Ma Yin

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Ma Yin claimed descent from Ma Yuan, the Eastern Han General Who Calms the Waves, but the claim lacks firm evidence and was more likely a later association with an illustrious lineage after his rise to power. By the late Tang, his family were ordinary commoners living in difficult circumstances. Ma Yin did not receive an extensive education when young, but learned carpentry and supported himself as a woodworker. The historical record is extremely brief on his early life. The *Old History of the Five Dynasties* says only that he “worked as a carpenter when young,” illustrating his humble origins, similar to those of many founding rulers who rose from military service in the Five Dynasties period.

In 884, the fourth year of Zhonghe, the warlord Qin Zongquan, based at Caizhou (present-day Runan, Henan), rebelled and expanded his power in all directions. Ma Yin enlisted and was placed in the forces of Sun Ru, commander of the Zhongwu “Decisive Victory” unit, and Liu Jianfeng, commander of the “Dragon-Soaring” unit, which were fighting remnants of Huang Chao's forces. Ma Yin was known for bravery in battle and gradually came to prominence. During this period, he developed close relationships with Liu Jianfeng and Zhang Ji, laying the foundation for their later cooperation.

Campaigns in the Jiang-Huai Region

In 887, the third year of Guangqi, Qin Zongquan sent his younger brother Qin Zongheng as chief commander, with Sun Ru as deputy, leading 30,000 troops south into Huainan to contend with Yang Xingmi for Yangzhou. As one of Sun Ru's subordinates, Ma Yin went south with the army and began several years of warfare across the Jiang-Huai region. Soon afterward Sun Ru and Qin Zongheng quarreled. Sun Ru killed Qin Zongheng, took command himself, captured Gaoyou, and drove Yang Xingmi out. Sun Ru's power then became considerable for a time, and he besieged Yang Xingmi at Xuanzhou (present-day Xuancheng, Anhui).

In 891, the second year of Dashun, Ma Yin was ordered to lead troops against Yang Xingmi's general Tian Jun and defeated him. He then followed Liu Jianfeng in garrisoning Changzhou before being transferred to Xuanzhou to participate in the siege of Yang Xingmi. The situation changed abruptly in 892, the first year of Jingfu, when Yang Xingmi attacked while disease was spreading through Sun Ru's army. Sun Ru was defeated, captured, and killed, and most of his troops surrendered to Yang Xingmi. Liu Jianfeng and Ma Yin gathered 7,000 surviving troops and, unwilling to surrender, decided to move south and seek a new base. They chose Liu Jianfeng as commander, Ma Yin as vanguard commander, and Zhang Ji as chief strategist, and turned toward Yuzhang (present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi). They recruited along the way and had more than 100,000 followers by the time they reached Jiangxi.

Establishing a Base in Hunan

In 894, the first year of Qianning, Liu Jianfeng and Ma Yin entered Hunan and encamped at Liling. To block them, Deng Chuna, military governor of Wuan Circuit, sent Jiang Xun and Deng Jichong, commanders from Shaozhou (present-day Shaoyang, Hunan), with 3,000 troops to hold Longhui Pass east of present-day Changsha. Ma Yin reached the pass first and sent an envoy to persuade Jiang Xun to surrender, offering wealth and an honorable return home. Jiang Xun and the others were indeed tempted and abandoned the pass. Liu Jianfeng ordered the vanguard to put on Shaozhou uniforms and carry Shaozhou banners before marching directly toward Tanzhou (present-day Changsha). The defenders believed that frontier troops were returning and opened the gates without preparation. Liu Jianfeng entered the government compound, captured and killed Deng Chuna, and declared himself acting military governor of Wuan Circuit. In 895, the second year of Qianning, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang formally appointed Liu Jianfeng military governor of Wuan Circuit and Ma Yin commander-in-chief of the internal and external infantry and cavalry.

