Different from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is a well-known legendary novel and is widely circulated in China. Among them, various legendary stories are breathtaking to read. Among them, the one that best reflects Zhuge Liang's wisdom is the "empty city strategy".

According to the third story in Guo Chong's Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong in the Ming Dynasty exaggerated the 95th episode of Zhuge Liang's Five Events. The plot is that the street pavilion has been lost, Sima Yi's army is pushing the west city, Zhuge Liang has no soldiers to defend the enemy, but he opens the city gate and plays the piano on the tower. Sima Yi suspected an ambush and retreated.

This selection is compiled by folk for various folk arts models and is widely circulated in society. Through the spread of the drama, Zhuge Liang's image of wisdom was once again amplified, while Sima Yi became a suspicious image.

Let’s put aside the official history of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Just look at Romance of the Three Kingdoms and you will know. Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi are both the best masters in the Three Kingdoms. Their intelligence index is very close, almost tied for first place. In my opinion, Sima Yi's strategy is still slightly higher than Zhuge Liang's. This is just my rough reading of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Zhuge Liang was the prime minister of the Shu Han Dynasty and the latter's father. Sima Yi, the great master of Cao Wei, commanded all the troops of Wei. Both of them have relief in their hands and strategizing in their minds. We cannot but talk about what happened with the Empty City Plan. When the Shu army lost Jieting, the morale of the army was unstable, and the main force of the Shu Han was outside. At this time, Sima Yi's army was pushing into the west city. Zhuge Liang opened the city gate and played the harp on the city, while the old army swept the streets at the city gate. The city is filled with smoke and clouds, and I don’t know how many shapes there are. Sima Yi led an army of 200,000, but was "scared" by Zhuge Liang's plan and led his army away.

Everyone, if you were Sima Yi, commanding the army, facing Zhuge Liang in Xiaoxi City, drinking tea and singing on the top of the city, what would you do? If it were my purely military thinking, I would not even think about leading a large army to attack it. If necessary, I will capture Zhuge Cunfu alive and bring the Shu Han's first adviser back to China to receive his reward.

Sima Yi’s biggest enemy is Zhuge Liang, but his most effective ally is Zhuge Liang. Isn’t that a very funny sentence? It looks funny, but it's not. Sima Yi led the army outside, and it was not only the Shu Han who were threatened, but also the upper echelons of Cao Wei who were more afraid of him. Once Sima Yi, a resourceful general, rebels, it will be a disaster for Cao Wei. However, Cao Wei had to use Sima Yi to counter Zhuge Liang. This formed a very subtle contradiction, that is, he was afraid of Sima Yi, but had to use Sima Yi. This political distrust can never be reconciled. No matter how loyal Sima Yi is, the nobles of Cao Wei will still doubt him, because after all, IQ is not on the same level, and IQ is an absolute flaw.

Who is Sima Yi? He knows this very well. Only by constantly fighting against the Shu Han could he always control the military power, so that the nobles of Cao Wei had to "reuse" him. If Zhuge Liang is captured alive by the army in Xicheng, then the threat from the west will be lifted, and the Shu Han will no longer be afraid. What is the value of Sima Yi at this moment? I think Sima Yi would understand better than you and me the principle of "a cunning rabbit dies, a good bow hides it, and a running dog cooks it". Noble Cao's eyes would not hold such a god-level opponent sleeping beside his bed, so he killed him quickly.

On the tower, the sound of Zhuge Liang’s piano is a kind of communication with Sima Yi, a special dialogue between the two masters. "Auntie, leave me alone, catch me. You have nothing to eat. Get out quickly!". Sima Yi also heard the hidden meaning at the gate and spared Zhuge Liang.

In my opinion, this may be a win-win situation for Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang, and this game may always be a draw.