Chapter 19 Ma Chao: From Mania to Depression and Regret

This time I'm talking about Ma Chao, interpreted according to "Three Kingdoms". Ma Chao, courtesy name Mengqi, was the descendant of General Fubo Ma Yuan in the early Eastern Han Dynasty.Ma Yuan once said a sentence, which is very important: A man should die in the frontier, and his ears should be buried in a horse leather shroud. There is an idiom left behind, called horse leather shroud. Ma Chao's father is Ma Teng, who is also a famous player.Ma Teng's mother is from the Qiang nationality. Therefore, the blood of the Han and Qiang races flowed in Ma Teng's body.

Ma Teng has three sons, Ma Chao, Ma Xiu and Ma Tie.Ma Chao is the leader.Ma Xiu and Ma Tie have fierce personalities, but Ma Chao has a calm temperament, like a big girl.I don't like to talk to people, let alone play with people.Especially afraid of seeing strangers, when encountering strangers, they will turn red and face, and walk with their heads down. When guests come to the house, they will quickly hide in their rooms and close the door. Ma Teng was in a hurry.People say that generals are like tigers, but Meng Qi is like a dog. One day, Ma Teng took his sons out hunting.Both Ma Xiu and Ma Tie had harvested, and only Ma Chao watched from the sidelines, plucking the bowstring a few times without firing an arrow.Ma Teng kept enlightening, my son, in this world, the strong are king, the weak are eaten, violence is beauty, strength is strength.

Ma Chao remained indifferent.Ma Teng then lured Ma Chao into the paddock, then quietly exited, ordered his men to drive a fierce tiger in, and closed the gate of the paddock.Ma Chao was startled, and hastily set the string and buckled the arrow, but shot three arrows in a row and missed.The tiger came close, and Ma Chao retreated step by step. The situation was very critical. Matthew and Ma Tie want to go in to rescue their brother, but they are stopped by Ma Teng.Ma Chao was forced to the edge of the fence, and there was no way out, so he stopped, pulled out a wooden stick from the fence, and came towards the tiger.At this time, Ma Chao no longer had the weak spirit of the past, and his eyes showed a fierce look. He swung his stick and slammed the tiger. With a sound of "pa", the wooden stick broke in two.Ma Xiu and Ma Tie were about to pass again, but Ma Teng still stopped them.The tiger was already furious and roared and rushed towards Ma Chao.Ma Chao also jumped forward.People and tigers meet.Hearing a scream from the tiger, he fell to the ground.Then look at the half of the stick, together with Ma Chao's arm, which has been inserted straight into the tiger's mouth.Ma Chao pulled out his arm suddenly, and a cavity of blood spurted out from the tiger's mouth, straight into the sky.Everyone was dumbfounded.And Ma Chao fell to the ground with a plop, his face ashen.

After returning home, Ma Chao became seriously ill.After recovering from the illness, his personality changed, and he became more courageous. He acted resolutely and aggressively.The martial arts has advanced greatly, surpassing the two younger brothers.Ma Teng was overjoyed, so he led his three brothers to attack the city and seize the land, fighting for hegemony.There was once a campaign against Guo Yuan. During the battle, Ma Chao was shot by an arrow in the calf by Guo Yuan's department. , Pfft, the gun picked Guo Yuan. Ma Teng was very happy and said, this is my son, how brave!That year, Ma Chao was twenty years old.

This year, Ma Teng and his sworn brother Han Sui entered Beijing and stationed in Chang'an.After Dong Zhuo's defeat, Ma Teng's men clashed with Han Sui's men.Ma Chao's opinion was to reconcile the two, but Ma Teng refused. He told Ma Chao that a real man should attack boldly and not drag his feet.So he took the lead in attacking Han Sui, but Han Sui was caught off guard and lost the battle.Han Sui refused to accept it, and gathered troops to attack Ma Teng and killed Ma Teng's wife.Ma Chao burst into tears and said that if the reconciliation had been made, his mother would not have died like this.Ma Teng reprimanded, remember!When a man conquers the world, he should not care about the gains and losses of a son and a daughter. This is called, a small amount is not a gentleman, and a non-toxic is not a husband.Ma Chao was silent.

So the Ma and Han families became enemies and attacked each other.Later, under the mediation of Zhong Yao and others, they reconciled. Cao Cao marched south, fearing that Ma Teng would rebel, so he asked Ma Teng to send Ma Chao to Beijing as an official and take him as a hostage.However, Ma Teng handed over the military power to Ma Chao, and led his family to Xuchang as a hostage.Seeing off at the ten-mile long pavilion, Ma Teng told Ma Chao, you are my single-handedly cultivated, and also my most valued successor, so I would rather take my whole family as hostages than let you take the risk, so do it yourself.

