Anti-War Game: Starting from Normandy Campaign

After watching a few times, Liu Xu called for Little Rock to stop and tried it himself.

He found it really worked and couldn't help but ask curiously:

"How long have you been practicing?"

"You're so skilled."

Little Rock thought for a moment, shook his head:

"I can't remember."

"Anyway, I've been working with my grandpa since I was little. I can dig half an acre of land in one day by myself."

Little Rock's words made Liu Xu and the viewers in the live-stream hold their breath.

Especially Liu Xu.

He knew Little Rock was only 13, essentially still a child, and yet he'd been working from an age he could remember.

At 13, but so thin and weak like an 8-year-old child.

He couldn't imagine how he could dig half an acre in a day.

For a moment.

Liu Xu didn't know how to respond.

Little Rock suddenly asked:

"Brother Liu, are you a scholar?"

Liu Xu was taken aback, then nodded, somewhat hesitantly said:

"I guess... you could say that."

On Blue Star, everyone had compulsory education, so considered to have studied....

Little Rock showed a smile:

"I knew it."

"I could tell from the way you work, you're not an ordinary person."

"Who can't even use a hoe properly."

"Only scholars are like that."

Hearing this.

Liu Xu showed a helpless expression:

"Well..."

Not to mention he couldn't, at least more than half of the people in the live-stream couldn't either.

Little Rock asked curiously:

"Brother Liu, what's it like outside?"

"Can you tell me?"

Liu Xu wielded his hoe to dig a bit of earth, thought about it, and said:

"Outside...."

"Outside is vast, not sure where to start."

"Is there anything specific you want to know?"

Little Rock thought for a moment, his eyes brightened:

"Is there anything tasty outside, better than red rice!"

Liu Xu was a bit puzzled:

"Red rice?"

He hadn't eaten it, but he had eaten plenty of white rice.

Little Rock nodded:

"Yes, red rice."

"It's the red rice used to pay taxes to the officials."

"My grandpa secretly kept a handful when he paid the grain tax, it was delicious when made into porridge."

"But there was too little, finished it in just a few bites."

Liu Xu asked:

"Why not keep more of it?"

Little Rock shook his head:

"Can't, even with this it's not enough."

"The Er Wa family was taken away because they were short by three pounds of red rice."

Liu Xu frowned tightly:

"That harsh?"

Little Rock nodded heavily:

"Extremely harsh."

"But you all are different."

"I've never seen soldiers help us with work, tidy up the yard, chop wood and so on."

Liu Xu was somewhat dazed, subconsciously recalling the phrase the NPC squad leader liked to murmur:

"Because... we're the troop of the poor, I guess."

Then Liu Xu looked at Little Rock and asked:

"At your age, how many soldiers have you seen?"

Little Rock scratched his head, thought about it, and counted on his fingers:

"The government used to collect 'land taxes' every year, then collected ten years' worth all at once, and didn't come the next year."

"But after that, a person with the surname Lai, wearing a gray wool cloak, came with troops to collect 'advance grain', which lasted for three years at a time."

"Later a group of soldiers with yellow leg wraps came, collecting something called 'tobacco planting tax', even the apricot trees on the mountain were considered tobacco."

"Then the year before last, someone named Li Zongren passed by, collecting a 'anti-aircraft tax'."

Saying this.

Little Rock suddenly pulled open his clothing, revealing a scar the size of a bowl's mouth, and Liu Xu's pupils shrank:

"This is...?"

Clearly a branding scar.

Little Rock said:

"This is from Zhang Huizan's Central Army, saying my family's Kitchen God picture lacked 'suppress slogans', burned it with a branding iron. My grandpa has it too."

"Many in the village were branded, but families with enough grain could avoid it."

"There were also troops under Commander Feng, wearing red armbands, collecting 'territorial defense grain', and the white dogs from the county town who came over to collect from time to time...."

Little Rock continued counting quietly, but Liu Xu was already deeply troubled.

The viewers on Blue Star in the live-stream felt the same.

They could truly feel the suffocating pain just listening to Little Rock recount these warlords, and those absurd taxes.

While counting, Little Rock suddenly looked up, with a smile and hopeful eyes:

"....Then you guys came, said we don't need to pay these, and even helped us with work."

"Grandpa says life is looking up."

"Brother Liu, you must defeat those white dogs."

Liu Xu's throat tightened, his mouth agape.

The live-stream was also silent.

Then the barrage exploded:

[Damn! Polestar always adds something shocking to these plain storylines, can't hold back the tears!]

[Little Rock can't believe there are soldiers in the world who don't rob grain!]

[Those taxes and levies, equivalent to making $5000 a month and having to pay $38,000 in taxes!]

[Whoever criticized propaganda slogans as empty words, step up for a beating!]

Liu Xu recalled the various propaganda slogans he had seen along the way recently.

'Oppose exorbitant taxes!'

'Down with the tyrants and corrupt officials!'

'The Red Army is the troop of the poor.'

Like most Blue Star netizens, Liu Xu had considered them merely propaganda tactics, but listening to Little Rock now, recalling recent actions.

Liu Xu finally understood the difference between the Red forces and the warlord militaries.

They truly are troops born for the people.

The People's Army and the warlords are worlds apart.

Starting from 1912, there might be hundreds of warlords in the Republic.

But the People's Army.

In the five thousand years of Huaxia, only this one appeared.

Liu Xu took a deep breath, nodding heavily:

"Okay, Brother Liu promises you."

"We will drive away those white ghosts."

Little Rock couldn't stop smiling, happily imagining:

"After driving them away, we should be able to eat red rice every day!"

Liu Xu wielded his hoe, digging a defensive structure, smiling as he said:

"Not just that."

"There will be plenty of white rice and flour, bacon, stewed chicken, and sweets on holidays...."

These were oft-repeated by the old squad leader, and Liu Xu shared them with Little Rock.

Little Rock widened his eyes:

"Sweets?!"

"Are they those wrapped in flower paper?!"

Liu Xu nodded.

Gazing into the distance, as if seeing the Republic years ahead, thinking of the CG Republic, Liu Xu confidently said.

"Yes, with orange flavor, apple flavor, whatever flavor you want."

"When we win, there will be schools built there."

"Kids like you can study and learn, and it won't cost a thing."

"Really? Brother Liu! I can go to school too?!"

"Of course, in the future everyone can study, have enough to eat, and our country will become the most powerful nation in the world...."