Jordan wrote:That's an interesting perspective. Would you mind elaborating on when and how he betrayed those figures? I recall him being mostly loyal to Cao Cao for instance. I don't remember incidents of him fighting directly against Cao Cao, though perhaps my memory is shaky. I do agree that he was definitely a traitorous figure though given his switching sides in the Liang Rebellion and fighting with Han Sui.
Overview of Ma Teng's chronic backstabbing disorder:
- Betrays the Han to join the Liangzhou bandits.
- While in the Liangzhou bandits, betrayed the leader of the bandits that he and Han Sui among others appointed.
- After Dong Zhuo's death (he had allied with Zhuo previously), is appointed to a high rank by Li Jue. A few months later, attacked Chang'an due to a petty squabble he had with Li Jue and plotted to slaughter Li Jue and his entourage. They made peace shortly after Ma Teng was defeated.
- When Cao Cao regained control of the court, broke ties with Li Jue and was given rank by the court.
- Plotted with Yuan Shao to attack Cao Cao around the time of Guandu. In this case, he was trying to play both sides of the fight, as noted by Zhong Yao.
- Was persuaded by Zhang Ji and Fu Gan to turn on Yuan Shao and help Zhong Yao.
- Turned on Han Sui after some personal fighting and was convinced to move to the capital by Zhang Ji.
Tokugawa Liang wrote:For Shu, I'd say Mi Fang and Wei Yan
As noted by Dong Zhou elsewhere on the board, Mi Fang didn't have much choice in the matter. About all that Wei Yan did was burn some bridges and get killed.
Tokugawa Liang wrote:Wu the Zhang that wanted to surrender to Wei before Chi Bi (I don't remember his name right now)
I think it's unfair to consider Zhang Zhao one of the biggest traitors simply because he wanted to be cautious and was thinking of Wu's people over what basically amounted to Sun Quan's pride.