Afterward, Li Yuan continued to examine the system he had acquired.
“Wife Assistance System”
Li Yuan understood immediately upon seeing the name; it definitely had something to do with his other half.
A closer look confirmed this.
The system's introduction was simple and direct.
Each time the host marries a wife, or has marital relations with a woman, the host will receive corresponding ability enhancements as a reward.
The abilities that can be enhanced include the host's combat power, strategy, and luck.
The higher the appearance, status, and social class of the wife the host marries, the stronger the enhancement provided by the system.
Seeing this system, Li Yuan pondered.
Is this system forcing me to rely on women for support?
However, marrying a wife in the Great Liang Dynasty was not particularly difficult.
In this era, due to wars and forced labor, the loss of male adults was immense.
Many places had more women than men.
What concerned Li Yuan more was the system's requirement that the higher the wife's appearance, status, and social class, the more generous the reward.
With the system in hand, Li Yuan felt cheerful, and his steps became noticeably lighter.
These newly recruited men, including Li Yuan, were first to be sent to the Military Governor's Office in Qingyuan County.
There, the Military Governor's Office would conduct selections, and qualified men would then be assigned to various General Fortresses under the Military Governor's Office to serve as Soldier Families.
Qingyuan County town was not actually far from Li Family Village, only about half a day's journey.
In the afternoon, they could vaguely see the city walls of Qingyuan County.
These newly recruited men were first led to the drill ground of the county's Military Governor's Office.
Li Yuan looked around and saw that quite a number of men had been conscripted from various villages to become Soldier Families.
He roughly estimated that there were over three hundred people on the drill ground alone.
However, Li Yuan could only shake his head at the quality of these men.
Aside from varying heights and weights, Li Yuan also saw several people who were clearly disabled.
There were even a few white-haired individuals, clearly over fifty years old.
What were these old men, practically with one foot in the grave, doing here?
Just as Li Yuan was about to continue observing, a series of drumbeats suddenly sounded in his ear.
He and the others all turned to look.
They saw an official walk onto the high platform of the drill ground and loudly address the crowd.
“By order of the Military Governor's Office, the selection of Soldier Families in Qingyuan County now begins.”
Immediately, the official loudly read out the selection criteria for Soldier Families.
The selection conditions were not complicated.
The selection criteria for a regular Soldier Family member were:
A height of over seven feet, clear hearing and vision, strong and powerful limbs.
One who could lift a two-hundred-jin stone lock could be selected as a regular Soldier Family member.
Those who did not meet this standard but were over six feet tall, could lift a one-hundred-jin stone lock, and had no physical deformities, could be selected as an auxiliary Soldier Family member.
This standard was not difficult for farmers who worked in the fields year-round.
However, many people on site were illiterate peasants and did not fully understand the terms “regular member” and “auxiliary member.”
So, some began to inquire around.
Li Yuan was also somewhat curious and wanted to hear about the intricacies involved.
Fortunately, at this moment, a kind-looking middle-aged man spoke to everyone.
“Everyone, I happen to know a bit. If you wish to hear, I will tell you.”
“A regular member, also known as a combat soldier, can be understood as the main fighting force among the Soldier Families.”
“The selection conditions are naturally strict, and their treatment in the army is also better.”
“An auxiliary member, in fact, means an auxiliary soldier. The selection conditions are lower than for a regular member, but they must still have some strength.”
“Normally, they are responsible for miscellaneous duties in the army, and during wartime, they are responsible for covering the combat soldiers.”
“What we, who come to join the Soldier Families, seek is nothing more than the land, houses, and women that the Military Governor's Office can allocate.”
“This is the biggest difference between a regular member and an auxiliary member.”
“Do you know where the land, houses, and women that the Military Governor's Office will allocate to you come from?”
The surrounding crowd looked at each other, and some even shook their heads.
The middle-aged man sighed and said,
“Where else could they come from?”
