Chapter 1240: Return

It was also at this time that Ban Long and Sang Kang, whom he had been persuading for a long time, finally could not hold back and participated in this war.

The logic was simple: once Wang Yan completely crushed Luan Basong, he would become the most powerful force in the Three Border Slopes, possessing the largest troop numbers and the strongest combat capability, firmly sitting in the number one position.

Even if there were other autonomous regions and ethnic armed groups, tying them all together would still not be enough for Wang Yan to defeat.

Everyone in the Three Border Slopes knew Wang Yan's stance: banning drugs, banning guns, emphasizing the rule of law, and maintaining public order, which was inherently in conflict with their interests. Once Wang Yan crushed Luan Basong, his next move would inevitably be to sweep them away.

Acting on the belief that if the lips are gone, the teeth will feel cold, Ban Long and Sang Kang, who had originally planned to wait and see, finally mobilized their troops to attack Xiao Mong La.

The troop numbers on both sides were not large, totaling less than ten thousand; Ban Long had five or six thousand, and Sang Kang had a little over one thousand. After fighting for more than half a year, their forces had been scattered and their strength significantly reduced. Previously, Sang Kang also had five or six thousand men, and Ban Long's subordinates numbered over ten thousand.

As for the other autonomous and ethnic armed groups, they made no moves. They dared not make any moves.

Because whether Wang Yan or Luan Basong won, the ultimate victor would inevitably turn their attention to them. In that case, it was better for them to preserve their maximum viable strength; when the two sides fought each other to a standstill, they could profit like a fisherman catching clams, or at the very least, maximize their bargaining space to leave room for future negotiations.

Everyone understood clearly that the war between Luan Basong and Wang Yan was the war for the unification of the Three Border Slopes...

However, although those autonomous and ethnic armed groups did not participate in the fighting, they did not block armies from passing through their territories; whether it was Wang Yan's army, Luan Basong's army, or even the armies of Ban Long and Sang Kang, none encountered the slightest obstruction, allowing them to pass through freely...

Ban Long and Sang Kang came from the northwest direction, heading straight for Xiao Mong La.

To be honest, their troop numbers and combat capability were not sufficient to cause Wang Yan excessive worry.

After learning of their movements, Wang Yan withdrew five hundred troops from the front lines and deployed two thousand new recruits, led by those five hundred soldiers who had combat experience, understood marching and deployment, and had fought in several battles.

Under Wang Yan's command, it took less than three days to drive Sang Kang away, and less than ten days to beat Ban Long back into the mountains. Furthermore, he did not let them go; over two thousand men immediately pursued them, chasing and beating them relentlessly.

Originally, Luan Basong had hoped that Ban Long and Sang Kang would share the pressure for him, but as a result, the pressure he faced did not decrease in the slightest, while those two were beaten by Wang Yan into fleeing wildly across the mountains.

Only at this moment did he realize that Wang Yan had not even used his full strength when dealing with him before.

This was a misunderstanding of Wang Yan, and also of Xiao Mong La. After all, Xiao Mong La had a limit to its war potential; fighting Luan Basong now could not be compared in intensity to fighting Luo Yang previously, as Xiao Mong La had almost reached that limit.

After all, waging war involves a series of matters: weapons and equipment, food, medical supplies, compensation for casualties, rewards for merit, and so on. Every single one of these matters requires money.

To ensure the normal development of Xiao Mong La, it was impossible to send all adults out to fight; manpower was always needed for construction.

In fighting Ban Long and Sang Kang, Xiao Mong La had already been severely overextended.

However, Wang Yan was confident he could crush them; as long as they held out for this period, the spoils of war obtained would be enough to offset all deficits and even generate more profit.

In fact, since the start of the war, Wang Yan had already begun owing money, all of it owed to domestic sources.

Although they could fight without domestic support, in that case, Xiao Mong La would basically be ruined, and not just Xiao Mong La; everywhere the army passed would be ruined. Because to raise military funds, procure supplies, and stabilize morale, he would have no choice but to burn, kill, and loot.

That did not align with Wang Yan's interests, nor with domestic interests; it only served the interests of other countries and forces. So, having reached this point, they were forced into action like ducks being driven onto a perch, with the plan to deal with the aftermath after the fighting was done.

Of course, Wang Yan did not disappoint the domestic side, living up to their various supports. The results exceeded domestic expectations; the fighting was simply too fierce. Even the military region in the southwest, utilizing information gathered through various channels, conducted some war-gaming exercises.

Asking them to engage Luan Basong, Ban Long, Sang Kang, and others with the resources and troops Wang Yan currently controlled, merely managing to hold their own would already be no easy feat.

