Chapter 174: [Zhili-Anhui War] Fang Ming: I

The students in the prison didn't quite understand what had happened.

Until the young guard took the students to the prison gate, pushed open the pitch-black iron door, and sunlight shone in.

As they crossed that threshold.

The students who had been locked up for several days saw the workers crowding the street outside the prison.

Their rough palms held high placards stained with ink.

Some of the slogans were those previously made by the students, which had been broken by the black-leather military police in the chaos, but were now tied together with red cloth strips by the workers and waved.

Seeing the students come out, the crowd erupted in cheers.

The surrounding students left the prison amidst the crowd.

Feng Lei was also in the team, looking at the surrounding crowd, and couldn't help but feel a bit dazed.

Because at this moment, there seemed to be light in the eyes of these common people, completely different from the dead state before.

By evening, Feng Lei finally had some free time.

He returned to his long-lost residence and started chatting with the viewers in the stream.

He had been communicating with NPCs for most of the day, so he hadn't chatted much in the stream.

Looking at the barrage in the stream, Feng Lei was a bit curious:

"Protests broke out in other places too?"

"What's the situation?"

According to the hints from the netizens in the stream, Feng Lei opened the Polar Star official website's player forum.

After entering the 【Republic】 section, one of the pinned posts was a collection of plot videos about the 【May Fourth Movement】.

Feng Lei curiously clicked in.

The screen slowly lit up, low music played, perspectives switched one by one; in the video, there were numb crowds and common people everywhere, and the entire video was gray.

Until the perspective switched to the capital, with the shouts of the newsboys.

The common people on the street also knew about the actions of the Western powers; the screen showed a little bit of color, some people were cursing, some were shaking their heads.

However, as the perspective swept past, there were more numb common people and workers, mechanically doing hard labor.

The little color that had just dyed the screen disappeared in an instant.

These could incite the anger of the people, but it was only for a moment, because such national affairs were not for them to speak about.

The screen continued to flow, until inside the university in the capital.

Looking at the newspapers in their hands, the angry students pulled up banners, rushed out of the school gate that sheltered them, and the team of thousands of students holding white banners moved forward like a white dragon.

In the gray-toned video, the numb world was dyed with color by this "giant dragon" of protests.

And it gradually spread and stained the surroundings.

At this very moment, those common people were just staring blankly, not knowing what had happened, what was the meaning of doing this?

Until the military police in black uniforms arrived in large numbers.

The warlord's subordinates in pitch-black uniforms surrounded the group of students, and the video screen that had been dyed colorful by that group of students gradually turned back to dark gray.

The screen flowed through various places.

Capital, Tianjin, Changsha, Jinan, Shanghai...

The protesting students were arrested and driven away by warlords in various places.

The spark that had just been ignited was gradually disappearing.

The screen suddenly switched to an old factory area at a wharf.

Evening.

In the sweltering summer, the laborers who had worked for a day were sitting together under a big tree.

But everyone was silent.

One of the older workers frowned, smoking a pungent dry tobacco, smoking one puff after another, his gaze looking at the children playing in the distance, a bit distracted:

"Those kids during the day... were all arrested."

As the voice fell, the surroundings became even more silent.

After a while.

A worker said dully:

"Not all were arrested, just some of the leaders."

No one responded.

The old worker smoked several more puffs of dry tobacco before saying:

"That's still being arrested."

The old worker's words were like a stone, smashing into everyone's heart.

In the distance.

That group of children in tattered clothes were still laughing carefree, chasing and playing, but it made the adults under the big tree feel even heavier.

A worker stared at that group of children and suddenly said:

"Those arrested students, some were only a few years older than my kid..."

The worker next to him sighed:

"They are all kids who study, what crime could they commit?"

"They just said a few true words... what is this for?"

The old worker smoked his dry tobacco, but his gaze was on that group of children, his gaze a bit dazed:

"When we were young, what did our parents teach us?"

