Imperial warlords: Cannons are the only truth

"As expected, Zhuo Yongwang and Xie Kangnian are essentially birds of a feather."

Shen Moshen, far away in Youzhou, raised the latest intelligence report submitted by the Secret Intelligence Bureau, his tone tinged with disdain: "In order to consolidate their own position, they do not care about the dignity of the Great Qian or the national interests at all."

"Zhuo Yongwang is preparing to reach in-depth cooperation with the Salo people and the Yi people."

"This so-called in-depth cooperation is nothing more than using Daqian's land and resources to curry favor with the Salo people and the Yi people, in exchange for the two countries' long-term support for Zhuo Yongwang!"

"According to information obtained by the Secret Intelligence Bureau, Zhuo Yongwang has agreed to grant Shaluo and Yiguo several leaseholds and free use rights to ports within the territory of Daqian."

"Zhuo Yongwang and Xie Kangnian carried out this act of ceding territory and selling out the country without any hesitation!"

"It seems we need to speed things up."

Shen Moshen casually handed the intelligence summary in his hand to Ge Daqiang, who was standing next to him, and told him to take a good look at it.

"This chaotic situation needs to end!"

"After completing the occupation of Songshan, Gaohe, and Tongmu, immediately issue another nationwide telegram in the name of the Youzhou Army."

Shen Moshen thought for a moment and then instructed Ge Daqiang beside him: "This telegram directly exposes Zhuo Yongwang's acts of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country."

"It is stated that anyone who continues to associate with the likes of Zhuo Yongwang is a traitor to the Great Qian Dynasty!"

"This time, the Youzhou army will not only serve the emperor and protect him, but also eliminate traitors and restore the prestige of the Great Qian Dynasty!"

"While the Western Luo kingdoms are preoccupied with their own troubles, this is the best opportunity for us to resolve the chaos in the Great Qian Dynasty..."

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July 21st, the tenth year of Yongsheng.

A shocking piece of news quickly spread throughout the Great Qian Dynasty.

After leaving Youzhou, the troops from Youzhou occupied Jinzhou Province, Songshan Province, Gaohe Province, and Tongmu Province in one fell swoop!

On the morning of July 21, the tenth year of Yong Sheng, a nationwide telegram condemning Zhuo was issued.

The telegram highlighted Zhuo Yongwang's traitorous act of colluding with Shaluo and Yiguo to betray the interests of the Great Qian Dynasty.

This telegram from the Youzhou army immediately thrust Zhuo Yongwang into the eye of the storm.

At this time, it had been less than a month since Zhuo Yongwang replaced Xie Kangnian as the chief minister!

The Youzhou army's debut gave Zhuo Yongwang a sense of crisis—he hadn't even had a chance to sit down properly before he was about to be kicked off.

All of this happened so fast!

The Youzhou army, which Zhuo Yongwang had never taken seriously, gave him a real "surprise".

The military governor of Jinzhou, Fang Borong, had only led his troops halfway when news arrived that the Youzhou army had swept through the provinces.

The entire anti-rebel army was completely shocked by the performance of the Youzhou army!

The Youzhou army provided a large number of battlefield photos of its operations to major newspapers free of charge.

The clamor within the anti-rebel army camp for a second "anti-rebel" campaign abruptly ceased...

The various military governors, who had just finished attending the "spoils distribution meeting" and were returning home, were urgently summoned back to the capital by Zhuo Yongwang to discuss countermeasures.

The various warlords who led the anti-rebel army had just benefited from the war and naturally did not want to see their hard-won achievements directly intercepted by the Youzhou army.

The capital city—the residence of the chief minister.

The various military commanders who were able to return to the anti-rebel army gathered again.

The atmosphere at the scene was in stark contrast to the spoils-dividing meeting just over two weeks prior...

The atmosphere was unusually oppressive.

No one spoke; many people silently smoked their cigarettes.

