Ma Yuan (馬援) | 24 Histories

Overview

Ma Yuan was an Eastern Han General.

IdentityHistorical · Male

Roles

Found in

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Alternate name	Ma Fubo	馬伏波	Ma Fubo

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 14 to AD 49 Eastern Han
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 27, passage 2
AD 49 建武二十五年十月
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 119, passage 40
AD 25 to AD 36 建武初
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 34, passage 65
AD 35 to AD 49 昔馬援
Strongly inferred · Book of Southern Qi 33, passage 21
AD 40 to AD 49 東漢伏波將軍活躍期
Strongly inferred · Book of Sui 52, passage 145
AD 41 to AD 49 漢馬援
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 138, passage 54

Show 2 more source-backed claims

AD 40 to AD 49 馬援
Directly stated · Book of Chen 35, passage 184
BC 14 to AD 49 馬援生卒年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Sui 53, passage 32

Family

Ancestor of Ma Lin (馬璘)
ancestor 祖 · paternal line
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 138, passage 54

Key source chapters

Career and standing

General Who Crosses the Waves 伏波将军
Held
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 119, passage 40

Places and affiliations

Polity Eastern Han
Strongly inferred · Book of Sui 53, passage 32
Polity Western Han
Strongly inferred · Book of Sui 53, passage 32
Polity Xin
Strongly inferred · Book of Sui 53, passage 32
Polity Han 漢 · Relation Served
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 138, passage 54
At Fufeng 扶風 · Relation Associated with
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 34, passage 65
At Wuxi 武谿 · Relation Campaigned at
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 119, passage 40

Works and attributed material

Quotation · Attributed speaker · Direct quotation · Mode quotation Source Work Han biography of Ma Yuan 漢馬援傳
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 138, passage 54

Events and relationships

Campaigned against Wuxi
Military · Commander
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 119, passage 40
Invoked as a model of equal feeling toward sons and nephews
Allusion · Exemplar
Directly stated · Book of Southern Qi 33, passage 21
Liu Fang’s army passed his bronze frontier pillar on the way to Linyi.
Historical allusion
Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 32

Assessments and attributes

Assessment made no distinction of feeling between sons and nephews · Mode quoted-speech Speaker Wang Sengqian (王僧虔)
Directly stated · Book of Southern Qi 33, passage 21

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 119, passage 40
Historicity historical
Strongly inferred · Book of Sui 52, passage 145

References in the histories

Search passages

History

9 passages

Book of Chen, Chapter 35Volume 35: Xiong Tanlang; Zhou Di; Liu Yi; Chen Baoying · 2 passages

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異既走險，迪又逃刑，誑侮王人，為之川藪，遂使袁熙請席，遠歎頭行，馬援觀蛙，猶安井底。 Yi had fled to the hills and Di had escaped justice. They mocked the king's officers and made a mountain lair—like Yuan Xi asking for a mat and sighing at Touxing far away, like Ma Yuan watching frogs content in a well.

故司空歐陽公，昔有表奏，請宣薄伐，遙途意合，若伏波之論兵，長逝遺誠，同子顏之勿赦。 The late minister of works Lord Ouyang once memorialized for a limited campaign; his intent matched ours across the distance, like Fubo's talk of war. Dead, he left a charge like Ziyan's "do not spare."

Book of Later Han, Chapter 34Volume 30a: Biographies of Su Jing; Yang Hou · 1 passage

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龔字孟公，長安人，善論議，扶風馬援、班彪並器重之。 Liu Gong, courtesy Mengong, was from Chang’an and famed as a debater; Ma Yuan and Ban Biao of Fufeng held him in high regard.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 119Volume 108: Five Elements Part Six · 1 passage

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其冬十月，以武谿蛮夷为寇害，伏波将军马援将兵击之。 That winter, in the tenth month, Ma Yuan marched south against the Wuxi tribes who were plundering the border.

Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 33Volume 33 Biographies 14: Wang Sengqian, Zhang Xu · 1 passage

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僧虔曰：「昔馬援處兒姪之閒一情不異，鄧攸於弟子更逾所生，吾實懷其心，誠未異古。 Sengqian said: "Long ago Ma Yuan made no distinction of feeling between sons and nephews; Deng You toward his brother's son went even beyond what he owed his own children—I hold that same heart and am in no way unlike the ancients.

Book of Sui, Chapter 52Volume 52 Biographies 17: Han Qinhu, He Ruobi · 1 passage

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弼遺雄詩曰：「交河驃騎幕，合浦伏波營，勿使騏驎上，無我二人名。」 Bi sent Yuan Xiong a verse: "The flying-cavalry pavilion at Jiaohe, Fubo's camp at Hepu—when glory mounts the qilin's back, let not our two names be missing from the roll."