After gaining power, however, Liu Jianfeng showed little ambition, drank heavily, neglected government, and often drank with his personal troops. In the fourth month of 896, the third year of Qianning, Liu Jianfeng had an affair with the wife of his subordinate Chen Shan and was killed by Chen Shan with an iron cudgel. After the generals killed Chen Shan, they invited army adjutant Zhang Ji to serve as acting military governor. Zhang Ji fell from a horse and injured himself on the way to the headquarters, while Ma Yin was away campaigning against Shaozhou. Zhang Ji therefore told the generals: “Lord Ma is brave and resourceful and treats people generously. He is better suited than I to be commander.” Ma Yin hesitated after hearing the news. His confidant Yao Yanzhang urged him: “You, Commander Liu, and Adjutant Zhang have been as one. Now Commander Liu has met disaster and Adjutant Zhang has injured his thigh. Heaven's mandate and men's hopes belong to no one but you.” Ma Yin ordered Li Qiong to continue the campaign against Shaozhou and rode through the night back to Tanzhou. Zhang Ji yielded the acting governorship to him and led the generals in paying formal homage, thereby establishing the ruler–minister relationship. Before long the Tang court appointed Ma Yin Prefect of Tanzhou and placed him in charge of Hunan military affairs.

Unification of Hunan

In 898, the first year of Guanghua, Ma Yin was appointed acting military governor of Wuan Circuit. At that time the circuit contained seven prefectures. Beyond Tanzhou and Shaozhou, Yang Shiyuan held Hengzhou (present-day Hengyang, Hunan), Tang Shimin held Yongzhou (present-day Lingling, Hunan), Cai Jie held Daozhou (present-day Dao County, Hunan), Chen Yanqian held Chenzhou, and Lu Jingren held Lianzhou (present-day Lian County, Guangdong). General Yao Yanzhang recommended recovering the five prefectures and proposed Li Qiong as commander. Ma Yin therefore ordered Li Qiong, Qin Yanhui, Zhang Tuying, Li Tang, and others to attack Hengzhou. They killed Yang Shiyuan and then besieged Yongzhou for more than a month, after which Tang Shimin fled and died. In 899, the second year of Guanghua, Li Tang captured Daozhou. Cai Jie gathered indigenous troops and resisted from difficult terrain. Li Tang ordered the mountains set on fire; the troops panicked and fled, and Daozhou fell. Li Qiong then captured Chenzhou and Lianzhou, completing Ma Yin's pacification of Hunan.

In 900, the third year of Guanghua, Liu Shizheng, military governor of Jingjiang Circuit, sent Chen Kefan and Wang Jianwu to station troops at Quanyi Ridge (the present-day Yuecheng Mountains) against Ma Yin. Ma Yin attempted to establish friendly relations with Liu Shizheng and sent an envoy, but Chen Kefan turned him back at the frontier. Enraged, Ma Yin ordered Li Qiong to attack with 7,000 troops. Li Qiong captured Chen Kefan and more than 2,000 of his soldiers, all of whom were buried alive, and then besieged Guizhou. Liu Shizheng was captured, and Ma Yin took Guizhou, Yizhou, Yanzhou, Xiangzhou, Liuzhou, and other prefectures under his rule. In 901, the fourth year of Guanghua, Ma Yin was formally appointed military governor of Wuan Circuit. In 902, the second year of Tianfu, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang additionally granted him the designation Participant in Determining Government Matters.

