Ma Zhong
First, the meaning of "to announce or convey information" was originally recorded in the historian Chen Shou's (3rd century) "Records of the Three Kingdoms" in contexts of transmitting (esp. military) orders. For example, the biography of Shu Han dynasty General Ma Zhong (Shu Han) (d. 249) records that after defeating rebels in Nanyue, he was appointed General Who Pacifies the South and ordered back to the capital in Chengdu. "In 242, when [Ma Zhong] was returning to court, upon reaching Hanzhong, he went to see Grand Marshall Jiang Wan, who conveyed an imperial decree that he was also appointed General in Chief of Zhennan Circuit [in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi]." Later usage examples are cited from historian Li Baiyao (564–647), poet Cao Tang 曹唐 (fl. 860–874), and scholar Wang Mingqing 王明清 (1163-1224).