The sun never sets

The imperial court allocated grasslands to each banner, forced the surplus men to become monks, and sometimes even implemented the inhumane "population reduction policy", that is, killing the surplus men. All these factors combined resulted in the extremely low combat effectiveness of the Mongols. The combat effectiveness of the Mongols was poor, and the combat effectiveness of the Tibetan soldiers was also poor.

Mongolia and Tibet were not only far behind the times in terms of weapons, but also in terms of tactics, organization and mobilization, even worse than they were a few hundred years ago. With such a backward army, encountering powers like Britain and Russia, the result can be imagined.

But for Lin Yongchang, the weakness of the Mongols and Tibetans was not without its advantages. If the Tibetan soldiers were not so weak, would the Dalai Lama be so polite to him? Of course not. The Dalai Lama would endorse him because the Tibetan soldiers were not good at fighting. With the endorsement of the Living Buddha, Lin Yongchang was able to thrive in Zhangbei County and the nearby grasslands.

He casually recruited several herdsmen and ordered twenty fine horses from a Mongolian prince in a nearby banner. He didn't need to pay first, and could come back to pay after the horses were sold. The Mongolian prince, who looked ugly and dressed like a Taoist priest, drank a few sips of wine and said drunkenly: "Those Han profiteers are too abominable! We Mongolian brothers are still reliable! Just go and get as many horses, cattle and sheep as you want!"

"........."

Lin Yongchang wanted to complain, but he didn't know where to start. The "Han profiteers" mentioned by this Mongolian prince with a long name and not very good looks were referring to the Shanxi merchants from Shanxi. Because their ancestors had helped the Later Jin in the late Ming Dynasty, the Shanxi merchants had always been prosperous in this dynasty, and most of the business in the Nine Borders was done by them.

Merchants are the kind of people who would feel they have lost out if they only made 900 yuan even if they could make 1,000 yuan. Most of the Shanxi merchants who did business on the grasslands cheated and deceived people, taking advantage of the Mongolians' lack of education and knowledge, and cheated them as much as possible. Not to mention lowering the price, they also deliberately seduced the Mongolians to become addicted to alcohol, and then made back the money they had given them.

Over the years, the Mongols sold horses, cattle, and sheep every year, but at the end of the year they had nothing left. Instead, they owed the Shanxi merchants a lot of money, and the interest alone squeezed the Mongols dry every year. The Shanxi merchants had been riding on the Mongols' heads for more than 200 years, and they never knew how to restrain themselves, so that the Mongols would think of profiteers when they mentioned the Han people.

The Mongols were just illiterate and had little experience, but they were not all stupid. Some people saw the problem and wanted to find the Shanxi merchants to argue with them, but the Shanxi merchants who could become big were all imperial merchants, and there were people behind them.

The emperor and the Imperial Household Department backed them up. Even if they were not imperial merchants, they must have had the support of several bigwigs in the court. The Mongols were no match for them and could only swallow their anger and be cheated.

Lin Yongchang wanted to say that he was also a Han Chinese, but after thinking about it, he decided not to. As a Paradox player, I don’t care much about morality.

Chapter 12

This Mongolian prince was a descendant of Borjigin, but there were too many descendants of Borjigin. No matter what it was, if there were too many of them, they would be worthless. With the pressure from the imperial court, the princes of each banner could not rob, and they were all very poor. Although the banner owners had thousands of cattle and sheep, they were all in debt. Many of them had debts from several generations of ancestors and could not pay them off in their lifetime. Some even married their daughters to merchants to pay off their debts.

At the beginning, many merchants were willing to marry a daughter of the Golden Family, so that it would be easier to do business on the Mongolian grasslands. Later, the daughter of the Borjigin family was not easy to marry, and merchants and gentry still preferred Yangzhou skinny horses, or famous actors from the capital would also do.

The drunken Mongolian prince wanted his wife and daughter to accompany the guests to sleep, but Lin Yongchang refused righteously. Because of the lack of toiletries, most people here have dark faces and a thick layer of grease. There is a lack of water on the Mongolian grasslands, and the people and the nobles rarely take a bath or wash clothes. There is a strange smell on their bodies, hair and clothes, which makes Lin Yongchang unable to think of anything else.

