To the east of the river, in the southwest corner, this is the front line of the confrontation between the Republican army and the official army, and the officers and troops on the opposite side have strengthened their defenses, because it is a plain battle, so this is more and more necessary for more defense. Both sides frantically built fortifications on the front line, and five trenches were dug. And the depth of such a defense is as high as fifteen miles. The IRA was able to garrison only a few points because they were severely undermanned. It can only be done by strengthening the defense of the points. to stop the enemy's attack. But such a defense is clearly not what the IRA wants.

"Sir, the front line needs more troops, and at the moment there are only two garrison regiments to defend, and the number of troops is obviously insufficient. In addition, we need a lot of supplies, can you give us some cannons. After all, many of our defense points, only firearms used by the infantry, and there are too few such weapons as artillery. Once the opposite side launches an attack, the artillery equipped by the garrison can only hold out for a certain time, but it cannot resist a longer attack for a long time, which will be extremely unfavorable to us, and we cannot let this happen. A staff officer of the garrison regiment introduced.

Ma Heng stood in the observation post with a telescope to observe the situation on the other side.

The officers and soldiers on the opposite side are from the division. According to the reconnaissance report, about 12 battalions of men and horses were able to fight. There were about six thousand people, and in addition to that, they conscripted about eight thousand people locally. The total number is more than 14,000 people. Such a defensive force is still quite large, of course, in addition, there are more civilians involved in the logistics unit, the number is as high as more than 20,000 people.

On the Republican side, the two regiments combined are only in their early 2,000s, and the total number of militia companies is more than 3,500 people. There is a huge difference in the strength of the two sides, but fortunately, the combat training, combat skills, and fighting will on this side are far surpassed. In particular, the technical equipment of the equipment was much higher than that of the other side, and the two garrison regiments were equipped with 24 4.5-inch cannons and about 30 small cannons of 2-inch caliber. On the other side, what they were able to draw their hands on, that is, three cannons. However, they have a certain number of archers. In fact, they are all half-shooters. They can only shoot blindly in groups, not accurately.

As for the firearms, they are all equipped with firearms produced in the West Garden, and they are all obsolete goods. Coupled with improper maintenance, this can be a great disadvantage for them. So, in such a situation, the advantage is still on the side of the Republican Army.

"It's unlikely that more troops will give you, and the state needs more troops." Ma Heng put down the telescope in his hand and said. The Republican Army was finally able to make binoculars, but there were three kinds of materials, one was the best copper, but there was too little copper, which was generally very expensive, and the other was iron. However, the technology is not mature enough, and the last one is made of wood, but it is not conducive to preservation and is easy to damage. There are many, many ropes that need to be wrapped around for protection, but this still does not meet the needs of many people.

The telescope in Ma Heng's hand was made of copper, which was sent by Shang Wu himself. However, Ma Heng will not wear such a telescope on his chest, because it will tell the other party that this is an extremely important commander. This is clearly stipulated by Shangwu. Telescopes would have cost Republican officers extremely badly.

"But, sir, we can't do such a thing without too many troops, and this is a big, big trouble for us." The staff officer said helplessly.

"I also know this kind of thing, but there is no way, there are many places where we need troops, not that we need it in a place like ours." Ma Heng said.

"In the direction of merging states, we have deployed three regiments of troops, and the confrontation pressure formed by the two sides is still very great. But what you said, I will still think about it, after all, I need to draw a reserve team out. Ma Heng said.

"Good news for you, the situation has been noticed again. Flattening the defensive line here and pushing it along the Yellow River would be very advantageous to our defensive operations, and in such a situation, it would give us a great advantage. Ma Heng said.

"If that's the case, that's great, and we're going to change that situation to a great extent." The staff officers were very excited when they heard such a thing, and in their opinion, their affairs could finally be effectively developed to a better degree.

Ma Heng told that such a piece of news actually came from some strategic considerations at the headquarters. After all, the fact that the official army was maintaining a bridgehead east of the river was a great threat to the republican army, and on the one hand, the republican army had to deal with the annexed state army in the north, and it was all about maintaining contact with the west of the river, and although it had an infantry division, it was still overstretched in terms of troops. The best way to change such a situation is to find a way to make up for such a state and make their situation more favorable, and only in this way can they form the most favorable offensive posture.

