After registering for the household quota, it's not impossible to change the conscription slots. The bailiffs will screen out those who are disabled and dismiss those with infectious diseases.
There's some leeway for disabilities, but infectious diseases are absolutely intolerable.
The bailiffs of each county office will never allow someone with an infectious disease to mix into the ranks of the able-bodied. In Great Wei, spreading a plague to the army is a capital offense.
Therefore, wealthy young men who don't dare to risk losing a limb often claim to have an infectious disease to escape military service.
Of course, doing so comes at a cost. The family of the person claiming illness must find a replacement for military service, which requires a significant amount of money.
Zhou Yuan never expected that Ergou's father would actually use their ancestral farmland to find someone to take Ergou's place in the military draft.
As a result, Ergou's family has no other path but to move to the city to make a living.
At this point, their family can't even be considered farmers anymore; they're essentially refugees, and their social status has plummeted from the bottom to rock bottom.
Perhaps this serious illness changed Ergou's family's perspective. Now, they're willing to take some risks to protect the only male heir in the family.
However, moving to the city without any support, it's uncertain whether this is good or bad, or if they can find peace and safety.
"Ergou, don't flaunt your wealth. No matter where you go, when you're unfamiliar with the place, it's better to live modestly."
"I understand, Brother Shi Tou. My dad said I should go to the city to become an apprentice. Uncle Luo from the East Village introduced me to a carpenter master.
I can endure hardship. As long as the master doesn't beat me to death and teaches me a trade, I'll take care of him in his old age."
"Alright, if I make a name for myself, just mention my name if you get bullied."
Ergou daring to give a perfectly good pearl as a gift moved Zhou Yuan's heart.
After all, giving a gift like this carries risks.
If Zhou Yuan were a villain, Ergou's family's lives would be in jeopardy.
"Brother Shi Tou, can you get your land back?
If not, you could also use your land to avoid military service, and we brothers could go to the city together to make a living, so we can look out for each other."
"I can't take that route. You know, the deed clearly states that I can only reclaim the land after I get married."
Before his father joined the army, fearing he wouldn't return, the village took advantage of the situation to exploit Zhou Yuan, leaving the private land under the Village Head's name.
This arrangement allowed Zhou Yuan to grow up safely, and he received a share of the grain from the Village Head every year.
But reclaiming it is difficult.
"True, finding a wife is even harder for you than for me. Your land has probably already been treated as private property by the Village Head.
He won't agree to let you use his land for military service."
"Cough, cough... By the way, Brother Shi Tou, just forget what I said a few days ago about having children. I want to give it a try myself."
After a simple farewell, Ergou's family left in a hurry, entering the city two days before the county bailiffs arrived in the village.
The man replacing Ergou in military service is named Li Dazhuang, and his family has five male members, a typical case of too many people and too little land.
Zhou Yuan saw clearly that when the bailiffs called the other able-bodied men, they drew a circle, but when they called him, they drew a line.
This meant their family was now extinct, and unless he returned, Qiaoxi Village would count as 66 households for military service and grain contributions.
Even though Ergou's family lost their land and moved to the city to make a living, their household registration is still in Qiaoxi Village, and they will still be counted among the candidate households for military service in the future.
"Everyone, quiet down. Let me say a few words.
This military service is a decree from the court, not something we're doing to deliberately make things difficult for you."
"Look at the men drafted for service; some are young, some are old. We brothers are just pretending your families don't have any able-bodied men, letting you off the hook.
We value loyalty, and we hope you value righteousness. Once you leave this village, don't run or cause trouble, or the county office will hold your families accountable."
"I won't say much else. Choose a capable man to lead the team.
We'll pass through more than a dozen post stations, but we won't enter the county city; we're heading straight for the Prefectural Office in Jingan City."
It's reasonable for the conscripts not to enter the county city. They're all locals, and if they pass through the county city, they might cause trouble for the residents.
Interestingly, the bailiffs also accepted the practice of elders replacing able-bodied men.
It seems that Great Wei doesn't have many wars, and regular recruitment is more about maintaining the system than urgently supplementing troops.
"Why aren't you choosing? If you don't choose, I'll just pick someone."
If it were for corvée labor, the villagers would definitely compete to be the leader, but this is military service, and the leader is likely to be chosen as a regular soldier, a hardship the villagers don't want to endure.
"I'll do it."
Under the watchful eyes of the villagers and bailiffs, Zhou Yuan, with a machete at his waist and a whistle stick in hand, stepped forward.
"Good man, young people have drive. Alright, you'll be the Squad Leader for the Qiaoxi conscripts."
Zhou Yuan's goals differ from the villagers'. Most villagers want to return home to farm as soon as possible, but Zhou Yuan wants to train in martial arts and strengthen himself. New chapters come out on g.com first.
For this reason, the Squad Leader position, which the villagers avoid, is a starting point worth striving for in his eyes.
What Zhou Yuan didn't expect was that he had to prepare his own rations for the journey to the army.
Old Man Li, the Village Head, held Zhou Yuan's hand and repeatedly urged him to take good care of the village's wheelbarrows, making sure not to lose any food.
And so, under the guidance of the bailiffs, the villagers set off, pushing wheelbarrows loaded with machetes, clay pots, grass mats, and other miscellaneous items.
As the Squad Leader, Zhou Yuan didn't have to take turns pushing the cart. Instead, he was placed in the middle of the formation by the bailiffs, managing twenty-three villagers.
The group walked and stopped, first going to Qiaodong Village to join another team of able-bodied men, then heading to Shashi Village and Dalin Zhuang to gather a hundred-man team before setting off for Jingan City.
With the bailiffs leading the way, the conscripts arrived at the post station before nightfall.
There was a place to stay here, a large common room without blankets, but at least it sheltered them from the wind and rain, and they didn't charge the conscripts.
However, if they wanted to eat here, they had to pay. Even the bailiffs leading the team only asked for hot soup, taking out cakes from their cloth bags to soak and eat.
At this time, experienced elders became important. At their call, a few young lads ran out to collect firewood and dry grass, starting a fire outside the post station to boil water.
Watching all this for the first time, Zhou Yuan felt like it was a group camping adventure.
But when Zhao Dahuang handed him a cold cake, he snapped out of his romantic fantasy and returned to the reality of eating in the open air.
"It's sweet. Not bad, Uncle Dahuang, you even got sugar."
"What nonsense are you talking about? This is a jujube cake, made with red dates and yellow millet, steamed as dry rations.
In past years, when we did corvée labor, we didn't have this kind of treatment. We just had to make it half-alive to the destination.
But military service is different. If we're in too poor a state and get sent back from the barracks, we'll have to provide more able-bodied men."
"You're lucky, kid. Eating this jujube cake will ensure you're full of energy when you reach the barracks."
After a noisy dinner, the villagers didn't need Zhou Yuan's command. They voluntarily gave up the large common room to the elderly and weak, laying grass mats on the ground to sleep.
At that moment, Zhou Yuan truly felt the hardship of military service and the value of camaraderie.
"Shi Tou, pick a few men to watch the grain cart. We can't afford any mistakes."
"No mistakes, don't worry."