Zhuge Liang's Capture of Wudu and Yinping is a coordinated Shu campaign in which Kong Ming exploits a weakness in Wei's defenses to take Chencang, block its relief route, and extend his advance by seizing Wudu and Yinping. Its decisive feature is the sequence: intelligence about a sick defender enables a surprise capture, and control of a pass helps prevent Wei from reversing the gain with reinforcements.

Intelligence and the Chencang opportunity

Kong Ming learns that Hao Zhao, the valiant commander defending Chencang, is seriously ill. He sends Wei Yan and Jiang Wei to attack, but tells them to wait for flames inside the city and gives them three days to prepare. The order conceals his real move: rather than wait for their assault, Kong Ming sets out immediately with Zhang Bao and Guan Xing.

Chencang's defenders are already demoralized by Hao Zhao's illness. Pro-Shu men within the city set fire to the gates, and the resulting disorder helps Kong Ming's forces take it with little resistance. By the time Wei Yan and Jiang Wei arrive, the city has fallen. Hao Zhao dies on his sickbed, as the capture makes relief and continued defense impossible.

Securing the advance

Taking Chencang is not the campaign's endpoint. Kong Ming's army proceeds to seize the San Pass, closing the route by which Wei reinforcements might reach the city. The operation thus links a sudden local success to control of a strategic approach: the pass makes it harder for Wei to respond directly to Chencang's loss.

From the plains beyond the Qishan hills, Kong Ming divides the next stage of the advance between two commanders. He sends Jiang Wei to capture Wudu and Wang Ping to take Yinping. Their assignments extend Shu's territorial gains beyond Chencang and the pass, while placing the two commanders on separate objectives.

Wei's response and the wider campaign

The news reaches Cao Rui together with reports that Hao Zhao has died, Kong Ming has come through the Qishan hills, and Sun Quan has declared himself emperor. Faced with developments on more than one front, Cao Rui summons Sima Yi for advice. Sima Yi argues that Wu's apparent threat should not distract Wei from Shu: he expects Lu Xun to wait and see how the conflict with Kong Ming develops. Cao Rui consequently gives Sima Yi an elevated command, while Sima Yi says he will obtain the imperial seal of authority himself.

The resulting confrontation grows out of the campaign's linked gains. Chencang's fall, the seizure of the San Pass, and the capture of Wudu and Yinping force Wei to respond to a widening Shu advance; Cao Rui's promotion of Sima Yi places that response under the commander who will meet Kong Ming on the plains below the Qishan hills. The campaign is therefore both a territorial success and the immediate prelude to a larger contest between the two strategists.