If Zhuge Liang followed Wei Yan's ingenious plan of the Meridian Valley, would the Northern Expedition be successful?

I'm sure you've all heard of the fantastic plan of Meridian Valley, and it's also recorded in history. Some people say that Zhuge Liang did not listen to Wei Yan's strategy and missed the only chance of success in the Northern Expedition. It is also said that Wei Yan's strategy can only be said to be an armchair strategist, which is not practical at all. In my opinion, Zhuge Liang would not succeed in the Northern Expedition even after listening to Wei Yan's ingenious plan of the Meridian Valley.

So did the mysterious plan of Meridian Valley work at that time? Let's take a look at the ending of this road in past dynasties. Meridian Valley is one of the six roads in Qinling Mountains. Because of the steep terrain, it is the most difficult part of the road from Qinling to Guanzhong.

In 354 AD, Huan Wen in the Eastern Jin Dynasty made a northern expedition, and the soldiers were divided into two ways. One of them was to cross the Qinling Mountains from the Meridian Valley and flank from behind. As a result, the former Qin sent thousands of people to defend the meridian valley, and they were all defeated in the end. The meridian valley is heavily guarded, and it is impossible to break through the meridian valley of ten thousand people, and it is not easy to cross it with one guard.

Let's take a look at Gao Yingxiang in the late Ming Dynasty. He started from Shaanxi, and Chongzhen always wanted to destroy him, but there was no way. Running around, Gao Yingxiang came up with a big plan to win Chang 'an. As an authentic local, of course, he knew the meridian valley like the back of his hand, and then he led the army from the meridian valley and wanted to raid Chang 'an. Unfortunately, it rained heavily on the road. The raid was originally planned to be completed in ten days, but it was half finished.

It can be seen that all people who walk in the meridian valley in history have no good results. Then, according to the formal analysis put forward by Wei Yan at that time, it is particularly unrealistic to take only 5000 people across the meridian valley to reach the gate of Chang 'an. It is impossible for Zhuge Liang to take such a risky strategy at this time. I think this is the superb side of Zhuge Liang.