"Look... are you looking down on me or something?" The Mongolian prince said with his tongue sticking out, his eyes wide open, and a smell of alcohol gushing out of his mouth, "Which woman in our banner do you like? Just... just tell me!"

This prince was quite educated and spoke Chinese well. Even when he was drunk, his speech was still audible.

Lin Yongchang laughed and said, "Your Majesty is drunk, go and rest first."

"Who....Who said that?"

The Mongolian prince who looked like a Taoist priest stood up and muttered, "I'm not drunk!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he stumbled and fell on the sheepskin blanket, and then he began to snore. Looking carefully, the prince was already fast asleep. Although he was a prince, his living standard was not as good as the ordinary citizens in the time and space that Lin Yongchang came from. However, there are many interesting things in this world. As long as you explore them carefully, you can find fun in a bad life.

After wandering around the grassland for a few days, Lin Yongchang spent half of his money. He took two followers and several herdsmen to Zhangjiakou and sold the horses to local cattle and horse dealers. Although the distance was more than 100 miles, the price of horses in Zhangjiakou was not much higher than that in Zhangbei, which was only 50% higher. However, Lin Yongchang was not a simple and barbaric Mongolian. He used the bargaining skills he had learned from the aunts and uncles in the vegetable market and successfully sold 30 horses at a good price, which was 10% higher than the price of others.

The [Trading Skill] is sold in the mall of the [Sun Never Sets in the Celestial Empire] system. The first level requires 10 diplomatic points. Lin Yongchang can't afford anything, but after he uses his eloquence to complete the first transaction, the system pops up a prompt, [You have obtained the Trading Skill - Level 1, and can purchase skills in the mall at one tenth of the original price].

In other words, the level 10 trading technique that previously sold for 1 diplomatic points can now be purchased for only 1 diplomatic point.

But since I have already acquired the entry-level trading skills, why do I need to spend points to buy skills? If I don't buy them, I can't activate the next level of skills. Lin Haiyongchang studied the system for a long time and felt that it was acceptable. If other skills were the same, I could practice various skills by myself first, and the activated skills could be bought at one-tenth of the price.

When you can't practice anymore, or it takes too much time, and you have enough points, you can buy the next level of skills at full price. Lin Yongchang self-evaluated and found that his trading skills were at the expert level. After buying the expert-level trading skills at one-tenth of the price, he could upgrade to the master-level trading skills by spending 160 diplomatic points. But that didn't make much sense. There are many ways to make money, and you don't have to make the trading partner lose money.

What really requires investment of points to upgrade is personal strength.

Ordinary warriors spend decades training their strength and practicing martial arts, and at most they are experts, and very few can reach the master level. It's not that they are unwilling to endure hardships, but they can persist for decades, and their perseverance and endurance are definitely not comparable to ordinary people. However, the human body has its limits, and the hidden injuries accumulated during training and fighting, the decline of physical functions after a certain age, and many other factors are all restricting them from moving to a higher level.

If there were no cheats, Lin Yongchang would not have worked so hard to train his body. It was not because he could not endure hardship, but because excessive training and dangerous movements would likely cause irreversible damage to the body. If there were no cheats, he would choose to be a strategist and politician, rather than a tactical master and duel master.

But now that we have plug-ins, there are many more things we can do.

For example, the skill [Strong Body] costs 50 military points and can eliminate hidden injuries in the body, so that no matter how much training and exercise you do, it will be fine. As long as you are not killed on the spot, internal and external injuries can be healed quickly. Other skills that require military points, such as [Innate Divine Power] and [Invulnerable to All Poisons], have extraordinary effects.

.

As long as you can tap into these skills, it will be no problem for one person to defeat a hundred people.

The more than 320 horses brought to Zhangjiakou were sold for a total of taels of silver. Lin Yongchang took out the change and took two followers and several herdsmen to have a good meal. Of course, they were not allowed to drink. With so much silver, if they got drunk, they would probably not have a penny left, and they might even lose their lives.

When selling horses, there were many idle people around to watch. When eating in restaurants, there were also people secretly watching. Lin Yongchang was very suspicious. If they hadn't brought swords and foreign guns, they might not be able to walk from the horse market to the restaurant with silver. The title of Living Buddha and Li Wenyong's letter of introduction were very useful, but there were also many people who didn't take these things seriously.

In addition to the young gangsters and hooligans on the streets, there are also government soldiers and the Boxers, who are all people who need to be vigilant.

