Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1402 Searching
The sky gradually darkened, and Ma Chao's heart gradually grew colder.

When he fought with Zhao Yun, he was at a psychological disadvantage because of the disadvantage on the battlefield. So Ma Chao aimed at Zhao Yun's arms and thighs, with the intention of injuring the opponent and preventing him from chasing him. After all, the two were evenly matched, and it was not easy to kill Zhao Yun.

But Ma Chao didn't expect that Zhao Yun saw through his psychology and chose to block with armor, but two of the three shots were feints and the only shot hit Ma Chao's abdomen with full force.

This spear was very heavy. Ma Chao had armor on his abdomen, which was leather armor inside and armor plates outside. It was difficult for ordinary soldiers to break it even with a dozen spears.

But for some unknown reason, the spear tip used by Zhao Yun was extremely sharp and much flatter than ordinary spear tips. When Zhao Yun struck with all his strength, it directly opened the gap between Ma Chao's armor, penetrated the leather armor, and stabbed into Ma Chao's abdomen.

After Ma Chao was shot, he suddenly realized that the tip of Zhao Yun's spear was specially made and he was targeting him specifically and was well prepared!
Ma Chao covered his abdomen tightly, feeling something constantly pouring out. He didn't know if it was blood or something else. This was the first time he had suffered such a serious injury since he went into battle. At the same time, an inexplicable fear surged in his heart. Was he really going to die here?

No, I can't die yet. I'm still young and I have a long way to go. My great talents and ambitions should not be buried in this desolate northern land!
His abdomen was in unbearable pain and he became drowsy. He heard the sound of horse hooves behind him. Ma Chao was startled and quickly summoned his strength to escape in the northwest direction.

He didn't dare to rest on the road, as he always felt that someone was chasing him from behind. He fled for seven or eight days and covered hundreds of miles. The horse under him was already exhausted and was about to die on the side of the road.

But he did not dare to stop, because he stayed in high places several times on the way, and when he looked into the distance, he could always see Jin cavalry chasing him in twos and threes. This made Ma Chao feel as if he was trapped in an ice cellar. The Jin army would not give up until they saw his body!

So he could only keep running, and before he knew it, he had reached the foot of the Tianshan Mountains. On the way, he met a lonely herder family. There were a few horses tied in front of their tent, and a group of sheep were leisurely eating grass.

When he entered the tent, he found that there was a host and hostess, both of them looked to be in their thirties or forties. The woman was holding a two-year-old baby in her arms. Their faces were charred, and they were obviously grassland herdsmen.

He asked and found out that this family was sent by a small tribe to find pasture, so he said, "Do you know if there is a healer nearby?"

"Forget about the Shaman."

The male owner looked at Ma Chao's bloodstained armor and the iron spear in his hand, his legs and feet trembled a little, but he still said calmly: "I heard that there is a miracle doctor from the Central Plains on the hillside of Tianshan nearby."

"Unlike our shamans, he uses the methods of the Central Plains, collecting medicinal herbs from the Tianshan Mountains and boiling them. It is said that he has cured many people."

Ma Chao was delighted, but then he asked suspiciously, "I have lived in Liangzhou for a long time, how come I have never heard of it before?"

The man thought for a moment and said, "This man came here about two or three years ago. It is said that he has a very strange temper. If he didn't have a dying patient at home, he would not have come up the mountain to look for him."

Ma Chao nodded, then covered his abdomen and walked back. After two steps, he suddenly stopped and clenched the spear in his hand.

The man reacted quickly as well. He immediately drew the dagger from his waist and was about to pounce. However, Ma Chao did not even turn his head and stabbed back with his spear, piercing the man's face.

The woman uttered a wail of grief and reached out to grab the dagger that had fallen to the ground. Ma Chao shot her hand lightly and nailed it to the ground.

The baby fell to the ground and burst into tears. Seeing this, the hostess had no choice but to kneel on the ground and kowtow to beg.

Ma Chao hesitated for only a moment, then thrust out another spear, piercing the hostess's head.

He pulled out the gun, hesitated for a moment, and then put the gun away after pointing it at the baby on the ground.

He walked to the stove, picked up the earthenware jar, took a few sips of milk tea, pulled off a few pieces of dried meat hanging above the stove, and then strode out the door.

His warhorse outside the door could not even stand up due to running for days. Seeing this, Ma Chao simply took off the bridle and saddle, put them on the shepherd's horse, then jumped on the horse and flew towards the sky in the direction the man pointed.

He knew that if he killed the host and hostess, the Jin army's pursuers would find out sooner or later, but the dead cannot speak, so could this at least buy him a few days?
Ma Chao rode his horse around the Tianshan Mountains. The wound on his abdomen was not painful in the past few days, but he did not dare to open the wound for fear that the situation would worsen. He met several mountain people on the way, and finally asked about the whereabouts of the miracle doctor from the Central Plains.

Because he was close to the target point, he didn't dare to kill people at will. After all, at such a close distance, a dead body would easily expose him. So he chased all the way and finally found a small courtyard somewhere on the mountainside.

It was approaching winter and snow had already fallen on the Tianshan Mountains. The horse's hooves kept slipping. When Ma Chao approached the courtyard, he heard the sound of wielding spears.

