Ma Mo was an official of the Shu Han dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period. Because of the stories of "Lost Street Pavilion" and "Tears and Horse Rumors" in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he became a well-known historical figure. It is precisely because of the influence of the yanyi story that people have questions about whether Ma Mo can become Zhuge Liang's successor if he does not die or does not have the "lost street pavilion"?
The conditions for Zhuge Liang's successor
In order to answer this question, we must first clarify the conditions that Zhuge Liang's successor must have. In what ways would Zhuge Liang, as the de facto helmsman of the Shu Han regime, consider his successor?
Talent: There is no doubt about this, in the chaotic world of three divisions, it is extremely dangerous to choose an incompetent successor. And Because of the defeat of the "lost street kiosk", many people only remember his self-sufficiency and ambition during the defensive street kiosk period. At the same time, it also confirms Liu Bei's comments to him before his death that he is "exaggerated and embarrassing". But does Matthew really have no talent? Obviously not! In the main history, Ma Mo began to train from local officials and gradually promoted, and Zhuge Liang favored him, and often spent all night discussing military strategies with him proved that he was by no means incompetent. And Zhuge Liang's strategy of attacking the heart when he pacified the Southern Barbarians (that is, the story of the Seven Captures of Meng in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms) was dedicated by Ma Mo, which also proves that Ma Mo had a certain military strategic talent.
Faction origin: Zhuge Liang was the representative of the Nanyang faction in the Shu Han regime, and his choice of successor would inevitably be the first to consider choosing from the Nanyang faction. After all, the power structure of the Shu Han regime was the Nanyang faction, the Dongzhou faction, and the Yizhou faction, in which the dominant Nanyang faction joined forces with the Dongzhou faction to suppress the local forces of Yizhou. Ma Mo was the standard Nanyang sect, and his brother Ma Liang was also one of the important representatives of the Nanyang sect. From this we can see that from the perspective of factional origin, Ma Mo also met the requirements of Zhuge Liang's successor, and later facts also proved that Zhuge Liang's actual successor, Jiang Huan, was also from the Nanyang sect.
Personal feelings with Zhuge Liang: This is also very important, if you want to become Zhuge Liang's successor, you must have a relatively close personal relationship with Zhuge Liang. Ma Mo had a clear advantage in this regard, first of all, Ma Chen's brother Ma Liang had a very good relationship with Zhuge Liang himself, especially after Ma Liang died tragically at the Battle of Yiling, Zhuge Liang was particularly concerned about Ma Mo. In addition, Ma Mo liked to talk about military strategy, and he could also talk about military strategy with Zhuge Liang all night, which made Zhuge Liang regard him as a nephew.
Judging from the above points, Ma Mo can better meet the requirements of Zhuge Liang's successor, so he can also be regarded as one of the candidates for Zhuge Liang's successor.
Comparison with several other successors
Judging from historical facts, those who can be regarded as Zhuge Liang's successors should be Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, and Dong Yun, and Jiang Wei can be regarded as Zhuge Liang's military successor. What are the similarities and differences between these people and Ma Mo?
The first was Zhuge Liang's direct successor, Jiang Wan, who was at the helm of the Shu Han regime that succeeded Zhuge Liang after his death. He was from the Nanyang sect like Ma Mo, and Jiang Huan also angered Liu Bei when he was young, and it was Zhuge Liang who interceded for him to save his life. However, Jiang Huan later showed his talents immediately after entering the center of the Shu Han regime, and gradually became Zhuge Liang's most trusted subordinate. In 223, Zhuge Liang officially opened the government, and Jiang Huan entered the XiangFu as Eastern Cao Tuan. When Zhuge Liang began the Northern Expedition, he left Jiang Huan and Zhang Yi to stay in Chengdu and be responsible for the town of the center and the rear. This duty obviously had to be held by the person most trusted by Zhuge Liang himself, and in a political sense, it was similar to the monarch going out on a campaign and the crown prince overseeing the country. Therefore, from the perspective of the situation in all aspects, Jiang Huan is Zhuge Liang's most optimistic successor and the successor who is the first in line.