The imperial court's control over the local areas is no longer as strong as before. The Boxer Rebellion in northern China is one of the evidences. The slogan of the Boxer Rebellion was not "Support the Jin and destroy the foreigners" but "Sweep away the Jin and destroy the foreigners". The heroes in Hebei and Shandong gathered hundreds of thousands of brothers, and the officials of the imperial court could not control them at all, so they could only hide in the city and pretend to be deaf and dumb.

The Boxers in Zhangjiakou were not as powerful as those in Hebei and Shandong, but there were still tens of thousands of people. A man named Wang Laozai had already gathered several thousand people. The Boxers were of course there to oppose foreigners, but the existence of armed forces itself was a threat. What if the Boxers or the soldiers came to rob us?

Lin Yongchang slammed his sword on the table, ready to pull it out and chop someone at any time.

Chapter XIII

In the old world, the government was unprecedentedly powerful. If you were a dragon, you had to coil up and if you were a tiger, you had to lie down. If you ran into trouble, the best thing to do was not to beat up your opponent, but to lie down on the ground and then think about what car to buy. For a while, under the guidance of the "harmony" ideology, all kinds of frauds and false accusations emerged one after another. That was not ruling the country according to law, but ruling the country according to disturbances.

But this era is completely different. After the imperial court basically lost its control over the local areas, heroes rose up and everyone relied on naked force to speak. Moreover, now is the time when the Boxer Rebellion is at its worst. There are large groups of armed personnel everywhere. Although there are few guns and cannons, and most of them use cold weapons such as swords, spears, and halberds, there are too many people, and there are hundreds or even thousands of people at a time.

Lin Yongchang estimated that he could probably defeat ten of them. If there were more, he would have to make a strategic shift.

Seeing them display their weapons, the young thugs moved away a little, but they did not leave. These guys were like hyenas and wild dogs on the African savannah, best at anal digging rather than frontal combat. The thugs looking for food on the street were the same, brave and aggressive but not daring to really fight, bullying the weak and fearing the strong was their nature.

Seeing that the street urchins were far away, Lin Yongchang invited everyone to eat cakes and meat. There was still less rice in the north, but more cakes of various kinds, rolled with green onions and donkey meat, which was really delicious. The others ate happily, and Lin Yongchang also ate happily, but he was relaxed on the outside but tense on the inside. He seemed to be eating at the table, but he was actually paying attention to the movements around him.

Never let your guard down at any time, especially in unfamiliar environments.

As he was eating, Lin Yongchang realized that something was wrong. There were more and more suspected armed men around him. He couldn't help but wonder, no way? For more than 300 taels of silver, they had to make such a big scene?

They are called "suspected" armed personnel because many of them are wearing yellow turbans, and they look like they are from the same gang, but they don't have weapons in their hands, which is interesting. Li Shimin said that the reason why he won every battle was because of his "strong armor and sharp weapons." This statement is of course not entirely correct. Weapons are important, and people are also important. In the Battle of Luoyang, Li Shimin captured two kings in one battle. Could Li Yuanji achieve this kind of record? Could other generals of the Tang army achieve this? Li Jing might be able to do it, but others definitely can't.

Weapons are important, and so are people. However, the importance of weapons is unquestionable. Today, more than a thousand years later, foreign guns and cannons are powerful. Without foreign guns and cannons, holding a big knife blade or carrying a matchlock gun can also scare people. What's the point of being empty-handed?

Lin Yongchang was not afraid of the enemy because they had no foreign guns. They had swords, guns, and horses. Wouldn't it be easy and pleasant to fight a few ordinary people with bare hands? Some people say that it is better to have no horses than to have horses, but it depends on the situation.

While Lin Yongchang was thinking about how to rush out, a tall and strong man walked out from the crowd of yellow turbans. He walked to the side of Lin Yongchang and others, bowed, and said loudly: "I am Wang Zuolin, nice to meet you all."

Wang Zuolin? Lin Yongchang had heard of this man when he was selling horses. Wang Zuolin, like Wang Laozai, was the leader of the Boxer Rebellion. Wang Laozai and Wang Tiejiang had gathered several thousand people in Xuanhua. Wang Zuolin had fewer people, but they were definitely better fighters than Wang Laozai's people.

