In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Chao, a general of Shu Han Dynasty, did not appear many times, but he was deeply loved by the public for his brave and courageous image. It is said that young people now play the role-playing game of the Three Kingdoms, and Ma Chao is the most popular choice. Interestingly, there are two tombs of Ma Chao in China, one in Xindu District, Chengdu, Sichuan, and the other in Mianxian County, Shaanxi. Ma Chao died of illness and was buried on the spot, so the real tomb of Ma Chao is in Mianxian County. Why is there a tomb in Xindu? It became a mystery.
The number of heroes in the Three Kingdoms is Ma Chao
Ma Chao was named Meng Chao, a native of Maoling (now Xingping, Shaanxi Province) in Youfufeng in the Eastern Han Dynasty. After Fubo General Ma Yuan, his father Ma Teng was the general of the expedition to the west at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Ma Chao led the expedition and was called the general of the expedition to the west. In 211 AD, Ma Chao and Han Sui, Chengyi and Li Kan fought against Cao Cao in Guanzhong, fought fiercely with Cao Cao in Tongguan, and defeated Cao Cao many times between the Yellow River and Weishui. Cao Cao once said: I have no place to be buried until the horse dies. Among Cao Wei generals, only Xu Chu can match them, so there is a saying that the heroes of the Three Kingdoms are Ma Chao.
Later, Cao Cao adopted Jia Xu's plan to alienate Korea and Malaysia, forcing Ma Chao to retreat to Longxi. Yang Fu said that he won the hearts of Qiang and Hu. In 214 AD, he was defeated by Yang Fu, and went to Hanzhong to follow Zhang Lu and turned to Liu Bei. Liu Bei was surrounded by dozens of days, and Ma Chaobing was shocked in the city, and Zhang immediately bowed his head.
in 219 ad, Liu Bei captured Hanzhong, and Ma Chao and others made Liu Bei the king of Hanzhong, and Liu Bei named Ma Chao the left general, ranking alongside Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. In 221 AD, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, moved Ma Chao to be a general of generals in ancient times (the third grade), led Liangzhou animal husbandry, and guarded Yangpingguan (now the old town of Mianxian County). In 222 AD, Liu Bei died of illness and was buried on the spot at the age of 47.
in 227 ad, Zhuge Liang went to the northern expedition to Cao Wei, and passed through Ma Chao's tomb, making his younger brother Ma Dai mourn, showing his relatives at the tomb and offering sacrifices, which inspired the soldiers of the three armies to turn grief into strength. Liu Bei praised Ma Chao: believing in the northern soil, he is mighty and shining, and Zhuge Liang commented on Ma Chao: he is both civil and military, heroic and outstanding, and a leader of his life.
Chengdu people built a tomb for Ma Chao, who died of illness in Mianxian County.
Ma Chao died of illness and was buried on the spot, so the real tomb of Ma Chao was in Mianxian County, but in Xindu, Chengdu people also built a tomb for him, which is located in Ma Chao Village, Guilin Township, three miles south of Xindu District, and is a county cultural relics protection site. Due to the lack of information, the time and reason for building the tomb has become a mystery.
Xindu was the first post station that had to pass through the north of Chengdu in ancient times, and it was known as the key to the north gate of Chengdu. According to records, Ma Chao's tomb, which was originally located in the south of the city, is grand, facing south, with a height of about 6 meters and a diameter of about 12 meters. There is a circular mound behind the tomb, which is dense with ancient cypresses. The tomb is about 3 meters wide and 1 meters deep, with stone gates, stone cases, sarcophagus platforms, etc., which are beautifully carved.
the tomb of ma Chao, located in xindu, has been paid attention to in all dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, Sichuan provincial judge Yang Shan, Chengdu magistrate Wang Jiude, Xindu magistrate Shao Nianqi and other officials lost sight of the original appearance because of the age of the tomb. In order to prevent Ma Chao's tomb from being lost, they all erected a monument in front of Ma Chao's tomb and set up a Chinese table beside the road. During the reign of Yongzheng and Daoguang in Qing Dynasty, the local magistrate also kept the habit of repairing the cemetery. In the 12th year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (1734), Ming Chen, the magistrate of a county, erected boundary stones around Ma Chao's tomb, and it was forbidden to cut firewood, cultivate or invade the grave. In the seventeenth year of Daoguang (1837), Zhang Fengshu, a magistrate of a county, re-measured the cemetery, with a score of 74 cents per acre. Planting cypress trees around the tomb, laying walls, recruiting tenants to guard, offering sacrifices in the Spring and Autumn Period, and re-establishing a monument marking the tomb of Meng Qi, the general of the Western Han Dynasty, in order to look spectacular.