The conference table was covered with newspapers featuring the combat prowess of the Youzhou army, as well as dozens of leaflets!

Sitting in the main seat, Zhuo Yongwang was still clutching a flyer tightly in his hand, and his face was as ugly as could be!

Because these leaflets were surrender-persuading leaflets airdropped by long-range strategic bombers sent by the Youzhou army....................

Upon seeing these leaflets urging him to surrender, Zhuo Yongwang nearly collapsed and died!

This is absolutely outrageous!

Even the well-traveled Zhuo Yongwang had never seen such a large plane before.

Zhuo Yongwang knew—was this guy here to persuade them to surrender? He was here to show off!

The leaflets weren't the main point; the main point was to let everyone further understand the formidable strength of the Youzhou army.

Although we are currently quite far from the capital, we can launch long-range operations against the capital at any time.

Our large aircraft can drop leaflets in the capital, so naturally they can drop bombs too...

As a result, the warlords attending the emergency meeting would occasionally look up at the roof, fearing that the capital would suddenly be attacked by air.

It's important to understand that if the Youzhou army were to actually launch an aerial bombardment of the capital, places like the residence of the chief minister would definitely be priority targets...

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"Why aren't you talking?"

"Everyone, please feel free to speak your mind. We can't just sit here staring at each other without saying anything, can we?"

Zhuo Yongwang looked at the silent crowd with a gloomy face and said, "Weren't there people clamoring to launch a second war against the rebels just a few days ago?"

"It seems like nobody mentions this anymore."

"Alright, everyone stop standing there. Let's all speak our minds and say whatever comes to mind."

"Let me make this clear—I, Zhuo Yongwang, never force anyone to do anything against their will. Whether you stay or leave, fight or make peace, I will never interfere!"

"Making a decision sooner is better for everyone!"

"Commander-in-Chief Zhuo is the commander-in-chief of our anti-rebel army. Since the commander-in-chief has told us to express our opinions, I will speak frankly."

As he spoke, Peng Dahai, the military governor of Huaizhou, waved the newspaper in his hand and spread it out with both hands so that everyone could see the contents of the page.

The page depicts a magnificent scene of the Youzhou army's mechanized troops marching....................

"The Youzhou army is now a powerful force that is no weaker than the foreign powers."

"Look at their equipment, everyone. They can fly all the way to the capital from thousands of miles away."

"In less than a month, the four provinces of Jinzhou, Songshan, Gaohe, and Tongmu were connected with Youzhou."

Peng Dahai, the military governor of Huaizhou, casually slammed the newspaper in his hand onto the table: "Shen Moshen, the military governor of Youzhou, has been directly promoted to military governor of five provinces."

"Although the elite troops of each province were drawn out due to the war against the rebels, what was left were some second-line troops with low combat strength."

"But the fact that the Youzhou army was able to swallow up the territory of four provinces in such a short time shows that the Youzhou army is not only well-equipped, but also quite large in scale!"

Peng Dahai analyzed, "Otherwise, they would never have been able to take over so much territory in such a short period of time."

"Take another look at this newspaper—the Youzhou army has announced that it will dispatch 50 reorganized divisions to protect the emperor."

"Although I don't believe that someone surnamed Shen can have 50 divisions under his command, based on all the current signs, Shen Moshen must have at least tens of thousands of elite troops under his command."

"If we concentrate our forces to encircle and block them, we can indeed gain an absolute advantage in terms of manpower."

"But we can't compete with them having tanks on the ground and airplanes in the sky!"

"Everyone, look carefully—the tanks of the Youzhou army are not the kind of small tanks that can be destroyed with a single shot."

Peng Dahai didn't care about Zhuo Yongwang's feelings at all, and emphasized: "Those are all real, solid and durable big lumps of iron!"

"Therefore, I think it is not a wise move to break ties with the Youzhou army."

"What I mean is—we should talk if we can, but fighting is definitely out of the question..."