Chapter 117: An analysis of the enemy situation

"Urgent report! Emergency military information in Liangzhou!" The meteor horse messenger came over and shouted loudly from afar.

"Major General, emergency military information." The messenger turned over and dismounted the horse in front of Ma Chao, respectfully handed the gift bag and his hands up.

Ma Chao stepped forward quickly, took the letter and opened a corner, and saw two letters inside, both of which were covered with red silk feathers to show that it was the meaning of emergency information.

"Let's go to the conference hall." As soon as Ma Chao saw this sign, he knew something was wrong, so he turned around and walked towards the camp tent.

The four generals Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, Gao Shun and Zhang He were shocked at the same time. After following Zou Fei and Cai Yan, they followed Ma Chao into the tent.

In the camp tent, Ma Chao opened the first letter, which read: Meng Qiwuer, who was newly reported by his father, Han Sui colluded with the Hu tribe, and the army gathered in Wuwei. The situation in Liangzhou may undergo major changes soon. My son should make plans early to prevent accidents.

The second letter was sent by Ma Luo, the deputy commander of the Pegasus Pavilion in Liangzhou, the branch of the Pegasus in Wuwei. The records said that from mid-July, Han Sui began to have abnormal movements and implemented martial law in Wuwei City. At that time, Ma Luo felt that something was strange, and then sent spies from the city to start collecting intelligence.

Sure enough, it was only less than ten days after Han Sui's martial law order was issued. The cavalry of the Donghu Xianbei and the Hun cavalry in the southern Hetao area appeared outside Wuwei City at the same time. After getting this situation, Ma Luo could figure it out with his toes that the spearhead of these three soldiers was undoubtedly directed towards his master, Ma's father and son. When he realized that the situation was wrong, Ma Luo immediately sent someone to secretly send the information.

Originally, this information was planned to be delivered directly to Chang'an, but Ma Luo was afraid that the journey would be difficult, so he sent someone to secretly throw it into Ma Teng from Tianshui County.

This is also why the information was reported to Chang'an by the meteor fast horse from Tianshui County.

The last date of signature of these two intelligence places was issued from Wuwei on July 25, the first year of Chuping, and the first year of Chuping, the first year of Chuping, the first year of Chuping, the first day of August. In other words, it took five days to inform the information from Wuwei to Tianshui, and the information sent to Chang'an took seven days to inform the information from Tianshui.

After reading the letter, Ma Chao's heart was shocked. On the surface, he looked calm and thoughtful. Then he said, "Zou Fei, please quickly lead the personal army and take two military advisors to the lobby of the schoolyard to discuss matters."

"No!" Zou Fei knew something big had happened, so she quickly responded in a deep voice.

"Cai Yan, give the generals a letter of information. After reading it, everyone will think about the emergency measures for this matter." Ma Chao ordered and began to fall into deep thought.

After reading these two pieces of information, the generals in the hall had different expressions and thought about them.

Ma Chao first started to think about the time. He realized that on the first day of August, Tianshui had obviously not received any news about the departure of Han Sui's army. Otherwise, his father Ma Teng would definitely mention it in the letter.

"Seven Days", Ma Chao whispered in his mind, the time of these seven days is still blank, and Han Sui may have started a war in these seven days, but the information from Liangzhou has not arrived yet.

This war is definitely not a single one. Ma Chao's intuition told him that this was the beginning of a conspiracy. This time he not only had to fight, but also defend. The attack must be invincible and the defense must be as stable as Mount Tai. At present, there are more than 45,000 troops on the front line of Chang'an, but after being distributed to various places to guard, Ma Chao can really call less than 10,000 troops.

It is obviously unrealistic to recruit soldiers at this moment. The main food and grass are insufficient, and the people's hearts are just stable. If the recruitment is now, the hard work of the past few months will be lost. What's more, even if new recruits are recruited, the soldiers who have not been trained will not be able to fight.

So recruiting new recruits is not feasible, and it is something Ma Chao doesn't want to do. In this way, he can only make good use of the 45,000 elite soldiers in his hands.

When Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Zhang Ji and other civil officials came to the meeting hall in Xiying, Ma Chao greeted him and introduced the current situation in detail to them.

Guo Jia and Jia Xu had already learned that the battle report from Liangzhou was coming. Therefore, they had already inferred along the way that as soon as Ma Chao finished speaking, Guo Jia still had a plan in his heart after seeing the expressions of the generals. He thought for a moment. He stood with his hands behind his back and said confidently: "Ming Gong, our army will win in this battle."

As soon as Guo Jia said these confident words, the generals looked at him one after another, thinking about his basis, because in the hearts of many people, they still felt that Han Sui's army is coming, and it is really difficult to resist.

Ma Chao was also shocked and said, "Without filial piety, what good strategies can you do to defeat the enemy?"

