Prince of Hongnong
Later that year, Yang Wo (whose state became known as Hongnong by that point as he carried the title of Prince of Hongnong) sent his general Liu Cun () with 30,000 men to attack Chu. Ma sent Qin Yanhui and Huang Fan () to resist Liu. Liu's fleet soon ran into difficulties due to torrential rains and was repeatedly defeated by Qin. Liu thus sent letters to Ma, offering to surrender, but Qin, arguing to Ma that Liu's surrender offers were deceitful, continued attacking. Qin thoroughly defeated Liu and captured Liu and his deputy Chen Zhixin (). Initially, Ma tried to persuade Liu and Chen to submit to him and serve him, but after the refused, he executed them. This battle allowed Ma to regain Yue Prefecture. Ma then joined forces with Peng Gan to try to capture Zhennan's capital Hong Prefecture (), but they could not do so. Subsequently, he and Lei Yanwei's brother and successor Lei Yangong jointly attacked Jingnan, which was then under the control of the Later Liang general Gao Jixing, but they were repelled.