Kong Ming’s thwarting of the five-army invasion

Kong Ming’s thwarting of the five-army invasion is a crisis of succession turned into a contest of strategic foresight. When Xuande dies and his son Liu Shan inherits the Shu throne, Cao Pi sees an opportunity to attack while the new ruler is vulnerable. Sima Yi proposes a coordinated assault from five directions, designed to stretch Kong Ming across multiple fronts. But Kong Ming has anticipated the plan and prepared separate answers to its threats, leaving the invasion unable to achieve the concentration of force on which it depends.

Background and the invasion plan

Xuande’s death prompts Cao Pi to consider an immediate attack on Shu. Jia Xu advises against acting too hastily, but Sima Yi insists that the opportunity should not be missed. His proposal is to make Kong Ming defend too many approaches at once, mobilizing five armies with different sponsors and routes rather than relying on a single advance.

The first force is to come from the East Liao region: Cao Pi’s court will bribe its king with gold and silk to send one hundred thousand tribesmen against Xiping Pass. A second army, also numbered at one hundred thousand, is to be recruited from the Man people south of Shu. For the third front, Cao Pi is to offer territory to Sun Quan in exchange for another one hundred thousand men, who would attack through the Three Gorges and toward Fucheng. The fourth force is to be led by Meng Da, who has recently surrendered to Cao Pi, and to advance from the west near Hanzhong. The fifth, a regular army under Cao Zhen, is to move from Jingzhao through Yangping Pass into Shu.

The scheme depends on simultaneity as much as numbers: an attack on several routes would compel the Shu government to divide its attention and troops. Cao Pi accepts Sima Yi’s proposal, and messengers are dispatched to set the five forces in motion. Yet the plan’s apparent scale conceals its reliance on several uncertain commitments—tribal rulers, a former Shu ally, and Sun Quan, whose interests do not necessarily align with Cao Pi’s.

The court’s alarm and Kong Ming’s absence

Reports of the mobilization alarm Liu Shan. He summons Kong Ming, only to be told that the prime minister is too ill to attend. Senior officials are sent the following day and receive the same answer. After officials wait for him on the third day without success, Liu Shan goes to see Kong Ming himself. The delay heightens the young ruler’s anxiety at precisely the moment when the five-army plan appears to require immediate direction.

He finds Kong Ming standing by a fishpond, leaning on a walking stick. Kong Ming apologizes for failing to attend, but then reveals that he already knows about the invasion and has made arrangements against it. His apparent withdrawal from court has not left the crisis unattended: the defensive response is in place before Liu Shan arrives to demand one.

Countering the five fronts

Kong Ming’s first answer is to make the proposed attack from the Qiang region untenable without having to fight the entire force. He has sent Ma Chao, whom the tribes regard as blessed by Heaven, to hold Xiping Pass. Kong Ming reasons that with Ma Chao controlling this strategic approach, the Qiang men will not dare attack. The pass is both a defensive position and a point at which the reputation of its commander can deter an invasion.

Against the Man force, Kong Ming uses movement and confusion rather than describing a pitched battle. He says that repeatedly moving the army opposite them has unsettled the troops, making them unlikely to attack. The account presents the plan as a way to disrupt an invading force’s confidence and coordination before it can become a decisive threat.

The Meng Da front is countered through deception. Kong Ming has tricked Meng Da into believing that his friend Li Yan has asked him to pretend to be ill and unable to assist Cao Pi. The maneuver exploits a relationship within the invasion’s own network: rather than confronting Meng Da in the field, Kong Ming gives him a false explanation that removes him from the operation.

For Cao Zhen’s regular army, Kong Ming has already sent Zhao Zilong to defend Yangping Pass. He reinforces that position by dispatching Zhang Bao and Guan Xing with thirty thousand troops apiece. Their presence adds substantial support to the defense of the route into Shu, making the pass a defended barrier rather than an open corridor for the final army.

The remaining force depends on Sun Quan’s cooperation. Kong Ming expects that Wu will not attack if the other armies are not already engaged, so the failure of the surrounding fronts weakens the incentive to join the operation. He nevertheless identifies diplomacy as necessary: someone must persuade Sun Quan that cooperation with Shu best serves his interests, particularly since Sun Quan has not forgotten Cao Pi’s earlier actions against him. The plan therefore answers the five-army threat through several different means—deterrence, disruption, deception, troop deployment, and negotiation—rather than through one general engagement.

Outcome and significance

Kong Ming’s response turns the scale of Sima Yi’s plan into a liability. Five armies can overwhelm Shu only if they act together; in Kong Ming’s account, each front is neutralized by attending to its distinct commander, route, or political dependency. The episode’s resolution is presented as a strategic achievement already secured before the ruler’s anxious summons, not as a battlefield victory won after the invasion reaches Shu.

The exchange also establishes the relationship between the new emperor and his prime minister. Liu Shan’s repeated summons show his fear that the state may be left without its chief strategist, while Kong Ming’s explanation reassures him that the danger has been assessed and addressed. Yet Kong Ming’s work is not solely defensive. After Liu Shan leaves relieved, Kong Ming notices that Deng Zhi appears amused, draws him aside, and explains his broader objective: Shu, Wei, and Wu now stand as the three kingdoms, and he intends to restore the Han by subduing the other two. He asks Deng Zhi which kingdom Shu should attack first. The thwarting of the invasion thus safeguards Shu in the immediate crisis while opening onto Kong Ming’s continuing ambition to reunify the realm under the Han.