Chapter 192: Chapter 191: Ying Gu Yue Reads Youth Daily
"The people of Xuanzhu County are so miserable."
As Yingu Yue looked at the newspaper, he suddenly let out a strange sigh. Xia Lingguo, who was busy with official duties, slightly raised an eyebrow but did not respond to him.
"Mr. Xia, don’t you want to ask me why I think so?"
"Under heaven, no one is not miserable, and all are troubled."
Yingu Yue put down the newspaper, "Mr. Xia, come with me."
Xia Lingguo obediently put aside his duties and followed him out.
He knew that if he ignored this person now, it would only lead to more entanglement and nagging. It was better to resolve it quickly and send him on his way.
The two walked to the balcony, looking at this small town, built relying on the barren mountain. At this moment, the sun was shining, bathing the entire town in golden splendor.
A cool breeze blew by, ringing hundreds of copper bells.
This was Copper Bell Town, the southernmost part of Dongyang District.
Copper Bell Town originally developed relying on copper mines. The Jing Family had multiple factories here, refining copper for preliminary processing as soon as it was mined – a complete streamlined service.
However, the copper resources were exhausted years ago, and this place has since become an agricultural estate town. The workers transformed into farmers, planting tobacco, grains, and silkworm hemp for the Silver Blood Association.
Many people have spent half of their lives here, not because the welfare is so good; in fact, their lives may be worse than the workers in Xuanzhu County.
At least the workers in Xuanzhu County have various spiritual sustenance, like listening for free at storytelling stalls, watching card games at the battle card hall, or even gambling in gang casinos – though life is hard, it has its pleasures.
But here in Copper Bell Town, there’s nothing. Many people open their eyes to work and close them to sleep. It’s as if they are driven only by biological instincts, living in a blur, submitting to fate, from one day to the next.
For them, the arrival of the Linhai Army might be the biggest event they have ever encountered in their lives.
Though the factories are abandoned, there are still many old factory sites in town, usually storing agricultural products.
When the Linhai Army arrived, these old factory sites became temporary barracks. Xia Lingguo’s temporary office was the factory manager’s room on the second floor of a copper refining factory.
Yingu Yue leaned against the rusty railing, pointing into the distance, "Look."
In the distance, several dirty children with small baskets on their backs were playing in the street, occasionally stealing glances at the gunmen soldiers at the entrance of the temporary barracks. If the soldiers looked at them, they would scatter in a panic, then hide in a corner to continue peeking.
Xia Lingguo gave them a glance and said, "A few children collecting wild vegetables to help the family. Since the Linhai Army came to Copper Bell Town, they haven’t disturbed the ordinary residents and even killed the landlords and army guards to distribute the food to them. Naturally, they are very curious and favorable toward us."
The Linhai Army killed the landlords to distribute food, not out of any revolutionary intent, but out of necessity. The landlords and army guards here had to be killed to prevent any trouble. Also, the Linhai Army couldn’t let the poor starve because of their arrival.
Although the Linhai Army could fiercely beat the Heyang Army, in essence, they were still a defense against the Sea Barbarians – their previous enemies were foreign races, monsters, natural foes.
They aren’t professional killing machines.
If it were an attack on another fully armed army, there wasn’t much psychological pressure. Just like two beasts fighting for territory, they could accept such a life-and-death battle.
But harming defenseless fellow citizens was a different matter.
Even if it was merely due to their invasion causing ordinary people to be displaced, dying of hunger, many Linhai Army soldiers could not accept it—many of the young who joined the Linhai Army did so not only to make a living but also because being a Linhai soldier was a prestigious role.
To encourage more young people to join the frontier army to resist the Barbarian Race, the Linhai Army provided enough material support: combat technique guidance, military pay, pensions... Every governing region that needed to resist the Barbarian Race would honor the military dramatically in promotions.
In the name of righteousness, a just army, a patriotic warrior.
In Chenfeng District, becoming part of the Linhai Army meant being a fine man or a fierce woman. If you became an officer, it was a remarkable achievement worth documenting in family records.
Lanyan’s idea of attacking Dongyang to extort from Silver Blood faced most opposition not from the civil officer system of Xingke County, but from the entire Linhai Army.
Because Linhai Army wasn’t composed of people living in dire hardship, though their lives weren’t great either, they didn’t have much dissatisfaction.
Rather than going for a big job, they cared more about maintaining the integrity of the Linhai Army’s banner.
They only wanted to retire honorably and recount their military life to their descendants without any concerns.
Xia Lingguo didn’t know how Lanyan persuaded the military officers, but clearly, he managed to do so: defeating armies without killing prisoners, not harming the people, without so much as a single infringement.
Seizing money and resources was indeed something everyone wished to do.
But if they could do it under the guise of justice, wouldn’t that be perfect?
It must be noted that Lanyan also had a legitimate reason for his military campaign.
He cited the Heyang Army’s brutal suppression of a miner uprising in Xiaojiu Mountain three years ago, accusing the Heyang Army of having ’some’ corrupt officers bribed by wealthy merchants, with Backlight Particle elements even infiltrating the military system. He entered the territory under the pretext of conducting a joint military exercise with the Heyang Army, helping cleanse the worms within.
