Imperial warlords: Cannons are the only truth

"Brother Borong, even if you curse Zhuo Yongwang's ancestors a hundred and eighty times a day, it won't do you any good!"

"You think you've been cheated? We've been cheated way more! Who can we complain to?"

The oldest among them, Songshan Military Governor Li Siyuan, complained, "After Jinzhou was lost, Zhuo Yongwang ordered us to gather the troops left behind to deal with the Youzhou army without fully understanding the situation. Isn't that just sending us straight to the edge of a knife?"

"This has given the Youzhou army a reason to enter Songshan, Gaohe, and Tongmu!"

"Now look what's happened. We failed to subdue the Youzhou army, and instead, they've subdued us..."

“Things have already developed to this point, what’s the use of saying all this?” Zhao Jin, the military governor of Gaohe, shook his head helplessly: “To put it bluntly—even without Zhuo Yongwang’s orders, Shen Moshen’s Youzhou army would definitely have taken action against our territory.”

"The reason is simple—they're just using us as a scapegoat in front of everyone."

"If he didn't use us as examples, would Shen Moshen have been able to control the situation so quickly?"

"But I have to say—that was a really brilliant move!"

Zhao Jin was both impressed and furious when he mentioned Shen Moshen's actions.

What's admirable is that the Youzhou army's show of force, which served as a warning to others, was truly remarkable and worthy of applause.

They shocked the audience with a series of blitzkrieg attacks that no one could even dream of, followed by the Youzhou army's Versailles-style "muscle show".

The sheer scale of thousands of machines and tanks, along with their formidable combat power commensurate with their weaponry, terrified the once-powerful anti-rebel army!

What's infuriating is that, due to geographical reasons, the targets the Youzhou army used to demonstrate their superior strength were these few unfortunate souls...

"So what do we do now?" Wu Zhengshan, the military governor of Tongmu, lit a cigarette and took a few deep drags. "Going back is definitely out of the question."

"There are only a few paths: either disband the troops and retire to the countryside; or take the troops to surrender to the Youzhou army. Taking the troops there is enough to show our sincerity, and we might even be able to get an official position from the Youzhou army."

"However, there is one thing we must recognize."

"That is to say—we have seen what kind of situation the Youzhou army is in. Even if we lead our troops to surrender, they may not take us seriously. They might just give us a sinecure and send us away."

"In that case, in the end, it's no different from disbanding on the spot."

"Another point is that Changgouling, where we are now, is located at the border of Ningtong and Qiu'an provinces."

Wu Zhengshan directly pointed out the paths before them: "Ning Tong and Qiu An are Han Bulin and Zhou Yaozu's territories."

"Han Bulin and Zhou Yaozu have not returned yet. Ning Tong and Qiu An have a limited number of troops left behind, and most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled people who are just there to make up the numbers."

"The combined forces of the four of us amount to about 120,000 to 130,000 men."

"While Han Bulin and Zhou Yaozu are still away, we can easily take down Ning Tong and Qiu An with the troops we have."

"We're the most unfortunate brothers in the world right now, all in the same boat. Maybe sticking together for warmth will give us a way to survive."

"At that time, we four will divide Ning Tong and Qiu An's territory equally."

"We don't need to be afraid when Han Bulin and Zhou Yaozu come back."

"At this critical juncture, no one is willing to stand up for Han Bulin and Zhou Yaozu; so we are four against two, and we should still have the advantage in terms of troop strength!"

“However, there are still risks in taking advantage of the situation to seize territory…” Wu Zhengshan paused, then continued, “Han Bulin’s Ning Tong Army and Zhou Yaozu’s Qiu An Army are quite fierce in our anti-rebel army.”

"I'm worried that while we're locked in a life-or-death struggle with Han Bulin and Zhou Yaozu, someone else might take advantage of the chaos and fish in the water, which would completely wipe us out..."

Clearly, Wu Zhengshan had done his homework and analyzed their situation very thoroughly, objectively, and rationally.

"Old Wu, your analysis has been quite detailed..." Youzhou Governor Fang Borong said speechlessly, "But in the end, it seems like you've said everything, but in reality, it's the same as saying nothing at all!"

