Ma Zun

Historical Record

Ma Zun, whose style and native place are unknown, served as Administrator of Tianshui during the Three Kingdoms period. His life and deeds are recorded rather briefly in the official histories, appearing mainly in the "Biography of Jiang Wei" in the Records of the Three Kingdoms and its annotations. According to the record, in the sixth year of Jianxing (228 CE), the Shu Han Chancellor Zhuge Liang led his army on a Northern Expedition, his blade pointed straight at Mount Qi. At this time, Ma Zun was out on an inspection tour leading subordinate officials including Jiang Wei, the Officer of Merit Liang Xu, the Registrar Yin Shang, and the Recorder of Merit Liang Qian. When he learned that the Shu army was drawing near and that the various counties were answering it in turn, Ma Zun grew suspicious of Jiang Wei and the others accompanying him, suspecting that they might harbor disloyal intentions. He therefore slipped away quietly by night and went to Shanggui to seek refuge. ^c:4291

When Jiang Wei and the others noticed that Ma Zun had departed, they tried to catch up, but by the time they reached the city gate it was already shut, and they could not enter. They then returned to Ji County, but Ji County also refused to admit them. With nowhere left to turn, Jiang Wei and the others finally went over to Zhuge Liang. It is worth noting that the histories show some discrepancies regarding the specific details of Ma Zun's flight and the process of Jiang Wei joining Shu. The Weilüe records that when Ma Zun was inspecting Luomen together with the Inspector of Yong Province, Guo Huai, he learned that Zhuge Liang had already reached Mount Qi, and Guo Huai said to Ma Zun, "This bodes ill!" and drove his carriage back east to Shanggui. Considering that Ji County lay in the west and fearing that its officials and people would cause disorder, Ma Zun also followed Guo Huai away. Jiang Wei once suggested that Ma Zun return to Ji County, but Ma Zun suspected that Jiang Wei and the others were all "bandits," and they each went their separate ways. With no other choice, Jiang Wei, together with the commandery official Shangguan Zixiu and others, returned to Ji County, and the officials and people of Ji County were overjoyed to see them and urged them to go see Zhuge Liang. Having no alternative, the two went together. Zhuge Liang was very pleased to see Jiang Wei. However, after Zhuge Liang's vanguard was defeated by Zhang He, Fei Yao, and others, Zhuge Liang brought Jiang Wei and the others back, and Jiang Wei could not return to Ji County and finally entered Shu. Jiang Wei's mother, wife, and children were captured by the Wei army in Ji County, but because Jiang Wei had originally had no intention to leave, Wei did not harm his family, only keeping them under a protecting official to draw him back. ^c:4291 These records together sketch the historical fact that Ma Zun, during Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, abandoned his city and fled out of suspicion of his subordinates, indirectly causing Jiang Wei to join Shu.

In the Novel

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Zun is portrayed as a suspicious, irresolute, and mediocre Administrator who listens to slander; his scenes center mainly on Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, with his interactions with Jiang Wei being the core plot. Ma Zun first appears in Chapter 92, when Zhuge Liang besieged Nan'an, intending to draw out the Administrators of the two commanderies of Tianshui and Anding. Learning that the Administrator of Tianshui was Ma Zun, Zhuge Liang devised a scheme to lure him out of the city. ^c:6781

In the novel, Jiang Wei is Ma Zun's Army Advisor, and he saw through the ruse of Zhuge Liang sending Pei Xu to feign surrender, pointing out that this man was a Shu general impersonating a Wei general, intending to lure Ma Zun out of the city and seize Tianshui while it was undefended. Hearing this, Ma Zun suddenly understood and deeply admired Jiang Wei's cleverness. ^c:15614 Jiang Wei then offered another plan, suggesting that Ma Zun let him lead three thousand elite troops in ambush, and that after Ma Zun led his troops out of the city, they could attack Zhuge Liang from front and rear. Ma Zun adopted Jiang Wei's plan, but Zhuge Liang had long seen through everything and dispatched Zhao Yun to lie in ambush, seizing Tianshui while it was undefended after Ma Zun left the city. ^c:6782

