Another week, another conspiracy against Cao Cao, and another evil-woman trope.

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Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 71.

Last time, we left off with Cao Cao entertaining thoughts of launching another campaign against the South to put down Sun Quan and Liu Bei before they became too much trouble. But first, he wanted to eliminate a longtime thorn in his side — Ma Teng, a general who was stationed in Xiliang, which was in the northwestern borderlands of the empire. Ma Teng, along with Liu Bei, had been part of a failed conspiracy to assassinate Cao Cao years ago, and the fact that he had a sizable army in the west had always kept Cao Cao up at night. So Cao Cao decided to use a little trickery: He was going to send an imperial decree giving Ma Teng a promotion and putting him in charge of leading a campaign against the South. This would give Cao Cao a chance to lure Ma Teng to the capital and get rid of him.

So let’s pause for a moment and give you a little background on Ma Teng. He was the descendant of one of the most famous generals of the Han Dynasty. His father had been a justice of the peace in a county in the west during the reign of Emperor Huan (2), which was now more than four decades ago. His father later lost his office and was stranded in the west, where he took up with the Jiang (1) people, a powerful borderland tribe, and Ma Teng was the product of a marriage between his father and a woman of the Jiang tribe.

Ma Teng grew up to be tall, strong, even-tempered, and well-respected. During the final years of the reign of Emperor Ling (2) — so about 20 years ago — there were frequent attempts by the Jiang people to throw off the yoke of the Han, and Ma Teng raised a local militia to put down these uprisings. For this service, he was named the General who Conquers the West. He was close with Han (2) Sui (4), another general who was stationed in the west, and the two men became sworn brothers. This is important to know because Han Sui will soon become a key player in the next little part of our narrative.

 

So that’s the background on Ma Teng. Now, back to where we left off, which was around the year 210 or 211. Cao Cao’s imperial decree arrived in Xiliang, and upon receiving it, Ma Teng discussed the matter with his eldest son, Ma Chao (1), whom we first met back in episode 13 as a teenager who was already a fearsome warrior.

“I once answered the emperor’s jade girdle decree and joined Dong (3) Cheng (2) and Liu Bei in an attempt to kill Cao Cao,” Ma Teng told his son. “Unfortunately, Dong Cheng (2) was executed, and Liu Bei suffered one defeat after another. Being out here in Xiliang, I haven’t been able to help Liu Bei. But now I hear that he has taken Jing (1) Province. I was just about to take up our old cause again, but now Cao Cao is summoning me. What should I do?”

“Father, Cao Cao is summoning you in the name of the emperor, so if you don’t go, he would accuse us of disobeying his majesty,” Ma Chao said. “You should take this opportunity to go to the capital and fulfill your mission.”

However, Ma Teng’s nephew, Ma Dai (4), advised caution. “Cao Cao is unpredictable. Uncle, if you go, you might be in danger.”

“Father, I am willing to mobilize all the forces of Xiliang and accompany you,” Ma Chao said. “We will storm into Xuchang and rid the land of an evil.