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Chapter 2729 The Conquest of Runan!

Wang Yue pointed to Runan, which borders Jiangxia to the east, and said to everyone with a smile,
"My lord, gentlemen, when my subordinate Wei Chi went to Runan to harass them last time, he found that the Wei army's deployment there was very weak, and the local powerful families were very hostile to Cao Wei."

Despite receiving their help, Wei Chi still occupies several county towns there.

As long as we keep increasing our troops, and even take over the entire Runan, the Wei Kingdom will only be able to transfer troops from Yingchuan or Shouchun.

However, regardless of which direction the troops are deployed, Wei needs to be very cautious.

After all, since Jiangdong dreamed of capturing Hefei and seizing Shouchun, Wei dared not gamble on Jiangdong's character. They were capable of launching a sneak attack even against their ally, and we could vouch for that.

After hearing Wang Yue's explanation, everyone couldn't help but laugh, and for a moment they were all mocking Jiang Dong's character.

After laughing, Ma Liang added, "Fang Chengbo is right. In this way, the Wei army can only transfer troops from Yingchuan, while we simultaneously reinforce Ye County, forcing them to be unable to move their troops."

Therefore, they can only seek help from allies to put Jiangxia in trouble, thus preventing them from continuing their attack.

They need to transfer troops from Jizhou or Xuzhou to quell the unrest in Runan.

Lord Fangcheng, is my addition correct?

Wang Yue bowed to Ma Liang, then smiled and said, "That's exactly what I was thinking!"

Everyone understood Wang Yue's entire plan, and they all turned their gazes toward Guan Yu, their eyes filled with fervor.

Guan Yu felt that this would allow them to deal with Jiangdong at the lowest possible cost, so he immediately said seriously, "In that case, the task of conquering Runan will be entrusted to Changwen!"

Wang Yue bowed to Guan Yu and said, "Yes! I will certainly live up to your expectations!"

After giving his instructions, Guan Yu looked at Wei Yan, who had remained silent, and solemnly asked, "Wen Chang, what do you think about the matter of reinforcing Ye County?"

After bowing to Guan Yu, Wei Yan said very seriously, "My lord, I'm afraid the troops in Guancheng cannot be mobilized because I have to confront Cao Ren in Luoyang. If I am not careful, Cao Ren will send people to launch a sneak attack. So I ask you to send troops elsewhere."

Seeing that Wei Yan was unwilling, Guan Yu did not force him. Instead, he smiled and said, "If that's the case, where is Guan Ping?"

Upon hearing this, Guan Ping immediately stepped forward and said, "Your subordinate is here!"

Guan Yu solemnly said, "I will give you 10,000 to 20,000 elite troops and auxiliary troops. You don't have to take Ye County, but you must make it look like you are launching a full-scale attack and make sure that the Yingchuan troops dare not move."

Guan Ping was overjoyed to find himself in charge of the main battle, and he immediately bowed to Guan Yu, saying, "Yes, sir!"

After Guan Yu had made the arrangements, he smiled and said to everyone, "Except for Guan Ping and Changwen, everyone else should set up defenses as soon as possible. When His Majesty arrives in Jingzhou, he will surely summon you all."

"promise!"

The group immediately bowed and then hurriedly left.

After all, Guan Yu was right about one thing: before Liu Bei came to Jingzhou, whoever caused trouble in that place was the most disgraced.

Everyone present was proud and arrogant, and they were not willing to lose face at this time, so they all cautiously went back to take care of their business.

After Wang Yue returned, he immediately dispatched Wang Nian and Guan Hu, each leading 2000 men, to Runan to try and expand the occupied territory. As for Wei Chi, he had become addicted to guerrilla warfare in Runan. Aside from guarding the mountainous counties of Xinxi and Yiyang, he was busy robbing money, grain, and people, but not territory.

If Wei sends too few men, they won't be able to deal with Wei Chi at all; if they send too many, Wei Chi will simply escape.

During that year, Wei Chi brought back a total of 100,000 people from Runan, including their families, which is equivalent to taking away more than 20,000 households.

Actually, it wasn't that Wei Chi was particularly capable; the problem was that the local powerful families originally listened to Yuan Shu and were very dissatisfied with Cao Wei.

Man Chong, the prefect of Runan, came with a mission: to quell a popular uprising in Runan. However, at this time, Wei Chi led his men to conduct guerrilla warfare and abduct people. The local powerful families deliberately tipped him off from time to time, keeping Man Chong busy dealing with them.

It is precisely under these circumstances that Runan is experiencing a significant loss of population, which is extremely damaging to the entire city.

In the past year or so, Wei Chi has been entrenched in the Xinxi Mountain area, and his forces have grown far beyond the initial ten thousand men. With ample grain transported from Jiangxia, he now commands a full thirty thousand troops.

However, the number of elite soldiers actually engaged in combat was less than eight thousand; the rest were merely auxiliary troops who could only fight some easy battles.

However, after Wang Nian and Guan Hu each brought 2000 elite soldiers, their elite force had reached 12,000. With the addition of auxiliary troops, their army numbered more than 10,000, which was not enough to immediately attack the surrounding counties.

Upon learning that more than 30,000 troops were approaching, the county magistrates fled without a second thought, without even reporting the situation, and went straight back to their families.

After these counties were captured, Guan Hu was left to lead some auxiliary troops to garrison them, while Wang Nian and Wei Chi immediately rushed to other counties.

There was one honest magistrate among the county magistrates. Although he had also fled, he hurriedly informed Man Chong of the news with his servants.

Man Chong was shocked to hear this and immediately dispatched 5,000 county soldiers to try to stop the enemy, while also reporting the news to Ye City.

However, while the five thousand county soldiers were still on their way, Wang Yue had already sent out his second wave of troops.

This time, Wen Ping and Zhao Lei were dispatched, leading four thousand elite troops. They traveled over mountains and valleys to reach Runan.

Just then, Man Chong's 5000 county soldiers left the county city. Wen Ping and Zhao Lei, without even joining forces with Wei Chi, forcefully defeated the only large army in Runan.

After the soldiers who had escaped from the prefecture recounted their experience of being defeated, Man Chong realized that he was not facing a peasant uprising, but rather an invasion by the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Man Chong hurriedly sent someone to Yingchuan to ask for help, and at the same time wrote a memorial to Cao Pi, and he himself also fled to Yingchuan.

However, Runan, having lost a large number of its troops, was essentially in a state of being easily taken and exploited by the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, seeing that Wen Jing and Zhao Lei were already in charge of the fighting, Wei Chi started to relocate people.

Fortunately, after a year of migration, the safe route to Jiangxia has become very well-established, so it is not so troublesome.

It's important to know that if Runan is the most populous place in the entire Han Dynasty, then other counties would have a hard time competing for it.

Even after the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the warlord campaign against Dong Zhuo, Runan still had a population of over 200 million, so the scale of the migration was enormous.

(End of this chapter)