Ma Shouying served as a border soldier in his early years. In the first year of Chongzhen (1628), he led the people to revolt, subordinate to Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, and was active in the eastern part of Gansu, with tens of thousands. In the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), he entered Shanxi and was incorporated into the "36 battalions" used by Wang, which was second only to Wang Ziyong and Gao Yingxiang. In the eighth year (1635), he participated in the Xingyang Conference in Henan Province and was one of the thirteen leaders. He fought in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Hubei, Anhui, Hunan and other places. The power is extremely strong. Later, he joined forces with He Yilong (nicknamed "Geli Eye"), He Jin, Liu Xiyao, and Lin Yangyang, and was called the "Five Battalions of Huige". In the ninth year of Chongzhen, after the sacrifice of Gao Yingxiang to the thirteenth year (1640) before Li Zicheng's resurrection, the strength was the strongest, when the struggle of the rebel army was at a low ebb, Zhang Xianzhong was twice subordinate to his subordinates, and the base he established in the Yinghuo Mountains became an important base for the anti-Ming movement at that time. In the sixteenth year (1643), the rebel army was infighting, and He Yilong was killed by Li Zicheng. In the spring of the seventeenth year, he died of illness.

Ma Shouying is nicknamed "Lao Huihui", a native of Suide, Shaanxi. It is only known that he was born in a border soldier, and his family background and year of birth are unknown. He was one of the first important leaders of the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty and persevered to the end, and occupied an important position in the history of the Hui people's struggle against oppression.

In the Ming Dynasty, Huihui has spread all over the country. Yan'an Prefecture in northern Shaanxi and Ma Shouying's hometown of Suide Prefecture, as well as Pingliang and Qingyang in eastern Gansu, were once areas with a large distribution of Hui people. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, due to the corruption of the government officials, the abolition of the military and government, and the serious land problem, the phenomenon of displaced people fleeing became more and more common. The Hui people in this area, whenever the wheat is ripe, take their wives and children to migrate, and rely on gleaning wheat ears or selling medicine to maintain a minimum life. The Hui uprisings were often combined with the Han **, that is, "with the barren people" (1), while the Han peasant uprisings also included local Hui people. For this reason, the Shaanxi government has specially stipulated that the Hui people are not allowed to carry weapons, gather in groups, and loot, and try to strictly prevent the Han soldiers and civilians from "attaching themselves to the homeland" and rebelling. This shows that in the northwestern Hui and Han mixed areas, the joint struggle of the Hui and Han ethnic groups has become a relatively common form of class struggle. In the first year of Chongzhen, there was a great drought in Shaanxi, the grass and trees were scorched, and there was a tragic situation of thousands of miles of red land and cannibalism. However, the government of the Ming Dynasty ignored the disaster of the people, and still "strictly urged" the peasants of all ethnic groups who were struggling on the line of death, and showed no mercy, which was tantamount to adding fuel to the fire and arousing the anger of rebellion even more. The long-term popular rebellion and mutiny, in the last years of the Apocalypse and the early years of Chongzhen, finally converged into a torrent of peasant uprisings in northern Shaanxi and Longdong, where natural and man-made disasters were frequent. According to the information obtained by the Ming rulers, the armed elements of the displaced people in Shaanxi at that time "had hungry people, town soldiers, and Hui Yi", and "Hui Yi" was an insulting name given by the Ming rulers to the Hui people, which fully showed that the Hui people were one of the main forces of the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty. In November of the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), the rebellion set off by Wang Er, the citizen of Baishui County, which opened the prelude to the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, was directly related to the Hui uprising in this area. In the early years of Chongzhen, the Hui people between Yanzhou, Central, Luochuan and Yichuan in Shaanxi took the opportunity to rise up, and soon developed to tens of thousands.

