Wang Yue pointed to Runan, east of Jiangxia, and said with a smile,
"My lord, everyone, when Wei Chi went to harass Runan last time, he discovered that the Wei army's defenses there were extremely weak. The local powerful clans were deeply hostile to Cao Wei.
With their help, Wei Chi had managed to occupy several counties there.
As long as we kept sending more troops, we could even take all of Runan. Then the Wei kingdom would have no choice but to send reinforcements from Yingchuan or Shouchun.
But whichever direction they sent troops from, the Wei kingdom would have to be extremely cautious.
After all, Jiangdong had been dreaming of taking Hefei and seizing Shouchun. The Wei kingdom wouldn't dare gamble on Jiangdong's integrity. They'd even ambushed us, their own ally—we have witnesses who can attest to that."
After hearing Wang Yue's explanation, everyone couldn't help laughing. For a while, they all mocked Jiangdong's integrity.
Once he had finished laughing, Ma Liang added, "Earl of Fangcheng is right. This way, the Wei army will have no choice but to send troops from Yingchuan. Meanwhile, we'll reinforce Yexian and prevent them from moving those forces.
"Then they'll have to seek help from their allies, which will cause trouble for Jiangxia and keep them from continuing their offensive against us.
"They'll have to send troops from Jizhou or Xuzhou to quell the unrest in Runan.
"Earl of Fangcheng, have I understood you correctly?"
Wang Yue bowed to Ma Liang, then said with a smile, "That's exactly what I had in mind!"
Everyone understood Wang Yue's plan. They all turned to look at Guan Yu, their eyes burning with anticipation.
Guan Yu felt that this would let them deal with Jiangdong at the lowest possible cost, and immediately said solemnly, "In