Book of Sui, Chapter 53Volume 53 Biographies 18: Daxi Zhangru, Helou Zigan, Shi Wansui, Liu Fang · 2 passages

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尋授驩州道行軍總管，以尚書右丞李綱為司馬，經略林邑．方遣欽州刺史甯長真、驩州刺史李暈、上開府秦雄以步騎出越常，方親率大將軍張愻、司馬李綱舟師趣比景．高祖崩，煬帝即位，大業元年正月，軍至海口．林邑王梵志遣兵守險，方擊走之．師次闍黎江，賊據南岸立柵，方盛陳旗幟，擊金鼓，賊懼而潰．既渡江，行三十里，賊乘巨象，四面而至．方以弩射象，象中創，卻蹂其陣，王師力戰，賊奔於柵，因攻破之，俘馘萬計．於是濟區粟，度六里，前後逢賊，每戰必擒．進至大緣江，賊據險為柵，又擊破之．逕馬援銅柱，南行八日，至其國都．林邑王梵志棄城奔海，獲其廟主金人，污其宮室，刻石紀功而還．士卒腳腫，死者十四五．方在道遇患而卒，帝甚傷惜之，乃下詔曰：「方肅承廟略，恭行天討，飲冰遄邁，視險若夷．摧鋒直指，出其不意，鯨鯢盡殪，巢穴咸傾，役不再勞，肅清海外．致身王事，誠績可嘉，可贈上柱國、盧國公．」子通仁嗣． He was soon made commander on the Huanzhou route with Li Gang of the state affairs office as chief of staff to pacify Linyi. Fang sent Ning Changzhen, governor of Qinzhou, Li Yun, governor of Huanzhou, and the superior director Qin Xiong with infantry and cavalry by Yuechang, while he himself led Zhang Xun and Li Gang with the fleet toward Bijing. Gaozu died and Emperor Yang succeeded; in the first month of Daye year one the army reached Haikou. King Fan Zhi of Linyi sent troops to hold the passes; Fang drove them off. At the Zhanli River the enemy held the south bank behind palisades. Fang displayed his banners and beat drums and gongs; the enemy broke in fear. After crossing they marched thirty li when the enemy came on great elephants from every side. Fang shot the elephants with crossbows; wounded, they trampled their own ranks. The imperial army fought hard; the enemy fled to their palisades and were stormed, with tens of thousands taken. They crossed the Qulu and the Six Li, met the enemy again and again, and captured them in every fight. At the Dayuan River the enemy held the passes once more and were broken again. Passing Ma Yuan’s bronze pillar, they marched south eight days to the capital. King Fan Zhi abandoned the city and fled to the sea. They seized the temple’s golden image, defiled the palaces, carved a stone of victory, and returned. The soldiers had swollen feet; four or five in ten died. Fang fell ill on the road and died. The emperor mourned him deeply and issued an edict: “Fang reverently carried out the state’s strategy and Heaven’s punishment, drinking ice as he hastened on, treating peril as level ground. He crushed the vanguard and struck unawares; the enemy were destroyed and their nests overturned; the work was not done twice and the southern sea was cleared. He gave his life to the throne with true merit—let him be posthumously pillar of state of the first rank and duke of Lu.” His son Tongren succeeded him.

子幹西涉青海，北臨玄塞，胡夷懾憚，烽候無警，亦有可稱．萬歲實懷智勇，善撫士卒，人皆樂死，師不疲勞．北卻匈奴，南平夷、獠，兵鋒所指，威驚絕域．論功仗氣，犯忤貴臣，偏聽生姦，死非其罪，人皆痛惜，有李廣之風焉．劉方號令無私，治軍嚴肅，克剪林邑，遂清南海，徼外百蠻，無思不服．凡此諸將，志烈過人，出當推轂之重，入受爪牙之寄，雖馬伏波之威行南裔，趙充國之聲動西羌，語事論功，各一時也． Zigan crossed the Qinghai westward and faced the dark northern passes; the tribes feared him and the beacons knew no alarm—this too deserves praise. Wansui truly had wisdom and courage, won his soldiers’ hearts, and every man gladly faced death; his armies never tired. In the north he drove back the Xiongnu; in the south he pacified the Yi and Liao; wherever his blades pointed, his might shook the farthest lands. When merit was debated he spoke with proud spirit, offended powerful ministers, partial listening bred treachery, and he died for a crime not his own—all mourned him, and he had something of Li Guang about him. Liu Fang’s orders were impartial; he governed the army with severity, cut down Linyi, and cleared the southern sea; the hundred tribes beyond the borders all wished to submit. All these generals had wills and valor beyond ordinary men: abroad they bore the weight of the realm’s defense, at home they were the emperor’s trusted claws and teeth. Though Ma Yuan, the General Who Pacifies the Waves, carried his might through the south and Zhao Chongguo’s fame shook the western Qiang, speaking of deeds and weighing merit, each was foremost in his time.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 138Volume 138 Biographies 63: · 1 passage

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年二十，讀漢馬援傳，至「丈夫當死邊野，以馬革裹屍而歸」，慨然曰：「使吾祖勳業墜於地乎？」 At twenty he read the Han biography of Ma Yuan and came to the line, "A true man ought to die on the frontier wilds, his corpse wrapped in horsehide for the journey home." He exclaimed, "Shall my ancestor's achievements come to nothing?"