Ma Weiqi, the prefect of Sichuan Province, was the most famous author of protecting Ma Chao's tomb in Qing Dynasty. Ma had made many military contributions in the French-Vietnamese War and the counter-insurgency in Sichuan. In the first year of Xuantong (199), Ma Weiqi visited the military affairs in northern Sichuan. When he saw the grave of Ma Chao, the inscriptions were lost, and he was deeply hurt. He generously donated money, rebuilt three memorial halls in front of the tomb, personally wrote the plaque of Yingfeng Changzhen, and wrote a book "Records of Ma Cemetery" to preserve it, which made Ma Chao's tomb take on a new scale. Ma Weiqi attaches so much importance to Ma Chao's tomb, not only because they are all surnamed Ma, all of them are of ethnic origin, and all of them are warriors in Sichuan in history. The most fundamental reason, as Ma Weiqi said, is to worship the sages and inspire the later.
The Legend of Ma Chao's Awakening
The famous note novel Ertan in the middle of Ming Dynasty included in the sub-section of Sikuquanshu recorded such a story:
Yang Tingyi, a native of Xindu County, Sichuan Province in the Ming Dynasty, was the third brother of Zaifu Yang Tinghe and served as an official. After his father's death, Yang Tingyi bought a cemetery for him. After digging, he found a tall tombstone that read: Tomb of Ma Chao, the general of Han Zuo. Yang Tingyi thought that this land of geomantic omen had been verified, so she buried her father there.
Soon, Yang Tingyi dreamt of a man with a robe and jade belt, and said to him: I am General Han, don't invade my graveyard. After Yang Tingyi woke up, she didn't take it to heart. Later, I dreamed that Ma Chao was armed with a bow, and one arrow hit his left eye, and then another arrow hit his right eye. Yang Tingyi has been blind in both eyes. However, he decided that the burial place was a treasure trove of geomantic omen, so he did not compromise and became more determined.
Later, I dreamt that Ma Chao _ was furious and said, I will definitely bring you disaster. Soon after, some people in the Yang family went the same way as businessmen, but they coveted money and killed them all. After the incident was revealed, she was convicted of a felony in the year, so Yang Tingyi was even seated and sentenced to abandon the city (a kind of death penalty).
There are still two stone tablets about Ma Chao left in the forest of steles in Gui Hu.
Ma Chao's tomb in Xindu was damaged to varying degrees in different periods. Today, the monument is destroyed and the inscription is incomplete.
During the period of the Republic of China, a pair of You Jun, who had been famous for a thousand years, wrote down two expressions of reward and three considerations at Wuhou Temple in Chengdu. After Ma Chao's death, they left a couplet saying that they would never meet Ma Weihou in Xindu, expressing their sentimental feelings about the theft of Ma Chao's tomb.
After the founding of New China, Machaocun Primary School was established here. During the Cultural Revolution, Ma Chao's tomb was completely destroyed, and all the headstones were emptied, leaving only the circular mound and inscriptions behind the tomb.
At present, high-rise buildings have been built on the site of Ma Chao's tomb. The road where Ma Chao's tomb is located is named Ma Chao Road, and the community on the original site is named Ma Chao Community. There is a kindergarten (formerly Ma Chao Primary School) in the area, which is the original site of Ma Chao's tomb.
In 1985, the people of Xindu County listed Ma Chao's tomb as an important cultural relic site in the county and erected a monument to protect it. In 1987, the cultural relics of the whole county were surveyed, and two steles were moved to Gui Hu, Sheng 'an, and now they are located in the forest of steles in Gui Hu. A monument is 194 cm high and 88 cm wide, with 1 lines and 24 words in regular script, which contains Ma Chao's brief story, and most of the words are full of troubles, so the writer failed the test. Another monument is written by Ma Weiqi, "Records of Houqiaowei Houma Cemetery in Liangzhou Muju Township led by General Han Biao Qi", which is 17 cm high and 88 cm wide, with 31 lines and 13 words each.