"Ming Gong, Miao Ce Jia did not. Although there are strategic factors in the war, what is more important is that it depends on the people's hearts, strategy, politics, and many other reasons. Now Ming Gong respects the Empress Dowager and protects justice, and is actually a military force for justice. Han Sui colludes with foreign enemies and invades the border, and is actually a military force for invasion. Now Ming Gong has the Tao to fight against Wu Dao, and this is a victory for righteousness. It can also be said that in politics, we will be better.

"Han Sui robbed the imperial tombs and oppressed the people, and was cruel and unvirtuous. When the emperor was in danger, he strongly advocated the imperial edict to the world, calling on all heroes to fight against the rebel Dong Zhuo, and pacifying the people with all their hearts. Benevolence and virtue were spread throughout the world. This was a victory of virtue, which was the will of the people.

"Strategically, our army controls the pass and waits for labor. The military and civilians are united. Han Sui comes from afar, exhausted soldiers and horses, and there are three alliances. They are suspicious of each other. Although there are many soldiers and generals, they are less than one piece of force. With these three victories, how can it be invincible?"

"...Haha! The words of filial piety are really exquisite." Ma Chao's confidence rose sharply, he laughed a few times, and said in a deep voice: "Derong (Zhang Ji), immediately drafted the proclamation of the attack, and then sent it to Changle Palace, stamped the Empress Dowager's jade seal, and informed the world."

"No!" Zhang agreed with his promise with mercy.

Guo Jia's analysis undoubtedly had a great effect on encouraging the morale of the army. At this time, the generals were all sharpening their fists and excited.

"Ming Gong, although our army is morally and strategically better than Han Sui, our army's weaknesses are also very obvious. For example, our army is now in short supply of food and grass, and strong enemies are looking around, which makes it impossible for the army and horse to set an expedition at all. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, our strategy can only be to first adopt passive defense, then look for favorable fighter opportunities, and give Han Sui a fatal blow." Although Guo Jia had previously analyzed Han Sui's shortcomings, he did not ignore it. His own shortcomings were enough. Only by fully understanding the power of both sides of the country would it be wise to do it.

As soon as Guo Jia finished speaking, Jia Xu stepped out and said, "Young Master, Xu completely agreed with the strategic concept of Military Advisor Guo, but our eyes cannot be just focused on Han Sui. It should be put there. This time, Han Sui took the initiative to attack us, naturally because he realized that we were threatening him. But there is obviously still arguing here, and other forces are instigating him."

"Now we can only say that Han Sui is our open enemy, but we still need to be on guard against the dark enemy, because the dark enemy is the more terrible enemy. Now, Yuan Shu, a land in Nanyang, has had a little fun with Liu Biao recently, and the two families often have a fight. Naturally, they have no time to take care of us, so they can rule out that he is not a dark enemy.

"Zhang Lu of Hanzhong is a stubborn person who always only seeks to protect himself, and he should not be a dark enemy. After eliminating these two forces, there will only be one dark enemy, that is Dong Zhuo from Hedong."

"According to the news of our scouts, Dong Zhuo has adopted thundering measures in recent months, relying on the huge wealth plundered by Luoyang as the basis. He first incorporated Pingyang warlord Yang Feng, obtained more than 50,000 troops, and then annihilated hundreds of thousands of Baibo army troops, all of which were more than 100,000 troops.

"Then he captured Hanoi and the two counties of Shangdang received tens of thousands of troops, claiming to be a large army of 300,000. Although these 300,000 are exaggerated, Xu thought that Dong Zhuo's current troops were at least no less than 100,000 troops. Hedong and Fengyi County were separated by a river, and Dong Zhuo was very close to Han Sui. More importantly, Dong Zhuo was a close friend with our army, so the only dark enemy was undoubtedly Dong Zhuo."

The analysis of Guo Jia and Jia Xu is reasonable and concise, from strategy to people's hearts, can be said to be comprehensive.

While appreciating, Ma Chao nodded and asked, "Wenhe, as you said, if Dong Zhuo's army attacks, how can our army refuse it?"

Jia Xu pondered for a moment and replied: "Although Hedong County and Fengyi County are separated by only one water, the Yellow River chassis is not so easy to cross. As long as our army sets up beacon towers everywhere in the Yellow River ferry, and sends troops to patrol along the river, Dong Zhuo's troops will not be able to cross. However, the Fengyi County defense line is too long, not only does it require a general to be guarded, but also a heavy army to guard it, so that no mistake can be made."

"In addition, the Qiang and Di people in various parts of Longxi can unite and let them launch a group of troops to harass the rear of Han Sui's army and cause trouble for Han Sui. This can also reduce the frontal pressure of our army. If these two points are achieved, our army can attack the enemy, retreat and defend, and it can be as stable as Mount Tai."

The strategic analysis and deployment of Guo Jia and Jia Xu greatly encouraged Ma Chao, thus strengthening his determination to fight the enemy. After thinking for a moment, Ma Chao suddenly stood up and said, "Generals, what else should I add?"

"Young Master, I will say something in the end." Zhang He said with a sigh.

"speak!"