Wang Laozai was a blacksmith near the West Street of Nanguanqiao in Xuanhua, while Wang Zuolin was the commander of the East City stationed in Yangyuan County. He was also born into a scholarly family, and his ancestors had passed the imperial examination. Such a man of both civil and military talents certainly knew that quality was more important than quantity, so he did not recruit anyone like Wang the blacksmith, but selected the best and strongest soldiers to join the army. He had more than a thousand elite soldiers who could be sent out to fight, and more than a thousand old and weak soldiers who were used to do miscellaneous work.

.

Lin Yongchang stood up, bowed to the other party, and said, "It turns out to be Chief Wang. Nice to meet you. Please sit down and talk."

When Wang Zuolin saw Lin Yongchang just now, he was surprised by his demeanor. Now that he was observing him closely, he was even more surprised. Because of food, living habits, high-intensity labor and some other reasons, most people in Zhangbei are not very good-looking, and they are all very dark, only slightly better than the black people in Africa. The Mongolian prince that Lin Yongchang met on the grassland looked like an unorthodox Taoist priest, not to mention the herdsmen.

A man like him, tall, strong and with an imposing manner, stands out from the crowd in this era. He is a striking figure in the crowd, and people will look at him more than once wherever he goes. Good looks can not only provide food, but also bring many other benefits. If he were not handsome and imposing, the Dalai Lama would not take the initiative to talk to him, and he would not be able to sell his horse for a high price.

Wang Zuolin had been recruiting nearby heroes, storing food and forging weapons these days. When he heard that a horse dealer had come, he only asked someone to contact him and had no intention of going to see him in person. However, the person who came to report the news said that the horse dealer was strange, but after careful questioning, he could not answer what was strange about him.

This aroused Wang Zuolin's curiosity. He was born in a scholarly family. After he started to pull the pole, he had many relatives under him. The distant cousin who came to report the news was educated. Although he did not pass the imperial examination, he had been to the capital and seen the market. He also commented on the heroes of the world in the teahouse in the capital and cursed Li Hongzhang in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894. Even the cousin said it was strange, then it must be really strange.

Now that he was in front of him, Wang Zuolin admitted that his cousin was right. The guy in front of him was really strange. It was not because of his hairlessness, white skin and tall stature, but his temperament. The hardships of life would destroy many things. Most farmers and herdsmen were dull. Officials and businessmen kept switching between being arrogant and servile. The foreign devils liked to talk in a gibberish that no one could understand. The second devils relied on the power of others, and the Japanese were rat-like... Zhangjiakou is located on a major transportation route, with constant business travel. Wang Zuolin has seen many people, but he has never seen someone like Lin Yongchang.

He thought about it and the most appropriate word he could think of was "confidence". Lin Yongchang had a kind of confidence that the Chinese people of this era did not have. It was the confidence and calmness that could only be cultivated by a great and powerful country like China. The two Opium Wars and the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 broke the backbone of the imperial court, and the Chinese people also lost their confidence.

The foreigners treated China as a colony and built churches everywhere. After the churches were built, they occupied the surrounding land, which angered the people. There was even a foreign church in Zhangjiakou. After Wang Zuolin raised his hand, he prepared to demolish the church first. As for the foreigners, he would beat them to death first.

But he also knew that the things of the Great Jin Kingdom were not as good as those of the foreigners. Otherwise, why would the Japanese learn some of the foreigners' knowledge and then be able to suppress the imperial court?

Chapter Fourteen

After coming to this world, most of the people Lin Yongchang met lacked a certain spirit. Except for a few people like the Dalai Lama, the others were either rude or addicted to alcohol and opium. Just looking at the situation in Zhangbei County, it was very similar to the India in Lin Yongchang's memory.

Although Wang Zuolin also had a braid, he was strong, broad-shouldered, and handsome. He did not look wretched or ridiculous, but rather had a proud and confident demeanor. He waved his hand, asking the soldiers who followed him to step back a few steps, and then asked, "This brother is unfamiliar. What should I call you?"

Lin Yongchang laughed heartily and said, "Just call me Lin Yongchang. Chief Wang came here at this time, could it be that he knew that the donkey meat had just been cooked, so he wanted to have a bowl while it was hot?"

Wang Zuolin was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "Then give me a bowl!"

