The pause button was pressed suddenly

After months of fighting and reaping huge rewards, everyone was eager and ready to seize Guangnan to complete this year's strategic objectives.

Yet, at this moment, Gao Yuan suddenly ordered the army to halt and rest, even recalling Liu Rengui back to Dehong.

Seeing Liu Rengui's resentful expression, Gao Yuan smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Zhengze, you aren't still complaining about me suddenly making you all stop, are you?"

"This humble general would not dare."

"Hahaha, 'would not dare' means you still have some complaints."

Since Gao Yuan had pointed it out himself, Liu Rengui decided to speak his mind.

"My Lord, This humble general truly cannot understand why we must stop suddenly when morale is currently high, we have captured vast amounts of grain and supplies, and there are no concerns regarding logistics."

Gao Yuan sat down beside Liu Rengui and began to explain earnestly.

"Zhengze, have you not noticed what problems Son La and Hung Hoa are currently facing?"

"Er... This humble general has been on the front lines preparing for battle and truly hasn't noticed."

Gao Yuan did not speak, instead producing a secret letter and handing it over. Liu Rengui took it, glanced at it, and immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

"Has it already become this serious?"

Gao Yuan nodded confirmingly.

"I do not blame you for not noticing while you were on the front lines, but the situation is indeed not optimistic."

The secret letter was sent by Huo Jun. The content was simple: Son La and Hung Hoa had experienced three large-scale riots in about a month.

Because Huo Jun only had a thousand troops on hand, he was truly exhausted from running back and forth.

This was the reason why Gao Yuan had made the army stop.

"Since we have conquered territory, we must ensure we can hold it. Therefore, I hope you can pause for now and let the City Defense Forces assist the Prefectural Office in completing the relocation work first."

Gao Yuan's idea was very simple: these original people of Dongjing were not being obedient, so the solution was simple.

Move them all away, then scatter them to live among the original people of Nanzhou.

Arrange two or three households per village so they have no way to collude, and let the Han people monitor them.

As for Son La and Hung Hoa, let the Han people migrate there to live.

It happens that some families have large populations and are in urgent need of splitting up and establishing their own properties; this is a good opportunity.

Moving the people requires an escort, but with the main force of the army abroad, there is truly no manpower to spare.

Liu Rengui had served as the chief official in both Menge and Puer, so he naturally understood the logic behind this.

Without hesitation, Liu Rengui immediately stood up.

"My Lord, rest assured. This humble general will return immediately and have the City Defense Forces escort the people for relocation."

"Mm, go. Since you are here, just wait a few days and take the first batch of immigrants over."

"Understood!"

Soon, official documents from the Prefectural Office were distributed to West City, Menge, and Puer.

Any commoners willing to immigrate would be compensated with three hundred jin of grain and two guan of copper coins per person.

Upon arriving at the destination, each person would be allocated twenty mu of permanent farmland, be exempt from taxes for three years, and have taxes on reclaimed wasteland halved for three years.

Throughout the summer, all parts of Nanzhou were bustling with activity, and over ten thousand commoners voluntarily signed up for immigration.

Meanwhile, the Dongjing people in Son La and Hung Hoa were forced to leave their homes under the threat of the butcher's knife.

To Gao Yuan's surprise, Liu Rengui actually organized a five-hundred-man security force composed mainly of Dongjing people.

These men had no weapons, but each held a large club, and they were vicious when dealing with their fellow countrymen who refused to leave!

How vicious were they? Many times, the Han people couldn't bear to watch and had to hold them back.

For these ruthless people who would serve anyone who fed them, Gao Yuan incorporated them all after they completed the immigration mission.

Together with the Lan Xang people who had sincerely submitted, Gao Yuan possessed a foreign legion for the first time.

These men were all scattered and incorporated into the City Defense Forces, so there was no fear of them colluding to rebel.

By the end of August, Son La and Hung Hoa had stabilized, and the next target was Guangnan.

In Thanh Hoa, Lan Xang and Dongjing had formed a stalemate, with both sides gathering approximately fifty thousand troops in the area.

A large-scale decisive battle seemed imminent.

