Ma Fang

Ma Fang

Ma Fang (1518-1581), also known as Dexin and Lanxi, was born in Weizhou, Shanxi Province (now Yuxian, Zhangjiakou). He was a famous general in the middle of Ming Dynasty.

Ma Fang was born in a peasant family and was abducted by Tatars when he was eight years old. Later, he fled back to Datong and served under the command of Zhou Shangwen, commander of Datong. Ma Fang served in Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli dynasties. He made great achievements in fighting against Tatars and was promoted gradually. He successively served as commander in chief of Xuanfu, commander in chief of duqian and commander in chief of Zuo. In the seventh year of Wanli (1579), he returned home due to illness. Ma Fang passed away in 1581, the ninth year of Wanli.

At that time, there was a saying that Ma Fang was not as brave as Ma Fang. According to the history of Ming Dynasty, it was a great success that "the size of a hundred and ten, the body was hit by dozens of wounds, and the number of attacks was small.". Ten ministers were captured, but there was no way to kill them. They were famous in the border areas, and they were called "generals of the time". Some quyi and opera works also put his story on the stage.

Life of the characters

Fled south to return to China

Ma Fang was born on May 15, the 12th year of Zhengde (1518). His native place is Weizhou, Shanxi (now Yuxian, Zhangjiakou, Hebei). His family is a farmer in Xuanhua border area.

Ma Fang was maltreated by his stepmother when he was young. He could not bear to be humiliated. He fled his hometown when he was about ten years old in the fifth year of Jiajing (1526). The Tatar cavalry who invaded the South plundered him and raised horses for atahan. He is still young, and has been able to "jump and control", so that horses do not dare to kick and bite.

Since childhood, Ma Fang began to "bend the wood into a bow" and refined his riding and shooting skills, hitting every shot. When he was young, when he was hunting with Altan Khan, a gorgeous tiger suddenly appeared and went straight to Altan. All of them fled in panic, but Ma Fang didn't change his face, bent his bow and arrow, and killed the tiger on the spot. Altan admired Ma Fang, gave him "good bows and arrows, good horses" and ordered him to "serve around". Although Ma Fang was highly valued by Altan, his heart was in the Ming Dynasty,

In 1537, Ma Fang followed Altan to the outskirts of Datong, which was near the border town of the Ming Dynasty. Taking advantage of the opportunity of hunting, Ma Fang fled to Datong military camp at night. Zhou Shangwen was the commander in chief of Datong at that time. According to historical records, this man had "more strategies, better riding and shooting, and better generals". After seeing Ma Fang, he was surprised and immediately appointed him captain.

cut a striking figure

Since Ma Fang was the team leader, he fought bravely for many times. Because he had lived in Mongolia for many years and was familiar with the operational characteristics of Mongolian cavalry, he could hit the enemy hard in every battle. Especially in the 28th year of Jiajing (1549), he proposed to lead the elite cavalry to copy the back road of the Mongolian cavalry, forcing the Mongolian army to withdraw to the north. Zhou Shangwen praised: "you will be able to be a general in the future."

In June of the 29th year of Jiajing (1550), the "gengxu change" broke out. Altan led the army to commit Datong. Zhang Da, commander in chief, and Lin Chun, deputy commander in chief, both died. Chou Luan, the commander of Xuanda, was terrified and had no plan. He bribed me with a large sum of money, so that he would not violate Datong. In August, Altan entered from the north of ancient times, killing and plundering countless people. In September, Ma Fang, who is already a thousand households, first met Altan in Huairou. Ma Fang took the lead and killed Altan on the spot. Forcing aletan to withdraw temporarily will not help the whole war. Two months later, when the Mongolian cavalry invaded Weiyuan, Shanxi Province, Ma Fang led his troops to meet the enemy. He first saw through the trick of the enemy luring the Ming army into ambush with weak cavalry, then led the Mongolian army into the ambush circle of the Ming army and was defeated in a fierce battle. After the victory, the generals thought that the enemy had retreated and breathed a sigh of relief. However, Ma Fang calmly judged that the enemy was bound to make a comeback, and immediately deployed his defense in Yemachuan. As a result, a large group of Mongolian cavalry came to kill him. When the enemy was outnumbered, Ma Fang had no fear. He ordered the troops to retreat first. After his brave men were cut off, a fierce battle led to the defeat of the superior Mongolian army. Ma Fang immediately turned his defense into an attack and pursued the enemy to Nihe, Shanxi Province. In the same year, Ma Fang was first promoted to Xuanfu guerrilla general, then promoted to Zhenger Pindu Qianshi. At the end of the year, Ma Fang was appointed Zhengyi pinzuo Dudu.

