Imperial warlords: Cannons are the only truth

a few days later.

A combat squad of the Daikan Marine Corps is carrying out a post-bombing cleanup operation in a forest in the Macana Islands.

"Don't shoot!"

"We are people of the Qian Kingdom!"

"Whatever you do, don't fire..."

Two middle-aged men with their hands raised emerged from behind a boulder.

The second lieutenant leading the team immediately made a gesture to surround and guard, and the combat squad immediately formed a combat alert formation, surrounding the two middle-aged men who suddenly appeared and claimed to be from the Qian Kingdom.

Although the other party spoke fluent Mandarin, the officers and soldiers leading the team still dared not let their guard down in the slightest.

Firstly, the remnants of the Yi Kingdom often disguise themselves as Qian Kingdom people and then take advantage of the Qian Kingdom soldiers' lax vigilance to suddenly kill them or simply detonate their self-destruct devices in a way that leads to mutual destruction.

Secondly, according to prior intelligence, there should be no civilians from the Qian Kingdom on the Macana Islands.

Therefore, when two middle-aged men dressed in civilian clothes suddenly appeared, speaking fluent Qian language and claiming to be from Qian, the officers and soldiers leading the group were unable to verify their identities for a moment.

However, there was a concern that firing directly at them might result in accidental injuries, as these two people were indeed from the Qian Kingdom.

"You two!"

"Stand still and do not move!"

The second lieutenant leading the team, Mo Zhiyong, pointed his gun at the two men who had their hands raised and shouted, "Take off your clothes and let us see if you have any bombs strapped to your bodies!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

"We'll take it off! We'll take it off right now..."

The two middle-aged men were very cooperative, and while talking, they began to take off their clothes according to Mo Zhiyong's instructions.

One of the older men, a middle-aged man, was taking off his coat while loudly explaining the situation to the alert Qian soldiers: "Please don't fire! We really are Qian people!"

“Our identification is in our pockets; the officers can check it carefully.”

"We are photojournalists from Beijing Geographic Magazine."

"My name is Kang Dawen, and the person next to me is my colleague Zhao Hongyuan."

"We are all native Beijingers."

"What? A reporter from the Beijing Geographical Magazine?" Mo Zhiyong frowned immediately upon hearing this: "Nonsense!"

"What are the reporters from Beijing Geographic magazine doing in the Macana Islands?"

"Do you know that the Makan Islands are currently the largest gathering place for remnants of the barbarian kingdoms?"

"This place is full of vicious and dangerous foreign elements!"

How did you get here?

Seeing that Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan cooperated by taking off their clothes and showing Mo Zhiyong and the others that there were no hidden dangerous items in their clothes, they were surprised to find that Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan cooperated by taking off their clothes and showing them that there were no hidden dangerous items in their clothes.

Mo Zhiyong's tone softened as well.

"Report sir!"

"Our magazine has created a column for exploring world geography."

"We specialize in introducing some of the world's more novel and remote places."

"I've heard that the Macana Islands are one of the world's most resource-poor and harshest archipelagos."

"So, we were sent here to gather material..."

"Sir, these are their identification documents." A soldier handed Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan's identification documents to Mo Zhiyong.

After careful examination, Mo Zhiyong found nothing suspicious about the two men's identification documents.

Press cards, identification used by employees of the Imperial Capital Geography magazine, and identification documents used by citizens of the Great Qian Dynasty—all were without issue........................

In other words, Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan's identities as citizens of the Qian Kingdom should not be fake.

However, how Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan came to the Macana Islands and their true purpose still need further verification.

"You're lucky to be alive." After verifying the two men's identification documents, Mo Zhiyong signaled the surrounding soldiers to remove their guns from Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan to prevent accidental discharges.

"This area was just attacked by air, and you all emerged unscathed. You're incredibly lucky!"

"Alright, let's talk about it when we get back."

As he spoke, Mo Zhiyong pointed to the clothes on the ground: "Put the clothes on the boat, and we'll take you back to the camp."

"However, you'll have to leave your cameras with us for now."

Mo Zhiyong took Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan's cameras from the soldiers and examined them: "Some things cannot be allowed to leave."

"Do you understand?"

"understand!"

"Absolutely understand!" Kang Dawen immediately replied, "Don't worry, sir!"

"We know the rules!"

"If we had known that the Daqian Zhenguo army was going to take military action in the Makan Islands, even if you gave us a thousand or ten thousand times the courage, we wouldn't have dared to land on the island at this time to join in the fun..."

"Yes, sir!" Zhao Hongyuan also looked shaken. "If we had known there was an operation in the Makan Islands, we wouldn't have taken this job no matter how much reward they offered!"

"We were lucky this time!"

"We almost became roast meat..."

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

A few hours later.

The news that two magazine reporters from the Daqian region had been found on the island was directly reported to the commander-in-chief of the "clean-up" operation—Admiral Lu Wenyuan of the Daqian Navy.

Upon hearing that two journalists from the Macana Islands had come to "gather information," Lu Wenyuan immediately sensed something unusual.

Therefore, upon learning of this, Lu Wenyuan immediately ordered that Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan be sent to the aircraft carrier "Guangming".

He wanted to personally investigate the situation with Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan..........................

"You said you're photojournalists from the Beijing Geographic Magazine?"

While personally examining Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan's documents, Lu Wenyuan asked, "When did you arrive in the Makan Islands?"

"As far as I know, there aren't any passenger ships that go to the Macana Islands through official channels, are there?"