Establishment as Prince of Chu

In 903, the third year of Tianfu, Yang Xingmi sent Liu Cun to attack Du Hong, military governor of Wuchang Circuit, and besiege Ezhou (present-day Wuchang, Hubei). Du Hong appealed to Zhu Wen for aid. Zhu Wen ordered Ma Yin, Cheng Rui of Jingnan, and Lei Yanwei of Wuzhen to send relief forces. Ma Yin dispatched Qin Yanhui and Xu Dexun with a naval force. At the same time, he sent Xu Dexun to cooperate with Lei Yanwei's subordinate Ouyang Si and plunder Cheng Rui's headquarters at Jiangling while Cheng Rui was away aiding Du Hong. Cheng Rui's army lost cohesion and was eventually defeated by Yang Xingmi's general Li Shenfu; Cheng Rui drowned himself. Soon afterward Du Hong was defeated and killed, and Liu Cun turned against Ma Yin. Qin Yanhui repeatedly repelled him. Liu Cun wrote to Ma Yin seeking peace, and Ma Yin initially wished to accept, but Qin Yanhui warned: “The Huainan men are full of deceit. They intend to make our troops relax. They cannot be trusted.” Ma Yin therefore pressed the attack. His subordinate commander Huang Fan hid 300 boats at the mouth of the Liuyang River and cut across the river for a combined attack. Liu Cun was decisively defeated; both he and Chen Zhixin were killed, and Ma Yin captured Yuezhou (present-day Yueyang, Hunan).

In 907, the first year of Kaiping, Zhu Wen replaced the Tang and established Later Liang. Ma Yin sent tribute and was appointed Palace Attendant and Secretariat Director and enfeoffed as Prince of Chu. He was soon made concurrently military governor of Wuchang Circuit and commissioner for campaigns and pacification in the region. In the ninth month of that year, Zhu Wen stripped Lei Yangong, military governor of Wuzhen Circuit, of his titles and ordered Ma Yin and Gao Jixing of Jingnan to campaign against him. Lei Yangong sought aid from Huainan but was defeated by Xu Dexun. Ma Yin then sent Qin Yanhui against Langzhou (present-day Changde, Hunan). Lei Yangong fled to Huainan, while his younger brother Lei Yanxiong and others were captured. The indigenous communities of Lizhou, Chenzhou, Xuzhou, and surrounding mountain valleys then submitted to Ma Yin. In 908, the second year of Kaiping, Gao Jixing stationed troops at Hankou and blocked Ma Yin's tribute envoys. Ma Yin sent Xu Dexun with a naval force against him, and Gao Jixing, frightened, asked for peace. Ma Yin also sent infantry commander Lü Shizhou against Lingnan. After more than ten battles with Liu Yin, military governor of Qinghai Circuit, Lü captured the six prefectures of Zhaozhou (present-day Pingle, Guangxi), Hezhou, Wuzhou, Mengzhou, Gongzhou, and Fuzhou.

In 910, the fourth year of Kaiping, Ma Yin requested permission to establish a Tiance headquarters following the precedent of Emperor Taizong of Tang and staff it with officials. He was appointed Supreme General of Tiance, made his younger brother Ma Zong left chancellor and Ma Cun right chancellor, and appointed Liao Guangtu and seventeen others as scholars. In 912, the second year of Qianhua, he was additionally made military governor of Wuan, Wuchang, Jingjiang, Ningyuan, and other circuits and commander-in-chief of the expeditionary armies around Hongzhou and Ezhou.

In 923, the first year of Tongguang, Emperor Zhuangzong Li Cunxu of Later Tang destroyed Later Liang. On hearing the news, Ma Yin ordered his son Ma Xifan to travel to court with tribute and surrender the commander-in-chief seal granted by Later Liang. In 924 he was made concurrently Director of the Department of State Affairs. In 925, after Zhuangzong conquered Former Shu, Ma Yin became deeply alarmed and submitted a memorial asking to retire, but Zhuangzong sent a sealed edict to reassure him and refused the request. In 926, the first year of Tiancheng, Li Siyuan became Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang. Ma Yin sent tribute and received the title acting Director of the Department of State Affairs.

In 927, the second year of Tiancheng, Emperor Mingzong appointed Li Xu, Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, as investiture envoy and sent him with imperial credentials and a bamboo patent to invest Ma Yin as King of the State of Chu. Officials noted that there was no established ritual for investing a state king and proposed using the bamboo patent employed for the Three Excellencies; the court followed the proposal. Ma Yin formally established the Chu state, erected palace buildings, created the full bureaucracy, made Tanzhou his capital, and renamed it Changsha Prefecture. He appointed Yao Yanzhang left chancellor, Xu Dexun right chancellor, Li Duo Minister over the Masses, Cui Ying Minister of Works, and Tuoba Heng Vice Director, among others.

