I planted the spiritual roots for my people, and they bestowed upon me a body inscribed with incense

After handing the sealed letter to Li Daqiang, Zhou Boyuan smiled and said:

"Brother Li, congratulations! From now on, we're colleagues." He then gave Li Daqiang a knowing look.

Li Daqiang quickly returned the greeting.

"I'll have to rely on Brother Zhou to take care of things there from now on."

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Zhou Boyuan left with the city guards.

After the people had gone far away, the villagers who had been watching the commotion gathered around. Instead of chatting, they all helped carry all the grain outside the gate into the Li family's courtyard.

Most villagers came to express their gratitude to the Li family for saving their lives, while others wanted to curry favor with them. After all, with an official emerging from the village, who wouldn't want to get close to him? And everyone has their troubles sometimes.

Looking at the enthusiastic villagers, Li Yuan found a slightly higher spot and addressed them:

"Dear fellow villagers of this small fishing village, in order to appease you all, I have decided to host a banquet for you in the courtyard in three days. Please be sure to come."

After Li Daqiang finished speaking, a round of applause immediately erupted from the audience.

"Now that winter is halfway over, many families are running low on food supplies. The Li family's banquet is perfectly timed."

It wasn't until evening that Li Daqiang finally managed to send everyone away.

Back inside, Zhang had already prepared a table full of dishes, waiting for Li Daqiang to take his seat.

While eating, Li Yuan asked:

"Did Father host this banquet for the sake of the fields belonging to those families who died?"

Li Daqiang picked up a piece of food, ate it, and slowly said:

Yes and no

"Now that I hold an official position, it's time to use it to train some clan soldiers for my Li family."

"What's the point of training tribal soldiers?" Li Yuan asked, puzzled.

"Yuan'er, this magistrate is no good. Of all the things he could have assigned me, he had to make me the captain of the bandit suppression team."

"With this reputation, which big or small bandit in Luoshan County wouldn't want to cut your old man down with their blade?" Li Daqiang sighed deeply after saying this.

Li Yuan remained calm.

"Father, rest assured. With the divine weapons in our hands, killing a few bandits will be easy. Besides, once this happens, those mountain bandits will definitely not dare to make a move."

Li Daqiang laughed and said, "You brat, you do have the same style as your father when he was young."

Then Li Daqiang looked at Li Tong, who was eating.

"Tong'er, starting tomorrow, you will train with your brother and put your martial arts aside for now."

"Alright, Father, then can I teach my martial arts to Brother Gou Dan?"

Li Daqiang glanced at Li Yuan, then said:

"Alright, I'll tell Li Chang not to go outside."

"However, even if you can't learn what your brother taught you, you must never pass it on to anyone, no matter what. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Father. I'm not that stupid." After saying that, Li Tong slurped down a couple of mouthfuls of rice and then said:

"I'm full, I'm going to find Brother Gou Dan now," Li Tong said, dropping his bowl and chopsticks before running out the door.

The clothes he is wearing now don't seem to bother anyone about him getting cold.

After finishing his meal, Li Daqiang gave Zhang some more instructions.

"By the way, Yun'er (Li Yuan's mother, Zhang Yun'er), find a few more cooks in the village. We need quite a few people to handle the ingredients for this banquet. Five copper coins a day."

Zhang nodded. Now that the family was well-off, she was willing to spend this little bit of money.

After finishing his meal, Li Yuan headed towards the temple, his speed even faster with the help of his spiritual power.

Now that the second strand of magical power within his body has been fully condensed, Li Yuan originally thought that this would allow him to break through to the second level of the "Five Elements Spirit Gathering Technique," but it seems that he had oversimplified things.

Looking at the magical power within his dantian, Li Yuan couldn't help but think to himself, "It seems I need to replenish the magical power in my dantian."

For the next three days, Li Yuan was either cultivating or guiding Li Tong in cultivating the "Five Elements Spirit Gathering Technique" until villagers began to appear one after another in the Li family courtyard.

Almost everyone in the village who was able to move came to the Li family's courtyard.

Everyone was eager to help, except for some members of the Wang family who were surrounding the village chief.

However, Li Daqiang still didn't care. The village chief, Wang Youdao, was already over sixty years old, which was considered old in the small fishing village. As long as he didn't go too far, Li Daqiang decided to let him live out his old age in peace.

Soon, the table was set up, and the family began to eat. Seeing that everyone had almost finished eating, Li Daqiang stood up, raised his glass, and said:

"Fellow villagers, are you satisfied with my hospitality, Li Daqiang?" Everyone responded that they were satisfied.

Seeing that the desired effect had been achieved, Li Daqiang immediately spoke:

"I am truly heartbroken for all the villagers who lost their lives in this banditry. If I had acted just a little faster, this might not have happened. Alas..."

However, since the person is already dead, there is no point in being sad.

"When the county clerk came that day, he told me that our Great Qing Kingdom is still preparing for war this year, so the annual tax cannot be reduced. Now that these families have died, their fields naturally cannot be left uncultivated."

"Today, I would like to inquire about how the ownership of these lands should be distributed. Do any of you have any ideas?"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Qiang, the Zhou family member who had been saved by Li Daqiang, spoke first:

"Lord Li, now that you are an official in the court, and you saved our lives, the land naturally belongs to you, Lord Li."

"I believe you all have no objections, right?" After saying that, Zhou Qiang looked around.

Most people knew that it wouldn't happen to them no matter what, and since Li Daqiang had treated everyone quite well, no one objected.

However, the Wang family did not want to acquire these fields.

Wang Youcai, the eldest son of the village chief, stepped forward.

"Since ancient times, the village head has been personally responsible for taxation. Lord Li is, in principle, a military officer. It would be inappropriate to entrust these fields to a military officer."

Li Daqiang glanced at the village chief, and seeing that he remained silent, it was clear that he had tacitly approved of the matter.

Seeing this, Li Daqiang no longer tolerated it.

"Haha, Brother Youcai is right. I remember that when I rented your Wang family's land, the rent was forty percent of the harvest, right?"

"In that case, my Li family will lease out these fields at 20%. If the Wang family is willing to increase the rent to 20%, I will naturally relinquish the fields. What do you say, Brother Youcai?"

Seeing this, the village chief, fearing that Wang Youcai might agree out of spite, immediately stood up. After all, the Wang family had rented out far more land than this; if they agreed, the Wang family would suffer losses every year.

"You scoundrel! Brother Zhang is now an official appointed by the imperial court and has saved countless lives in the village. This is what Master Li deserves. You unfilial son, shut up!"

Seeing his father's anger, Wang Youcai knew that things were hopeless and that the Li family was no longer the same as before, so he kept quiet.

Seeing this, Li Daqiang smiled and said:

"Village chief, you're too kind. I still prefer you to call me Xiaoqiang."

The village chief was clearly taken aback by that remark and didn't respond. Seeing that the matter was settled, Li Daqiang spoke again:

"Gentlemen, I am acting on the orders of the imperial court. We now need to recruit ten members of the bandit suppression team. They must be between eighteen and thirty years old and have no criminal history. The imperial court will reduce the taxes for these ten bandit suppression teams every month."

"The vice-captain is Wang Tiezhu. Just find him to sign up." After saying this, everyone turned their eager gazes to Wang Tiezhu, while others wore expressions of envy.

After all, everyone knows that Wang Tiezhu has the closest relationship with the Li family.