Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions

Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions
Part of the wars of the Three Kingdoms period
An illustration of the Northern Expeditions from a Qing dynasty edition of the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Date c. February 228 – October 234 Location Gansu and Shaanxi, China Result See aftermath
Belligerents
Cao Wei	Shu Han Qiang Xianbei
Commanders and leaders
Cao Rui Cao Zhen Sima Yi Zhang He † Hao Zhao Wang Shuang † Guo Huai Fei Yao Dai Ling Niu Jin Jia Si Wei Ping Xin Pi Xiahou Mao Qin Lang	Liu Shan Zhuge Liang Wei Yan (attempted to revolt) Zhao Yun Deng Zhi Ma Su   Chen Shi Wang Ping Wu Yi Wu Ban Gao Xiang Yang Yi Jiang Wei Kebineng

Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions were a series of five military campaigns launched by the state of Shu Han against the rival state of Cao Wei from 228 to 234 during the Three Kingdoms period in China. All five expeditions were led by Zhuge Liang, the Imperial Chancellor and regent of Shu. Although they proved unsuccessful and ended up as a stalemate, the expeditions have become some of the best known conflicts of the Three Kingdoms period and one of the few battles during it where each side (Shu and Wei) fought against each other with hundreds of thousands of troops, as opposed to other battles where one side had a huge numerical advantage.

The expeditions are dramatised and romanticised in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where they are referred to as the "six campaigns from Mount Qi" (六出祁山). This term is inaccurate, since Zhuge Liang only launched two of his expeditions (the first and the fourth) from Mount Qi.