Later Years and Death

In the third month of 929, the fourth year of Tiancheng, Ma Yin ordered his second son Ma Xisheng to supervise government and command all military affairs inside and outside the capital, with authority to act first and report afterward. In the seventh month, Ma Xisheng forged an order and falsely accused and killed the important adviser Gao Yu. Gao Yu had been a major strategist for Ma Yin and had contributed greatly to Chu's economic policy. His wrongful death became a major turning point in Chu's decline from prosperity.

Ma Yin died of illness in 930, the first year of Changxing, at the age of seventy-nine and was buried at Shanghuang in Hengyang. Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang suspended court for three days and granted him the posthumous title Prince Wumu. Ma Yin's final command called for his sons and brothers to succeed one another. Ma Xisheng, using his authority as deputy military governor, secretly had his general Ou Honglian falsely present an order in Ma Yin's name requesting that the Later Tang court appoint him as successor military governor. He therefore styled himself acting military governor. Following his father's instructions, he no longer used the state title Chu, reduced the ceremonial scale of the regime, and resumed the title of military governor. The Chu polity continued for another twenty-one years before it was destroyed by Southern Tang.

Major Activities

Unification of Hunan

Ma Yin's central achievement was the unification of Hunan. When he was chosen as acting military governor in 896, the third year of Qianning, he directly controlled only Tanzhou and Shaozhou; Heng, Yong, Dao, Chen, and Lian prefectures were held by local warlords. Beginning in 898, Ma Yin employed commanders such as Li Qiong and Qin Yanhui to eliminate Yang Shiyuan, Tang Shimin, Cai Jie, Chen Yanqian, and Lu Jingren, bringing all of Hunan under his control within two years. He then captured Guizhou and other prefectures of Jingjiang Circuit, extending his influence into northeastern present-day Guangxi. In 908, the second year of Kaiping, he sent Lü Shizhou to seize six Lingnan prefectures, bringing Chu to its greatest territorial extent, “holding Xiangtan, spanning the Gui passes, reaching Liu and Lian in the south, and shaking the Jiang and Han in the north.”

Defending the Realm and Reassuring the Population

During his rule, Ma Yin followed a policy summarized as “serving the Son of Heaven above and serving the soldiers and people below”: defending his territory and reassuring the population rather than initiating wars. After occupying Hunan in 898, he rarely began external conflicts. Several wars with Yang Wu were initiated by the other side, while fighting with Jingnan to the north remained relatively limited. This pragmatic external policy helped Chu avoid the costs of large-scale warfare during the Five Dynasties and created a peaceful environment for economic development.

Economic Development

Internally, Ma Yin adopted a series of measures to expand production and reduce burdens on the population. On the advice of Gao Yu, he followed a policy of “not taxing traveling merchants,” drawing traders from many regions and promoting commerce in Hunan. He also permitted people to pay taxes in silk rather than cash, both reducing opportunities for officials to increase levies and encouraging sericulture. Chu produced abundant tea; Ma Yin encouraged tea cultivation and used tea in trade with the Central Plains regimes in exchange for horses and silk. Chu also produced lead and iron. Ma Yin minted lead and iron money for circulation within his territory alongside copper coinage from the Central Plains, increasing the money supply. These economic policies made Chu one of the relatively prosperous regions of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Establishing the Tiance Headquarters

In 910, the fourth year of Kaiping, Ma Yin asked to establish a Tiance headquarters according to the precedent of Emperor Taizong of Tang and to appoint its staff. Emperor Taizu of Later Liang granted him the title Supreme General of Tiance. Ma Yin appointed his younger brother Ma Zong left chancellor, Ma Cun right chancellor, and Liao Guangtu and seventeen others as scholars. The establishment of the headquarters raised Chu's political standing and gathered a group of literati who supported the development of its institutions.

