I was a stepmother in ancient times, and I led my whole family to wealth.

Chapter 93 Gu Chenglin coaxes his wife

Oh my god... Gu Chenglin, take it easy, she's afraid this guy will bend the shovel.

That won't do, this thing...

Ancient blacksmith shops must have been quite formidable...

Fine, just keep going!

Yes, after Gu Chenglin drove the car to the garage, he picked up a hand-operated plow and cleared out half an acre of land in front of him.

Return to the ridges, plant potatoes...

After finishing everything, I picked up a shovel that was propped up in the ground and started turning over the soil between the paving stones.

My wife said that we need to cultivate chili peppers here, and then transplant them when we get back.

These shovels are much better than the ones they have here. He's thinking about how to take them out and have a few made at a blacksmith's shop.

coax……

He had to appease his wife before he could take these tools out.

What he liked most was that push-type soil turner; it was simple and could be made in a blacksmith shop.

Dongfang Jin watched Gu Chenglin working diligently, sweating profusely, and felt incredibly satisfied.

His hands were dark and strong, and sweat dripped onto the ground.

This truly reflects the poem: "Hoeing the fields at midday, sweat drips onto the soil. Who knows that every grain in the bowl is the result of hard work?"

Dongfang Jin stared at him as he rhythmically swung a shovel, wearing only shorts.

There was a mottled scar on his knee, a symbol of the pain and courage he had suffered on the battlefield.

And the deep scars on his body, each line of which is filled with his strength and struggle on the battlefield.

Those scars have become medals of his past glory, and also a testament to his countless struggles against fate.

He perfectly embodied the steely will and indomitable spirit of a soldier.

Is it luck or sheer good fortune that a farmer's son could rise to the rank of centurion and return alive?

In the era of cold weapons, people were killed with real swords, and it was truly bloody...

Jun Qirui said that people from farming families like him who serve in the military are required to serve for ten years, so how did he manage to get out unscathed?

Dongfang Jin couldn't understand it, so she couldn't help but ask.

"Gu Chenglin, why are you back before your military service is over?"

Gu Chenglin paused in his digging, stuck the shovel into the ground, wiped his sweat with a towel, and strode over.

Dongfang Jin, with great perceptiveness, handed him a cup of water from a large blue bowl, which Gu Chenglin drank in one gulp.

"I told you, you should drink water in three sips," Dongfang Jin said, somewhat displeased as he finished the glass of water.

Gu Chenglin sat on the chair next to him: "Drinking like this is so refreshing."

"You think this is drinking? Tell me, how did you get away unscathed?"

Gu Chenglin smiled at her expectant little eyes, then fell into his memories.

Then he recounted in detail how he came back...

Dongfang Jin was shocked and heartbroken by the heavy news and the deep-seated grief.

Those who collapsed were all people who had gone out with him. Some were sleeping next to him, some had just finished eating next to him, and some had just spoken to him...

Seeing the despair in his eyes and the pain on his face, her heart trembled like a broken string, each tremor releasing a poignant sorrow.

This is the ancient battlefield...

Cruel and merciless slaughter...

After a long silence, Dongfang Jin asked, "So you've done something meritorious this time? But why aren't you staying in the army?"

This guy would rather earn military merits and be discharged than become an officer...

Gu Chenglin rubbed his face: "Xiao Jin, do you know what it's like for people like us with no combat experience to go to the battlefield?"

Some people have never even killed a chicken before, how can you expect them to kill someone?

Even before going to the battlefield, during training, some people's legs went weak at the sight of those bloodstained knives.

But those enemies won't give us a chance, what does that mean?

Once the Xiongnu and Donglin start a war, it's a fight to the death.

Xiao Jin, you haven't seen that kind of scene; it's too heavy.

"Also, you said that once I become an official, my family will definitely find out..."

Dongfang Jin immediately understood. That greedy family would surely do evil if they knew that Gu Chenglin had become an officer in the army.

Gu Yaohui was just a minor scholar, yet his family acted lawlessly in the village, ordering the clan chief to obey them.

If they knew Gu Chenglin had become a general, who knows what trouble this family might have gotten into.

At that point, not only would Gu Chenglin's military achievements be wasted, but he might also be implicated by them...

That family calling them "pig teammates" is an understatement.

Then he muttered to himself, "Isn't the era of cold weapons all about training with real swords and spears?"

Even in this era of firearms, we still need to fight with real guns and ammunition, right?

The ancient system of classifying people into different classes was too obvious, although modern people are also divided into different classes.

But... but the disparity in distribution isn't this huge, showing a complete disregard for human lives...

In modern times, serving in the military is considered an honor and a glory.

But in ancient times, that was the beginning of suffering, and it also symbolized that once a person went to serve in the military, it meant that he would never return.

No one can understand the feeling of a parent outliving their child.

Sigh! But there's nothing we can do about it...

In modern times, there's also the story of Hua Mulan, who disguised herself as a man to join the army in place of her father.

History is history, and some things must be done.

Gu Chenglin continued, "In the army, there are also some sons of noble families."

They went to the army for training, but only a very small number of them went to participate in battles.

They had achieved some minor successes... and then they returned to the capital.

But the army that always charged ahead was Helian Jun, the army formed by the first general of the Helian family, who is now the Duke of Zhenguo.

I heard that he had six sons. Apart from the two in Beijing, there was the fifth son who had been learning from a young age, and the sixth son who was born weak and sickly.

His other sons and grandsons, including his only son-in-law, were all stationed at the border, specifically at the most dangerous and difficult-to-defend Flying Tiger Pass and Flying Eagle Pass.

Dongfang Jin found what he was saying somewhat familiar, as if someone had once told her that she wanted to join the Helian Army when she grew up. She had a headache for a while, but she suppressed her discomfort.

"So the general allows them to falsely claim military merits?"

"These are all unspoken rules... The national treasury is empty, but the soldiers still need to eat and get new weapons."

Those people who sent their children here for training all brought supplies with them.

"Damn, this is blatant..." Doesn't this count as embezzling military blood? Claiming military merits fraudulently? How can those people be so shameless?

But then again, this imperial court...

Forget it, I can't say those things here, or I might end up with my head and body separated.

She should just keep hiding her head and live a life of ignominy...

Gu Chenglin sighed: "There's nothing we can do. The late emperor built too much during his reign, and in the end, it still ended up like that."

During his reign, he not only engaged in massive construction projects but also racked up a mountain of debt… Now the emperor is still locked in a stalemate with those powerful families.”

Dongfang Jin was even more speechless. Who would have thought that an emperor could owe foreign debts?

This is interesting. Now, whoever becomes emperor will have to pay for it: "This mess... to be honest, this emperor isn't so bad after all..."

He would rather go into debt than take women from his creditors' families into the palace.

The Emperor is mighty...

……

Unbeknownst to the couple, the Emperor Shengde they spoke of was summoning Lu Yuyan and Adong to Empress Helian Jingyun's Ziyun Palace.

This Ziyun Palace was the place where Emperor Shengde Cangli Yuan specially summoned the families of ministers for the Empress.

A Dong, whose real name is Lu Dong, is the leader of the four directions. They were originally the descendants of those who served Princess Qinghe.

It was given to Lu Yunqing by Princess Qinghe after she had been raised from a young age, and the emperor knew all of this.

Upon hearing A Dong mention hot pot and sesame paste, Sheng Dedi held the few sheets of paper in his hand with some excitement.

Do you know how to make this hot pot?

Ah Dong lowered his head and said, "I know. I brought the pot and charcoal. They're in the carriage outside the palace."