After Ge Liang's death, Wei Yan took it upon himself to make wild remarks in front of the throne of The Emperor Xiang, intending to disobey the orders of the Emperor Xiang's army. However, he did not expect that he had actually died under Ma Dai's knife. After killing Wei Yan, where did Ma Dai in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" end up?
Let's start with Ma Dai as a person.
Ma Dai is a native of Shaanxi, he is the cousin of the famous Ma Chao in history, and the nephew of Ma Teng, the overlord of the divided side. Ma Dai's father was called Ma Yi, and he was once the superintendent of the Five Battalions, and although this official position was not high, it at least proved that their family was also the family of official eunuchs before. Later, Ma Dai's father left the West Sea, and Ma Dai stayed in Ma Teng's home with Ma Chao.
Perhaps the reason why the two people have been together since childhood, in short, the brothers have a particularly good relationship. After Cao Cao remembered the Ma family's territory, Ma Teng, in order to follow Cao Cao's false belief that the snake had to move to Yecheng with his whole family and pass the throne to Ma Chao.
Cao Cao killed more than two hundred members of the Ma family and pursued and killed Ma Chao, who was determined to fight Cao Cao. In the face of this crisis, Ma Dai did not stand idly by, but silently supported his cousin to resist Cao. Although they have a heart, they are powerless after all, so the Ma brothers have to rely on external forces. At first they defected to Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, but this person was unreliable. Later, they chose Liu Bei, and they who had just surrendered helped Liu Bei to capture Chengdu.
It can be seen that in the early days, Ma Dai has been following in his brother's footsteps. Ma Chao died in the ninth year of the founding of Chengdu, and he always worried about Ma Dai in his heart (after all, it was the last bloodline of the Ma family). Therefore, in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it is recorded that Ma Chao gave Liu Bei a chapter, which reads:
More than two hundred mouths of the Emperor Of the Emperor were cursed by Meng De, but from his brother Dai, as the successor of The Wei Sect's blood, he deeply trusted His Majesty, and there was no reply.
It was also because of this that Ma Dai walked from behind the scenes to the front of the stage and was named a general by Liu Bei, but at that time he was just an ordinary general, because his talent had not yet been displayed.
What is the fate of Ma Dai?
Most of Ma Dai's military feats were accumulated from fighting with Zhuge Liang. Since the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Ma Dai's position has been promoted rapidly, and he was not long ago given the title of Marquis of Guannei by the vice admiral. After Zhuge Liang's death, Ma Dai's greatest credit was to behead Wei Yan, who was trying to stand on his own.
But in fact, Ma Dai did more than that, because he not only killed Wei Yan, but also was ordered to kill Wei Yan's family. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that Yi sent Ma Dai to behead him and beheaded him. Ma Dai not only killed Yang Yi's political enemies, but also defended the chancellor, so Yang Yi once again asked for credit for him, and Ma Dai was made a general of the left. You must know that in ancient times, Zuo was respected, especially in the army, General Zuo was already one of the senior officers of the Shu Han Dynasty, and now at least he had to be a lieutenant general.
A year later, Ma Dai led his troops to hanzhong, during which time Ma Dai led the troops in the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei. However, due to insufficient preparation and the influence of various factors, his Northern Expedition army was defeated by the Wei general Niu Jin. For this reason, Ma Dai was demoted from general to assassin.
Although his position was demoted, Ma Dai's prestige in the military was still quite high. It is well known that the great general of the late Shu Han Dynasty was Jiang Wei, but even Jiang Wei, the commander of the three armies, was not as prestigious and senior as Ma Dai, let alone others!
Not long after, Ma Dai was given the title of Marquis of Chen Cang, but at that time, although he had great prestige, he had no real power. The reason is simple, Ma Dai is advocating attacking Cao Wei, but Jiang Huan advocates recuperation, and the two sides clash. Later, Ma Dai was defeated again, and although the imperial court still treated him with courtesy, it no longer used him. Of course, it was not only his political frustration, but also because he was very old at this time.
There are two theories about Ma Dai in his later years. One says that Ma Dai was sent to guizhou to become an official, and then he eventually became old and took office, and his tomb was also built in Guizhou. In the later period, some people also found inscriptions about Ma Dai in Guizhou. There is also a saying that Ma Dai did not go out of Chengdu in his later years, but only sent him a spare job in Chengdu to do it. After his death, he was eventually buried in Xindu County, Sichuan, and the emperor posthumously honored him.
There are two speculations that many people prefer the latter. Not to mention the tomb that exists in the new capital Ofmadai, let's say that what Ma Dai did in the later period, he could not have been released to continue to be an official, and it is very likely that he was hidden in Chengdu by snow. Because Ma Dai and Yang Yi are essentially a gang, they are both prosperous and of course lose both.
After Yang Yi returned, she was reduced to a commoner because of her defeat in the political struggle. And Ma Dai, as Yang Yi's former "accomplice", will definitely be liquidated in the court, can such a person who has been painted with a stain on the court be released as an official? Of course not. But to depose Ma Dai and reduce him to a commoner? Even less likely. So it is very likely that Ma Dai will eventually be hidden in the snow until he dies.
What do you think of Madai?
Stay tuned and tell the story of the Three Kingdoms and learn about that little-known history.