Lord Yao couldn't help but sigh, realizing that he really didn't know how to harvest and preserve water chestnut seeds. There was a lot of knowledge involved. As the saying goes, one is never too old to learn.

Since the water chestnuts are currently in the seed-harvesting season, he plans to transport the water chestnut seedlings back to China for wider distribution next spring.

The cotton seeds have been mostly collected. Although some more can be collected later, these seeds mature late and are no longer suitable for use as seeds. They are better suited for pressing oil.

After Li Guang reserved enough cotton seeds, Lord Yao purchased all the remaining cotton seeds, transported them back to the capital, and then distributed them to various regions for promotion.

After doing all this, Lord Yao bid farewell to Li Guang and left Narcissus Village to return to the capital.

As the weather gets cooler, the sweet potato harvest season is approaching. This year's sweet potato planting has been fully promoted, and the planting area is quite large.

Zhao Xian's production of baijiu (Chinese liquor) requires a large quantity of sweet potatoes, but he can't use that many at once. After keeping a portion for himself, the farmers sell the rest in the market.

As a result, there are more sweet potatoes on the market, and the price will definitely not go up. In order to obtain higher profits from sweet potatoes, people will process them into starch, maltose, and various snacks to obtain greater profits.

It was now the busy farming season, and large quantities of crops were being harvested.

Right now, Li Guang has a lot of farm work to do, first harvesting rice and then picking corn.

After completing these farm chores, the sweet potatoes can be harvested in another half month.

After the harvest, they began to level the land, and then sow winter wheat.

Although many agricultural tasks were concentrated in one place, Li Guang still managed to arrange them in an orderly manner. With 100,000 soldiers, he could quickly finish even the most arduous farm work.

While busy with farm work, Li Guang kept an eye on Zhao Xian's return date; Zhao Xian should be back in a few days.

That morning, Li Guang received a report from a scout that Zhao Xian's men were approaching Shuixian Village and were now less than thirty li away from the village.

Li Guang was overjoyed and immediately led his soldiers to the village entrance to welcome Zhao Xian's triumphant return.

The villagers did the same; they rushed to the village entrance, beating gongs and drums to welcome Zhao Xian.

Before long, Zhao Xian's large group of men arrived at the village entrance.

Seeing so many people come out of the village to welcome him, Zhao Xian was filled with emotion.

I am a member of Narcissus Village. This time, when I returned to the village, almost everyone in the village came out, which is something that has never happened before.

Li Guang stood at the front of the crowd, with Zhao Cheng beside him. Although he had lost an arm, he remained calm, composed, and dignified.

As Zhao Xian dismounted, firecrackers went off in unison and drums resounded throughout Zhouguo. Performers from the village took turns performing, including yangko dance teams, waist drum teams, lion dancers, and dragon dancers.

After a long while, the firecrackers finally stopped, and Li Guang walked towards Zhao Xian.

The two did not speak; their hands were clasped tightly together.

After a long while, the two looked at each other and smiled.

"Brother Zhao, congratulations! This time you accompanied the princess to the Kingdom of Jindian, not only did you find Brother Li Ru, but you also married the princess of the Kingdom of Jindian. Congratulations!"

"Yes, we found General Li Ru and fulfilled the princess's wish. It is indeed something to be happy about."

This time, the brother and sister will first return to the capital to pay their respects to the Emperor and the Fourth Prince. Afterwards, they will come to Narcissus Village, where we will have a proper celebration.

"Okay, we'll arrange the celebration when they arrive in Narcissus Village. There's another big joyous occasion, I wonder if Brother Zhao knows about it."

"What other good news is there? Tell me about it." Zhao Xian immediately became interested.

"Brother Zhao, wait a moment." After saying that, Li Guang helped Zhao Xian stand up straight with both hands, then took a step back, took something out of his pocket, and unfolded it.

This thing is bright yellow; many people in the village have seen it before. It is clearly an imperial edict.

Before anyone could react, Li Guang spoke loudly.

"Zhao Xian, Vice Minister of War, receives the imperial decree."

Zhao Xian never dreamed that Li Guang would produce an imperial edict and read it aloud in front of so many people, so he quickly knelt down.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding soldiers and villagers also knelt down.

Next, Li Guang began to read the imperial edict.

"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees..."

Many villagers had witnessed this scene before; without a doubt, it must be an imperial edict bestowing honors upon Zhao Xian.

Zhao Xian certainly thought so too. In the past two years, he had received many rewards from the emperor, rising from a poor scholar to a fourth-rank official. Even if he rode a rocket, he couldn't have risen so quickly.

A fourth-rank official is nothing in the capital, but it's a different story in the provinces. He's even higher in rank than a prefect, and he can do whatever he wants.

Needless to say, the Emperor would definitely promote him by one rank, making him a third-rank official.

Even in the capital, a third-rank official would be someone who could be considered important, and Zhao Xian began to look forward to it.

The imperial edict was concise and clear, commenting on Zhao Xian's contributions to the Great Northern Dynasty, such as resisting foreign enemies, developing industries, promoting agriculture, and improving people's livelihoods. The last sentence was the finishing touch.

"Zhao Xian is hereby granted the title of Marquis of Zhengyang. This is the imperial decree."

After Li Guangxuan read the imperial edict, everyone was stunned, even Zhao Xian was dumbfounded.

There is an old saying that goes, "Please do not speak of the matter of being enfeoffed as a marquis, for the success of one general is built on the bones of ten thousand men." This saying already reveals the difficulty of being enfeoffed as a marquis.

In ancient times, it was virtually impossible for an ordinary person to be granted the title of marquis. Such a title was usually only bestowed upon the sons of princes or passed down from their ancestors. It was absolutely impossible for someone of Zhao Xian's status to be granted such a title; he shouldn't even dream of it.

But Zhao Xian was granted the title of Marquis, which surprised everyone.

At this moment, Zhao Xian was still kneeling on the ground, not having reacted yet, looking completely bewildered.

Li Guang rolled up the imperial edict, came to Zhao Xian, handed the edict to Zhao Xian, and then helped Zhao Xian up.

"Brother Zhao, congratulations! The Emperor has bestowed upon you the title of Marquis of Zhengyang. You are now a regional lord."

Zhao Xian stood up and pinched his arm hard.

"It hurts so much."

It seems this is true. Needless to say, Li Guang must have asked the emperor for the title of marquis.

Li Guang looked around and saw that everyone was still kneeling on the ground, so he said, "Fellow villagers, soldiers, get up."

Everyone then stood up and cheered. Zhao Xian's conferment of a marquisate was an honor for Shuixian Village, and Shuixian Village would henceforth be famous throughout the world and known to all.

Next, everyone started to return to the village, all beaming with joy, following behind Zhao Xian, banging gongs and drums, making quite a scene.

He finally arrived home, but his family didn't come out of the village to greet him; instead, they all stood at the door.

Mother Li Chun'e supported Yang Ruotong, Master Qin led the Qin sisters, and Zhao Xiaosheng brought Chen Xiaoxiao and Chen Daniu...

Even Ouyang Nan and his sister stood at the front of the crowd, with everyone in the family coming out to greet them.

After scanning everyone, Zhao Xian's gaze fell on Yang Ruotong again. Her belly was already swollen and very noticeable.