"Work honestly, don't cause trouble, if there's anything, just endure it and it will pass..."

"There are some things, some people we can't afford to offend."

The old worker slowly exhaled a puff of smoke and tapped the tobacco pipe in his hand against the sole of his shoe:

"This endurance has been decades, and in the blink of an eye, most of a lifetime has passed."

"Enduring and enduring, one gets used to it."

"But those kids are different; they read more books than us, have seen more of the world than us, they know that some things can't be endured."

The surrounding workers clenched their fists, their knuckles turning white.

The old worker looked at the children in the distance:

"I've endured for most of my life, and my son has also endured for half a life; I can't let my grandson grow up and let him be like me,"

"continue to endure for a lifetime."

"Endured for a lifetime, and in the end, don't even dare to say a fair word?"

"What is the point of living a lifetime?"

"It's stifling."

No one answered, but everyone's breathing was extremely heavy.

The laughter of the children in the distance, smashing into everyone's heart; they were all parents, how could they want their children to live their lives later.

There was silence under the big tree.

The old worker slowly stood up, patted the dirt off his pants, and tucked the tobacco pipe behind his waist:

"Let's go."

Saying this, the old worker walked toward the city area.

And the workers under the big tree behind him looked at each other, silent, but one after another stood up and followed the old worker in front.

In the distance.

The children were playing, carefree.

And those women watching the children wanted to stop them but didn't move, perhaps they all understood their own men's temperaments,

and could only secretly wipe away tears.

Because no one knew what the result would be.

A group of workers walked into the night, but the colors in the video suddenly spread.

Rendering the entire video with color.

Then the screen switched.

Capital.

Inside the train station, workers were dismantling train parts used to transport things for the "traitors".

The guarding soldiers didn't dare to act in the face of the overwhelming crowd, the foreigners on the train were furious, pointing at the workers outside the window and shouting angrily at the guards around them.

Because the supplies on this train were all bought by him.

The workers in the station pulled up white cloth, using pitch-black machine oil to write "Return Qingdao to us" in crooked characters on the white cloth, facing the furious foreigners on the train.

Shanghai.

The female workers in the textile factory cut up the cloth on the production line, holding hands and rushing out of the factory area, like a surging river that no one dared to block, and in the shipyard on the other side.

The forging workers put down the work in their hands, carrying their own iron hammers and joined the protest team.

The British warships on the Huangpu River raised warning flags, guarding against those protest teams.

Tianjin.

Students from Nankai University joined hands with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, merchants went on strike, workers went on strike...

Scenes marked with locations flashed by.

Protests and strikes almost ignited the entire "Republic".

Facing such oppression and the resistance of the people, those black hands hiding behind the scenes didn't dare to come out either.

As the entire "Republic" map turned colorful.

Then what came into view was the perspective outside the prison, looking at the opened prison gate, and the students walking out,

the sound of the people cheering.

The screen slowly ended.

Feng Lei finished watching this edited plot and couldn't help but praise:

"Amazing."

"Which big shot made this, so many perspectives."

"The May Fourth Movement actually covers such a large range."

"The whole country is included."

The barrage in the stream drifted by.

【That's not the point, the point is because of the "May Fourth Movement", it triggered quite a few discussions, and then...】

【And then what?】

【Damn, a cliffhanger dog?!】

【And then our professor left homework, to research and explore the "May Fourth Movement", and everyone has to submit a personal reflection.】

】

Feng Lei looked at the barrage and said:

"Good heavens, is homework left like this now?"

In fact.

This kind of homework wasn't just left by one professor.

You have to know.

No matter which world, there are respective circles, let alone professors, naturally there are exclusive chat groups and the like.

And you left this kind of homework here, and said it in the group.

Hundreds of professors in the group, spreading it... the university students of the Great Xia Federation were numb.

Many Blue Star students started entering the game to study the changes brought about by this 【Movement】, because from such a "Republic" to the later 【Republic】 was only a few decades.

