Chapter 488: Spring Ploughing (VI)

Choose at whim?

While those three big words rang in the people’s minds, Wei Ci depended on superhuman self-control abilities to stop himself from laughing.

The Emperor was indeed still so willful and demanding. As for the rest…

Eh, they were initially quite shocked, but they quickly accepted the plan.

On a regular basis, prisoners of war were sent to do manual labor and bitter work. Even if they worked until they were exhausted, none would take pity on them.

At the time, they were given the chance to start a family. But what would happen if these prisoners of war were captured?

The only reason was to stop the prisoners from developing a superior attitude or treat the female soldiers poorly. They felt the matter needed to be re-evaluated.

Jiang Pengji was lost for a while. Finally she asked, “Why do you say so?”

Feng Jin replied, “Prisoners are prisoners. Their names belong to the slave registry, only to descend in ranks. My lord’s actions will be exploited by others for their own advantage.”

If others publicised that Jiang Pengji caught some prisoners and she still gave them wives, it might be bad if word got out about it.

She was briefly appalled; the reasoning seemed logical.

Yet if the women soldiers were to retire at about 20 years of age, men of the same age would have married either their second or third wives, and who knew how many children they might have by then.

To let the female troops that she spent so much effort training marry into families as stepmothers and to make up the numbers in the harem seemed to also be unfair treatment.

She wished to hear if Feng Jin and the rest had any good ideas.

The meaning behind Feng Jin’s words were understood by Qiguan Rang, and he smiled plainly and explained to her.

“If these prisoners are awarded to the female soldiers so that they can start a family and get married, then they should be the head in the family register to prevent their children from following their father’s name into the slave registry. If they don’t do this, the lord’s good intentions will go to waste.”

Feng Jin concurred, “Wenzheng’s words are indeed what Jin meant.”

She was completely in a daze for a moment. Her subordinates were suggesting that she should allow the head of the household register to be held by the female soldiers!

What this meant was that the children born to them would follow the women soldiers, including their surname!

It had never crossed her mind that her workers were so open-minded, even she did not have the courage to raise this issue.

The audiences in the live-streaming room were even more stunned and threw the gourd in their hands away, they typed furiously to express their shock.

Jintian Jigengne: “Rubbish, streamer please go and verify. Did Qiguan Rang come from another dimension for him to have such advanced thinking? Even in our era when children wish to take on their mother’s surname, they will discuss with their husbands or come to an agreement that their second child will follow their mother’s surname, otherwise it is because her husband marries into her family.”

Toudu Feiqiu: “It felt like I just watched a fake livestream, how can men from ancient times have such open minds?”

Cimeiren Zaiwoshenxia: “My ear must have met with a problem just now, how can such words come from uncle Qiguan Rang’s mouth?”

Laosiji Lianmeng: “#Despise, what’s there to be surprised about, conversely I feel their train of thoughts are normal and it doesn’t deviate from the inhibitions in that era. Firstly, they didn’t perceive these prisoners of war as men, they were used to reward the female soldiers. Do you know what reward means? They are just items. Under such circumstances, if the child that the female soldiers bear follows their father and his slave deeds, this action would be very embarrassing. Ultimately, are you using the female soldier as a reward to the prisoner or the prisoner as a reward to the soldier? Both meanings are completely different. Thus, they suggested for the female troop to be the head of the household registry which in itself is not wrong.”

Guicai Guofengxiao: “Although I understand what was mentioned above, it’s still rather alarming.”

Xingxingdalao Qiufangguo: “Eh, thank you Dalao for the explanation. But I have a question, if the prisoner commits adultery, what then?”

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Baigei Nimenle: “Pei, commit adultery? Wasn’t adultery a crime back then? The streamer also emphasised that there would be severe punishment. You should be worried that when the slave husband’s affair is discovered, the female soldier will grab this fellow and beat him up. If the roles were reversed we should worry about the female trying to commit suicide!”

They concluded based on how long they had been followed the livestream, in this generation, killing an adulterer wasn’t considered murder.

On the contrary: if an adulterous pair was discovered, both male and female would face extreme punishment, especially now that the streamer intentionally made the punishments more severe. They trusted that the female troops she trained would not emerge as weak women.

“Cough, cough — This is a good idea. Go and reflect on this and come up with a proposal, then communicate it to the women’s camp.”

Jiang Pengji was good at starting an idea, then pushing the matter to her subordinates to follow up.

Feng Jin and the rest discreetly sighed. Indeed, it was so again.

After three days had passed, all the female soldiers had read the first draft of the notice. Amongst them there were one or two once-wealthy ladies from scholarly families, but they were too young, and when their families died, they couldn’t guard their wealth. Instead they were sent to the prostitution camp by their surviving relatives.

Naturally, after they learned it wasn’t a prostitution camp but rather a legitimate army, each woman had heaved a sigh of relief.

Coupled with their literacy skills, they were quickly recognized and promoted, and when they had time, they would teach the other female soldiers how to read.

She read the notice word for word, and the people’s mood was as if they were riding a roller-coaster, they experienced such a wide range of emotions.

They heard that after enrolling into the women’s troop camp, they would need to be 24 years old to marry. Before that, they weren’t allowed to marry or have children, and their faces turned deathly white.

Women at 24 years old were practically ready to be grandparents. They would be considered unfit old maids! Many of the female soldiers were so worried about the next phase in their lives, they were too sad for description.

But before long an opportunity presented itself.

“This, this is real…Can we really choose our husbands?’ one woman marveled.

“Lance corporal, have a look. Did they write this wrongly, how can this… this is ridiculous…” another muttered in shock.

They said with their mouths that it was ridiculous, but their black, grape-like eyes lit up with excited anticipation.

Those lance corporals who were literate nodded their heads, saying, “You didn’t read it wrong, what’s written is true.”

Without having to worry that at 24 when they retired from the army, they would have no one to marry or they would have to marry an old man to expand his harem, or become stepmothers, if they could choose a husband from the prisoners and bring them home to have children, and the child would even follow their surnames…

If all of that was true, what would they have to worry about in the future?

As soldiers, they would earn salaries every month, which they would accumulate until 24 years of age. It would not be a small sum of money; they could purchase a few fields to work, and comfortably become the head wife. It was a sweet deal.

If they earned military achievements along the way, they might be promoted and would not have to farm to live a fruitful life.

But all that was secondary. What touched them the most was that within the household registry, they would be the heads, and their children would follow their surnames.

Some female soldiers softly marveled, their cheeks reddened, “If so… this is awesome…”

The contents of the notice were indeed shocking, but as they pondered carefully, they realized that all of those measures were implemented out of consideration for their futures.

From that viewpoint, it may not be ideal to get married early and have kids, if the days ahead were still long.

Luckily, Xiangyang district was located far north, and those young ladies were ignorant about the existence of the The Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women. Regarding this notice which deviated from the usual practices, except for some small worries, what was left was just the eagerness to give it a try.

They desperately wished to go to war right away, and gain some military achievement, so that their lives in the future would be blissful.

For their good life ahead, they knew they must train hard now and strive to live to 24 years old on the battlefield, and then enjoy their retirement!