Secondly, from the perspective of Fei Yi and Dong Yun, they were the shu Han ministers who ruled after Jiang Huan. In a sense, it can also be regarded as Zhuge Liang's successor. Judging from their origins, they should be roughly counted as the Dongzhou Faction, and they have always had an alliance with the Nanyang Faction. In terms of seniority, they are not much different from Ma Mo, or slightly stronger than Ma Mo. During Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Fei Yi was also appointed to join the army, but soon sent an envoy to Eastern Wu. Dong Yun, on the other hand, was left in the palace by Zhuge Liang to assist Liu Chan, the lord of the rear. It should be said that if Ma Mo does not die, perhaps he has the ability to challenge the status of these two people as a contender for power after Jiang Huan.
Finally, there was Jiang Wei, Zhuge Liang's military successor, who joined the Shu Han camp at the time of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, that is, when Ma Mo was executed for losing the street pavilion. Therefore, Jiang Wei's emergence does have the factor of Ma Mo's death in a sense, but from the perspective of canonical history, Jiang Wei does not have the obvious meaning of succession in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Jiang Wei really began to occupy an important position in the Shu Han military, in fact, during the reign of Jiang Huan, until after Fei Yi's assassination, he really took charge of the Shu Han military power. Therefore, Jiang Wei's qualifications are quite different from those of several other people, and he should not be able to participate in the succession competition.
In the end, compared with the few people who succeeded Zhuge Liang in the future, it was difficult for Ma Mo to compete with Jiang Huan, and compared with Fei Yi and Dong Yun, he was only a faction leader, but it was also difficult to say that he would win. On the whole, Ma Mo has a small chance of becoming Zhuge Liang's successor.
Opportunities and disadvantages of Matthew
Ma Mo's position in Zhuge Liang's heart should be cultivated as the main successor in the military. Because from the perspective of the military generals of the Shu Han regime at that time, except for Wei Yan, the other generals were either too old and not suitable to be successors, or lacked military strategic ability, only suitable as military generals, not suitable for serving as commanders.
The performance of Ma Mopingsu is in the military strategic ability, especially the offensive strategy offered by the suppression of the Southern Barbarian Rebellion, and the good strategic planning ability is shown in the way of suppressing and using it. This further led Zhuge Liang to believe that Ma Mo could be trained as a military successor. Therefore, Zhuge Liang later kept Ma Mo as a military assistant to serve in the army. Jiang Huan, Fei Yi, Dong Yun, and others were not left in the army by Zhuge Liang, With Jiang Huan remaining in the rear as the successor in government affairs, While Fei Yi was sent to Eastern Wu as a diplomatic envoy, and Dong Yun remained in the palace to assist (or control) Liu Chan, the rear lord.
Secondly, during the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang insisted on letting Ma Mo serve as the vanguard, which also showed that Zhuge Liang wanted to continue to train Ma Mo in the military, and at the same time, through this experience, Ma Mo accumulated prestige and seniority in the army. Unfortunately, Zhuge Liang was over-trusted by Ma Mo's military strategic ability, ignoring his self-absorbed and exaggerated side, and also ignoring Ma Mo's weakness of not leading a major battle alone. Ma Mo, who took on a heavy responsibility for the first time, was defeated at the street pavilion, which directly led to the failure of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, and Ma Mo also paid the price of his life.
In the end, if Ma Mo had not been defeated by Jieting, and could change his shortcomings such as self-sufficiency and exaggeration, through Zhuge Liang's many northern expeditions after that, he was likely to become Zhuge Liang's military successor, after all, he was both younger than Wei Yan and more senior than Jiang Wei, and also had more experience in war than Jiang Huan, Fei Yi, and Dong Yun.