Cao Cao took the lives of Ma Teng's family and threatened Ma Chao to hand over his military power.Ma Chao is very conflicted.In the end, he was cruel and rebelled.He came to Han Sui first.Han Sui didn't want to rebel.Because Han Sui's son was a hostage in Xudu.Han Sui said, you can't rebel, if you rebel, my son will die, and your parents and brothers will all die!Ma Chao sneered, uncle is too effeminate, if he doesn't, he will hand over his military power. I'm afraid our lives will be lost at that time. Instead of just surviving, it's better to fight to the death. From now on, I will be your son and you will be my father.He put the sword in front of him again, and said, if he rebels, after success, the world will be divided equally. If he doesn't rebel, he will lose his uncle.Han Sui had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow Ma Chao.

When Cao Cao heard that Ma Chao had turned against him, he immediately sent Ma Teng and his family to prison. At the beginning, Ma Chao fought smoothly.In the several battles of Tongguan and Weishui, Ma Chao leaped on his horse with a gun and took the lead. Cao Cao was terrified and almost died.Cao Cao sighed immediately, this time he really met a desperate situation.He also said that Ma Chao is like Lu Bu back then, if I don't kill him, I will not be safe for the rest of my life. After fighting for half a year, the battle situation has changed. It was because Jia Xu gave Cao Cao a good idea: I heard that Ma Chao was the most unfaithful, and Han Sui and others were forced to follow him, so it is better to separate them.Cao Cao followed his plan.Sure enough, Han Sui thought, a person like Ma Chao is the most unfaithful, he doesn't even care about his father's life or death, how can he live together in the future, how can he divide the world equally!Therefore, he led his headquarters to attack Cao Cao internally and externally, and defeated Ma Chao.

Cao Cao returned to Xudu and met Ma Teng in prison. Cao Cao said, I heard that Ma Chao was very docile when he was a child. Ma Teng said that I trained him to be a warrior. Cao Cao said, you educated a good son! Ma Teng said, I pinned all my hopes on him, hoping that he could help me destroy you, but I still failed, what a pity! Cao Cao said, then you go with regrets! In May of the following year, Cao Cao beheaded more than 200 members of Ma Teng's family in Shicao. After Ma Chao's defeat, he could not trust Zhang Lu and voted for Liu Bei. Before voting for Liu Bei, he asked his cousin Ma Dai, what is the prospect of going here?

Ma Dai shook his head, even though Liu Bei was generous, he was afraid that his brothers Guan and Zhang would be incompatible. Ma Chao hesitated for a while, and said, if there is a way, why bother to vote for others.He sighed again, thinking that I, Ma Chao, have ended up in such a field for half my life, is it God's will?So he came to see Liu Bei. Liu Bei was very happy to hear that Ma Chao came to vote, and said to Zhang Wenwu that Ma Mengqi was brave enough to win the world, and Xichuan could be sure! Zhang Fei next to him sneered, Ma Chao was the same as Lu Bu back then, the most unfaithful, the eldest brother must never believe him.

