The establishment of the Celestial Dynasty began with the bestowal of the title upon the River God.

The four soldiers from Sanyi Village set off early, but not to the commander's mansion in the city.

The commander set the selection location at Tiger Might Camp, but his intentions are unclear.

"Why should matters concerning the garrison be conducted in the barracks?"

With nothing better to do, Big Eyes joined in the fun. Hearing Li Erhu's confusion, he smiled and said:

"The garrison and the two military camps have a close relationship, but not as close as the Tiger's Might and the Vanguard. The commander set the selection location in the military camp, mainly to allow the garrison troops and the soldiers in the military camp to get familiar with and get used to each other as soon as possible."

Another implication is that they are competing with each other. You all better be careful; if you make the Commander lose face, you won't have a good time in the future.

Li Erhu clicked his tongue, feeling inexplicably nervous. He stopped chatting along the way, and after half an hour, he finally arrived at the north side of the city from the south.

Speaking of which, the Tiger Might Camp is not far from the North Street Government Office. The barracks are located at the foot of the city wall, with its own government offices and camps. Although it is not responsible for the city's defense on weekdays, it can defend the city without needing to react in times of war.

Li Yi curiously examined the stone wall outside the barracks, only turning his gaze away when he was almost at the gate.

The soldier raised his hand. "Halt."

Upon seeing Li Yi's waist tag, he silently raised his long spear, let the man in, pointed in a certain direction, and reminded him:

"The selection of garrison sentries takes place at the Second Battalion's drill ground."

Like the Trapped Camp, the Tiger Might Battalion was divided into four smaller camps, distinguished by left, right, front, and central armies, with soldiers often referred to by numbers.

Thank you.

Li Yi led the group forward, feeling somewhat dazed.

Last autumn, he was taken to Yuliangzhou by the Investiture of the Gods, where he spent a year as a garrison soldier in the Tiger Might Camp. Now, revisiting this place, even though only a little over two months have passed, he feels as if he has lived through another world.

Li Erhu looked left and right, appearing somewhat excited. He quickly stepped forward and asked in a low voice:

"Does Yi-ge know where the Second Battalion is?"

"Know."

"Which small camp were you stationed in before?"

"The Third Battalion."

At that time, Li Yi was just an ordinary soldier in the camp, under the command of the squad leader, the platoon leader, and above him was Du Bo Wu Youwei.

As for the brigade commanders and captains of the three battalions above them, or the division commanders and generals of the entire Tiger Might Battalion, they were beyond his ability to find out. He only knew their names and had never seen them more than twice.

Shouts and shouts filled the barracks, presumably because the soldiers had heard that their colleagues from the garrison had arrived and were all training with great enthusiasm.

Li Yi led his men into the Second Battalion with practiced ease.

The drill ground was empty, but it was surrounded by people.

The soldiers, who should have been doing their morning drills, chatted happily in groups of ten or five around the drill ground, their eyes occasionally glancing at the garrison troops gathered together, waiting for the selection to begin.

Li Yi and his three companions arrived relatively early and, after joining the queue, made no further noise.

The man with the uneven eyes sidled up to the commander, his eyes gleaming with a sly glint in his eyes.

"Greetings, Your Excellency."

"Is this any of your business?"

"Hehe, the centurion wanted to come and cheer you on, but was afraid you wouldn't like it, so he sent me to sound out your opinion."

The commander snorted, "Fine, let's join in the fun. A few more of you won't make a difference."

Although Li Yi had enhanced hearing through the Shangguan acupoint, he could only barely make out the general idea due to the noise of the training ground.

The man with the large and small eyes really has a lot of connections. He even knows a fourth-rank commander. No wonder he is a confidant of the Gongsun family.

He had mentioned to Li Yi and the others on the way that the Commander-in-Chief's cultivation level was not very high. He was in charge of all affairs of the garrison and was equivalent to the chief of staff of the Commander.

