Ma Sui
Ma Sui, courtesy name Xunmei, posthumous name Prince Zhuangwu of Beiping, was a Chinese military general and politician of the Tang dynasty. He was known mostly for his battles against the rebel generals Li Lingyao, Tian Yue, Zhu Tao, and Li Huaiguang.
Background and early career
Ma Sui was born in 726, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His family was from Ru Prefecture and claimed to be descended from the royal house of the Warring States period state Zhao. Its traceable family line came from Ma Sui's great-great-great-grandfather Ma Xiu, who served as an official of Northern Zhou. Ma Sui's direct male-line ancestors, including his great-grandfather Ma Juncai, grandfather Ma Wen, and father Ma Jilong, all served during the Tang dynasty. Ma Wen did not carry a high office, having served only as high as a supply officer for one of the imperial guard corps, but Ma Jilong had passed a special imperial examination for the military strategy works of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi and later served as a prefectural prefect and military commander at You Prefecture. When Ma Sui himself was young, on one occasion, when he was studying with his older brothers, he stated, "There will surely be disturbances in the realm. A real man should have accomplishments that helps the people throughout the realm, and how can he sit idly by to be merely a Confucian scholar?" As he grew, it was said that he had an unusual appearance, was tall, calm, brave, and intelligent. He was well-learned, particularly in the matters of military strategy.In 755, the general An Lushan rebelled against Emperor Xuanzong's reign at Fanyang, and soon advanced south to capture territory under imperial control and declare himself as emperor of a new state of Yan. He left his subordinate Jia Xun in charge of Fanyang. Ma Sui, who was then at Fanyang, tried to persuade Jia to turn against An. Jia was impressed with Ma, but could not make up his mind. The proposal was leaked, however, and An sent his subordinate Han Chaoyang back to Fanyang and killed Jia. Ma fled Fanyang and was hidden by the hermit Xu Yu in the mountains to the west of Fanyang. After Ma hid there for a month, he left and joined the Tang resistance army at Pingyuan under Yan Zhenqing. After Pingyuan fell to Yan troops, Ma fled to Wei Commandery. Nothing in his official biographies indicated what his activities were for the rest of the Anshi Rebellion.
During Emperor Daizong's reign
During the Baoyin era of Emperor Xuanzong's grandson Emperor Daizong, near the end of the Anshi Rebellion, Li Baoyu, the military governor of Zelu Circuit, made Mao Sui the sheriff of Zhaocheng County. After the end of the Anshi Rebellion with the death of Yan's last emperor Shi Chaoyi in 763, the Huige troops under its Dengli Khan Yaoluoge Yidijian, who were in Tang lands to help with the efforts against Yan, were returning home, and on the way, they went through Tang territory without any regards for Tang local officials, killing and pillaging at will. When they were set to pass through Zelu Circuit, Li Baoyu could find no subordinates willing to be in charge of welcoming the Huige troops. Ma volunteered, and, before Huige troops arrived, he first gave gifts to their commanders. The commanders, in return, issued orders authorizing Ma to punish Huige soldiers not following orders. Ma then, as the Huige troops were arriving, had several prisoners who were already sentenced to death dressed up as his own attendants, and, if they even disobeyed his orders in any minor manner, he had them beheaded in the Huige soldiers' presence. Subdued by this display, the Huige soldiers, as they went through Zelu Circuit, were willing to abide by regulations. This impressed Li Baoyu greatly. Ma then further warned Li Baoyu that he believed the major general Pugu Huai'en, who had accepted the surrenders of four major Yan generals at the end of the Anshi Rebellion and had recommended that they be allowed to remain as military governors, and who was also Yaoluoge Yidijian's father-in-law, might be intending to rebel and having designs on Zelu and Hedong Circuits. He recommended precautions, and Li Baoyu agreed. Subsequently, when Pugu did rebel, he sought food supplies from Xue. Li Baoyu sent Ma to persuade Xue not to cooperate with Pugu, and Xue turned against Pugu. As a result, Ma was promoted.Later, Ma served as the prefect of Zheng Prefecture. He encouraged agriculture and reduced taxes, reforms that were much appreciated by the people. In 769, he was made the prefect of Huai Prefecture. He was able to comfort the people despite a devastating drought at the time. Later, as Li Baoyu had also been made the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit, on the western border with Tufan, Ma was made the prefect of Long Prefecture. There was an old road to the west of the prefectural capital that enabled Tufan troops to advance easily on incursions, and within eight days, Ma placed boulders and planted trees to seal the road, and further set up two defensive gates on the road. On an occasion when Li Baoyu went to the capital Chang'an to pay respect to Emperor Daizong, Ma accompanied him, and Emperor Daizong, believing that Ma was able, made him the prefect of Shang Prefecture and put him in charge of the supply lines going through Shang Prefecture.