Investiture as King of the State of Chu

In 927, the second year of Tiancheng, Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang invested Ma Yin as King of the State of Chu, marking the peak of his political career. Because the officials could find no established ritual for investing a state king, they recommended following the practice for the Three Excellencies and using a bamboo patent. Mingzong therefore sent Li Xu, Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, as investiture envoy with imperial credentials and the bamboo patent. Ma Yin formally established the Chu state, built palaces, created the bureaucracy, made Tanzhou his capital, and renamed it Changsha Prefecture. The source treats this as a particularly elevated investiture among the southern regional regimes of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and as the formal establishment of Ma Chu.

Relations with Contemporaries

Ma Yin's relations with surrounding regimes shifted repeatedly. He maintained a tributary relationship with Zhu Wen, Emperor Taizu of Later Liang, who enfeoffed him as Prince of Chu. After Later Tang destroyed Later Liang, he quickly transferred his allegiance, sent his son with tribute, surrendered the commander-in-chief seal, and was eventually invested as King of the State of Chu. He fought repeatedly with Yang Wu and in 903 defeated Liu Cun and captured Yuezhou. His relations with Gao Jixing of Jingnan alternated between fighting and accommodation, including a campaign after Gao blocked his tribute envoys. He fought Liu Yin of Qinghai Circuit, founder of Southern Han, in more than ten battles and captured six Lingnan prefectures. One of Ma Yin's daughters married Liu Yan of Southern Han and became empress, while another married Qian Chuanxu, son of Qian Liu of Wuyue, using marriage alliances to maintain relations with neighboring regimes.

His career can be set out by year: in 908 (second year of Kaiping), at fifty-six, he sent commanders to take the six Lingnan prefectures of Zhao, He, Wu, Meng, Gong and Fu; in 910 (fourth year of Kaiping), at fifty-eight, he was appointed generalissimo of the heavenly strategy with a headquarters and academicians; in 923 (first year of Tongguang), at seventy-one, the Later Tang destroyed the Liang and he sent his son Ma Xifan with tribute and surrendered his seal as commander-in-chief; in 927 (second year of Tiancheng), at seventy-five, the Later Tang invested him as King of Chu, and he formally founded the state with a full bureaucracy; in 929 (fourth year of Tiancheng), at seventy-seven, his second son Ma Xisheng forged an order to kill his adviser Gao Yu; and in 930 (first year of Changxing), at seventy-nine, he died with the posthumous title Prince Wumu. His passage from a late Tang provincial commander to King of Chu is an instance of a Ten Kingdoms regime obtaining recognition from a Central Plain dynasty in the early Five Dynasties.

As to the institutions of Chu, the headquarters of the heavenly strategy with its academicians and its full bureaucracy show that the regime had been adopting dynastic-scale structures even before Central Plain investiture; and the killing of his adviser in his last years shows that his sons' contest for power had already begun in his lifetime.

The thread of his foreign relations is the investitures of the Later Liang and the Later Tang.

The arrangements for the succession in his last years were full of uncertainty: his second son Ma Xisheng forged an order to kill his adviser while he still lived, his sons afterwards contended for the throne, and Chu fell into disorder soon after his death, finally destroyed by the Southern Tang, a course to which his own handling in old age contributed.

His state of Chu drew its revenue from commerce and the tea tax, and modelled its institutions on those of the Central Plain dynasties.

His foreign relations and domestic institutions together make up the process by which Chu passed from a provincial command to a state, while the killing of his adviser and the rivalry of his sons in his last years planted the seeds of the disorder that followed.

The headquarters of the heavenly strategy and its academicians reflect the value Chu placed on civil government.

The bureaucracy he established after his investiture as King of Chu largely followed Central Plain models.

