Wuzhang Plains Zhuge Liang Temple: How can any fan of the Three Kingdoms resist visiting?

Following the winding road up to Wuzhang Plains, one can gaze upon Qishan County from afar, and imagine that 1800 years ago, Zhuge Kongming might have looked towards Baoji with a similar perspective. Shaanxi, Gansu, and Sichuan have all retained numerous historical relics and folk tales related to Zhuge Kongming, prompting one to unconsciously imagine what the world looked like through the eyes of people back then. Despite the vast changes over time, traveling through the Qinling Mountains and passing through one tunnel after another, one can still appreciate the hardship of traversing mountains and the tedium that comes with it. Tunnels have reduced the time it takes to cross a mountain from hours to 'minutes' or 'seconds', and a minute for us today might have been a whole day for ancient people. This sense of distortion between time and space is something that cannot be experienced in the plains. Below Wuzhang Plains, the Wei River still flows, restrained and sluggish in winter, like a wild beast in the forest, quietly hibernating. It was this unremarkable Wei River that halted the eastward advance of the Shu army, and a great general fell in the mountains, marking another failed northern campaign by Kongming. Five expeditions from Qishan, each ending in defeat, yet this did not hinder the image of Zhuge Kongming as a 'god of war'. It is said that Zhuge Kongming has an especially large following in Japan, where the Japanese have even centered their version of the 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' around him—the story begins with Kongming's emergence and ends with his death—as for whether the world is divided into three or unified, the Japanese no longer care. Without Kongming, the Three Kingdoms loses its luster. From a certain perspective, Kongming's popular image bears similarities to that of Napoleon. People relish their victories and also praise their defeats. Just like Wuzhang Plains and Waterloo, people commemorate the defeated Zhuge Kongming and the defeated Napoleon, but intentionally overlook the victorious Sima Yi and the victorious Wellington. People prefer to use Wuzhang Plains and Waterloo to express the regret of unfulfilled ambitions, and rarely view these places from the perspective of their opponents. It is often said that history is written by the victors, but there are always some histories that bear the mark of the defeated. They may have been utterly vanquished in the mundane world, but in a more profound dimension of time and space, they stand tall and proud.