Imperial warlords: Cannons are the only truth

The fighting at Majialing began at 1:56 PM and lasted until around 7 PM before finally subsiding.

The entire 1200-strong Sanri Battalion, including Major Sanri himself, was annihilated.

Among them, the performance of the 7th Cavalry Division of the Yongchang Independent Army, led by Hu Changquan, in the battle was beyond the expectations of the Zhenguo Army.

Unexpectedly, the 7th Cavalry Division of the Yongchang Independent Army fought so tenaciously.

The battle lasted for five hours and was a brutal, one-sided massacre.

The 7th Cavalry Division actually organized more than a dozen large-scale breakout attacks.

During his final breakout attempt, Hu Changquan was killed by a shell.

The 7th Cavalry Division, having lost more than two-thirds of its strength, still refused to surrender.

It wasn't until the Daqian Zhenguo Army launched its final all-out offensive that the 7th Cavalry Division, unable to withstand the onslaught any longer, laid down its arms under the orders of Chief of Staff Ren Qingkuan.

Of the 8000-strong cavalry division, less than a thousand eventually laid down their arms and surrendered.

On such a narrow mountain road, facing an opponent who was high above and had absolute firepower, the Yongchang 7th Cavalry Division was able to fight to such an extent before laying down its weapons and surrendering.

This desperate fighting style greatly surprised the Daqian Zhenguo Army.

Soon, Ren Qingkuan, the only surviving division commander of the 7th Cavalry Division, was directly brought before Pang Maoxun, the commander of the 96th Air Assault Division of the Daqian Zhenguo Army Airborne Force.

"Name, rank, position, and be proactive if you have anything to say."

"Reporting to the commander—I am Ren Qingkuan, Major General Chief of Staff of the 7th Cavalry Division of the Independent Army..."

Ren Qingkuan swallowed hard and secretly glanced at Pang Maoxun and the others who were sitting around eating various military canned foods.

This sight made Ren Qingkuan, who was both hungry and tired, hungry again.

What the hell!

Can canned food be eaten in such a lavish way?

Canned beef, canned pork, canned fruit, canned vegetables, canned fish...

On a makeshift field table were no fewer than twenty cans of various kinds of food, and a group of divisional officers ate while discussing matters.

Upon seeing Ren Qingkuan being brought in, everyone cast rather interested glances at him.

However, apart from Pang Maoxun asking casually, no one slowed down their eating because of Ren Qingkuan's matter.

"What's going on?"

Pang Maoxun glanced at Ren Qingkuan: "I heard that your 7th Cavalry Division fought a tough battle at Majialing?"

"Even after your division commander was killed, you continued to resist for a long time before finally ceasing your resistance?"

"As far as I know, this doesn't seem like the style of your five-province allied forces, does it?"

"Or is it that your 7th Cavalry Division is Zhuo Yongwang's most elite and ace unit?"

Pang Maoxun, who was very curious about this issue, asked Ren Qingkuan a series of questions.

After Pang Maoxun raised the question, all the officers of the 96th Air Assault Division present turned their attention to Ren Qingkuan.

Clearly, everyone was curious about the unusual performance of the 7th Cavalry Division on the battlefield—when did Zhuo Yongwang's troops become so "brave"?

Could it be that all those rumors about the Five Provinces Allied Army were false?

"Sir, it's not that the brothers don't want to surrender, it's just that they dare not surrender..."

Seeing that everyone was quite interested in this question, Ren Qingkuan hurriedly explained, "That guy surnamed Zhuo is too damn ruthless!"

"He is now in the Independent State of Yongchang..."

As soon as he said that, Ren Qingkuan immediately realized what he meant and quickly corrected himself: "Zhuo Yongwang implemented a collective punishment policy in the five provinces of Jizhou!"

"If you are cowardly, surrender, or captured on the battlefield, your family and relatives will be implicated."

"If one person makes a mistake, the whole family will suffer."

"On the contrary—if you perform well on the battlefield, you will be richly rewarded! Those who die or are wounded in battle will have their families properly taken care of."

"The soldiers of the independence army were all recruited from the five provinces of Kedah, and their families are all local."

"Zhuo Yongwang's move is equivalent to directly seizing control of the brothers' entire families."

"Therefore, the brothers had no choice but to risk their lives to protect their families..."

"Oh?" Pang Maoxun suddenly realized, "If you surrender now, won't your whole family be implicated?"

"I'm doing alright............."

Ren Qingkuan then explained his reason for surrendering: "I grew up eating food from many families and don't have any relatives."

"After he became rich, he got married, but they never had any children."

"Most importantly—my relationship with my wife has long been broken down."

"All he does all day is smoke opium and play mahjong!"

"If it weren't for the war, I would have divorced this woman right away!"

"So, actually I don't have many concerns about surrendering."

"More importantly—I have always despised and resolutely opposed Zhuo Yongwang's approach of splitting the Great Qian Dynasty!"

"Unfortunately, I haven't found a suitable opportunity yet, otherwise I would have redeemed myself long ago."

"Actually, I had wanted to get the troops to lay down their weapons long ago when we were at Majialing today."

"But Hu Changquan is a staunch supporter of Zhuo Yongwang; if he doesn't die, this plan definitely won't succeed..."

"So, according to you—this Hu Changquan is quite loyal to Zhuo Yongwang?"

"I don't really think loyalty is a valid question..."

Ren Qingkuan shook his head: "Mainly because Hu Changquan's seven concubines, three sons, six daughters, and his parents are all 'enjoying life' in Jicheng."

"If he were to defect to the enemy on the battlefield, Zhuo Yongwang would definitely wipe out his wife, children, and relatives in Jicheng..."

"The worst one is that bastard surnamed Wu!"

"These dirty tricks were all given by that bastard Wu Huaiyu—Zhuo Yongwang used safety as an excuse to bring all the families of division-level officers to Jicheng."

Ren Qingkuan transformed into a vanguard of the "anti-Zhuo" movement on the spot: "He used such despicable and shameless means to forcibly tie his generals to himself."

"In order to better achieve this goal, Zhuo Yongwang has now established an unwritten rule and standard for appointing division commanders and other personnel."

“Apart from the old guard who had always followed Zhuo Yongwang, all the new division commanders after the expansion of the army were promoted according to this standard.”

"That is—no matter how capable a person is, they cannot serve as a teacher or mentor, especially if they are an orphan, a bachelor, have no children, have lost their parents at a young age, or have few relatives."

"With my background, I could only hope to become the chief of staff of the 7th Cavalry Division at best!"