Crossword Genius

Heartless piece produced by old military leader (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

shogun

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'old military leader' is the definition.
'shogun' can be an answer for 'leader'. I am not certain of the 'old military' bit.

'heartless piece' is the wordplay.
'heartless' becomes 'sho' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'piece' becomes 'gun' (I've seen this before).
'sho'+'gun'='SHOGUN'

'produced by' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for shogun that I've seen before include "Hereditary army commander in feudal Japan" , "Japanese head" , "Hereditary military dictator of Japan until 1868" , "Former military governor of Japan" , "Hereditary Japanese military governor" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times (Crosaire) and the Irish Times.
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