He smiled and said, "I came here to make friends with heroes. This meal is on my table!"

"really?"

"really!"

Lin Yongchang then said to the waiter who came over with the bowls and chopsticks, "Bring another twenty pancakes and five pounds of braised pork later. Put them all on Chief Wang's account!"

Wang Zuolin was originally just a captain with 100 soldiers under his command, but now he has more than soldiers under his command and controls half of Zhangjiakou. Although the military budget and rations are a bit insufficient, he will not take pancakes and a few pounds of braised meat seriously. He smiled and said, "If it's not enough, you can ask for more."

"Chief Wang is really straightforward. Next time I come, I will bring you a good horse!"

Lin Yongchang deliberately took advantage of Wang Zuolin, not because he lacked something, but because he wanted to test him and see how he would handle the situation. The result of the test was not bad. No matter what would happen in the future, this person could be made friends with now.

"Brother Lin, you're welcome."

Wang Zuolin casually asked about some things, and Lin Yongchang told him everything he could, including those about the Dalai Lama. The British invasion of Tibet was no secret, and the relevant newspapers still flowed from Zhangjiakou to Zhangbei.

"Bang!" Wang Zuolin's face was filled with anger. "The foreign devils are going too far!"

"Who says it's not true? The foreign devils were not satisfied with the concessions they had in Tianjin and Shanghai, and they wanted more land. The English invaded Tibet, the French occupied Vietnam, and the Russians invaded Xinjiang and the eastern three provinces.

The Japanese took away Korea and Taiwan. Although China is big, if we keep cutting it off piece by piece, one day we will have to finish it off.”

"So we formed the Boxer Rebellion! There are so many people in China, if we unite, we can drive those foreign devils out!"

"Yes, we should unite and defeat the foreigners!"

Lin Yongchang was a little excited, just like Wang Zuolin, but he knew in his heart that the Boxers would not be able to accomplish anything. They were not only fighting against the imperialist powers, but also the colonial regime of the Jin Dynasty and the vast majority of vested interests. The Boxers opposed foreigners, and many people in the court also opposed foreigners, but the positions of both sides were not consistent, and their interests were not the same. Now they had a common enemy, and it seemed that there was a basis for unity, but in fact there was not.

Even if Empress Dowager Cixi had not declared war on all nations, the Boxers would not have been able to drive the foreigners out of China. The great powers were already very experienced in dealing with the resistance of the indigenous people. They would choose an agent and then use the Chinese to strangle the Chinese, which is the so-called "using the Chinese to control the Chinese."

The Boxers were courageous, but without sophisticated weapons, how could they fight against foreign guns and cannons with their flesh and blood? Moreover, the Boxers' tactical level and organization were very poor. They were no match for the foreign devils in direct combat, nor could they defeat the foreigners' armed agents.

However, if you can't win head-on, it doesn't mean there is no other way. If you can't win head-on, then you can attack from the side, from the back. Lin Yongchang told the Dalai Lama that if you can't win, then join, but joining also depends on the situation. There are joining like the German-Austrian merger, and there are joining like Goujian sleeping on firewood and tasting gall. Joining is not the goal, but only the means. The means and the goal should not be confused.

Although many people in later generations have stigmatized the Boxer Rebellion, saying that it was a group of thugs who only knew how to destroy things, Lin Yongchang believes that the Boxer Rebellion has many positive meanings. They did deal a heavy blow to the arrogance of the imperialist powers. Before the Boxer Rebellion, foreign missionaries were rampant in China and did whatever they wanted. After that, foreign missionary activities were somewhat restrained.

Moreover, the Boxer Rebellion dealt a blow to the prestige of the imperial court and shook the foundation of its rule. The ambitious people saw the weakness of the imperial court and became more unscrupulous. This was all good news for Lin Yongchang, who was determined to rebel!

So his excitement was neither entirely real nor entirely fake, there was a certain amount of acting involved, and his disgust for foreigners was genuine. He enthusiastically pulled Wang Zuolin's hand and said, "Whenever you go to fight the foreigners, be sure to call me along!"

Wang Zuolin was a little excited, "Definitely!"

Most of the people hated the foreigners, but the local county magistrate and other officials were ambiguous and hesitant, unwilling to stand against the foreigners. Wang Zuolin knew what those people were afraid of, and he could understand it, but he still felt upset. Now that he met someone with the same ideals, he didn't care to investigate the person's background. As long as he was willing to fight the foreigners together, he was a good friend!

