但是从另一个角度讲，胜败乃兵家常事，人才乃制胜之本，如果说一个将军打了败仗就要杀他，那这个就没有法做了，这个事情。你打一次败仗杀一个，再打一次败仗再杀一个，再打一次败仗再杀一个，你有多少将军杀？所以晋代的历史学家习凿齿就说，诸葛亮不能够战胜曹魏是理所当然的，为什么呢？杀了人才嘛。你蜀国人才本来就少，本来就不如曹魏，你还要杀，你这不是叫做亲者痛、仇者快吗？历史上有很多这样的例子，两军交战，一方杀自己的大将，对方就高兴了。而且处分失败的将军有各种办法，比方说降级啊，重罚呀，多少军棍啊，罚其军前戴罪立功啊，都是办法嘛，为什么要杀呢？所以是可杀可不杀。
＊马谡街亭失守，导致诸葛亮第一次北伐战争半途而废，同时蜀汉方面也失去了一员大将。无论从哪一个方面来讲，对于蜀汉绝对是一个重大损失。而根据史学家的分析，胜败乃兵家常事，处置马谡可以采取其他各种方法，不一定非要选择杀头的办法。但是诸葛亮却断然处斩了马谡，这是为什么？诸葛亮到底想不想杀马谡？
我的结论是，不想杀。有证据吗？有，流泪就是证据。如果说诸葛亮觉得这个人就是该杀的，非杀不可，不杀不足以平民愤，一声令下，推出辕门斩首。但是他流泪，说明他不想杀。那么诸葛亮为什么不想杀呢？三个原因。
However, from another perspective, winning or losing is a common matter in military affairs, and talent is the foundation of victory. If a general loses a battle and wants to kill him, there is no way to do this. How many generals do you have to kill once you lose, once again you lose, once again you kill, once again you lose, once again you kill? So the historian of the Jin Dynasty, Xi Chiaochi, said that it is natural that Zhuge Liang could not defeat Cao Wei. Why? Kill talent. “Your Shu kingdom has few talents, and it is not as good as Cao Wei. You still have to kill. Isn’t this called the pain of the relatives and the speed of the enemies?”? There are many examples in history of this. When two armies engage in war, one side kills its own general, and the other side is happy. Moreover, there are various ways to punish a general who has failed, such as demotion, heavy punishment, how many army batons, and serving meritorious deeds before punishing his army. These are all methods. Why kill them? So it’s okay to kill but not to kill.
The fall of Ma Su Jieting led to the abandonment of Zhuge Liang’s first Northern Expedition, and the loss of a senior general from the Shu and Han sides. In any way, it is definitely a significant loss for Shu Han. According to the analysis of historians, victory or defeat is a common matter for soldiers. There are various other methods to deal with Ma Su, not necessarily the method of beheading. But Zhuge Liang resolutely executed Ma Su. Why is this? Does Zhuge Liang want to kill Ma Su?
My conclusion is that I don’t want to kill. Is there any evidence? Yes, tears are evidence. If Zhuge Liang felt that this person should be killed, he would have to be killed. Not killing him would not be enough to appease the public’s anger, so he ordered him to launch the Yuan Clan and behead him. But his tears showed that he didn’t want to kill. So why didn’t Zhuge Liang want to kill him? Three reasons.