After all, while Wang Yan had domestic support, Luan Basong had support from foreign devils, held a superiority in troop numbers, and also had foreign devils assisting with strategy. Even in terms of some weapons and equipment, Luan Basong was superior to Wang Yan. This was only the year 2010, and in terms of weapons and equipment, the domestic side was still relatively slightly inferior.

Yet under such circumstances, what Wang Yan achieved was a sweeping momentum like splitting bamboo. This demonstrated Wang Yan's superb command ability.

Every risky move Wang Yan made seemed to others to be a certain death trap, yet every time the result was turning danger into safety while inflicting casualties on Luan Basong's forces. He consistently anticipated the enemy, beating Luan Basong as easily as beating a grandson.

No, even that was giving Luan Basong too much credit.

To be precise, if any grandson of Wang Yan with a military background were randomly picked out, they could beat Luan Basong as easily as beating a grandson. Let alone Wang Yan himself personally commanding the operations.

Therefore, Luan Basong was now barely holding on. His troop morale had been shattered by Wang Yan; currently, he could only continue fighting Wang Yan by relying on forced conscription, injections, and brutal enforcement squads.

If not for this, Luan Basong would have suffered a catastrophic collapse long ago...

On this day, Wang Yan was commanding operations in the command center as usual.

A subordinate ran into the operations room and said, "Report, General, Sang Kang has been brought over."

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "Go take a look, and also invite Mr. He over."

With his hands behind his back, he strolled out leisurely.

Downstairs, a person who was dirty, covered in blood, bruised and swollen, looking worse than a beggar, lay on the ground in a starfish position, eyes closed, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

"Not bad, quite comfortable, General Sang Kang?" Wang Yan asked with a smile.

"Mr. Wang, things have reached this stage, what else can I do?" Sang Kang opened his eyes, looking up at Wang Yan who stood nearby with hands behind his back, and said, "I am the loser, Mr. Wang; attacking you was unavoidable. I knew long ago that you occupied my Xinhao Hotel, killed my subordinates, and destroyed my transport routes, but I made no move.

I had already been defeated by Ban Long and lacked strength. But this time if I didn't fight, Ban Long would have continued to attack me. I had no choice. Mr. Wang, I never intended to be your enemy."

Wang Yan took out a cigarette, lit one for himself, and being quite generous, ordered his subordinate to light one for Sang Kang as well.

Watching Sang Kang smoke contentedly, appearing quite enjoying it, Wang Yan smiled and said: "Sang Kang, regardless, you ultimately followed them in attacking me; besides, since I intend to ban drugs, even if you didn't attack me, I would have attacked you anyway, so this is no big deal. It's just that now you are the one lying here. Further talk is useless; hand over all your assets, saving yourself further suffering, no problem?"

"Of course, I just want a quick end," Sang Kang replied honestly.

"Rest assured, you'll have plenty of good food and drink."

The assets Wang Yan spoke of were naturally the money in the various accounts Sang Kang had opened; this sum was the main portion. After all, having fought for so long and nearly been crushed by Ban Long, he could not have kept any cash or gemstones on his person. Either they were used to bribe subordinates to win their loyalty, or they were lost during constant transfers. Only the money in various accounts remained, because there was no way to withdraw it, so it could still be kept.

As for his assets, besides mountains of drugs, the money in his accounts was the largest portion. It facilitated transactions and also made fleeing easier. Drug lords were not stupid; they also evolved with the times. It was just that the world developed too quickly, and synthetic drugs were making their days worse one by one.

After chatting with Sang Kang for a while as a pastime, Mr. He drove to the command center and also saw Sang Kang lying on the ground.

"Who is this?"

"Sang Kang," Wang Yan smiled. "Does Mr. He have any instructions?"

After pondering for a moment, Mr. He shook his head: "This still needs discussion; my suggestion is temporary detention."

Sang Kang held a different representative significance; one way or another, he was a famous major drug lord in the Three Border Slopes, with massive distribution channels shipping goods domestically. Previously, after being pointed out by Wang Yan, there were also accusations from relevant personnel involved in cases domestically.

This concerned the aspect of domestic drug prohibition efforts.

On the other hand, it demonstrated national influence. Currently, news domestically and globally was flying everywhere; domestically it was somewhat better, but other Western media were basically pointing fingers, claiming the domestic side instigated the war in the Three Border Slopes, and heavily criticizing.

At this time, if the domestic side brought Sang Kang back for trial in court, what that represented went without saying.

