Ma Chao dealt with the horse thieves on both sides of the Hexi Corridor and incorporated them into his own account, but did not take them away immediately, but first went to Dunhuang to complete his important mission, and then took them out of here when he returned.

All the way to the west, without the harassment of horse thieves, the road was much smoother, but the rest of the caravan did not know the news. In ancient times, the transmission of information was all done by people, and even if a person died here, it would take a while to know there. That's the downside of ancient messaging.

From Zhangye County all the way to the west, is Jiuquan County, Jiuquan is named after "there is a spring under the city, its water is like wine", it was founded in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty migrated tens of thousands of Han households to settle here, reclaimed wasteland, planted crops, Jiuquan thus became a fertile land.

But in this period, Jiuquan City has long been dilapidated, the Han people stay in Jiuquan territory is very few, most of them can see the Xiongnu people, Xianbei people, Qiang people, Wusun people riding horses in Jiuquan, these are nomadic people, everyone rides horses, in this land, come and go freely, they are in groups of three or five, four or six together, often haunt the barren mountains and mountains, or stop and watch, or ride horses and gallop, always give people a feeling of unease.

It was only at this time that Ma Chao knew that what was really feared on the Silk Road was not those horse thieves who did not become a climate, but these Qiang Hu miscellaneous horses. These Hu cavalry were stragglers, or exiled herdsmen, or escaped slaves, in short, these people lived together, crisscrossing the main road from Jiuquan to Dunhuang, and lived a life of looting property.

However, these people did not dare to attack Ma Chao, because there were Qiang people in their ranks. The Qiang people were very in awe of Ma Chao. The Qiang people knew Ma Chao's dress. So from a distance, after confirming that it was Ma Chao, no one dared to act rashly, and even dissuaded the rest of his companions.

Ma Chao and others, along the Silk Road all the way to the west, met a lot of Qianghu horsemen along the way, and also encountered a lot of caravans from the west to the east, and sometimes took the initiative to talk to the people in the caravan. Inquire about the road to Dunhuang.

After a long journey of ten days, Ma Chao and others finally arrived in Dunhuang, and there was no danger along the way.

The post stations along the way have long been abandoned, and the army of the Han has long lost control of this place, and even the last bit of the Han Dynasty's residual power has gradually disappeared with the passage of time.

Ma Chao has been full of feelings along the way, Liangzhou is bounded by Wuwei, the east and the west are really worlds apart, the east of Liangzhou is becoming more and more stable, but the west of Liangzhou is so turbulent. He sometimes wondered. Could this be an important reason why Yang Fu let him come to Xiliang in person, so that he could experience the suffering of the people. And the feeling that the people of Xiliang urgently need to return to the arms of the Han Dynasty?

However, looking at the whole of Xiliang, he passed through many places along the way, and the counties that were originally set up were all deserted, and there were very few Han people, even if he rushed to Dunhuang, the situation was not as optimistic as it is now. Perhaps, Suo's has already disappeared into this long river of history with Dunhuang.

Ma Chao's mood is heavy, he is now the lord of Liangzhou, logically speaking, Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye and other places are under his control, but this area is so complicated and turbulent, unless you take force and send troops to defend it, you can maintain the stability of Xiliang.

This can't be blamed on anyone, after all, Liangzhou is the border of the Han Dynasty, the situation in this area is complicated, it is obvious, and the alien races are also eyeing each other.

Ma Chao and the others continued to walk forward, and when they came to Guangzhi County, they saw a Han military flag floating above the county, and people wearing Han army clothes could be clearly seen on the city wall.

Ma Chao couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart, and hurriedly led people to Guangzhi County, and when he came to the city, he saw that the city gate was closed, and the Han soldiers on the city tower were tense, and seemed to regard Ma Chao and others as enemies.

Ma Chao realized that he and his subordinates were heavily armed personnel, and it was difficult for people not to cause misunderstanding. So, Ma Chao personally came to the city, stood outside the range of the bow and arrow, and shouted at the people on the city wall: "Don't get me wrong, we are also Han Chinese, and we are from the east. ”

The guards on the city wall were relieved to hear Ma Chao's fluent Chinese, but if they wanted to let them into the city, they had to inform their lords. So he shouted to the city: "Wait here, and I'll go and inform my lord!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the soldier who shouted turned around and went down the city tower, while Ma Chao stood quietly in place, but a pair of eyes kept looking at the city.

Guangzhi County is not big, and the city is also slightly dilapidated, but it is slightly different from other cities that Guangzhi County is built of stone, and there are watchtowers, shooting holes, and bell and drum towers on the city tower, which is like the structure of a military fortress.

In fact, this is not the real Guangzhi county, here is a military fortress, which was originally called Kunlun Sai, which is a military fortress built in order to consolidate the position of the Han army in Xiliang. However, a few decades ago, Guangzhi County was destroyed by the Qiang-Hu coalition army and was razed to the ground, and the Han Dynasty took Kunlun as the county seat.

After a long while, a middle-aged man in his thirties appeared on the city tower, this person had a dark complexion, deep-set eyes, sharp eyes, wearing an iron helmet, wearing iron armor, tall and burly, it was the county lieutenant Gai Shun who was guarding here.

