Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Ma Teng hesitated for a long time, but in the end he was reluctant to leave the money in Chang'an City and was unwilling to pass through Chang'an without entering.

Sending troops to respond to the prime minister's order is aimed at the future;
You can enter Chang'an City and plunder it, and you can enjoy wealth and honor immediately.

Ma Teng, who was born in a cold and bitter land, had to think about himself...

If it was Liu Bei or Li Ji who was present, Ma Teng might not dare to think of opposing, but he would not be intimidated by Gu Wei.

If it weren't for the fact that he was a Han envoy, in Ma Teng's eyes, Gu Wei was just a young kid, and he wouldn't even be interested in taking a second look at him.

Of course, no matter how much contempt Ma Teng had in his heart, he would not say bad things to Gu Wei, but instead started to explain.

"What the Han envoy doesn't know is that every time we capture a city or a place, we allow the soldiers to plunder. This is a common practice in Liangzhou."

"I may be able to force the soldiers not to enter the city and continue their march, but I am afraid that the morale of the army will drop suddenly, and some soldiers may even become dissatisfied and refuse to obey orders, which may ruin the Han envoy's plan."

Gu Wei's expression remained unchanged, but he was actually feeling a little annoyed.

Didn't he understand that Ma Teng was taking advantage of his young age and thought that he really didn't understand the ins and outs of this?
It is true that sometimes after a city is captured, soldiers are allowed to plunder in order to boost morale, but that is often because the casualties among the soldiers are too great and the army is short of money, food and supplies, so this is done as a last resort in order to stabilize the morale of the army.

Moreover, if the soldiers are allowed to plunder, it will inevitably lead to a sharp drop in public morale, and the people will rush to flee. For a general who intends to govern a captured city, he will never choose such a practice of draining the pond to catch all the fish unless he is in desperate situation.

Not to mention that Liu Bei has always been known for his benevolence and strict military discipline, and he never allowed his soldiers to plunder civilians at will.

Therefore, Gu Wei narrowed his eyes slightly, turned to look at Yang Ren and asked.

"What do you think, General Yang?"

"My lord has ordered that all matters should be directed by the Han envoy."

Yang Ren's answer was very straightforward, without any hesitation.

This also made Ma Teng look a little ugly, as if he had hit a nail that was neither soft nor hard.

Gu Wei, who was secretly observing the changes in Ma Teng's expression, couldn't help but feel a bit of contempt.

Perhaps Gu Wei thought he had no talent, but among all the various people he had met while following the Prime Minister, Ma Teng could not even be ranked among them.

Especially Ma Teng's seemingly clumsy behavior, his intentions were obvious to Gu Wei.

If only Ma Teng's reinforcements were borrowed, Gu Wei would have to spend some time to use other methods to urge Ma Teng to continue his advance. However, since Zhang Lu also sent 30,000 troops, this simple sentence was enough to put Ma Teng in a dilemma.

Some things are afraid of comparison...

Once Ma Teng really led his army to stay in Chang'an for a while, he would really become a stepping stone to highlight Zhang Lu.

Even though Ma Teng, who was in Xiliang, had a low political level, this point was clear.

And then Gu Wei spoke to Ma Teng.

"I have also heard that the people of Xiliang are tough and the soldiers are difficult to discipline. This is indeed a difficult situation for General Ma. Since General Ma wants to stay in Chang'an to reorganize the army, it is fine. General Yang and I will go ahead, and General Ma will catch up later."

Ma Teng forced a smile on his face and said.

"You are joking, Han envoy. The attack on Luoyang is a major event decided by the Prime Minister. How dare I delay it?"

After a pause, Ma Teng thought of a foolproof plan and said, "Although Chang'an has been captured, there may still be bandits lingering in the three prefectures. We are afraid that these bandits will take advantage of the army's march eastward to Luoyang to attack Chang'an again."

"If Chang'an is lost, the grain route will also be greatly affected. We must pay attention to it."

Although Gu Wei understood that Ma Teng was making an excuse, he also realized that this matter could not be neglected.

Especially with the addition of the 30,000 troops led by Yang Ren, the pressure on the food supply in the rear also increased sharply. Once Chang'an was lost, they might suffer a great defeat.

"Then what should we do according to General Ma's opinion?" Gu Wei asked.

Ma Teng hesitated for a moment and then said, "Why not let me lead 5,000 soldiers to stay in Chang'an, so that I can comfort the people and stay in the rear to protect the grain route."

"Isn't this a bad idea? If General Ma, the commander of the Xiliang army, stays in the rear, the morale of the Xiliang soldiers may waver. Why not leave a trusted general behind to take charge?" Gu Wei questioned.

"I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the Han envoy..."

Ma Teng spoke as if he was a little embarrassed.

"I was injured in a fight with the bandits not long ago, and I have not recovered yet. It is difficult for me to continue traveling, so I decided to stay in Chang'an."

"And my son Mengqi is known as the 'Godly General'. Compared to me, he is more popular among the men of Xiliang. If Mengqi takes over as the commander temporarily, everyone in the army will be convinced."

Seeing that Ma Teng had said so much, Gu Wei didn't want to continue pressuring him.

After all, Ma Teng did have a great battle with Han Sui and the remnants of Dong Zhuo not long ago, which ended in a tragic victory.

This also meant that even if Ma Teng mobilized all the troops from Xiliang, he could only barely gather 20,000 cavalry and set out hastily.

At the moment, Ma Teng handed over the main force to Ma Chao, and he himself led 5,000 soldiers to stay in Chang'an to maintain the food supply route on the grounds of injury. No one could find any fault with him.

However, Gu Wei still did not forget to remind him.

"In that case, I'll trouble General Ma to stay in Chang'an and maintain the grain supply. I just hope that General Ma will not disturb the people after cleaning up the remnants of Dong's bandits, lest the matter be heard by the king."

"Especially since General Ma wants to revive the reputation of his ancestor, General Fubo, it would be inappropriate for him to add some stains that are against benevolence and morality."

Gu Wei said this with great earnestness, but the warning in his words made Ma Teng's heart shudder.

The meaning was simply to let Ma Teng confiscate the residences of Guo Si, Li Que, Niu Fu and others in Chang'an, but Ma Teng was not allowed to allow the Xiliang cavalry to plunder the people.

In terms of military discipline, among the three major cavalry forces of You, Bing and Liang, the Xiliang cavalry was notoriously poor.

Ma Teng might have been a little dissatisfied with Gu Wei's criticism, but he didn't dare to show it at all, and even became a little alert.

In fact, even though Ma Teng defeated the remnants of Han Sui and Dong Jianchao and gradually gained the momentum to monopolize Liang Province, the war in this cold and barren land of Liang Province lasted for nearly fifteen years.

Moreover, Ma Teng has been ruling Liang Province for nearly ten years, and despite various alliances, he has never been able to leave Liang Province.

Right now, the Battle of Guandu, which will determine the fate of the world, has already broken out, but Ma Teng can only lick his wounds in Liangzhou. How can he not worry about the future?

Until Gu Wei showed up and brought Li Ji's handwritten letter, Ma Teng was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat after reading the contents. However, it also made Ma Teng feel that "the thought of returning to Han suddenly made him feel that the world was wide open." (End of this chapter)