Chapter 486: Spring Ploughing (IV)

What was infuriating was that soaking in the medical herbs concocted by the army camp, one’s muscles were less sore such that there was no excuse for them to be lazy.

Presently it was the time of heavy snow, and if they didn’t want to freeze to death, they must continuously exercise to generate heat. If they fell behind the line, they might just be buried amid the snow and be frozen to death. Their lord had solemnly warned them, if anyone froze to death beneath the snow, she would not be responsible for it.

One option was to lie down and freeze to death; the other was to clench one’s teeth and stand up.

No one wanted to die. Even the ants temporarily escaped death, let alone those young women who came from poor and suffering households.

Facing situations that left them hanging between life and death during their training, everyone was especially alert and gave their best shot. Sometimes they would help each other.

The philosophy was this: this time you helped me, next round I will help you. I am certain that you’ll get through every dark day along the way.

As the training became more intense, it surely caused their appetites to increase. Once they had had small appetites. At present, eating was no different from being pursued relentlessly to undergo reincarnation.

Jiang Pengji took a rather serious stance with the new soldiers. It could be considered almost cruel. Even the male soldiers who bore witness felt a cold tingle down their spines.

If others could not bear to be cruel, Jiang Pengji would not have pity on them.

Once these ladies were given the wrong impression that “acting coquettishly and pitifully will earn you some benefits”, they would not use their true abilities to work hard. On the contrary, they would become fearless. No matter how great women were, or even men, they all had an innate laziness in their bones.

Jiang Pengji could not allow slothfulness to take root. Instead, she must nip it at its root.

Thus, Jiang Pengji had never been soft hearted since the start. Her heart was as hard as metal. She showed no signs of gentleness.

This differed from the male soldiers’ camp, except for foundational physical training and weaponry training. The women soldiers didn’t undergo military drills. Instead of this, they learned how to administer emergency aid. She summoned one of the doctors she had hired to temporarily assume the role of lecturer. They had to pass on the emergency rescue knowledge and techniques Jiang Pengji had put together. They also had to learn foundational medical skills.

From the start, the doctor felt this was impossible to achieve, but with such an enticing incentive there would eventually be a taker, so finally the doctor submitted.

It was conducted daily for over two months.

“I believe it now… This is a precedent to use females as males…”

Since Jiang Pengji started training the new troops, more than two months had passed, and the female soldiers in the women’s camp had extraordinary transformations.

Their original slender figures and weak expressions has disappeared, replaced by well-proportioned, strong bodies and solemn appearances.

The maidens’ height ranged from five to five and a half feet tall. Very few were taller; Jiang Pengji was an exception.

Because these young ladies underwent intense training and had enough nutrients, they continued to grow in height.

When night came, the female soldiers had more free time. With ten people in a tent, the beds were close together.

Hearing a fellow maiden in the tent mumbling some complaint, the female soldier beside her also joined in.

“The male counterparts aren’t in such a sorry state, right? I have a brother at the male soldiers’ camp. I hear their training is much more relaxed than ours.”

Ten ladies kept silent momentarily. It was a strange atmosphere of silence, after a while…

“I heard it said before that the district headquarters recruited women to the military camp to serve the males. This scared me to death…”

They were all young, unmarried ladies, and were ignorant about male and female relations. They didn’t even know what “prostitution” was.

They were virgins. Who was willing to put themselves down and be a prostitute?

A female soldier lay in her warm blanket, then faintly spoke.

“…Now…should we be happy… or should we cry…”

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They didn’t have to be prostitutes so they should rejoice, but their time thus far brought tears to their eyes for other reasons.

Almost every day, they came back to their tents crawling. A group of them would huddle under the blankets and cry in pain.

That lady who had spoken earlier said, “I heard my brother say… Tomorrow, they will give us our salaries…”

“We have salaries?” They were all shocked. Why had no one told them?

“Yes. My brother accidentally heard it. He said everyone will receive 100 coins and two buckets of rice every month.”

The salary wasn’t high, but since their clothing, food and drinks were all provided by the military camp, they were not considered underpaid.

“Is this news accurate?” The others asked consecutively.

“It should be accurate. After all, they are soldiers too. From the lord’s intentions, she intends for us to deploy to the battlefield to kill enemies too. Otherwise what’s the use of learning all these skills?” The woman soldier spoke, and added, smiling, ‘I heard in the camp next door, everyone receives the same salary as us.”

At this, a 15 or 16-year-old maiden bent her neck, and said softly, “I am afraid of death.”

Another said, “Hear these words, who doesn’t fear death. When my stepmother brought me here, I thought that if I died, so be it… But now, if I can fight my enemies in the war, if I’m able to attain some military achievements, perhaps I will be promoted to a female general and be just like those legendary examples in all their glory.

“Is this alright?”

“The soldiers’ salaries are the same as those men, once they earn a military achievement, why should it be different?”

A group of young ladies brooded silently, beginning to think it was not totally impossible.

At that moment, a maiden sitting right inside the tent spoke.

“I’d rather die on the battlefield than go home. If I return, I may be sold to some repulsive man to become his wife and get abused every day. My life will be worse off than a pig… It’s better to hit others, it is too painful to be beaten up…”

Speaking of beating people up, this young lady had much to say.

“My sister was beaten to death by her mother-in-law. Since she married into their family, she never had a day of rest. If she ate slightly more rice, she would be slapped. If she started her chores slightly later, she was beaten severely. Then she got pregnant, and her mother-in-law continued beating her. She sprained her ankle and fell, the old evil lady claimed she was lying and eventually, my sister and her child died. But nothing happened to the old lady…”

“If I were to marry in future, whoever dares to hit me, I will take revenge even if I am lying on the ground!” commented one girl fiercely.

“Can you fight back? Those old man have strong energy…” someone answered, doubtfully.

“I will learn well now! If one can’t beat them does that mean one must be subject to the abuse of others? What if you get beaten to death?”

“That’s enough, I can’t imagine how strong you can become. If one doesn’t eat enough daily, why would I fear a weakling?” asked a third.

Chatting before sleeping seemed to become an interesting ritual for the female soldiers.

In the day, the training was intense, coupled with someone patrolling the camp at night. They quickly fell asleep.

On the second day, indeed some people carried rations and copper coins over.

The news boosted the morale of the women troops, and each of them received 200 coins and four buckets of rice.

This was two months’ worth of male soldiers’ salary.

Without waiting for their excitement to subside, the side of Jiang Pengji who cast a dark shadow on their hearts appeared, and many of them involuntarily began to hiccup.

“Has everyone received their soldier’s pay?” she asked.

For more than two months, many of the women soldiers understood her temperament better. When they answered her, they must raise their voice and speak loudly.

“We have received it!”