"Young master, whether it is defense or defense, our army needs to divide its troops to support Liangzhou. The last general thought that General Pang De was familiar with the time, geography, and people in Liangzhou. He should be transferred back to Chang'an and go out to fight with the army. As for the defense of Tongguan, He is willing to go to Liangzhou for his behalf." Zhang He has been to Liangzhou and knows that the customs and customs there are very different from the Central Plains. Therefore, he felt that under such a battle situation, Pang De should go to Liangzhou to play a greater role.

While nodding, Ma Chao nodded and saw that the generals had no other opinions, he said: "Your strategies are all prerequisites for victory. However, Chao also had an idea, that is, to use the heart-to-heart tactics. The reason why Han Sui's momentum has soared is because with the help of the Donghu Xianbei people and the soldiers of the Southern Xiongnu, if we can repel any of these two soldiers first, Han Sui's alliance strategy will completely collapse."

Guo Jia's eyebrows twitched and said, "The young master means that he wants to advance lightly and take the old nests of the Southern Xiongnu and Xianbei people?"

"Yes, I decided to lead three thousand cavalry to set off lightly, and take the camp of the Southern Xiongnu tribe entrenched in the Hetao area." Ma Chao stared at the map hanging in front of the tent. The small green section was the fertile Hetao area and the tribal habitat of the Southern Xiongnu.

"Young Master, although this is exquisite, as the commander of the three armies, you should not advance easily. You can choose another general to go." Jia Xu hurriedly persuaded him.

"The last general is willing to go." The generals asked for battle.

"Young master, when Yun was young, he followed his master and traveled to the south and north of the desert. He is familiar with the Hetao area. He also asked the young master to allow Mo to go." Zhao Yun bowed and shouted in a deep voice.

"Young master, Liao's hometown is in Yanmen, and he is not unfamiliar with the Hetao area. Liao is willing to go to war with General Zilong." Zhang Liao also urgently asked for the battle.

"Haha..." Ma Chao laughed loudly and said in a deep voice: "I have decided, and all the generals obey the order!"

"Here!" the generals responded in unison.

"Gao Shun led the prefect of Fengyi. In addition to controlling the four thousand guards of Fengyi, he immediately led 6,000 troops and horses in Chang'an to guard Fengyi County. He asked you to appoint the Fengyi County Chief Fa Zheng as the army, and cooperate with you to guard Fengyi County, build beacon towers, and strictly guard against the Hedong troops."

"Appoint Meng Da, the commander of Fengyi County, as the Sima of the Tongguan Army, and responsible for Tongguan defense. This general order will be taken to Fengyi by Brother Gao."

"The last one will obey the order!" Gao Shun immediately turned around and left after taking Ma Chao's order.

"Junyi (Zhang He) you are the chief general, Wenhe (Jia Xu) you are the military advisor, immediately lead 5,000 troops and rush to Liangzhou. If the battle is fierce, you can give up Longxi County, shrink your troops, and ensure Tianshui City; in addition, I will order Pang De to rush to meet you immediately after changing defenses."

"Abide by the order!" Zhang He stepped forward to take the order of general and retreated with Jia Xu.

"Wenyuan (Zhang Liao) you are the chief general of Chang'an, Fengxiao (Guo Jia) you are the military advisor, Derong (Zhang Ji) you are the commander of the Li Duwei, and the three of you are responsible for coordinating all military and political affairs in Yongzhou."

"Abide by the order!" Zhang Liao and Guo Jia and the other two came out to respond.

"I plan to order Zhang Rui to strictly guard Wu Pass, Jiang Yin to strictly guard Dasan Pass, Gao Lan to strictly guard Xiao Pass, and there must be no mistakes!" Ma Chao thought in his mind that in addition to these three passes, there are also Tongguan, each with 5,000 troops and horses, requiring a total of 20,000 troops.

Gao Shun led 10,000 troops and horses to guard Fengyi County, and Zhang He led 5,000 troops and horses to support Liangzhou. In this way, 45,000 troops and horses would be used to control 35,000 troops and horses. The remaining 10,000 troops and horses would be left to some stationed in Chang'an City.

Ma Chao was calculating the deployment of troops in his mind. In this way, even if he led 3,000 cavalry and left, the remaining 7,000 troops would be enough to guard Chang'an. In times of crisis, he could even divide some troops and rush to help various places. After this arrangement, all the troops arrived were used.

These arrangements were also distributed and implemented after careful consideration. I believe that under Yongzhou's arrangements, no matter what the situation is encountered, there will be no chaos. As for Liangzhou, Tianshui currently has 23,000 troops stationed in Tianshui, and Longxi also has 10,000 troops. Even if the two armies retreat to Tianshui and meet, there will be 30,000 troops.

In addition, the five thousand soldiers and horses led by Zhang He, Pang De and Jia Xu will definitely not have any problems with Tianshui's solid city defense with two or three months of support.

"Zilong, you immediately select three thousand elites, good riders and shooters, and gather at the school ground at the third o'clock in the evening!" Ma Chao, under his thoughts, issued the last order.
Chapter completed!