Gao Yuan was naturally happy to see such a situation.

"Hehehe, I didn't expect both sides to really pull out all the stops. Fight, it would be best if they beat each other's brains out and became sworn enemies."

Zheng Wan covered her mouth and giggled incessantly beside him.

"Husband is so bad, always hoping for others to suffer mutually."

"The more military strength they expend, the less resistance we will face when we take these places later. It's just a pity..."

"What's a pity?"

"These are all strong laborers. How good it would be to capture them to mine and reclaim land, sigh..."

Zhao Xiyao couldn't help but joke as well.

"Husband, why not write a letter to them and tell them to stop fighting and just send the people over to be slaves?"

Gao Yuan smiled and waved his hand.

"Forget it, forget it. I'm afraid Khon Kham and Wu Quan would have a breakdown, and then it wouldn't be fun if it backfired on us. By the way, has Song Yong replied?"

Song Yong was the Pacification Commissioner of Guangnan. Gao Yuan hoped to win him over as an inside agent, which would significantly reduce the difficulty of attacking Guangnan.

He had another identity: he was a distant uncle from Song Yao's maternal family, barely counting as being on the same boat.

Song Yao sighed and shook her head.

"No reply, but it is said that the local troops of Guangnan are mobilizing, abandoning quite a bit of territory, and are contracting toward Sanqi City."

Gao Yuan sneered.

"It seems this uncle of ours is prepared to follow Nong Mao to hell. I don't think we need to wait anymore. Order Liu Rengui to have the whole army attack and take Guangnan."

"Understood!"

The messenger left, which also signaled the official start of the war to conquer Guangnan.

In truth, Gao Yuan had really wronged Song Yong. After receiving Song Yao's letter, he didn't dare to make a decision and immediately sent someone to Luoyang to ask for the family head's opinion.

As for the troop movements in Guangnan, it was purely because Nong Mao was afraid after Gao Yuan took Son La and Hung Hoa.

It wasn't until the Nanzhou Army launched a massive offensive, successively occupying several county towns and clearing two strongholds, that Song Yong received the reply from the family head.

The Song family was a Powerful Family, the kind of great Powerful Family where dynasties flow like water but the family remains as solid as iron.

These Powerful Families had one characteristic: they would never put all their eggs in one basket.

Upon learning that their daughter's new man was so capable, they were naturally overjoyed.

Therefore, besides agreeing to let Song Yong become Gao Yuan's inside agent, they also hoped to send one or two younger generations to the Southwest.

In September, the Local Chieftain's troops in Guangnan were all compressed into Sanqi City, completely abandoning control of the periphery.

As for the grain and commoners outside the city, Gao Yuan naturally accepted them with a smile.

The commoners of Guangnan also belonged under the rule of the Great Qian; as long as they had food to eat and land to farm, it didn't matter to them who was in power.

Moreover, it was said that taxes in Nanzhou were lower, so they naturally welcomed it even more, almost giving the impression of "offering food and drink to welcome the royal army."

However, regarding Sanqi City, Liu Rengui was a bit at a loss.

The tamped-earth city walls were over three zhang high, and each side of the wall had five arrow towers; it was practically like a hedgehog.

A direct assault was certainly not a good choice; not only would casualties be high, but it might not even be successful.

Therefore, Liu Rengui ordered the army to surround the city on three sides, build high fortifications, and then sent a messenger to inform Gao Yuan.

Soon, Gao Yuan's approval arrived, agreeing with Liu Rengui's strategy of long-term siege and entrapment.

Inside the city, Nong Mao did not expect the Nanzhou Army outside the city to not attack at all, but instead choose to fell trees and build camps.

However, Song Yong noticed the clues. He couldn't be bothered to tell Nong Mao, but instead looked for an opportunity to send someone out of the city to make contact.

It wasn't until early November, when Liu Rengui's grand camp was completed, that Nong Mao realized something was terribly wrong.

But now the die was cast, and even if he wanted to charge out, he wouldn't dare.

As for the only gap, the direction of the West City gate, he didn't dare!

That incredibly familiar mountain forest was now pitch black, chilling as if it were the gaping maw of a monster that could devour everything.