Doing this required a large number of talismans. To save them, Wang Yue planned to use the leaders of these private armed groups to form a united force, then recruit Xiao Lou and push him into a high-ranking position so he could carry out his plans.
The process of uniting these armed groups was, of course, extremely bloody. They had to purge not only their own ranks but also several other small armed groups.
After the purges, the newly established Delin Armed Forces had grown to four battalions, with more than 4,000 members.
The entire Delin Region had a population of just over 900,000. Tuwa County, the capital in the northwest, alone accounted for more than 400,000, while Dan Lao County had over 300,000, most of them living near Dan Lao Port.
The remaining Gaodong Region was fairly large, but had a population of only a little over 100,000.
The territory controlled by the Delin Armed Forces consisted of the southern Gaodong Region and most of Dan Lao.
These areas had a combined population of just over 200,000, yet more than 4,000 armed personnel. That meant there was roughly one armed fighter for every fifty residents.
In principle, then, the Delin Armed Forces had a firm grip on the territory.
Within the areas controlled by Delin was also an Overseas Chinese Gathering Area, with a population of nearly 20,000, most of them Min-Yue Immigrants.
The area had distinctive buildings such as Tianhou Palace, Guanyin Temple, and Mazu Temple. It had also once been home to Chinese associations such as Juyi Society, the Chen Clan Association, and Longxi Hall.
These associations had originally been formed to protect the local Chinese, so nearly everyone living there had a family member or relative who belonged to one.
But now Wang Yue had arranged