However, it was said that Ma Chao's Xiangyang cannon attacked for half an hour, and tens of thousands of large and small stones flew into Xiaopei City. Under this fierce blow, the southern wall of Xiaopei City was already dilapidated, and the wooden gate was about to be burned through.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Ma Chao immediately ordered the siege of the city. Gao Shun and Cao, who were in charge of command and dispatch, first ordered people to erect ladders and ropes, and there were archers under the city ready to shoot the enemy troops on the city. But something unexpected happened, from the time the soldiers set up the ladder to the top of the city, there were no enemy troops on the city in the whole process, and they did not encounter the slightest resistance.

Ma Chao's heart moved, knowing that Liu Bei must have abandoned the city and fled for his life, this matter had already been expected, Liu Bei would never use this little family wealth that he had worked hard to save to fight with him, otherwise Liu Bei would not be Liu Ran away.

As more and more soldiers stepped up to the city, the city gate was also breached, the drawbridge was lowered, and the large group of men and horses then fought into Xiaopei City. Ma Chao immediately ordered the collection of prisoners, appeased the people in the city, and made it clear in advance that if any soldiers dared to take advantage of the chaos to rob the people's property and annihilate the silver women, they would be dealt with by military law!

The generals and officials hurriedly took the order, and a total of more than 10,000 Yellow Turbans who took the initiative to surrender were strong, but the houses in the city were ten rooms and nine empty. After inquiring about some captives, he learned that Liu Bei rushed to Lingbi with tens of thousands of people in the city, intending to rush to Yangzhou Shouchun to seek refuge with Yuan Shao.

Seeing that the sky was about to darken, and the enemy army had been gone for half an hour, Ma Chao couldn't help but be furious, Liu Bei took the people to flee, this trick is not clever! If he leads the cavalry to chase and kill, Liu Bei can mobilize the people to resist and take advantage of the chaos to escape, which will inevitably cause casualties to the people, so that he Ma Chao will be accused of indiscriminately killing innocents and slaughtering the people. If he didn't chase him, he would be in Liu Bei's arms, and he only needed to rush overnight, and he would be able to rush to Yangzhou before dawn, so as to enter Yuan Shao's sphere of influence and get out calmly.

After pondering for a while, Ma Chao quickly made up his mind that Liu Bei was not an idle person, and he must not be allowed to get out, otherwise there would be endless troubles. At that moment, Lingwen Ping and Gao Shun were stationed in Xiaopei, responsible for guarding the prisoners and cleaning the battlefield, and he led Chen Zhi and Cao surnamed to lead 8,000 cavalry out of the city to chase them.

At this moment, it was dusk, and the night was coming, Ma Chao calculated that Liu Bei could not go too fast with tens of thousands of people, and the army only ran out of less than twenty miles before encountering the sparse and fallen behind people. After running out for seven or eight miles, I saw a large crowd of people in front of me, as many as 70,000 or 80,000, including men and women, old and young.

As soon as these people saw Ma Chao's cavalry killed, they immediately panicked and fled in all directions. Among them, there are also many Liu Bei's troops mixed in, and under the initiation of their respective generals, they formed a simple formation to confront Ma Chao, and there were tens of thousands of people.

Ma Chao frowned, the matter had come to this, he finally understood Liu Bei's true intentions, this move was just to escape. Imagine that at night, nearly 100,000 soldiers and civilians are mixed together, who can find Liu Bei? Once these people scattered and fled for their lives, how could the seven or eight thousand cavalry control the situation? In this way, Liu Bei can fish in troubled waters and escape calmly. As for the lost part, it is also easy, as long as Liu Bei escapes to a safe place and releases the rumors, there will be people who will come to vote one after another.

Seeing that people kept disappearing into the night, and the situation was completely out of control, Ma Chao couldn't think of a good way to find out Liu Bei for a while. Moreover, there are few war horses among these people, maybe Liu Bei would have slipped away in advance and deliberately left these people for him to toss.

In desperation, Ma Chao had no choice but to launch a money offensive and shouted: "Don't panic, fellow villagers in Peicheng!" I am the general of the imperial court and the champion Hou Ma Chao is also! This time, he led troops to attack Xiaopei, just to exterminate the thief Liu Bei, and he had no intention of harming the people of Xuzhou! Please don't panic! ”

When the words fell, the people who heard it nearby immediately relieved themselves, after all, Ma Chao's name was not fake, and it was impossible for the people of Xuzhou not to hear about it. At this moment, a middle-aged man suddenly stood up in the crowd and shouted: "Have you forgotten the slaughter of the city in Xuzhou by the Cao thief a few days ago? Ma Chao's face is good and evil, even more than Cao thief! In the past few years, I don't know how many people have died at the hands of Ma Chao in Jizhou and Luoyang, and I must not believe his rhetoric! Let's run for your life at night! After saying that, he quickly burrowed into the crowd in the darkness, and could no longer find it.

Ma Chao was furious, and secretly said that Liu Bei had a good way, and he became more and more determined to get rid of Liu Bei completely, and shouted at the moment: "Right and wrong will come from the truth being revealed!" is still the same sentence, the general will be punished for Liu Bei! If anyone can point out Liu Bei or inform him of his whereabouts, once verified, he will be rewarded with 100 catties of gold, and he will never break his promise! ”

Tens of thousands of people were in an uproar, seeing that Ma Chao had no intention of making a move, many people who were planning to flee also stood in place. But these people were forced to come by Liu Bei's instigation, and Liu Bei has not been seen since he left the city. It is difficult to provide him with useful clues, and Liu Bei is bent on getting out, so he will naturally not leak the slightest rumor, and in the middle of the night, he can achieve his goal by running in any direction.