And the earth-shaking changes that happened in these few decades might have started from the national awakening here, or rather, the influence brought by this 【Movement】 was far-reaching.

Because even facing the country's humiliating treaties, the people didn't have any reaction.

Even if there was, it was just cursing a few words, and more were "none of my business, hang high."

And with the outbreak of the 【May Fourth Movement】, the entire land of China was ignited and quickly spread to the whole country.

Inexplicably.

The Blue Star netizens suddenly thought.

If the Western powers knew that the Paris Peace Conference could awaken the people of "China" who were sinking in the abyss, I don't know what they would feel.

The Blue Star netizens didn't know.

But...

The Blue Star netizens knew that according to the 【Republic】 timeline, the 【Republic】 decades later would slap 17 countries hard in the face.

Maybe those countries didn't expect that the 【Republic】 would grow so fast after national awakening.

On Blue Star.

The discussion about the 【May Fourth Movement】 was still continuing.

It wasn't until half a month later that the popularity gradually dropped.

Half a month later.

Tian Sha streaming platform, Fang Ming's stream climbed into the top three of the popularity list unknowingly.

At this moment.

In Fang Ming's stream.

A screenshot of a gray plot card for the 【Zhili-Anhui War】 was hung in the upper right corner of Fang Ming's stream.

And following Fang Ming's perspective, he was on the sea, currently on a cargo ship; Fang Ming changed the title of the stream because he was about to dock.

【Major Plot 【Zhili-Anhui War】, Live Stream!!!】

That was why it climbed into the top three in popularity in a short time; after all, this was also one of the events on the 【Republic】 timeline. The new Blue Star viewers didn't know what was going on.

Fang Ming saw that there were enough people and started a new round of explanation:

"Brothers, the streamer is currently transporting arms."

"My identity is an arms merchant; do you see this big ship behind me?"

"It's all loaded with my goods."

Saying this, Fang Ming looked around.

The perspective in the stream also turned, and the Blue Star netizens watching the stream all saw this cargo ship, and the barrage drifted crazily.

【6666, others are fake, are you really doing it?】

【Awesome brother, you are the first real arms merchant I've seen in this period.】

【Good heavens, others are all playing the plot, you haven't been drifting on the sea for months, have you?】

【Just for this perseverance, the popularity is no problem.】

For no other reason.

Fang Ming was really doing arms transport.

It wasn't that other streamers hadn't chosen the arms merchant identity, but the arsenals were basically in Europe, and transporting arms once took months.

However, because there were many arms factory contact methods provided by the system,

These streamers who chose the arms merchant identity gave the contact methods to those warlords, swearing that there was no problem.

And after the warlords sent people to really transport the arms back.

They would also really believe that this person could really buy arms, and started to expand small-batch purchases, and even trade various heavy weapons.

As a result, Fang Ming was really going to transport and escort them himself?

This confused some new viewers who didn't know the situation, and many people were admiring the streamer's perseverance.

However.

Soon a barrage jumped out to slap his face.

【Laughing to death, don't be fooled by him.】

【What kind of real arms merchant, that's because the warlord didn't pay the final payment, he paid for it himself, of course he has to be cautious.】

【I just want to know now if the streamer will be killed when he gets there; those guards are all people of that warlord.】

【Isn't that Zhang Zuolin a bandit? Killing and looting is a common occurrence, right.】

【Can't persuade him, the streamer has been fooled by others.】

【I'll just watch how he finds a way to make up for it after this guy is shot.】

Looking at the mockery in the barrage, Fang Ming laughed:

"Fart!"

"I'm transporting it myself, mainly for safety."

"After all, the quantity of arms purchased this time is too large, and I'm not at ease with others handling it."

"But as long as this transaction goes smoothly."

"It will take off later."

"You know Zhang Xueliang, right? That's Zhang Zuolin's son."

"Several major events on the 【Republic】 timeline 【Northeast Flag Replacement】, 【Armed Mediation】, 【September 18th Incident】, 【Xi'an Incident】, etc., all have to do with him."

