Ma Chao

Ma Chao is a western commander whose story moves from an inheritance of resistance to Cao Cao, through revenge and severe political reversals, to service under Xuande. His father Ma Teng’s execution gives Ma Chao a personal reason to fight the northern power; his alliance with Xuande then turns that grievance into a coordinated threat from west and south. But battlefield success cannot secure his position: defeat and the destruction of his family leave him displaced, while factional suspicion at Zhang Lu’s court narrows his choices. Xuande’s offer finally gives Ma Chao a way out, and he joins the campaign that brings Xuande to Chengdu.

Identity and Political Inheritance

Ma Chao is the eldest son of Ma Teng and, after his father’s death, takes control of the Xiliang tribal warriors. Before Ma Teng travels to Cao Cao’s capital, he leaves Ma Chao to hold their home base. He also tells his son that he had once joined a plot against Cao Cao involving a secret message concealed in a belt. Ma Teng is now being summoned by Cao Cao, who controls the emperor, and asks what he should do. Ma Chao advises him to go: refusal might invite a charge of treason, while accepting the summons might create an opportunity to accomplish the earlier plot’s aim. The advice frames Ma Chao as an heir to his father’s political resistance, but also as a strategist who understands the danger of openly defying a ruler able to speak in the emperor’s name.

Cao Cao’s concern about a possible western attack helps bring the family’s opposition into the larger struggle for the south. After Cao Cao kills Ma Teng, Kong Ming identifies Ma Chao as the new leader of the western tribal warriors and as someone likely to seek revenge. He urges Xuande to contact him: if Ma Chao attacks Cao Cao from the west, the northern army will be less able to threaten Xuande’s position in the south. Ma Chao accepts the proposal, agreeing to attack from the west on condition that Xuande attacks from the south. He gathers regional support, and more than two hundred thousand tribal warriors march toward Chang’an. His revenge thus becomes more than a private vendetta: it supplies the strategic pressure on which Xuande’s alliance plan depends.

War Against Cao Cao

The western campaign opens with a defeat for Zhong Yao, the governor who advances against Ma Chao and then retreats to the safety of Chang’an. Ma Chao lays siege to the city. After ten days without success, Pang De proposes lifting the siege to draw people out to replenish the city’s supplies. The stratagem succeeds in bringing people through the gates over several days, and the defenders close the city again when they see the besieging force returning. The account presents Ma Chao’s campaign as a mixture of force and deception, but the siege does not itself deliver the city.

The fighting shifts to a pass when Cao Hong advances against Ma Chao. Xu Huang hurries after Cao Hong to restrain him and call him back, but Ma Chao attacks as the commanders meet, with Pang De striking from the other side. Half of Cao Hong’s men are lost in the assault, Cao Hong flees under Pang De’s pursuit, and Ma Chao takes control of the pass. Cao Cao is furious when the defeated commanders return and initially favors executing Cao Hong, but is persuaded not to do so.

Cao Cao then establishes a camp below the pass and meets the western army in battle the next day. Ma Chao and Pang De charge into the fighting with the aim of capturing him; Cao Cao’s forces break, and he flees. As pursuers call out his identifying features, Cao Cao discards his red robe, cuts his long beard, and covers his face with a battle flag when it is described as short and ragged. Ma Chao nearly catches him, but his spear strikes a tree and is held there long enough for Cao Cao to escape. When Ma Chao catches up again, Cao Hong stands between them until reinforcements arrive and Ma Chao withdraws. Cao Cao recognizes that the commander he had nearly executed has saved his life and rewards him. The episode makes Ma Chao a direct and formidable threat to Cao Cao, while its reversal turns Cao Hong’s earlier defeat into the circumstance that preserves Cao Cao.

Defeat, Family Loss, and Displacement

Ma Chao later establishes a base among the Qiang tribes of Longxi. He defeats the governor of Jicheng, takes the city, and pardons him for resisting. That pardon does not secure the governor’s loyalty: when visiting relatives, Yang Fu breaks down and admits that he is ashamed to have betrayed the trust placed in him to defend the city. He and his relatives form a plot against Ma Chao, with an eighty-two-year-old matriarch playing a prominent part. They draw Ma Chao into an attack near Licheng and ambush him, supported by Xiahou Yuan, whom Cao Cao has sent to assist them. Ma Chao’s army is shattered.

Ma Chao escapes the ambush and rides back toward Jicheng, only to find the gate guarded by men who have seized the city. The rebels kill his wife and three young sons, as well as more than a dozen other members of his family. Forced to flee again as Xiahou Yuan approaches, Ma Chao later doubles back under cover of darkness and deceives the guards at Licheng into admitting him. He takes revenge on the people who plotted against him, including the elderly matriarch. He then leaves the sacked city and flees west rather than treating retaliation as a lasting source of security. The sequence reverses the earlier image of a commander drawing allies and controlling strongholds: Ma Chao is left with a small following, bereaved and without a safe home.

On the road, repeated attacks reduce his companions to fewer than ten. He reaches Zhang Lu in Hanzhong and offers his service, which Zhang Lu accepts. Ma Chao’s arrival gives Zhang Lu confidence to consider taking Yizhou and defying Cao Cao, and Zhang Lu even considers making him a son-in-law. Yang Bo objects, arguing that Ma Chao’s actions have brought about the deaths of his family and therefore bode ill. When Ma Chao learns of the objection, he vows revenge on Yang Bo, who in turn vows to remove Ma Chao. The hoped-for refuge thus becomes another unstable political setting, where Ma Chao’s past is used to question his future and personal hostility grows within the court that has taken him in.

Transfer of Allegiance and Role in Xuande’s Conquest

Zhang Lu’s court eventually demands that Ma Chao conquer Shu, bring back Liu Zhang’s head, and remove Xuande’s troops, while also strengthening its defenses in case Ma Chao rebels. Ma Chao is bewildered by the demands but has to stop fighting and return. Rumors, promoted by Yang Song, claim that he intends to overthrow Zhang Lu; troops are sent to prevent him from reaching Hanzhong, leaving him trapped between a suspicious patron and other political enemies. His military reputation has not translated into dependable protection or authority.

Kong Ming sees Ma Chao’s predicament as an opening and sends Li Hui with an offer for him to join Xuande. Li Hui tells Ma Chao that he is Cao Cao’s mortal enemy, has become useless to Liu Zhang, and is rejected by Zhang Lu under Yang Song’s influence. Ma Chao receives the offer with joy and, within a few days, presents himself to Xuande at Jiameng Pass. Their alliance is made concrete in action: they set out together to conquer Chengdu.

When Ma Chao and his brother Ma Dai arrive before Chengdu, some of Ma Chao’s former followers have already deserted to Liu Zhang and reported his change of allegiance. Liu Zhang has the city sealed. Ma Chao calls him to the city wall and explains in person that he has joined Xuande. Liu Zhang then recognizes that resistance is over and, moved by a desire to spare the people further suffering, orders the gates opened. Ma Chao’s presence helps bring the confrontation to its decisive point, while Liu Zhang’s own decision to surrender determines how the city changes hands. Xuande enters amid public rejoicing and forbids reprisals against opponents, including Huang Quan and Liu Ba; even those two subsequently surrender. Ma Chao’s final place in the account is therefore not as an isolated avenger, but as a commander whose shift from Zhang Lu to Xuande contributes to the campaign’s advance on Chengdu and the transfer of Liu Zhang’s rule.