Though the Linhai Army might have overstepped, the dirt on the Heyang Army was real. Now, everything was a chaotic mess, and Yanjing paid no heed, so the Linhai Army only needed an excuse that allowed their people to feel justified.
Since they plan to walk the path of a righteous army, the Linhai Army naturally needs to treat the common people well. After all, they’re not short on food for the moment; distributing food to the people can bring not only reputation but also boost the morale of the Linhai Army.
Moreover.
With Blue Flame’s methods in following the path of a righteous army, what he gains... might not be less than if he chose an unrighteous path.
Silver Ancient Moon pointed at the children in the distance and said, "Do you think they are living happily?"
Xia Lingguo shook his head, "I don’t understand what you’re saying."
"They are very happy." Silver Ancient Moon continued, "Even though they don’t have enough to eat or wear, nearly no entertainment other than having children, and the oldest person is only 46 years old... they’re still happy because everyone around them is the same; everyone is the same."
"The owner of this manor is no more than a dog sent by the Silver Blood Association, with a few village girls serving him and able to eat meat every meal... that’s it."
"They spend their whole lives in this place, working day after day, marrying, having children, then dying of old age... but it doesn’t matter because they’ve never seen the sky of other places, hence they can find joy on this land."
"But it’s different for the people of Xuanzhu County." Silver Ancient Moon handed the newspaper to Xia Lingguo, "Take a look at what’s published here — ’Should poor people have children?’, ’The boring and dull day in high society’, ’How I started from scratch to earn my first hundred gold coins’..."
"That last novel is simply absurd. It described a future world where everyone is equal, anyone can receive mandatory national education, work over eight hours requires overtime pay, and even elderly people have state pensions."
Xia Lingguo flipped to the last page to read the novel and casually replied, "Isn’t that quite good?"
"Good, my ass!" Silver Ancient Moon cursed directly, "This newspaper is extremely popular in Xuanzhu County; even eight-year-olds and eighty-year-olds read it, buying and passing it around every week — which is why I say the people of Xuanzhu County are miserable."
"They could have just been the same as those here — happily having children, working, and dying — but after reading this newspaper, they become unhappy."
"They start questioning social injustice, feeling angry about their situation, and hating the high-ranking officials and businessmen. But there’s nothing they can do; this resentment only destroys them, completely stripping away their hope for life and maybe even leading to their untimely deaths."
Silver Ancient Moon clicked his tongue and praised, "I heard this newspaper is published by the Silver Blood Jing Family, truly worthy of the Silver Blood Association. It seems they wish to completely break the backbone of the lower classes, turning people into machines without desires or demands."
Xia Lingguo suddenly said, "I don’t think so."
Silver Ancient Moon looked at him curiously, "Oh?"
Xia Lingguo, "Why do you think those angry people can’t do anything?"
"What else could they do?" Silver Ancient Moon retorted, "Although the Heyang Army couldn’t defeat us, the power of the Firearms Corps has gone beyond mere numbers. As long as the Dongyang military, government, and business remain allied, anything the lower classes stir up is just a wave easily extinguished."
"Look, isn’t there a story in the newspaper? A group of people trapped in a sealed iron house, many people inside will soon be suffocated in their sleep. They could have just died painlessly. You awaken these people, making them unnecessarily suffer at death’s door; even if it carries meaning, it’s just a negative significance."
Xia Lingguo, "But beneath that story it also says, since someone has awakened, you can’t say there’s no hope in breaking the iron house."
Silver Ancient Moon shrugged, "But people can’t break the iron house, and Dongyang civilians can’t defeat the Silver Blood Association."
"That’s hard to say."
Xia Lingguo waved his hand, light burst forth, directly snapping the iron bars!
"Brilliant people, have light."
After a moment of silence, Silver Ancient Moon blinked, a gleam appearing in his eyes, "Amazing, I am almost convinced by you, Mr. Xia! Talking with a smart person is truly interesting!"
Xia Lingguo, who had never experienced negative emotions, almost uncontrollably felt a bit of regret.
Darn, attracted this guy’s interest, should’ve just said something arbitrary to fool him.
"Come, the people from the Silver Blood Association are also arriving soon. Mr. Xia, come with me to greet them!"
"Think too much." Xia Lingguo looked at the blazing sun in the sky, "They won’t come at least until evening."
"Then I’ll accompany you to chat more!"
To hell with accompanying... Xia Lingguo calmly said, "Don’t you have anything else to do?"
"Blue Flame sent me to greet the Silver Blood Association."
"Anything else?"
"That’s it."
"What do you usually do?"
"Go train the soldiers with Blue Flame, run errands for him, and spar with Blue Flame. Ah, I suspect Blue Flame sneaking off to the Red Dream Arena, deliberately not calling me; I haven’t touched a woman for so long that during a march the other day, I couldn’t help but fool around with my own five ladies..."
Xia Lingguo glanced at him, "So like now, when General Blue doesn’t need you by his side, what do you usually do?"
Silver Ancient Moon blinked, "When Blue Flame doesn’t need me following him, I just..."
"Talk bad about him to others — talk all day long."