The host of the quick travel is lacking in virtue for eight generations

Chapter 572: Being a Naughty Child in Troubled Times 35

These people spent one day longer than expected in the mountains, mainly because they followed the traces of the squash and walked all the way to the border of the neighboring county, where they found two squash corpses. Judging from the scars on their bodies, they must have been bitten to death by wild beasts.

After a thorough search of the area, they found nothing and brought the body down the mountain.

Fortunately, the weather is not hot now and the temperature in the mountains is even lower, otherwise the corpse would have rotted long ago.

After Pingyuan County reported the discovery and the little pumpkins were escorted to the provincial capital, it was as if a switch was turned on, and the same news came from all the counties in Ling City.

But unlike their side where there were zero deaths, although the casualties were not large, there were still some.

This is also thanks to Lao Hui's little rat brothers. They would report the squash as soon as they found it, and then deliberately make some noise to warn them before the squash arrived. It can be said that the thousand or so people who had finally sneaked into the Northern Province were killed by the Rat Army.

This is a great merit. Lao Hui has been so happy these days that he can't stop smiling.

However, there is also bad news. The regime under the rule of the Kim family is becoming increasingly unstable. Officials only know how to abuse their power through corruption. In order to please their superiors, the lower levels begin to levy heavy taxes and levies. The army also follows suit. Military expenses do not benefit the soldiers, but instead fill the pockets of the generals.

Several cities that were beyond the reach of the Jin family fell into the hands of the Red Army. The Jin family did not reflect on themselves, but instead said that the Red Army was too good at misleading people.

In this way, in order to deal with the Red Army, they actually cooperated with Da Piaoliang. Not only did they buy a lot of weapons and equipment, but they also opened several ports to them despite opposition from below. At one time, several more concessions appeared in the country.

The generals in the northern province, three provinces, and several southwestern provinces all expressed opposition, but they could not stand the willful insistence of their superiors.

The three provinces used this as an excuse to directly declare a break with the Jin regime, and even declared an uprising! It turned out that the previous news that Xiao Zhenyu was injured and unconscious was false.

Of course, he was really injured, but it was not serious. He would be able to walk after a few days of rest. They took this opportunity to eliminate some of the Jin family's secret agents planted in the three provinces, as well as some subordinates who were not of the same mind, and prepared to make a big move.

When Xiao Yun heard the news, she suddenly understood something. She said that it was impossible for Xiao Xinyue to remain silent when those small squashes came in. Also, the thousands of squashes placed in the Northern Province were very strange. It seemed that they were testing the situation to see if Commander Lin was the same as the one with the surname Yao.

It should have been figured out by now. A few thousand small squashes were sent to the province and then slaughtered after being interrogated. They were not used to negotiate for benefits with Japan.

Of course, Xiao Yun didn't know whether Commander Lin was so decisive. Anyway, she asked Lao Hei to do it. No matter whether these squashes were the same group that killed the original body, they were already in trouble by coming here.

However, this unexpectedly helped him become friends with the Xiao family. They have already started sending people to contact the Lin family. Lao Hei said that they are interested in a marriage proposal.

Of course, it’s not Xiao Xinyue and the second-generation young master of the Lin family, but the fourth Miss Lin and Xiao Xinyue’s brother. They are of similar age and unmarried, and their family backgrounds are also well-matched.

However, the Lin family has not made a decision yet. After all, the situation is still unclear, and Commander Lin does not dare to rashly join either side.

If he were to marry into the Xiao family now, he would be locked in the Xiao family's boat. If the boat sank, he would drown with it, so he was still considering it.

Lao Hei did not express any opinion. His original intention was to have some power in his hands to make his family live a better life. As long as it did not involve himself, he generally would not interfere too much.

Even if the Lin family falls, there is still another one. It’s not that he doesn’t want to take control of the Northern Province himself, but mainly because he lacks the foundation and has just come up from the bottom. Unlike those families that have been operating for many years, they have people and money.

In this way, two years passed, and the Xia Kingdom in this world has now become a three-way balance of power.

The three forces competed with each other, with each having wins and losses. The Xiao family occupied the northeast, the Red Army occupied the northwest, and although the Jin family had the largest territory, the generals in the remaining provinces were not very honest and always disobeyed the orders from above.

Their own opinions are not unified, and with the pressure from both sides, people's hearts are becoming increasingly unstable, as if they are just waiting for an opportunity to explode.

He thought that by cooperating with Da Piaoliang and with the weapons provided by them, he could crush both forces. In addition, although others had objections to his decision, they had not yet rebelled, so he felt that he might have a chance of winning.

As a result, after just testing those weapons, they were instantly defeated by the equipment from the three provinces. Only then did they realize that the weapons and equipment from the three provinces were many times ahead of the world.

Morale was low and no one dared to act rashly.

He wanted to fight a battle with the Red Army first to boost morale, but the northern, southern and mountainous provinces all disagreed. Such a move would only cost them a lot of money and manpower, so they were determined not to send troops.

The southwest side is willing, but we have to negotiate conditions with them. They can send troops, but they also have to take back those ports and concessions.

Since the weapons there are not good enough, why open so many ports and set up concessions for them? Wouldn't that be a pure loss?

The higher-ups did not agree and abandoned the plan to send troops.

Later we learned that those weapons were bought on credit and we hadn't paid for them yet. They were going to be exchanged for the ports and concessions.

If you want to take it back, you have to pay them. They said that the goods cannot be returned once they are shipped.

Due to the chaos in these years, the Jin family has long been out of money. The people below are corrupt, and after layers of exploitation, it is estimated that less than 10% of the money actually reaches the Jin family, so the finances have always been in deficit.

The Jin family dared not let their subordinates know, otherwise they would become even more uneasy.

But there is no wall that is impenetrable in this world. The news of this matter was leaked two months later, and the already restless generals in several provinces learned about it. Now they no longer obeyed orders and directly announced that they would split up and work on their own!

They also wanted to become the fourth or fifth force, but they had already lost the initiative, and in the end they either had to cooperate temporarily or were swallowed up.

At this time, Commander Lin finally agreed to the marriage with the Xiao family. He finally confirmed that the Jin family was a hollow tree and could fall at any time.

Since there is this opportunity, it is better to buy it directly.

As for why they didn't cooperate with the Red Army, after all, Northern Province was adjacent to both sides, so no matter which side they sided with, they had a natural advantage.

It wasn't that they hadn't extended an olive branch, and the Xiao family was clearly sincere. Of course, another major reason was that their philosophy was different from Commander Lin's. He couldn't bear the hardship and felt that he had more in common with the Xiao family, who also came from warlord backgrounds.