My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 317 Episode
February 15th, sunny.

As the snow melts and temperatures rise, the winter wheat planted last year has yet to be harvested, but now it's time to prepare to sow millet. Having survived the cold winter, they are now busy getting back to work.

Li Wenshu stood on the edge of the field, watching his men busily working, and felt very happy.

He was previously just the son of a farmer in the suburbs of Luoyang, with the vulgar name Li Ergou. After being incorporated into the army, he paid someone in the military to change his name to a more elegant one during the registration process, just like the sons of wealthy and powerful families in his hometown, whose names alone indicated that they came from rich and noble families.

I've only been working for the general for two years.

Born into a farming family, he actually had his own retinue, and in the suburbs of Luoyang, he could be considered a minor local strongman!

Looking at the sun hanging in the sky, Li Wenshu couldn't help but sigh, "The general's kindness is as vast as the sky, and I can never repay it."

There is a certain difference between servants and slaves. Servants are more free. They can marry free women and even have their own property, but they are dependent on their master.

Li Wenshu was assigned to three households as servants, totaling fifteen men and women: four adult males, four adult females, and seven children.

Fortunately, only one of the four men was over forty years old, while the other three were in their prime.

Good luck indeed.

The first batch of soldiers received troops from the same group of refugees who had followed Xing Gao in his uprising. These people originally came from places like Yanzhou and Youzhou. At that time, Du Luozhou had gathered people to rebel in Yanzhou and even allowed his troops to plunder, so his reputation was bad from the start. Many people fled south to avoid him.

Fleeing from a disaster is not a vacation. Moreover, given the transportation conditions in ancient times, ordinary people traveling long distances would be half-dead, if not killed.

When Xing Gao gathered people to rebel, he carefully selected them; those who were too old or in poor physical condition had already died.

Just like the group of surrendered people from the Six Garrisons who are currently being tortured by Erzhu Rong, they are all ultimate Gu Kings who crawled out of piles of corpses. Regardless of their martial arts skills, their physical fitness is at least top-notch, otherwise they would not have been able to survive until now.

Good physical fitness means efficient work and a good harvest.

Li Wenshu himself would also go to the fields to help with some farm work. He treated his own retainers quite well, seeing how efficiently they worked.

They even specially brought out some precious flatbread to share with them.

"Work hard. I'm not a demanding landlord. If the harvest is good, your lives will be better too."

As he spoke, he broke off a piece of flatbread and stuffed it into the hand of a child. The child was quite well-built and stood out from the crowd in height. With proper training, he would be more than qualified to be his assistant.

He didn't ask for much; he just wanted to be able to do his job as an auxiliary soldier well.

After the child said "thank you," he took the flatbread from the hand and ate it with relish. To them, the flatbread was a delicacy.

This is much better than relying on some local warlord, where we were sometimes hungry and sometimes full.

At least for now, they won't go hungry anymore. The master has done a good job and received a reward, and they also benefit from it.

For them, who are refugees.

Being able to have a full meal every day is already a great blessing; at least you won't have to go hungry anymore.

Doesn't that give us hope for the future?
Li Wenshu left first, and upon returning home, he did not forget to study martial arts. He was very clear about what he had achieved for himself.

With no war currently underway, the only way to get promoted is to excel in martial arts tests and army-wide drills.

He wanted to get more land, more retainers, and then, like that bastard Wang Xuan, marry a city woman. City women are good, fair-skinned and clean, and although they're clumsy, they're pleasing to the eye.

"Li Ergou".

Hearing someone call him by his old name, Li Wenshu was furious. "Your mother's servant Guo Qianni, how dare you call me Li Wenshu!"

Those who called him by his old name were from the same village as him, and they had been sent to Luoyang together as able-bodied men.

Ok.

I followed his example and had someone change my name.

Guo Qiannie walked into the courtyard with a grin and teased, "Aren't you going to get married yet?"

