Guo Ma
Guo Ma | |
|---|---|
| 郭馬 | |
| General Who Pacifies the South (安南将军) (self-appointed) | |
| In office 279–? | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | Unknown |
Guo Ma (fl. 279) was a military general of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. In 279, Guo and his colleagues rebelled in Guangzhou following the death of their superior, Xiu Yun (修允 or 脩允). His rebellion later coincided with the Conquest of Wu by Jin, and was one of the last conflicts of the Three Kingdoms.
Life
Nothing is known about Guo Ma's background, but he had been a long time subordinate of the Administrator of Hepu, Xiu Yun, serving as his General-Commander. In the summer of 279, Xiu was made Administrator of Guilin and was meant to move to his new base of operation. However, Xiu was too ill that time, so he remained in Hepu and gave Guo Ma a small army of 500 to lead in Guilin in order to calm the local tribes. Xiu died soon after, and his subordinates were split up to serve under the other commanders.
Guo Ma and his peers were not happy with this decision. They had served the Xiu family for generations and were reluctant to serve separately in different armies. Coincidentally, the Wu emperor Sun Hao had been conducting a household survey in the Guangzhou region around the time of Xiu's death, putting the people at unease. Using this to their advantage, Guo Ma and his companions riled up the people and mobilized the local troops, amassing a huge army under them to rebel.
Guo attacked the Commander of Guangzhou, Yu Shou (虞授) and killed him. Wang Zhu (王著) and Wang Yan (王延), who were brothers of the mathematician, Wang Fan, were also killed in the revolt.[1] Guo then appointed himself Chief Controller of Jiaozhou and Guangzhou along with General Who Pacifies the South. He appointed his fellow generals, Wu Shu (吳述) and Yin Xing (殷興), as Inspector of Guangzhou and Prefect of Nanhai respectively.[2]
Guo then ordered He Dian (何典) to attack Cangwu and Wang Zu (王族) to attack Shixing. Wu's Prefect of Nanhai, Liu Lüe (劉略) was killed by Guo and the Inspector of Guangzhou, Xu Qi (徐旗), was driven out of the province. The newly appointed Governor of Guangzhou, Teng Xiu, led 10,000 men under his wing to quell the rebellion from the east. Sun Hao also gave the Commander of Xuling (徐陵, in modern-day Jingkou District, Jiangsu), Tao Jun, 7,000 men to lead from the west. Jun was expected to link with the Governor of Jiaozhou, his brother Tao Huang, and attack the rebels together.[3]
The rebellion carried over to December of that year, the same month in which Wu's rival, the Jin dynasty (266–420), would launch a large-scale invasion on them. Tao Jun had marched all the way to Wuchang when he heard the news, so he quickly rush back east to fend off the invasion but was defeated by the Jin forces.[4] Teng Xiu was still fighting the rebels at the time before he knew of the invasion. Much like Tao Jun, he abandoned the campaign to defend against the invasion, but Teng was faced with complications along the way and never reached the frontline.[5]
In May 280, Sun Hao surrendered to Jin, thus ending Eastern Wu and the Three Kingdoms period. Teng Xiu and Tao Huang[6] both surrendered to Jin while Tao Jun's fate is unknown. Available historical records all fail to provide a conclusion to the rebellion although it most likely ended shortly after Jin's takeover. Guo Ma also ceases to appear in the records from this point on and has no recorded time of death. Following their surrender, Teng Xiu and Tao Huang were reinstated to their original positions in Guangzhou and Jiaozhou respectively.
Lu Ji, a writer who lived through the fall of Wu and served in the Jin government, claimed in an essay of his, Disquisition on the Fall of a State (辨亡論), that Guo Ma's rebellion (which he referred to as "the chaos in Guangzhou") was one of the many reasons for Wu's demise.[7] Guo Ma and his rebellion do not appear in Luo Guanzhong's 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
References
- ^ (二弟著、延皆作佳器，郭馬起事，不為馬用，見害。) Sanguozhi, Volume 65
- ^ (年夏，郭馬反。馬本合浦太守脩允部曲督。允轉桂林太守，疾病，住廣州，先遣馬將五百兵至郡安撫諸夷。允死，兵當分給，馬等累世舊軍，不樂離別。皓時又科實廣州戶口，馬與部曲將何典、王族、吳述、殷興等因此恐動兵民，合聚人衆，攻殺廣州督虞授。馬自號都督交廣二州諸軍事、安南將軍，興廣州刺史，述南海太守。典攻蒼梧，族攻始興。) Sanguozhi, Volume 48
- ^ (秋，八月，吳以軍師張悌爲丞相，牛渚都督何植爲司徒，執金吾滕脩爲司空；未拜，更以脩爲廣州牧，帥萬人從東道討郭馬。馬殺南海太守劉略，逐廣州刺史徐旗。吳主又遣徐陵督陶濬將七千人，從西道與交州牧陶璜共擊馬。) Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 80
- ^ (陶濬將討郭馬，至武昌，聞晉兵大入，引兵東還。至建業，吳主引見，問水軍消息，對曰：「蜀船皆小，今得二萬兵，乘大船以戰，自足破之。」於是合衆，授濬節鉞。明日當發，其夜，衆悉逃潰。) Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 81
- ^ (廣州部曲督郭馬等為亂，皓以修宿有威惠，為嶺表所伏，以為使持節、都督廣州軍事、鎮南將軍、廣州牧以討之。未克而王師伐吳，修率眾赴難。至巴丘而皓已降，乃縞素流涕而還，與廣州刺史閭豐、蒼梧太守王毅各送印綬，詔以修為安南將軍，廣州牧、持節、都督如故，封武當侯，加鼓吹，委以南方事。修在南積年，為邊夷所附。) Book of Jin, Volume 57
- ^ (皓既降晉，手書遣璜息融敕璜歸順。璜流涕數日，遣使送印綬詣洛陽。帝詔復其本職，封宛陵侯，改為冠軍將軍。) Book of Jin, Volume 57
- ^ (夫太康之役，眾未盛乎曩日之師，廣州之亂，禍有愈乎向時之難，而邦家顛覆，宗廟為墟。) Disquisition of the Fall of a State, Volume 2
- Chen, Shou Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi)
- Fang, Xuanling (ed.) (648). Book of Jin (Jin Shu).
- Sima, Guang (1084). Zizhi Tongjian.