The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 268 Crossing the Border

Ma Chao ordered the granaries to be opened to distribute grain and provide relief to the people. At the same time, he reported the situation in Wu'an to Zhao Yun and requested that Zhao Yun send administrative officials to take over these areas as soon as possible.

In the following days, Ma Chao led his team in frequent attacks, quickly eliminating the remaining resistance forces in the designated mission area and establishing a preliminary organizational control system, awaiting the handover by administrative personnel.

After dealing with the issues in the areas previously controlled by Han Sui, Ma Chao was left with only one problem: joining the Longxi organization!

Eager to prove himself, Ma Chao decided to make Longxi his true debut, rather than a small skirmish like the one in Wu'an County. It was time for a real battle.

The current ruler of Longxi is Guo Si, and the entire autonomous region was won by those soldiers.

With the Ma family organization, which they had been fighting for years, added to the mix, Guo Si had no confidence whatsoever, and Li Jue's plan to lead the organization to attack Chang'an failed.

They failed to gain a foothold in Yongzhou and suffered heavy losses. With attacks coming from their own territory and Li Jue having to guard against Yuan Shao taking advantage of the situation, they had no extra troops to support them. They could only rely on Guo Si himself.

In fact, neither of them knew that Yuan Shao would not dare to take advantage of the chaos in Liangzhou. Yuan Shao had already suffered a loss at Chen Er's hands once, and he would not act without absolute certainty.

Yuan Shao was determined not to have another conflict with the self-governed region. In fact, he ordered all his teams not to set foot in Liangzhou territory, and even if the Liangzhou teams provoked him, they were not allowed to cross the border to pursue them.

On August 4th, Ma Chao finally received intelligence from Longxi. The intelligence report from the Liangzhou branch stated that the Longxi garrison had a total of 23,000 men, of whom 18,000 were firearms soldiers.

With 5,000 cavalry, Ma Chao's infantry was 7,000 to 8,000 fewer than the Longxi garrison, almost a 1:2 ratio. Moreover, he was on the offensive, which did not conform to the general rules of siege warfare.

Generally speaking, in a siege, the attacking side needs to be at least three to five times larger than the defending side to have a chance of capturing the city. Although this rule may not apply to the age of firearms, there is still a difference in troop strength between the two sides. Ma Chao, who had learned how to organize his troops in his own territory from Liao Hua, knew this.

Chen Er didn't like to use soldiers' lives to pay for it, and Ma Chao also knew that the pensions in the self-governed area were quite high. A soldier's pension was at least a one-time compensation of 100 months' salary before his sacrifice, plus other compensation for his family.

Ma Chao felt a headache coming on just hearing this. If he dared to sacrifice human lives, that infantry brigade guard named Yanbo would immediately turn against him.

No, I have to come up with a better idea, Ma Chao said to himself. But after thinking for a long time, he still didn't know what tactics to use. Helpless, Ma Chao decided to call Yanbo and others to discuss the matter together.

Five minutes later, Yanbo Liqing arrived at Ma Chao's tent: "General, you were looking for us?"

"Sit down." Ma Chao gestured for the two to sit down and had tea served.

Yanbo asked, "What important matter brings you to summon us?" The intelligence has arrived; the strength of the garrison in Longxi is somewhat beyond our expectations. Guo Si has gathered the garrison from Longxi County.

"The organized forces within Longxi are basically concentrated in Longxi City. Their infantry is almost twice our size, so taking Longxi might not be easy." Ma Chao said bluntly to Yanbo and Li Qing, "This mission doesn't require us to occupy Longxi, but brothers, we're both organized people, and I don't think either of us wants to go back and report with such a result, right?"

"General, while I agree with what you say, as your staff officer, I must remind you of my organization's operational principles."

Li Qing stood up and said to Ma Chao, "There is a significant difference in troop strength between my organization and the Longxi garrison organization. If there are too many casualties in the battle, you, as the commander, may face accountability, even if you have not yet officially become a member of the self-governing area's active-duty organization."

As a mid-level organizer in the self-governing district's organizing team, Li Qing was aware of the higher-ups' attitude towards the Ma family organization, which had in fact become part of the self-governing district's organizing team.

However, since the reorganization has not yet been formally completed, although he is not Ma Chao's chief of staff, he still has to remind Ma Chao out of duty to avoid major battle losses.

Ma Chao was not annoyed by Li Qing's frankness. He said, "Chief Li, I have a good understanding of the operational principles of the autonomous region. That is why I have invited you two here to discuss this matter and come up with a good solution."

As an ambitious organizer, it would be impossible for Yanbo not to be tempted by Ma Chao's proposal, but his inner rationality kept reminding him to stay calm.

Yanbo said to Ma Chao, "General Ma, we are all organizers. I'll be frank. It would be hypocritical to say that I don't want to take Longxi to gain organizational credit. But you also know that I only have one infantry brigade. Although your cavalry still has five thousand men, they are cavalrymen, and fighting on horseback is not their forte."

“My training equipment is advanced, but the enemy also has the advantage of terrain. Even if we can barely take Longxi, my casualties will be huge. As an infantry commander, my reason tells me that I cannot do that.”

“Guard Yan, as I said, this is a non-essential mission. I invited you here only to discuss this matter. If we can come up with a feasible plan, then we will fight. If not, then we will not fight. The lives of our soldiers are precious. Although I crave organizational merit, I am not the kind of guy who climbs up by stepping on the corpses of my brothers.”

"I believe that," Yanbo said sincerely.

Well, Ma Chao didn't expect Yanbo to say such a thing. He was prepared to be refuted by Yanbo again, but then he heard Yanbo say, "So, does the organization that sent the two of us here already have a way to take Longxi?" "At present, I only have one immature method, and I don't know if it is feasible," Ma Chao said hesitantly.

Li Qing said, "It's alright. We'll figure out if it works by organizing it together."

"This is why I invited you here."

Ma Chao said, "He took out a map and said to the two men, 'There are over 20,000 garrison troops in Longxi, but they can't be concentrated in one place, nor can they all be concentrated in the city; that wouldn't be conducive to defense.'"

"My plan is to first use cavalry to harass the enemy's supply lines and cut off the connection between Longxi and the enemy's rear. The garrison in Longxi will definitely send out their teams to clear the road when it is cut off, which will give us an opportunity."