Ma Xiyin was a member of the Ma ruling house ofChu, one of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms states of China. After Chu's fall, he briefly continued to hold control of Chu's Jingjiang Circuit before abandoning it in face of a Southern Han attack, allowing SouthernHan to seize control of the circuit.
Background
Ma Xiyin was a son of Chu's founder Ma Yin — the youngest, according to the Zizhi Tongjian. During the subsequent reign of Ma Xiyin's older brother Ma Xifan, who had taken the throne after Ma Xifan's death, and Ma Xi'e, who considered himself to have a superior claim on the throne. In light of Chu's civil war, Liu Sheng, the emperor of Chu's southern neighbor Southern Han, sent the eunuch general Wu Huai'en to the border between Southern Han and Jingjiang, trying to see if he could take advantage of the situation, so Ma Xiguang sent the general Peng Yanhui to Longtong to help defend the circuit. After Ma Xi'e defeated Ma Xiguang around new year 951 and took over the throne, Ma Xi'e promoted Peng to be the overseer of Jingjiang's capital Gui Prefecture and acting military governor, displeasing Ma Xiyin. Ma Xiyin secretly summoned the general Xu Keqiong, who was then serving as the prefect of Meng Prefecture, to come to Gui to oppose Peng with him. Xu thereafter arrived at Gui and defeated Peng in battle; Peng abandoned Gui and fled to Hengshan, where Ma Xi'e was at that time after being overthrown by another brother, Ma Xichong. Xu stayed at Gui, in alliance with Ma Xiyin.
After Chu's fall
Xu Keqiong's abandoning of Meng allowed Wu Huai'en to seize it, and then approach Gui, pillaging the territory of Jingjiang. Meanwhile, Ma Xichong, finding his own position untenable, surrendered the remaining parts of the Chu realm that he still had control over to Southern Tang, leaving Ma Xiyin without possible reinforcements from Chu proper. Ma Xiyin and Xu did not know what to do, and then spent time drinking and crying together. Liu Sheng, then wrote a letter to Ma Xiyin, claiming that his intent was to aid Ma Xiyin: Ma Xiyin considered surrendering to Southern Han, but could not decide immediately. When Wu quickly reached Gui Prefecture, Ma Xiyin and Xu instead abandoned it and fled to Quan Prefecture. Wu subsequently captured the rest of Jingjiang for Southern Han. Ma Xiyin later went to Southern Tang and was settled at Yang Prefecture with Ma Xichong and the rest of the Ma family. In 956, Southern Tang came under attack by its northern neighbor Later Zhou, and Yang Prefecture fell to the invading Later Zhou forces. Later Zhou's emperor Guo Rong ordered that Ma Xichong be located and comforted. Subsequently, when Later Zhou forces were forced to abandon Yang, Ma Xichong took 17 brothers and/or cousins to the Later Zhou capital Daliang, including Ma Xiyin. Ma Xiyin was made an army commander under a military governor. That was the last historical reference to Ma Xiyin, and it is not known when he died.
