Loyal bones are buried everywhere in Qingshan, why do they need to be wrapped in horse leather? This also comes from "Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Biography of Ma Yuan". Ma Yuan, a famous general in the Eastern Han Dynasty, once said, "A man should die in the wilderness, and his ears should be buried in horse leather." Qing Dynasty Gong Zizhen pushed the meaning of his predecessors to a higher level, and thus came up with the famous line "loyal bones are buried everywhere in the mountains, why return them wrapped in horse leather" in "Jihai Miscellaneous Poems No. 1".
Historical background:
Ma Yuan was a famous general in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was an official when he was young. Once, he let a prisoner go. He fled to a remote village in Gansu.
During the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, he went to the battlefield to resist foreign invasion. He resisted the Xiongnu's invasion of Jiaozhi and made many military exploits. Emperor Guangwu named him "General Fubo".
Soon, "Mighty General" Liu Shang was killed in Guizhou. When the news came, Emperor Guangwu was very worried about the war situation there. Ma Yuan was over sixty years old, but he volunteered to go to war. He said: "A good man went on an expedition for the country and was buried with his body wrapped in horse leather!" He sent troops to Guizhou and bravely defeated the enemy soldiers. Unfortunately, he died of illness on the battlefield.
Gong Zizhen of the Qing Dynasty took the meaning of his predecessors a step further, and thus came up with the famous line "Loyal bones are buried everywhere in the mountains, why return them wrapped in horse leather" in "Ji Hai Miscellaneous Poems No. 1".