The state lasted through his sons and was destroyed by the Southern Tang in 951.

His posthumous title Prince Wumu accords with his military achievements.

His state of Chu was among the later of the Ten Kingdoms to be founded, but its institutions and ceremonial were comparatively complete.

After his investiture as King of Chu his sons, Ma Xifan among them, shared the civil and military administration.

His relations with his neighbours Wu, the Southern Han and Jingnan are also recorded.

His state of Chu centred on Changsha, a position commanding the Xiang river.

The tea tax and coinage of his reign appear in the records of the Ten Kingdoms.

He reigned for thirty years, among the longer reigns of the Ten Kingdoms rulers.

The headquarters of the heavenly strategy, its academicians and the full bureaucracy he established show that Chu had been adopting dynastic-scale structures even before Central Plain investiture, while his practice of combining campaigns against neighbours with tribute missions reflects the way Ten Kingdoms regimes survived in the early Five Dynasties.

His measures and the sharing of office among his sons form the basic pattern of Chu.

His campaigns abroad were chiefly frontier contests with Chu, Wu and the Southern Han.

His investiture as King of Chu came in the second year of Tiancheng, after which Chu could establish a full bureaucracy.

His posthumous title and tomb are recorded in the sources of the Ten Kingdoms.

His thirty years saw the gradual completion of Chu's institutions.

Its institutions and its relations with neighbours developed together.

The state lasted through his sons into the later Five Dynasties.

Personal Relations

• Ma Zong: younger brother, military governor of Jingjiang Circuit
• Ma Cun: younger brother, right chancellor
• Ma Xizhen: eldest son, military governor of Wushun Circuit, later became a Daoist monk
• Ma Xisheng: second son, Prince of Hengyang and successor
• Ma Xifan: fourth son, Prince Wenzhao, later succeeded to rule
• Ma Xiwang: son, commander of the personal-followers unit
• Ma Xigao: son, military governor of Jingjiang with the designation Participant in Determining Government Matters
• Ma Xizhan: son, military governor of Jingjiang Circuit
• Ma Xie: thirtieth son, Prince Gongxiao, later succeeded to rule
• Ma Xiguang: thirty-fifth son, deposed prince, later succeeded to rule
• Ma Xichong: son, later surrendered to Southern Tang
• Ma Xineng: son, General-in-Chief of the Left Garrison Guard
• Ma Xiguan: son, General-in-Chief of the Qianniu Guard
• Ma Xijun: son, army adjutant to the military governor
• Ma Xizhi: son, army adjutant to the military governor
• Ma Xiyin: son, deputy military governor of Jingjiang
• Ma Xilang: son, army adjutant to the military governor
• Empress Ma: daughter, empress of Liu Yan of Southern Han
• Lady Ma: daughter, wife of Qian Chuanxu, son of Qian Liu of Wuyue
• Liu Jianfeng: former commander; entered Hunan with Ma Yin and was later killed by a subordinate
• Zhang Ji: strategist who yielded leadership to Ma Yin
• Yao Yanzhang: confidant who urged Ma Yin to accept leadership and later served as left chancellor
• Li Qiong: general who captured the five Hunan prefectures and Jingjiang Circuit
• Qin Yanhui: general who captured Yuezhou and Langzhou
• Xu Dexun: general, later right chancellor
• Gao Yu: important adviser, later killed on a forged order by Ma Xisheng
• Lü Shizhou: infantry commander who captured six Lingnan prefectures
• Li Tang: subordinate general who captured Daozhou
• Zhang Tuying: subordinate general who helped capture Hengzhou
• Tuoba Heng: Vice Director, known for forthrightness and principled speech
• Emperor Zhaozong of Tang: appointed Ma Yin military governor of Wuan Circuit
• Zhu Wen / Emperor Taizu of Later Liang: enfeoffed Ma Yin as Prince of Chu
• Li Cunxu / Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang: received Ma Yin's tribute
• Li Siyuan / Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang: invested Ma Yin as King of the State of Chu
• Yang Xingmi: founder of Southern Wu, contested the Jiang-Huai region with Ma Yin
• Liu Cun: Yang Wu general defeated and killed by Ma Yin's forces
• Deng Chuna: military governor of Wuan Circuit, killed by Liu Jianfeng and Ma Yin
• Liu Shizheng: military governor of Jingjiang Circuit, captured by Ma Yin
• Liu Yin: military governor of Qinghai Circuit, fought Ma Yin more than ten times
• Gao Jixing: military governor of Jingnan, alternately fought and made peace with Ma Yin
• Lei Yangong: military governor of Wuzhen Circuit, attacked by Ma Yin

