Under Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Han Guangwu, there was a well-known Fubo general Ma Yuan, who was a famous general of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the protagonist of the idiom "Ma Ge Shroud". After Ma Yuan's death, his descendants moved to Shaanxi, and during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, two more famous figures appeared among his descendants: the Kansai warlord Ma Teng and Ma Chao's father and son.
During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Ma Teng enlisted in the army and became an officer in the Liangzhou Army of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Because of Ma Teng's bravery in battle and courage, he gradually became a great warlord of the generation in the northwest Guanzhong generation in the early three kingdoms of the late Han Dynasty. His son Ma Chao was a young man with heroic martial arts, and his military ability was even greater than that of his father. After Cao Cao's rise in the Central Plains, Ma Teng, fearing Cao Cao, was forced to enter the dynasty as a hostage, and was imprisoned from then on.
In March of the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), the ambitious Cao Cao sent troops west into Guanzhong, where a fierce military conflict ensued with Ma Chao's clique. Cao Cao's old strategists were rampant in the world, but they suffered a big loss under Ma Chao.com. In the Battle of Pusakajin, Cao Cao commanded an army to forcibly cross the Wei River, only to be attacked by Ma Chao, who fled with heavy casualties and even Cao Cao himself.
However, in the end, due to Cao Cao's strong strength, Ma Chao and Han Sui's Kansai warlord alliance were full of contradictions within themselves, and eventually Ma Chao was severely damaged in the Battle of Tongguan, and it was difficult to gain a foothold in Kansai, and was forced to flee northwest into the Gansu area of Longxi, avoiding Cao's army and looking for opportunities to make a comeback.
Although Ma Chao suffered a major defeat, his prestige among the nomadic tribes of qiang and xianbei in the northwest was well known, "even Qiang, Hu Xin, and Xizhou feared", and at that time Cao Cao was forced to withdraw a large number of troops from Kansai because of the tight situation in Hanzhong, "If the army is still there, it is not strictly prepared, and the counties of Longshang are not stately", Ma Chao can still make a comeback.
Who knows, his last chance to make a comeback was ruined in the hands of his wife Yang. In the first month of the seventeenth year of Jian'an (212), Ma Chao raised his strength and re-energized and launched a fierce attack on Jicheng, a major town in Liangzhou. The lord of the city would be Shi Weikang, the assassin of Liangzhou, who sent people to Cao Cao for urgent help while organizing troops to defend strongly. However, due to The fact that Wei Kang was a civilian official, did not make good use of troops, and had limited troops in the city, Wei Kang was eventually forced to surrender Kaesong under pressure, and Ma Chao was able to occupy Jicheng and started smoothly.
However, Ma Chao's good situation was ruined by his wife Yang. One of the old generals of Jicheng was named Zhao Ang, and although he was forced to surrender to Ma Chao due to the situation, he was still loyal to Cao Cao in his heart. He consulted with his wife Wang Yi at home, and although Wang Yi was a female stream, she had courage and insight, and she strongly agreed that Zhao Ang should look for an opportunity to expel Ma Chao anyway, "When the communists encourage Gao Xun, the whole festival will die, and it is impossible to follow", even if he dies in battle, he must maintain integrity. Zhao Ang made up his mind to raise an army from then on.
However, the shrewd Ma Chao did not trust the old generals of Jicheng and did not allow them to grasp the actual military power. Zhao Ang is also a clever woman who is difficult to cook without rice. His wife, Wang, deliberately surrounded Ma Chao's wife Yang Clan every day to offer courtesy, and it was a gift and a dinner invitation, which won the favor and trust of yang clan.
Confused, the Yang clan ghost began to lure the "wolf" into the room, often blowing pillow wind to Ma Chao, saying that Zhao Ang was reliable and loyal and could be reused. Ma Chao listened to Yang's words and gradually believed it to be true, so he reused Zhao Ang and handed over the military power to him. Zhao Ang finally got his wish and had the capital to rebel. He secretly actively contacted the old ministry, plotted against Ma Chao's subordinates, and intensively prepared for the rebellion.
In the eighteenth year of Jian'an (213), the confident Zhao Ang took advantage of Ma Chao's departure to rebel and captured Jicheng in one fell swoop, and all of Ma Chao's troops and grain and grass in the city fell into Zhao Ang's hands. Ma Chao, who had lost his base area, was suddenly like a tiger falling to Pingyang, and there was nothing he could do, at this time, Cao Cao's general Xiahou Yuan's army had also arrived, Ma Chao suffered a big defeat and loss, lost everything, and there was no chance of a comeback, and he was forced to send people to Liu Bei under the fence. Ma Chao, a famous general of the famous generation, was thus pit by his wife Yang Shi.
References: Biography of a Spirited Woman, Romance of the Three Kingdoms