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

"My uncle and my cousin were both mortals. My uncle just happened to be in the army camp fighting against the demons of Luopan Mountain. My cousin... died of a cold."

Li Yi looked embarrassed and just kept drinking his tea.

There are countless military households like the Great Yan, whose bloodline has been lost and who are unable to reincarnate. This situation is likely to occur if they have few offspring.

From this perspective, the Great Zhou fought well.

The two remained silent for a moment, occasionally glancing towards the outer door, taking a sip of tea, and almost finishing the entire pot.

"My aunt's house is the second one on the west side. It has been cleaned all these years. If you want to see it, go ahead."

Li Yi felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He got up to take his leave, but then suddenly remembered something and advised him:

"That Feng Dachuan is in charge of farming in Laoni Village? Two tigers cannot share one mountain. Since Brother Huo has no intention of switching allegiance to the Great Zhou, then he should settle down to serve the people and not be too chivalrous. He should live a peaceful life with his family."

Huo An raised an eyebrow and watched Li Yi leave. "Thanks."

Huo pushed open the door and came in, asking curiously, "That military officer?"

"They were my adversaries, and they captured me and my brothers."

Huo hissed and instinctively covered her mouth.

Huo An grinned.

"This man severed my tendons but did not kill me. All my men are gone, and they have all found their own way out."

Huo's eyes widened slightly, and he sighed, "For a soldier from an enemy country to do this, that officer is truly kind-hearted."

……

Li Yi originally wanted to describe Feng Dachuan as "narrow-minded," but since they were now even, he swallowed his words and changed his approach.

He walked a few steps to the outside of Liu'e's residence, climbed over the wall and entered. He saw a well-preserved courtyard with a peach tree in the east corner. Although it was bare at the moment, it had many branches and must be very beautiful in spring and summer.

Li Yi scanned the surroundings and walked through each house, but he did not see Liu E's ghost.

"Although I expected it, I'm still a little disappointed..."

Fifteen years after Liu E's death, if she hadn't become a vengeful spirit, or if her obsession hadn't been strong, she would probably have already turned into spiritual energy and dissipated into the world.

Li Yi walked to the peach tree, looked at an incense table, picked up three incense sticks, lit them with a tinderbox, and bowed three times.

"Although Zhu Xing has no connection with the Heavenly Officials, he is a righteous god who wholeheartedly serves the people. Since he dares not come here to investigate, I will offer sacrifices on his behalf. Please forgive me."

After Li Yi placed the incense sticks into the incense burner, he stood for a while and said to himself:

"Why don't we ask Jin Mantang for clarification? Perhaps Liu E is in the ghost village..."

Li Yi shook his head inwardly, no longer lingering. He left the hospital, rode his horse, and headed north towards the county town.

A thin-faced ape suddenly appeared behind Li Yi. After struggling several times, it never managed to catch up and get the answers.

After returning to the city, Li Yi checked out of his hotel room, found out the location of the garrison army's camp, and settled in a barracks.

Just like at Fengxia Pass, Li Yi had his own two barracks, while his four men occupied a shared room for the entire squad.

However, Erhu didn't want to smell his brothers' stinky feet. He used his military merits to earn a hundred taels of silver and rented a courtyard house near the military camp.

As long as Li Yi doesn't interfere and the brothers don't expose him, it's fine.

When Guan Tian brought up the matter, he said with no small amount of annoyance, "That guy said he wanted to go to Fuxiang Tower for entertainment, what a waste of money—that's ten points of second-rank military merit!"

Liu Zhi also sighed deeply. He had not shown any signs of illness so far and only wanted to exchange for the pills. Seeing Li Erhu squandering his military merits, he felt sorry for him.

Just then, He Shouli, seemingly having heard the news, knocked on Li Yi's barracks and said with a smile:

"As expected, the lord has arrived. News spread through the army this morning that all soldiers may write home, one letter per person."

Liu Zhi's heart warmed, and he said with delight:

"Your Excellency is truly benevolent! With Manxing County just pacified, this opportunity is too good to pass up!"

Li Yi nodded in agreement, "If the Dali people learn of the military situation here, they might start another war at any time."

