Quick Transmigration: Underdog Turns out to be Untouchable

Chapter 91: Chapter 91 Gender of Sin 91

In recent years, Da Ran has established many mutual markets facing the grasslands, but the busiest and largest are still those outside Feiying Pass and the border city within the pass.

Now, these pastoral tribes are incredibly enthusiastic about Da Ran’s common people. They have completely adapted to herding cattle and sheep and then using wool, dairy products, and the much-needed beef of Da Ran to exchange for necessary resources. Moreover, the wealthy individuals and nobles who own more cattle and sheep have also learned to purchase Da Ran’s luxury goods. Many tribes on the grassland are now inseparable from these mutual markets established by Da Ran.

However, these tribes do not include the barbarians! It must be said that the barbarians are like wolves that can never be satisfied. Even when mutual markets have made their lives much better, the barbarians never abandon their desire to invade Da Ran.

Especially in recent years, almost all tribes on the grassland other than the barbarians have befriended Da Ran. Even some small tribes of barbarians have secretly established good relations with Da Ran, making the barbarian Khan extremely dissatisfied. In the past two years, he has frequently dispatched soldiers to harass the borders, and the forces sent are becoming stronger each time.

For some reason, the Emperor, who initially dealt swiftly with the barbarians upon ascending the throne, has not yet mobilized against them. Since beginning the establishment of mutual markets, he has been enduring the small skirmishes from the barbarians.

This patience lasted for eight years, until a year after the Supreme Emperor passed away, the Emperor suddenly issued a decree, appointing General Qi as the commander and sending an army to punish the barbarians who repeatedly violated the borders!

The Emperor launched this campaign with great fanfare, dispatching more than ten generals and an army of 400,000 soldiers. They allied with the Zhenla Clan and Zhenling Clan, who were already discontent with the barbarian cruelty due to trade in wool and dairy products with Da Ran, and defeated the barbarians, causing them to flee with their heads in their hands!

This battle was splendidly fought by General Qi. With strong support from the Emperor, they completely destroyed the largest tribe of the barbarians, executing all barbarian nobles. Only some small barbarian tribes willing to submit to Da Ran were spared!

During this war, Qin Shuangshuang led over a hundred fellow martial students trained by Fang Zhongyi, responding to the court’s call for all people in the border city to join the army and went to the battlefield.

The children that Qin Shuangshuang led had practiced martial arts with Fang Zhongyi for several years. Now, at the age of seventeen or eighteen to their early twenties, they were at the peak of their strength, having had great nourishment and extensive training. They were strong and proficient in martial arts, with each of them capable of defeating twenty to thirty men with ease.

Their warhorses were superior steeds that they, under Qin Shuangshuang’s leadership, had seized from the barbarians. Each time they went into battle, every person was equipped with two Hu Ma horses to alternate, preventing fatigue in combat. Though numbering only about a hundred, their combat strength surpassed that of a two to three thousand strong unit—a truly elite force!

Qin Shuangshuang led them around the battlefield, supporting wherever the fighting was most intense, fighting alongside General Qi each time. After the battle, they would separate from General Qi’s troops for rest and resupply.

Unable to avoid it, Qin Shuangshuang ensured they had ample food to maintain combat strength, while the court’s forces could not afford such luxury. Since everyone could not eat meat at every meal, to avoid unsettling the troops, Qin Shuangshuang never allowed her martial brothers to eat meat in front of General Qi’s soldiers.

In such large-scale battles, the number of barbarian heads collected daily was uncountable, yet Qin Shuangshuang never requested the court’s reward money, giving all obtained Hu Horses freely to General Qi.

Qin Shuangshuang acted out of patriotism, without personal motives, which inadvertently brought her positive karma. After the war, when General Qi reported the achievements, he notably praised Qin Shuangshuang’s contributions in strategy, exertion, and offerings.

Qin Shuangshuang’s actions were nearly universally known in the border city. Although she held no official military position, her reputation rivaled that of seasoned generals, and many soldiers owed their lives to her on the battlefield.

The Emperor sent people to investigate Qin Shuangshuang’s deeds. Naturally, these people spoke truthfully, confirming General Qi’s reports. Thus, the Emperor, having a favorable impression of this woman he had never met, made an exception to confer Qin Shuangshuang the title of Guerrilla General, assigning her the duty to guard the border city and patrol the grasslands to prevent further disturbances from the pastoral tribes.

Along with the Holy Decree came the imperial decree conferring the third-rank imperial decree upon Mrs. Bai, along with the decree’s attire, and a plaque inscribed with the four golden characters ”Heroine of the Nation,” personally penned by the Emperor. Additionally, skilled craftsmen dispatched by the Ministry of Industry accompanied the decree to build the commendation archway bestowed by the Emperor upon Qin Shuangshuang!

The day the decree conferring Qin Shuangshuang and her mother’s honors was announced, the entire Qin Family was in an uproar! Everyone was extremely excited, and led by the Clan Leader, they decided to celebrate with a month-long banquet. Fang Zhongyi strongly supported this, and thus a month-long banquet was prepared. On the first day, everyone who was friends with Qin Shuangshuang attended to honor the occasion.

Qin Shuangshuang’s success brought about a peculiar but undoubtedly positive tradition for girls within the Qin Family. The attitude of gender preference within the Qin Family instinctively shifted towards neutrality. No matter whether a child born into the family was male or female, they would receive full support in either academics or martial training, and if a girl wished to pursue a career, her parents and elders wholeheartedly supported her.

Although no one dared to hope for a daughter stronger than most men, capable of gaining official positions or achieving honors for her mother, like Qin Shuangshuang, having daughters as capable as Qin Shuangshuang’s two diligent sisters, Fang Yao and Qin Miao, would suffice.

The people of the Qin Family admired Mrs. Bai’s three successful daughters, especially Qin Shuangshuang, who won accolades for Mrs. Bai and became a general as a woman! Yet, these envious admirers did not know that Mrs. Bai, while watching her admirably envied daughters, was utterly troubled, with her hair turning white due to worry!

These three daughters were indeed accomplished, but each caused her endless worry. Now the youngest, Qin Shuangshuang, was already twenty-one years old, and the older Fang Yao and Qin Miao were almost twenty-five or twenty-six. Despite being at such an age, with other families having several children by now, these three girls stubbornly refused to settle down!

Qin Shuangshuang had become unruly over the years, spending her days fighting barbarians, almost living on the grassland. On the rare occasions when she had free time, she would respond to General Qi’s requests to help train soldiers. Now appointed as a Guerrilla General by the court, stationed at the frontier, she had even less time to return home, and the thought of settling down wasn’t even in Qin Shuangshuang’s mind!

Even if Qin Shuangshuang’s unmarried status was acceptable, Fang Yao and Qin Miao’s reluctance to marry was not. The Qin family’s land had almost reached 20,000 acres, with countless livestock, and nearly 2,000 tenant farmers and hired hands. Every day, Fang Yao was busy managing which crops to plant for higher yields and ensuring the animals didn’t get sick. She even self-taught veterinary medicine, tirelessly working—marriage and children? What were those? Could they be eaten!

While Qin Shuangshuang and Fang Yao were busy, Qin Miao was even busier. She managed over a thousand female workers, overseeing both progress and quality, with several merchants camping outside her factory gate, urgently pressing for goods as if their lives depended on it. With demand unrelenting, Qin Miao spun like a top, tirelessly working without rest. When would she have time for marriage or finding a man? Why not take the opportunity to sleep a little longer!

No matter how worried Mrs. Bai was, after the month-long banquet ended, the family faced the most significant event following Qin Shuangshuang’s appointment!