Ma Zun's suspicion and gullibility are further magnified in the novel. After Xiahou Mao escaped, he met commoners who claimed that Jiang Wei had already surrendered the city to Shu and was setting fires and plundering. Xiahou Mao believed it and hurried to the foot of Tianshui's walls. When Ma Zun heard of this, although Liang Xu suspected that Jiang Wei was only feigning surrender to rescue Xiahou Mao, Xiahou Mao insisted that Jiang Wei had already surrendered. ^c:15615 That night, Zhuge Liang sent someone disguised as Jiang Wei to challenge the city, claiming that Xiahou Mao had once written to instruct him to surrender to Shu, and denouncing Xiahou Mao for breaking faith. In the firelight, Ma Zun and Xiahou Mao could not tell true from false, deepening their suspicion of Jiang Wei. ^c:15615

In the end, Zhuge Liang exploited Ma Zun's suspicion of Jiang Wei and devised a stratagem to sow discord. Jiang Wei wrote two secret letters and shot them into the city; Ma Zun and Xiahou Mao suspected that Liang Xu and Yin Shang were colluding with Jiang Wei and wished to kill the two. Learning of this, Liang Xu and Yin Shang, to save themselves, opened the city gates and surrendered to the Shu army. In panic and confusion, Ma Zun and Xiahou Mao abandoned the city and fled to the Qiang lands. ^c:6783 The Ma Zun of the novel is a negative archetype who finally loses his city through his own flaws of character, differing from the histories in the background and causes of his flight; the novel places greater emphasis on the role of his personal character in the course of events.

Key Relationships

* Jiang Wei (enemy_of): In the histories, Ma Zun's suspicion and flight drove Jiang Wei to a dead end, so that he finally went over to Zhuge Liang. ^c:4291 In the novel, Ma Zun's relationship with Jiang Wei is more complex. At first, Jiang Wei was Ma Zun's Army Advisor and offered him plans many times, seeing through Zhuge Liang's schemes and showing his surpassing cleverness. ^c:15614 However, owing to Ma Zun's suspicion and Zhuge Liang's stratagem of sowing discord, Ma Zun finally believed that Jiang Wei had surrendered to Shu Han, and even ordered the men to shoot down Jiang Wei as he tried to return to the city. ^c:15616 This relationship, going from trust to suspicion and finally turning to enmity, is the core of Ma Zun's characterization in the novel.
* Cao Wei (serves): As Administrator of Tianshui, Ma Zun was an important official of the Cao Wei regime in the Liang Province region. His duty was to guard the frontier and resist enemies. Yet during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Ma Zun failed to hold to his duty and abandoned his city in flight out of suspicion, creating a breach in the Cao Wei defenses. ^c:4291 In the novel, Ma Zun's loss of his city directly led to the fall of the three cities of Tianshui, Ji County, and Shanggui, dealing a major loss to Cao Wei. ^c:6783

Iconic Scenes

* Suspecting Jiang Wei and abandoning the city (historical): In the sixth year of Jianxing, during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Ma Zun learned during his inspection tour that the Shu army was attacking and that the counties were answering it. He suspected that Jiang Wei and the others accompanying him harbored disloyal intentions, and so fled by night to Shanggui, shutting Jiang Wei and the others out of the city, indirectly bringing about Jiang Wei's defection to Shu. ^c:4291 This was Ma Zun's most crucial action in the historical sources, directly shaping Jiang Wei's fate.
* Falling for a stratagem and losing the city (unique to the novel): Zhuge Liang devised a stratagem to sow discord, sending a false Jiang Wei to challenge the city and claim that Xiahou Mao had written to instruct him to surrender to Shu, making Ma Zun and Xiahou Mao doubt Jiang Wei's loyalty. ^c:15615 Zhuge Liang then used Jiang Wei's secret letters to deepen further Ma Zun's suspicion that Liang Xu and Yin Shang were colluding with Jiang Wei. In the end, Liang Xu and Yin Shang opened the city and surrendered to save themselves, and Ma Zun and Xiahou Mao, in panic and confusion, abandoned the city and fled to the Qiang lands. ^c:6783 This series of events displays Ma Zun's suspicion and incompetence and highlights Zhuge Liang's cleverness.
* Refusing Jiang Wei entry into the city (unique to the novel): After Jiang Wei failed in his attempt to raid the grain, he tried to return to Tianshui, but when the soldiers on the wall reported to Ma Zun, Ma Zun believed this was Jiang Wei trying to trick open the gate and ordered a hail of arrows shot down, shutting Jiang Wei out the gate. ^c:15616 This scene profoundly portrays how Ma Zun's suspicion of Jiang Wei reached its peak, utterly severing any possibility of Jiang Wei returning to Wei and foreshadowing Jiang Wei's eventual surrender to Zhuge Liang.