History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 382 Nanchu Ma Yin
3. South Chu

Ma Yin was born in the sixth year of Tang Dazhong (852) in Xuzhou, Henan. In that year, Yang Xingmi was born in Luzhou and Zhu Wen was born in Songzhou.

All three were born in poor families. Zhu Wen's father and grandfather were poor teachers; Yang Xingmi's family were farmers; and Ma Yin was born into a family of carpenters.

Without exception, they were all poor and destitute, dissatisfied with the status quo, and chose to become bandits or robbers. Without exception, they also achieved great success.

Ma Yin joined the Xuzhou Zhongwu Army. His immediate superiors were Liu Jianfeng, commander of the Longxiang Army, and Sun Ru, commander of the Juesheng Army. His next superior was Qin Zongquan, the governor of Caizhou.

After Qin Zongquan proclaimed himself emperor, he sent his brother Qin Zongheng to lead his troops to attack Huainan, including Sun Ru, Liu Jianfeng, Ma Yin and others. It happened that Zhu Wen of Bianzhou attacked Caizhou's base on a large scale and won battle after battle. Qin Zongquan was defeated, so he transferred this Huainan expeditionary force to Caizhou for support. Sun Ru took the opportunity to mutiny, beheaded Qin Zongheng, broke away from Caizhou's power and established himself. He led Liu Jianfeng, Ma Yin and others to continue attacking Huainan, and once drove Yang Xingmi out of Huainan.

Qin Zongquan of Caizhou inherited Huang Chao's mantle and also inherited the shortcoming of insufficient logistics of Huang Chao's grass army. Sun Ru, who had separated from Qin Zongquan, was even less likely to have sufficient logistical support. Therefore, Sun Ru fought and robbed all the way, hollowing out the body of Huainan. Even so, it was not enough to maintain his huge army. In desperation, he had to order Liu Jianfeng, Ma Yin and others to plunder food and grass from farther places.

During this period, Yang Xingmi launched a counterattack, and Sun Ru was defeated and killed.

Liu Jianfeng, Ma Yin, Zhang Ji and others fled southward like dogs that had lost their homes. Everyone recommended Liu Jianfeng as the commander, Zhang Ji as the military advisor, and Ma Yin as the vanguard. They finally came to Hunan and settled down. Liu Jianfeng was timid and easily deceived. He was assassinated by his subordinate Chen Shan because he had an affair with his wife. Everyone then recommended Zhang Ji as the new commander. Zhang Ji felt that he could not control Ma Yin, so he took the initiative to abdicate and supported Ma Yin as the commander.

There are two interesting points here:
When Chen Shan killed Liu Jianfeng, it is generally recorded that he used an iron hammer or iron whip (iron whip) hidden in his sleeve, and hit him in the head when he was not prepared. Some specifically pointed out that it was caltrops. It is also said that after Ma Yin became the commander, he ordered the ban of caltrops to comfort the spirit of the boss in heaven.

Zhang Ji was originally an aide to Qin Yan, the governor of Xuanzhou. Qin Yan was the one who later conspired with Bi Shiduo to rebel and imprison and kill Gao Pian. Zhang Ji hated Qin Yan's character, so he abandoned his post and fled. When he passed by Caizhou, he was retained by Qin Zongquan as a military commander. Just out of the tiger's mouth, he fell into the wolf's den. Zhang Ji privately found Liu Jianfeng and said that Qin Zongquan was not upright and suspicious, and that following him would not have a good result, so the two of them planned to find a suitable opportunity to escape from Qin Zongquan's control. I'm afraid there were many people who had this idea at the time, so Sun Ru raised his arm and called for the entire army to defect and rebel.

At that time, the Wu'an Army of Tanzhou had seven states under its jurisdiction, but Ma Yin and his men only controlled Tanzhou. They then captured Shaozhou. His subordinate Yao Yanzhang recommended Li Qiong to take command, and they recovered the remaining five states in one go, making a great impact in the north of the Ling Mountains.

Later, Ma Yin of Tanzhou expanded rapidly with amazing fighting power. First, Li Qiong created the miracle of "7,000 Hunan troops pacifying Guangxi". With only 7,000 people, he took over the five states of Gui, Yi, Yan, Liu, and Xiang, and captured Liu Shizheng, the governor of Jingjiang Army, alive. He was feared in Lingnan.