"Old Huihui" Ma Shouying is an outstanding peasant hero who emerged in the mighty torrent of uprising. Ma Shouying was the first to unveil the uprising flag with Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai and others as border soldiers. Border soldiers or called town soldiers, their uprising is mainly due to the financial difficulties of the Ming court and the long-term deduction of military salaries by officers, from the last year of the Apocalypse to the second year of Chongzhen, the military salaries of the three towns of Yansui, Ningxia and Guyuan were in arrears for 36 months, and the soldiers had no food and clothing, they could not bear it, they fled one after another, and rebelled with hunger. Among the border soldiers, there are not only Han people, but also members of the Hui and Mongolian tribes, so Gao Yingxiang and Ma Shouying's team is composed of the so-called "Yi Han and Ding" composed of "strong armor and iron cavalry, soldiers have discipline" of the Han and Hui ethnic groups of the Han and Hui people's armed forces, at the beginning they turned to fight in the eastern part of Gansu and northern Shaanxi, Chongzhen three years (1630) March, Ma Shouying and the Eight King Kong, Wang Zishun (it is said that it is the second Wang of Baishui Juyi) and other rebels, crossed the Yellow River east into Shanxi, broke Xiangling, Jizhou, Taiping. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Ma Shouying and Gao Yingxiang both became famous leaders in the 36th battalion of peasant rebels led by Zijinliang (Wang Ziyong). In the fifth year of Chongzhen, Ma Shouying and Zijinliang once marched into Henan, active in Qinghua and Xiuwu, and soon transferred to Taihang Mountain. In May of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Ma Shouying and the King of Chaotian led tens of thousands of troops out of Taihang Mountain and into Hebei, forcing Handan and Shahe counties. In this year, Zijin Liang unfortunately died, and the 36th battalion of the rebel army was led by Gao Yingxiang, and they crossed the pond from the north bank of the Yellow River, highlighting western Henan, and opening up a new anti-Ming battlefield.

In March of the seventh year of Chongzhen (1634), Ma Shouying's armed forces, together with five battalions such as Guotianxing and Mantianxing, entered Hubei from western Henan to Hubei, passed through Zaoyang and Badong, and entered Sichuan in the west, breaking through the important town of Kuizhou in eastern Sichuan, shaking far and near, which was the earliest armed force of the peasant army in Sichuan at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Ma Shouying and Guo Tianxing and other 30,000 horses stayed in eastern Sichuan for a short time.

Soon after, they returned to Huguang, and after a short gathering at Huanglongtan in Yunyang, they moved to the Shangluo Mountains in southern Shaanxi, where they fought a hard anti-encirclement and suppression battle in the face of the encirclement of the powerful Ming army together with several peasant armies of tens of thousands including the king of Chaoshi. They once broke into Guanzhong, camped for fifty miles, and swooped down on Xi'an, threatening the political center of the Ming Dynasty in the northwest. In August of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Ma Shouying and other battalions entered Henan from the south of Shaanxi, opened up the Xichuan mountain area as a stronghold, and persisted in the anti-Ming struggle in the areas of Lushi, Yongning, Shaanzhou, Lingbao and Nanyang in western Henan.

Ma Shouying led his subordinates to fight in various places, fluctuating, attacking the enemy with flexible and changeable tactics, often luring the enemy with wisdom or defeating the victory. In the battle of seizing Shaanzhou in October of the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635), Ma Shouying asked his subordinates to dress up as the Ming army, went to Shaanzhou to change horses, took the opportunity to break into the pass, and captured this important town in northwest Henan by surprise by the enemy. In July of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Gao Yingxiang, the leader of the peasant army, was unfortunately captured and died in the battle in Shaanxi, and in August, Ma Shouying led the army to attack the city of Kaifeng in Henan Province and burned Xiguan, and the Ming court was deeply shocked. In Yanling and Fugou in Henan, Zuo Liangyu of the Ming army led his troops to chase after Ma Shouying. Zuo Liangyu was quite fierce and cunning, Ma Shouying responded calmly to the battle, and adopted the tactics of luring the enemy deep into the direction of Zhengzhou, and avoided the deep mountains to send people to scold the enemy to lure the enemy. Zuo Liangyu, who was enraged, led the army to chase into Jiashan, and was surrounded by Ma Shouying's righteous army, and soon the food was exhausted, Zuo Liangyu attempted suicide, and later led the remnants to break through and flee in embarrassment, which is a typical example of Ma Shouying outwitting the enemy.

It was precisely because of Ma Shouying's victory in mobile warfare and his constant blows to the officers and soldiers that he was regarded as one of the peasant army in the eyes of the Ming feudal rulers. It is precisely because Ma Shouying is a heroic figure with great military talent and combat experience in the peasant army that he is trusted by all the rebel armies and is regarded as the "mastermind".

