Early years Ma was born in 1838, at
Maji, Anhui, Mengcheng County. His family was poor and were primarily an agricultural one; however, Ma was a martial artist and became a well-known local trainer. Due to his martial arts skills,
Song Qing found an appreciation for him and personally enlisted him to attack the
Nian Army during the
Nian Rebellion, and accumulated meritorious work to the capital, giving him the title of
Zhenyong Baturu. In 1874, Ma Yukun and
Zuo Zongtang's department jointly fought against the aggression of
Agubo and the
Russian Empire in the
Qing reconquest of Xinjiang, and then led the army to garrison the northwest for more than 10 years. During the
Guangxu period, he was transferred to
Zhili. In 1894, he was awarded the commander-in-chief of
Taiyuan Town,
Shanxi, to assist Song Qing in garrisoning the Beiyang Naval Base in Lushunkou before the
First Sino-Japanese War broke out. ==References==