"Hmph, what's the rush?"

Li Wenshu said, "I want to marry a city girl like Wang Xuan did!"

"Let's go, I was just about to go find Wang Xuan anyway."

The two agreed to meet at a large manor at the entrance of the village. It was originally an unclaimed estate that had been occupied by local powerful figures, but was later abandoned.

Looking at the large mansion, a hint of envy flashed in their eyes.

Wang Xuan was also from the same village as them, but he was much luckier. He had already impressed Gao Yu by taking the initiative to talk to him at the martial arts training ground. Of course, Wang Xuan was also hardworking and had excellent martial arts skills, so he quickly became the team leader.

Last year, he fought bravely and made great contributions during the suppression of the refugees in the fortified villages. He was promoted to brigade commander and can be said to be one of the best among the three thousand men.

They were allocated more land, more retainers, and larger mansions.

of course……

What people envy most is that he married a fair-skinned woman from Dongyang City, whose family was said to be merchants.

I heard that Wang Xuan was a soldier in the Xuanjia Army and was remembered by Gao Yu. Gao Yu was so eager to marry his daughter to Wang Xuan that he practically offered to do so.

It should be noted that this was before.

Military households are considered undesirable; who would marry their daughter to a military household?

But now?
Many people were willing to marry their daughters to soldiers.

"You two have come at the perfect time."

Upon seeing the two, Wang Xuan reminded them, "I've heard that the general will personally inspect our martial arts next month. You must be well prepared and not lose face."

"It's natural!"

While answering verbally, Li Wenshu kept glancing towards the inner courtyard, wanting to see his fair-skinned new bride.

Wang Xuan saw through it and immediately laughed and scolded, "Get lost, get lost! If you want to get married, figure it out yourself. Actually, listen to my advice: city women aren't all that great. They're just fair-skinned and pretty, but they're clumsy when it comes to work."

Despite his apparent disdain, he proudly puffed out his chest!

He married this woman just to show off!
"cut."

Li Wenshu curled his lip in disdain, "Isn't she just a city woman? When I achieve great merit in the future, I'll be like General Peng, and my mother will personally introduce me to a woman from a noble family as my wife!"

"You worthless wretch, you dare to dream such things? Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror? You think you're worthy to be compared to General Peng?"

"That son of a bitch always loves to talk big. A noblewoman, huh? You should be grateful that any woman is interested in you."

The three joked and laughed, and eventually discussed finding an opportunity to bring their families from Luoyang over. They thought that even if they were living a good life, they shouldn't forget their parents back home. Who knows, maybe in the future they would settle down in Qingzhou, spread their branches and leaves, and become a large family a hundred years later?

We owe our good life to the general.

The general's kindness must not be forgotten.

They also heard that the general planned to offer them, a group of unsophisticated military men, an opportunity to obtain official positions, which was a great thing!
Sometimes they all think.

Why isn't the general the emperor?

If the Great Wei Kingdom belonged to the general, wouldn't their lives be even better?
This country belongs to someone else.

Why can't our own general sit in the seat?
Some people are happy but others are sad.

The lives of medium-sized powerful figures like Wu Ze and Li Jun are not as good as before.

After being forced to relinquish the unclaimed lands and vassal states they had seized, their harvests were greatly reduced.

I was thinking of finding some connections to smooth things over.

But nobody was willing to pay them any attention.

Gao Yu did give these people a chance.

But when Gao Yu tried to persuade them with courtesy before resorting to force, these people didn't take it seriously.
Once an opportunity is missed, it's gone forever.

Even if they have grievances in their hearts, they can only grumble to themselves and dare not speak out casually at home.

They had heard of it...

There was an unlucky guy who complained a few words at home, which were overheard and reported.

Although he was not executed, he was stripped of all his property and could no longer live a good life; he was even worse off than the vagrants he had been before.

"How did the world change like this?"

(End of this chapter)