CHAPTER 1456: CHAPTER 1373: TOOK AN EXTRA KICK

A child was nibbling on soft, fragrant bread, seated on the hood of a jeep, watching platoons of soldiers pass by.

After all, the platoon commander of the Tang Army did not theatrically shout the line that would make the laboring people grit their teeth in hatred. He carried forward the honorable tradition of the Tang Army, giving all he could to the Shu Territory villagers in the village.

In this bloody battle, they faced the enemy’s "counterattack" and "lost" a large amount of chocolate, socks, raincoats, dried bread, and even lighters...

After robbing the armed Tang Empire Soldiers barehanded, these villagers finally confirmed that these soldiers they had never seen before were not here to cause them trouble.

Thus, they cooperated with the Tang Army to confirm their position and even shared the intelligence they knew about Qin Country soldiers not appearing for several days with the Tang Army platoon commander.

Of course, the villagers didn’t mention the dozens of people hidden in the mountains, nor the news of one gun. They did not trust these Tang Empire Soldiers, even though they seemed much kinder than the Qin People.

"These women are not telling the truth." The platoon commander walked over to the car where the battalion commander was smoking and said, "There are hardly any men in the village, they must be hiding nearby."

"That’s normal, wouldn’t they run to avoid being forcibly enlisted by Qin Country?" The battalion commander was a veteran, familiar with such matters: "You should clarify things with these women later on; robbing military supplies certainly won’t do, as long as they’re not breaking the law, where their men hide is not our concern."

The platoon commander silently nodded his head. He had grown up in such a village in the past. Later on, when Tang People came, they, the original inhabitants of Qi Land, all became so-called Tang People.

It was only later that they realized how fortunate it was to be identified as Tang People. He then stood at the village entrance watching the passing Tang Army cars and soldiers, watching those mighty soldiers heading towards battlefields further north.

He understands the thoughts of the villagers now and knows they will be grateful to him later. Today, these people have yet to realize that their lives have already changed from this moment onward.

Soon they will experience various changes: no more oppression, no more being forced into death missions.

The village will welcome a true village chief serving the people, here on an internship task, and only if he manages everything well, builds it up, and eliminates hunger, will he qualify to be promoted and leave.

These local people will not know, but they will gradually trust the official who came to help them, and will only realize the bad news when that young man is promoted and leaves.

The villagers will reluctantly bid farewell, children will cry over the departure of the village chief, adults will feel like they’ve lost a benefactor, and the elderly will lament that their good days may have ended.

But in the end, they will awkwardly discover that the new village chief is still a young man, who will still find ways to make the village’s life better.

He is too familiar with this setup, as his village is like this now: there are small buildings with two and three floors; many villagers have their own cars, and the roadsides are filled with endless fertile fields.

While he... how many did he defeat in the physical test to earn the eligibility to enlist? Forced conscription? Don’t be joking, alright? If the Tang Army’s recruitment office slightly lowered its selection criteria, the number of Tang Empire Soldiers could increase fivefold or even more!

Enlisting in Tang Country is an honor; everyone hopes to serve Your Majesty who gave them a new life. This is not just empty words; once, someone chose suicide because they couldn’t join the army when Tang Country declared war on Qin.

The civil officials and cadres of Tang Country earnestly persuaded numerous people, held countless lectures, emphasized numerous times that enlisting was not the only form of serving the country... only then did those not conscripted begin to come to terms.

The industrial production capacity of the Great Tang Empire can easily arm forces tenfold or hundredfold. Very responsibly speaking, if Tang Mo wished to drown the opponent with sheer numbers, he could mobilize a million troops.

Not far away, a Tang Army soldier is playing with village children using some candies, a bigger child has a pair of military boots hanging around his neck, the shoelaces tied together, the shoes swaying in front of his chest.

The civilians here have never seen much of the world; they want everything, and as long as the Tang Army is willing to give, they will reach out and receive.

Because the Tang Army gave far too much, the village women soon began to worry: they had never seen such a military force, fearing that frequently requesting things would anger the other party.

But children couldn’t resist the temptation; they were no match for candies and chocolates. Moreover, the Tang Army finally brought something that greatly tempted the village adults: flashlights.

Originally meant for Tang Army’s nighttime emergency lighting, later used to illuminate the entire village at dusk. The adults were astonished by the brightness surpassing candles, reluctantly accepting them with tears.

Finally, to somewhat alleviate their feelings of indebtedness, these villagers found some eggs, hoping to repay the generous Tang Country Military.

After accepting those native eggs, they then gave villagers some canned luncheon meat... this immediately made the women of Cackling Chicken Village bewildered.

They truly didn’t know that being a soldier could be so luxurious: having cars to ride, meat to eat at every meal, it’s rare to shoot and kill, but common to host social events singing and dancing with villagers...

They also saw for the first time steel helmets not made of iron, saw fueling for armored vehicles for the first time, saw a machine magically communicating with distant comrades for the first time, saw tablets able to clarify murky water for the first time...

A more terrifying matter happened quickly the next morning. Local villagers discovered their husbands and sons hiding in the mountains squatting one by one at the village entrance, the only broken gun laid on the ground.

The reconnaissance troops of the Great Tang Empire weren’t a group without a reputation; a small team took night vision devices, roamed up the mountain, and captured these villagers almost lacking mountain combat experience back.

If it were daytime, perhaps these mountain folk could leverage familiar terrain to maneuver, but at night, they truly had no means: in the night vision device, they appeared like blazing flames, standing out vividly.

The villager with the gun was fortunate to be subdued without firing a shot. Unfortunately, because he possessed a gun, he received one more kick than the others.