Ma Zun

Chinese
t=馬遵
s=马遵

Ma Zun was the Grand Administrator of Tianshui during the Three Kingdoms period of China, serving the Cao Wei state. He was in charge of the defending of Tianshui from Zhuge Liang's Shu army. Ma Zun was out to engage Zhuge Liang with subordinates Jiang Wei, Liang Xu, and Yin Shang. When most of the counties betrayed Cao Wei by defecting to Zhuge Liang, Ma Zun became suspicious of Jiang Wei and his colleagues, and fled back to the safety behind the city wall. Hearing the news of Ma Zun's retreat back to the city, Jiang Wei and the others followed, not realizing that they were being suspected, until the guards would not let them in when they reached the gate. Jiang Wei, Liang Xu, and Yin Shang had to turn to other city of Ji (冀), where they were prohibited from entering for the same reason. Having nowhere to turn to, Jiang Wei and others were forced to surrender to Zhuge Liang.

In the historical novel Romance of Three Kingdoms, at one time Ma Zun was about to fall for a trap set by Zhuge Liang, but he was saved through a brilliant strategy set by Jiang Wei, who used the trap to score against the Shu general Zhao Yun. However, due to a certain plot that was set by Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wei was made to seem like he betrayed Ma Zun, and Jiang Wei was forced to surrender to Shu due to Ma's suspicion. Later, Ma Zun was forced to flee from the Shu armies to the region of Hu.

ee also

*Three Kingdoms
*Personages of the Three Kingdoms
*"Records of Three Kingdoms"
*"Romance of the Three Kingdoms"