At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the heroes competed for the Central Plains. However, under the fierce competition, the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu finally formed a three-legged pattern. Among them, as far as Cao Cao is concerned, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he held the emperor to make the princes and wiped out many separatist forces such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, Ma Chao, Han Sui and Liu Biao. It is worth noting that Ma Teng mentioned in this article can also be said to be a vassal destroyed by Cao Cao. Mink (? -2 12), the word is kept. Fufeng Maoling (now Xingping, Shaanxi) was a vassal in Liangzhou, a separatist region in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and also a descendant of Fu Bo General Ma Yuan. In the 13th year of Jian 'an (208), Ma Teng gave up his military forces and came to Yecheng.

In this regard, Cao Cao named Ma Teng as Wei Yan, his son Ma Chao as a partial general, replaced Ma Teng to lead the troops, stayed in the same place, and named his son Matthew as the captain of the car, Ma Tie as the captain of the horse, and moved to Yecheng with his family. In the sixteenth year of Jian 'an (2 1 1), in March, Ma Chao, Han Sui and other ten units, claiming to be 100,000 troops, stationed in Tongguan to resist Cao who wanted to attack Hanzhong, and were defeated by Cao Cao in September of the same year. In the seventeenth year of Jian 'an (2 12), Ma Chao attacked Longshang, besieging Liangzhou secretariat Weikang. In May of the same year, Marten was killed and wiped out by the three clans. Then, the question is, Ma Teng, Ma Chao's father, why did he voluntarily give up his military forces and become a hostage in Cao Cao's hands?

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First of all, in 208 AD, Ma Teng gave up his military forces and came to Yecheng controlled by Cao Cao, which means that he became a hostage in Cao Cao's hands, so as to threaten Ma Chao and urge him to get the boat. Marten, as a vassal, can completely separate one side, that is, he doesn't have to be a hostage in Cao Cao's hands. So in 208 AD, when Cao Cao wanted to recruit Ma Teng as an official, the latter was also very hesitant and tangled. Of course, in the end, Marten came to the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty and served as the official position of Wei. Wei Wei, who started in Qin Dynasty, was one of the ministers of Jiupin, followed by the Han Dynasty, and was an official who commanded the guards and guarded the palace. In this regard, in my opinion, the post of Wei Yan held by Marten is obviously a virtual post, that is, Cao Cao will never hand over the imperial army to Marten.

On this basis, after Marten came to Yecheng, he was not only watched by Cao Cao's men everywhere, but also lost the initiative to his own life, that is, Marten's life was completely in Cao Cao's hands. However, for Marten's sake, he resolutely came to the Eastern Han court. In this regard, in my opinion, the reasons why Marten made this principle are mainly divided into the following points. On the one hand, this is because Cao Cao held the emperor to make the princes, leaving Marten with no excuse to refuse. In the first year of Jian 'an (196), in August, Cao Cao greeted the Han Emperor. 19 1 1 year, Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty appointed Cao Cao as Qiu, which recorded this history. Geng Shen moved the capital to Xu County. In Xu Bing in November, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty made Cao Cao a commonplace, riding a car and a general. From then on, Cao gave orders in the name of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty.

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Therefore, in 208 AD, it was not Cao Cao who recruited Ma Teng to be an official in the DPRK, but the Eastern Han Dynasty court where Emperor Xian of Han was located, and let Ma Teng serve as Wei Yan in the court. Obviously, if Marten refuses, he will not listen to the orders of the Eastern Han Dynasty court, and even be labeled as a traitor by Cao Cao, thus giving Cao Cao a reason to send troops to crusade against Marten's forces. As early as the seventh year of Jian 'an (202), Yuan Shao died, and his son Yuan Shang wanted to unite Marten and Han Sui. Marten pretended to promise him, but Marten secretly sided with Cao Cao.

Soon after, Ma Teng sent his son Ma Chao to lead more than 10,000 people to help Zhong You, defeated Guo Si's reinforcements, and Ma Chao's subordinate Pound personally killed him on the battlefield. Cao Cao expressed his admiration for Ma Teng as the South General and Han Sui as the West General. Before 208 AD, Marten had accepted the official position granted by the Eastern Han Dynasty court, so nominally, Marten naturally needed to accept the orders of the Eastern Han Dynasty court. On the other hand, from the perspective of strength, Marten has no confidence to fight against Cao Cao. In 208 AD, Cao Cao had basically unified the northern Central Plains and led his army to pacify Jingzhou. Although Battle of Red Cliffs Cao Cao was defeated by the allied forces composed of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, this did not change the pattern that Cao Cao was the most powerful vassal at that time.