A Border Soldier's Path to a Marquisate

During the night raid on Qingshi Fort, cook Zhou Li hid beneath the dead and lasted until dawn.

After returning to camp, he found a deserter's name added to the register.

He couldn't read or fight. He only wanted to stay alive and make it home, earning six mu of military merit farmland for his mother and younger sister. To avoid execution, he joined the most dangerous scout unit.

From learning to recognize his own name, to leading five men out of camp, to commanding an army of thousands, he gradually discovered that grain sacks could come up short, military honors could be credited to someone else, and even after winning a battle, his brothers might not receive compensation for their deaths.

He would climb this road to a noble title one step at a time.

And he would make sure the accounts were kept for those who never came back.