In the Song Dynasty of ancient China, some criminals were released from prison and sent into exile on Shanmen Island. A regulation of that dynasty set an upper limit of people on the island to 300 people. The government provided enough food for 300 criminals only. In addition, the island was very small and couldn't really hold any more people. Usually when the number of people in the island exceeded 300, the officials drowned the surplus criminals in the sea. The head of Shamen Island, Li Qing, threw more than 700 criminals into the sea during his term.
When Ma Mo became the head of Deng Zhou (today's Penglai area in Shangdong Province), he was not happy with this cruel approach an so he decided to change it. He wrote to the emperor, "Since the royal court had forgiven the criminals and let them to live on the island, then throwing additional criminals into the sea would be against the wish of the emperor. In the future, if the quota of 300 is exceeded again, why not release those criminals who have lived on the island for a long time and ask them to make a living on their own?" The emperor thought that it was a good idea and gave the order to change the regulation. From then on, many criminals on the island were able to live.
Ma Mo didn't have a son. One day, he had a dream where the messenger of Yu Huang, the Emperor in Heaven, told him that he would be given a son and a daughter because of the kind deed he had done for people on the island. Afterwards, his wife indeed gave birth to two children, one boy and one girl.
Ma Mo saved some people's lives and prevented others from committing the crime of murder. His kindness was rewarded.
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