He couldn't find a suitable reason to appear before Zhang Junyi, and now that he had the opportunity to write a letter, he naturally wouldn't miss it; he should also write a letter to his adoptive parents to put their minds at ease.

Although each person was limited to one letter, since they all lived in Lijia Village, they combined them into one letter and sent it to Dahan Mountain.

To be honest, although the military merits accumulated over the past few days have been recorded in the army and the redemption of all the honors will not be delayed, the news will take some time to reach Qifeng County, and even longer to be reported from the county seat to the Ministry of War.

"I don't even know how much land I own now, or what rank my title has reached..."

Logically, he should have been qualified to be promoted to the fifth rank of "Daifu," advancing from the "Shi" rank to "Daifu." Unfortunately, whether he was rushing to Meng Yunjie's aid or clearing out the demons of Luopan Mountain, he failed to earn the fourth-rank military merit.

At the very least, there should be a Level 4 "no updates" section.

It is inconvenient to calculate the ranks of nobility during wartime, but the calculation should be completed soon.

Little did he know that the military merits he had previously earned at Fengxia Pass had already been reported back to the Six Ministries of Qifeng County.

Just as Li Yi picked up his pen to write a letter, a clerk arrived at Li Family Village in a donkey cart and found a two-courtyard house that he knew the way well.

He knocked on the door and was greeted by a male servant in a cotton-padded coat. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a female servant bustling about in the courtyard. Holding up the document, he called out:

"Congratulations, Master Li! Your men have achieved another merit, and have been promoted and ennobled to the fourth-rank title of 'Bu Geng'. I, your humble servant, have come to offer my congratulations!"

"Ouch!"

The sound of a teacup being overturned came from inside the house. A man and a woman wearing brocade cloaks ran out of the courtyard and invited the clerk in with smiles, so that he could repeat himself.

"Lord Li has repeatedly distinguished himself in battle; who knows, by the time he returns home, he might already be a general!"

A crowd had already gathered outside the house, all of them filled with envy.

Back then, Li Quan only received the title of "Gongshi," and all the able-bodied men in the village looked up to him. Now, Li Yi has only been back in the army for two or three months, but he has been promoted and ennobled continuously, and his popularity is unparalleled.

Even the village head's house wasn't as grand as Li Dashan's. Not only did he have fertile land and an annual salary, but he also bought two servants from the county to take care of his daily life, making his life very comfortable.

Li Dashan invited the clerk to stay for a meal, but the latter refused this time, instead taking out another document and laughing:

"I have other duties to attend to, so I won't bother you any longer."

Li Dashan took out a silver ingot from his pocket and placed it in the clerk's palm. The clerk accepted it with a smile, bid farewell to the couple, and left the courtyard.

Li Dashan was just an ordinary hunter in the past. The first time he met him, he didn't think of giving him any benefits. As a result, he came ten days late the second time. It was only after Li Shuan reminded him that he found out about this.

With a large and prosperous family, we don't care about such things. As long as the other party can bring back good news often, we don't mind giving them more money.

The couple were huddled around the documents, wondering how much more fertile land and annual salary they would receive. They were considering going to the school to have the instructor look at them when they saw the clerk turn and walk into Li Dahu's house next door, holding up the documents and shouting:

Judging from that, it seems that Erhu also received a title.

Not a first-class official, or a second-class scholar, but actually starting from the third-class official!

Many villagers looked at each other in bewilderment, and those with sons of school age in their families were filled with regret.

Before Li Erhu came down the mountain, he was just a carefree "foolish boy". He followed Li Dashan's adopted son and actually managed to get such a high title.

Upon hearing the news, Li Xue and the others who had followed Li Quan around had complicated expressions, their thoughts unreadable.

A group of villagers gathered outside Li Dahu's house, and when they saw him seeing off the clerk, they immediately surrounded him.

"Brother Da Hu, my little girl is fifteen this year, and she's grown into a beautiful young lady. You saw her last year!"

"My Cui'er is the most beautiful! Matchmakers have been lining up at the door, all waiting for your Erhu!"

Li Dahu was surrounded so tightly that he couldn't even touch the ground. Seeing that they couldn't squeeze in, the women simply turned around and ran towards Li Ertu's house.