At present, Dong Zhuo's changes have given the republican army the best opportunity to start, and before Dong Zhuo's army feels it, it will be very advantageous to level the battle line in advance and win first. In this case, the Republican Army will be able to cope without having to mobilize the main forces for defense. But the problem is that they take Hedong.

"But you should think about how we can take the mouth of the Yellow River, which is very important to us." Ma Heng asked.

"Sir, we have been observing for a long time, and we have found that most of the people are not willing to fight at all, even those soldiers who come from the local area and from the division, they are not willing to fight, and their morale is extremely low. We can think of a way to demoralize them, to divide them politically, to strike at their vital points, to divide and disintegrate, and then to take the opportunity to create even greater chaos, and then we can take it down all at once. A lieutenant colonel staff officer said.

"Well, that's a good idea, how do you do that?" Ma Heng asked.

"This." The staff officers did not know how to deal with such a situation. Because they themselves don't know how to deal with such a situation in such a situation.

"Think of a way." Ma Heng said. Ma Heng began to have a very good idea, however, this requires the mobilization of cavalry troops, as well as engineer troops to ensure the battle, that is, from Hexi Prefecture immediately south to fight cavalry troops, from the west bank of the Yellow River to launch an attack operation, surprise attack the opponent, but after crossing the Yellow River, how to ensure cavalry combat, divide and disintegrate the other side. Ma Heng felt that there were still many, many things missing. These things, he had to seriously think about some specific practices again.

Li Jiazhuang, War Department.

Shang Wu was looking at Zhang Liao's report, and at the end of the report, he believed that the current republican army's operational selection should be in the northern mountainous area of the Shangdang region, because there were many bandits there and the imperial court's ability to control the local area was very poor, and it belonged to a relaxation zone between the state army and the republican army.

"Ma Heng sent a telegram, and they thought our idea was realistic." Jia Xu came in with Ma Heng's telegram and said.

"What does he think?" Shang Wu was going to make some comments on the report.

"He wanted to mobilize some troops, such as cavalry units, and mobilize the First Cavalry Regiment from Hexi Prefecture to fight south and launch an attack from the west bank of the Yellow River. Attacking the opponent's rear by surprise may be more successful, after all, a frontal attack becomes extremely difficult to deal with. Jia Xu said.

"Oh. This can be done, but the cavalry troops need a lot of support units to cross the river to fight, and it seems that simply transferring one cavalry unit is not enough. They also need the guarantee of sappers. Shang Wu said.

"That's not what I'm worried about, Ma Heng said in the telegram that the morale of the officers and soldiers there is not too high, we can break them up, so to speak, when the cavalry troops attack from the rear, their entire defense line may completely collapse, but the question is, how to do this, the cavalry troops have a high offensive ability, but if there is no proper guidance, it will cause them a lot of trouble. Our tourmaline clears all obstacles. Some traffic arteries must be controlled. In this way, you can achieve a surprise attack effect. Jia Xu said.

Shang Wu touched his chin and nodded in agreement, the cavalry unit was the baby bump of the Republican Army. This is equivalent to the armored forces of later generations, their offensive ability is unquestionable, and the defense line of the sortie is the Yellow River crossing that they think is unlikely, once the attack is launched from the rear, it will cause huge casualties to the officers and soldiers. Or even break down their defenses.

But how to ensure the crossing of the river by the cavalry troops, it is conceivable that when they launched an attack on this side, the other side had already aroused alarm. If you can't do this well, it will be even more difficult for them to deal with it. Shang Wu suddenly saw the report in his hand.

And if you can do this, isn't it within the scope of special forces operations? They can do that.

"I think we can move more elite troops there." Shang Wu said and handed the special operations report in his hand to Jia Xu.

"What is this?" Jia Xu asked puzzled.

"Let them go, and they'll do better than we do." Shang Wu said.