"Snapped!"

Wang Zuolin slammed the table again, "Bring two jugs of wine, I want to have a drink with Brother Lin!"

"Don't!" Lin Yongchang quickly stopped him, "I have something else to do. I can drink with Chief Wang next time I come over."

"What's the point of calling me Chief Wang? You and I are like-minded, why don't we become sworn brothers? How about that? I'll ask someone to prepare the rooster and yellow paper!"

"......." Lin Yongchang glanced at Wang Zuolin's expression and saw that he was not pretending, so he smiled and said, "Since we are of the same mind, why do we need those things? I am eighteen years old this year. I wonder how old Brother Wang is?"

He must be older than 18, but if he insists on saying he is 18, no one can stop him. Compared to people of this era, he does look much younger. Even if he says he is 17, many people will believe him.

Wang Zuolin said: "I am already thirty-four, so..."

Lin Yongchang immediately said: "Brother!"

Wang Zuolin showed a happy expression on his face, "My dear brother!"

The two smiled at each other, and the atmosphere became more harmonious than before. Since they were already brothers, Wang Zuolin said something more, "Brother, I have 2,000 men under my command, more than 1,000 of whom are capable of fighting, but we are short of weapons and food. Do you have any way to solve the problem of food and weapons?"

Well, this is his main purpose. Becoming sworn brothers is just a side thing.

Chapter 15

Throughout history, except for very few cases, the direct cause of the demise of most countries is military problems. Going back a level, most military problems are caused by economic problems. This was true for the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Tang and Song dynasties.

Now Wang Zuolin also encountered this problem. He had more and more soldiers and horses. It was true that more people meant more strength, but with so many people eating and horses chewing, the food and grass consumed every day flowed out like water. Assuming that a regular soldier, or a combat soldier, had two kilograms of rice a day, and an auxiliary soldier had one kilogram of rice a day, two thousand people would need three thousand kilograms of food just for food every day. A war horse had to eat ten kilograms of grass a day, and beans had to be added, otherwise it would lose weight. And this was when there was no war. When fighting, people could not be fed half full like this.

Both people and horses can eat coarse grains, which can save a lot of food, and they can also not pay the soldiers, and the other gangs of the Anti-Justice Group will not pay them either, but people still

Wang Zuolin had to eat, and the daily expenses were a headache. He could have recruited more people, but he couldn't afford them. The county magistrate now had to look at his face, which was good, but how to solve the food problem? And where would the weapons come from?

Wang Zuolin could treat Lin Yongchang and others to a meal, because it was only one meal, so it didn't matter if it was a little expensive. The three meals a day for those two thousand people had to be paid for by him. At the beginning, he gathered people together for training, preparing to train the soldiers to fight the foreign devils, but after a few days of training, he found out about the food problem. He had no choice but to let his men stay in various villages and towns to eat, which relieved a lot of pressure.

Now Wang Zuolin was just asking casually, and didn't really expect his new sworn brother to give him any advice. But Lin Yongchang always had good ideas, and he immediately gave many feasible solutions.

"First, brother, you can collect taxes from the surrounding villages."

"Ah?" Wang Zuolin was stunned. "Tax collection is the government's job. How can I interfere?"

The Wang family is a family of scholars, and they are eloquent and can easily come up with a few idioms. "No, this won't work," Wang Zuolin waved his hands repeatedly, "The government has collected food once, and the people don't have much food at home. If I go to plunder again, I'm afraid some people will starve to death."

Lin Yongchang said meaningfully: "Why not just prevent the government from collecting taxes?"

Hearing Lin Yongchang's tempting voice, Wang Zuolin couldn't help but shudder. His heartbeat was getting faster and faster as he listened to Lin Yongchang continue: "How many soldiers do the county magistrate and the government have? Can the tax collectors defeat the troops in my brother's hands? We can collect food in the village and money in the city. With money and food, we can raise more soldiers!"

"Besides, the country is facing a crisis right now. The Chinese people must unite, those who have money should contribute money, and those who have strength should contribute strength. Big Brother collects taxes from the people, and then trains the army to fight the foreign devils. This is serving the country! Anyone who dares to stop it must be a lackey of the foreigners!"