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The Minister of War Wang Ji, chief minister of the Court of Judicial Review and concurrently supreme commander of Yun-nan military affairs, and others, memorialized; "The rebellious bandit Si Ren-fa is holding out in strategic positions and has built palisades and stockades. Xi Dian, Xi-la and other areas north of the river are the bandits' left flank. I am particularly concerned that they will take the opportunity of weakness to stealthily attack Jin-chi and block the grain route. We should divide the Imperial army into two forces. The Eastern route force will be under the control of the Assistant Regional Commander of the Right Ran Bao and they will proceed from Xi Dian directly to Meng-ding, where they will join with the yi troops from Mu-bang and Che-li in a pincer attack. I and the Regional Commander Jiang Gui will proceed along the central route to Teng-chong, where we will join up with Bao. In this way the bandits will be attacked from front and rear." The Emperor approved this and ordered Ji and the others to coordinate their efforts so that they would indeed secure victory.