Chapter 43: Meng Qi Fights Mountain Bandits on the Official Road

  This year has passed, and time has entered from 2022 to 2023.

  Wu Anguo's hammer method for Ma Yuan was already familiar, and after being instructed by Ma Chao and Cui An, it can be said that he had no problem with the hammer method. As for whether he could reach Ma Chao's level in the future, it all depended on himself.

  The martial arts event has come to an end, and after the New Year's festivities, Ma Chao and Cui An bid farewell to Wu Anguo. Wu Anguo had thought about leaving with Ma Chao, but he also knew that his current level was still not impressive, so he didn't have the nerve to speak up.

  Ma Chao told him before leaving that he would come back to find him and they would do great things together. After hearing Ma Chao's words, Wu An Guo didn't say anything else, but secretly made up his mind to practice martial arts well and strive to make more contributions for his master in the future to repay his master's kindness.

  Ma Chao and Cui An rode their horses on the road. Cui An was a bit curious and asked Ma Chao, "Master, where are we going now?"

  Ma Chao heard this and stopped his horse. Cui An also stopped his horse upon seeing this. Ah, where to go next? He hadn't really thought about it.

  From Youzhou to Qingzhou Donglai, Ma Chao wanted to see if he could find Taishi Ci, but unexpectedly, instead of finding Taishi Ci, he encountered Wu Anguo hiding in Donglai.

  Now that he has just bid farewell to Wu An, there is no need to go to Beihai again. More importantly, Ma Chao is a bit worried. If he really goes to Beihai and meets Guan Ning again, he will not be able to bear deceiving him. Therefore, for this reason, Ma Chao will not go to Beihai again either.

  I searched through the memories in my mind to see if there were any other notable figures in Qingzhou, but it seemed like there weren't any. In fact, this could only be said that Ma Chao didn't have an impression of them, and not that Qingzhou lacked talented people.

  Racking his brains, Ma Chao couldn't think of anyone, so he had no choice but to say to Cui An: "Fu Da, let's go take a look at Xuzhou!"

  Choi Ahn's eyes lit up as if he had been injected with chicken blood, "Great, Your Excellency, there's another place to go!"

  Ma Chao smiled helplessly and said no more. The two of them led their horses onto the road to Xuzhou via Qingzhou.

  It was evening, but in fact it was just after dark.

  Ma Chao and the other two rode their horses on the official road from Qingzhou to Xuzhou. At this time, there were hardly a few people on the official road except for Ma Chao and his companions. He didn't pay much attention to this situation either. It was late at night, after all, and it was normal that there weren't many people around. Besides, Ma Chao and his companions were skilled and bold, and they hadn't been afraid of anything in all these years.

  At this moment, a group of people rushed out from the nearby grass, with dozens of them, each holding a weapon. The leader was riding a sorrel horse and holding a large knife.

  Ma Chao and Cui An stopped their horses, Cui An took a look, grinned, "Haha, fun! Master, these are all mine!"

  Ma Chao thought to himself, "This is not good. This kid's move is either going to leave me crippled or killed. And it's been a long time since I've encountered something like this. Cui An must be furious, and he absolutely cannot be allowed to make his move."

  Ma Chao hastily pulled back Cui An, who was about to move forward, "Fada, let's observe the situation first!"

  Ma Chao looked at the crowd not far away and thought to himself, "You guys who are going to rob are in big trouble. Why did you have to rob this old man? From the day he left home until now, Cui An has beaten to death, crippled or injured countless people who wanted to rob him." Ma Chao even gave Cui An a nickname in his heart - "Robbery Killer Star".

  Nowadays, the batch of people he encountered, Ma Chao felt a bit interesting. In his mind, it seemed that all the robbers were out during the day, anyway, all the ones he had encountered before were during the day, this was the first time he encountered someone working at night.

  The second is that this group of people actually dared to rob on the official road, how big their guts are. And Ma Chao thought they were not robbing on the official road for the first time, just looking at their familiar and skilled appearance, it's very likely that they specialize in robbing the official road.

  Third, each of these people had a weapon in their hands, and they were all the real deal, no makeshift stuff. Absolutely not like those rusty, broken knives and whatnot that they used before. In fact, Ma Chao thought that with the previous equipment, it wouldn't even be easy to chop vegetables at home, let alone rob someone.

  These people are holding torches in one hand and weapons in the other, with a fierce killing intent, absolutely veterans of murder.

  Just as Ma Chao was making his analysis, the horseman who seemed to be the leader came before them and said, "Leave your horses and valuables behind, and you two can go!"

  Ma Chao listened and didn't hurt anyone's life. It seemed that he might be a principled mountain bandit, but how could the other side be sure that the two of them would definitely do what he said?

  "What if we don't?" Ma Chao's tone was firm.

  The leader opposite him heard this, glared with his eyes, "Hmph! Then I won't mind adding two more dead souls under my knife!"

  "What a big tone! Just you wait and see, I'll beat you up so badly your own father won't recognize you!"

  Chui An was about to rush forward and fight with the leader, but he was immediately pulled back by Ma Chao. "Fada, retreat!"

  "This, milord, this fellow has a big mouth, I must teach him a lesson!"

  Ma Chao glared at him and said, "Speak again, and you'll be sent back to your hometown in Fufeng!"

  As expected, this sentence was more effective than anything else, and after hearing it, Cui An didn't dare say another word.

  Originally, in normal times, a candidate like the leader of the mountain bandits would not have been blocked by Ma Chao. But today he felt that these mountain bandits were not ordinary, and Ma Chao also had his own plans, so he decided to meet with the leader of the mountain bandits personally.

  Ma Chao smiled slightly, "Well said, it's the first time in my life that someone has spoken to me like this. My own weapon hasn't been used for a long time either. Tonight, let's see whether your sword is fast or my spear is sharp!"

