Ma Qiu was from a tribal family that lived in Taiyuan Commandery, although his participation in Ran Min's ethnic cleansing of the Five Barbarians in 350 suggests that he may actually be Han Chinese.
Ma Qiu and Guo Tai (郭太) pursued the tribe's leader, Duan Liao to Mount Miyun, capturing his mother and wife and slaughtering his troops.
The Duan tribe was on the verge of collapsing but by this point, Shi Hu had realized that Yan was not interested in letting Zhao benefit from the war.
Shi Hu ordered Ma Qiu to retrieve Duan Liao, who had offered his surrender at Mount Miyun.
The Yan general Murong Ke ambushed Ma Qiu at Sanzangkou (三藏口, in present-day Chengde, Hebei), leaving three-fifths of his army dead.
Shi Hu wanted to conquer the Former Liang state and had Ma Qiu attack Jincheng with Sun Fudu (孫伏都).
[4] Ma Qiu continued his advances into Liang the following year in 347 by attacking Fuhan (枹罕, in present-day Linxia County, Gansu).
Xie Ai went to face Ma Qiu's army, riding a light carriage, wearing a white headdress and having drums played as he proceeded.
Despite Liang fending off the invasion, Ma Qiu ended up winning the last battle between the two sides as he defeated Zhang Mao.
Because of this, a Liang general named Li Kui (李逵) surrendered to him along with thousands of Di and Qiang living south of the Yellow River.
The situation in Zhao worsened in 350 when Shi Hu's adopted grandson Ran Min broke away and established his state of Wei.
While Ma Qiu marched to Luoyang together with Wang Lang, he received Ran Min's order to execute any living barbarian in sight.
Ma Qiu advised Fu Hong to concentrate in conquering Guanzhong while Ran Min and Shi Zhi were at war.