Guotai Lang was of unremarkable origin and ability. In his twenties, he was conscripted as an ashigaru and went to the battlefield, only to be defeated and captured, which was rather unlucky.
Theoretically, he was supposed to be sold off somewhere to continue working the earth. If he was unlucky, he'd be sent back to the battlefield to die; if lucky, he'd settle down, have a bunch of kids, and repeat his fate.
But fate had other plans, and he was sold to Wanjin, which changed his destiny.
In Wanjin, he entered a workshop, then joined the army, and even went to a camp school. Although the competition was fierce and his training results and battle performance were quite average, far behind the smooth sailing of his younger brother, Stone Bodhisattva, through learning, he was no longer the ignorant villager he once was.