"Neither of us is willing to surrender or disband on the spot, and seizing territory is too risky."

Ultimately, it boils down to this—nothing works, nothing is right...

"Brother Zhengshan, you've analyzed our situation so thoroughly, are you just telling us there's no solution?"

Military Governor Li Siyuan of Songshan looked at Wu Zhengshan, who was silently smoking, and asked him a question.

“Yes, Lao Wu! If you have any other tricks up your sleeve, just say it!” Zhao Jin, the military governor of Gaohe, also looked at Wu Zhengshan.

Seeing this, Wu Zhengshan threw his half-finished cigarette butt on the ground and stomped on it hard: "But there's another road that's definitely the least risky for us brothers..."

"I just don't know if you guys are willing to leave your hometown and the Great Qian Dynasty to start over!"

"What? Leave Daqian?" Fang Borong, the military governor of Youzhou, was taken aback and asked first, "Old Wu, what do you mean by that?"

“Then I’ll be frank.” Wu Zhengshan glanced at Fang Borong and the others who were waiting for him to continue, and said, “We can go through Xinyao Province, Jiangdian Province, and Yuanzhou Province before entering Puwa Kingdom.”

“We are just passing through. I have some connections with Lu Chengzhi, the military governor of Jiangdian. With his guarantee, Xinyao and Yuanzhou should be able to do this.”

"With the troops we have, we can definitely handle things well in the small kingdom of Phuwa!"

"At that time, we'll have no problem becoming kings and hegemons in the Kingdom of Puva!"

“I’ve thought of this path for you guys—it will preserve our wealth and status while allowing us to make a name for ourselves in Phuwa, with virtually no risk.”

"The only downside is that we have to leave Daqian and settle down in a foreign land."

"I'm afraid we won't even have the chance to worship our ancestors anymore..."

“That can’t be right…” Fang Borong immediately raised a question: “As far as I know, the Lanxi people turned Puwa into their overseas colony several years ago.”

"With the troops we have, we should have no problem establishing a foothold in the short term."

“But wouldn’t doing this directly infringe on the interests of the Lanxi people in the Kingdom of Puva?”

"If the Lanxi people come after us later, won't we be even more helpless?"

“Yes! The Lanxi people are not to be trifled with.” Military Governor Li Siyuan of Songshan also had deep doubts about this: “You know—the Lanxi Kingdom is an old and powerful country in the Western Luo Continent.”

"If we offend the Lanxi people, won't our situation become even worse?"

"I've already thought of this problem for us."

"Right now, the entire Western Continent is in a state of chaos due to the economic collapse. The Western countries are too busy dealing with their own internal troubles to care about the affairs of the Puwa Kingdom."

"Moreover, I heard that the Kingdom of Puwa is in a lot of chaos right now. While the Lanxi people are busy dealing with the mess on their own soil, many anti-Lanxi forces have emerged in the Kingdom of Puwa."

"Therefore, we don't need to worry about this at all—the Lanxi people will definitely not have time to deal with the mess in Puwa Kingdom in the short term."

"We could even enter the Kingdom of Puwa under the pretext of suppressing anti-Lan forces in Puwa for the Lanxi people!"

Wu Zhengshan laid out his plan to the group: "Don't you guys know what kind of people these foreigners are?"

“Puwa Kingdom is far from Lanxi’s homeland. Once we gain a foothold in Puwa Kingdom, as long as we can reach an agreement on our interests, the Lanxi people won’t bother us!”

"At worst, we can just become the representatives of the Lanxi people in Puwa."

"If the Lanxi people feel they're losing face—we can simply act as their foreign legion in Puwa!"

"These are all things that can be discussed!"

"If we give them enough benefits, the Lanxi people can't do anything to us."

Wu Zhengshan explained the advantages and disadvantages in detail to everyone: "Puwa is a mountainous country."

"Even if we ultimately fail to reach an agreement with the Lanxi people, and they decide to wipe us out once they have the time, we have nothing to worry about."

"At worst, we can just retreat to the mountains and fight a guerrilla war against the Lanxi people; we can still survive!"