Ma Sui

Ma Sui was born in 726, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His family was from Ru Prefecture (汝州, in modern Pingdingshan, Henan) 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 (幽州, in modern Beijing). 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. == During Emperor Daizong's reign ==

During the Baoyin era (762–763) of Emperor Xuanzong's grandson Emperor Daizong, near the end of the Anshi Rebellion, Li Baoyu, the military governor (jiedushi) of Zelu Circuit (澤潞, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), made Mao Sui the sheriff of Zhaocheng County (趙城, in modern Linfen, Shanxi). 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 (Li Huaixian, Xue Song, Li Baochen, and Tian Chengsi) 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 (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) 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. == 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 (in 778) suffered a major defeat against Huige forces, 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 (converted from Heyang Base), 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. Upon return to Hedong Circuit, Ma strengthened the defenses of its capital Taiyuan by diverting the waters of nearby Fen River to create defensive ponds and moats around Taiyuan. He also sent his subordinate Wang Quan () with 5,000 soldiers, along with his own son Ma Hui (), to try to aid Emperor Dezong. Emperor Dezong gave Ma Sui the title of acting Situ (司徒, one of the Three Excellencies) and created him the Prince of Beiping. Meanwhile, Li Huaiguang fought off a Zhu Ci assault on Fengtian and saved Emperor Dezong from certain capture or death in late 783, but subsequently, angry over Emperor Dezong's refusal to meet him after the battle, rebelled in spring 784 against Emperor Dezong as well, forcing Emperor Dezong to flee to Liang Prefecture (梁州, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi). After Emperor Dezong fled to Liang Prefecture, Wang Quan and Ma Hui returned to Hedong Prefecture. Soon, though, with many of Li Huaiguang's subordinates turning against him, he withdrew from the Chang'an region to Hezhong (河中, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi). Li Sheng, who was then the commander of the Tang forces in the region, then recaptured Chang'an from Zhu Ci in summer 784, and Zhu Ci was killed in flight. Li Sheng welcomed Emperor Dezong back to Chang'an. Ma subsequently continued to attack Li Huaiguang's territory, seizing it piece by piece. However, with imperial forces lacking food, the opinion among the imperial opinions largely wanted to try to pardon Li Huaiguang and persuade him to resubmit to imperial authority. Ma opposed, however, and when he was at Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Dezong in spring 785, he requested one more month of time to subdue Li Huaiguang, and Emperor Dezong agreed. After Li Huaiguang's rebellion In 768, during a major Tufan incursion, led by Tufan's chancellor Nanam Shang Gyaltsen Lhanang ("Shang Jiezan" () in Chinese), Emperor Dezong had Ma Sui, along with Li Sheng and Hun Jian, converge against Shang. Shang, who was trying to find a way to get the three generals, whom he saw as the only obstacles between him and a conquest of Tang, removed from their commands. With Li Sheng vehemently opposing peace with Tufan, Shang, who was running into difficulties due to his livestock dying during the campaign, therefore sought peace through Ma. Ma, believing in Shang's sincerity and having prior grudges with Li Sheng, advocated a peace agreement and subsequently arrived at Chang'an to further advocate it. With Ma and another chancellor who was also a political enemy of Li Sheng's, Zhang Yanshang, advocating peace, Emperor Dezong removed Li Sheng from his command at Fengxiang (鳳翔, in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) and recalled him to Chang'an, getting ready to make peace with Tufan. at the meeting site, Shang laid a trap for Hun and launched a sudden attack, killing and capturing many of Hun's attendants, but Hun escaped. When the news reached Chang'an, Emperor Dezong was so panicked that he considered fleeing Chang'an, but remained due to Li Sheng's advice. Shang, in order to further aggravate Emperor Dezong's attitude toward Ma, intentionally released Ma's nephew Ma Yan (), along with the imperial eunuch messenger Ju Wenzhen (). As a result of this debacle, Zhang claimed an illness and retired, while Emperor Dezong recalled Ma Sui to the capital and stripped him of his command, keeping him at Chang'an to serve as Shizhong and Situ. Emperor Dezong gave Li Ziliang the command of Hedong, despite Li Ziliang's reluctance due to his longtime service under Ma. In 793, when Ma was meeting Emperor Dezong, Emperor Dezong, on account of Ma's having an illness in his feet, ordered that he not be required to bow. During the meeting, when Ma fell due to his illness, Emperor Dezong personally helped him up. Ma subsequently tried to resign his Shizhong post, but Emperor Dezong declined. Ma died in 795 and was buried with great honors. Liu Xu, the lead editor of the Old Book of Tang, had this comment about Ma: Ouyang Xiu, the lead editor of the New Book of Tang, indicated his agreement, but further commented: == Notes and references ==

• Old Book of Tang, vol. 134. • New Book of Tang, vol. 155. • Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 217, 222, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 231, 232, 233, 235.