73: Chapter 73 What is the Qing Dynasty? What is the Eight-Nation Alliance?

"Little brother, you don't know?"

"I don't know. No one told me. I only know we need to fight." Wang Ye shook his head.

There was nothing wrong with him saying that.

After all, when he first entered the game, he didn't know anything; he only knew he had to fight.

Although he now understood a lot of the game's backstory, it was still just superficial knowledge.

"Sigh, I've met many soldiers before, and they were just like you. They didn't know what was happening; they only knew that a war had started and they had to go to the battlefield." The Cart Driver sighed.

Hearing this, Wang Ye didn't know what to say.

The Cart Driver continued talking to himself.

"Many of those soldiers looked about your age. You must all be children of farmers, right?"

"Yeah." Wang Ye responded subconsciously.

"Sigh, when war breaks out, it's always us common folk who suffer the most. All those rich people have run abroad to take refuge." The Cart Driver couldn't help but complain, his tone full of resentment.

"Really?" Wang Ye heard this and felt it couldn't be that bad.

"How could it be fake? It's not just one or two people who know this; everyone knows."

"To tell you the truth, if we weren't a poor family, I would want to run to a safe place too. We've been fighting wars for decades. We just finished fighting the Manchu Qing masters, then we fought the Warlord masters, and now the Little Devils are here. I don't know when we'll ever have a peaceful life."

The Cart Driver looked at the dirt road in the distance.

The weather was hot and the sun was bright.

But the haze of war always lingered.

After listening to the Cart Driver, Wang Ye was full of confusion.

What were the Manchu Qing masters, and what were the Warlord masters?

He knew about the Little Devils, but he really didn't know about the first two.

Inside the livestream room, the audience also noticed the hidden meaning in the Cart Driver's words.

"Do you guys know what the Cart Driver is talking about? I only understood 'Little Devils'."

"Not sure, feels like game background."

"Brother Wang, ask the Cart Driver what he means!"

"Yeah, fish for information. We're curious. Let him tell us what the Manchu Qing is and what the Warlords are."

Seeing the Netizens' comments, Wang Ye was equally curious, so he didn't waste any words and looked at the Cart Driver.

"Uncle, what is this Manchu Qing you mentioned?"

As soon as his words fell, the Cart Driver immediately looked at Wang Ye in confusion.

"You don't know, kid?"

"I don't know. My family lives in a remote area, and I only became a soldier to make a living." Wang Ye quickly recited the excuse he had prepared.

He had learned this excuse from his fellow soldiers.

When he asked his comrades back then, he discovered that most of them could only talk about things in their own village or nearby villages; at most, they knew about things in the county town.

Most of his comrades, if they hadn't been sent to Shanghai to fight, would likely never have left their home county in their entire lives.

"Sigh, then let me tell you." The Cart Driver didn't suspect anything.

He had seen many like this.

Most commoners only knew about the landlords above them.

As for the Manchu Qing or Warlords, they basically didn't know anything.

If the war didn't reach them directly, the commoners would just work from sunrise to sunset and live their difficult lives.

He just happened to have a horse cart and had traveled north and south over the years, so he had seen a lot.

Then, the Cart Driver started telling Wang Ye about these things.

But the more he listened, the more surprised Wang Ye became.

"Brothers, something's not right."

"This uncle says it's currently the Republic of China, and the Qing Dynasty's rule has been overthrown. What kind of dynasty is this Qing Dynasty? Is it also fictional?"

The audience in the livestream room immediately began to discuss it.

"Must be. I thought this game was just for experiencing war; I didn't expect to be able to dig up so much backstory."

"Do you think this game has created a fictional history of several hundred years? I've seen people write that kind of alternate history fiction before. The game planners are truly geniuses."

"Feels like the amount of background story is huge. I suggest the game planners release a novel to explain the game's background and plot; it would definitely be a hit."

"Don't say that, I'm actually really curious about the history before the Battle of Shanghai. The plot introduction in the game is too rough; we have to dig deep into the plot in the game."

"If Brother Wang hadn't been delivering letters, I wouldn't have thought about the backstory before this. The game planners have really packed a lot of stuff in."

After Wang Ye chatted with the audience for a bit, he continued talking to the Cart Driver.

From the history of the Manchu Qing to the current international situation.

Although the Cart Driver didn't say much, it was enough for Wang Ye to understand the general backstory.

"Wow, good thing we have this uncle. Is he an intellectual? He knows quite a lot."

"The uncle clearly travels north and south often; he meets many people and has a wide range of knowledge."

"Good thing Brother Wang ran into the uncle, otherwise we really wouldn't know how to get this information."

At this moment, Wang Ye looked at the uncle and asked with a smile: "Uncle, which are the Great Powers? I'm a bit curious."

"There are many. Back then, eight Great Powers invaded our China and snatched a lot of things from us. It's been almost a hundred years, I think. Others told me about this, otherwise, I wouldn't know either."

"These countries include England, France... the Little Devils seem to be one too, and there are others called Germany and America. I can't remember them all; there are just so many." The Cart Driver scratched his head.

He had only heard these things from others.

The people he had carried over the years—farmers, merchants, scholars—included all kinds of people.

He had even carried foreigners.

He had encountered many things, and many people had talked to him about major national affairs.

If he understood, he would chat a bit; if he didn't, he would just silently remember.

"So many?" Wang Ye was a bit surprised.

He had heard of many of the country names the Cart Driver mentioned.

They existed in reality too.

However, in reality, these countries had never invaded China.

The relationship between China and these countries was also okay.

After all, they were far away, and there were few areas of conflict.

Instead, there was more friction and conflict with neighboring countries.

"Yeah, anyone can hit us, even the Little Devils." The Cart Driver sighed.

"Uncle, do you think we can win this war?" Wang Ye asked.

"Which one? The war this year?"

"Yeah."

"Hard to say. I hope we can win."

Hearing the Cart Driver's answer, Wang Ye could see from his face that he didn't hold much hope for victory.

But thinking about it carefully, it was normal for the Cart Driver to have such a reaction.

Because after fighting for so many years, they had been defeated repeatedly, and sometimes even defeated without a fight.

Wang Ye remembered the newspapers he had seen before.

Those newspapers reported a lot of news about the Little Devils invading China.

Just seeing the reports in the newspapers, he could feel the anger of the people at that time.

It was just that they retreated again and again, while the Little Devils advanced again and again.

Ambition knows no bounds; they would never be satisfied.

Such a simple truth, yet it required the loss of countless territories and the sacrifice of countless commoners to come to this realization.

Wang Ye could only sigh in frustration.