Li Qiong was a brave and invincible man with unparalleled courage. Within a year, he helped Ma Yin conquer six states in Wu'an, Hunan, and then swallowed up five states in Jingjiang. According to records, this man had the eating habits of Fan Kuai and the appetite of Lian Po. He would eat more than ten pounds of meat at every meal, and all of them were large pieces of meat. He was nicknamed "Li Lao Hu" and was evaluated as a "dry rice expert" (good at eating) in historical records. When children in Guangxi were playing, they often played a game called "The Tiger is Coming". The children suddenly shouted "The Tiger is Coming!" and then the other children laughed and ran away. After "Li Lao Hu" and his 7,000 men conquered Guangxi, people said it was God's will.

It then extended to Guangdong, and fought more than ten battles with Liu Yin, the Qing naval governor of Guangzhou, and captured six states. It was not until Liu Yin died and Liu Yan succeeded to the throne that they turned hostility into friendship through a political marriage (Liu Yan married Ma Yin's daughter) and formed a strategic alliance.

Ma Yin occupied Hunan, which was a unique geographical benefit: due to the existence of Yang Xingmi in Huainan, Hunan became the only land transportation hub between the Central Plains and southern China, and thus became the object of scramble for neighboring countries. Zhu Wen, Yang Xingmi, and Ma Yin, three brothers born in the same year, staged a love-hate relationship in the political game:

If Ma Yin sided with Yang Xingmi of Huainan, "the sheep and horses would be cut off from the pigs", and the sphere of influence of the two would extend from the shores of the East China Sea to the land of Sichuan and Shu, dividing the Chinese territory in two, completely cutting off the connection between the Central Plains and the southern vassal states, and blocking Zhu Wen to the north of the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River. Together with Li Keyong of Hedong, they would form a pincer attack on Zhu Wen from the north and the south, forming a thousand-mile battle line from the East China Sea to Sichuan and Shaanxi.

If Ma Yin sided with Zhu Wen, and "the pigs and horses were separated from the sheep", then Zhu Wen's sphere of influence would theoretically encircle Huainan Yang Xingmi on three sides (leaving only Donghai), the Huainan power would be completely suppressed, and the southern vassals would have to submit to the Central Plains power.

Ma Yin has become a hot commodity, and his attitude will largely determine the course of Chinese history.

Finally, under the strong advice of General Xu Dexun and strategist Gao Yu, Ma Yin chose to side with Zhu Wen, because Zhu Wen had an indisputable political advantage by holding the emperor hostage to control the princes.

This choice has a profound impact on the Mayin Group:

East: He abused Huainan thousands of times, but Yang Xingmi still treated him like his first love. Although Ma Yin gave him the cold shoulder, Yang Xingmi still tried every means to warm up to him, and Ma Yin's group made a lot of money;
South: Liu Yan of Lingnan is Ma Yin's son-in-law. He was beaten by Ma Yin's group and doubted his life. Moreover, Liu Yan had long wanted to establish his own empire, so he had to do his best to please Ma Yin and use Hunan as a barrier for Lingnan.

These two directions are Ma Yin's ATMs, a good business with no capital and huge profits, with no loss. There is no need to manage or irrigate, just abuse it and it will be over.

To the north is Zhu Wen, but in the middle are problem children - the father and son of Lei Man from Langzhou, and Gao Jichang, "Gao Laizi". The existence of these two people successfully attracted hatred for Ma Yin. They were both a barrier for Ma Yin and also Ma Yin's ATM.

Political games have always been guided by self-interest. Ma Yin was also half-hearted about his allegiance to Zhu Wen.

When Huainan attacked Du Hong of Ezhou, Zhu Wen ordered Cheng Li of Jingnan, Lei Yanwei of Langzhou, and Ma Yin of Tanzhou to rescue him. However, Lei Yanwei of Langzhou and Ma Yin of Tanzhou attacked Cheng Li of Jingnan, plundered Jiangling, and forced Cheng Li and Du Hong to death.

In addition, Ma Yin also secretly colluded with Zhu Wen's mortal enemy, the Hedong Group.

This is Ma Yin's "loyalty" to Zhu Wen. However, as Zhu Wen's repeated attempts to take over Huainan failed, the importance of the two lakes region to the Bianzhou Group became increasingly prominent. Facing Ma Yin's "loyalty", Zhu Wen was angry in his heart, but he always had a smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)