In 775, the soldiers stationed at the important base Heyang mutinied and expelled their commander Chang Xiuming. Emperor Daizong made Ma the commander of Heyang to replace Chang. In 776, following the death of Tian Shenyu the acting military governor of Biansong Circuit, Tian's subordinate Li Lingyao seized the control of the circuit. Initially, Emperor Daizong tried to appease Li Lingyao by making him the acting military governor, but after Li Lingyao continued to be defiant of imperial authorities, Emperor Daizong commissioned Ma, Li Zhongchen, Li Mian, assisted by Chen Shaoyou and Li Zhengji, to attack Biansong. In fall 775, Ma and Li Zhongchen rendezvoused at Zheng Prefecture. Li Lingyao launched a surprise attack against their forces and causing them to withdraw; a large portion of Li Zhongchen's army, from Huaixi Circuit, deserted, while the people of Zheng Prefecture panicked and fled to the eastern capital Luoyang. Li Zhongchen wanted to retreat, but Ma opposed, stating, "We are regular troops attacking rebels. Why do we worry about defeat? Why do we give us this chance for battlefield accomplishments?" He dug in, and in response, Li Zhongchen gathered his soldiers and also dug in. They then moved toward Bian Prefecture, with Ma marching north of the Bian River and Li Zhongchen marching south of the Bian River. They were joined by Chen's forces, and together they battled Li Lingyao's forces to the west of Bian Prefecture's capital, defeating Li Lingyao. Li Lingyao withdrew within the capital, and Ma and Li Zhongchen put it under siege. After they further defeated relief forces commanded by Tian Yue, Li Lingyao fled but was eventually captured by Li Mian's forces and delivered to Chang'an to be executed. Ma, knowing that Li Zhongchen was fierce and cruel, decided not to contend with Li Zhongchen as to the credits for the victory and therefore refused to enter Bian Prefecture's capital. Li Zhongchen entered Bian Prefecture and, on his subsequent reports, credited only himself, as Ma predicted, going as far as killing the Biansong general Li Senghui, who had turned against Li Lingyao and who also contributed much to the victory.
