Why Ma Yuan Became the Symbol of an Eastern Han General

Ma Yuan spent his life on campaign, and his vow to return wrapped in horsehide became one of Eastern Han's most famous military ideals.

After Longyou and Shu were pacified, Liu Xiu's realm finally quieted. But the frontiers did not become peaceful simply because the center had settled. One old general still had to put on armor again and again.

A Young Man Who Did Not Stay with the Textbooks

Ma Yuan, courtesy name Wenyuan, was from Maoling in Fufeng. Tradition traced his ancestry to Zhao She, the famous Warring States general who had been enfeoffed as Lord Mafujun. His descendants took Ma as their family name.

Ma Yuan lost his father when young, and his family was not wealthy. But he had large ambitions. He studied for a time, yet his mind did not stay with textual commentary. He told his elder brother that he wanted to go to the frontier commanderies to farm and herd.

His brother did not stop him. He only said that great talent often matures late and Ma Yuan should first do what he wished. But before Ma Yuan could leave, his elder brother died. Ma Yuan stayed home to mourn for a year, rarely leaving the grave, and treated his widowed sister-in-law with deep respect.

Later Ma Yuan became a commandery courier. Once, while escorting a condemned prisoner, he pitied the man and secretly released him. For this he became guilty and had to flee to Beidi Commandery.

After a general amnesty, he raised livestock in Beidi. Over time, people from different places came to attach themselves to him, eventually forming several hundred households. He led them across the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region, farming and herding. He owned thousands of horses, cattle, and sheep, and stored a large amount of grain.

Yet he did not hoard wealth. Ma Yuan often said that property was useful only if it could be used to help others. Otherwise, one was only a slave guarding money. He distributed wealth to brothers and friends, while he himself wore sheepskin and lived simply.

Pacifying the Qiang in Longxi

At the end of Wang Mang's rule, the central plains fell into chaos, and Qiang groups repeatedly raided the frontier. Tribes from beyond the passes moved inward, and several places around Jincheng were occupied.

Lai Xi submitted a memorial saying that Longxi had suffered repeated attacks and that no one but Ma Yuan could pacify it. In Jianwu year eleven, Ma Yuan was appointed governor of Longxi.

On arrival, he organized troops and sent three thousand men out first. They defeated the Xianling Qiang, killed several hundred, and captured more than ten thousand horses, cattle, and sheep. More than eight thousand Qiang inside the passes submitted after hearing of the victory.

Several tens of thousands still held strong positions. Ma Yuan and Ma Cheng advanced. Seeing that the Qiang had gathered families and supplies in mountain valleys, Ma Yuan secretly took a small path and struck from behind. He knew the frontier terrain well. When the Han army suddenly appeared in the rear, the Qiang panicked and fled.

Later another Qiang force held a mountain position. Ma Yuan pretended to attack from the front while sending several hundred cavalry around the rear at night. They set fires and beat drums. The Qiang could not tell how many Han troops there were and broke apart. Ma Yuan won again, killing more than a thousand.

In this battle, Ma Yuan led from the front and was hit in the leg by a cold arrow. Liu Xiu sent an envoy to comfort him and gave thousands of cattle and sheep. Ma Yuan distributed the rewards to his subordinates as before.

In Jianwu year thirteen, another Qiang group rebelled outside the passes. Ma Yuan led four thousand men against them. Seeing the enemy on high ground, he chose a favorable camp, controlled water and grass, waited with rested troops, and did not allow rash fighting. Pressed and short of options, the Qiang fled beyond the passes and left more than ten thousand people to submit.

Longyou gradually became calmer.

The General Who Calms the Waves

Ma Yuan was not only a fighter. As governor of Longxi, he treated subordinates generously and governed through trust. Ordinary affairs were left to counties. He personally handled cases such as powerful families oppressing commoners or officials breaking the law.

Once a county magistrate rushed in, saying the Qiang were about to rebel, the people were fleeing into the city, and the gates should be closed. Ma Yuan was drinking with guests. He laughed and told the magistrate to go back to his office. If he was truly afraid, he could hide under the bed.

It later turned out that the matter was only a private feud between two groups, not a Qiang rebellion. It was quickly settled, and officials in the commandery admired Ma Yuan even more.

Later he entered the capital as General of the Tiger Guards and was repeatedly received by Liu Xiu. Ma Yuan had bright hair and beard and was good at telling stories about old figures in the Three Capital Region. The crown prince and royal princes never tired of listening.

He also gave practical advice. Seeing confusion in imperial institutions and currency, he petitioned to restore the casting of five-zhu coins. Liu Xiu accepted the recommendation. The emperor often said that when Fubo discussed military affairs, his thoughts matched his own.

