However, it would also mark the beginning of a foreign policy towards the Khitan-led Liao dynasty in the north that would ultimately result in humiliation.

He was responsible for ordering the shipment of 30,000 bushels of quick-maturing rice seed from the Fujian Province to the lower Yangtze basin in 1011–1012, improving agriculture.

By the sixth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu period of Emperor Zhenzong (1013), officials were evaluated based on their tax targets.

By this time, Zhenzong’s wife Empress Liu was already established as power behind the throne and handled the affairs of state.

Among the artefacts were a white marble tablet from the Tang dynasty, gold nails, and bands made out of metal.

It was not until after Ma died that his wife went to Taiwan in 1971 from the United States to bring the artefacts to Chiang Kai-shek, who turned them over to the National Palace Museum.