While cultivators held a high status in the Wu Dynasty, official positions were not monopolized by them. Many lucrative and powerful posts were filled by capable and competent mortals.

A quarter of an hour passed in a flash. The messenger, Zhang Ren, counted the number of people and, without further ado, immediately dispersed to the four examination rooms, loudly announcing:

"Each flag can have a maximum of eight participants, with two competing in each category. The highest score will be recorded. After the four teaching tests are completed, the flags will be considered as a whole, and the final selection will be based on the overall score."

While other families had a number of candidates for their flags, Sanyizhuang barely met the required number, just enough for each person to have one.

A soldier holding a roster called out, "Those who are to be selected for mounted archery, follow me."

Two more soldiers spoke up and called away the candidates for the reading and writing and surveying sections.

Guan Tian, ​​Liu Zhi, and Li Erhu walked with the procession, while the remaining hundred or so people were the strongest group selected in this round.

The commander spoke calmly:

"Those who are running for the brave, come with me."

Many people looked hesitant, as if considering something. The various factions hesitated to immediately send their representatives, but soon someone mustered the courage to ask:

"May I ask, sir, how is bravery selected?"

The commander turned around, still with a cold face.

"Each person forms a pair with their own small flag and competes to grab waist tokens. After one incense stick has burned, the rankings are determined by the number of waist tokens they have."

Whether it was his imagination or not, Li Yi felt that he had glanced at him.

The selection rules for the bravery category clearly prioritize the overall strength of a squad. As a result, each squad will have two members, leaving him as the only one left.

As expected, there were 38 flags present, with a total of 75 people participating. If you include Li Yi, that makes 76.

Each family paired up and occupied the largest area of ​​the drill ground. Soldiers had already drawn a large circle with lime, enough for more than seventy people to practice their skills. Stepping out of the circle was not a problem. The selection was based solely on the number of waist badges.

Li Yi stepped into the white circle, then took two more steps further in, keeping his distance from the large crowd.

The commander lit a tinderbox, approached Xixiang, and was about to speak when he heard cheers coming from the archery range.

Li Yi looked in the direction of the sound and saw Guan Tian galloping on his horse, drawing an arrow and shooting it with the air of hitting the bullseye every time.

As for the reading and writing and surveying sections, most of the soldiers looked worried and rather amusing.

The commander withdrew his gaze. "This incense will last for about 15 minutes; the smoke indicates it has started."

Everyone stared intently at the incense, and as soon as they caught a glimpse of a wisp of smoke, chaos erupted.

Li Yi was on the periphery, and the situation was relatively clear.

On either side of him were two groups of small flags, clearly seeing him as an easy target. As the crowd stirred, they immediately swarmed forward.

Li Yi was attacked from both sides and did not want to confront them head-on. He leaned back to dodge two punches, and as he twisted his body, he stepped to the right to escape the battle.

He then punched one person in the side, and while the other person was still in shock and unable to react, he kicked out and sent him sprawling face-first into the dirt.

The two men on the left missed their first attack and charged forward, striking simultaneously from both sides, aiming for Li Yi's nose and ribs.

Li Yi raised his hand and flicked his wrist to grab the fist in front of him. Then, with a flick of his arm, he caused his opponent to crash into his colleague, falling face-first onto the yellow earth like a human pyramid.

In the blink of an eye, he drove off the four men.

Li Yi wasn't arrogant at all; none of the four men could compare to Feng Jun, and one of them was an ordinary, strong man.

He crouched down and first removed the waist tag from the unlucky guy who had been hit on the side. He suddenly heard a series of whooshing sounds in his ears. Without even looking, he raised his hand to block the blow, and then kicked out and punched, knocking the man down.

The two men were hit in the ribs and lower back, screaming in pain. They probably won't be able to get up for a while.

The other two, who had just jumped up in a human pyramid and were about to charge at Li Yi, saw him turn around and look at them, so they took off running.