Imperial warlords: Cannons are the only truth

In an effort to quickly break the deadlock, Zhuo Yongwang's central route punitive expeditionary force was bogged down in Quzhou for more than a month.

Even when the military advisors of Sharo couldn't come up with any good strategies, Zhuo Yongwang secretly adopted the suggestion of the foreigners: for the first time in the warlord war of the Great Qian Dynasty, he used tear gas, a poison gas weapon that was prohibited by various countries.

In fact, the original plan that the Yi Kingdom gave Zhuo Yongwang was to use suffocating poison gas against the enemy in Quzhou.

However, Zhuo Yongwang considered that the asphyxiating toxic gas was too serious and the consequences could be very serious.

After all, this practice already violates the treaty on war.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Zhuo Yongwang did not dare to fully adopt the suggestions of the foreigners. In the end, he decided to use tear gas on the Quzhou battlefield in order to break the deadlock in Quzhou as soon as possible.

Now that the Battle of Quzhou has reached this stage, whether or not Quzhou can be captured is no longer just a military matter, but has risen to a higher level of significance.

October 11th, Yongsheng 9th year.

Fifty boxes of tear gas grenades and tear gas mortar shells, along with a batch of gas masks, were secretly transported to the front lines in Quzhou.

Zhuo Yongwang distributed all of this tear gas to the 73rd Division of the Five Provinces Allied Army.

The tear gas provided "friendly" by the foreigners is a mixture of tear-inducing and sneezing agents, with an effective duration of about five to six minutes.

Zhuo Yongwang personally handed the instruction manual for tear gas to Zhao Yuanzhi, the commander of the 73rd Division, ordering him to use tear gas in three days to coordinate with the new round of all-out offensive.

This time, Zhuo Yongwang was determined to take Quzhou City in one fell swoop.

October 14th, Yongsheng 9th year.

After more than half an hour of shelling using the newly replenished shells.

Zhuo Yongwang's 73rd Division fired tear gas at the enemy for the first time during the offensive.

Gao Shengwu's troops, who had no protective measures, were immediately caught off guard by this tear gas weapon.

The assault regiment of the 1st Royal Guard Division, which was attempting to force the enemy back with a wave-like charge, immediately halted its advance.

Meanwhile, the vanguard of Zhuo Yongwang's 73rd Division, wearing gas masks, quickly seized the opportunity under the cover of tear gas grenades.

For the first time, they decisively defeated the Royal Guard 1st Division's proud and dense assault.

Taking advantage of the situation, the five-province allied forces launched a full-scale offensive.

October 16th.

Faced with Zhuo Yongwang's troops who were using poison gas bombs extensively, Gao Shengwu had no choice but to order a withdrawal from Quzhou.

Thus, the Battle of Quzhou lasted one month and twenty days.

Ultimately, with Zhuo Yongwang violating the war treaty by using poison gas, the five-province allied forces successfully captured Quzhou.

Xie Kangnian's side immediately issued a telegram condemning Zhuo Yongwang's despicable act of blatantly violating the treaty on war by using poison gas weapons.

Furthermore, Xie Kangnian, in the name of the Emperor, listed Zhuo Yongwang as a person to be killed on the "Great Qian Rebel List"!

Although the Battle of Quzhou ended in victory for Zhuo Yongwang's side, Xie Kangnian's side seized on Zhuo Yongwang's violation of regulations by using poison gas weapons and used it to create a public opinion storm.

This thrust the anti-rebel army, led by Zhuo Yongwang, into the eye of the storm.

The Georgian and other countries that supported Xie Kangnian also took the opportunity to condemn the anti-rebel army and claimed they would thoroughly investigate the source of the poison gas.....................

This resulted in an awkward situation where the victors couldn't win and the losers couldn't lose.

Although Zhuo Yongwang's troops successfully captured Quzhou, they were caught in an unprecedented vortex of public opinion, which immediately distorted the "righteous" nature of the anti-rebel army's actions.

As a result, the support of many people in the Great Qian Dynasty for the anti-rebel army dropped significantly.

Xie Kangnian's side spread the word that the punitive expeditionary force led by Zhuo Yongwang was a bunch of treacherous traitors with no bottom line!

The key point is this: if these people gain power, the entire Great Qian Dynasty will truly be doomed!

In order to win, they even used internationally banned poison gas bombs. How can such a ruthless leader care about the lives of the people of Daqian?

If you support Zhuo Yongwang and his gang, you might as well support me, Lao Xie!

Immediately afterwards, Xie Kangnian once again resorted to the tactic of making grand promises—announcing a series of policies to benefit the people.

In short, if you support me in securing my throne, once I have quelled the rebellion of Zhuo Yongwang and his gang of "rebels" and stabilized the situation in the Great Qian Dynasty, I will definitely be a good emperor who is devoted to the people and lead the people of the Great Qian Dynasty to a better life again!

The anti-rebel army, of course, would not sit idly by and wait for its fate. They immediately used the land that Xie Kangnian had ceded in order to please the foreigners over the years as a starting point to launch a counter-offensive in public opinion.

If we're talking about having no bottom line, then Xie Kangnian's behavior of betraying national interests for personal gain is even more egregious!

Furthermore, the navy of the punitive expeditionary force also offered an explanation for the issue of poison gas bombs involved in the Battle of Quzhou.

That is—if the anti-rebel army truly had no bottom line and no integrity, then what they dropped on Quzhou City wouldn't have been tear gas bombs!

According to this argument, the widespread use of poison gas by the punitive expeditionary force in the Battle of Quzhou ironically serves as evidence that they had a bottom line.

As the saying goes, when dogs fight, they all end up with a mouthful of fur. Whether it was the Anti-Rebel Army or the Xie faction, they all started this war for their own interests.

Thus, this warlord war, the largest in decades, gradually intensified as both sides engaged in verbal sparring.

Furthermore, this "war against the rebels," known as the "million-strong war," broke the pattern of the Daqian army's first battle determining the outcome.

The anti-rebel army and the Xie faction were locked in a fierce battle within the Great Qian Dynasty, with both sides experiencing victories and defeats, and the fighting seemed to be escalating.

In the blink of an eye, the war had lasted for more than six months.

The struggle between the anti-rebel army and the forces behind Xie Kangnian is intensifying.

In order to help their chosen camp win the final victory, the great powers naturally invested more and more.

This war has escalated to a point where it can no longer be stopped simply by saying so...