However, this matter required study, because at this moment they were not yet that powerful; it wasn't like aircraft carriers and warships launching, or fifth-generation fighters filling the sky. It was necessary to fully consider various developments of the situation and simultaneously prepare contingency plans.

Wang Yan naturally understood these points; otherwise, he would not have summoned Mr. He.

He nodded and said: "Then detain him first; the situation is good now, and I estimate it won't take many days before Ban Long is also captured. Now it's just these two; the others are insignificant."

Mr. He smiled and said: "Mr. Wang is invincible."

"It's just that they are too weak," Wang Yan waved his hand. "Mr. He, can we discuss sending a larger batch of weapons and ammunition in the next shipment?"

"Oh?"

"Consumption is too fast. Judging by the current situation, Luan Basong's momentum is already lost; I intend to settle Li Li Qiankun in a single battle. If we continue to drag this out, variables are bound to arise. Reports from the front indicate that foreign faces are becoming increasingly numerous on the battlefield; they are indeed incomparable to the scattered troops and stragglers here, inflicting ever-greater casualties upon us, so dragging this out any longer is inappropriate.

Or, if Mr. He wishes to drag this out, I have no problem with that. However, the level of support must be increased; otherwise, Xiao Monong fears he cannot hold out. As long as all kinds of supplies are in place and military funds are secured, Mr. He, I can guarantee that however many years you say we fight, I can fight for that many years.

"This also requires analysis; give me two days. However, do not worry about weapons and equipment; this time, we will double the shipment."

Having said this, Mr. He departed in a hurry...

Two days later, the domestic side still chose to create harmony together and plan development together.

This did not exceed Wang Yan's expectations. After all, the policy guidelines for foreign affairs were right there; while keeping Sanbianpo mired in war for a long time could indeed drag some European and American nations into a quagmire, it would ultimately be detrimental to the harmonious development of the region.

Therefore, after that, Wang Yan committed more troops to the front, expanding from the original five thousand to ten thousand; including the units pursuing Ban Long in the mountains, the total force reached thirteen thousand. This figure included some local workers drafted in, plus new recruits who had undergone a week of basic military training, all filled into the ranks.

Wang Yan launched a general offensive against Luan Basong, pressing forward with a massive army.

Just as Wang Yan had judged, Luan Basong was already an arrow spent at the end of its flight, utterly unable to hold out. Even though the battlefield eventually moved into the cities, devolving into street fighting, the soldiers under Luan Basong possessed not a shred of fighting spirit; it was hardly street fighting at all, but rather a straightforward push by the Xiao Monong side, a bulldozer-like advance.

Wherever they went, they encountered no decent resistance, basically collapsing at the first touch.

Yet even so, it took another month before the war was declared over.

This was partly because there were many remnants, and partly because they had to clean up organized criminal forces in various places; Luan Basong had forced even children to take up guns and go to the battlefield, yet he had not touched these hooligan gangs. Or rather, the executors on the ground had been bought off. Instead, they used the war to grow larger and more powerful.

Of course, a more important reason was that Wang Yan planned to encircle and capture key figures such as Luan Basong.

To prevent Luan Basong from escaping, Wang Yan even issued notices to the federal government and surrounding countries, stating that if anyone dared to help Luan Basong flee, he would attack the federal government and those other nations.

Clearly, he was now a man with nothing to lose, an absolute 'flat-headed brother' who would fight anyone who disagreed, fighting even when he couldn't win. It was only that he lacked missiles; otherwise, he would have directly test-fired one just to scare them, shooting down anyone who dared to fly—he truly would have done it.

Although he could hijack missile launch systems, he did not do so, because in the eyes of outsiders, that would not appear to be his doing and would easily invite trouble. But now, threatening the federal government and surrounding countries was purely an expression of his own will.

Riding the momentum of a great victory, no nation dared to cause him trouble...

Thus, in Xiao Monong, Wang Yan met Luan Basong again, as well as Chen Hao, a good friend who had benefited him greatly.

Wang Yan smiled: "Old Chen, why didn't you run? Looking at you, covered in dust and dirt, was it really necessary?"

Chen Hao wore a fawning smile: "Mr. Wang, your reach spans the heavens and your power is boundless; where could I possibly run to? The result would be the same sooner or later, so there was no need to toss and turn."

"Only now are you open-minded; why didn't you have this mindset back then? At that time, you were too impetuous, not peaceful."

"Yes, yes, yes, Mr. Wang is right; it is only in this past year, experiencing such great rises and falls, that I have seen through it all. I am still just a vulgar man."