Gai Shun is the Han Ling Emperor period, a generation of famous ministers Gai Xun's son, and Gai is also a family in Dunhuang, Gai Shun's great-grandfather, grandfather, father are court officials, but since Gai Xun's death, Dong Zhuo got power, the dynasty is sluggish, Gai Shun has been hidden in his hometown Guangzhi County, he abandoned literature and martial arts, practiced a good skill, since Dong Zhuo's death, Dunhuang area has become a Qiang Hu bullying area, Gai Shun organized a team, trained it into an army, in order to resist the Qiang Hu invasion, because of its courage and good fighting, Qianghu couldn't get good fruit to eat several times, and he was very jealous of Gaishun, so he no longer attacked Guangzhi County, and Guangzhi County was preserved.

The people in the county jointly pushed Gai Shun as the county commander, but Gai Shun resolutely refused to accept it, saying that he was just a puppet and was not suitable to serve as the county commander, and was only willing to serve as the county lieutenant. But the county order has always been vacant, and in fact, they all obeyed Gaishun's orders.

Gai Shun stood on the castle tower, glanced at the more than 20 people under the city, and asked, "Who are you and where did you come from?" ”

Ma Chao replied: "In Ma Chao, I want to go to Dunhuang, passing by here, people are sleepy and tired, I want to go into the city to rest for a night, and I hope that the adults will be accommodating." ”

When Gai Shun heard Ma Chao's name, he was stunned for a moment, and looked Ma Chao up and down, never expecting that the famous Ma Chao would appear in this place. It's just that, out of prudence, Gai Shun said: "I have heard for a long time that Ma is a super hero and invincible, Gai knows some kung fu, and wants to ask for advice, I don't know if Your Excellency is willing to fight alone with me?" ”

"Why don't you dare!" Ma Chao has never been afraid of anyone, and immediately agreed to Gai Shun's request.

When Gai Shun heard Ma Chao's words, he immediately went down to the city tower, ordered someone to open the city gate, and rode a horse and a spear himself, and galloped towards Ma Chao.

Ma Chao shook his spirits, rode out, and the two of them raised their guns at the same time, and they fought together in an instant.

Wang Shuang rode on horseback, and when he saw the inextricable relationship between Ma Chao and Gai Shun, his hands were even more itchy, and he couldn't wait to rush over and compete with Gai Shun.

Ma Chao and Gai Shun fought for ten rounds in a row, which was beyond Ma Chao's imagination, but he didn't expect Gai Shun's kung fu to be so outstanding.

However, he didn't use all his strength, and ten rounds could only end here, but seeing Ma Chao's wrist shake, the spear flew out like a spirit snake, stabbing Gai Shun's wrist, so that Gai Shun couldn't dodge, so he could only retreat sharply.

After forcing Gai Shun away, Ma Chao suddenly shouted, galloped out of the horse, and stabbed at Gai Shun, however, the spear in Ma Chao's hand actually came out of his hand.

At the same time, Ma Chao himself pressed the saddle, and the whole person stood on the horse's back, then jumped up, instantly pulled out the sword in his waist, and slashed at Gai Shun's head in the air.

Gai Shun had never seen this kind of play, Ma Chao's move was like two people attacking him at the same time, he had to make a decision to save the day.

So, Gai Shun flicked the spear in his hand and directly blocked the spear that Ma Chao flew into, and Ma Chao's spear was directly hit by Gai Shun and flew into the air. And Gai Shun put the spear across his head to block the long sword in Ma Chao's hand.

However, Ma Chao repeated his old tricks, suddenly let go of the hand holding the long sword, and let the long sword fly towards Gai Shun, while he did a somersault in the air, caught the spear that flew into the air, held the gun in both hands, and kept stabbing the spear in his hand in the air.

Gai Shun was also taken aback, Ma Chao's tricks, he had never seen or heard of them, and hurriedly brushed aside the flying long sword, and then went to block the spear stabbed by Ma Chao.

However, at this time, it was already too late, but seeing countless gun shadows rushing towards Gai Shun, before Gai Shun turned the spear around, Ma Chao's spear had already pierced in front of Gai Shun, a little cold light flashed quickly in front of Gai Shun, and with a snort, the tip of the spear slid through the iron armor on Gai Shun's shoulder, bursting out with many sparks.

Immediately afterwards, with a "bang" sound, Gai Shun was kicked off the horse's back by Ma Chao, and Ma Chao fell lightly on Gai Shun's horse, and when Gai Shun reacted, Ma Chao had already put the spear in front of him.

Gai Shun recalled the scene just now, and he still had some palpitations, if it weren't for the sudden sinking of the tip of Ma Chao's spear and leaning towards his shoulder, he was afraid that he would be pierced in the face by Ma Chao's shot. Ma Chao showed mercy to his subordinates just now, but he still lost, so it can be seen that this person is indeed Ma Chao.

"General Ma is invincible, Gai is convinced!" Instead of feeling ashamed, Gai Shun was sure that this person was Ma Chaohou, so he said happily. (To be continued......)