During Emperor Dezong's reign
Campaign against Tian Yue
In 779, Emperor Daizong died and was succeeded by his son Emperor Dezong. Shortly thereafter, Ma Sui was made the acting military governor of Hedong Circuit and the mayor of Taiyuan Municipality. Hedong Circuit had recently suffered a major defeat against Huige forces, and its army was weak at the time. Ma carried new recruitment for cavalry soldiers from the rank of the officers' horse carers, built new battle wagons, and conducted rounds of battle training, thus rebuilding the Hedong Army within the span of a year. In 781, he was at Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Dezong, when he warned Emperor Dezong that Tian Yue, who had succeeded Tian Chengsi as the military governor of Weibo Circuit in 779 and taken a conciliatory and submissive posture toward the imperial government, would nevertheless rebel eventually and that precautions needed to be taken.Meanwhile, in 781, Li Baochen and Li Zhengji died, and their sons Li Weiyue and Li Na requested to succeed their fathers, to be military governors of Chengde and Pinglu, respectively. Emperor Dezong refused. They thus prepared for war against the imperial government, and Tian and Liang Chongyi, allied to them, prepared for war as well. Tian, as Zhaoyi Circuit, whose military governor Li Baozhen was loyal to the imperial government and which held two prefectures close to his own capital, decided to attack Zhaoyi Circuit. He put Zhaoyi's city Linming under siege. Emperor Dezong sent Ma and Li Sheng to aid Li Baozhen. Ma, before his arrival in the region, sent a humble letter to Tian, to make Tian believe that Ma was fearful of him. Ma then rendezvoused with Li Baozhen and attacked Tian's subordinate Yang Chaoguang, in charge of logistics and had his subordinate Li Ziliang cut off a potential path for Tian to aid Yang—going as far as telling Li Ziliang, "If Tian Yue got past you, I will cut off your head!" Tian indeed tried to aid Yang, but was blocked by Li Ziliang, and Ma and Li Baozhen defeated and killed Yang. They then advanced to Linming and defeated Tian as well, forcing Tian to flee back to his capital Wei Prefecture.
In spring 782, Ma, Li Baozhen, and Li Sheng, joined by Li Qiu, the military governor of Heyang Circuit, engaged Tian, who was aided by soldiers from Chengde and Pinglu Circuits, near Wei Prefecture, and they had a major victory over Tian. Tian was again forced to flee back to Wei Prefecture. The officer that Tian had put in charge of Wei Prefecture, Li Changchun, was ready to turn against Tian and submit to the imperial government, and when Tian arrived during the night, he closed the city gates. However, Ma and Li Baozhen, who had grudges against each other over Ma's defense of Li Baozhen's subordinate Yang Shu, whom Li Baozhen had wanted to kill, could not chase after Tian quickly, and by morning, Li Changchun was forced to open the city gates, allowing Tian to reenter, execute Li Changchun, and get ready to defend the city. Only after more than a day did Ma and Li Baozhen arrive at Wei Prefecture, and they could not immediately capture it.
Meanwhile, after a number of victories that Zhu Tao, the acting military governor of Lulong Circuit, and Li Baochen's former subordinate Zhang Xiaozhong, had over Li Weiyue, Li Weiyue was killed by his own subordinate Wang Wujun, who then surrendered. However, Emperor Dezong then alienated both Zhu and Wang Wujun. Tian made overtures to Zhu and Wang, and they agreed to ally with him. They advanced south toward Weibo. Meanwhile, the dispute between Ma and Li Baozhen flared up further when Li Baozhen took some of his own soldiers to defend Zhaoyi's Xing Prefecture in case Wang attacked it—drawing Ma's ire and causing Ma to consider withdrawing back to Hedong. Only with Li Sheng's intercession did Ma and Li Baozhen make peace. Meanwhile, Emperor Dezong sent the general Li Huaiguang to aid Ma and Li Baozhen, while bestowing on Ma the honorary chancellor designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi.
In summer 782, Zhu and Wang arrived at Wei Prefecture and prepared to battle the imperial troops sieging Wei Prefecture. Li Huaiguang also arrived and, against Ma's advice of waiting until his soldiers had enough rest, decided to battle Zhu and Wang immediately. He had initial successes, but Wang cut his soldiers off from each other with a charge, leading to a major defeat for the imperial forces. Zhu and Wang then tried to cut off the imperial troops escape, but Ma then promised to request that Emperor Dezong put Zhu in charge of the entire region north of the Yellow River. Zhu believed him and did not pursue imperial forces further, so the imperial forces were able to withdraw over a river from Wei Prefecture, and were able to take up a posture against the rebel forces, thus putting the armies into a stalemate. Emperor Dezong gave Ma the title of military governor of Weibo, while Zhu, Wang, Tian, and Li Na all took princely titles to signify independence from Tang.