In the face of Ma Xifan's various absurd practices, there were also righteous officials in the court who spoke out and remonstrated.
For example, Comrade Tuoba Heng, the founding father of the country. Tuoba Heng is not from the Xianbei tribe. His original surname is "Yuan", which was changed to avoid taboos (Ma Yin's father, Ma Yuanfeng), but he doesn't understand why it is so different. Tuoba Heng had followed Ma Yin a long time ago, advised Ma Yin, and made great contributions to the founding of Nanchu.
When Ma Xifan opened his mansion, eighteen people including Tuoba Heng and Liao Kuangtu were the bachelors of Tiance Mansion, among which Tuoba Heng ranked first.
Seeing how corrupted Ma Xifan was, Tuoba Heng couldn't help but go to court to advise him, saying that Your Highness, you have grown up in a deep palace since childhood and have not experienced the experience of your fathers. You don't know the labor of farming, and you don't hear the sound of war drums. You spend all day in the palace with carved beams and painted buildings, pursuing pleasure without any thought of progress, drinking in wine and meat, and being intoxicated with money and money. Seeing that the treasury is about to be squandered, not only do you not know how to restrain yourself, but you levy excessive taxes and sell your official position;
Nowadays, we are surrounded by powerful enemies, and Huainan is our feuding country; the Southern Han Dynasty also has the ambition to devour us; Jingnan monitors our every move day and night; and the barbarians in the west are also waiting for us to relax. As the saying goes, foot cold hurts the heart, and people's resentment hurts the country...
At the end of the poem, Tuoba Heng implored Ma Xifan to cancel exorbitant taxes and stop large-scale construction projects. Otherwise, if something bad happens, he will be laughed at by neighboring countries.
Ma Xifan was very angry after seeing it. No answer to this.
Tuoba Heng simply came to Ma Xifan himself and wanted to talk to him face to face.
When Ma Xifan heard that he was coming, he hurriedly ordered the doorman: Don't let him in, I don't want to see him.
Tuoba Heng waited outside the door for a long time, but was still refused access. Finally, Tuoba Heng shook his head and sighed, and said to the guard: "Your Majesty is willful and will not listen to honest advice. I think the Ma family is about to be in disaster!"
After Ma Xifan heard about it, he became even more angry and issued an order: I will never see him again in this life!
Ding Sijin, a former general of the Ma Yin tribe, was very talented. He also wrote a letter to advise, saying that the late king started from scratch as a small soldier, survived a life of nine deaths, and went through many difficulties and dangers before he established this land. He had thousands of miles of land and ten soldiers. Wan, today you are in the dust (referring to the battle between Jin and Liao), you should send troops to Jingxiang, go to the capital to serve the king, and become the hegemony of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin! And what about you now? It consumes the country's resources and is poor in civil engineering, and it is full of sensuality and dogs and horses!
Ma Xifan was furious and ordered Ding Sijin to be removed from all official positions and titles.
Ding Sijin also took the risk and stared at Ma Xifan fiercely (this was a capital offense at that time). After a long time, she squeezed out a sentence through her teeth, "The child cannot be taught!"
After returning home, Ding Sijin was extremely lonely. He said to his family sadly and angrily: "Confucius said, 'A gentleman has no reputation when he dies.' It means that a gentleman is most afraid of death when he does not leave a good reputation. Now, the world is in chaos. I can't make meritorious deeds, am I just greedy for these shabby houses?"
The family comforted her, but Ding Sijin had closed her eyes and stopped talking. Only hot tears flowed silently from the corners of her eyes. He misses the late king Ma Yin, and misses the days when they fought side by side and made achievements. He doesn't want to see the young master perish, let alone see the Ma family's foundation destroyed, and that day will come soon. He really couldn't bear to witness it with his own eyes.
In the dead of night, Ding Sijin committed suicide with infinite regret and unwillingness.
Tuoba Heng and Ding Sijin were both revolutionary veterans who contributed to the founding of the country. They followed Ma Yin to conquer the world. They were respected old comrades. Ma Xifan did not dare to physically eliminate them. He was not so polite to others.
Dai Yan, a famous cultural influencer and hermit in Southern Chu, named himself Xuanhuang Ziren. His ancestral home was Shengzhou (now Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province). In the late Tang Dynasty, he escaped from the war and fled to Xiangyin (now Xiangyin County, Hunan Province). Therefore, some historical materials ( Such as "Zizhi Tongjian") generally says that he is from Xiangyin. This guy is good at reciting poems and writing lyrics, especially satirical poems. In today's terms, he is a qualified Internet troll and keyboard warrior.
He witnessed the changes of Hunan people from prosperity to decline, and saw the people living in dire straits, so he wrote a hundred poems that satirized current affairs, bound them into a volume, and named them "Poems of the Fisherman".
One day, Comrade Ma Xifan accidentally read the "Hei Chu Bible" and "The Fisherman's Poems". He couldn't help but became furious. He turned around and asked his surroundings: "Who is Dai Yan?"
The people around him didn’t know his true intentions. They didn’t know whether he wanted to demote talented people in any way, or whether he wanted to take revenge, so they replied in a more moderate manner: "A poet with a lot of fans, but he lives a poor life." He is down and out. Your Majesty can just give him a position like joining the army or being in charge of the book."
When Ma Xifan heard what he said, he suddenly became enlightened and said: "Yes, yes, yes, he must be given an official position. Since he wrote "Poems of the Fisherman", then I will give him fishing." Then he ordered Dai Yan to be killed. The family was placed under house arrest in Bixiang Lake, and a secret order was given to the officers and soldiers guarding them: No one is allowed to approach them (no communication between public and private parties)!
In other words, Ma Xifan wanted to starve Dai Yan's family to death.
There are several different theories about Dai Yan's ending. One is that he starved to death in Bixiang Lake;
The second is that when he was about to starve to death, Dai Yan called his wife and children to him and said that we should run away separately. If anyone survives, one will be counted. The couple had a son and a daughter. The old couple played dice and eventually the son ran away with his mother. , his daughter ran away with Dai Yan, and then Dai Yan successfully escaped from Bixiang Lake with his daughter. From then on, he became anonymous and disappeared;
There is also a third theory, which is a continuation of the second theory, saying that Dai Yan took his daughter all the way south, intending to defect to Lingnan. When he fled to Yongzhou, he heard the good news of Ma Xifan's death.
Extravagance and indulgence in alcohol and sex go hand in hand. These two hobbies will inevitably lead to fiscal deficits. The way to deal with fiscal deficits is to transfer oppression and let the people of the country pay for it. Upright ministers will inevitably give advice, but the "second generation" is almost unwilling to listen. …
This is the general formula of "second generation governance". Among the standard packages of "Second Generation Rulership", there is the last indispensable dish, which is suspicion of the old clan. Of course, Ma Xifan was also alive.
The first person to enter Mahifan's cleanup list was Mahiwang.
Ma Xiwang is Ma Xisheng's half-brother, and his mother is Yuan; Ma Xifan's biological mother is Chen. Ma Xisheng and Ma Xifan were born in the same year, same month and same day. The Yuan family was more favored than the Chen family. Sons were more valuable than mothers. Their second son, Ma Xisheng, succeeded in squeezing out his eldest son, Ma Xizhen, and Ma Xizhen died inexplicably.
When the ministers supported Ma Xisheng, the eldest son Ma Xizhen had already passed away, so they promoted Ma Xisheng to ascend the throne in order of eldest and youngest. Ma Xisheng and the Yuan family also accepted it calmly without any courtesy.
This made Ma Xifan, who was born on the same day, very unhappy.