How long have you been on the island?

"You two were the only ones sent to this remote place like the Makan Islands for research?"

"There are so many remnants of foreign powers on the Macana Islands, and these dangerous elements hate the people of Qian to the bone."

“Normally speaking, once the remnants of the Yi people on the island discover that there are Qian people in the Makan Islands, they will definitely not let them go!”

"So how did you manage to evade the attention of the remnants of the barbarian tribes and conduct your research in the Macana Islands?"

After personally examining Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan's identification documents, Lu Wenyuan looked at the two men with suspicion and asked them a series of questions.

“To be honest, Commander Lu…” Kang Dawen immediately replied, “We did not come to the Macana Islands through official channels.”

"As you just said—there are no ships coming to Makana to persuade people to cross the river through official channels..."

"We secretly came to the Macana Islands to gather material, on a boat that the magazine paid for."

"Furthermore, we also know about the barbarian people..."

Kang Dawen then corrected himself, "Oh! No! It should be said that they are remnants of the barbarian tribes!"

"We also know that the Macana Islands have become the world's largest gathering place for remnants of foreign powers."

"Therefore, we are also aware of the dangers of coming to the Macana Islands for research."

Kang Dawen said helplessly, "We didn't want to take this job in the first place either."

"But the magazine offered too much money."

"So, we gritted our teeth and took on this job......................."

"It is precisely because we know that the island is full of remnants of the barbarian state that having too many people would make us easier to be exposed."

"Another thing is that—besides the two of us, no one else in the company is willing to take on this job."

"So, it was just the two of us who came to the Macana Islands for this field research."

“I had already discussed it before we came – we are both fluent in the language of the foreign country.”

"Therefore, we're not afraid of our identities being exposed when we encounter those remnants of the barbarian tribes on the island..."

"By the way! We arrived on the island two weeks ago."

Kang Dawen then added, "Today is exactly our fifteenth day in the Macana Islands."

"To make it easier to stay in touch, we also brought a portable radio."

"However, the portable radio was destroyed in an air raid today..."

"As agreed, we would report our safety to the magazine every three days via radio."

"The original plan was for this field trip to the Macana Islands to last a total of thirty days."

"Thirty days later, the magazine sent a ship to pick us up..."

Kang Dawen answered Lu Wenyuan's questions one by one in one go.

"Your explanation does make sense..."

Lu Wenyuan carefully examined Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan, and smiled: "I'm very curious—how much did your magazine pay you to risk landing on the Makan Islands knowing the situation there?"

"Five gold bars for each person..."

Kang Dawen scratched his head sheepishly: "They prepaid us two gold bars each."

"We'll finish the rest as soon as we get back from the Macana Islands."

"Goodness, you two are going to get ten gold bars just for this business trip?"

Lu Wenyuan nodded: "It seems that your Beijing Geographic Magazine is quite generous."

"Is your geography magazine doing so well?"

"Adding in the costs of hiring boats and other related expenses, your magazine has invested quite a bit in just one field trip to the Makan Islands!"

"With such a large investment, can your magazine recoup its costs?"

"As far as I know, the competition in your line of work is quite fierce."

"Can a geography magazine really make a profit by investing so much money in this kind of project?"

"I feel like your investment isn't quite proportional to the returns."

"Aren't you afraid of losing money?"

"To be honest, Commander Lu, even though we are just a niche geography magazine, we really don't make much money."

Zhao Hongyuan, who was next to Kang Dawen, immediately explained, "But our magazine is really not short of money!"

"Because—the owner of this geography magazine started it purely out of personal hobby; he doesn't expect the magazine to make money at all."

"Our president has other businesses and is not short of money at all!"

"A large part of the reason for doing this world geography field trip project is not to make money; it's purely because our boss himself wanted to do this project."

"I just felt that completing this project would be quite meaningful..."

"I see, I was wondering!" Lu Wenyuan smiled. "This is obviously a losing proposition, so why is your magazine so interested in it?"

"I'd really like to get to know your boss, who's certainly not short of money..."

As he spoke, Lu Wenyuan picked up the camera on the table and glanced at it casually: "We have already checked the contents of your camera."

"You can have the part about the field research done."

"However, some of these photos are of bombing scenes that you took, so we cannot return those photos to you."

"Those photos cannot be leaked; we have already destroyed them."

"Besides these, do you have any other similar photos that cannot be leaked?"

"That's all!" Kang Dawen waved his hands repeatedly, even turning his pockets inside out: "We know the rules!"

"The bombing photos in the camera were just snapshots we took."

"I didn't think too much at the time. I just felt that it was meaningful to take a few pictures of us after surviving such a disaster..."

"Please rest assured, sir, we will absolutely not mention what happened in the Makan Islands!"

Kang Dawen then assured Lu Wenyuan, "We will absolutely not say a word more than necessary, not even to the magazine."

"We saw nothing and know nothing!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! We didn't see anything and we don't know anything!"

Zhao Hongyuan, who was standing nearby, added, "We will definitely say what we should say and not say a single unnecessary word..."

"Quite the awareness..." Lu Wenyuan carefully examined Kang Dawen and Zhao Hongyuan, who seemed very cooperative, once again: "Pretty good!"

"Since you all know everything, then I won't say anything more."

"However, this matter is of great importance."

"We still need to find out the truth."

"We have already sent a telegram to the capital to verify your identities."

"Once we receive the investigation report from the capital and clarify everything, we will arrange for someone to send you back..."