeling reliant upon the firm defenses of the mountainous terrain, he did not act according to the proper timing or appreciate the real measure of his strength. He enforced the laws through severity and power, wielding his control over the people of Shu, and proud of his talents and boastful of his achievements, he was most inclined to give himself false credit. He even sought to pit an army of border barbarians against a superior state. At first he sent his troops out to Longyou, twice against Qishan and once against Chencang. But his efforts in this regard were always too little too late, and he was obliged to admit defeat and turn back. Thus the next time he entered Qinchuan, he no longer attacked cities, but sought to fight the enemy in open battle. But the people of Wei knew his intention, and they kept shut their ramparts and fortified their defenses, until Zhuge Liang was compelled to give in without fighting. In the end, when he recognized that all his efforts had been exhausted, the indignation of it all was like a blow to his body, and that led to the illness that killed him. Knowing all that, how could one ever rank him among the great generals of old, who could both recognize opportunity and advance and realize dangers and retreat?"
Mao Xiuzhi said that Cui Hao had the right of it.