Ma Chao had no choice but to try to annihilate and incorporate the troops left by Liu Bei first, and as for Liu Bei's movements, it was not too late to ask about it later. In advance, Huang Zhong and Xu Huang each led a team of elite soldiers to ambush on both sides of Jiulong Mountain, completely blocking Liu Bei's escape to Yangzhou and Yuzhou. I am afraid that Liu Bei will not come out of any village or mountain where he is hiding, or he will escape to the neighboring Yanzhou at night, otherwise it will be difficult to escape from his net.

After making up his mind, Ma Chaoti immediately stepped forward and shouted at the tens of thousands of remnants: "Liu Bei is an unrighteous man, and he has already abandoned him and fled for his life, could it be that you still want to fight for him and fight against this general?" Ben will give you one last chance, lay down your arms and surrender to Ben General, and protect and persuade these people to return to Xiao Pei to live in peace, so that Ben will not only not investigate your faults, but also give you land near Xiao Pei, and take off your identity as a thief and become a civilian! ”

Nearly 10,000 thieves were very moved when they heard this, these people are all the yellow turbans that Liu Bei recruited in Beihai, and their loyalty will never be high! Besides, not long after escaping from Xiaopei, Liu Bei personally led them to hold the people hostage and marched in the direction of Lingbi, and ordered Guan Yu to lead the army to 5,000 elite soldiers, but Ma Chao chased all the way without encountering any obstacles, and now Liu Bei is gone, obviously treating them as outcasts used to attract Ma Chao's attention.

There are also many people with flexible minds among these people, who have already figured this out, and at this moment, seeing that Ma Chao has offered such generous conditions, someone immediately threw down his weapons and bowed down, and said loudly: "I wish to surrender to the general!" ”

Someone took the lead and only listened to the "jingle bell!" There was a voice, and the defeated soldiers who had just wanted to fight threw down their weapons and surrendered. The remaining small part can only follow the crowd, only hating Liu Bei for being unrighteous and running away by himself at the critical moment. The people of Xiaopei didn't really believe that Ma Chao would slaughter the city, but this time they saw Ma Chao adopt the Yellow Turban Thieves as civilians, and they became more and more relieved, would a general who didn't even kill the Yellow Turban Thieves slaughter their people?

Ma Chao didn't need to detain these people and those who surrendered, while sending a few cavalry to scatter to inquire about the news, he organized the people and surrendered troops to slowly rush to Xiaopeicheng.

Just a few steps away, suddenly an officer with a small head came to Ma Chao and bowed down, and said respectfully: "I have seen the general, and I have something important to report below!" ”

Ma Chao was overjoyed and said loudly: "What is the report?" If it is valuable, it will be rewarded! ”

The little leader said: "General Qiyu, although Liu Bei is gone, his family is still under our protection!" And General Taishi has just fled in the direction of Lingbi with a team of men and horses, and Liu Bei may go with Taishi Ci! ”

Ma Chao's heart was racing, and he said urgently: "Then Guan Yu and Jian Yong and the others can be among them?" ”

"Not there! General Guan was cut off shortly after leaving the city, and he was no longer in the army! ”

Ma Chao nodded, he didn't expect Tai Shici to be among them, but this person may not have a surname of Liu Bei, otherwise how could Liu Bei leave him and not take him away? He didn't want to let go of Tai Shici, a famous general, but on the way to Lingbi, he would definitely be ambushed by Huang Zhong, and it would not be difficult to capture him. At this time, there is no need to chase hard, just wait for Huang Zhong's good news. Then he said, "This is very good, and you deserve to be rewarded!" Later, you can go to the Lord Bo Zhuge Jin to receive ten gold as a reward! ”

"Thank you, General!" The little leader was overjoyed, this is not an uncommon thing, if he doesn't come to report it, Ma Chao will know sooner or later, and he continued: "But I don't know how the general will deal with that Miss Gan?" The villain doesn't ask for a bounty, and looks straight to the general to hand this person over to the villain's care! ”

Ma Chao was secretly amused, took a closer look, and found that this little boss was still a cream boy, no wonder he dared to worry about Liu Bei's Mrs. Gan. At that moment, he said: "This matter will have its own decision in my heart!" No matter how unscrupulous Liu Bei is, he is also a prince, and if he gives his wife away, he will definitely be criticized! This matter must not be mentioned again! Then he turned back to a team leader and ordered: "You quickly take a pair of soldiers and horses with this brother to protect Madame Gan, and no one is allowed to touch a finger of her without the order of the general!" ”

"No!"

The little leader's face changed, obviously extremely reluctant, and he bent down and hugged his fists and said: "The general is slow, the villain has something to say!" ”

Ma Chao was quite impatient in his heart, and frowned: "If you have anything to say, say it quickly!" Ben won't have time to talk to you! ”

The little leader clasped his fists and said: "It's not a secret, the villain is not a Yellow Turban thief, but a local of Xiaopei, who has just become Liu Bei's personal army leader!" As far as the young general knows, although Miss Gan and Liu Bei have Kong Beihai to protect the media, the two have not yet held a wedding ceremony! Therefore, Miss Gan cannot be called Mrs. Gan, now that she has become a prisoner of the general, she only hopes that the general can understand the people's hearts and return Miss Gan to her mother's family, and the villain is willing to follow the general desperately and be loyal! ”

Ma Chao's heart moved after hearing this, and it was not difficult to see from these words that this little head did not want to take Gan Qian for himself, and his words were full of pleading and sincerity, without a trace of silver evil, could it be that the two had something to do with each other? At that moment, he asked, "I will ask you, what is the relationship between you and Miss Gan?" (To be continued.) )