Military Households

Great Jin, Wuqu Province, outside the Liangcheng Thousand-Household Office.

"Little brother, little brother."

Lin Xuan hadn't woken on his own. Someone had shaken him awake.

He opened his eyes. A pretty young woman stood beside his bed.

"What is it, Sister An?" Lin Xuan had only crossed over a few days ago, and the memories merging in his mind left him groggy. When he slept, even thunder wouldn't wake him.

The young woman before him was Lin An. She was sixteen, a year older than him, and nominally his adoptive older sister. In truth, she was his child bride, and they weren't related by blood.

"Get up. We're almost out of salt. Mother wants you to go to the county seat and buy some today."

Lin Xuan sat up, his head still foggy, and hurriedly got dressed.

The Lin family ate in the main room. It was small, with rammed-earth walls on all four sides. The lower sections were stained black with damp, and the slightest touch sent dirt crumbling to the floor.

The house was quiet and empty. More than half the seats around the large table, which had once been full, now stood vacant.

Lin Xuan was the only male left in the family. The only women left were his mother, Chen Fang, and Lin An.

They had the Qiangqu People of the north to thank for all this.

The Qiangqu had originally been a vassal state of Great Jin. In recent years, as the empire declined, they had suddenly risen in power. Their iron cavalry repeatedly crossed the passes, plundering people and livestock along Great Jin's borders and destroying its military-farming settlements. They had become a grave threat in the north.

The Lin family were military households of Great Jin. The men in the family had served in the army for generations, with sons succeeding fathers and younger brothers succeeding elder brothers.

That was why Lin Xuan's father and uncle had successively gone to the front lines to fight the Qiangqu.

A few days ago, even his forty-seven-year-old grandfather had been conscripted!

Lin Xuan was only fifteen, the last male in the family. He'd merely been conscripted a year later than the others.

The lowest-ranking military households in Great Jin had it among the worst. They had to farm, provide their own food and weapons for battle, and perform unpaid labor service. Their status was even lower than that of ordinary civilians.

The front lines were in dire straits. Great Jin was steadily losing ground under attacks from the Roaming Bandits in the west and the Qiangqu in the north. It probably wouldn't be long before the Garrison came to seize more men for the army.

Lin Xuan didn't want to die.

But what could he do? He didn't know.

Running away was extremely risky. Great Jin kept a tight watch on its people. Without a travel permit issued by the authorities or the Garrison, he'd be an unregistered vagrant in any other place, forced to do the dirtiest, most exhausting work reserved for people of the lowest status.

If he was caught as a military-household deserter, he'd be beaten and sent to the army. His family would be punished as well.

He could seek refuge with the Roaming Bandits in the west, but the roads outside were chaotic, with countless refugees fleeing south after northern counties fell and famine broke out.

With his frail body, taking his mother and child bride on the run would be extremely dangerous. If they ran into stragglers or bandits, the consequences would be dire.

Lin An served them both rice and bowls. Lin Xuan noticed calluses and several needle pricks on the young woman's hands.

He sat at the table, looking at the thin millet porridge and bitter greens. His heart sank.

His mother sat in the main seat, her eyes lifeless and her expression dim. With all the men in the family conscripted, the burden of supporting them had fallen on her.

For years, there had been drought after drought. By now, the family's savings were nearly gone.

A few days earlier, she'd slipped while working. Her right foot was swollen, and she could barely walk. She couldn't bear to spend money on a doctor, so she'd had Lin An treat it with some herbs and hoped it might improve after a few more days.

Lin Xuan knew about his mother's leg, too, so he asked, "Mother, is your foot feeling any better? If it hasn't improved, we should see a doctor. We can't let it become useless just to save a little money."

"No need. An'an applied some herbs for me, and the swelling and pain have eased quite a bit. It doesn't hurt as much." Chen Fang hurriedly shook her head.

His mother had hurt her leg and still didn't dare seek treatment!

Blowing on the steaming millet porridge, Lin Xuan thought, I need to make money and bribe the Thousand-Household Commander. If he profits from me, he won't conscript me.

A one-time bribe might be taken without anything being done in return.

But if he kept paying, the Thousand-Household Commander would know that Lin Xuan had to stay alive to keep bringing him income. That would make all the difference.

How could he make money? Lin Xuan wasn't sure. He didn't know how to refine salt or make sugar.

In his previous life, he'd ridden the waves of the internet and AI and made quite a bit of money.

But times made heroes. Without the right environment, his past-life experience was almost useless.

Lin Xuan's first thought was to practice martial arts. He felt that in this world, strength was the foundation of wealth.

The men in his family had died one after another because their martial prowess was too low. Martial arts were widespread in this world. By eating and training, people could nourish their true qi. High-level martial artists could easily take on a hundred opponents—or even more—and far surpassed ordinary people in both speed and strength.

The lowest-ranking military households were practically too poor to survive. They could barely afford to eat, let alone have the means to learn martial arts.

"Xuan'er, after you finish eating, go to the county seat and buy some salt. The coarse salt that costs ten coins a catty will do." Chen Fang reminded him.

Lin Xuan nodded, quickly drank the thin porridge, and ate some cold dressed bitter greens.

They tasted much like fish mint from his previous life, but without the fishy smell. Their bitterness was mixed with a faint sweetness.

He picked up an old saber from the house to protect himself from bandits and wild beasts on the road.

The saber was about three feet long and weighed around two pounds. He could lift it well enough, but swinging it was a little difficult.

"Can Little Brother go by himself? Should I go with him?" Lin An asked anxiously. She looked at Chen Fang, hoping for permission to come along.

Lin Xuan shook his head. "No need. I'm only buying some salt. I can go by myself."

The county seat was five li away—not far—but he thought taking Lin An with him would only increase the risk.

She was pretty.

With the money, his household register, and the salt jar in hand, plus a little pocket money of his own, Lin Xuan headed toward the county seat he remembered.

Few people were traveling to and from the county seat. Lin Xuan noticed that most looked gaunt and malnourished. The famine of recent years had left its mark on them.

Wuqu Province had suffered disasters every year for more than a decade.

Droughts, floods, locusts—one after another.

The Lin family had once been fairly well-off. Unlike most military households, they owned twenty mu of private farmland and had tenant farmers to help work it.

But year after year, disasters had ruined the harvests. Then the men had gone to war, leaving no one to work the fields. The family had grown poorer and poorer.

If disaster struck again this year, they would probably have to sell their house and land.

Suddenly, Lin Xuan spotted a large group of Garrison soldiers not far ahead, digging a hole with farm tools. He had no idea what they were doing.

Garrison soldiers usually drilled and worked the military farms inside their strongholds. If they were near the county office now, something must have happened.

Curious, Lin Xuan went closer to take a look. The soldiers were all slacking off, dragging their feet.

They hadn't received their pay in a long time. On top of that, the disasters of recent years had kept them hungry for far too long. Just getting them to show up for work was no small feat.

A few Garrison soldiers turned to look at him but said nothing.

Just as Lin Xuan was about to leave, Lin Jie, a flag officer in a battle robe who was supervising the work, called to him. "Dazhu, come give us a hand."

Dazhu was Lin Xuan's low-status childhood name, a rural custom meant to help a child survive.

Lin Jie was his grandfather's younger brother. The two families had once had a serious falling-out, so their relationship was poor.

Lin Jie had many sons. Although several had already been taken for military service, there were still a few able-bodied men left in his household, so his family was better off than Lin Xuan's.

"Second Granduncle, what are you doing here?" Lin Xuan didn't agree right away. Instead, he first asked what was going on.