Hsiuying Chiang, leader of Three Rings Army, killed by local Self-Defense League troops near Kweiyang after attacking the city despite standing general ceasefire.
Aug 21; Hong Kong, British Empire | Written by Malcolm MacDonald
The unsteady ceasefire in effect in China was yet again put to risk today as the Three Rings Army (Chinese: 三環軍, san huan chun) set to storm the city of Kweiyang. Hsiuyang Chiang led his forces, more than 32,000 strong, directly towards the city from the north, hoping to overwhelm its defenses. The Self-Defense League (Chinese: 自衛聯盟, Suwei lianmeng) militia present in the city put up more resistance than he expected, using recently-purchased American M777 howitzers to deadly effect, killing nearly 1,600 before the attacking forces were routed and withdrew to the countryside. Hsiuyang Chiang was found among the dead and dying bodies of the attackers by SDL trooper sergeant Hsuegang Shen during post-battle mop up operations, who proceeded to finish him off with a bullet to the back of the head. "A mercy kill", Shen assured, a claim that this reporter is willing to believe, having seen photos of the late warlord's condition before his untimely death.
Kweiyang, the largest city capital of the province of Kweichow, has been held by the government of China since the 2016 Southwest Offensive led by the former Imperial government dislodged Chiang's Three Rings Army from that province, and had been repeatedly contested by the aforementioned warlord, suspected to be armed and equipped by the Russian Union State, to no avail. This attack comes in violation of a general ceasefire declared by most Chinese warlords -Chiang included- upon the declaration of war on Japan by the coalition of cliques that made Free China. Though it was meant to remain in effect only until Chinese liberation, there had been no major violation of the ceasefire even after March 2022. Chinese president Guanyu Duan has condemned the Three Rings Army for this "gross violation of the spirit of the ceasefire". Negotiations to reintegrate the many regional cliques back into the United Provinces has been ongoing since March 18.