Historical Assessment

Five Dynasties / Contemporary

• Zhang Ji: “Lord Ma is brave and resourceful and treats people generously. He is better suited than I to be commander.” (*Zizhi Tongjian*)
• Zhou Yuchong: “Yin was generous and broad-minded, and his men were willing to fight to the death for him.” (*New Record of the Three Chu*)
• Yao Yanzhang: “You, Commander Liu, and Adjutant Zhang are as one. Now Commander Liu has met disaster and Adjutant Zhang has injured his thigh. Heaven's mandate and men's hopes—if they do not belong to you, to whom could they belong?” (*Zizhi Tongjian*)

Song and Yuan Periods

• Tao Yue: “At the end of the Tang, Ma Yin occupied Hunan and styled himself Prince of Chu. His sons in their residences were extravagant and arrogant, with imposing retinues, paying no attention to civil or military principles; people of the time called them wine sacks and rice bags.” (*Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties*) The source text notes that this judgment focuses particularly on the extravagance of Ma Yin's sons, though it also carries criticism of Ma Yin himself.
• Xue Juzheng: “Yin worked as a carpenter when young. When the Cai rebel Qin Zongquan caused disorder, he first enlisted in the army.” (*Old History of the Five Dynasties*) This records his origins and early military service.
• Ouyang Xiu: “Yin then requested permission, following the precedent of Emperor Taizong of Tang, to open the Tiance headquarters and appoint its staff.” (*New History of the Five Dynasties*)

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wu Renchen wrote in *Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms*: “Can the rise of a state fail to rely on the strength of military ministers? Prince Wumu rose from the ranks; the Dragon-Soaring commander led the way and the adjutant pushed his carriage forward. This indeed involved Heaven's favor, but Qiong's fierce courage, Yu's planning, Dexun's decisive authority, Yanhui's resolve, Huan's deep wisdom and courage, and Heng's forthright integrity—all were talents of generals and ministers of their age. Clinging to the dragon's scales and attaching themselves to the phoenix's wings, together they opened the hegemonic enterprise, so that Chu held Xiangtan, crossed the Gui passes, reached Liu and Lian in the south, and shook the Jiang and Han in the north. Had Bohai not pressed on its gateway and Pengcheng not lain close as a neighbor, the broad power of this regional state might have been complete. Yet there was no worthy heir to preserve the house; the warning of many colts fighting over the stable was fulfilled, meritorious ministers died unjustly, and the state declined with them. In leaving prosperity to his descendants, Prince Wumu had cause for shame.” The passage praises Ma Yin's role in founding the state but laments the succession struggles and wrongful deaths that followed.

Modern Assessments

Modern historians generally regard Ma Yin as one of the more successful regional rulers of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. His policies of defending his territory, reassuring the population, and developing the economy helped Hunan remain relatively stable and prosperous amid general disorder. Some scholars have noted that his policy of “not taxing traveling merchants” and his reform allowing taxes to be paid in silk promoted commerce and sericulture. Other assessments emphasize that he did not resolve the succession effectively: his instruction that sons and brothers succeed one another helped sow the seeds of later conflict within Ma Chu. The death of Gao Yu marked the beginning of the state's decline, and Ma Yin's control of government had already weakened markedly in his final years.