Imperial warlords: Cannons are the only truth

"So, after all this time, your so-called 'brilliant idea' is just using hostages as leverage?"

Upon hearing Li Shenghai's words, Zhao Yuanyi's disdain deepened: "Li Shenghai!"

"You don't really think the imperial court can't do anything to you because of your 'brilliant' move, do you?"

"I really find it hard to imagine..."

"How on earth did a fool like you manage to gain a foothold in Ganla?!"

"It seems my description just now was somewhat incomplete."

"According to your thinking—your foolishness is mixed with some naivety!"

"I never imagined that someone like you could be so 'naive'..."

"You don't really think that taking hostages from the village will be your bargaining chip to challenge the imperial court and negotiate terms, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Li Shenghai frowned and said, "Are you kidding me?"

"If you don't talk to me, I'll kill hostages, hundreds or thousands! I'll make the entire Ganla Protectorate tremble with fear!"

"We'll see whose face gets slapped then!"

Li Haisheng's face revealed a sinister and cruel expression: "Don't think I'm joking with you."

"At that time, people will see how peaceful and secure the Ganla Protectorate is under the rule of the Great Qian Dynasty!"

"If you can disregard the safety and lives of the hostages, then let's kill them all!"

"At that time, the people of Ganla will see the true face of your Daqian Zhenguo Army—you don't care about the people of Ganla at all, and you won't do your best to protect their safety."

"We don't care, we're not afraid of any bad reputation!"

"But the reputation of the Great Qian Dynasty will be ruined as a result. I wonder if your Chief of Staff Shen can be as indifferent as we are!"

"I, Li Shenghai, may be shameless, but is your Chief of Staff Shen's face so worthless?"

"Trying to scare me with those words? What a joke!"

"joke?"

Zhao Yuanyi shook his head with a look of disbelief, saying sarcastically, "Now I finally understand..."

"Some people are so stupid that they are beyond redemption."

"Have you forgotten who you are?"

"You've gone this far today."

"From this day forward, you will only have one identity: rebels!"

Congratulations—you've leveled up!

“Originally, you were just an armed criminal organization doing shady business, but now your nature has completely changed.”

"You—Li Shenghai!"

"By his own efforts, he has labeled you and your men as 'rebels'..."

"so what?"

Li Shenghai sneered, "The imperial court's order to stop me from doing opium business is cutting off my source of income!"

"If you cut off my source of income, I'm going to go against the imperial court!"

"So what if they're rebels?"

"My brothers and I were already doing illegal business, I don't care about your damn rebellion!"

"I'm rebelling! I'm betraying them! So what!"

"Hey Zhao, you said the hostages were useless!"

"I want to see if this hostage is actually of any use."

"Tomorrow I'll take over one village first, and see if you can really hold your temper and refuse to talk to me!"

"Pooh!"

"Talk my ass!" Zhao Yuanyi said coldly, "Utterly stupid idiot..."

"The imperial court is suppressing a rebellion, what the hell are they talking about, hostages?!"

"Those who died during the suppression of the rebellion were all rebels!"

"The villages that were slaughtered were the work of you bastards."

"When the Daqian Zhenguo Army launched its suppression campaign, the villages had already been ravaged by you."

Do you want me to be more explicit?

"When the imperial court quelled the rebellion, innocent civilians were killed, which is why the Daqian Zhenguo Army launched a military strike."

"At that time, all the actions of the Daqian Zhenguo Army will be for the sake of avenging the people of Ganla Protectorate and to prevent more innocent people from suffering!"

"Still dreaming of guerrilla warfare?"

"What the hell are you thinking about?"

Do you have that opportunity?

"Haven't you heard of what indiscriminate attack is?"

"Or do you have doubts about the indiscriminate attack capabilities of the Daqian Zhenguo Army?"

"Indiscriminate? No! When we have so many hostages, you can't possibly..."

"I told you—there are fucking hostages!"