When Ma Fang was stationed in Xuanfu, he was not at peace with Qiu Luan, a member of Yan Song's party and Marquis of Xianning. He was punished for the defeat of sitting in lianzhenshandun. His surprise attack on the Mongolian army forced him to retreat was stolen by Qiu Luan.

Training the whole army

When Ma Fang was a guerrilla in Xuanfu, he reestablished the "Army War sitting method", stipulating that in the face of war, the enemy should not be afraid of the former, and the rear should not be afraid of the former, while the generals should not be afraid of the former, and the soldiers should be afraid of the former, and the generals should not be afraid of the former. In every war, the soldiers should still take the lead in fighting against the enemy's front, attracting their subordinates to fight for their. In the 31th year of Jiajing period (1552), Ma Fang played to the Ministry of war and proposed that "if we can dispatch all the Xuanfu's guest soldiers and defend the country with the villagers, we can get the tiger division." The Imperial Court adopted this proposal and recruited young soldiers to join the army in Shanxi Province. Ma Fang believed that "the quality of soldiers depends on the effect of training". He not only formulated strict regulations on reward and punishment management and training in the army, recruited local boxers and Mongolian soldiers as instructors, but also "personally carried out weapons and demonstrated fighting" in training. When Ma Fang was transferred to Xuanfu as a guerrilla, he ordered his own soldiers to conduct secret investigation in the army. He punished more than 20 generals who abused soldiers and deducted their salaries. For a time, his military discipline was greatly improved. After he was promoted to the rank of chief soldier, he even issued strict regulations, stipulating that generals who abuse soldiers should be punished with at least 80 military staff, and those who embezzle military provisions should not only be punished severely, but also be confiscated of their property. In order to prevent the local dignitaries from transferring soldiers to be slaves, Ma Fang "drew a sword at a dignitary in Shanxi Province" and finally forced him to return more than 300 enlisted soldiers. Ma Fang also selected dozens of the most powerful men from his soldiers to form the "family soldiers", which played a huge role in the subsequent wars.

Ma Fang once told Zhao Jinyan, Minister of the Ministry of war, that the Ming army was "incomparable" with the Mongolian army in three aspects: first, the Mongolian army was "born with riding and shooting, skillful in bowing and riding"; second, it was "coming and going quickly, taking care of one and losing the other"; third, it was "living in no fixed place, advancing and retreating freely". In order to solve these "incomparable" problems, he did not propose to give priority to defense and build side walls to stop the enemy's attack as other generals did at that time. On the contrary, he creatively put forward the operational idea of "riding by riding". First of all, combined with the "stacked array" of Wu Xun in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Ming army's advantage in firearms technology was brought into play, and large-scale firearms were assembled for the cavalry in the border towns. During the war, the firearm cavalry, cavalry, and swordsmen cooperated with each other and repeatedly attacked and killed, so as to "make up for the shortcomings of cavalry and shooting". It was at this time that the Ming cavalry was equipped with large-scale "three eye blunderbuss" and "five eye blunderbuss". In terms of operational thinking, Ma Fang made full use of "fast control" and advocated that in winter and spring, elite cavalry should be sent to form a small team to carry out anti assault on the Mongolian grassland, aiming at robbing horses and burning grassland, so as to destroy the Mongolian combat resources to the maximum extent. When the Mongolian army invades the south, it should not close the door and defend passively, but should make a long-distance attack and break the line The purpose is to eliminate the back roads of the Mongolian army and gather and annihilate the effective forces of the Mongolian army. As he himself said, "the key to conquering captivity is to anticipate the enemy's first move. If the enemy wants to move, I will move first. The way to win is to take advantage of the advantages of our firearm riding and shooting, to overcome the disadvantages of the enemy's Crossbow riding and shooting, and to hit the enemy heavily on the fortress."

