"This is really good stuff!" The burly soldiers couldn't help but grin and praise.
At dusk,
Shen Ci led the second echelon back to the camp.
Although they were covered in blood and grime, they all wore smiles.
"Your Majesty, we have captured one of their cities!"
In the barracks, the soldiers were no longer as restrained as before.
After following some basic etiquette, he excitedly spoke to Gu Mu.
“Very good.” Gu Mu nodded calmly: “We need to be quick. We need to defeat the Fox Kingdom before the Qi Kingdom sends reinforcements, so that we can avoid being attacked from both sides.”
As night fell, all the soldiers gathered together for a communal meal.
Perhaps it was the intense fighting,
Now, the soldiers all relaxed.
However, they did not completely relax; they still maintained the necessary vigilance.
Even when I drink, I only drink in moderation and make sure I don't do anything wrong.
But the atmosphere was harmonious and joyful.
By the campfire, under the moonlight, the soldiers began to sing at the top of their lungs.
The song drifted very, very far.
So far away, even the people of the Fox Kingdom could hear it.
In the distance, in an ordinary house in the Fox Kingdom.
A little child asked innocently, "Mommy, who's singing?"
"A bunch of demons."
The woman held the child's head, looking sadly in the direction from which the singing was coming, and said with concern.
However, at that moment, the man who was picking up food scoffed, "Womanly compassion!"
"They want to destroy our country, what are they if not demons?" The woman was trembling all over.
Her usual activity area is just a few streets, so she doesn't know much about many things.
But she heard about it when she went out to buy groceries today.
The city just ahead has already been destroyed by the soldiers of the Southern Kingdom; soon, it will be their turn.
"Let's take the children and escape... I can't let them kill our children, they are my lifeblood..." As she spoke, the woman began to cry: "A war has broken out, what are we ordinary people supposed to do?"
The child didn't understand.
fight?
He doesn't understand; he's illiterate and has never read a book.
They only knew that war was something that happened when children were playing or had conflicts.
Adults fight too.
"Mom, are you referring to a lot of adults? Did they have a fight?" The child didn't quite understand the horror of war yet, so he comforted his mother: "Mom, they're fighting, but we're not. Their conflicts are none of our business. Don't cry."
"Waaah..." Unexpectedly, the woman cried even harder.
The man rolled his eyes at the woman, then turned to the child: "Kid, do you want to go to school?"
"I want to." The child opened his innocent and bewildered eyes: "But I know that my family is poor. Only the young ladies and gentlemen of wealthy families can afford to go to school. When I grow up, I can only work as their apprentice or do farm work in the countryside. I don't want to do farm work, so I can only obey the orders of the young ladies and gentlemen."
The man patted the child's head: "Once those singing uncles break in, you can go to school. You'll have a better choice. As long as you study hard and respect those singing uncles' lord, you'll have the chance to become a high-ranking official and live a better life than those young ladies and gentlemen!"
The woman glared at the man and hugged the child even tighter: "You're confused. How can things be better during wartime? I just want my child to survive. Even if he has to work as a waiter for those young ladies and gentlemen, I just want my child to live a good life."
"I'm not confused, you are." The man was probably a little happy. He took a sip of wine and said with a smile, "Long hair, short eyes. You probably don't know that after His Majesty of the Southern Kingdom destroyed the Eagle Kingdom, he did not harm the ordinary people of the Eagle Kingdom at all. The former people of the Eagle Kingdom became the people of the Southern Kingdom. Now, even the children of poor farming families can afford to go to private school."
"Not only that, the elderly in their family also have money to see a doctor, and everyone in their family wears clean, tidy, and new clothes without any holes."
“Unlike us,” the man said, looking at the tattered clothes he had worn for over a decade and the still unpalatable food on the table, “they eat only white rice.”
A sigh of emotion.
"So, I hope we can become citizens of the South. Then, I'll save up money to buy you a magical loom. You can weave at home. It's an easy job, and you can earn a lot. Plus, cloth will be much cheaper in the South, so you'll have money to buy new clothes for yourself and the kids. With the money we save, we can send the kids to school and give them a chance to choose their own destiny."
The man chuckled.
"Who told you that?" The woman looked suspicious. "You must be dreaming! Such a wonderful life!"
“If you had gone out and traveled more, you wouldn’t have such limited knowledge. We have many merchants from the South here. Some of them were originally from the Eagle Kingdom and are now people from the South. They say that when they were in the Eagle Kingdom, they couldn’t even get enough to eat, but now, thanks to the welfare benefits and reforms in the South, their lives have changed completely.”
"You wouldn't believe it, people whose living standards were similar to ours suddenly bought a huge three-courtyard house in such a short time, and now they have lavish meals with fish and meat every single day!"
The woman was skeptical: "If they attack, won't our child die?"
"Stay home and they won't make things difficult for us," the man said confidently.
The child then realized: "So, those uncles who sing are good people, right? They're heroes who give us a chance to change our destiny, aren't they?"
The man smiled and patted his head: "Yes, son, Daddy will have money to send you to school in the future. You must cherish this opportunity."
He also looked in the direction of the singing.
They have been oppressed by the nobles of the Fox Kingdom for far too long.
I've always wanted to rebel.
But then I thought of my family, and the fact that I didn't have a suitable weapon...
This idea can only be buried deep in my heart.
But now, someone has fulfilled this wish for him.
Those who achieve this wish can truly bring about changes in their lives.
That's enough.
...
"Your Majesty, as you instructed, we have offered the people of the city we captured goodwill. Their resistance is not as strong now; they seem much calmer than when we attacked the Eagle Kingdom."
When eating grilled meat with white rice
Shen Ci said to Gu Mu.
At this point, Shen Ci still looked puzzled: "Not only were they calm, but their expressions were also strange, as if fear was mixed with a hint of anticipation. Some of the bolder civilians even gave some eggs to some of our soldiers, saying they welcomed us and that they also wanted their children to attend private schools, not wanting their children to be bossed around for the rest of their lives."
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