"Those who will die alongside you are the rebels!"

"Even if there were hostages, they were hostages you had already killed!"

"Everything is based on official announcements. Any statements that contradict official reports are malicious rumors intended to smear and defame us!"

"You've probably heard similar announcements before, haven't you?"

As he spoke, Zhao Yuanyi's tone became even more sarcastic: "I've said all this, if you still don't understand the point, then just pretend I didn't say anything..."

-------------------------------------

"Hypocrite! Scoundrel!"

"You are the real, truly despicable scoundrels!!!"

After being lost in thought for a while, Li Shenghai finally figured out what Zhao Yuanyi had said and began to hysterically curse.

After listening to Zhao Yuanyi's words, and considering the past practices of the Daqian Zhenguo Army,

Li Shenghai felt a chill run down his spine, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar!

He now realized just how naive and foolish his previous, self-righteous ideas had been...

Enraged, Li Shenghai picked up a red-hot branding iron and was about to strike Zhao Yuanyi.

After several attempts, Li Shenghai, holding the branding iron, ultimately couldn't bring himself to do it...

Bang!

The branding iron in Li Shenghai's hand fell to the ground.

"You all go out first, and stay away!"

"No one is allowed to come in without my order!" Li Shenghai ordered his two subordinates beside him, his eyes red.

"Yes!"

The two subordinates were startled by Li Shenghai's ferocious face and bloodshot eyes, and quickly obeyed his orders to retreat...

After only Li Shenghai and Zhao Yuanyi remained in the torture chamber.

Li Shenghai, who was squatting on the ground, took a few deep breaths, then stood up with his back to Zhao Yuanyi.

After a few seconds.

When Li Shenghai turned to face Zhao Yuanyi again, he seemed like a completely different person.

With a broad smile, he walked over and began to untie Zhao Yuanyi, who was bound to the rack.

"Commissioner Zhao, you are a magnanimous person and will not hold a grudge against a petty person. You must be more lenient with me today!"

While untying Zhao Yuanyi's bonds, Li Shenghai explained with a mournful face and a tone of deep regret, "You're absolutely right!"

"I've been smoking too much opium and my mind isn't quite right anymore!"

"It's all the fault of opium; they really went crazy from smoking it..."

"Otherwise, even if you gave me a hundred thousand lives, I wouldn't dare to treat you so cruelly!"

"No! No! No!"

"What I mean is—if I weren't out of my mind, I would never dare to lay a hand on Commissioner Zhao, even if I had a hundred thousand lives!!!"

Please have a seat...

After personally untying Zhao Yuanyi, Li Shenghai hurriedly and carefully helped him to sit down on a chair.

Immediately afterwards, Li Shenghai knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"Commissioner Zhao! It's all my fault, no matter what!"

As Li Shenghai spoke, he slapped himself in front of Zhao Yuanyi: "As long as you can calm down, I'll do whatever you want..."

"We'll do whatever the imperial court tells us to do!"

"We will wholeheartedly support the imperial court's anti-opium policy."

"Commissioner Zhao! You must forgive me!"

"I'm completely dazed! I have no idea what I just did..."

As he spoke, Li Shenghai slapped Zhao Yuanyi's face while cautiously watching his hands.

At this time, Zhao Yuanyi's injured hands had been stopped from bleeding and bandaged.

It wasn't that Li Shenghai's men were being "kind" by bandaging Zhao Yuanyi's wounds out of pity.

Instead, they did it on Li Shenghai's instructions.

Li Shenghai's decision to have Zhao Yuanyi's bleeding stopped and his wounds bandaged was certainly not out of a sudden pang of conscience.

It was just that they were afraid Zhao Yuanyi would die prematurely due to excessive blood loss.

After all, according to Li Shenghai's original plan, he intended to personally torture Zhao Yuanyi!

If you die before you've had your fill, then it's not really fun...