He rode his horse to a small courtyard surrounded by branches and found that there were only two small huts in the courtyard. The most conspicuous thing in the courtyard was a small millstone in the center.

The first time Ma Chao saw it, he confirmed that the owner must be from the Central Plains, because the herdsmen outside the Great Wall would never use a millstone.

The sound came from a boy of about seven or eight years old, who was dancing with a wooden spear. He moved it left and right quickly with extremely agile steps. Steam was rising from his head, and it was obvious that he had been exercising for some time.

Ma Chao only took two glances and his expression changed. He could see that this spear technique was extremely extraordinary, and there were some familiar shadows in it.

He had an excellent eye for spearmanship, but he also saw the weaknesses of this technique, which seemed to focus more on infantry combat and small-scale maneuvers. Although the spearmanship was bizarre and dangerous, it did not seem like the right way to fight in a battle.

Ma Chao became alert. How could a doctor from the Central Plains know such spear skills?
A faint voice sounded, "Guest who has come from afar, you smell very bloody, did you kill people along the way?"

After hearing this, the young man immediately stopped shooting, took a few steps back, and protected the entrance to the hut.

The next moment, someone came out with a baby in her arms. When Ma Chao looked closely, he found that it was actually a girl.

However, the woman's face was covered with scars. She handed the baby in her arms to the boy and said, "Go into the house first."

The young man held the baby in one hand and a wooden spear in the other. He went around behind the woman but did not go into the house. Instead, he stared at Ma Chao, approached Yang Feng, and whispered something.

The woman casually picked up the iron spear behind the door and said, "Are you sent by the Wei Kingdom?" Ma Chao stared at the woman's face, and a light bulb suddenly lit up his head, and he blurted out, "You are... Yang Feng!"

"Yang Feng, the Black Mountain Captain of Jin!"

The woman did not deny it, holding her spear high and sneering, "I have killed many Wei generals, so it is not surprising that someone would come to me."

"But looking at you like this, I'm afraid you've been seriously injured, right?"

"With injuries like this, even Zhao Yun may not be able to defeat me, let alone you?"

Ma Chao did not answer. The two men just pointed their spears at each other. The atmosphere gradually became tense. The two spears were gradually gathering momentum and could explode at any time.

At this moment, the baby in the boy's arms started crying. Seeing this, the boy hurried into the house, mumbling, "I just drank goat's milk and I'm hungry again."

He went back into the house, lit the stove, and poured the cold milk into the copper pot. After a while, the aroma of milk wafted out.

When Ma Chao smelled the food, his stomach rumbled involuntarily. He had already eaten all the dried meat he had snatched earlier. Now he hadn't eaten for most of the day and his steps were already weak. He was actually struggling to stand.

Seeing this, Yang Feng raised his gun and sneered, "You are still holding on even after all this, do you really think I am no longer capable?"

"Get out of here!"

Ma Chao gritted his teeth and said, "I am injured and I am here to seek medical treatment."

Yang Feng sneered: "Based on what you did in the past, I'm lucky enough that I didn't kill you. Why do you want me to save people?"

"no way!"

"Besides, you look like you're going to die soon. You should find a grave for yourself!"

Ma Chao gripped the spear tightly, "Can you tell?"

"How many days can I live?"

Yang Feng took a look and said, "Your back is hunched, I'm afraid you have an abdominal injury, but your eyes and cheeks are red, obviously an internal organ infection, and the corners of your mouth are crooked and drooling, it must be the infection in your brain, it's incurable."

Ma Chao was shocked then. He wiped the corner of his mouth with his arm and found that he had indeed lost control of his saliva without realizing it.

He couldn't help but laugh miserably, "I never thought that I, Ma Chao, a hero in my lifetime, would die in such a cowardly way. It's really ridiculous, ridiculous."

Yang Feng's eyes were stern, and he asked, "Are you really Ma Chao?"

"During the battle of Jizhou, dozens of villages were massacred, and then the Jin army massacred him in retaliation in Ji County, Tianshui, his hometown?"

Ma Chao heard this and said with a grim expression: "That's right!"

"Why, did I kill your family too?"

"If you want revenge, just come here on horseback!"

Yang Feng heard this and said disdainfully: "It's already like this, and you're still being stubborn."

She stood up, walked out of the courtyard, and walked to the side path, saying, "Follow me."

When Ma Chao saw Yang Feng making a gesture to invite him in, he hesitated for a moment, then leaned on his spear and followed him on the snow.

When Ma Chao first heard Yang Feng say that he would not live long, he calmed down instead. Since he was about to die, what did he care about?
The two walked along the mountain path for two miles and turned to a valley. Yang Feng pointed to a stone tablet in the distance and said, "That is the grave of your wife Yang."

Ma Chao opened his eyes wide in surprise. He walked over step by step and found that the words engraved on the stone tablet were: Tomb of Yang Family of Hongnong.

His mind went blank. "This..."

Yang Feng said softly, "When Ji County was massacred, your wife was pregnant. When she was escaping, she met my apprentice and survived with his help."

"After that, the two of them hid in the city and fled. I later found them and brought them to Tianshan, far away from the war, and settled there."

"Later, your wife died during childbirth, so I buried her here."

Ma Chao's heart skipped a beat. "That baby just now...?"

Yang Feng said: "It's your daughter."

(End of this chapter)