Imperial warlords: Cannons are the only truth

The capital city—the residence of the chief minister.

“Mr. Miles, what you’re telling me now is very sudden and unexpected.”

"I even wonder if I misheard? Or perhaps I misunderstood Mr. Miles's words..."

Xie Kangnian, the chief minister of the Great Qian Empire, spoke with a hint of amusement, leisurely blowing on the steam rising from his teacup.

“Your Excellency, you have not misheard or misunderstood the meaning.” Hope Miles shrugged and communicated with Xie Kangnian in fluent Qian language.

“Then this is a bit strange.” Xie Kangnian smiled and deliberately asked, “I’ve mentioned this before.”

"Moreover, I've mentioned it more than once."

"But none of you agreed..."

"Over the past few years, I've come to terms with this matter. Maintaining the status quo is actually quite good."

"I'd already calmed down, but Mr. Miles suddenly came to my door today and brought it up. I wasn't prepared at all! It really startled me..."

"Have you always said that maintaining the current situation is in your best interests in Qian?"

Why have you suddenly changed your mind?

"Mr. Miles, you're not here just to have some fun, are you?"

"If you want to drink some of the fine tea in my residence, just say the word and I'll have someone send it to you."

“Your Excellency…” Hope Miles waved his hands repeatedly, “Do you really think I would joke about something like this?”

"Oh?" Seeing Hope Miles's reaction, Xie Kangnian didn't continue beating around the bush: "So you've really changed your mind?"

"This really didn't expect me."

"I had originally planned to hand over my position to my son in another two or three years and then go back to my hometown to enjoy my retirement..."

"Your Excellency, what is your stance on this matter?"

“We’ve been working together for so many years, and it’s always been a pleasant experience.” Xie Kangnian smiled. “I believe our cooperation will continue on the basis of mutual benefit and win-win results.”

"If you truly support me taking that step, I would naturally be happy to postpone my retirement by a few years..."

"Furthermore, the promises I made before remain unchanged!"

As he spoke, Xie Kangnian's tone became serious: "I know there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world."

"Clearly defined prices are in the best interests of both parties, and this is the only way to ensure better cooperation..."

“But…” Xie Kangnian’s tone shifted, and he looked troubled: “If we take this step now, the resistance and difficulties will be enormous!”

"In recent years, with the strong support of the Yi Kingdom, Zhuo Yongwang has become the Grand Governor of five provinces."

"Moreover, Zhuo Yongwang also managed his army very well."

“Once Zhuo Yongwang takes the lead in opposing me, many warlord forces will definitely join Zhuo Yongwang’s camp.”

As the saying goes, "A single hair can affect the whole body..."

Xie Kangnian said leisurely, "To be honest, Zhuo Yongwang is a cunning old fox! He also has the support of the Yi people and the Saluo people behind him."

"Choosing to take that step at this time will inevitably cause an unprecedented war in the Great Qian Dynasty."

"More importantly—times have changed, and now I'm the one fighting this battle..."

"To be honest—I'm not absolutely certain of victory!"

Xie Kangnian's words, whether stating objective reasons or subtly implying that the foreigners' repeated obstruction of his taking that step back then led to the current predicament, are all part of his true intentions.

Zhuo Yongwang was the second most powerful warlord in the Daqian Empire, second only to Xie Kangnian.

Originally, Zhuo Yongwang controlled the three northern provinces.

In recent years, the development momentum has been particularly rapid. Zhuo Yongwang has also forcibly occupied Liaozhou Province and Yuzhou Province, and has become the master of five provinces!

Moreover, Xie Kangnian, who was stationed in the capital, actually tacitly approved of all of this.

They also did Zhuo Yongwang a favor by directly granting him the title of "Grand Governor of Five Provinces" in the name of the Emperor.

It can be said that Xie Kangnian gave Zhuo Yongwang a lot of face.

Zhuo Yongwang, who became the Grand Governor of five provinces, was not idle at all. Over the years, he has been desperately developing military equipment.

In this regard, Zhuo Yongwang has always done a commendable job.

The five-province allied forces not only purchased a large number of advanced tanks, aircraft, and warships, but their arsenals were also able to produce replicas of rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, mortars, field guns, and howitzers!

Although they cannot conduct independent research and development, their production and manufacturing capabilities by imitating Zhuo Yongwang's arsenal are still quite considerable.

Therefore, Zhuo Yongwang was one of the few warlords who could produce firearms, ammunition, and light and heavy weapons on his own.

Zhuo Yongwang's army was known as the Five Provinces Allied Army.

Within the Great Qian Empire, the Five Provinces Allied Army was renowned for its superior equipment.

This is inseparable from Zhuo Yongwang's foresight. From the beginning of his rise to power, Zhuo Yongwang began to build a Zhuo-style arsenal in his own stronghold.

It is said that Zhuo Yongwang has invested hundreds of millions of silver dollars in his Zhuo-style arsenal and has worked hard to build it up to this day. After nearly ten years of development, the Zhuo-style arsenal has become the largest arsenal in the Great Qian Empire.

Zhuo Yongwang devoted tremendous effort to building the Zhuo-style arsenal, not only hiring a large number of top technical personnel from all over the world at great expense, but also purchasing tens of thousands of imported machine tools for production.

The Zhuo-style arsenal not only had various manufacturing plants for smokeless powder, guns, cannons, and shells, but also had various auxiliary plants such as a thermal power plant, a steel plant, a machine shop, and a repair shop.

In addition, there are numerous mining companies that provide raw materials for the manufacture of weapons.

Moreover, Zhuo Yongwang also has a dedicated food and ration factory that specializes in producing military rations such as biscuits and canned goods!

Even Xie Kangnian in the capital city was very envious of Zhuo Yongwang's Zhuo-style arsenal.

Moreover, Zhuo Yongwang's five-province allied army was the only warlord force besides Xie Kangnian that possessed land, sea, and air forces.

More importantly—regardless of their actual combat strength, the equipment of the five-province allied forces is absolutely the best in the entire Great Qian Empire!

If Xie Kangnian is undoubtedly the number one warlord of the Great Qian Empire.

In terms of weaponry alone, Zhuo Yongwang's five-province allied army was undoubtedly the best in the Great Qian Dynasty!

How exquisite is it?

Zhuo Yongwang's five-province allied army had hundreds of tanks and thousands of artillery pieces.

Infantry also began to be equipped with semi-automatic rifles in large quantities.

The air force of the five-province allied forces was the best in the country, possessing more than 300 various types of fighter jets.

The navy possesses more than 30 ships of various types, with a combined tonnage of nearly 50,000 tons, accounting for 70% of the total tonnage of the entire Daqian Navy!

Therefore, the equipment of the five-province allied forces was absolutely superior to that of all the warlord armies of the Great Qian Dynasty, including the Xie faction.

If it weren't for the fact that Zhuo Yongwang's army had a serious mismatch between its equipment and its actual combat capabilities...

Perhaps, right now, it's Zhuo Yonglin who's holding the emperor hostage and using him to command the other lords in the capital...