第一，马谡是亲信。马谡是什么人呢？马谡是马良的弟弟，马良五兄弟，都是人才。而马良很早就追随了刘备，而且和诸葛亮的私交非常之好，是称兄道弟的。后来马良在战争中阵亡了，那么这个弟弟呢，就算烈属，诸葛亮对马良这个弟弟马谡也非常之好。马谡在监狱里面曾经给诸葛亮写了一封信，里面有这样的说法：“明公视谡犹子，谡视明公犹父。”就是丞相看待我马谡，就像看待自己的亲儿子；我马谡看待丞相您呢，就像看待我的父亲。有人说这个比方不恰当，为什么呢？因为马谡是马良的弟弟，马良是叫诸葛亮哥的，怎么成了爸了呢？这个也是可以讲得通的，因为中国古代有一个说法叫做长兄如父、长嫂如母，因此我们可以推测诸葛亮和马谡的关系就是如父的长兄，这是有感情的。
第二点，马谡是人才。根据《三国志·马良传》的记载，马谡这个人才气过人，好论军计，非常有才华。而且熟读兵书，也喜欢讨论战争这一类的问题。诸葛亮对他是“深加器异”，非常地器重。诸葛亮经常把马谡叫过来谈话，一谈就是一整天，叫做自昼达夜。我们知道诸葛亮是一个日理万机的人，因为大事小事都要他过问，而且他做事的风格就是事必躬亲，每个事情他都要亲自去打理的，没有时间聊天，不是闲人。怎么会和马谡一谈就谈一天呢？说明马谡这个谈话当中确实有过人的见解。而且也有证据，诸葛亮南征南中的时候，马谡去送行，送得很远。分别的时候诸葛亮拉着马谡的手说，兄弟啊，我们都策划了好几年了，也谈了很多的想法，现在我马上就要出征了，你一定有更重要的话说吧，更好的主意给我出吧？马谡说了十六个字：“攻心为上，攻城为下。心战为上，兵战为下。”就是你要让南方臣服，更多的是要靠德，靠感化，而不是靠武力的威胁。诸葛亮采纳了马谡的建议，这才有了后面的七擒孟获。当然，马谡没有这个建议，我估计诸葛亮也会这样做，但是至少说明马谡还能和诸葛亮英雄所见略同，他不是一个完全没有用的人。
第三点，马谡有威望。据史书记载，杀马谡的时候，十万之众为之垂涕，十万人哭了，不是诸葛亮一个人哭了。说明马谡这个人在群众中是有威望的。是亲信，是人才，有威望，诸葛亮不想杀他。
First, Ma Su was a trusted follower. Who is Ma Su? Ma Su is Ma Liang’s younger brother, and Ma Liang’s five brothers are all talented people. Ma Liang followed Liu Bei very early and had a very good personal relationship with Zhuge Liang, making him a brother and brother-in-law. Later, Ma Liang was killed in the war, and even if he was a martyr’s family, Zhuge Liang was very kind to Ma Liang, his younger brother Ma Su. In prison, Ma Su once wrote a letter to Zhuge Liang, saying, “Ming Gong regarded Su as his son and Su as his father.”; I, Ma Su, treat you as the Prime Minister, just as I treat my father. Some people say this analogy is inappropriate, why? Because Ma Su is Ma Liang’s younger brother, and Ma Liang is called Zhuge Liang’s elder brother, how did he become a father? This also makes sense, because there was a saying in ancient China that the elder brother was like a father, and the elder sister-in-law was like a mother. Therefore, we can speculate that the relationship between Zhuge Liang and Ma Su was like a father’s elder brother, which was emotional.
Secondly, Ma Su is a talented person. According to the records in “Records of the Three Kingdoms – Biography of Ma Liang”, Ma Su is a talented person who is extremely talented and likes to discuss military strategies. Moreover, I am familiar with military literature and enjoy discussing issues such as war. Zhuge Liang regarded him as “deeply imbued with different skills” and highly valued him. Zhuge Liang often called Ma Su over for a conversation, which lasted all day. It was called “from day to night.”. We know that Zhuge Liang is a person who handles many things every day, because he has to take care of important and minor matters, and his style of doing things is to be hands-on. He has to take care of everything in person, and has no time to chat, not idle people. How could you just talk to Ma Su for a day? It shows that Ma Su did have some insights in this conversation. Moreover, there is evidence that when Zhuge Liang was attacking Nanzhong in the south, Ma Su went to see him off and sent him far away. “When we parted, Zhuge Liang took Ma Su’s hand and said, Brother, we have been planning for several years and have talked about a lot of ideas. Now that I am about to go on the expedition, you must have something more important to say, can you give me better ideas?”? Ma Su said sixteen words: “Attacking the heart is the highest, attacking the city is the lowest. Fighting the heart is the highest, and fighting the army is the lowest.” That is, if you want to make the south surrender, it is more dependent on virtue and influence than the threat of force. Zhuge Liang adopted Ma Su’s suggestion, which led to the following seven captures of Meng Huo. Of course, Ma Su did not have this suggestion, and I expect Zhuge Liang would do the same, but at least it shows that Ma Su can still see the same things as Zhuge Liang’s heroes, and he is not a completely useless person.
Third, Ma Su has prestige. According to historical records, when Ma Su was killed, hundreds of thousands of people wept for him, and hundreds of thousands cried, not Zhuge Liang alone. This shows that Ma Su is a person with prestige among the masses. He is a trusted person, a talented person, and has prestige. Zhuge Liang doesn’t want to kill him.