In July of the ninth year of Chongzhen, the sacrifice of King Gao Yingxiang caused serious losses to the peasant army, and the peasant war fell into a low ebb for a while. He took advantage of the autumn high food and the unpreparedness of the official army, and united with Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong and other battalions with a total of 200,000 horses, and Ma Shouying was elected as the leader of the alliance and the general manager, which shows that he was once in a very high position in the peasant army. From the 10th year of Chongzhen (1637) to the 15th year (1642) of Chongzhen, the peasant armies of the Hui, Ge, and Zuo battalions of the Zuo Jin Battalion were mainly active in the border areas of Anhui, Henan, and Hubei provinces, and opened up and persisted in the struggle in the Dabie Mountains. Ma Shouying, Ge and Zuo Zhuying are good at taking advantage of the dangers in the mountains, resting in the deep mountains in the middle of summer, and taking the initiative to attack in the autumn, and avoiding the siege and pursuit of the official army. They are also good at reconnoitring the enemy's situation and grasping the initiative, and the common people in various localities, including "the Xingbu market peddlers and the like, are mostly used," and the peasant army is well aware of the virtual and real movements of the officials and troops. On the basis of the comparison of the enemy's own strength, they adopted the flexible tactics of "fleeing if there are many troops, and meeting the enemy if there are few," and "rushing away before the officers and men arrive," and take the initiative to attack. Therefore, the generals of the Ming Dynasty who suppressed the peasant uprising also repeatedly lamented their repeated defeats. Because the Hui, Revolutionary, and Zuo battalions were supported by the local people, a situation emerged in the Jianghuai region in which "the thieves were the mainstay, and the soldiers were the guests, and the people were defeated by many people." In this way, Ma Shouying and the iron cavalry of the Ge and Zuo Zhuying galloped across the Dabie Mountains and the Jianghuai Plain, they had occupied Hezhou, Hanjiang, Jiangpu, and Jinling, the capital of the Ming ruler, was also exposed to the peasant army, so that martial law was imposed along the river, and the place was alarmed.

The peasant armed forces dealt a heavy blow to the feudal ruling order of the Ming Dynasty in this area, and some local officials were intimidated by the prestige of the peasant army, so they had to "clean up and look at things in Zhu, near the river", and in Anqing there was a situation in Anqing between the Ming Dynasty guards and the peasant army "whether there was trade or not, and there was a good exchange of wine and food", and the majesty of the Ming Dynasty was swept away, so that Zhu Dadian, the governor of Fengyang, was dismissed. In the years when the peasant war was at a low ebb, the struggles of the Hui, Revolutionary, and Left battalions in Jianghuai effectively coordinated with the activities of other peasant armed forces, and made positive contributions to the resurgence of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the near future.

Ma Shouying was not only resourceful and accustomed to warfare, but like many leaders of peasant uprisings, he was also a hero with revolutionary integrity. The Ming rulers had repeatedly tempted him to surrender, but they were all refused. In the ninth year of Chongzhen, Ma Shouying also killed Wang Jinzhong, the general soldier of the Ming Dynasty, who came to persuade him to surrender, in the Xichuan military camp in Henan, and then moved to the camp. This is also one reason why the rulers of the Ming Dynasty regarded Ma Shouying as a person who "repeatedly sniped and sniped and did not hesitate".

In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Li Zicheng's rebel army was further strengthened, Ma Shouying led his troops to the north to formally incorporate Li Zicheng's banner under the banner of King Chuang, mainly in the western part of Hubei and northwest Hunan, and captured important cities such as Yiling, Lizhou, and Changde, during which Ma Shouying also led the army in Henan with Li Zicheng to participate in several important battles to defeat the main force of the Ming army, and played a positive role. Before Li Zicheng went north, he awarded Ma Shouying the title of "Yongfu Battalion Heroic General". When Li Zicheng went north to attack Beijing, Ma Shouying continued to sit in Chengtian, Jingzhou, Lizhou and other places. The Ming Dynasty army in this area was restrained and became a dominant force. Zhang Xianzhong, who was in Sichuan, also sent people to make a special trip to reconcile with Ma Shouying at this time, expressing further alliance against the enemy.

According to Wu Weiye's record in the "Suikou Chronicles", in the last years of Chongzhen, "Lao Hui Hui has died of illness, and his wife is in charge of the camp." He also said that a peasant armed force with the alias "Shaking the Heavens" was separated from the Ma Shouying battalion, with a total of more than 200,000 troops in eight battalions, and was still persisting in the struggle in the Qianshan and Tongcheng areas in Jiangbei. Wu Weiye's book also has the appearance of nicknames such as "big and small old returns". It shows that although Ma Shouying died of illness, his team did not collapse. It is worth noting that in April of the second year of Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty (1645), Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty also said in his edict that at that time, there were peasant armed forces such as Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan and Lao Huihui in Hubei who were still persisting in the struggle against the Qing Dynasty. The struggle against the Qing Dynasty in Hubei, as well as the anti-Qing struggle launched in Gansu by Mi Layin and Ding Guodong, who returned to the Qing Dynasty in the fifth year of Shunzhi, belonged to the general anti-Qing movement that spread throughout the country, and represented the correct direction for the Hui people and the Han people to take joint action.