Liu Bei reprimanded, stop talking nonsense. Zhang Fei stepped aside, feeling aggrieved. When Liu Bei saw Ma Chao, he took Ma Chao's hand and asked his health, very affectionately. Liu Bei said, back then, your father and I served as ministers in the same palace, and we had a very close relationship, but unfortunately he was killed by Cao thief. Ma Chao's face was very ugly. Liu Bei wants to serve Ma Chao with wine. Ma Chao declined, blushing and said, I'd better go and fetch Chengdu for you! Sure enough, Ma Chao lived up to Liu Bei's expectations, took Chengdu within ten days, and pacified Xichuan in one fell swoop.Liu Bei appointed Ma Chao as General Pingxi.This is the highest-ranking military officer in Liu Bei's camp. The news reached Guan Yu's ears in Jingzhou.Guan Yu was furious, Ma Mengqi bravely crowned the world, what about me, Guan Yu?A letter was written to Chengdu, going to Xichuan to compete with Ma Chao. Fortunately, Zhuge Liang wrote a letter, following Guan Gong's temper, and said, Ma Chao is both civil and military, heroic and brave, just like Yingbu and Peng Yue when the Han Dynasty was founded, he can keep pace with Zhang Fei, but he is better than you The tolerance of Meiran is not ten miles and eight miles, at least a hundred miles! Guan Yu showed the letter to everyone, very proud. The words reached Ma Chao's ears again, and Ma Chao was very angry. He really wanted to have a competition with Guan Gong in Jingzhou, but Ma Dai stopped him. Ma Chao bowed his head and was speechless. Ma Chao wanted to have a good relationship with Zhang Fei, so he invited Zhang Fei to drink.At the banquet, Zhang Fei drank very happily, but when he walked out of the big tent, Zhang Fei said to others, a person who doesn't even care about his father's life, what face does he have to communicate with others?I don't want to be friends with such a person. Ma Chao didn't get angry when he heard what Zhang Fei said, as if he didn't hear it.Since then, he has become reticent. At this time, he met a person.This person is called Peng Yang.Peng Yang also made great contributions to Liu Bei's establishment of Shu, but Peng Yang is a man of many words and can say anything, he is a madman.Liu Bei didn't like him, and many of Liu Bei's subordinates didn't like him. Peng Yang came to look for Ma Chao.He felt that Ma Chao had the same destiny as himself and had a common language.Ma Chao was also lonely, and the two became friends. Liu Bei asked Peng Yang to leave Chengdu and go to a remote area to work.Peng Yang was very upset, but he couldn't refuse.Before leaving, he wanted to find a friend to complain about, but Ma Chao was the only one he could think of. Quite frankly, I don't have any friends anymore, only Ma Chao. To Ma Chao's camp.Ma Chao hosted a banquet in honor of him, Peng Yang was very moved and felt that he had read the right person.One cup for you, one cup for me, that's a bit too much. Ma Chao wanted to make a joke with Peng Yang.Ma Chao was too depressed, he hadn't joked with others for a long time, this time, he made a joke with Peng Yang.Ma Chao said, Mr. Peng, you are brilliant, and the person I admire the most is you.I always thought that you could be at the same level as Zhuge Liang, Fazheng and others. How can you become an official in a small place now? Ma Chao drank a glass of wine, and added another sentence, he didn't go to exercise and came back to promote him. Peng Yang drank a little too much wine, and made a joke, saying, the old man (Liu Bei) is too ridiculous, do you need to say more? Peng Yang drank another glass of wine, and added another sentence, if we unite, Qing will be the outside, and I will be the inside, the world will not be settled. Ma Chao was taken aback, feeling that the joke was a little too big, so he quickly said, drink, drink. After Peng Yang left, Ma Chao didn't sleep, so he sat down again and drank a few glasses by himself. He was depressed and wanted to drink some wine so that he could sleep.But after drinking a few cups, he didn't go to bed. Instead, he got up and came to Liu Bei's palace, and told Liu Bei what Peng Yang had just said to him.And he didn't mention a single word he said to Peng Yang. Liu Bei immediately chased Peng Yang back, sent him to prison, and executed him. Liu Bei wanted to reward Ma Chao, but Ma Chao fell ill. Ma Chao fell ill, and only Ma Dai stayed by his side. No one in Liu Bei's camp came to see him.There could have been a Peng Yang, but Peng Yang died and was betrayed by him.Just because he betrayed Peng Yang, no one dared to come to see him, fearing that if he said something, he would be accused and he would become Peng Yang. Liu Bei didn't come to see him either.Liu Bei was preparing to attack Wu, so he couldn't care about Ma Chao. Ma Chao died in the second year of Zhangwu (AD 222). He was forty-seven years old when he died. He was the shortest-lived of the five generals of the Shu Han. Ma Chao wrote a letter to Liu Bei before he died, saying: The more than 200 people in my family, except my own small family, were all killed by Cao Cao, and only my cousin Ma Dai was left. Let him be the successor of the Ma family. , I entrust him to His Majesty, nothing else. Shortly after Ma Chao's death, Liu Bei failed to attack Wu and died of illness in Baidi City. One day, the Empress Liu Chan suddenly thought of Ma Chao, and he posthumously called Ma Chao "Weihou". Ma Chao had a son named Ma Cheng, who inherited his title of "Marquis of Xiangxiang". There is also a daughter who is married to Liu Bei's third son, Anping Wang Liu Li, as his concubine.Later, Ma Dai became the general of Pingbei, and he was named Marquis of Chencang (Ting). There was another sentence that no one said.Ma Chao said to Ma Dai before his death that my life is divided into two halves, one half is sunshine and the other half is shadow.The sunny side is anti-Cao, how majestic, resolute, and without hesitation.But it was this sunny side that kept me in the shadows for the rest of my life.I regret that I rebelled against Cao for a while.If I had surrendered to Cao Cao back then, my father and more than 200 members of the clan would have been saved, the family could still be together, and I would still be able to make contributions. Unlike now, the bad reputation is like a mountain on my back.Now I am depressed while I am alive, but I am ashamed to see my father when I am dead. This is really a life-and-death dilemma! When Ma Dai heard the words, he wept bitterly and burst into tears.