  "Cut the crap and see it through!"

  The two leaders finished speaking and began fighting each other in one place, while the people around them had already cleared the area, leaving enough space for the two to engage.

  After the fight, Ma Chao didn't underestimate his opponent, but he also didn't expect that there would be someone with such martial arts skills among the mountain bandits. After ten rounds, Ma Chao understood that his opponent was a second-rate inferior martial artist.

  As for the leader of the mountain bandits, he was regretful. He had seen that Ma Chao and the other were riding precious horses and each carrying weapons, knowing they weren't easy to mess with, but hadn't expected a teenager could have such martial arts skills, absolutely a high-handed master, himself wasn't even an opponent, looks like tonight is going to be a loss.

  The two men fought for over thirty rounds, to be honest, Ma Chao had a bit of admiration for his opponent. A mountain bandit with such martial arts skills was truly a rare find. Not to mention anything else, just the fact that the bandit leader's martial arts skills were not those of an unknown person made him somewhat curious about the bandit leader's identity.

  Just over forty rounds, the leader of the mountain bandits was swept off his horse by Ma Chao's spear. Before he could get up, Ma Chao's spearhead had already pointed at his throat. Originally, with their martial arts skills, Ma Chao wouldn't have needed more than forty rounds to take down his opponent, but he wanted to see how capable the other was, so he didn't use his full strength.

  The leader of the mountain bandits closed his eyes and said, "I never thought I'd lose my life at the hands of Gan Hui!"

  What? Who is it? Ma Chao didn't even think of killing him at all, and after hearing what he said, he became even more curious.

  "What did you say?" Ma Chao asked the leader of the mountain bandits.

  Who would have thought that the other person tilted his head, "Hmph! If you want to kill, then kill. If I frown, I'm not a good man! Tonight I admit defeat, and in eighteen years, I'll be a good man again!"

  "Let's go home!" The mountain bandits shouted from a distance, both sides compared their strengths and weaknesses, they all knew that Ma Chao was formidable, and it wouldn't be easy to deal with him.

  Ma Chao laughed, "Who said I wanted to kill you?"

  The bandit leader's face was filled with surprise, "You, you won't kill me?" He asked in a low voice, although he had just spoken loudly and confidently, who wants to die when they are still alive? Ma Chao's words gave him hope of living again.

  "What's your name?"

  "My name is Guan Hai, a man from Zhuxu of Beihai!" The leader of the mountain bandits hastily replied.

  It's indeed true, just now Ma Chao heard from Guan Hai that his own name was mentioned, and now it's just a confirmation.

  Beihai Zhu Xu, Beihai Zhu Xu. In my impression, Guan Ning is from that place, could they have some relationship? But thinking again, Ma Chao laughed, I always love to think wildly, seeing people with the same surname in a place, I feel like they must have some kinship. Maybe some really do, but most should be unrelated.

  "Get up!" Ma Chao put away his long spear.

  Guan Yu stood up and made a fist at Ma Chao, "Thank you, sir, for sparing my life!"

  "Alright, with your skills, why must you become a mountain bandit and rob people's homes?"

  Guan Hai's face turned red after hearing this. He wanted to say something, but hesitated and stopped for about five seconds before saying: "I don't know where the young master is going?"

  Ma Chao saw Guan Yu just now and didn't ask anything else, "We are going to Xuzhou!"

  "If you don't despise me, please come into the camp for a chat!"

  Ma Chao would not mind these things, and tonight his intention was to travel with Cui An without resting. Now that Guan Hai invited them to the mountain stronghold, this was also a good place to rest, so he naturally wouldn't decline.

  "Good, very good!"

  "Please!"

  "Please!"

  Ma Chao agreed, and Cui An naturally didn't dare have any opinion, he was actually delighted to have a place to eat and live.

  Guan Hai called out to the other mountain bandits, then led Ma Chao and his men towards the stronghold. Ma Chao was indeed a man of great bravery and cunning, he wasn't afraid of Guan Hai's tricks, firstly because he trusted Guan Hai's character, secondly even if Guan Hai wanted to plot against them, there wasn't enough time.

  Ma Chao didn't think that Guan Hai would have the ability to predict the future, and had already dug a hole for himself. If Guan Hai really had that kind of ability, he wouldn't have gone to besiege the city to demand food, only to be beheaded by Guan Yu in the end. As a fellow Yellow Turban rebel, look at how Zhang Yan is doing. In Ma Chao's eyes, Guan Hai was also a tragic figure, and if he had any brains at all, he wouldn't have ended up like that.

  A group of people arrived at Guan Yu's mountain stronghold and learned that Ma Chao and his men had been busy rushing along the road, so Guan Yu hastily set up a banquet to entertain them. Cui An was delighted, thinking that as long as he followed his lord, there would always be someone inviting him to dinner. Ma Chao didn't decline this either, indeed after rushing along the road and fighting a battle, they were quite hungry.

  At the banquet, there were only Guan Yu, Ma Chao and Cui An. Guan Yu explained that in the whole mountain stronghold, he was the only one who took charge, while others were at most small heads.

  Ma Chao was overjoyed when he heard this. Since there was only one person in charge of the mountain stronghold, Guan Hai, things would be much easier to handle afterwards. The two chatted for a while longer, while Cui An just focused on eating and didn't show any interest at all.

  From Kou's mouth, he learned that this mountain stronghold had nearly seven hundred people, which was not a small number at all. But although the number of people wasn't small, they still weren't the largest mountain stronghold within a hundred miles around.

  There is another stronghold with over a thousand people. However, from Guan Yu's tone, Ma Chao can tell that the relationship between the two strongholds is particularly bad.