“These lands, houses, and women naturally belong to those Soldier Families who died in battle at the Chishui River.”
“According to our Great Liang military law, the property and wives and daughters of Soldier Families belong to the Military Governor's Office.”
“If a Soldier Family member dies in battle, their wives, daughters, and land will be reallocated by the Military Governor's Office to newly recruited Soldier Families.”
“Alas, once you become a Soldier Family member, you must understand that this is the fate of a Soldier Family member.”
After hearing the words of this middle-aged man,
these men forcibly conscripted from various villages all fell silent.
What is a Soldier Family?
It is essentially a hereditary military system.
The Great Liang Dynasty suffered from constant warfare, and military resources were extremely scarce.
The imperial court could not recruit enough soldiers and was forced to implement the Soldier Family system.
The so-called Soldier Family.
In essence, they were civilians when at home and soldiers when called upon.
During peacetime, they farmed in General Fortresses and military camps; during wartime, they had to provide their own weapons and dry rations to fight for the imperial court.
Of course, becoming a Soldier Family member was not without benefits.
Firstly, as Soldier Family members, the Military Governor's Office would allocate houses and land to the men.
According to the regulations of the Great Liang military law,
a regular Soldier Family member could receive two earthen houses, half a mu of vegetable garden, and 20 mu of ration land.
In addition, they would be officially assigned one high-ranking wife and one maidservant.
That is to say, you would be provided with a house, a wife, land, and even a maidservant.
This treatment was actually quite good.
Even as an auxiliary soldier, one could receive one earthen house, two fen of vegetable garden, and 10 mu of ration land.
In addition, they could also receive an officially assigned low-ranking wife.
However, Soldier Families did not receive any military pay during peacetime.
The wives and maidservants allocated to them also had to be supported by their own earnings.
Therefore, when there was no war, the Military Governor's Office's control over Soldier Families was not particularly strict.
But during wartime, it was very different.
Once the Military Governor's Office issued a military order, Soldier Families had to provide their own rations and weapons to fight for the imperial court.
Those who disobeyed would be directly punished by military law.
The downside of being a Soldier Family member was the dangers of the battlefield, where life and death were unpredictable.
For example, in the great battle between Great Liang and the Tiele at the Chishui River half a year ago,
hundreds of Soldier Families from Qingyuan County alone were killed.
It was said that in several General Fortresses in this county, almost every household wore mourning clothes.
Furthermore, the wives and daughters of military households were not free.
If a military household member died in battle or from illness,
their wives and daughters were allowed to mourn for half a year.
But after that, they had to be assigned a new husband by the Military Governor's Office to move into the household.
This was also called selecting a male to take over the household.
In plain terms, if the man of a household died in battle,
the Military Governor's Office would reassign a man to that household to replace the deceased in military service.
At the same time, this man would also be the new husband of the women in that household.
In this process, the women had to completely obey the Military Governor's Office's assignment.
They had no right to resist.
Because in the Soldier Family system, women themselves did not own any land.
Women had to rely on men to cultivate and work to support them.
Due to long-term warfare, there were more women than men, especially in the General Fortresses.
If a woman was not wanted by any man and had no one to support her, her fate was destined to be tragic.
The ultimate outcome was to be sold by the Military Governor's Office to the northern wilderness for trading horses with the barbarians.
Because Great Liang was severely lacking in warhorses, the imperial court had repeatedly exchanged women for warhorses during market trades in the northern wilderness.
An ordinary warhorse was worth two women.
And a good northern wilderness warhorse could even be exchanged for as many as five young women.
The fate of women bought by the northern wilderness barbarians could be described as utterly tragic.
They basically became slaves whose lives were worse than death.
Therefore, these Soldier Family women would not be too resistant to being assigned new husbands.
Because it was much better than being sent to the northern wilderness to be slaves of the barbarians.
At this moment,
the sound of war drums echoed again from the high platform of the drill ground.
The selection of Soldier Families by the Military Governor's Office officially began.