So, is there a contradiction between the "Suikou Jiluo" and the Shunzhi Emperor's edict on the survival and death of the old Hui? Did the old Hui Hui Ma Shouying die of illness in the last years of Chongzhen, or was he still persisting in the struggle against the Qing Dynasty in the early years of Shunzhi? The question lies in the interpretation of the term "Lao Hui Hui," which should be a kind of banner, and "Lao Hui Hui" sometimes refers to Ma Shouying as a person, sometimes refers to Ma Shouying and the armed force he led, and later refers to the armed force led by the original Ma Shouying, who no longer has Ma Shouying. In this way, it can be said that in the last years of Chongzhen, Ma Shouying, the "old Huihui" had died of illness, and his wife or nephews were in charge of the camp, and continued to play the banner of "Lao Huihui", or used the banner of "Big Lao Huihui" and "Little Lao Huihui" to command this important peasant army, while the "Lao Huihui", who was still persisting in the anti-Qing struggle in Hubei in the early years of Shunzhi, was already the "Lao Huihui" armed force without Ma Shouying. The end of "Lao Hui" Ma Shouying and his armed forces is roughly the same.

Ma Shouying became one of the first famous peasant leaders to revolt in the late Ming Dynasty together with Gao Yingxiang and Luo Rucai in the early years of Chongzhen. After more than 10 years of military career, he has successively fought in Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Anhui, Hunan and other provinces. There were three main areas of activity that the Ming rulers called "nests", the Huanglong Mountains in northern Shaanxi, which was the first area where the uprising was launched; The other two are the border areas of Shaanxi, Henan, Sichuan and Hubei dominated by the Shangluo Mountains and the border areas of Anhui, Henan and Hubei dominated by the Dabie Mountains. Ma Shouying and the "Lao Hui" armed forces led by him have always been one of the active pioneers and main forces in these three regions. In particular, when the peasant uprising was at a low ebb, Ma Shouying's struggle against the revolutionary and left camps to persist in the Dabie Mountains actually became the backbone of the national attention at that time. The struggles of the Hui, the Revolution, and the Left, as well as the struggles of Luo Rucai's battalions, played an important strategic role in Zhang Xianzhong's entry into Shu and Li Zicheng's northward overthrow of the Ming Dynasty. When commenting on the reason why the Ming Dynasty was overthrown, Gu Yingtai's "Chronicle of the History of the Ming Dynasty" said that this was not only the role of Li Zicheng's force, but also the joint effect of various peasant armies, the so-called "group of thieves." This comment is quite fair. Ma Shouying should be resourceful, able to fight well, and at the same time have a firm and unswerving revolutionary integrity.

His prestige and strength have changed the color of the enemy, and he is universally respected by allies from all walks of life. Therefore, in the peasant war at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Ma Shouying, the "old Huihui", became an important leader second only to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

The most valuable thing is that Ma Shouying has always adhered to the quality of unity and cooperation, and his nickname is "Lao Hui Hui", which shows that he openly played the banner of the nation to participate in the great uprising with the Han people as the main force, he inherited and carried forward the historical friendship of the Ming Dynasty Hui and Han joint battles, and his unity and cooperative relations with the leaders of other peasant armies have always been very good. At that time, although the Ming feudal rulers adopted the means of ethnic discrimination and national oppression against the Hui people, and although the feudal landlord class always did its best to provoke and slander the peasant uprisings, especially the resistance struggles involving ethnic minorities, there was no dispute in the relevant documents regarding the joint struggle between the Hui and the Han. There was no contradiction or disunity between the Hui Han people within the rebel army, between Ma Shouying and the leaders of the peasant armies of various stripes, and it was extremely valuable that the Hui Han people were able to do this under the historical conditions at that time. Ma Shouying was the first to fight side by side with Wang Ziyong, Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai, and later with Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, He Yilong, He Jin and other leaders of the peasant army. Ma Shouying's relationship with Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng is particularly prominent. In the early years of Chongzhen, when Ma Shouying raised troops against the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong responded to Ma Shouying's army and joined his subordinates, and was appreciated by Ma Shouying, known as "Yellow Tiger", which was later unique. (1) Many documents mention that in the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), Li Zicheng was completely scattered after a serious defeat, and he rode alone from Shaanxi Shang to the camp of Ma Shouying in Xichuan, Henan, and recuperated for more than half a year. (2) This incident obviously played a role in Li Zicheng's later recovery and development. Especially in view of the late period of the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was mutual suspicion among the peasant armies of all walks of life, and incidents of dumping occurred frequently, and Ma Shouying's style of always taking the initiative to unite friendly troops against the enemy is even more valuable. This style of work is rare not only in the history of the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty, but also in the entire history of the peasant war in China.