Wang Yan laughed: "Don't dream of good things; if you cooperate and hand over all the money, you will suffer less. If you don't cooperate, I will help you lose some weight."

"Cooperate, cooperate, I will definitely cooperate. In these past few months, I have already lost a huge circle of weight."

"I haven't noticed; you still look just as gluttonous and fat."

Wang Yan paid him no mind, turning instead to look at Luan Basong: "General, will you cooperate?"

"Would I dare not cooperate? Who doesn't know that you, Wang Yan, have the most ruthless methods?"

"That's good then; let's all save some trouble. Take them away."

Wang Yan waved his hand, paying them no further attention; he was always the victor, and he had no excessive mockery for the defeated, for he had long passed that age...

Management had always been Wang Yan's forte; from small companies to large nations, he was proficient in all.

Moreover, it was not entirely by his own strength; with domestic support and construction behind him, although Sanbianpo was beaten into a bit of a mess, it recovered very quickly.

On another note, Sanbianpo was not much to begin with; as long as it wasn't smashed to pieces, that was fine.

As for the other autonomous and ethnic armed groups in the Sanbianpo region, Wang Yan naturally did not let them off either. Riding the momentum of his great victory, he immediately began unified negotiations. Of course, he set the terms, which amounted to nothing more than offering some positions and allowing the upper class of those areas to conduct business. Furthermore, in the future, Wang Yan would marginalize them; within a few years, he would have played them all to death.

These people had no bargaining power before him, let alone the ability to demand a premium. So, after negotiations with one region broke down, he pressed forward with his massive army; within a month, he had captured the high-level leaders alive and sent them all to work on construction sites, after which all other regions behaved themselves.

Three months after defeating Luan Basong, Wang Yan held a press conference to announce the establishment of the 'Sanbianpo Special Independent Democratic Government'; nominally it still belonged to the federal government, but in substance it remained an autonomous region as before, though in terms of the specific status between the two parties, the Sanbianpo Democratic Government was to be elevated significantly.

Indeed, the federal government even worried that the Democratic Government would swallow them whole, remaining once in a while in a state of trepidation...

Thereby, the Sanbianpo region began to possess peace, operating according to Wang Yan's will, and commenced major construction.

It still focused mainly on tourism and other service industries, supplemented to a certain extent by light industry. With a larger territory, there was more room to operate. For instance, Wang Yan planned Daqulin to be the city of prostitution and gambling. For another, he developed the Mekong River, creating various recreational projects, and so on.

To summarize, it was still the same as before: what attracted people were projects that were illegal elsewhere; even if something was legal elsewhere, here they would play it more flamboyantly, making it even more attractive.

As for related businesses such as wildlife and smuggling, of course, they continued to operate and would persist indefinitely. However, they remained firmly in the hands of Wang Yan's company, equivalent to official operations.

Regarding wildlife, a mechanism that could be considered somewhat perfect was established. For example, there were closed-season periods for hunting in the mountains, giving animals a certain degree of rest and recuperation, preventing them from being hunted on a large scale to the point of extinction, yet still allowing hunting.

In terms of national defense, Wang Yan formed a new government army with a strength of sixty thousand; this was a fully professionalized force. Additionally, there were one hundred thousand militiamen, who underwent military training for one or two months each year.

With these sixteen hundred thousand troops, it was enough for him to intimidate the surrounding countries. As long as he was here, holding this advantageous position, no surrounding nation would dare to disobey. After all, if he could fight fifty thousand with five thousand, by proportional calculation, he could fight one million six hundred thousand.

Of course, this was somewhat exaggerated; after all, the regular armies of the surrounding countries were still stronger than the rabble of Sanbianpo. Yet even so, based on the combat power demonstrated previously, Wang Yan was confident he could take on four or five hundred thousand. With a map so large, fighting in an extended formation, there was truly nowhere he could not go.

Moreover, in terms of actual circumstances, not to mention four or five hundred thousand, merely deploying three hundred thousand troops would blow out the logistics of the surrounding countries within a few months, leaving them unable to jump around at all.

This was also the intention behind the domestic support for Wang Yan...

At the Xiao Monong port, Wang Yan stood by the roadside with Su Su and the Zhao Ziying sisters, drinking milk tea and watching the bustling border crossing entrance...

"What are your thoughts?" Su Su asked.

Wang Yan shook his head with an amused smile: "What thoughts could I have? This entire journey has been smooth sailing; originally, I was alone anyway, so what else is there to think about?"

Zhao Ziying summarized: "No opponents!"

Wang Yan laughed heartily; life had gained yet another fresh experience...