A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

After Wei Ping led his troops back to the capital, the rewards for Wei Yang and Fan Kuai arrived quickly.

Wei Yang was enfeoffed as Marquis of Changping, with a fief of 5000 households;

Fan Kuai was granted an additional 5000 households as his fief.

Zhou Bo was granted an additional 5000 households as his fief.

Zhang Liang was granted an additional 3000 households as his fief.

The others received titles of varying ranks.

Only Wei Ping's reward remained shrouded in mystery.

Wei Ping immediately realized that Liu Bang was too proud of his achievements to bestow a title upon him.

So he instructed his maids to prepare food and wine, knowing that Liu Bang would surely come today.

At midnight, Liu Bang leisurely arrived at the residence of the Marquis of Pingcheng.

The army has returned to Chang'an, and Wei Ping's reward cannot be delayed any longer; it must be decided today.

Otherwise, if those who have rendered meritorious service are not rewarded, the army will mutini, and things will escalate.

"Zian."

Liu Bang ate a few bites of food and drank a cup of wine.

But with the problem unresolved, everything he ate tasted bland.

"You deserve the most credit for this Xiongnu invasion to the south."

"20,000 troops defeated an army of 300,000, with fewer than 1,000 casualties, and nearly 200,000 enemy soldiers were annihilated."

"Such a record is probably unprecedented and will likely never be repeated."

Liu Bang sighed.

With this one battle, Wei Ping will be remembered in history and praised from generation to generation.

Killing Wei Ping would condemn the Han people to shame, and from now on, the backbone of the army would be broken, and they would never be able to stand up again.

Without the support of the army, the Han people probably wouldn't last more than a few years.

"It is all thanks to His Majesty's strategic planning and discerning eye for talent."

"Otherwise, I would be nothing more than a mere captain, how could I have made such a great contribution?"

"This victory is half due to His Majesty's discerning eye, and the remaining half is 95% thanks to the soldiers who fought and bled on the battlefield. I only have a small part to play."

Wei Ping smiled, not taking it to heart.

"One general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand."

At this moment, Wei Ping showed no sign of having just made a great contribution; he remained humble, polite, and compassionate towards all living beings.

"You're always so reserved."

"I have never seen your true self."

Liu Bang's tone carried a hint of admiration, for everyone said he had a keen eye for talent, having promoted figures like Xiao He, Han Xin, and Fan Kuai.

He has always been proud of this.

He was neither good at literature nor martial arts, but he had a knack for recognizing talent and used his unique personal charm to win over all kinds of people, which led to the establishment of the Han Empire.

But he never truly understood Wei Ping. This man seemed out of place in this era, his eyes always holding something he couldn't comprehend.

"His Majesty."

Wei Ping was speechless. In his previous life, he was just a nobody. How could he possibly hide in front of an old fox like Liu Bang?

The poor acting skills were obviously exposed long ago, but the true nature hidden beneath the acting was what made it hard to understand.

It's impossible to understand without truly experiencing that era.

"You don't need to say anything."

"Just listen to me."

Liu Bang activated his succubus powers and frankly told Wei Ping his thoughts.

I want to bestow upon you the title of king.

"To tell you the truth, I will definitely remove all non-Liu family members from the royal family in the future."

"Otherwise, I won't feel at ease."

"Even after I remove you from the throne, you will still be a top-ranking marquis, and I will give you more fiefs as compensation."

"But I'm not sure what will happen when the throne is removed in the future. This is a very risky matter, for both you and me."

"So I came here today to ask you, are you willing to take this risk? If not, I'll think of another way."

Wei Ping smiled slightly, and he came up with an idea from the history of later generations.

At that time, there was no rule that one could not be ennobled without military merit.

"Your Majesty, I have a request that may be made."

"speak."

"Your Majesty, I humbly request that the rewards for this victory be transferred to my children, especially my youngest daughter. Even if the rewards are less than what I would have received, it would be the price I pay."

Wei Ping pointed to his two children and said softly.

Liu Bang quickly straightened up. "What a great idea!"

Wei Ping's rewards are about to reach their limit; at most, he'll get a little more fiefdom, which won't be enough to reward his achievements.

Then reward them handsomely.

It would be even better if the daughter were granted a title.

Who knows if Wei Ping's twisted son will also achieve great merit? The daughter doesn't have this concern.

Not only Wei Ping could do this, but later generals who made great contributions could also do it this way.

Especially for families with many children, only the eldest son can inherit the title, so giving a title to the other sons is a great favor.

What does it matter if a family has two or three marquises? Even if it has five or six marquises, it's still far inferior to a king of a different surname. But the rewards are still very generous, leaving no room for complaint.

"Okay, okay, okay."

Liu Bang said "good" three times.

"Then I will promote you to Marquis of Yan, and increase your fief by 7000 households, for a total of 15000 households."

"I hereby grant your daughter the title of County Princess, with a fief of 3000 households, and a rank comparable to that of a Marquis of Che."

"Your eldest son is hereby granted the title of Marquis of Anguo, with a fief of 2000 households. In the future, his second son will inherit the title of Marquis of Anguo."

They bestowed titles of nobility and county princesses upon two tiny bean sprouts, with fiefs as well.

Who can still say that Liu Bang mistreated his meritorious officials?

With his inner conflict resolved, Liu Bang found his meals much more enjoyable.

"Zi'an, the chef in your household is quite skilled. I feel he's even better than my imperial chef."

"I had that feeling last time."

"If Your Majesty is pleased, you can have your imperial chefs come to me for a few days to learn from me. I will have those chefs teach you everything they know."

These chefs were personally trained by Wei Ping. Even though there were fewer seasonings available at this time, some could be replaced. The effect might not be as good as in the future, but they would still be usable.

Naturally, they would far surpass the chefs of this era.

After a hearty meal, Liu Bang left the Marquis's residence with a dazed look in his eyes. The attending eunuchs respectfully helped Liu Bang into a sedan chair.

Once inside the sedan chair, with no one else around, Liu Bang's drunken eyes cleared up in the blink of an eye.

"Zi'an, you don't even care about the title of king, what are you pursuing?"

On the surface, both Wei Ping and Liu Bang were very satisfied with this matter, but they both knew the implications.

Wei Ping originally wanted to confront Liu Bang, but he didn't expect that after Liu Bang bestowed his rewards, his gourd world would expand again, from a hundred acres to a thousand acres in circumference.

There are also several rivers and several large trees.

The appearance of rivers and large trees indicates that his gourd world can already bear the weight of life.

What surprised Wei Ping even more was that he could control the direction of plant evolution in the gourd world.

In other words, with the continuous evolution of gourds, even if one does not understand the technology of hybrid rice and hybrid wheat, one can still cultivate grain varieties that yield thousands of kilograms per mu through generations of optimization.

This will allow the Chinese people to realize their vision of no more famine more than two thousand years ahead of schedule.

Therefore, Wei Ping wanted to wait until he had achieved some success before discussing things in detail with Liu Bang.

His descendants subsequently held the position of one of the Nine Ministers of Agriculture.

No, just as Huo Qubing elevated the status of the General of the Cavalry and the Marquis of Champion, their family should occupy the position of Grand Minister of Agriculture, comparable to the position of Prime Minister and one of the Three Dukes.

After the news of Wei Ping's reward spread, a person, or rather a king, could no longer sit still.

He was Han Xin, the King of Chu, Marquis of Huaiyin, and the military genius.