"I'm currently getting along with Zhang Zuolin... unceremoniously speaking."

"We're just one step away from being sworn brothers."

"It's just that Zhang Xueliang is not young now; if it weren't for wanting to be on equal footing later."

"I would be Zhang Xueliang's ninth uncle now."

"As long as the timeline arrives, the plot cards will trigger click-click."

"By then..."

Fang Ming was still bragging, and the Blue Star viewers in the stream felt something was a bit wrong.

Why did this way of speaking have a bit of a Northeast accent? Was he infected?

Hiss—holy crap?

Can the game change accents?

In the stream.

The Blue Star viewers had strange expressions, and Fang Ming was also bragging as the cargo ship slowly sailed into the port.

At the port.

One could clearly see several teams of soldiers in gray uniforms waiting in line at the wharf, Fang Ming smiled smugly:

"See that, this is importance."

"These are all here to welcome me."

"Do you really think the wine I drank with them was for nothing?"

"I'm a modern person from Blue Star, can I not fool the local warlords of the 'Republic'?"

As the cargo ship docked, those soldiers respectfully came to welcome Fang Ming.

And under Fang Ming's command, they started to move the weapons and equipment on the cargo ship; the new Blue Star viewers in the stream widened their eyes.

Good heavens?

He really has some status?

Can command so many people?

And the old viewers in the stream, even if they wanted to black him, couldn't, after all, Fang Ming was really being treated like a father by Zhang Zuolin.

What Fang Ming said before wasn't a lie; after all, they had seen him drinking with the warlord, and Zhang Zuolin really wanted to be sworn brothers with him, it was just that Fang Ming didn't agree. The old viewers blacked Fang Ming besides habit, it was because they didn't believe this kid was really that lucky.

He actually became a guest of honor for an NPC warlord, so they kept mocking him to be careful of being black-eaten.

As a result, looking at it now.

Being able to mobilize so many people, it feels like Zhang Zuolin isn't the type to black-eat.

Damn.

The wish went down the drain...

Many old viewers in the stream cursed inwardly, this kid was really that lucky.

But there was no way.

Could only watch Fang Ming smugly.

As half a day passed in the game, the weapons and equipment were moved onto the train, and then it drove toward Fengtian without stopping.

Fang Ming had an exclusive VIP room on the train, and he washed up directly.

This treatment made the new viewers in the stream shout 6666.

Because of the escorted arms, Zhang Zuolin used the fastest train.

However, even the fastest.

By the time Fang Ming arrived, it was already the middle of the night.

As the train slowly stopped.

Fang Ming also saw Zhang Zuolin waiting on the platform, Fang Ming smiled smugly:

"See that?"

"This is the treatment."

"A dignified warlord of the Republic, waiting for me until the middle of the night."

Fang Ming got up, and after the train stopped steadily, he walked down.

As soon as he got off the train, Zhang Zuolin opposite walked over and gave Fang Ming a big hug, patting him:

"Oh my, brother!"

"You finally came back."

"I missed you to death!"

Fang Ming smiled and said:

"I missed you too, big brother."

"The goods transported this time are all good stuff, all Empire-made."

"I got 20 Krupp guns... and 50 MG08 heavy machine guns... and Mauser Gew98..."

"These cost me hundreds of thousands of silver dollars."

"My entire net worth could only buy this much."

"As long as you use them smoothly, big brother."

"Turn around and give me the money, I'll import in large batches, the equipment quality is definitely no problem."

"You try them first."

"Then the payment for the goods first..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Zhang Zuolin, who looked serious:

"What are you talking about! Try what try?!"

"Can I not trust my brother?"

"You've been running around for me for months, finally got ashore, how can you not enjoy yourself before saying anything else."

"Otherwise, what do you take me, Old Zhang, for?!"

"Let's go, let's have a welcome banquet!"

"Other things can wait until tomorrow!!" ===== CHAPTER 175 =====