For a long time, the people of Liangzhou have been accustomed to gathering in groups in the countryside. This situation is even more true for the high mountain Baimaqiang, who was ordered to collect and supply the grain and grass used by the army to fight Cao Cao in Peiguo, but they did not understand the language of the people of the Central Plains, so the crowds were more like horse bandits grabbing grain than collecting grain, which made the people scared enough. But fortunately, although they didn't know why the people of the Central Plains were so afraid of them, they didn't arrogantly slaughter the people like Guo Yan did in the past...... People told them that all the land and all the people in the world belonged to Zhao Wang Yanbei.

It was also thanks to these few parrots that the people of Peiguo were kept away from the swords, and they were only frightened. Twenty years ago, fright would have been a great sin, but what could be more important today than to survive?

No more.

To live, people just want to live and they do it with all their might.

The conflict occurred in the countryside on the outskirts of Peiguo Fuli County, and the junction of Qi County was close to Daze Township. The Cao army's grain collection team met the Liangzhou cavalry who collected grain across the county boundary monument, and the Cao army shouted, startling the Liangzhou soldiers who could not understand the language, and the mixed infantry and cavalry of the Qiang and Han immediately charged, and the spears and spears took turns to go into battle, and the ground was full of blood.

The battle ended with 37 Cao soldiers killed, more than 40 prisoners, and a small part fleeing. The casualties on the Liangzhou side were much smaller, only a dozen dead and wounded. After all, the morale of one side was high and the other side was almost collapsed, and after a short battle, more than a dozen people fled, and then there was no need to say much. The difference in numbers between the two sides was not large, most of the Cao army did not have bows and crossbows, and the Liangzhou soldiers knew that the spear was a well-known thing in the world, not to mention that they still had half of the soldiers riding war horses, and the result was not suspenseful.

The most interesting thing is that this Liangzhou soldier didn't know what he did after the victory, packed up the armor and equipment left by the Cao army on the battlefield, and ran to the outskirts of Qi County to grab the grain of the Cao army's grain collection team to Fuli, and then escorted the prisoners and soldiers back with a full load of grain and grass, and a group of Qiang men who came down from the snow mountain sang the desolate tune of Liangzhou, supplemented by the Qiang flute, and happily returned to Fuli City.

The leader of this victorious squad is a well-known warrior in Baimaqiang, and he didn't take this small battle seriously in his head, and naturally he wouldn't make a special trip to report back to Ma Chao, and even when he handed over the grain and grass armor to the grain officer, he said that there were big families in County, Qi County, who organized troops and horses to fight against them, but he was defeated.

The Baima Qiang soldiers who went down with Ma Chao on the snow mountain were actually basically not much different from the Liangzhou soldiers, except because they had better physical strength and were more suitable for mountain warfare in the high mountains, and the biggest difference was that they were illiterate.

Nine times out of ten, they can only say that they can't write, let alone Chinese, that is, there may not be one literate in a hundred, for a long time they have been accustomed to the simple life in the mountains and snow, everything is just word of mouth, where will understand many things.

So it wasn't until the evening that Ma Chao heard that there were wealthy clans in Qi County who refused to supply grain and grass to his army, and even gathered a group of eighty or ninety 'family soldiers' to attack the team he sent to collect grain, so he went to the barracks to look for this warrior.

This sturdy man galloping a horse and dancing a spear was jumping around the bonfire with a wooden hairpin on his head and a short military flag with the character Cao captured on the battlefield.

This military flag is different from the rumored black letters on a blue background, and it is not a big banner used by ordinary generals, at most it is the order flag carried by the general, it is only four feet square on all sides, and it can wrap the upper body of the Qiang man, and even as his body jumps, the shadow of the fire on the ground There is something swaying between his legs, which cannot be covered.

But Ma Chao knows that the word is Cao, Cao Cao's Cao.

"Flag, where did it come from?" Ma Chao is proficient in the use of Qiang language, especially the special intonation of the white horse and Qiang mixed dwelling, the intonation of the Qiang people is mostly similar, and in the months when the army was defeated and fled into the snowy mountains, Ma Chao learned the language of Liangzhou Qiang. Sometimes people do need talent, and these honest, silly and happy Qiang people haven't been able to learn a few Chinese characters for half a year, but he can use the Qiang language very skillfully, "Do you know this character?" ”

"Cloth, Cao Bu, good!"

The Qiang man saw Ma Chao coming, greeted him with a smile, and wanted to pull him to dance together, but when he saw Ma Chao asking him about the 'clothes' he was wearing, he showed a reluctant look on his face, but he still raised his hand and handed the flag down, held it in both hands and handed it to Ma Chao, walking the bird naked, "I like it, here you go." ”

"Hahaha!" Ma Chao raised his head and laughed, that is, he did not dislike the Cao Ziqi that had wrapped the Qiang body, and he did not take it immediately, but untied the armor buckle on his body with his backhand, and hung the lion's head when the armor fell in response, and raised his hand to cover the Qiang people, and then patted the Qiang people team to let him continue to dance, took the Cao Ziqi and held it in his hands, "Find a good hand who is proficient in Qiang language, and ask how the grain is collected today." There was Cao's army in Qi County, and scouts were sent to the west and north to investigate clearly...... Ma hasn't gone to find Cao Cao yet, Cao Cao came first! ”

In fact, there is no need for the Qiang people to say much about this, as long as Ma Chao sees this flag and thinks about it, he can figure out what is going on.

Cao Jun haunted Qi County, which was unexpected for Ma Chao, but it was also reasonable. The only reason why Cao's army was in Qi County was that it was defeated in Runan and could only retreat to Qi County. After months of traveling, Ma Chao had a general understanding of the terrain of the Central Plains, which he did not know much about, and it was not surprising to come to such a conclusion.

To the south of Runan is the Great River, and then to the south is the Shouchun area belonging to the Sun family, Ma Chao heard a lot of things about the Sun family in Xuzhou, although Yuan Shao was defeated by the Yan family after the power rose sharply, and the nose of the Sun family is not a nose and the mouth is not a mouth, but in the end let them give up the border defense to Cao Cao at this juncture? It is absolutely impossible, whether the Sun clan wants to be an enemy of the Yan clan or not, it is impossible to give up the city to the Cao clan.

To the west of Yuzhou is Liu Biao, who has been fighting for many years, and to the north is Zhang Liao, who is pressing step by step, and the only place where the Cao clan can retreat is Peiguo.

But in the end, Ma Chao is a person who has lived in Xizhou for a long time, and he doesn't understand the situation in the Central Plains, so there is one thing he can't figure out no matter what. Since the situation has deteriorated to such an extent, why did the Cao clan not occupy Peiguo and Runan before, but instead occupied Runan to the south of the country, resulting in the current predicament?

Of course, this is not important to Ma Chao, he has nothing else to ask for in his heart, since Zhang Liao sent Cao Cao to himself, then don't think about taking it back!