In 40 CE, rebellion broke out in Jiaozhi in the far south. The sisters Trung Trac and Trung Nhi expelled Han officials and occupied more than sixty cities. Local officials could not suppress them, so Liu Xiu appointed Ma Yuan General Who Calms the Waves, Fubo Jiangjun, and sent him south.

The title had old southern associations. In Western Han, Lu Bode had used the same title while expanding Han control in the south. Ma Yuan was taking up a similar frontier command. Later generations often called him Ma Fubo.

When Ma Yuan reached the south, he defeated the Trung sisters in the first campaign. They fled into difficult terrain, and he besieged them for months. Northern troops suffered from the climate, and nearly half died of disease, but he did not withdraw.

After several months, the rebels ran short of food and strength. Their breakout failed, and Han forces destroyed them. Ma Yuan was made Marquis of Xinxing with an income of three thousand households.

After receiving the title, he slaughtered cattle, served wine to reward the soldiers, and then led more than two thousand large and small boats and over twenty thousand men against remaining rebels. More than five thousand were killed or surrendered, and Lingnan was pacified.

He also inspected the region, repaired walls, opened canals, irrigated fields, and reorganized local rules with reference to Han law. From the Eastern Han point of view, Jiaozhi was already a Han commandery; Ma Yuan's campaign restored court control over a frontier region. Later local memory would honor the Trung sisters differently, as figures resisting northern rule, but inside the early Eastern Han story Ma Yuan was acting as a frontier commander restoring imperial administration.

Wrapped in Horsehide

When Ma Yuan returned to court, officials came out of the city to welcome him. His old friend Meng Ji congratulated him, but Ma Yuan did not become complacent.

He said that the earlier Fubo general Lu Bode had opened seven southern commanderies and received only a few hundred households in reward. His own merit was smaller, yet his reward was large. With reward greater than merit, how could he preserve himself for long?

Meng Ji had no answer.

Ma Yuan then said that the Xiongnu and Wuhuan still harassed the north. He wished to request troops and campaign again. A man, he said, should die on the frontier and have his body brought back wrapped in horsehide. How could he lie in bed and die in the hands of his children?

The phrase "wrapped in horsehide" came down from this conversation.

Only a month after Ma Yuan returned to the capital, Xiongnu and Wuhuan forces invaded Fufeng. Seeing the Three Capital Region disturbed and the imperial mausoleums uneasy, Ma Yuan requested a northern campaign. The court approved. He had returned from the south in the ninth month and by the twelfth month was stationed again at Xiangguo.

In 48 CE, Ma Yuan was sixty-two. Another rebellion broke out in Hunan. The court first sent Ma Cheng, but after several months he had not pacified it. Ma Yuan again requested command.

Liu Xiu thought he was too old and did not want to send him. Ma Yuan immediately put on armor, mounted a horse, and turned left and right outside the palace to show his strength. Seeing his spirit had not faded, Liu Xiu agreed.

Friends came to see him off in the autumn wind. His white beard moved in the air. Ma Yuan knew the road was hard and the southern diseases were frightening. But he had long accepted death in the army as his proper end.

Before leaving, he told his friends that he had received deep favor from the state. Though old, he still feared dying in the wrong place. If he died on campaign, he could close his eyes. What he feared was that someone would slander him before the emperor and leave regret behind.

A Hero Without an Easy Burial

Ma Yuan's fear was not empty.

Once, while he was ill in bed, the imperial son-in-law Liang Song came to visit. Liang Song was the emperor's son-in-law and powerful at court. But Ma Yuan considered himself a friend of Liang Song's father, and because he was seriously ill, he did not rise to salute. Liang Song resented him from then on.

During the southern campaign, disease spread, mountain roads were difficult, and the army advanced poorly. Liu Xiu sent Liang Song to the front with an edict rebuking Ma Yuan and urging progress. By the time Liang Song arrived, Ma Yuan had already died in the army.

Liang Song used the chance for revenge. He reported that Ma Yuan had delayed military affairs. Others falsely accused Ma Yuan of bringing back many treasures from the south. In fact, the carts carried grain seeds that Ma Yuan wanted to try planting in the north.

Liu Xiu believed these accusations. He sent officials to take back Ma Yuan's marquis seal and issued orders investigating guilt. When Ma Yuan's coffin returned, his family did not dare hold a formal funeral. They bought a few mu of land and buried him hastily. Old guests did not dare come to mourn.

Ma Yuan's wife feared further punishment. She and his nephew Ma Yan bound themselves with straw ropes and went to court to plead. She submitted memorials six times before Liu Xiu treated the matter leniently and allowed Ma Yuan to be reburied in the ancestral grave.

Only under Emperor Zhang was Ma Yuan fully rehabilitated.

Ma Yuan had wanted to die on campaign, and he did die at the front. Yet the coldest part of his story came afterward: his family did not dare mourn, and his friends did not dare come. Next, we return to Emperor Guangwu himself and the way he governed a realm just emerging from war.