Ma Fang's proposal attracted the attention of the government and the public. As early as when he was a general, Xia Yang, the censor, impeached him for his "arrogant soldiers and brave generals, taking credit and fighting greedily." Zhao Yingkui, the war minister of the Ministry of war, even denounced his tactics of "controlling riding by riding" as "fishing for fame, not knowing border affairs." As an official, Ma Fang was quite incorruptible. When Qiu Luan, commander in chief of Xuanda, was in office, the local generals in Shanxi always gave gifts according to the custom, which was called "winter gift". Ma Fang not only didn't participate in it, but also often found excuses to avoid it. After Qiu Luan was convicted, Yang Shun, the succeeding governor of Xuanda, would only shut up for peace when the Mongolian cavalry invaded him. He would only pursue after the enemy retreated. Moreover, he often ordered his subordinates to slaughter the fleeing people, shave their hair and pretend to be Mongolian soldiers. Ma Fang angrily resisted this behavior, and strictly ordered his subordinates to "kill those who dare to follow suit". Because of his incorruptness, Qiu Luan took the credit for his surprise attack on Altan, while Yang Shun also implicated him in being punished for "the defeat of zuolinian". Although Ma Fang does not seem to understand human feelings, she is actually quite knowledgeable. He didn't "honor" Qiu Luan, because he knew that Qiu Luan was "rebellious and greedy, and it was difficult for him to live long." Boycotting Yang Shun's "killing Liang" is more because he understands that this move "will bring resentment, and it will be difficult to get rid of it.". In fact, Du Yushi Fang Fengshi and several military ministers Wang bangrui and Zhao Jin all made friends with him. Later, Wang Chonggu, a famous general who was the governor of Xuanda, even regarded Ma Fang as a close friend.

Every time Ma Fang guards a place, he not only pays attention to military training and defense, but also pays attention to collecting local rare local products to present to the "superiors". Therefore, every time he selects generals for military training and reorganizes armaments, he gives them "excellent soldiers and good weapons". Yan Shifan, the son of Yan Song, a powerful minister, was also quite afraid of Ma Fang. He once warned Yang Shundao: "although Ma Fang is simple and straightforward on the surface, solid and thin as hair, he also has a strategic mind, so he should not lead him to hatred."

Turn to tartar

At this time, Altan invaded the Ming border and destroyed numerous fortresses since the resumption of the war in 1551, especially in 1553. From February to October, Altan invaded Xuanfu, Datong, Yansui, Ningxia and Gansu military defense areas of the Ming Dynasty in a series of ways, where "the military fortresses were destroyed, the Treasuries were plundered and the Li Dynasty was destroyed." There are countless exiles. During this period, dozens of officers at all levels, including the general, the general and the commander of the Ming army, died in the war, and the army suffered heavy losses.

At the same time, Ma Fang began to fight back. In the 34th year of Jiajing (1555), Altan did the same trick again, bypassing the Xuanda defense line and leading cavalry to the Huairou area outside the capital of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the capital police and tens of thousands of reinforcements were afraid of Altan's military power and were afraid to fight. In a critical situation, Ma Fang, who was still a general, launched a surprise attack and led his two thousand elite riders to Baoan (Hebei Zhuolu) to fight with him

Chinese PinYin : Ma Fang