However, Zhao Yuanyi was also somewhat bewildered when faced with Li Shenghai's sudden reversal of fortune and when he was untied and helped to sit in a chair.

Especially when he saw Li Shenghai kneeling in front of him, constantly slapping himself in the face.

In a daze, Zhao Yuanyi even had a misconception—could it be that he was hallucinating because he had lost too much blood?

Damn it—Li Shenghai, who was just moments ago incredibly arrogant and ready to do everything he could to torture me, has now instantly turned into a "grandson"!

Li Shenghai, who used to shout about fighting and killing and showed no respect for anyone, suddenly became a model of pragmatism.

"Sigh~"

If it weren't for the excruciating pain in his hand from the slightest movement, which made Zhao Yuanyi wince and break out in a cold sweat, he would have truly thought he was hallucinating...

"Commissioner Zhao............."

"It must hurt a lot, right?"

Hearing Zhao Yuanyi's cry of pain, Li Shenghai's hair stood on end, and he stopped what he was doing.

Li Shenghai was now completely despondent, and I wished I could take the pain out on him!

"........................"

"It doesn't hurt!"

"It doesn't hurt at all!" Looking at Li Shenghai's pitiful face, Zhao Yuanyi endured the pain in his hand and said sarcastically, "It really doesn't hurt at all!"

Faced with Li Shenghai's dramatic reversal, Zhao Yuanyi was momentarily at a loss.

"Your swordsmanship is quite accurate!"

"The way they tied these two braces on my sides is actually pretty symmetrical!"

Zhao Yuanyi slightly raised his hands: "That's not right!"

"Am I still missing a cigarette burn on this side of my hand?"

"How about we get another one?"

"Where's your cigar? Here! Light it up..."

"No! No! No!" Li Shenghai waved his hands and shook his head, "Commissioner Zhao, please don't hold it against me!"

"It's all my fault, all the fault of opium!"

"I've gone mad! Opium is such a harmful substance!"

"As long as Commissioner Zhao can calm down, I'll do whatever you want!"

"You should repay me for all these injuries, twice as much..."

"I'd be willing to gouge eight holes in my hands if Commissioner Zhao could forgive me!"

"You can burn me ten or twenty cigarette burns, I'll take it all..."

"You only just realized that now?"

Don't you think it's a bit late?

"Impulsiveness is the devil! Impulsiveness is the devil..." Li Shenghai banged his head on the ground repeatedly, pleading, "Commissioner Zhao, please give me another chance!"

"As long as you give me a way out, I'll agree to any condition..."

"correct!"

"Commissioner Zhao! I request to atone for my crimes by performing meritorious service!"

"Yeah!"

"I want to atone for the court's crimes by performing meritorious service..."

Suddenly remembering something, Li Shenghai clung to Zhao Yuanyi's leg as if he had grasped a lifeline.

"Commissioner Zhao! I can atone for the court's crimes by performing meritorious service!"

"Hasn't the imperial court been constantly purging the remnants of the barbarian tribes?"

"I know there are secret strongholds of remnants of the barbarian tribes within Ganla territory!"

"And another thing! There are also Western Roma spies operating within Ganla territory; I can lure them out too..."

"That's right! I have a ready-made remnant of the barbarian tribe right here, and he's even working for the Western Luo spy organization!"

"It was them! It was all those bastards who bewitched me!"

“They had already found me secretly before you arrived.”

With a look of utter despair, Li Shenghai, tears streaming down his face, recounted his "blood and tears history" to Zhao Yuanyi: "These bastards really tried to kill me!"

It really proves the old saying true—the more arrogant they were before, the more humble they are now...

"They encouraged me to oppose the imperial court, and even said they could provide us with weapons, ammunition and funds for free."

“These bastards are the real culprits! I can cooperate with the imperial court to wipe out all these scoundrels in Ganla.”

"Commissioner Zhao, please give me a chance!"

"I truly know I was wrong..."